Political Events In Spain And Their Influence On Affairs In Puerto Rico


1833-1874



THE French Revolution of 1830 and the expulsion of Charles X revived

the hopes of the liberal party in Spain, which party the bigoted

absolutism of the king and his minister had vainly endeavored to

exterminate. The liberals saluted that event as a promise that the

nineteenth century should see the realization of their aspirations,

and the exiled members of the party at once came to France to at
empt

an invasion of Spain, counting upon the sympathy of the French

Government, which was denied them. The attempt only brought renewed

persecution to the members at home.



Fortunately, the king's failing health and subsequent death

transferred the reins of government to the hands of the queen, who,

less absolutist than her consort, reopened the universities, which had

long been closed, and proclaimed a general amnesty, thus bringing the

expatriated and imprisoned Liberals back to political life.



After the king's death the pretensions of Don Carlos, his brother, lit

the torch of civil war, which blazed fiercely till 1836, when a

revolution changed the Government's policy and the constitution of

1812 was again declared in force. In 1837 the Cortes, though nearly

all the Deputies were Progressists, by a vote of 90 to 60, deprived

Cuba and Puerto Rico of the right of representation.



Another Carlist campaign was initiated in 1838. In 1839 Maria

Christina, having lost her prestige, was obliged to abdicate; then

followed the regency of the Duke de la Victoria Espartero, an

insurrection in Barcelona, the Cortes of 1843, an attack on Madrid,

and the fall of the regency, a period of seven years marked by a

series of military pronunciamentos, the last of which was headed by

General Prim.



Isabel II was now declared of age (1843), and from the date of her

accession two political parties, the Progressists and the Moderates,

under the leadership of Espartero and Narvaez respectively, contended

for control, until, in 1865, the insurrection of Vicalvaro gave the

direction of affairs to O'Donnell, Canovas del Castillo, and others,

who represented the liberal Unionist party. They remained in power

till 1866, when Prim and Gonzales Bravo raised the standard of revolt

once more and Isabel II was dethroned. Then another provisional

government was formed under a triumvirate composed of Generals Prim,

Serrano, and Topete, who represented the Progressist and the

democratic parties (September, 1868). They steered the ship of state

till 1871, and, seeing the rocks of revolution still ahead, offered

the Spanish crown to Amadeo, who, after wearing it scarce two years,

found it too heavy for his brow, and abdicated. He had changed

ministeriums six times in less than two years, and came to the

conclusion that the modern Spaniards were ungovernable.



A republican form of government was now established (February 11,

1873), and it was understood by all parties that it should be a

Federal Republic, in which each of the provinces should enjoy the

largest possible amount of autonomy, subject to the authority of the

central government.



This proved to be the stumbling-block; the deputies could not agree on

the details, passions were aroused, violent discussions took place.

The Carlists, seeing a favorable opportunity, plunged the Basque

provinces, Navarra, Cataluna, lower Aragon, and part of Castilla and

Valencia, into civil war. At the same time, the Radicals promoted what

were called "cantonnal" insurrections in Cartagena, and Spain seemed

on the verge of social chaos and ruin.



A coup d'etat saved the country. General Pavia, the Captain-General

of Madrid, with a body of guards forced an entrance into the halls of

congress and turned the Deputies out (January 3, 1874). A provisional

government was once more constituted with Serrano at the head. His

first act was to dissolve the Cortes.



* * * * *



The events just summarized exercised a baneful influence on the

social, political, and economic conditions of this and of its more

important sister Antilla.



Royalists, Carlists, Liberals, Reformists, Unionists, Moderates, and

men of other political parties disputed over the direction of the

nation's affairs at the point of the sword, and as each party obtained

an ephemeral victory it hastened to send its partizans to govern

these islands. The new governors invariably proceeded at once to undo

what their predecessors had wrought before them.



They succeeded each other at short intervals. From 1837 to 1874

twenty-six captains-general came to Puerto Rico, only six of whom left

any grateful memories behind. The others looked upon the people as

always watching for an opportunity to follow the example of the

continental colonies. They pursued a policy of distrust, suspicion,

and of uncompromising antagonism to the people's most legitimate

aspirations.



The reactionists, in their implacable odium of progress and liberty,

considered every measure calculated to give greater freedom to the

people or raise their moral and intellectual status as a crime against

the mother country; hence the utter absence of the means of education,

and a systematic demoralization of the masses.



