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371 
 I 
 / 1 
 
 FACTS OF PORTO RICAN HISTORY 
 
 FOR 
 
 GRAMMAR SCHOOL PUPILS 
 
 BY 
 
 E. N. CLOPPER 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL OF PORTO RICO 
 
 AND 
 
 CENTRAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF SAN JUAN 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 1906 
 
UBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 DEC 5 1906 
 
 H Cwrlght Entry 
 CLASS A XXd.No. 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1906. 
 
 t 
 
 / 
 
 V 
 
 HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE 
 PHILA. NEW YORK. 
 
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
 
 CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL OF PORTO RICO 
 
 AND 
 
 CENTRAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF SAN JUAN 
 
 OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL 
 
 SAN JUAN. 
 
 November 15, ipof. 
 To the Honorable, 
 
 The Commissioner of Education for Porto 
 Rico, San Juan, Porto Rico. 
 Sir : — I beg to submit herewith the manuscript of 
 a condensed history of Porto Rico which I have pre- 
 pared in the hope that it may be adopted for use in the 
 Grammar Schools here. The history of the island has 
 been neglected in the English schools because of the lack 
 of a suitable English text-book on the subject, and this 
 short history is the result of my efforts to supply this 
 want. Should it meet with your approval, I trust that 
 its publication may be ordered with a view to placing 
 it in the Grammar Schools. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 E. N. CLOPPER, 
 
 Principal. 
 Approved for Publication : 
 E. W. LORD, 
 
 Acting Commissioner of Education. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. Discovery, Settlements, Gold Mining, Indian Rebel- 
 lion, Slavery 7 
 
 3X Fortifications, Attacks by English, French and 
 
 Dutch ; Cyclones 1 12 
 
 III. Development, Contraband Trade, Military Govern- 
 ment ...1 21 
 
 IV. Effects of Spanish Wars, Struggle for Liberal Gov- 
 ernment 28 
 
 V. Slavery Question, Insurrections, Political Organiza- 
 tion .», ., 39 
 
 VI. Spanish-American War, New Sovereignty over 
 
 Island ..n 47 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This little book is intended for use in the Grammar 
 Schools of Porto Rico and was designed to meet the 
 needs of both teachers and pupils in the study of the 
 island's history. In the preparation of the text, the 
 necessity for simplicity of language and conciseness of 
 expression was kept steadily in view. Only the essential 
 facts in the history of the island have been presented 
 and all comment upon the matters involved has been 
 studiously avoided. The libraries of the island furnish 
 material for a more extensive study of the subject, and 
 the student may easily add to his knowledge of Porto 
 Rico's history by consulting the several works available 
 for reference. Chief among these works are Salvador 
 Brau's Historia de Puerto Rico; R. A. Van Middeldyk's 
 The History of Puerto Rico; General George W. Davis's 
 report on The Military Government of Porto Rico (on 
 page 222 of this report there is given a list of publi- 
 cations bearing upon the history and government of 
 the island) ; Los Diputados Americanos en las Cortes 
 Espaitolas; Regimen del Gobierno y la Administracion 
 Civil de la Isla de Puerto Rico; Coll y Toste's Resena 
 Historica de Puerto Rico; Henry K. Carroll's Report 
 on the Island of Porto Rico; and Thorpe's The Govern- 
 
ment of the People of Porto Rico. I wish to acknowl- 
 edge my indebtedness to these books for a large part of 
 the information contained in the following pages. The 
 use by the teacher, of Salvador Bran's Historia de Puerto 
 Rico is recommended in the preparation of lessons and 
 for a more detailed presentation of the subject in the 
 class-room. 
 
 I trust that this little volume may serve to in- 
 crease the interest of our pupils in the history of their 
 native land and that it may render less arduous the task 
 of the teachers in this particular branch of our public 
 school work. In closing, I would tender my thanks to 
 Mr. E. W. Lord, Assistant Commissioner of Education 
 for Porto Rico; Mr. L. P. Ayres, Superintendent of 
 Schools for the District of San Juan, and Mr. E. C. Her- 
 nandez, Examining Superintendent, for their kindness in 
 reading the manuscript and for many helpful suggestions 
 in connection with the preparation of this book; to the 
 courtesy of Don Manuel Fernandez Juncos of San Juan, 
 I am indebted for the use of several volumes from his 
 excellent library, and take advantage of this opportunity 
 to make grateful acknowledgment of the favor. 
 
 E. N. CLOPPER. 
 San Juan, November, 1905. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Discovery — Settlements — Gold Mining — Indian Rebellion — 
 
 Slavery. 
 
 i. Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage 
 from Spain to the unknown West, discovered the island 
 of Porto Rico November 16, 1493. Three days later 
 he anchored his ships near the present site of Aguadilla, 
 claimed the island for Spain and gave it the name of 
 San Juan. The little Indian town on the shore was 
 called Aguada. 
 
 2. A Spaniard named Juan Ponce de Leon was 
 with Columbus on his second voyage. He remained 
 in Hispaniola (Santo Domingo), because Spain consid- 
 ered this island the principal one of the archipelago and 
 the governor of all the islands, Nicolas de Ovando, 
 lived there. In 1508 Ponce de Leon visited Porto Rico, 
 going to Aguada, and from there he went toward the 
 east and discovered the harbor where the city of San 
 Juan is now located. He called this harbor Puerto Rico. 
 Then he went toward the south and discovered the harbor 
 of Guanica. The Indians were kind to him and his com- 
 panions, and showed them little grains of gold in the 
 rivers. Then the Spaniards returned to Santo Domingo. 
 
