The Colonial Minister has been instructed to prepare a draft of the
scheme for Home Rule, and to have it ready to present to the cabinet
officers at their next meeting.

The Cubans, however, declare that they do not want Home Rule. They have
been fighting for freedom, and nothing less will satisfy them. They are
willing to buy their freedom from Spain, but they declare that they will
never lay down their arms until Cuba is free.

A despatch from the Philippine Islands brings the news that Spain is
faring badly in that direction also.

In a recent battle four hundred Spanish soldiers were killed. It seems
that the rebels in the Philippines fight in the American Indian fashion;
that is to say, they get under cover, behind bushes or trees, and,
taking careful aim at their enemy, make every shot tell. In this manner
they are able to inflict great injury without suffering much themselves.

It is reported that an entire battalion of Spanish soldiers, eight
hundred strong, has deserted in a body to the rebels.

The soldiers in the Philippines are suffering just as severely for food
and pay as their brother soldiers in Cuba, and finding that the rebels
feed their soldiers well, and treat them better than the Spaniards,
great numbers are constantly deserting and joining the rebel ranks.

* * * * *

Affairs in Greece are still unsettled.