Don Angel Acosta mentions the Count de Torrepando as an example of

this. He came from Venezuela to govern this island in 1837, with the

express purpose, he declared, of diverting the attention of the

inhabitants from the revolutionary doings of Bolivar.



Gambling was, and is still, one of the ruling vices of the common

people. He encouraged it, established cockpits in every town and

instituted the carnival games. He also established the feast of San

Juan, which lasted, and still lasts, the whole month of June; and

when some respectable people, Insulars as well as Peninsulars,

protested against this official propaganda of vice and idleness, he

replied: "Let them be - while they dance and gamble they don't

conspire; ... these people must be governed by three B's - Barraja,

Botella, and Berijo." General Pezuela, a man of liberal

disposition and literary attainments, stigmatized the people of

Puerto Rico as a people without faith, without thought, and without

religion, and, though he afterward did something for the intellectual

development of the inhabitants, in the beginning of his administration

(1848-1851) thought it expedient not to discourage cock-fighting, but

regulated it.



In 1865 gambling was public and universal. In the capital there was a

gambling-house in almost every street. One in the upper story of the

house at the corner of San Francisco and Cruz Streets, kept by an

Italian, was crowded day and night. The bank could be distinctly seen

from the Plaza, and the noise, the oaths, the foul language, mixing

with the chink of money distinctly heard. When the governor's

attention (General Felix Messina) was called to the scandalous

exhibition, his answer was: "Let them gamble, ... while they are at it

they will not occupy themselves with politics, and if they get ruined

it is for the benefit of others."



This systematic villification of the people completely neutralized

the effect of the measures adopted from time to time by progressist

governors, such as the Count of Mirasol, Norzagaray, Cotoner, and

Pavia, and not even the revolution of September, 1868, materially

affected the disgraceful condition of affairs in the island. Only

those who paid twenty-five pesos direct contribution had the right of

suffrage. The press remained subject to previous censorship, its

principal function being to swing the incense-burner; the right of

public reunion was unknown, and if known would have been

impracticable; the majority of the respectable citizens lived under

constant apprehension lest they should be secretly accused of

disloyalty and prosecuted. Rumors of conspiracies, filibustering

expeditions, clandestine introductions of arms, and attempts at

insurrection were the order of the day. Every Liberal was sure to be

inscribed on the lists of "suspects," harassed and persecuted.



A seditious movement among the garrison on the 7th of June, 1867, gave

Governor Marchessi a pretext for banishing about a dozen of the

leading inhabitants of the capital, an arbitrary proceeding which was

afterward disapproved by the Government in Madrid.



Such a situation naturally affected the economic conditions of the

island. Confidence there was none. Credit was refused. Capital

emigrated with its possessors. Commerce and agriculture languished.

Misery spread over the land. The treasury was empty, for no

contributions could be collected from an impoverished population, and

the island's future was compromised by loans at usurious rates.



The dethronement of Isabel II, and the revolution of September, 1868,

brought a change for the better. The injustice done to the Antilles by

the Cortes of 1873 was repaired, and the island was again called upon

to elect representatives. The first meetings with that object were

held in February, 1869.



The ideas and tendencies of the Liberal and Conservative parties among

the native Puerto Ricans were now beginning to be defined. Each party

had its organ in the press and advocated its principles; the

authorities stood aloof; the elections came off in an orderly manner

(May, 1869); the Conservatives carried the first and third districts,

the Liberals the second.



It may be said that the political education of the Puerto Ricans

commenced with the royal decree of 1865, which authorized the minister

of ultramarine affairs, Canovas del Castillo, to draw up a report from

the information to be furnished by special commissioners to be elected

in Puerto Rico and Cuba, which information was to serve as a basis for

the enactment of special laws for the government of each island. This

gave the commissioners an opportunity to discuss their views on

insular government with the leading public men of Spain, and they

profited by these discussions till 1867, when they returned.



The question of the abolition of slavery had not been brought to a

decision. The insular deputies were almost equally divided in their

opinions for and against, but the revolutionary committee in its

manifesto declared that from September 19, 1868, all children born of

a slave mother should be free.



