,00 THE SPANISH ARMOURED CRUISER "INFANTA MARIA TERESA."

CHAPTER XXI FIRST ATTACKS ON SANTIAGO THE Britishconsul at SantiagoinMay,1898, - the late Mr. Frederick W.Ramsden, the same who years before had, by his plucky intervention,stopped the massacre of the Virginias expedition alter the execution of the first victim-. We are indebted to his diary, published after his lamenteddeath, for an inner view of the siegeof Santi On Wednesday, the 18th of May,he noted in Lirnal that two American steamers and a large armed yacht were off the port. They seemed to be dragging for the telegraph cable, and they came so close that the Morro batteries fired some shots at them, to which they re] without effect on either side. In the afteri they wentaway. If they hadheld "ii for another twelve hours they would have had important news. For as the sun rose on the Thursday morning Cervera's fleet, the four big cruisers and the two destroyers, steamed in past the Morro and anchored in the inner bay. The American ships were some miles away to the eastward towardsGuantanamo, and had amused themselves by exchanging some shots with a new shore battery at Playa del Este. Had they devoted themselves to watching Santiago they would have done better service, for it was not till many days later that the United States Government felt really certain that Admiral Cervera was in the port It is true that the Admiral had at once reported his arrivalto Blanco at Havana, and the Marshal had as promptly cabled the news to Madrid. There it was communicatedofficially to the press and the public, and there was as much rejoicing as if the Admiral had won a great victory. Nor was this popular exultation unreasonable. The fact that Cervera had and again eluded the more numerous American squadrons,indirectly forced them to relax their watch on Havana, thrown all then plans into confusion, and reached the West Indian Seas in spite of them, was taken a- au earnest of further exploits to be performed by the swift and 'ill squadron which had given new hope to Spain.

This official news did not,however, satisfy the Government at Washington as to Cervera's real position. They remembered the story of his return to Cadiz. This report that he was in Santiago might, after all, prove to be only another ruse to facilitate his entrance into .motherport or a new raid in some unexpected direction. Nor were they quite certain as to what force he had with him. There wasknown to be a secondSpanish squadron fitting out at Cadiz and Cartagena under Admiral Camara, which was to include the battleship Pelayo, two or three armouredcruisers and a torpedo Hotilla, and,after the uncertainties and anxieties of the past few days, no one felt quite sure that some of these might not be already slipping across the Atlantic. The story that Cervera was in Santiago might in such a case be intended to facilitate his junction elsewhere with these reinforcements. The American Naval Intelligence