nstance was asked
for and given solely upon the ground that we have now provided a meat
inspection that should be accepted as adequate to the complete removal
of the dangers, real or fancied, which had been previously urged. The
State Department, our ministers abroad, and the Secretary of Agriculture
have cooperated with unflagging and intelligent zeal for the
accomplishment of this great result. The outlines of an agreement have
been reached with Germany looking to equitable trade concessions in
consideration of the continued free importation of her sugars, but the
time has not yet arrived when this correspondence can be submitted to
Congress.

The recent political disturbances in the Republic of Brazil have
excited regret and solicitude. The information we possessed was too
meager to enable us to form a satisfactory judgment of the causes
leading to the temporary assumption of supreme power by President
Fonseca; but this Government did not fail to express to him its anxious
solicitude for the peace of Brazil and for the maintenance of the free
political institutions which had recently been established there, nor to
offer our advice that great moderation should be observed in the clash
of parties and the contest for leadership. These counsels were received
in the most friendly spirit, and the latest information is that
constitutional government has been reestablished without bloodshed.

The lynching at New Orleans in March last of eleven men of Italian
nativity by a mob of citizens was a most deplorable and discreditable
incident. It did not, however, have its origin in any general animosity
to the Italian people, nor in any disrespect to the Government of Italy,
with which our relations were of the most friendly character. The fury
of the mob was directed against these men as the supposed participants
or accessories in the murder of a city officer. I do not allude to this
as mitigating in any degree this offense against law and humanity, but
only as affecting the international questions which grew out of it. It
was at once represented by the Italian minister that several of those
whose lives had been taken by the mob were Italian subjects, and a
demand was made for the punishment of the participants and for an
indemnity to the families of those who were killed. It is to be
regretted that the manner in which these claims were presented was not
such as to promote a calm discussion of the questions involved; but this
m