understanding this, and seeing how Spain is harassed in other ways with the Carlists, and the Government, and the war in the Philippine Islands, thinks this is a good time to try and make peace.

It is quite sure that General Woodford has said nothing to anger Spain, but it has not been thought advisable to publish the note which he presented, and so it is not possible to tell you just what he did say.

It is supposed, however, that the note contained an offer to make peace between the combatants on the ground of the purchase of Cuba by the Cubans, the United States to guarantee the payment of the sum of money agreed upon.

General Woodford has cabled to the State Department asking permission to publish the contents of the note he gave the Duke of Tetuan.

The President is considering the matter, and will probably call a Cabinet council to discuss it before anything is decided.

In the mean time, the Spanish are in such an excited state that the Government of Spain fears for the safety of our minister. A special guard was therefore ordered to accompany him from San Sebastian to Madrid.

On his arrival at Madrid, the guard, which had travelled with him on the train, again took him in charge, and conducted him safely to the American legation.

It is to be hoped that this angry feeling will soon subside, and that the Spaniards may allow the United States to show that her only wish in the matter of Cuba is to do what is just and right for all parties concerned.

The resignation of the Spanish ministry will of course delay the answer to our letter, as it would be wrong for the Government to press for an answer while affairs are so unsettled in Spain.

Austria has been having her share of excitement during the past week.

On the opening of the parliament in Vienna, a disgraceful scene was made by the members of the lower house.

The session was to be opened by the Premier, Count Badeni. When he entered the hall he was greeted with howls and hisses, and cries of derision.

For certain reasons, which we will explain later, the Premier is at present very unpopular with the parliament, and so the members greeted him in this shameful manner, and finally one of the members, becoming more excited than the others, advanced toward the Premier, and began calling him names.

The result has been a duel between the member, Dr. Wolff, and the Premier, and the occurrence has raised a storm throughout the country, for that a Prime Minister should fight a duel with another member of the Government is an unheard-of thing.

Austria is a very difficult nation to govern, and the position of premier is by no means a bed of roses.

The reason of the difficulty is that Austria is composed of so many different states which have very little in common with each other.

In all, there are three great divisions: the Austrians proper, who are Germans in their leaning and language; the Hungarians, or Magyars, who are a haughty, fierce people, speaking their own tongue, proud of their traditions, and who look down on the more modern Austrians as upstarts. Besides these there are the Bohemians or Czechs (cheks), who speak still another language, and are a wild and quickly irritated people, obstinate, and as a rule slow-witted.

It is but natural that one or other of these people should be constantly offended at the course of the Government, and see in every new law an attempt to rob them of their rights and privileges.

The great trouble at present is the variety of the languages spoken. An attempt has been made by the Government to enforce the speaking of German throughout Austria. A law was passed making German the language in which all official business must be carried on; but to make it perfectly fair for the Hungarians and Bohemians as well as for the Austrians, the law provided that all officers of the Government who were stationed in districts where Czech or Magyar was spoken must be able to speak these tongues as well as German.

This law is intensely unpopular.

The Austrians want one language throughout the country, and are indignant at having to learn the Czech and Magyar, which are both frightfully difficult; some people laughingly declare that Czech is as hard to learn as Chinese. The Bohemians and Hungarians, on the other hand, do not wish their languages to die out, and they think that it would be only right to allow them to use their own tongue for official business throughout Bohemia and Hungary.

They have become so violently opposed to the law, that they have been making a great effort to revive their language, and have established a literature of their own, and are having the Czech language taught in the schools. In Prague and many of the cities of Bohemia, no other language is spoken.

Now Count Badeni, who has the difficult task of handling all these fiery people, has got into disgrace all around.

The Austrians are angry with him because in a certain place, and for a certain occasion, he allowed the Bohemians to use their own language for official business. The Bohemians are angry with him for having forbidden a certain public meeting; and others are again incensed against the Prime Minister for having offended them in various, apparently unimportant ways.

It was on account of his unpopularity and the various quarrels with him that he was so badly treated by the members of the parliament, and was finally so exasperated that he determined to fight a duel.

In Austria it is a criminal offence to fight a duel, and all the persons engaged in an affair of the kind can be imprisoned for from one to five years.

The Prime Minister, however, felt that he had been so terribly insulted that nothing but a duel could satisfy his sense of honor.

He therefore telegraphed to the Emperor, asking his permission to fight.

Duelling used to be a very common practice in Europe, and was considered the only means of avenging an insult. It was, however, carried to such an extent, that men would call one another out, as it was termed, for the most trifling offence. So many good and brave men were killed in this unreasonable manner, that one country after another began to make laws forbidding the practice. These laws have only been in force for a very few years, and in cases where men are terribly provoked, they still turn to duelling as a means of settling their disputes.

The Emperor of Austria, when he learnt of the shameful things that had been said to the Count, felt that, were he in the Premier's place, nothing but a duel could satisfy his honor, and so he gave his permission, and the duel took place.

Count Badeni was shot in the arm, and severely wounded; Dr. Wolff escaped unhurt.

Immediately the duel had taken place the Premier's enemies seized upon it as a means of disgracing him.

They raised a tumult about it, and declared that a man who would break the law by fighting a duel was not fit to manage the affairs of Government, and begged that the Count be dismissed from office, and arrested.

The Premier was, however, well aware of the serious nature of the act he contemplated, and that duelling was not a becoming occupation for a Prime Minister, so, when he asked the Emperor's permission to fight, he also sent in his resignation as Prime Minister.

The Emperor of Austria appears to be a very fair-minded man. Having given his permission for the duel, he was not going to desert the Count.

He refused to accept the Count's resignation, and, as a reply to the enemies of his Prime Minister, issued a decree forbidding the courts from prosecuting the Count for breaking the law.

Such a decree would not do for us in America, where the law is the highest power in the state, and even the President is bound to obey it; but in Austria, where such a thing was possible, it was certainly very considerate of the Emperor to stand so bravely