al advantage of both parties. With a view to this object,
some progress has been made in negotiating a treaty of commerce and
navigation.

Independently of our valuable trade with Spain, we have important
political relations with her growing out of our neighborhood to the
islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. I am happy to announce that since the
last Congress no attempts have been made by unauthorized expeditions
within the United States against either of those colonies. Should any
movement be manifested within our limits, all the means at my command
will be vigorously exerted to repress it. Several annoying occurrences
have taken place at Havana, or in the vicinity of the island of Cuba,
between our citizens and the Spanish authorities. Considering the
proximity of that island to our shores, lying, as it does, in the track
of trade between some of our principal cities, and the suspicious
vigilance with which foreign intercourse, particularly that with the
United States, is there guarded, a repetition of such occurrences may
well be apprehended.

As no diplomatic intercourse is allowed between our consul at Havana
and the Captain-General of Cuba, ready explanations can not be made or
prompt redress afforded where injury has resulted. All complaint on the
part of our citizens under the present arrangement must be, in the first
place, presented to this Government and then referred to Spain. Spain
again refers it to her local authorities in Cuba for investigation, and
postpones an answer till she has heard from those authorities. To avoid
these irritating and vexatious delays, a proposition has been made to
provide for a direct appeal for redress to the Captain-General by our
consul in behalf of our injured fellow-citizens. Hitherto the Government
of Spain has declined to enter into any such arrangement. This course
on her part is deeply regretted, for without some arrangement of this
kind the good understanding between the two countries may be exposed to
occasional interruption. Our minister at Madrid is instructed to renew
the proposition and to press it again upon the consideration of Her
Catholic Majesty's Government.

For several years Spain has been calling the attention of this
Government to a claim for losses by some of her subjects in the case
of the schooner _Amistad_. This claim is believed to rest on the
obligations imposed by our existing treaty with that country. Its
justice was admitted in our diplomatic corre