credit for the young girl's rescue, and states that the two men who freed her from her prison were reporters sent out from the paper to do the work. It is to be hoped that this is not true, for while we must sympathize with all unfortunate prisoners, we have no right to break open the jails of another country and free her criminals. If this story is true, Spain has a just cause of complaint against us.

Señor Sagasta has published the contents of the note presented to him by General Woodford, and which was said by so many people to be practically a declaration of war. It turns out to have been merely a polite inquiry as to how much longer the war was going to last, and whether Spain saw a possibility of bringing it to a speedy close.

The Spanish Cabinet has not yet decided what answer shall be made to this note, but it is thought that Señor Sagasta will make a statement about the reforms that are about to be instituted in Cuba, and will ask that we wait and see the effect of these changes before we demand a positive answer to our letter.

The dry-dock has been heard from.

The builders of the dock have received a letter from the captain of the steamer that is towing it.

The letter was written at Madeira, an island off the western coast of Africa. In it the captain says that the dry-dock has excellent seagoing qualities, and that he has no further fear of being able to tow it safely into port.

Up to the time of writing, the captain had made eleven hundred miles with his tow, and as he considered the worst part of the voyage over, he expected to be able to increase the speed a little, and arrive in Cuba about the 8th of November.

It is stated that his Holiness the Pope is trying to find some means of bringing the trouble about the excommunication of the Spanish Minister of Finance to a satisfactory conclusion.

It appears that the Carlists are making great capital out of the affair, and are using it to turn the Spanish peasants against the Government.

These people are very religious, and regard their priests with great respect and awe. They would not dream of disobeying their orders, and are led and advised by them to a very great extent.

That one of the great men who are governing them should dare to disobey the commands of the Church, and have to be punished by so awful a penalty as excommunication, is so extraordinary to them that they can hardly believe it. The Carlists' agents have worked on these feelings until they have made the peasants believe that no good can come to a country governed by such ungodly men.

Numbers of these peasants have become dissatisfied with the Government, and are turning toward Don Carlos, because they believe him to be a leader who will respect the laws of God as well as the laws of man.

The Queen of Spain, hearing of this, has sent an urgent message to his Holiness the Pope, asking his aid, and he has immediately set about smoothing the matter over.

England has sent a final refusal to take part in the conference on the seal question.

The British Foreign Office has notified our ambassador in England, that Great Britain must decline to take part in any sealing conference to which Russia and Japan are invited.

We told you a week or so ago that England had objected to the presence of Russia and Japan because she insisted that the conference that was called had reference to the Paris award. As there were only two parties to the Paris conference, herself and the United States, she declared that she could not see what business Russia or Japan had in the matter at all.

The Paris award, if you remember (see page 976), had to do with the right of the United States to prevent other ships from entering the Bering Sea.

The United States has called the attention of Great Britain to the fact that the Washington conference is in no way connected with the Paris award. It has