 3. Ponce de Leon wanted to get the gold in the 
 
rivers of Porto Rico, so in 1509 he came again and 
 began to build a little village in the north, near the 
 harbor he called Puerto Rico. This village was named 
 Caparra. Among other Spaniards who came to Porto 
 Rico from Santo Domingo, was Cristobal Sotomayor, to 
 whom Ponce de Leon assigned the western part of the 
 island, telling him to hunt the gold there. Sotomayor 
 tried to build a village near the harbor of Guanica, but 
 gave up the attempt and went to Aguada. 
 
 4. In 1509 Diego Columbus, the son of Christo- 
 pher Columbus, became governor of the West Indies. 
 He lived in Santo Domingo. The Spaniards did not 
 want to get the gold from the rivers themselves, so they 
 made the Indians do the work. Governor Columbus 
 ordered a distribution of the Indians, allowing each 
 Spaniard a certain number of them and giving the most 
 important men the largest number. So Ponce de Leon 
 divided the Indians of Porto Rico among the Spaniards 
 here, giving them from 50 to 100 each, and forced these 
 poor people to get the gold in the rivers and cultivate the 
 ground. 
 
 5. At first the Indians were kind to the Spaniards, 
 but when they found they had become slaves, they were 
 angry. The white men were cruel to them, and finally 
 in 151 1, the caciques or Indian chiefs, held a meeting 
 and decided to kill all the Spaniards. They killed Soto- 
 mayor and four of his companions, then attacked the 
 
 8 
 
village of Aguada, murdered its eighty inhabitants and 
 burned all the houses. When Ponce de Leon heard of 
 this, he gathered the Spaniards together and marching 
 to the place where the Indians had gone, he attacked 
 them while they were sleeping and killed two hundred. 
 Guaybana, the principal cacique of the island, then col- 
 lected all his men and fought several battles with the 
 Spaniards. The Indians had gathered near the place 
 where Afiasco is to-day, and there Ponce de Leon and 
 his companions defeated them, killing Guaybana. Then 
 the Indians in the eastern part of the island, sheltered by 
 the mountains of Luquillo, began to fight the Spaniards 
 there and destroy their plantations. 
 
 6. King Ferdinand of Spain appointed Ponce de 
 Leon governor of Porto Rico, but Governor Columbus 
 did not like him, and in 1509 sent Juan Ceron to take 
 charge of affairs in the island. Ponce de Leon arrested 
 Ceron upon his arrival here, and sent him to Spain. 
 King Ferdinand confirmed the appointment of Ceron and 
 ordered him to return to Porto Rico, which he did in 
 151 1. Ponce de Leon left the island at once and the fol- 
 lowing year went in search of gold and the fountain of 
 perpetual youth which the Indians claimed could be found 
 on the island of Bimini, not far away. On this voyage 
 he discovered Florida and in 15 14 he went to Spain. 
 Governor Columbus recalled Ceron in 15 13 and sent 
 Rodrigo de Moscoso as his successor. The following 
 
year Moscoso was removed from office and Cristobal de 
 Mendoza was appointed governor. In 15 14 Ponce de 
 Leon was given jurisdiction over Porto Rico and the 
 Windward Islands by King Ferdinand, and returned here 
 the following year. 
 
 7. As Aguada had been destroyed by the Indians, 
 the Spaniards built another village near the shore, north 
 of the present site of Mayagiiez,- and named it San 
 German. The name of San Juan was also given to the 
 village of Caparra. 
 
 8. Alonso Manso was the first bishop of Porto 
 Rico. He was also made General Inquisitor of the West 
 Indies, and presided over a court established for the pur- 
 pose of punishing the Spaniards if they were not loyal 
 to the Catholic Church. 
 
 9. The Indians in the eastern part of the island 
 continued to attack the Spaniards, killing them and de- 
 stroying their houses and plantations. The Spaniards 
 defeated the Indians in Vieques and Luquillo and then 
 the caciques declared peace. 
 
 10. When Governor Nicolas de Ovando left the 
 peninsula for Santo Domingo in 1502, some of his com- 
 panions took with them a number of negro slaves whom 
 they had purchased in Spain, and these were probably the 
 first negroes in America. The number of negroes im- 
 ported gradually increased in spite of the fact that the 
 Spanish government had prohibited the traffic in the col- 
 onies. io 
 
ii. The Dominican friars protested against the 
 slavery of the Indians and Bartholomew de las Casas of 
 Cuba, about 15 12, suggested that the Indians be given 
 their freedom and that African slaves be imported to 
 take their place as laborers. Negroes were brought here 
 and sold to the planters who made them work in the 
 fields and gold mines. Some of those that came from 
 Santo Domingo caused an epidemic of small-pox in the 
 island, as some of them had this terrible disease, and 
 many deaths occurred in Porto Rico on this account, the 
 Indians suffering most. In 1530 there were 1,500 negro 
 slaves on the island. They were treated cruelly by the 
 Spaniards, and marked with red-hot irons on their fore- 
 heads and backs. 
 
