plications between our government and that of Spain, was that of the Competitor, a swift schooner, fifty tons' burden and fifty feet keel. She eluded the customs officers and sailed from Key West, Fla., in the night of April 20, carrying a rebel leader and twenty-five or thirty Cubans, with a cargo of cartridges, dynamite, cases of rifles, etc., and was captured on April 25 by a Spanish gunboat while seeking a landing place on the northern coast of Pinar del Rio. Many of the men on board swam ashore and escaped; but the leader, Captain Alfredo Laborde, and four others, were captured and taken as prisoners to Morro Castle, for trial by a naval court-martial. Two of the men claimed to be American citizens, another was known to be such, another was an Englishman. At trial, on May 8, they all pleaded "not guilty;" and the testimony showed that none of them had been found armed or made any resistance. On May 9 it was announced that the five men had been condemned to death. General indignation was aroused in the United States; and Secretary Olney sent orders to the consul-general at Havana to present a strong remonstrance against summary execution, asserting that under our treaty with Spain a civil instead of a military trial is assured to all Americans except those who are found bearing arms. The demand of this government-presented first by Consul-General Williams in protest before the courtwas, not that the death penalty should not be inflicted, but that there should first be time for full investigation as to the form of the trial, the evidence, and the actual procedure, and as to the application of the treaty to the cases in hand. The British consul at Havana also appealed to Madrid in behalf of the English prisoner though a naturalized American. As these were capital cases, it was decided to refer the protest to the Madrid government; and at Madrid the sentences were met by the firm remonstrance of the United States against the precipitancy and the form of the trial.

The case, for a few days, presented an aspect of possible war. General Weyler was reported indignant at the United States government for presuming to interfere with his suppression of filibustering expeditions, and as threatening to resign if the Spanish government reversed the decree of his court. The Spanish press was demanding of its government a firm stand against American insolence, and was indicating a popular outbreak in Spain and the downfall of the ministry if any signs of yielding should appear. But on May 11 the authoritative announcement

was made in Washington, that execution of the sentences would be postponed until the views of the United States could be presented and considered. Within a day or two the decision was announced from Madrid that the Americans captured on the Competitor should have a new trial, in a civil court, and under treaty conditions. The gravity of the case disappeared. The prisoners will have a fair trial, with adequate counsel to plead their case, and with right to call witnesses. If conviction then follow, the United States cannot complain, though it is scarcely possible that death can be made the penalty for the offense committed.

The incident, on the whole, cleared the atmosphere. The comments of the European press, especially of the British press, were far more regardful of American rights and feelings, and far less sympathetic with Spain, than they had been during the last year's discussion of Cuban relations. No longer was Spain pictured as a weak and innocent sufferer, helpless in the presence of a coarse and bullying nation whose chief notion of foreign relations was their possible use in gaining public favor for a political party or the popular vote for a demagogue.

An important expedition was that of the British steamship Laurada, which, eluding the Spanish consul and the customs officials, left New York on the evening of May 9. Steaming out through the Narrows to sea, she laid her course for the eastern end of Long Island, where she was met the next afternoon by four tugs and three barges, which had come through Long Island sound, carrying munitions of war and about ninety men under General S. Ruiz, a Cuban veteran. The cargo and men were speedily transferred to the Laurada, which then started for Cuba. On May 16 this vessel succeeded in landing nearly all her cargo on the Cuban coast. She is reported to have carried 300 rifles, 310,000 rounds of ammunition, 1,000 pounds of dynamite, also electric batteries, insulated wire, saddles, medicine chests, etc.

This lively craft was reported next at Charleston, S. C., repairing; then on May 23 at Jacksonville, Fla., whence she sailed the same night with a second cargo and nearly 100 men for Cuba. A week later she was seen at Port Antonio, Jamaica, flying at full speed for the harbor, and pursued by a Spanish war vessel. The Spaniard fired, and the Laurada returned the fire. She had too much speed for the war vessel, and after anchorage in the harbor.

a

time came to safe

The most important expedition which had ever made successful landing in Cuba was that of the steamer Three Friends, which also left Jacksonville, Fla., May 23. It was her third expedition. Starting with a great cargo of miscellaneous military supplies of great value, she was followed closely by a United States revenue cutter to a distance far beyond the statute limit, to prevent her receiv

ing also on board men for soldiers. Nine miles out, the Three Friends took on board Colonel Rafael Portuondo, Cuban secretary of state, with 100 men, including surgeons and electrical experts. On May 28 the steamer was waiting off the Cuban coast for the signal for landing, when a Spanish warship came in sight and gave chase. A hundred lives were at stake. The steamer made for the open sea. Both vessels crowded on all steam for speed. The Spaniard opened fire, which the steamer returned. Gradually the Three Friends left the warship behind and out of sight. The next day she safely landed her great cargo.

