Since we reported last week the seizure by the Cuban
Govern- Ment of the American blockade-runner, the Virginius, with 165 smile on board, it has turned out that the ship is at least priraii facie an American ship, that there was one American subject, at the very least, on board—probably many more,—that Sefior Castelar, on the application of the United States, sent a telegram peremptorily forbidding the execution of any more of the prisoners until the case had been reported to Madrid, but that the telegraph-wire between Santiago and Havannah was broken (no doubt on purpose, for it is at Santiago that the pri- soners are being tried by court-martial) ; that after fifty executions the trials of the rest were going on with "great despatch "; and that, the Spanish Press in Cuba was jubilant over the executions. Under these circumstances, public opinion in the United States has very. naturally become extremely indignant; the New York Times, a most moderate paper, has asserted that no course is left but to declare war on Spain, and to take possession of Cuba ; and the United States Government is ordering its ironclads to Cuba, to protect American interests for itself, as the Spanish Government seems unable to control its unruly subordinates. We have dis- cussed the situation elsewhere. If it does not end in war, as we hope it may not, it seems likely to end in a kind of interference which may achieve more for Cuba than Spain una3siste I has any chance of effecting. The Cuban Government at least must be put down.