 12. While Ponce de Leon was in Spain, the king 
 gave him permission to divide Porto Rico into two dis- 
 tricts. This was done on his return, the dividing line 
 crossing the island from the present site of Camuy to the 
 southern shore near the present location of Ponce. The 
 eastern division was called Puerto Rico and the western 
 one San German. 
 
 13. The location of the village of Caparra was not 
 considered healthful, so the Spaniards transferred the 
 town to the little island which shuts in the harbor in 
 the north, and there founded the city of San Juan in 
 1520. The following year Ponce de Leon left Porto 
 Rico for Florida. Upon his arrival there the Indians 
 
 II 
 
attacked his party and he was wounded. He died in 
 Havana from the effects of his wound. 
 
 14. The building known as Casa Blanca, in San 
 Juan, was built in 1523 for Luis Ponce de Leon, the 
 son of Juan Ponce de Leon. The Convent of Santo 
 Domingo, now occupied by the Supreme Court, was built 
 in 1523. Ten years later the church of San Jose was 
 erected and in 1540 the Cathedral was built. The Con- 
 vent of San Francisco, now used for school purposes, 
 was erected in 1642. 
 
 . '; 15. In 1542 through the efforts of the Dominican 
 friars, the Indians were granted liberty by the king of 
 Spain, but the bishop of Porto Rico could find only sixty 
 of these unfortunate creatures on the entire island, for 
 the Spanish planters were unwilling to release their slaves 
 and concealed many of them on their farms; but these 
 were gradually found and made free. 
 
 16. From 1509 to 1539, $286,963 in gold was sent 
 to Spain from the mines here. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Fortifications — Attacks by English, French and Dutch — Cy- 
 t clones. 
 
 17. In 1 5 16 Ferdinand died and his grandson, 
 Charles I (afterwards known as the Emperor Charles 
 V), became king of Spain. The king of France was 
 very jealous of the Spanish king and during the years 
 
 12 
 
from 1 521 to 1544 these two great monarchs fought 
 each other in four different wars. As Spain held so 
 much land in America, the French decided to send a 
 ship across the ocean to attack the Spanish possessions 
 and in 1528 they landed at San German and burned that 
 village. The Indians attacked the Spaniards again and 
 destroyed many of their farms. These misfortunes, 
 combined with three cyclones in 1530, reduced the peo- 
 ple of the island to misery. 
 
 18. In 1533 the Fortaleza, now the Governor's 
 Palace, in San Juan, was built. It was the first forti- 
 fication in the city and since 1639 nas been used as a 
 residence for the governors of the island. As its posi- 
 tion was not a commanding one, the construction of 
 Morro Castle at the entrance to the harbor, was begun 
 
 in 1539. 
 
 19. In 1537 three more cyclones swept over the 
 island and destroyed a great deal of property. In the 
 following year the French again attacked the village of 
 San German, the Spaniards having rebuilt it, and the 
 houses were again burned. In 1543 the French made 
 another attack upon the island and the village of San 
 German was again destroyed. Then the Spaniards 
 built the town on the southern coast, probably where 
 Guayanilla is now located, in 1556. Then the Indians 
 attacked it, killed several men and carried away thirty 
 prisoners. General Bahamon de Lugo immediately or- 
 
 13 
 
ganized an expedition against the Indians, and rush- 
 ing upon them as they were preparing to attack the 
 plantations of some Spaniards in the south, killed sev- 
 enty-seven of them. The thirty Spanish prisoners were 
 rescued from captivity. 
 
 20. In 1556 Philip II, son of the Emperor Charles 
 V, became king of Spain and continued his father's 
 quarrel with France. So the French renewed their at- 
 tacks upon the Spaniards in the West Indies, and in 
 1569 they again burned San German. The . following 
 year the village was rebuilt ten miles inland, on its pres- 
 ent site. Here the French attacked the Spaniards in 
 1576 but were defeated. 
 
 21. Spain garrisoned Morro Castle and thus made 
 Porto Rico a military station. As the island was un- 
 able to support the soldiers, arrangements were made 
 in 1586 to have the sum of 80,000 pesos sent every year 
 from the Spanish treasury in Mexico, to pay the ex- 
 pense of maintaining the garrison. This annuity fund 
 was later increased in amount and for more than two 
 centuries constituted the principal income of the island. 
 
 22. Philip II of Spain wished to be king^of Eng- 
 land also, and in 1588 sent a great armada or fleet of 
 130 ships to take that country. But the Spaniards were 
 defeated and England became mistress of the seas. Sir 
 Francis Drake, who, ten years before, had sailed around 
 the world, was one of the great English admirals who 
 
 14 
 
took part in this famous sea fight. After the destruc- 
 tion of the armada, several English ships came to the 
 West Indies to capture Spanish treasure and on No- 
 vember 22, 1595, a fleet of 24 English vessels under Sir 
 Francis Drake attacked Porto Rico. Shortly before 
 this date, a Spanish ship with two million pesos on board 
 was on its way from Havana to Spain with the treasure, 
 but suffered considerable damage in a storm and was 
 obliged to enter San Juan harbor. The money was 
 placed in the Fortaleza. Five other Spanish vessels 
 came into the harbor and while they were there the 
 English fleet arrived: At night 25 boat-loads of Eng- 
 lish sailors and soldiers were sent to the shore to take 
 the city and Morro Castle, but they were defeated and 
 the fleet soon left. Sir Francis Drake died in 1597. 
 
