202 CHAPTER III "GUILTY" OR "NOT GUILTY"?

open, prolonged, and of greater volume, is attributed by the Court to the partial explosion of two or moreof the forwardmagazines. THOUGH the report on the loss of the Maine was not laid before Congress till the month of April, and, although it was not the only or even the avowed reason why the United States and Spain were finally involved in war, it will be convenient to state here what were the chief conclusions arrived at by the Court of Enquiry. We shall then have something to say of the progress of even-ts in Cuba and the influence which they had in producing the war. The destruction of theMaine was the grim fact that made war at lastinevitable. Butfor that disaster theliberation of Cuba wouldprobably have been effected by peaceful negotiation, backed up by the readiness of the United States to take, if need be, stronger action.

" The evidence of the divers establishes that the after part of the ship was practically intact, and sank in that condition a very few moments after the explosion. The forwardpart wascompletelydemolished."

After examining the wreck of the forward part, the Court came to the conclusion"that the ship zoasdestroyed by the explosionofa submarine mine, which caused the partial explosionof two or more of her forward magazines." But as to the all-important question of who was responsible, who had placed the mine in position and firedit, there was a very cautious finding. The Court reported that " no evidence has been obtained fixing the responsibility for the destruction of the Maine upon any person er persons."

The report was completed by the end of March, but it was not till the middle of April thatit was in the possession of thepublic. The evidence taken by the Court forms a thick volume,illustrated with a large number of carefully-executed plans and photographs. The report based on this evidence decided that the destruction of the Maine was the result of, in the first instance, some kind of mine exploded outside of her. The essential facts placed on record in the report are thus summed up in PresidentMcKinley'smessage to Congress:— There are some points ofspecial interest to be notedabout this verdict. First,as to the nature of the injuries to the wreck, which convinced the Court that there had been an external explosion. To discuss these in detail would lead us into unnecessary technicalities, and wouldrequirealong series of diagrams to make the matterclear. It is better toselect themore important points in the argument. First ofall, if there had been a mine, there would be a hollow in the mud near where it exploded. The divers found such a hollow below the general mud-level on one side of the Maine. From this hollow the bottom plates were bent upwards andinwards,andit is evensaid thatthe broken edges of the plates were turned towards the inside of the wreck. One partof the bottom plating was, as Lieutenant Powelson said, four feet above the surface of the water, and thirtyfour feet above the point where it would have been had theshipsunk uninjured. Thekeel of a large man-of-war is formed of a vertical girder, with horizontal plates boltedunderneath it. At the spot where the main force of the explosion had spent itself the keel was bent upwards,toa point only six feet below the surface of the water, and thirty* feet above the place where it would be if it had not thus been violently displaced. The vertical plates were snapped "When the Mainearrived at Havana she was conducted by the regular Government pilot to buoy No. 4, to which she was moored in from 5 to 6 fathoms of water. " The state of discipline on board and the conditions of her magazines, boilers and coal bunkers, and storagecompartments, are passed in review, with the conclusion that excellent order prevailed, and that no indication of any cause for an internal explosion existed in any quarter. " At eight o'clock in the evening of February 15th everything had been reported secure, and all was quiet. "At forty minutes pastnine o'clock the vessel was suddenlydestroyed. "There were two distinct explosions with a brief intervalbetween them. " The firstlifted the forward part of the ship very perceptibly ;the second, which was more