menians,
seven hundred of these unfortunate people having fallen victims to the
Turks. If the Powers have any conscience left, this news must have made
them thoroughly ashamed of their ridiculous position.

* * * * *

The week's news from Cuba is still of the same hopeful character for the
Cubans.

It is stated on the best authority that the Cubans are in absolute
possession of the eastern end of the island, the whole province of
Santiago de Cuba being in the hands of the insurgents.

[Illustration: Gen. Maximo Gomez]

It is stated that this province is really _Cuba Libre_, or "Free Cuba."
The government is being carried on there, and the peasants are able to sow
their fields and gather their crops in peace and safety.

The Cubans assert that if we would only recognize that they were engaged
in a real war, and give them the right to fit out a navy for themselves,
the war would be over in a very short time. They have now no fear but that
they will gain their liberty; they say, however, that with the Spanish
navy guarding the coast, and preventing the landing of help and supplies,
the war will last a good deal longer than it ought.

The Spaniards are very uneasy, and Havana is greatly alarmed over the last
expedition of General Weyler. The Spanish general has determined to force
a battle on General Gomez, and to make one great effort to subdue him.

It is reported that General Gomez is in Santa Clara, and Weyler has gone
thither with all the troops he can mass together to meet him.

[Illustration: The Filibuster Bermuda near the Cuban coast]

All Cuba has, however, learned by this time that the whereabouts of Gomez
and his army are never to be relied on. The Spaniards go out to fight them
in a certain place, and when they reach the spot where they expect the
enemy to be, they find that the Cubans have made a forced march and
escaped them, and are making war in quite a fresh section of the country.
The Cubans have accomplished some of the most wonderful marches in the
history of war, and have won many of their advantages by stealing past the
enemy that was advancing to fight them, and capturing towns and stores
left unprotected in the enemy's rear.

It is therefore not to be wondered at that there is a report in Havana
that Gomez has slipped past Weyler, and is advancing upon the city to
capture it.

If Gomez feels himself strong enough to fight a real battle with Weyler,
it may