Should the time come when the action of the United States
can hasten the return of peace by a single hour, that action will be
heartily taken. I deemed it prudent, in view of the number of persons
of German and French birth living in the United States, to issue, soon
after official notice of a state of war had been received from both
belligerents, a proclamation[29] defining the duties of the United
States as a neutral and the obligations of persons residing within
their territory to observe their laws and the laws of nations. This
proclamation was followed by others,[30] as circumstances seemed to call
for them. The people, thus acquainted in advance of their duties and
obligations, have assisted in preventing violations of the neutrality
of the United States.
It is not understood that the condition of the insurrection in Cuba has
materially changed since the close of the last session of Congress. In
an early stage of the contest the authorities of Spain inaugurated a
system of arbitrary arrests, of close confinement, and of military trial
and execution of persons suspected of complicity with the insurgents,
and of summary embargo of their properties, and sequestration of their
revenues by executive warrant.
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