for further delay, the Ambassadors one and all refused to have any dealings with any one but Tewfik Pasha. The Turkish Minister then withdrew, to acquaint His Majesty with the decision of the Ambassadors--and so the matter stands for the present. No one knows what the Sultan's next move will be. England does not believe that he really intends to give up Thessaly, but the other Powers think that he will do so as soon as he is absolutely sure that a refusal will mean war. * * * * * The most interesting news in regard to Cuba this week is the renewal of the report that Spain and Japan have entered into an alliance against the United States. A correspondent at Paris, France, telegraphs that the understanding between the two countries is to the effect that should the United States take any active measures to secure the freedom of Cuba, or persist in the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, Spain and Japan shall declare war on her at the same moment. The plan is that Spain shall send vessels to attack our Atlantic seaboard, and Japan shall simultaneously make war on the Pacific coast. Inquiries at the Japanese embassy only elicited a denial of the report. The Japanese insist that it is absurd to think of an alliance between Japan and Spain, because there is an unfriendly feeling between the two countries on account of the war in the Philippine Islands. Spain, as you may remember, accused Japan of assisting the rebels in Manila with the hope of securing the Philippines for herself. Inquiries were also made of the Secretary of State, but the department denied the truth of the rumors as firmly as the Japanese had done. We should not be too sure that these rumors are false on this account, for Ambassadors and diplomatists are frequently obliged, for state reasons, to deny facts which they know to be perfectly true. There has been considerable excitement in Havana on account of the arrest of some fifty of the most prominent merchants in the city. The charge made against them was that they had been shipping goods into the interior of the island without a license, as required by a recent rule of Weyler's. The true cause of their arrest was that a number of packages containing medicine and ammunition were found on board one of the trains leaving Havana. Weyler declared that these packages were intended for the Cuban rebels, and had the merchants arrested. There is intense indignation in Havana over this outrage. All the men arrested were wealthy and prominent, some having held important official positions in the city--one in particular having been Mayor. It is openly said that the whole affair was planned by the Spaniards to give them an opportunity of plundering these men of their wealth. It is reported that the Chief of Police has informed the prisoners that they will be released, and no further proceedings taken against them, if they will pay him the sum of one million dollars. When the news of these arrests became known, crowds gathered around the jail, protesting against the Government and calling loudly for the recall of Weyler. The Government in Madrid has been cabled to upon t