the Spanish soldiers in
regard to their pay has induced their officers to give them permission
to plunder where they can. The few unfortunates who have any property
left are now at the mercy of the soldiers.

This state of distress in the island is in great contrast to the
charming picture of peace and prosperity which it presented a few short
years ago.

A writer in _The Sun_ describes the island as it was before the breaking
out of the first war.

He says that in those days its commerce with this country amounted to a
hundred million dollars a year. It maintained an army of twenty thousand
Spanish soldiers, and its harbors were always filled with Spanish
vessels.

Havana was then one of the gayest capitals in the world. Its streets
were thronged with fine carriages, in which the beauties of the island
took their daily drives. At night all the fashion of the city would
congregate on the Plaza in front of the Governor's mansion, and listen
to the music of the military bands.

The people of the island were loyal and obedient to the wishes of the
mother country. They gave up the treasures of the island in return for a
kindly government.

In those days Spain called Cuba the ever-faithful island, because she
was the only American possession of Spain that still remained contented
under the rule of the mother country.

To travellers she seemed an earthly Paradise, and many were the stories
of the beauties of this favored isle.

No one could say enough pleasant things about its light-hearted, kindly
people, its marvellous vegetation, its lovely flowers, its delicious
fruits, and its generous soil in which anything that was planted would
grow.

When we think of Cuba to-day, laid waste by fire and sword, with barren
fields and starving people, we cannot help feeling that the causes must
have been great which led to such a terrible sacrifice.

* * * * *

The only news relating to Hawaiian matters this week is that Japan is
seriously angry with us over the treatment her Minister at Washington
has received at the hands of the Secretary of State.

It would seem that the Japanese are extremely precise and particular
about the way their diplomatic affairs are conducted.

Their idea of what is necessary on such occasions is very different from
ours, and unfortunately the Japanese Ministers both at Honolulu and
Washington have not received the treatment that, according to their
views, is