Cuba, and that the two matters be discussed and voted on at the same time.

This did not please the majority of the members, and the House adjourned without a vote being taken about the Relief Fund.

This does not mean that the House is unwilling to help the Americans in Cuba, but that the friends of Cuba see in it a chance to push the Morgan Bill forward, and are trying to make the best they can of the opportunity.

Whatever the fate of the Morgan Bill, there will be a day or two of delay in passing the resolution for the Relief Fund, but it will be passed without doubt.

Some progress has, however, been made with the Morgan Bill.

Three members of the Committee on Foreign Relations waited on the President, and asked him if he had received any fresh news about the state of affairs in Cuba.

The President sent them to the State Department, with permission to read all the official documents about Cuba that were on file.

It is stated on good authority that these papers showed such a state of intense suffering and distress, that when the Senators reported to their Committee the things they had seen and read in the State papers, several of the members declared that they would no longer oppose the Morgan Bill.

The Bill was discussed in the Senate after the appropriation had been granted, but no decision was arrived at.

Should it pass, the first benefit the Cubans will gain from it will be that Spain will have to treat the people she captures as prisoners of war, or else be prepared to quarrel with the United States over the matter.

At the present time she is able to declare that every prisoner she makes is a rebel, and to shoot her captives down like dogs, without trial. The soldiers are in the habit of seizing boys and old men, most of them innocent of any crime whatever, and marching them to prison as rebels.

In most of the military towns, it is stated that at dawn every morning one or more of these captives are led out and shot in the public square as an example to the rest of the people.

To venture outside the lines in search of food is a crime for which many Cubans have forfeited their lives.

The President is not unaware of these horrors, but he is determined to be sure that he knows the truth of the matter before he takes any decisive action.

He has sent Mr. Calhoun to Cuba to investigate the cause of the death of Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, who died or was killed in the prison of Guanabacoa, as we told you in The Great Round World, No. 19.

While he is in the island on this business, Mr. Calhoun is also to make notes of the general condition of things, and the President will be guided in his future Cuban policy by the report Mr. Calhoun makes.

There is a very grave reason why it is necessary for the President to take some action on Cuba at this moment. Diseases of the most serious kind have broken out in Cuba, and it is feared that they may be carried into our own country, unless some steps are taken to prevent them.

As we have said, no attempt has been made to protect, feed, or house the people who have been brought into the towns; and the overcrowding and hunger and misery have produced every form of fever and sickness, from which these poor unfortunates are dying in great numbers.

The best way to prevent the spreading of these diseases is to stop the causes that give rise to them. It may therefore be necessary, for the protection of this country, that the President take some steps to put an end to the struggle in Cuba.

There is as yet no settlement of the trouble between Greece and Turkey.

When the Greeks decided to put their affairs in the hands of Europe, the Powers sent to Turkey, asking her on what terms she would make peace, and if she would grant an armistice while the matter was being discussed.

An armistice means that both sides agree to cease fighting for a certain time which has been agreed upon