st friendly character.

With Spain our relations remain in an unsatisfactory condition. In my
message of December last I informed you that our envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary to Madrid had asked for his recall, and it
was my purpose to send out a new minister to that Court with special
instructions on all questions pending between the two Governments, and
with a determination to have them speedily and amicably adjusted if that
were possible. This purpose has been hitherto defeated by causes which
I need not enumerate.

The mission to Spain has been intrusted to a distinguished citizen of
Kentucky, who will proceed to Madrid without delay and make another and
a final attempt to obtain justice from that Government.

Spanish officials under the direct control of the Captain-General of
Cuba have insulted our national flag and in repeated instances have
from time to time inflicted injuries on the persons and property of our
citizens. These have given birth to numerous claims against the Spanish
Government, the merits of which have been ably discussed for a series
of years by our successive diplomatic representatives. Notwithstanding
this, we have not arrived at a practical result in any single instance,
unless we may except the case of the _Black Warrior_, under the late
Administration, and that presented an outrage of such a character as
would have justified an immediate resort to war. All our attempts
to obtain redress have been baffled and defeated. The frequent and
oft-recurring changes in the Spanish ministry have been employed as
reasons for delay. We have been compelled to wait again and again until
the new minister shall have had time to investigate the justice of our
demands.

Even what have been denominated "the Cuban claims," in which more
than 100 of our citizens are directly interested, have furnished no
exception. These claims were for the refunding of duties unjustly
exacted from American vessels at different custom-houses in Cuba so
long ago as the year 1844. The principles upon which they rest are so
manifestly equitable and just that, after a period of nearly ten years,
in 1854 they were recognized by the Spanish Government. Proceedings were
afterwards instituted to ascertain their amount, and this was finally
fixed, according to their own statement (with which we were satisfied),
at the sum of $128,635.54. Just at the moment, after a delay of fourteen
years, when we had reason to expec