The latest news of all is, that the Spanish Government in Madrid is preparing a paper which will be sent to Cuba very shortly. It offers the Cubans Home Rule, and gives them a great many rights that they do not now possess. While the Cubans are pleased at this, they have not much faith in the offer, and say that unless the United States promises to see that Spain carries out her promises, they will not consider the offer at all. The principal Cubans are waiting to see the actual paper before they say much about it. In the mean while, many of the Spanish soldiers are deserting from their own ranks, and going over to the Cuban side. The Spaniards have been offering every inducement to get the Cubans to desert, and go over to them, but hardly any have done so--the only person of importance being the infamous Dr. Zertuccha, who betrayed Maceo. A telegram from Havana says that a major in the Spanish army, with 100 men and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, joined General Gomez the other day. At Puerto Principe, a Spanish colonel, with a whole company of well-armed men, also went over to the Cubans. The Cubans think this is a very favorable sign for them, and look for a speedy end to the war. * * * * * The filibustering steamers _Three Friends_ and _Dauntless_ have been released. Their owners have had to promise to give them up again whenever they are wanted. They have also had to give the court some money, which they will lose if the ships are not brought back when the court calls for them. If the cases of piracy and filibustering against them are found to be true, the ships will become the property of the Government, and the owners will lose them altogether. The United States cruiser _Montgomery_ has been ordered to Key West, to prevent filibustering parties going over to Cuba, and the _Raleigh_, which has been doing this duty, has gone to be repaired. * * * * * People who are interested in the comfort of the poor of New York are very glad to know that some dreadful rear tenement houses in Mott Street are to be taken away by order of the Board of Health. We all read about tenement houses, and we all feel sorry that many of the houses for the poor to live in are not as comfortably built as they might be. Very few of us know the discomforts that the poor have to endure, who are obliged to live in the old, badly planned tenement-houses. Poor people must live near their work, because they cannot afford to pay car-fares back and forth every day. So the tenement-houses are generally built in neighborhoods where the work is being done, and people have to take them clean or dirty, well or badly built, because they must make their home in that neighborhood.