I have, since the beginning of the present session of Congress,
communicated to the House of Representatives, upon their request, an
account of the steps which I had taken in the hope of bringing this sad
conflict to an end and of securing to the people of Cuba the blessings
and the right of independent self-government. The efforts thus made
failed, but not without an assurance from Spain that the good offices of
this Government might still avail for the objects to which they had been
addressed.
During the whole contest the remarkable exhibition has been made of
large numbers of Cubans escaping from the island and avoiding the risks
of war; congregating in this country, at a safe distance from the scene
of danger, and endeavoring to make war from our shores, to urge our
people into the fight which they avoid, and to embroil this Government
in complications and possible hostilities with Spain. It can scarce be
doubted that this last result is the real object of these parties,
although carefully covered under the deceptive and apparently plausible
demand for a mere recognition of belligerency.
It is stated on what I have reason to regard as good authority that
Cuban bonds have been prepared to a large amount, whose payment is made
dependent upon the recognition by the United States of either Cuban
belligerency or independence.
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