If this method is really as useful as it is declared to be, it will save an infinite amount of trouble in our Custom House.  Unfortunately there are so many more dutiable articles in this country than in France that it is possible even the X-rays might not be sharp enough to discover them all.

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The treaty for the annexation of Hawaii has been approved by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and returned to the Senate for ratification.

The committee thoroughly approved of the treaty, and sent it to the Senate without any alteration or criticism.  It therefore stands as we explained it to you in No. 34.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Davis, would be glad to have the treaty ratified at once, as he thinks that speedy action would be the best way to avoid any trouble with Japan.  He has, however, been warned that if he tries to press the treaty this session, the Senate will block it with the lengthy discussions about which we told you.  Senator Davis therefore thinks that it will be best to let the matter rest for the present.

The President called a cabinet council to discuss the affairs of Hawaii, and at the council a policy was laid down to protect our interests in the Sandwich Islands until the treaty can be ratified.

In accordance with this policy full instructions have been sent to Rear-Admiral Beardslee, who is in command of the cruiser Philadelphia, which is now in Hawaiian waters.

The Admiral has been commanded to land a force of sailors and marines and hoist the American flag over the Hawaiian Islands at the first sign of hostility from Japan.

As we stated before, the American fleet in Hawaiian waters is to be reinforced by the battle-ship Oregon, one of our first-class cruisers.  This will give the Admiral three vessels under his command—­the Philadelphia, the Oregon, and the Marion.  There have been several rumors that the Marion was to be recalled, because she was an old-fashioned wooden ship, and was badly in need of repairs.  She will, however, remain where she is for the present.

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Reliable information has been brought to us of an enormous find of gold on the borders of British Columbia and Alaska.

The accounts of the find read like a fairy-story.

Those familiar with placer mining declare that the new gold-fields are the richest and finest ever discovered; they say that the California find of 1849 cannot be compared with this present one.

The place where this great discovery has been made is on the borders of Alaska, not many miles east of the British Columbia boundary, and therefore on English territory.  It is called the Klondike district.

The Klondike is a river, a tributary of the Yukon River, into which it flows above Forty Mile Creek.

The story of the find is interesting.