impracticable. The alternative lies in the physical exhaustion of the
one or the other party, or perhaps of both--a condition which in effect
ended the ten years' war by the truce of Zanjon. The prospect of such a
protraction and conclusion of the present strife is a contingency hardly
to be contemplated with equanimity by the civilized world, and least of
all by the United States, affected and injured as we are, deeply and
intimately, by its very existence.

Realizing this, it appeared to be my duty, in a spirit of true
friendliness, no less to Spain than to the Cubans, who have so much to
lose by the prolongation of the struggle, to seek to bring about an
immediate termination of the war. To this end I submitted on the 27th
ultimo, as a result of much representation and correspondence, through
the United States minister at Madrid, propositions to the Spanish
Government looking to an armistice until October 1 for the negotiation
of peace with the good offices of the President.

In addition I asked the immediate revocation of the order of
reconcentration, so as to permit the people to return to their farms and
the needy to be relieved with provisions and supplies from the United
States, cooperating with the Spanish authorities, so as to afford full
relief.

The reply of the Spanish cabinet was received on the night of the
31st ultimo. It offered, as the means to bring about peace in Cuba,
to confide the preparation thereof to the insular parliament, inasmuch
as the concurrence of that body would be necessary to reach a final
result, it being, however, understood that the powers reserved by the
constitution to the central Government are not lessened or diminished.
As the Cuban parliament does not meet until the 4th of May next, the