GROVER CLEVELAND 271 ond proclamation of neutrality, repeating in more explicit terms the one that had been put forth in 1895. Relations with Spain continued to require delicate management during the whole of the ad ministration, the more notable events being the fir ing on the American steamer "Allian9a" by a Spanish gunboat, for which apology was ulti mately made by Spain, the condemnation to death of the crew of the alleged filibustering schooner "Competitor," which was finally suspended upon representation that the prisoners had not received the trial by civil tribunal to which they were entitled by treaty, and the settlement by Spain, on Septem ber 14, 1895, of the long-standing claim of 1,500,- 000 pesos, as indemnity for the death in Cuba, in 1870, of Ontonio Mora, a naturalized American citizen, and for the confiscation of his estates. It was charged by the enemies of the administration that this payment was made in pursuance of a se cret agreement by which the United States bound itself to vigilant action in the suppression of filibus tering. But the most conspicuous event in the relations of the administration with foreign countries was undoubtedly President Cleveland s Venezuela mes sage, the act most highly praised as well as the most severely condemned of his whole public ca reer. In his message to congress on December 2, 1895, Mr. Cleveland called attention to the long-
