It would not be at all polite to keep the Japanese ambassadors waiting
all summer to make their presentation, and so there is to be a great
court function to receive the messengers of the Mikado, and General
Woodford will be recognized at the same time.
* * * * *
The condition of the Spanish troops is reported to grow worse every day.
It is said that their uniforms are ragged and torn, and they look more
like tramps than the representatives of a European army.
They are said to go through the streets of Havana begging coppers from
the passers-by, and asking bread from door to door.
It is said that numbers of loyal Spanish merchants are leaving the
island, because they are forced to supply the soldiers with food without
receiving any payment in return. They prefer to leave Cuba rather than
be ruined.
In the mean while Havana has been thrown into a panic by the report that
General Gomez is marching on the city. The truth of the rumor could not
be ascertained, but the fear was strengthened by the sudden return of
General Weyler, who had gone off on one of his famous pacifying
expeditions.
No sooner had Weyler returned than he began to make extraordinary
preparations to defend the city, and so it is generally believed in
Havana that the report is true.
It is known positively that the Cubans are very near the city, and that
Gomez has issued orders to all the insurgent leaders to press the war
forward with unceasing activity.
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