The Spanish Cabinet has not yet decided what answer shall be made to this note, but it is thought that Señor Sagasta will make a statement about the reforms that are about to be instituted in Cuba, and will ask that we wait and see the effect of these changes before we demand a positive answer to our letter.
The dry-dock has been heard from.
The builders of the dock have received a letter from the captain of the steamer that is towing it.
The letter was written at Madeira, an island off the western coast of Africa. In it the captain says that the dry-dock has excellent seagoing qualities, and that he has no further fear of being able to tow it safely into port.
Up to the time of writing, the captain had made eleven hundred miles with his tow, and as he considered the worst part of the voyage over, he expected to be able to increase the speed a little, and arrive in Cuba about the 8th of November.
It is stated that his Holiness the Pope is trying to find some means of bringing the trouble about the excommunication of the Spanish Minister of Finance to a satisfactory conclusion.
It appears that the Carlists are making great capital out of the affair, and are using it to turn the Spanish peasants against the Government.
These people are very religious, and regard their priests with great respect and awe. They would not dream of disobeying their orders, and are led and advised by them to a very great extent.
That one of the great men who are governing them should dare to disobey the commands of the Church, and have to be punished by so awful a penalty as excommunication, is so extraordinary to them that they can hardly believe it. The Carlists' agents have worked on these feelings until they have made the peasants believe that no good can come to a country governed by such ungodly men.