Chapter 2

"Article 1.--Any military commander of the Cuban army accepting proposals of autonomy from the Spanish Government, or even conferring with Spanish envoys for any arrangement of peace, shall be immediately put under arrest, summarily court-martialled, and, if declared guilty of such acts, sentenced to death as a traitor to his flag.

"Article 2.--Any envoy from the Spanish Government, or from any Spanish or military commander, or from any political party favoring the Spanish dominion in Cuba, who shall approach our lines and confer or try to confer with any military or civil representative of the republic of Cuba, and propose to him the acceptance of autonomy from Spain, shall be immediately put under arrest, summarily court-martialled as a spy, and, if declared guilty, hanged according to our military laws.

"These articles shall be enforced by all the generals and subordinates of the Cuban army in the West and Santa Clara, the general commander of the East already having orders to enforce our laws on the matter. For country and liberty.

"MAXIMO GOMEZ."

It is said that the publication of these proclamations has created a deep impression in Havana.

Under these proclamations, any person who seeks the Cuban lines to offer home rule to the soldiers will be hanged as a spy, and any Cuban listening to such proposals will be shot as a traitor.

The two brave commanders have therefore made it very difficult for Spanish agents to approach their soldiers and corrupt them.

Very few battles are reported from Cuba. It is said that the Spanish troops are massed in such large numbers that the Cubans do not dare to attack them. It is also rumored that the present season being the one in which the supply of vegetables is scarcest in the island, the insurgents are not well enough supplied with food to venture on any long marches.

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The _Dauntless_ has again succeeded in conveying an expedition to Cuba.

She left Jacksonville with a schooner, the _Jenny Thomas_, in tow. When she reached the mouth of the St. Johns River, she was overhauled by the cruiser _Vesuvius_. Nothing contraband being found on her, she was allowed to go on her way after an hour's delay.

Unfortunately, it never occurred to the officers to search the vessel in tow, and so the daring little vessel got safely away.

It now appears that the contraband material was on board the schooner, and that after the cruiser was safely passed, the _Dauntless_ cast anchor in some convenient spot, took her forbidden cargo on board, and sailed away to Cuba without further hindrance.

The Spanish authorities are much annoyed over this incident, and think the United States is not showing a proper regard for Spain in allowing filibustering expeditions to leave her shores at a time when Spain is trying to pacify the Cubans with such liberal reforms.

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Don Carlos is said to be showing some activity again.

Realizing that the new decree giving Home Rule to Cuba will be very objectionable to many Spaniards, he has called a consultation of the leaders of his party, and asked them to go about among the people, and rouse them against the Government.

He promises that if he is called to the throne, he will not show any such mercy to the rebellious Cubans, but will compel them, by force of arms, to obey the will of the Spanish sovereign.

The leaders of the Carlist party do not, however, seem to be in any great hurry to act.

Such a revolution as Don Carlos is anxious to begin means life or death to the nobles and men of position who support him. If the rising fails, these men will be regarded as traitors to their country, and shot or exiled. In any case they will lose everything that they own or that the Government can discover and take from them.

With so much at stake it is but natural that the nobles should wish to be sure that their reward in case of success will be as great as their punishment in case of failure.

They are therefore anxious to secure certain pledges from Don Carlos, before they openly join themselves to an enterprise so full of peril.

Don Carlos does not seem willing to give these assurances, and so the rebellion is at a standstill at present.

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There was a little excitement during the past week over the announcement that the English and French armies had met in battle in West Africa.

The story was not, however, believed, because the English Government had given orders to her soldiers that they were to avoid any conflict with the French, and the same directions had been given to the French by their Government.

It is, however, felt that trouble is pretty sure to come ere long, and so England has been sending more soldiers to the Niger territory, and now has a force of four thousand men there.

A commission was appointed to examine into this vexed boundary question, and it has been sitting in Paris for many weeks.

Unfortunately, neither party seems willing to wait until the commission has finished its work.

The French, maintaining that they have a right to seize any city or land that is not occupied by an armed force belonging to any other nation, have been sending out armed parties to take possession of any territory they can get. They have already taken possession of several places that England has long looked upon as her property.

The British are naturally not going to submit to this, and so they, in their turn, are trying to seize land wherever possible.

It is feared that in some of their various raids the British and French may meet, and a serious conflict ensue.

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From India it is reported that the Ameer of Afghanistan has refused to listen to the envoys from the Afridi tribes, and that they are about to submit to the English rule.

They will be forced to give up the rifles and plunder they have taken, and hostages will be demanded of them as a guarantee of further good behavior.

The allowance made by the English Government to the Afridis will be stopped. The Khyber Pass, which was held by them, will be reopened, and matters will proceed much the same as if no rising had occurred.

A state durbar will shortly be held, at which the chiefs of the Afridis will do homage, and submit to the English rule.

A durbar is, as you no doubt remember, a levee or reception.

It is rumored that the results of this campaign are very unsatisfactory to the English people. The hill-fighting, however, turned out to be so much more severe than the English expected, and the tribesmen proved such formidable foes, that they were glad to make peace on whatever terms they could.

To punish the natives as they had intended would have taken such a large sum of money, and employed such a number of troops, that the Government finally decided that the wisest thing was to put a speedy end to the difficulty.

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The Soudan campaign has also been brought to a close.

The English people are also indignant about this.

They think that the Government ought not to have allowed such a good opportunity for punishing the Mahdists to slip through its fingers.

With a little more perseverance, the lower Soudan would have been opened up to the world and Gordon avenged.

As it was, no decisive battle was fought; the Mahdists, under Osman Digna, steadily retreated before the advance of the British.

After the brilliant reconnoitring trip to Khartoum, and the shelling of the city by the two little gunboats, it was expected that something decisive was about to be done. But no advance has been made by the main army, and now it is positively stated that no further steps will be taken until January.

