CounterVortex

Sept23,1868 Lares PuertoRico
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[53] 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.” [54] General Pezuela, a man of liberal
disposition and literary attainments,[55] 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[56] 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.[57]

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.

[Illustration: Only remaining gate of the city wall, San Juan.]

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