General Weyler has announced his intention of doing no more fighting until the close of the rainy season.

He is on his way back to Havana.  He has not pacified Santiago de Cuba as he promised to do, but now declares that it is impossible to attempt any military operations during the rainy season.

The Cubans do not agree with him.  The rain has, so far, not dampened their ardor.

Every day reports come to us that raids and skirmishes are taking place all over the island.

On the outskirts of Havana the insurgents are keeping up a constant fight.  They are burning houses, and making the best of every opportunity to harass the enemy.

A bold attempt was made to capture Fondeviela the other day; some fierce fighting took place, but the Colonel eventually succeeded in driving off the Cubans.

The case of Gen. Rius Rivera is likely to be settled without the interference of the Spanish Government.

The unfortunate soldier is seriously ill, and not expected to live many days.  It is said that he is not dying of his wounds, but of a disease that has developed since he has been in prison.

A late report says that the discontent among the Spanish soldiers in regard to their pay has induced their officers to give them permission to plunder where they can.  The few unfortunates who have any property left are now at the mercy of the soldiers.

This state of distress in the island is in great contrast to the charming picture of peace and prosperity which it presented a few short years ago.

A writer in The Sun describes the island as it was before the breaking out of the first war.

He says that in those days its commerce with this country amounted to a hundred million dollars a year.  It maintained an army of twenty thousand Spanish soldiers, and its harbors were always filled with Spanish vessels.

Havana was then one of the gayest capitals in the world.  Its streets were thronged with fine carriages, in which the beauties of the island took their daily drives.  At night all the fashion of the city would congregate on the Plaza in front of the Governor’s mansion, and listen to the music of the military bands.

The people of the island were loyal and obedient to the wishes of the mother country.  They gave up the treasures of the island in return for a kindly government.

In those days Spain called Cuba the ever-faithful island, because she was the only American possession of Spain that still remained contented under the rule of the mother country.

To travellers she seemed an earthly Paradise, and many were the stories of the beauties of this favored isle.

No one could say enough pleasant things about its light-hearted, kindly people, its marvellous vegetation, its lovely flowers, its delicious fruits, and its generous soil in which anything that was planted would grow.