In Puerto Rico this measure remained without effect owing to the

arbitrary and reactionist character of the governor who was appointed

to succeed Don Julian Pavia, during whose just and prudent

administration the so-called Insurrection of Lares happened. It was

originally planned by an ex-commissioner to Cortes, Don Ruiz Belviz,

and his friend Betances, who had incurred the resentment of Governor

Marchessi, and who were banished in consequence. They obtained the

remission of their sentences in Madrid. Betances returned to Santo

Domingo and Belviz started on a tour through Spanish-American

republics to solicit assistance in his secessionist plan; but he died

in Valparaiso, and Betances was left to carry it out alone.



September 20, 1868, two or three hundred individuals of all classes

and colors, many of them negro slaves brought along by their masters

under promise of liberation, met at the coffee plantation of a Mr.

Bruckman, an American, who provided them with knives and machetes, of

which he had a large stock in readiness. Thus armed they proceeded to

the plantation of a Mr. Rosas, who saluted them as "the army of

liberators," and announced himself as their general-in-chief, in token

whereof he was dressed in the uniform of an American fireman, with a

tri-colored scarf across his breast, a flaming sash around his waist,

with sword, revolver, and cavalry boots. During the day detachments

of men from different parts of the district joined the party and

brought the numbers to from eight to ten hundred. The commissariat,

not yet being organized, the general-in-chief generously provided an

abundant meal for his men, which, washed down with copious drafts of

rum, put them in excellent condition to undertake the march on Lares

that same evening.



At midnight the peaceful inhabitants of that small town, which lies

nestled among precipitous mountains in the interior, were startled

from their sleep by loud yells and cries of "Long live Puerto Rico

independent! Down with Spain! Death to the Spaniards!" The alcalde and

his secretary, who came out in the street to see what the noise was

about, were made prisoners and placed in the stocks, where they were

soon joined by a number of Spaniards who lived in the town.



The contents of two or three wine and provision shops (pulperias) that

were plundered kept the "enthusiasm" alive.



The next day the Republic of Boriquen was proclaimed. To give

solemnity to the occasion, the curate was forced to hold a

thanksgiving service and sing a Te Deum, after which the Provisional

Government was installed. Francisco Ramirez, a small landholder, was

the president. The justice of the peace was made secretary of

government, his clerk became secretary of finance, another clerk was

made secretary of justice, and the lessee of a cockpit secretary of

state. The "alcaldia" was the executive's palace, and the queen's

portrait, which hung in the room, was replaced by a white flag with

the inscription: "Long live free Puerto Rico! Liberty or Death! 1868."



The declaration of independence came next. All Spaniards were ordered

to leave the island with their families within three days, failing

which they would be considered as citizens of the new-born republic

and obliged to take arms in its defense; in case of refusal they would

be treated as traitors.



The next important step was to form a plan of campaign. It was agreed

to divide "the army" in two columns and march them the following day

on the towns of Pepino and Camuy; but when morning came it appeared

that the night air had cooled the enthusiasm of more than half the

number of "liberators," and that, considering discretion the better

part of valor, they had returned to their homes.



However, there were about three hundred men left, and with these the

"commander-in-chief" marched upon Pepino. When the inhabitants became

aware of the approach of their liberators they ran to shut themselves

up in their houses. The column made a short halt at a "pulperia" in

the outskirts of the town, to take some "refreshment," and then boldly

penetrated to the plaza, where it was met by sixteen loyal militiamen.

A number of shots were exchanged. One "libertador" was killed and two

or three wounded, when suddenly some one cried: "The soldiers are

coming!" This was the signal for a general sauve qui peut, and soon

Commander Rojas with a few of his "officers" were left alone. It is

said that he tried to rally his panic-stricken warriors, but they

would not listen to him. Then he returned to his plantation a sadder,

but, presumably, a wiser man.



As soon as the news of the disturbance reached San Juan, the Governor

sent Lieutenant-Colonel Gamar in pursuit of the rebels, with orders to

investigate the details of the movement and make a list of names of

all those implicated. Rosas and all his followers were taken prisoners

without resistance. Bruckman and a Venezuelan resisted and were shot

down.



Here was an opportunity for the reactionists to visit on the heads of

all the members of the reform party the offense of a few misguided

jibaros, and they tried hard to persuade the governor to adopt severe

measures against their enemies; but General Pavia was a just and a

prudent man, and he placed the rebels at the disposition of the civil

court. They were imprisoned in Lares, Arecibo, and Aguadilla, and,

while awaiting their trial, an epidemic, brought on by the unsanitary

conditions of the prisons in which they were packed, speedily carried

off seventy-nine of them.



Of the rest seven were condemned to death, but the governor pardoned

five. The remaining two were pardoned by his successor.