 23. In 1597 Lord George Cumberland left Eng- 
 land for the West Indies in command of a fleet of 20 
 vessels. He came to Porto Rico, and when near the 
 shore where Santurce is now located, he sent a force of 
 men to land. They attacked the Spaniards on San An- 
 tonio bridge, defeated them, and when more English- 
 men came ashore, marched to San Juan and captured 
 the city. Morro Castle was besieged and soon surren- 
 dered. Lord Cumberland wanted to make Porto Rico 
 an English colony, but while he was on a march through 
 the country, many of his soldiers became sick and died, 
 so he sailed away, carrying with him the slaves of neigh- 
 
 15 
 
boring plantations, the organ, bells, jewels and sacred 
 vessels of the cathedral at San Juan and the cannon and 
 stores at Morro Castle. He left a garrison of English 
 soldiers to hold the city, but they followed him shortly 
 after his departure. 
 
 24. The Netherlands in Europe formed one of the 
 possessions of Spain but the people of this low country, 
 known as the Dutch, were treated so cruelly by the 
 Spanish kings that they finally, in 1568, arose and began 
 a long war for independence. Philip II died in 1598 
 and was succeeded by his son Philip III, who continued 
 this war. The Dutch were aided by the English and 
 naval battles were fought in many different parts of the 
 world. At last, in 1609, Spain was obliged to stop 
 fighting and so the Dutch gained their liberty. In 1621 
 Philip III died and his son Philip IV became king of 
 Spain. By this time the Dutch West India Company, 
 an association organized by merchants of the Nether- 
 lands to trade with countries in America, had become 
 very powerful and kept war vessels on the sea to pro- 
 tect its commerce and destroy Spanish ships. In 1625 
 this company sent a fleet of seventeen ships under Hen- 
 drick Bowdoin, to the West Indies to attack the Span- 
 ish possessions. At that time Juan de Haro was Cap- 
 tain General of Porto Rico. The Dutch fleet entered 
 San Juan harbor and captured the little fort called San 
 Juan de la Cruz but commonly known as the Canaelo, 
 
 16 
 
which had been constructed in 1610. General Haro or- 
 dered all the women and children to go to the country, 
 and then collected his forces in Morro Castle. The 
 Dutch occupied the city and, placing artillery on the pa- 
 rade grounds near Morro Castle, they bombarded the 
 fort for four days. The Spaniards sallied from the fort, 
 attacked the Dutch batteries and killed seventy men. 
 The Dutch commander then sent a messenger to Morro 
 Castle, ordering General Haro to surrender and stating 
 that if he did not, he would burn San Juan. The Span- 
 iards refused to surrender and the Dutch set fire to the 
 city, destroying one hundred buildings. General Haro 
 sent one of his captains by way of Palo Seco, to gather 
 forces in the country and march to San Juan from the 
 east by way of San Antonio bridge. This was done, 
 and at the same time the Spaniards sallied from Morro 
 Castle. In this way the Dutch were almost surrounded 
 and they fled, going back to their ships in the harbor. 
 The fleet sailed away, leaving one of the vessels stranded 
 in the harbor. 
 
 25. In 1626 the island was again visited by a cy- 
 clone which destroyed a great deal of property. 
 
 26. In 1635 Captain General Enrique Enriquez de 
 Sotomayor drove the French and English from the 
 islands of San Cristobal and Santa Cruz, and then, real- 
 izing the lack of adequate fortifications in San Juan, he 
 continued the construction of the wall around the city, 
 
 17 
 
which had been begun in 1631. He also built the fort 
 at the eastern end of the city and called it San Cristobal, 
 the name of one of the islands which sheltered the 
 enemy. Captain General Inigo de la Mota Sarmiento 
 succeeded Enriquez and carried on the work of building 
 the wall, until in 1639 it was completed along the side 
 facing the bay, with the gates of San Juan, San Justo 
 and Santiago. The gate of San Juan still exists at the 
 foot of the Caleta de San Juan. The gate of San Justo 
 was located at the foot of the street of the same name 
 and formed the entrance to the city from the Marina. 
 The gate of Santiago, situated near Fort San Cristobal, 
 formed the eastern entrance to the city and was also 
 called Puerto, de Tierra. 
 
 27. English, French, Dutch and Portuguese pi- 
 rates, known as buccaneers, had settled in Tortuga, a 
 small island north of Haiti, uniting to form a base of 
 operations there, and from this place they went out upon 
 their depredations, attacking the Spanish ships and col- 
 onies and carrying away their treasure. During the 
 four years from 1637 to 1641, they captured the ships 
 bringing the annuity funds to Porto Rico from Mexico, 
 amounting to 400,000 pesos. These losses and the de- 
 struction wrought by a cyclone in 1641, caused great 
 suffering on the island. 
 
