If the various Powers could only have agreed how to divide up the Turkish Empire between them, the Sultan would have been expelled from Europe long ago. But they never have agreed, and so the Sultan of Turkey has kept his throne.
The Powers sent a note to Turkey at the same time that the one was despatched to Greece, telling him that they wished Crete to have Home Rule under the control of a Turkish prince.
The Sultan's reply was most amiable; he agreed to the wishes of the Powers so willingly, that it is said that he is glad to have an opportunity of ridding himself of Crete, which has long been an annoyance and expense to his Empire.
At the same time he, too, is massing troops on the frontier, ready to fly at the Greeks the moment war is declared.
Affairs in Cuba are beginning to look a little brighter for the Cubans, but very dark and dismal for Spain.
The last news from Madrid says that a Carlist rising is feared, and that Spain dares not send any more of her soldiers out of the country to help in the Cuban war. Her money is also exhausted. The enormous sums that were raised last year have been spent, and she has no means of raising any fresh loans. If she can send neither money nor men to further the Cuban war, it is likely that the Cubans will soon be victorious, for General Weyler says that he has not enough men to pacify the island; the funds are so low, that the Spanish soldiers can neither be paid nor fed properly and are deserting to the Cuban ranks from sheer want.
The Carlist rising, that is so much feared, concerns the pretensions of a certain Don Carlos to the throne of Spain.
From the time of Philip V., in 1713, the succession to the Spanish throne had been according to the Salic law, from father to son; or to the nearest male relative.
The Salic law is a very old law, which provides that no woman can inherit lands, or occupy the throne. According to this law, if a king dies leaving several daughters, but no son, the throne passes away from the daughters, and goes to the nearest male relative, be he nephew, uncle, or cousin.