The latest news with regard to the movements of the board of inquiry is that it went to Key West for a few days only, and with the intention of returning to Havana for further sittings. * * * * * On February 23d, Secretary of War Long completed arrangements with the Merritt and Chapman Wrecking Company, of New York city, and with the Boston Towboat Company, to undertake to raise the _Maine_. It was agreed that they were to be paid $1,371 a day for their work, $871 a day for the use of their regular appliances, and $500 a day in addition for the use of the great floating derrick _Monarch_. On the delivery in New York of the hull of the wrecked vessel, $100,000 will be paid. It is, however, provided in the contract that the total cost of the work shall not exceed $200,000. The question as to the amount of the indemnity to be paid for the destruction of the _Maine_, in case Spain is held liable for the disaster, has occasioned considerable comment in the press. It has been asserted that the Government should demand at least $10,000,000, and even so large an amount as $30,000,000 has by some been suggested as the proper sum to be asked. The ship itself cost about $3,000,000, and the fittings several millions more. The indemnity should, of course, cover not only the material loss of the vessel, but the loss of life and the injury done to our Government. * * * * * The divers at work on the wreck of the _Maine_ have been steadily hampered by the difficult situation of the vessel. In the first place, the hull is sinking into the mud at the rate of a foot a day, and a week after the disaster the divers had to wade through mud up to their waists. Then, too, the water is so dirty that they can hardly see below the surface. Nevertheless, they have succeeded in bringing up many valuables, among others the paymaster's safe containing $2,700. * * * * * The opinion seems to be growing that we may never be able to discover the cause of the disaster. The fact that the forward half of the ship has been completely destroyed adds probability to this view. The after half, however, is reported to be practically intact. As for the submarine mines, it may be that their existence will also remain problematical. A prominent naval officer has explained that such mines consist merely of big metal cases filled with gun-cotton, and that their explosion would blow them into atoms. * * * * * In spite of our sensational newspapers, which had done their best to spread the "war scare," our country has acted in a thoroughly sensible and praiseworthy manner in relation to the disaster of the _Maine_. The best of our newspapers, moreover, had also shown a willingness to avoid sensational news for the sake of encouraging peace. This shows that we are a much less aggressive nation than we have hitherto been thought to be.