So ended the insurrection of Lares. During the trial of the rebels,

the same members of the reform party who had been banished by

Governor Marchessi, Don Julian Blanco, Don Jose Julian Acosta, Don

Pedro Goico, Don Rufino Goenaga, and Don Calixto Romero, were

denounced as the leaders of the Separatist movement. They were

imprisoned, but were soon after found to have been falsely accused and

liberated.






Until the arrival of General Don Gabriel Baldrich as governor (May,

1870), Puerto Rico benefited little by the revolution of September,

1868. The insurrection in Cuba, which coincided with the movement in

Lares, made Sanz, the successor of Pavia, a man of arbitrary character

and reactionary principles, adopt a policy more suspicious and

intransigent than ever (from 1869 to 1870), but Governor Baldrich was

a staunch Liberal, and the Separatist phantom which had haunted

his predecessor had no terrors for him. From the day of his arrival,

the dense atmosphere of obstruction, distrust, and jealousy in which

the island was suffocating cleared. The rumors of conspiracies ceased,

political opinions were respected, the Liberals could publicly express

their desire for reform without being subjected to insult and

persecution. The gag was removed from the mouth of the press and each

party had its proper organ. The municipal elections came off

peaceably, and the Provincial Deputation, composed entirely of Liberal

reformists, was inaugurated April 1, 1871.



General Baldrich was terribly harassed by the intransigents here and

in the Peninsula. He was accused of being an enemy of Spain and of

protecting the Separatists. Meetings were held denouncing his

administration, menaces of expulsion were uttered, and he was insulted

even in his own palace. Violent opposition to his reform measures were

carried to such an extent that he was at last obliged to declare the

capital in a state of siege (July 26, 1871).



On September 27th of the same year he left Puerto Rico disgusted, much

to the regret of the enlightened part of the population, which had,

for the first time, enjoyed for a short period the benefits of

political freedom. As a proof of the disposition of the majority of

the people they had elected eighteen Liberal reformists as Deputies to

Cortes out of the nineteen that corresponded to the island.



Baldrich's successor was General Ramon Gomez Pulido, nicknamed "coco

seco" (dried coconut) on account of his shriveled appearance. Although

appointed by a Radical Ministry, he inaugurated a reactionary policy.

He ordered new elections to be held at once, and soon filled the

prisons of the island with Liberal reformists. He was followed by

General Don Simon de la Torre (1872). His reform measures met with

still fiercer opposition than that which General Baldrich encountered.

He also was forced to declare the state of siege in the capital and

landed the marines of a Spanish war-ship that happened to be in the

port. He posted them in the Morro and San Cristobal forts, with the

guns pointed on the city, threatening to bombard it if the

"inconditionals" who had tried to suborn the garrison carried their

intention of promoting an insurrection into effect. He removed the

chief of the staff from his post and sent him to Spain, relieved the

colonel of the Puerto Rican battalion and the two colonels in

Mayaguez and Ponce from their respective commands, and maintained

order with a strong hand till he was recalled by the Government in

Madrid through the machinations of his opponents.



During the interval between the departure of General Baldrich and the

arrival in April, 1873, of Lieutenant-General Primo de Rivero, there

happened what was called "the insurrection of Camuy," in which three

men were killed, two wounded, and sixteen taken prisoners, which

turned out to have been an unwarrantable aggression on the part of the

reactionists, falsely reported as an attempt at insurrection.



General Primo de Rivero brought with him the proclamation of the

abolition of slavery and Article I of the Constitution of 1869,

whereby the inhabitants of the island were recognized as Spaniards.



Great popular rejoicings followed these proclamations. In San Juan

processions paraded the streets amid "vivas" to Spain, to the

Republic, and to Liberty. In Ponce the people and the soldiers

fraternized, and the long-cherished aspirations of the inhabitants

seemed to be realized at last.



But they were soon to be undeceived. The Republican authorities in the

metropolis sent Sanz, the reactionist, as governor for the second

time. His first act was to suspend the individual guarantees granted

by the Constitution, then he abolished the Provincial Deputation,

dissolved the municipalities in which the Liberal reformists had a

majority, and a new period of persecution set in, in which teachers,

clergymen, lawyers, and judges - in short, all who were distinguished

by superior education and their liberal ideas - were punished for the

crime of having striven with deed or tongue or pen for the progress

and welfare of the land of their birth.



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