 28. In 1672 the king of France entered upon a 
 war with the Netherlands, as the Dutch had provoked. 
 
 18 
 
him by ridiculing him and interfering with certain of his 
 plans concerning the low countries. The French and 
 Dutch colonies in the West Indies took up the quarrel 
 among themselves and the French governor of Marti- 
 nique in 1673 asked the other French colonies to join him 
 in an attack upon the Dutch island of Curacao. The 
 French had already settled in the western part of Santo 
 Domingo, now known as Haiti, and the governor of this 
 colony equipped a ship and sent it on its way to Mar- 
 tinique to join the French forces there. When passing 
 the town of Arecibo it was blown on shore in a storm 
 and broken to pieces by the waves. Many of the 
 Frenchmen were drowned but 460 of them reached 
 shore, and the Spaniards kept them in huts in the fields 
 near Arecibo. The French governor of the island of 
 Martinique demanded the release of these men, but Cap- 
 tain General Arteaga of Porto Rico refused to let them 
 go, and moreover claimed the sum of $3,000 to cover 
 the expense of keeping the Frenchmen, as the Spaniards 
 had not been able to find anything of value in the wreck 
 of the ship. The French sent ships to Porto Rico to 
 get the men and a party disembarked at Aguada but 
 was defeated by the Spaniards. When the French pris- 
 oners learned that their countrymen had sent vessels to 
 their relief, many of them fled from Arecibo, secured 
 canoes and so reached the ships. The Spaniards found 
 40 of them still near Arecibo and they were killed by 
 
 19 
 
order of General Arteaga. The remainder, numbering 
 130, were captured later in the country and sent to Ha- 
 vana in 1674 to labor on the Spanish forts there. 
 
 29. In 1657 another cyclone swept over the island. 
 
 30. Philip IV of Spain died in 1665 and his son 
 Charles II was crowned king. Charles died -in 1700 
 and, as he had no children, he left his crown to a French 
 prince who became Philip V. This alliance of France 
 and Spain caused a quarrel among the nations of Eu- 
 rope. This quarrel grew into a war which lasted thir- 
 teen years, Spain and France, together fighting England, 
 Germany and the Netherlands. The outcome of this 
 war was that Philip V was allowed to remain king of 
 Spain, but many of his possessions were taken away 
 from him. During this war the English and Dutch in 
 the West Indies made repeated attacks on the Spanish 
 colonies. Porto Rico was attacked many times by the 
 English and Dutch who had settled in St. Thomas, a 
 small island which had been captured in 1671 by the 
 Danes. In 1702 two English ships anchored in the har- 
 bor of Arecibo and sent ashore forty men armed with 
 guns. The Spaniards, who were commanded by An- 
 tonio Correa, had only spears and machetes for weapons, 
 but they defeated the English, killing 32 of them. La- 
 ter in the same year the English attacked the town of 
 Loiza but were again defeated. In 1703 the Dutch at- 
 tempted to land at the port of Guayanilla, but the Span- 
 
 20 
 
iards drove them back to their ships and they sailed 
 away. The Dutch and English united in their attacks 
 upon Spanish vessels in West Indian waters, and the 
 Spaniards in Porto Rico organized several expeditions 
 against the enemy. Among those who distinguished 
 themselves in these expeditions was Miguel Henriquez, 
 a mulatto and a shoe-maker by trade, who was so suc- 
 cessful that Spain gave him the title of Sea Captain and 
 decorated him with the Royal 'Image medal in 1713. 
 
 31. The English settled in the little island of Vie- 
 ques and built a fort there, but in 17 18 the Spaniards, 
 accompanied by Henriquez, attacked the colony, de- 
 stroyed the settlement and the fort, and took all the in- 
 habitants to Porto Rico as captives. Some years later, 
 other Englishmen settled in Vieques but were driven 
 away by the Spaniards in 1752. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Development of Country — Contraband Trade — Military Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 32. On his second voyage, Columbus carried sugar 
 cane to Santo Domingo from the Canary Islands. It 
 was brought to Porto Rico later, and in 1533 there were 
 three sugar mills on the island. In 1570 the annual pro- 
 duction of sugar amounted to 250 tons. During the 
 sixteenth century, goats, pigs, horses, cows and oxen 
 
 21 
 
were brought into the island. The cocoanut palm was 
 brought to Porto Rico from Africa in 1549. 
 
 33. In 1579 the village of Coamo, at first called 
 San Bias de Illescas, was founded. In 1600 there were 
 four towns in Porto Rico; they were San Juan, San 
 German, Arecibo and Coamo. There were about 200 
 families in San Juan, 100 in San German 30 in Arecibo 
 and about the same number in Coamo. In 1692 the 
 towns of Arecibo, Aguada, Ponce, Coamo and Loiza 
 were constituted as corporations like San German, and 
 mayors were appointed. The Captain General, or mili- 
 tary governor, had authority over all the other" officials 
 of the island. In the municipality of San Juan the vil- 
 lages of Bayamon and Toa Alta were formed; Anasco 
 and Hormigueros in that of San German; Manati in 
 that of Arecibo; Guayama in that of Coamo; and Fa- 
 jardo in that of Loiza. In 1673, San Juan contained 
 1800 inhabitants, of which number 667 were slaves. In 
 1739 the village of Utuado was built. 
 
