PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



665 



ued residence to work a presumption of such in- 

 t 'lit. I invite Congress now to mark out and de- 

 fine when and how expatriation can he accomplished ; 

 to regulate bylaw the condition of American women 

 marrying foreigners ; to fix the status of children 

 born in a foreign country of American parents resid- 

 ing more or less permanently abroad; and to make 

 rules for determining such other kindred points as 

 may seem best to Congress. 



In compliance with the request of CongresSj I 

 transmitted to the American minister at Madrid, 

 with instructions to present it to the Spanish Govern- 

 ment, the joint resolution, approved on the 3d of 

 March last, tendering to the people of Spain, in the 

 name and on the behalf of the American people, the 

 congratulations of Congress upon the efforts to con- 

 solidate in Spain the principles of universal liberty 

 in a republican form of government. 



The existence of this new republic was inaugurated 

 by striking the fetters from the slaves in Rorto Rico. 

 This beneficent measure was fallowed by the release 

 of several thousand persons illegally held as slaves 

 in Cuba. Next, the captain-general of that colony 

 was deprived of the power to set aside the orders of 

 his superiors at Madrid, which had pertained to the 

 office since 1825. The sequestered estates of Ameri- 

 can citizens, which had been the cause of long and 

 fruitless correspondence, were ordered to be restored 

 to their owners. All these liberal steps were taken 

 in the face of a violent opposition directed by the 

 reactionary slaveholders or Havana, who are vainly 

 striving to stay the march of ideas which has termi- 

 nated slavery in Christendom, Cuba only exoepted. 

 Unhappily, however, this baneful influence has thus 

 far succeeded in defeating the efforts of all liberal- 

 minted men in Spain to abolish slavery in Cuba, 

 and in preventing the promised reform in that island. 

 The struggle for political supremacy continues there. 



Tiie pro-slavery and aristocratic party in Cuba is 

 gradually arraigning itself in more and more open 

 hostility and defiance of the home government, while 

 it still maintains a political connection with the re- 

 public in the peninsula; and although usurping and 

 defying the authority of the home government, when- 

 ever such usurpation or defiance tends in the direc- 

 tion of oppression or of the maintenance of abuses, 

 it is ntill a power in Madrid, and is recognized by 

 the government. Thus an element more dangerous 

 to continued colonial relations between Cuba and 

 Spain than that which inspired the insurrection at 

 Yara an element opposed to granting any relief 

 from misrule and abuse, with no aspirations after 

 freedom, commanding no sympathies in generous 

 breasts, aiming to rivet still stronger the shackles of 

 slavery and oppression has seized many of the cm- 

 ble-ns of power in Cuba, and, under professions of 

 loyalty to the mother-country, is exhausting the re- 

 sources of the island, and is doing acts which are at 

 variance with those principles of justice, of liberal- 

 ity, and of right, which give nobility of character to 

 a republic. In the interests of humanity, of civiliza- 

 tion, and of progress, it is to be hoped that this evil 

 influence may be soon averted. 



The steamer Virginias was on the 26th day of 

 September, 1870, duly registered at the port of New 

 York as a pirt of the commercial marine of the 

 United States. On the 4th of October, 1870, having 

 received the certificate of her register in the usual 

 1 '.M! form, she sailed from the port of New York, 

 and has not since been within the territorial juris- 

 diction of the United States. On the 81st day of Oc- 

 last, while sailing under the flag of the United 

 i, on the high-seas, she was forcibly seized by 

 the Spanish gunboat Tornado, and was' carried into 

 t!ie port of Santiago de Cuba, where fifty-three of 

 her passengers and crew were inhumanly, and, so 

 fir at least as relates to those who were citizens of 

 the United States, without due process of law, put 

 to death. 



It 'n a well-established principle, asserted by tho 

 United States from the beginning of their national 



independence, recognized by Great Britain and other 

 maritime powers, and stated by the Senate in a res- 

 olution passed unanimously on the 16th of June, 

 1858, that " American vessels on the high-seas in 

 time of peace, bearing the American flag, remain 

 under the jurisdiction of the country to which they 

 belong; and therefore any visitation, molestation, 

 or detention of such vessel by force, or by the exhi- 

 bition of force, on the part of a foreign power, is in 

 derogation of the sovereignty of the United States." 



In accordance with this principle the restoration 

 of the Virginius, and the surrender of the survivors 

 of her passengers and crew, and a due reparation to 

 the flag, and the punishment of the authorities who 

 had been guilty of the illegal acts of violence, were 

 demanded. The Spanish Government has recognized 

 the justice of the demand, and has arranged tor the 

 immediate delivery of the vessel, and for the sur- 

 render of the survivors of the passengers and crew, 

 and for a salute to the flag, and tor proceedings look- 

 ing to the punishment of those who may be proved 

 to have been guilty of illegal acts of violence toward 

 citizens of the United States, and also toward indem- 

 nifying those who may bo shown to be entitled to 

 indemnity. A copy of a protocol of a conference 

 between the Secretary of State and the Spanish min- 

 ister, in which the terms of this arrangement were 

 agreed to, is transmitted herewith. 



The correspondence on this subject with the lega- 

 tion of the United States in Madrid was conducted 

 in cipher and by cable, and needs the verification of 

 the actual text of the correspondence. It has seemed 

 to me to be due to the importance of the case not to 

 submit this correspondence until the accurate text 

 can be received by mail. It is expected shortly, and 

 will be submitted when received. 



In taking leave of this subject for the present, I 

 wish to renew the expression of my conviction, that 

 the existence of African slavery in Cuba is a princi- 



Fal cause of the lamentable condition of the island, 

 do not doubt that Congress shares with me the 

 hope that it will soon be made to disappear, and that 

 peace and prosperity will follow its abolition. 



The embargoing of American estates in Cuba ; cru- 

 elty to American citizens detected in no act of hos- 

 tility to the Spanish Government; the murdering 

 of prisoners taken with arms in their hands ; and, 

 finally, the capture upon the high-seas of a vessel 

 sailing under the United States flag and bearing a 

 United States registry, have culminated in an out- 

 burst of indignation that has seemed for a time to 

 threaten war. Pending negotiations between the 

 United States and the Government of Spain on the 

 subject of this capture, I have authorized the Secre- 

 tary of the Navy to put our navy on a war footing, 

 to the extent, at least, of the entire annual appropri- 

 ation for that branch of the service, trusting to Con- 

 gress and the public opinion of the American peoplo 

 to justify my action. 



CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. 



Assuming from the action of tho last Congress, in 

 appointing a " Committee on Privileges and Elec- 

 tions," to prepare and report to this Congress a con- 

 stitutional amendment to provide a better method of 

 electing the President and Vice-President of the 

 United States, and also from the necessity of such 

 an amendment, that there will be submitted to the 

 State Legislatures, for ratification, such an improve- 

 ment in our Constitution, I suggest two others for 

 your consideration : 



First. To authorize the Executive to approve of so 

 much of any measure passing the two Houses of 

 Congress, as his judgment may dictate, without ap- 

 proving the whole, the disapproved portion or por- 

 tions, to be subjected to the same rules as now, to 

 wit, to be referreii back to the house in which the 

 measure or measures, originated, and if passed by a 

 two-thirds vote of the two Houses, then to become a 

 law without the approval of the President. I would 

 add to this a provision that there should be no legis- 



