This delay was very annoying to us.  The Cuban questions are too pressing to be allowed to wait until the autumn, and no business could be transacted with the Spanish Government until we had a property recognized representative there.

Happily for us, Japan has helped us out of the difficulty.

The Mikado has sent a special mission to the Spanish court to present the young King Alphonso with his sacred order of the Chrysanthemum.

It would not be at all polite to keep the Japanese ambassadors waiting all summer to make their presentation, and so there is to be a great court function to receive the messengers of the Mikado, and General Woodford will be recognized at the same time.

* * * * *

The condition of the Spanish troops is reported to grow worse every day.

It is said that their uniforms are ragged and torn, and they look more like tramps than the representatives of a European army.

They are said to go through the streets of Havana begging coppers from the passers-by, and asking bread from door to door.

It is said that numbers of loyal Spanish merchants are leaving the island, because they are forced to supply the soldiers with food without receiving any payment in return.  They prefer to leave Cuba rather than be ruined.

In the mean while Havana has been thrown into a panic by the report that General Gomez is marching on the city.  The truth of the rumor could not be ascertained, but the fear was strengthened by the sudden return of General Weyler, who had gone off on one of his famous pacifying expeditions.

No sooner had Weyler returned than he began to make extraordinary preparations to defend the city, and so it is generally believed in Havana that the report is true.

It is known positively that the Cubans are very near the city, and that Gomez has issued orders to all the insurgent leaders to press the war forward with unceasing activity.

* * * * *

It seems that the Sultan has really been brought to terms.

The ambassadors, if you remember, gave him a stern refusal to treat with any one but Tewfik Pasha, and repeated their demand for a written acceptance of the frontier.

After this meeting with Tewfik the diplomats held a conference which resulted in the preparation of a note to their governments in which they gave it as their opinion that the Sultan could never be brought to terms unless some decided action was taken.

The Sultan heard of this, and became alarmed.

He therefore sent one of his ministers, Yussuf Bey, to the ambassadors, urging them to do nothing hastily, but assuring them that if they would only have patience for a few days, everything could be satisfactorily arranged.

But the ambassadors had had enough of delay, and they dismissed Yussuf Bey, telling him politely that they could not possibly wait any longer.