 34. On account of the hostility of the Dutch and 
 English ships in the West Indies and the frequent cap- 
 ture by them of the money sent to Porto Rico from 
 Mexico, General <Haro in 1632 sent his stepson, Luis de 
 Castro, to Vera Cruz to collect the annuity funds and 
 arrange for their safe and regular transmission to Porto 
 Rico. When Castro arrived in Mexico he received the 
 usual sum and $30,000 more which had been appropri- 
 
 22 
 
ated for the benefit of manufactures in the island, and 
 stealing the whole amount, placed lead in the boxes in- 
 stead of the gold, and fled. His bondsmen were held 
 responsible and obliged to pay the sum stolen, and Gen- 
 eral Haro was made a prisoner in his own house by or- 
 der of the Spanish government. These events caused 
 the death of both the Captain General and his wife. 
 
 35. As the Spanish ships were often delayed or 
 captured, the Porto Ricans could not engage in com- 
 merce and the condition of the people became critical. 
 Some of the merchants began to trade secretly with oth- 
 ers in Jamaica, exchanging newly imported negroes, 
 linen goods and other merchandise for hogs, calves, ci- 
 gars, gin and hides. This secret trading began about 
 1660 and was carried on principally in the ports of Cabo 
 Rojo and Ponce, the latter having been founded in 1650. 
 This business gradually extended until it became gen- 
 eral, and even the governor, other royal officials and 
 some of the priests were engaged in it. By the terms 
 of an old agreement between England and Spain con- 
 cerning commerce, Philip V gave the English permission 
 to sell as slaves in the ports of the Spanish West Indies, 
 the negroes they brought from Africa. But Spain did 
 not allow the people of her possessions to trade with 
 foreigners; they could export their products and import 
 goods from other countries only in Spanish ships. 
 Nevertheless Captain General Abadia established five 
 
 23 
 
stores in San Juan and by means of the English slave- 
 trading ships, carried on an extensive trade with neigh- 
 boring islands for eleven years, until his death in 1743. 
 The slave trade with Guinea was continued. The ne- 
 groes imported brought with them the disease of small- 
 pox in 1689 and within six months this plague caused 
 the death of more than 700 persons in the towns alone. 
 The secret trading continued to grow and about 1765 
 goods to the value of 320,000 pesos were smuggled into 
 the island every year. 
 
 36. In 1700 the military force of Porto Rico con- 
 sisted of 1,000 men, in the cavalry and infantry. The 
 Fortaleza in San Juan had been rebuilt in 1642, after 
 partial destruction by the Dutch. In 1655 ^ Q island of 
 Jamaica was taken from the Spaniards by the English 
 and in 1671 the Danes took the island of St. Thomas. 
 
 37. Philip Y died in 1^46 and his son Ferdinand 
 VI, became king. In 1751 he sent Felipe Ramirez de 
 Estenos to Porto Rico as Captain General. Ramirez in- 
 troduced the coffee plant into the island in 1755 and 
 fifteen years later there were sent to Spain twenty-two 
 boxes of coffee grown near Coamo, Guayama and Ponce. 
 
 38. Upon the death of Ferdinand in 1759, his 
 brother Charles III, became king of Spain. In 1765 
 he sent Field Marshal Alejandro O'Reilly to Porto Rico 
 to investigate the condition of the island and to make a 
 report of his findings. O'Reilly found twenty villages 
 
 24 
 
besides San Juan and San German, and 45,000 inhab- 
 itants of which number 5,000 were slaves. Very few 
 could read. He reorganized the military forces of the 
 island and urged the strengthening of the fortifications. 
 So King Charles sent Tomas O'Daly to superintend 
 the work on the forts and walls and allowed an appro- 
 priation of $150,000 per year from the treasury in Mex- 
 ico, to pay for the labor. In 1776 Morro Castle was 
 completed and walls were built as far as the fortified 
 bridge of San Antonio. The amount spent on the forti- 
 fications of, San Juan from 1766 to 1816 was nearly 
 four million pesos ; the total cost must have been greatly 
 in excess of this sum. In 1765 Spain sent a regiment of 
 soldiers to garrison the forts and 445 convicts to work 
 on the fortifications. Five years later, more convicts 
 were sent to labor on the public works. 
 
 39. In 1778 Arecibo, Aguada and Coamo were 
 granted municipal councils or ayuntamientos. The vil- 
 lage of Utuado was in the municipality of Arecibo; 
 Rincon, Pepino, Moca and Aguadilla in that of Aguada ; 
 and Ponce, Guayama and Cayey in that of Coamo. 
 
 40. In 1776 Charles III of Spain ordered that all 
 vessels belonging to Americans be admitted to the ports 
 of the Spanish possessions and accorded the same rights 
 as those of other friendly nations. This was the year 
 that the Americans declared themselves independent of 
 the government of England. In 1777 two American 
 
 25 
 
vessels entered the harbor of Mayagiiez, pursued by an 
 "English frigate or warship. The latter ordered the 
 Americans to surrender, but the Porto Ricans helped 
 them and displayed the Spanish flag on their ships. 
 The English protested but left soon afterwards. 
 
 41. The descendants of Ponce de Leon had occu- 
 pied Casa Blanca in San Juan, as a residence for a great 
 many years, but they were obliged to leave the build- 
 ing in 1779, and the insular government used it for of- 
 fices and shops for the military engineers. A few years 
 later it was destroyed by fire and in 1826 the present 
 building was erected. 
 
