ry and civil officers, while hotly
pursued by infuriated insurgents, sought refuge on board the United
States war ship _Bennington_, then lying in a Salvadorean port.
Although the practice of asylum is not favored by this Government, yet
in view of the imminent peril which threatened the fugitives and solely
from considerations of humanity they were afforded shelter by our naval
commander, and when afterwards demanded under our treaty of extradition
with Salvador for trial on charges of murder, arson, and robbery I
directed that such of them as had not voluntarily left the ship be
conveyed to one of our nearest ports where a hearing could be had before
a judicial officer, in compliance with the terms of the treaty. On their
arrival at San Francisco such a proceeding was promptly instituted
before the United States district judge, who held that the acts
constituting the alleged offenses were political and discharged all the
accused except one Cienfuegos, who was held for an attempt to murder.
Thereupon I was constrained to direct his release for the reason that an
attempt to murder was not one of the crimes charged against him and upon
which his surrender to the Salvadorean authorities had been demanded.

Unreasonable and unjust fines imposed by Spain on the vessels and
commerce of the United States have demanded from time to time during the
last twenty years earnest remonstrance on the part of our Government.
In the immediate past exorbitant penalties have been imposed upon our
vessels and goods by customs authorities of Cuba and Puerto Rico for
clerical errors of the most trivial character in the manifests or bills
of lading. In some cases fines amounting to thousands of dollars have
been levied upon cargoes or the carrying vessels when the goods in
question were entitled to free entry. Fines have been exacted even when
the error had been detected and the Spanish authorities notified before
the arrival of the goods in port.

This conduct is in strange contrast with the considerate and liberal
treatment extended to Spanish vessels and cargoes in our ports in like
cases. No satisfactory settlement of these vexatious questions has yet
been reached.

The Mora case, referred to in my last annual message, remains unsettled.
From the diplomatic correspondence on this subject which has been laid
before the Senate it will be seen that this Government has offered to
conclude a convention with Spain for disposal by arbitration