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Show CAl'SK Or THE WAR SCARE. An Explanation From th Man Who Started Start-ed It All. Washington, Jan. . 21. Secretary Blaine was asked today if the state department had learned the cause of the "war" excitement a fortnight since in London. He replied he had just received re-ceived a copy of the London Times of January 0, in which he found a dispatch dis-patch from its regular American correspondent, cor-respondent, dated Philadelphia, January Jan-uary 5, as follows: "Naval orders recently Issnod lndlrate the (fathering of a formidable American fleet In Pc flc waters before the Retiring s- nshliiR teison opens. Eleven war ships and five revenue rev-enue ctittjrs are now or will toon he there, oavlnir ninety guns and UB'ii men. Soveial other steamers. It Is rumored, will be char-tared char-tared for revenue service. Increasing the fleet to twent three ships, with lis (tuns and 3U00 men, Including two of the fastest and most powerful of the ne r cruisers, the San Francisco Fran-cisco and Charleston." Maine aaid that on receiving this unfounded un-founded and mischievous telegram he sent to the navy department and was informed by Secretary Tracy that there had been a smaller naval force on the Pacific this winter than at any time for the lust three years. The whole number num-ber of ships are live, thirty-one guns, and the number of men 85(1. Blaine added that he thought the correspondent correspond-ent of the Times owed an explanation to the American people. Philadelphia, Jan. 21. Joel Cook, financial editor of the Ledger and correspondent cor-respondent of the London Times in this city, was seen tonight rolative to his dispatch to the Times regarding the alleged al-leged mobilization of a tleet ot United States war vessels in Behring Sea. He said his dispatch was a brief summarization summariz-ation of a long dispatch in the New York Times of Januaty 5th, from Annapolis, An-napolis, giving in detail the number of vessels to be concentrated and the number of guns and men they would carry. |