Chargé Sleeper to the Secretary of State.

[Telegram—Paraphrase.]

(Mr. Sleeper received the following telegram from Santiago de Cuba consulate at 1 p.m.: “Situation here growing more critical hourly. There appears to be no doubt but that opponents of the Government are organizing, and hostilities may be expected to commence at any moment. Three hundred insurgents attacked rural guard yesterday morning at Zaza del Medio. Government loss 18; insurgent loss not known. Government forces retreated to Sancti Spiritis. Apparently well-founded rumor of uprising in Camaguey. The postal service between here and Havana interrupted.”)