 42. In 1746 Spain annulled the titles to farming 
 lands issued in Porto Rico since 16 18, on account of the 
 occupation by the people of about 200 cattle ranges 
 which belonged ta the crown. This act affected 5,500 
 small farms previously allotted to the people and held by 
 them for a long time as hereditary possessions. In 1759 
 the matter was finally adjusted, the ownership of the 
 lands was settled in favor of the people and taxes were 
 arranged. 
 
 43. Since 1550 smooth-edged coins, called macu- 
 quina money, had been used in the island, but in 1772 
 this money was collected by order of the king, and new 
 coins bearing the bust of Charles III, were substituted. 
 In 181 3 macuquina money was brought from Venezuela 
 and circulated in the island until 1857. Several other 
 
 26 
 
changes were made before United States money was in- 
 troduced in 1899. 
 
 44. A new military and colonial administration 
 was inaugurated in the island in 1774, a paymaster and 
 a treasurer being appointed in connection with the Cap- 
 tain General. In 1758 the office of Secretary had been 
 
 "created. The Custom House was established on the 
 Marina, outside the walls of San Juan. In 1765 the 
 total insular revenue amounted to $10,800; in 1780 to 
 $179,000. In 1770 cock-fighting had become general 
 over the island; the pits were taxed $6 per month, and 
 in 1788 the total revenue from this source amounted 
 to $1,731. After 1780 playing cards were sold exclu- 
 sively by the government. In 1778 the annuity from 
 the treasury in Mexico amounted to almost $500,000, 
 but shipments could not be made at that time as Spain 
 was at war with England, and there was danger of the 
 money falling into the hands of the English; so paper 
 money was issued in the island. The issue amounted in 
 value to more than one million pesos, the bills represent- 
 ing from 12 cents to four pesos. 
 
 45. The marking of slaves with hot irons was pro- 
 hibited in 1784. A cyclone destroyed a great deal of 
 property in 1785 and two years later an earthquake 
 damaged parts of the walls of San Juan and the fort of 
 San Geronimo. Captain General Juan Daban instituted 
 the first mail service on the island in 1785, the cavalry 
 
 27 
 
soldiers serving as carriers. In 1787 there were 103,000 
 inhabitants in the island, of which number 11,000 were 
 slaves and 2,000 were Indians. 
 
 46. In 1807 the art of printing was introduced 
 into Porto Rico by Captain General Toribio Montes, 
 who secured a small press and published La Gaceta de 
 Puerto Rico. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Effects of Spanish Wars — Struggle for Liberal Government. 
 
 47. Charles III died in 1788 and was succeeded 
 by his son Charles IV. Five years later Spain was at 
 war with France. The French captured several cities of 
 the peninsula and to recover these, Spain ceded to 
 France her territory in the island of Santo Domingo. 
 
 48. In 1796 Spain was at war with England. 
 The English took the island of Trinidad from the Span- 
 iards in 1797 and in the same year a fleet of 60 vessels, 
 under Sir Henry Harvey, attacked Porto Rico. The 
 English landed near Santurce and for two weeks there 
 was fighting on the bridges of Martin Pena and San 
 Antonio. Ramon de Castro was Captain General of 
 Porto Rico at that time. The English withdrew with- 
 out having accomplished anything. Later in the same 
 year four English ships attacked Aguadilla, and in 1799 
 the town of Cabo Rojo was assailed. In 1800 and again 
 in 1 80 1 the town of Ponce was attacked. The English 
 
 28 
 
gained practically nothing from these movements. In 
 1802 the war came to an end. 
 
 49. In 1803 an epidemic of small-pox broke out 
 in the island. General Castro secured vaccine virus 
 from St. Thomas on the recommendation of Dr. Fran- 
 cisco Oiler of San Juan, and 1,500 persons were vacci- 
 nated. Spain sent a supply of the virus to the island 
 the next year, and upon its arrival at San Juan the 
 Spaniard in charge of the shipment was very much dis- 
 appointed to find that the people of Porto Rico were 
 already familiar with the process of vaccination, as he 
 had thought that he would have the honor of introduc- 
 ing it into the island. He claimed that the vaccinations 
 performed by Dr. Oiler were spurious, but later was 
 convinced of their genuineness and finally left the island. 
 In 1804 Ramon de Castro's service as Captain General 
 ended. 
 
 50. Napoleon Bonaparte, at the head of his 
 French armies, marched into Spain in 1808 after having 
 dethroned the Spanish king Charles IV and placed his 
 own brother Joseph on the throne. But the Spanish 
 people would not submit to Napoleon and organized a 
 provisional government at the head of which was the 
 Cortes, the legislative bodies of the peninsula, which or- 
 dered all French people to leave the Spanish possessions. 
 Most of the French people in Porto Rico left here at 
 once. The following year the Porto Ricans, led by 
 
 29 
 
Ramon Power who had been commissioned by Captain 
 General Montes, the Dominicans and some Englishmen 
 from Jamaica united their forces and took Santo Do- 
 mingo from the French, re-establishing Spanish sov- 
 ereignty over that island. 
 
 51. In 1809 the Cortes, in accordance with the 
 provisions of the Constitution of 1808, allowed Porto 
 Rico to send a representative to Spain for the first time, 
 and Ramon Power was selected for this position. In 
 1 81 3 the first legislative assembly of Porto Rico met, 
 as provided for by the Spanish Constitution of 181 2 
 which had been framed by the Cortes. In 181 5 Porto 
 Rico was allowed to trade with the United States, but 
 the commerce was to be carried on in Spanish ships only. 
 Cyclones swept over the island in 181 6 and again in 
 1819. 
 
