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.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 53: Estudio Historico. San Juan, 1899.]
[Footnote 54: Cards, rum, and women.]
[Footnote 55: He had been President of the Royal Academy.]
[Footnote 56: El Porvenir, for the Liberals, the Boletin Mercantil,
for the Conservatives.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184