People are wondering why the soldiers were sent to the Soudan, if they are only to camp on the banks of the Nile and contemplate the Mahdists from a distance.

After building their railroad, and making such excellent preparations for a brilliant campaign, it seems astonishing that the troops should be allowed to sit down and wait, without striking a blow.

It is, however, rumored that the English Government does not wish to spend more money pushing the campaign further, and that more troops are needed to bring the campaign to a successful termination.

Whatever the reason, nothing more is likely to be done in the Soudan for the present.

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The committee which was appointed to find out just how much it would cost to make armor-plate, has sent in a report which will be presented to Congress at the earliest opportunity.

It appears that it will cost over three and a half million dollars to build an armor-plate factory capable of making the amount of armor required by the Government.

It has not yet been decided whether the factory shall be built, but the Secretary of the Navy is going to advertise for offers to build it so that he can lay the whole matter before Congress at one time.

The Carnegie and Bethlehem steel companies have not been idle while the Government has been making its inquiries.

Krupp, the German gun-maker, has recently invented a process for manufacturing armor-plate which is said to make a plate that is still more durable and better than that manufactured by the Harvey process.

The Carnegie and Bethlehem companies no sooner heard of the Krupp process, than they sent experts to examine it, and finding it to be all that was represented, they purchased the sole right to use the process in this country.

The Government, of course, wants the best possible armor for its ships, and if the Krupp is the best, they must have Krupp armor-plate.

The cleverness of these two firms has, however, made it impossible for the Government to manufacture this kind of armor for itself. If it is to be used, it must be bought from the Carnegie or Bethlehem people.

The Secretary of the Navy does not approve of the Government spending so much money in building a factory of its own. It is said that when he lays the matter before Congress, he will recommend that the armor be bought of the Carnegie or Bethlehem firms.

It is stated that he expects to get the armor for $425 a ton.

The Carnegie Company are, however, masters of the situation. With the Bethlehem works, they own the right to manufacture this new and excellent armor, and if the Government must have it for its ships, the company will ask what price they please. Their excuse will no doubt be that they have had to pay so much money for the right that they are obliged to make the price high.

G.H. ROSENFELD.

WANTED--A RECIPE FOR A BOOK.

Your editor had an interesting talk a few days ago with one of our best-known naturalists, who said: "Boys and girls are the keenest observers, if they are interested in anything. We naturalists get much of our most valuable information through their quick eyes and minds."

"And," he added, "the more they see, the more they want to see and know, and they are constantly coming to me for facts, asking me why I do not write good books."

"Well, why don't you?"

"I'll tell you why. It is because I want to write a book which will tell them _just_ what they want to know, and I do not know what our boys and girls are interested in. If I write about pets, what kind of pets are they most interested in--dogs or cats, horses or birds, squirrels or fishes? If I write about wild animals, must it be about their homes and what they do, or about the best ways to hunt and trap them? Then, again, I am not sure if they are not more interested in hunting for beautiful and curious things on the seashore--shells, crabs, sea-anemones, and such things."

Your editor believes in asking the boys and girls to say for themselves what they want, and then to give that to them in the best possible way. Therefore he answered: "Ask the boys and girls what they want. Do not ask one or two, but just ask one or two thousand, and give them just what they ask for--no more and no less." As he cannot write a letter to you all, will you not, each one of you, write a letter addressed to "Naturalist, care of Editor of GREAT ROUND WORLD, 5 West 18th Street," and in this letter say just what you would like: a book about birds, pets, bees, wild animals, shells, fishes, or snakes--for he knows all about these things, and can write a book on any or all of these subjects, or, indeed, anything that has to do with woods, fields, or ocean, and the wonderful and interesting things found in them. We hope that our promise to this naturalist, that our boys and girls can and will tell him what he wants to know, will not lead to a disappointment.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

If any of our boys and girls have found their bicycle saddles as uncomfortable as your editor has found his, they will be delighted to learn that there is to be had a sensible as well as most comfortable saddle. The pleasure of riding your wheel for miles without feeling your saddle can only be appreciated by those who happen to have a saddle which fits; the great trouble is that very few people fit the average saddle; and as the saddle cannot be adjusted, perfect comfort is not obtainable. With this new saddle the case is different, for it can be adjusted to fit a large or small person exactly. It also has a contrivance which permits the parts to move up and down so that there is no friction whatever. Our attention was called to it by one of the officers of the navy, who has proved himself an expert in wheel contrivances, and a careful test bears out all of his statements. The saddle is well made and inexpensive ($3.50).

BOOKS RECEIVED.

We have received a very attractive little book called "Uncle Robert's Visit," which is the third part of the series of books called "Uncle Robert's Geography." It is published by the Messrs. Appleton in their series of Home-Reading Books, and presents nature study and geographical knowledge in the most attractive form, being woven in a story of "Uncle Robert's Visit" to the farm. This particular uncle, like some others we have known, was a fund of information and a source of delight to the nephews and nieces. He went about with them in the fields and woods, and, without forcing it on them in any way, so ordered the conversation that they learned much of nature on each trip. These uncles are treasures, and to those who cannot have them always with them, to read of some one else's uncle in this attractive form is charming.

The book is well made, a handy size, with a colored frontispiece showing the farmhouse; it is illustrated throughout in a practical way which cannot fail to interest children.

("Uncle Robert's Visit," Home Reading Books: D. Appleton & Co., 1897; 50 cents.)

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We wish to acknowledge the receipt of a new and illustrated edition of the old favorite, "Gypsy Year at the Golden Crescent," by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, illustrated by Mary Fairman Clarke.

(Dodd, Mead & Co., $1.50.)