ith regret that I have again to announce a continuance of
the disturbed condition of the island of Cuba. No advance toward the
pacification of the discontented part of the population has been made.
While the insurrection has gained no advantages and exhibits no more of
the elements of power or of the prospects of ultimate success than were
exhibited a year ago, Spain, on the other hand, has not succeeded in
its repression, and the parties stand apparently in the same relative
attitude which they have occupied for a long time past.

This contest has lasted now for more than four years. Were its scene at
a distance from our neighborhood, we might be indifferent to its result,
although humanity could not be unmoved by many of its incidents wherever
they might occur. It is, however, at our door.

I can not doubt that the continued maintenance of slavery in Cuba
is among the strongest inducements to the continuance of this strife.
A terrible wrong is the natural cause of a terrible evil. The abolition
of slavery and the introduction of other reforms in the administration
of government in Cuba could not fail to advance the restoration of peace
and order. It is greatly to be hoped that the present liberal Government
of Spain will voluntarily adopt this view.

The law of emancipation, which was passed more than two years since, has
remained unexecuted in the absence of regulations for its enforcement.
It was but a feeble step toward emancipation, but it was the recognition
of right, and was hailed as such, and exhibited Spain in harmony with
sentiments of humanity and of justice and in sympathy with the other
powers of the Christian and civilized world.

Within the past few weeks the regulations for carrying out the law of
emancipation have been announced, giving evidence of the sincerity of
intention of the present Government to carry into effect the law of
1870. I have not failed to urge the consideration of the wisdom, the
policy, and the justice of a more effective system for the abolition
of the great evil which oppresses a race and continues a bloody and
destructive contest close to our border, as well as the expediency
and the justice of conceding reforms of which the propriety is not
questioned.

Deeply impressed with the conviction that the continuance of slavery
is one of the most active causes of the continuance of the unhappy
condition in Cuba, I regret to believe that citizens of the United
States, or those cl