It is said that if the Sultan persists in asking the unreasonable terms he does, and will not grant the armistice unless they are accepted, Europe will declare war upon him.

There may be another week of waiting before the Sultan sends any reply to this letter.

The Sultan is anxious to gain time, because every advantage he can gain in Greece makes his price for peace just that much higher.  He has a plan of his own for gaining time, which is extremely annoying to Europeans.  It is this.  In the Mohammedan religion there are a great number of fasts and feasts.  The Sultan, who till now has not been noted for his piety, has suddenly become the most religious of persons.

When he receives a letter from the Powers that he wants to keep a few days before he answers it, he sends them a most gracious note, saying that it is the feast of so-and-so, and it is contrary to his religion to attend to business during the days appointed for the festival.

By this manoeuvre he manages to keep his army fighting and winning battles, while Europe is helplessly waiting for his answer.  After the Powers had asked for an armistice he used this pretext to delay answering for a whole week.

The European diplomats, who are made the victims of the Sultan’s devotion to fasts and feasts, wonder why he allows his army to continue the business of war during these times if he is really so pious as he pretends to be.

* * * * *

A report has just been spread that Russia has frightened the Sultan into ceasing hostilities until the terms of peace can be arranged.

It is to be hoped that this is true.

* * * * *

The mining district of Kootenay in British Columbia is the scene of much agitation at this moment.

Kootenay lies on the border of British Columbia, where it joins the States of Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

In this region there are extensive gold mines, many of which are worked and owned by Americans, who have been very successful, and made the mines pay exceedingly well.

To their surprise and annoyance, the Legislature of British Columbia passed a law the other day, making it impossible for Americans to take up any claims, unless they give up their American citizenship and become British subjects.

It is said that numbers of Americans who have crossed the borders from Idaho and Montana are deprived of their finds by this law, and there is a great deal of excitement and indignation over it.

The Government of British Columbia says that the law was passed as a rebuke to Americans, because the United States Government has been making laws which are hurtful to Canadians.

Some of the American mine-owners became so alarmed that they took out their naturalization papers.  Others determined to defy the law, and commenced hostilities by sending the ore they got from their mines over the border into Washington, to be smelted.