As Captain Sigsbee had said from the
first, he was wholly unable to account for



8 "THE CBIME OF THE CENTUBT."

the explosion, though the thought of treachery-
must have presented itself to him ; but, with
that eminent sense of justice which is so
characteristic of him, he added to his tele-
gram to President McKinley the request for
his countrymen to withhold judgment until
a rigid investigation should establish the
truth. The request was so fair that the
President echoed it and the nation granted it.
The crime was too appalling to be charged
against any man or group of men, or any
nation, until the evidence pointed unmis-
takably in that direction. When the blow
that smites is resistless it must make no
error.
One of the grandest attributes of the Ameri-
can people is their self-restraint, under what
to others would be an intolerable provocation.
Their wrath on that account is the more to be
feared. "When Jove holds back his thunder-
bolts for a time, they gather in power. "We
are slow to anger; but, being fairly roused,
it is a thousand times more to be dreaded
than the wrath of a volatile people. We
could afford to wait, even though that wait-
ing was prolonged until our patience was
stretched almost to the breaking point.
" THE OBIME OF THE CENTURY." 9

No time was lost in selecting a Board of
Inquiry. It was composed of Captain
William T. Sampson, commanding the Iowa;
Captain French E. Chadwick, commanding
the New York; with Lieutenant-Commander
Adolph Marix of the receiving ship VerTnont
as Judge- Advocate.
No better selection could have been made.
