Inquiries at the Japanese embassy only elicited a denial of the report.  The Japanese insist that it is absurd to think of an alliance between Japan and Spain, because there is an unfriendly feeling between the two countries on account of the war in the Philippine Islands.  Spain, as you may remember, accused Japan of assisting the rebels in Manila with the hope of securing the Philippines for herself.

Inquiries were also made of the Secretary of State, but the department denied the truth of the rumors as firmly as the Japanese had done.

We should not be too sure that these rumors are false on this account, for Ambassadors and diplomatists are frequently obliged, for state reasons, to deny facts which they know to be perfectly true.

There has been considerable excitement in Havana on account of the arrest of some fifty of the most prominent merchants in the city.

The charge made against them was that they had been shipping goods into the interior of the island without a license, as required by a recent rule of Weyler’s.

The true cause of their arrest was that a number of packages containing medicine and ammunition were found on board one of the trains leaving Havana.  Weyler declared that these packages were intended for the Cuban rebels, and had the merchants arrested.

There is intense indignation in Havana over this outrage.  All the men arrested were wealthy and prominent, some having held important official positions in the city—­one in particular having been Mayor.

It is openly said that the whole affair was planned by the Spaniards to give them an opportunity of plundering these men of their wealth.  It is reported that the Chief of Police has informed the prisoners that they will be released, and no further proceedings taken against them, if they will pay him the sum of one million dollars.

When the news of these arrests became known, crowds gathered around the jail, protesting against the Government and calling loudly for the recall of Weyler.

The Government in Madrid has been cabled to upon the subject, but so far no reply has been received.

A dispatch from Madrid tells us that the people are indignant over Senor Canovas’ promise to send another twenty thousand soldiers to Cuba.

They say that Spain has already suffered enough, and that the Government ought not to ask for any more money or soldiers.

They complain that they were told that Cuba was pacified a month ago, and that nothing remained to be done but to subdue some bands of insurgents that were scattered throughout the island.  This was only a month ago, and now they are asked to prepare a fresh army to go to Cuba, and are told that the Spanish cause has met with disaster.

The Spanish papers are openly declaring that the time has come to put a stop to the sacrifice of men and money, and that the mother country must end her wars and give her people peace.