HAVANA.

Another great expedition was that of the steamer City of Richmond, which left Key West, on June 24, for Cuba, with 150 men, and munitions sufficient for a small army. Only a little afterward the customs officials heard of her departure; and the revenue cutter Winona gave chase, firing upon her; but the pursuit was not successful. Five days later the Winona met and captured her and the Three Friends off the coast at the northward; and on July 1 the captain and passengers of the City of Richmond were brought before the United States court at Key West,

charged with organizing a military expedition against Spain. The examination resulted in their release. Against the Three Friends nothing was proved. At Jacksonville, Fla., on June 29, Captain Riley, commanding the steamship Bermuda, which had sailed from Key West on an alleged filibustering expedition on April 27, was brought before the United States commission and placed under $10,000 bonds for appearance on July 3. The Spanish consul at Tampa was present.

The notorious filibustering steamship Bermuda, which had been detained at Puerto Cortez, Honduras (p. 44), was released on April 2, and sailed north. On April 23 she again started, leaving Philadelphia, touching on the Florida coast, where she took on board General Vidal and ninety men, and sailed for Cuba April 26. A week later it was reported that she had safely landed an immense cargo of war supplies, with 400 men, on May 1. But, on May 31, the Bermuda arrived at Philadelphia from Puerto Cortez, Honduras; and it was ascertained that her attempt at landing on the Cuban coast was an utter failure, being interrupted by a Spanish gunboat while eight boats with forty-nine men were in the water. The Bermuda instantly made all speed to escape. Several of the men were able to clamber back on the ship; five were drowned; the fate of about thirty is unknown; they may have escaped or they may have been shot by the Spaniards on shore.

John D. Hart of Philadelphia, steamship owner, was arrested in that city on April 14, charged with violation of the neutrality laws in connection with one of the Cuban voyages of the Bermuda, and was bound over in $500 bail for a further hearing. He had within a few days been acquitted in New York on a similar charge. On the further hearing, he and his associates were acquitted on the later charge also.

In the case of the steamer Horsa, recently apprehended for conveying arms and men to Cuba, the United States supreme court rendered decision about the end of May, that the ship had been engaged in a military enterprise in violation of the neutrality laws of this country; and the judgment of the Pennsylvania court was affirmed, sentencing Captain Wiborg to sixteen months' imprisonment and a fine of $300. Justice Harlan dissented. The decision appears to be based on two facts:

(1) The men and their arms were openly associated as a military expedition, the men themselves loading and unloading their arms and using them in artillery drill on deck;

(2) The distance of six miles off shore at which the arms were taken on board (three miles outside the statute limit) cannot be admitted under all the circumstances as a technical barrier to prosecution for an offense planned on our territory and matured so fully and openly while men and arms were still on the ships.

It is plain that Cuban sympathizers, taking note of this decision, will hereafter know how to avoid compromising themselves before the law.

Various Affairs in Cuba.-The usual difficulty has attended the path of newspaper correspondents in Cuba. On May 7 James Creelman of the New York World, and Frederick W. Lawrence of the New York Journal, were expelled from the island by order of Captain-General Weyler. Mr. Creelman's account of massacre at Campo Florido had excited the Spanish to intense indignation. On June 3 Thomas R. Dawley, Jr., of Brooklyn, N. Y., an artist employed by Harper's Weekly, was arrested at the Trocha, and imprisoned in Morro Castle, on the charge of communicating with the rebels. Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee procured evidence in his behalf, especially in proof of his American citizenship, and on June 14 he was released. The Rev. A. J. Diaz, a laborious missionary, who had gathered a large Baptist church in Havana, was expelled from Cuba on the charge of aiding the rebellion-a charge not believed by those who know him.

By edict of Captain-General Weyler in the middle of May, export of leaf tobacco from Cuba was prohibited, except to Spain. This was a heavy blow at the extensive cigar factories in Florida. Secretary Olney made vigorous presentation of the rights of American dealers known to have much more than a million dollars' worth of tobacco in Cuba, which they had bought and paid for. His note procured a modification of the edict to the effect that all contracts for leaf tobacco entered into prior to promulgation of the order would be respected, and export of such tobacco permitted. Unofficial explanations were published, denying any intention of retaliation by the edict on this country for sympathy with the insurgents. Export was stopped because the amount of tobacco in Cuba was greatly reduced by the war, and 15,000 workers in Havana were in danger of soon being left idle unless the tobacco were kept in the island. The United States government has not seen its way clear to demand of Spain the entire abrogation of the decree forbidding this export.

Direct export of bananas to the United States was, by an order early in June, limited to the single port of Gibara.