rousers, blue jackets, and straw hats, with the
name of their ship on the front of the hat. All business is going on as
usual, and laborers are at work in the streets and on the houses.

The company consists of the bishop himself, the Bishop of Puebla de los
Angeles in Mexico, Father Yuch, the rector of the Jesuit College, who
has a high reputation as a man of intellect, and two young
ecclesiastics. Our dinner is well cooked, and in the Spanish style,
consisting of fish, vegetables, fruits, and of stewed light dishes, made
up of vegetables, fowls and other meats, a style of cooking well adapted
to a climate in which one is very willing to dispense with the solid,
heavy cuts of an English dinner.

The Bishop of Puebla wore the purple, the Bishop of Havana a black robe
with a broad cape, lined with red, and each wore the Episcopal cross and
ring. The others were in simple black cassocks. The conversation was in
French; for, to my surprise, none of the company could speak English;
and being allowed my election between French and Spanish, I chose the
former, as the lighter infliction on my associates.

I am surprised to see what an impression is made on all classes in this
country by the pending "Thirty Millions Bill" of Mr. Slidell. It is
known to be an Administration measure, and is thought to be the first
step in a series which is to end in an attempt to seize the island. Our
steamer brought oral intelligence that it had passed the Senate, and it
was so announced in the Diario of the day after our arrival, although no
newspaper that we brought so stated it. Not only with these clergymen,
but with the merchants and others whom I have met since our arrival,
foreigners as well as Cubans, this is the absorbing topic. Their future
seems to be hanging in doubt, depending on the action of our government,
which is thought to have a settled purpose to acquire the island. I
suggested that it had not passed the Senate, and would not pass the
House; and, at most, was only an authority to the President to make an
offer that would certainly be refused. But they looked beyond the form
of the act, and regarded it as the first move in a plan, of which,
although they could not entirely know the details, they thought they
understood the motive.

These clergymen were well informed as to the state of religion in the
United States, the relative numbers and force of the various
denominations, and their doctrinal differences; the reputations