Were this not enough to make his task a difficult one, he will find to his cost that the soldiers of Spain on whom he must rely are ill, poorly fed, and angry with the Government because it does not even pay them the pittance due in return for their services and sufferings. It is true that General Blanco is to take twenty thousand fresh troops with him. But sickness and disease are ravaging Cuba, and the new-comers, unused to the climate, are likely to be the first to fall victims to the fevers and plagues that are turning the beautiful island into a pest-house. It is said that Sagasta has ordered General Blanco to continue the war as long as there is an insurgent in arms against Spain, but that he does not intend to conquer the people by force of arms alone. The soldiers are to punish the Cubans if they will not obey the Government, but Senor Sagasta means to try and win the friendship of the people by giving them a kind and liberal form of government under which they may prosper and be happy. With this policy he hopes to bring the war to a speedy end. General Blanco's first act is to be to repeal some of the cruel laws made by Weyler, especially those which have driven the unfortunate peasants into the towns to starve, while their ungathered crops lie rotting in the fields. Whether these efforts to secure the friendship of the Cubans will be successful or not, the future alone can tell. At present the Cubans are not disposed to listen to any offers. They persist in their declaration that they are fighting for freedom, and that the change of ministers or captains-general makes no difference to them. They are not going to lay down their arms because Weyler is recalled, nor yet because Sagasta offers them Home Rule. As a last act before he leaves the island, General Weyler has pardoned a great number of Cubans whom he had exiled from their country, and these men are now free to return to their homes. In the mean while the Cubans have won two brilliant victories in Havana Province, and have also gained possession of a seaport town called Santa Maria, in the province of Pijar del Rio. General Weyler has stated that he has pacified the eastern part of the island, and has only a little more work to do before he will have the west completely subdued. In direct contradiction of this statement comes the news that Bayamo, Holguin, Jiguani, and other towns held by the Spanish in Santiago province (which is Eastern Cuba) have all been abandoned by the Spanish troops since the fall of Victoria de las Tunas. With these towns abandoned, the insurgents do not need such a large body of troops in Santiago, and so a strong force under the leadership of General Garcia is making its way westward to join the army in Havana and Pinar del Rio.