 52. The administration of the public funds of 
 Porto Rico had, for a number of years, been attended to 
 by officials under the immediate supervision of the Cap- 
 tain General, but in 181 1 the Spanish Cortes, through 
 the efforts of the island's representative, Ramon Power, 
 relieved the military governor of this work and ap- 
 pointed Alejandro Ramirez to take charge of the island's 
 finances. The Cortes also directed that an association 
 to be called the Economic Society of Friends of the 
 Country be formed in Porto Rico for the purpose of de- 
 veloping the trade, industries and agriculture of the 
 
 30 
 
island. This society rendered valuable service to Porto 
 Rico for many years and contributed largely to the 
 island's progress during the nineteenth century. 
 
 53. In 1 8 14 Ferdinand VII, son of Charles IV, 
 drove Joseph Bonaparte out of Spain, seated himself 
 upon the throne, rejected the Constitution of 181 2 and 
 annulled the acts of the Cortes. Porto Rico shared the 
 consequences of this movement with the other Spanish 
 possessions and was denied the advantages which had so 
 recently been granted to her by the Cortes. 
 
 54. As the annuity funds from the treasury in 
 Mexico had not reached the island for several years, 
 paper money was issued in 181 5. This paper money 
 became almost worthless. A revolution led by Simon 
 Bolivar was being conducted in Venezuela, Colombia and 
 Ecuador against Spain, and as the Spaniards there were 
 threatened with death, many of them came to Porto 
 Rico, at the invitation of Alejandro Ramirez. They in- 
 vested their money here and the condition of the island 
 improved to such an extent that the $500,000 issue of 
 paper money was soon cancelled. 
 
 55. In 1820 a revolution occurred in Spain and 
 the Constitution of 1812 was again proclaimed. Under 
 this constitution, 45 town councils, a delegate to the in- 
 sular assembly from each district and a delegate to the 
 Cortes were elected in Porto Rico. Six lawyers were 
 also elected to positions on the bench. There was great 
 rejoicing over these elections. 
 
 31 
 
56. Up to this time, the few schools in existence 
 on the island had been conducted by the priests. Cap- 
 tain General Salvador Melendez tried to establish a sys- 
 tem of public instruction in 1812, but his efforts did not 
 meet with success. 
 
 57. In 1 819 the people of Colombia, Venezuela 
 and Ecuador declared themselves independent of the 
 government of Spain, as their armies, led by Simon 
 Bolivar, had been successful in the war with the Span- 
 iards. In 1 82 1 the Mexicans under Agustin Iturbide, 
 after a long war lasting eleven years, declared them- 
 selves independent. The same year Santo Domingo 
 again proclaimed her independence of the Spanish gov- 
 ernment. In 1822 Miguel de la Torre, the Spanish gen- 
 eral whom Simon Bolivar had defeated in Venezuela, 
 was appointed Captain General of Porto Rico. 
 
 58. The success of the revolutions in South Amer- 
 ica and Mexico led a Swiss adventurer named Holstein 
 in 1822 to plan an uprising of the negroes in Porto Rico 
 against the white inhabitants, by which he hoped to 
 found a republic here. The slaves, however, were not 
 to be granted liberty. Pedro Duboy, a French negro 
 who lived near Naguabo, was Holstein's agent in Porto 
 Rico and in his efforts to promote the interests of the 
 rebellion, he confided in a Frenchman of Fajardo who 
 immediately informed the mayor of the town and Duboy 
 was arrested and placed in prison. Holstein intended 
 
 32 
 
to invade the island at Afiasco and according to the 
 plans, nothing was to be done here until his arrival, but 
 some negroes belonging to plantations near Guayama 
 started the rebellion prematurely and the Captain Gen- 
 eral hurried to the spot with soldiers and the leaders of 
 the movement there were shot in the presence of all the 
 slaves. Duboy was found guilty and executed later. 
 Holstein with two ships reached Curacao where his ves- 
 sels were searched and he was obliged to abandon the en- 
 terprise. In 1825 there occurred in Ponce a revolt on 
 the part of the negroes, but the rebellion was crushed by 
 the execution of all its leaders. 
 
 59. The West Indian waters were still infested 
 with pirates who captured merchant ships and made 
 commerce an uncertain undertaking. In 1823 the 
 United States sent a fleet of 15 vessels under Commo- 
 dore David Porter to the West Indies to drive the pirates 
 from the seas. One of the vessels of this fleet was a 
 steamer, the first one seen here. When the ships came 
 to San Juan the Captain General was away and the 
 Americans were refused admission to the harbor. One 
 of the ships nevertheless, attempted to enter and was 
 fired upon by Morro Castle and her commander was 
 killed. Explanations were made, Commodore Porter 
 exonerated the Spaniards and the incident was closed. 
 The fleet was successful in its fight against the pirates, 
 but a number of them continued to disturb the commerce 
 
 33 
 
of Porto Rico and neighboring islands, and in 1824 an 
 American schooner, in search of pirates, entered the har- 
 bor of Fajardo. The vessel was detained by the offi- 
 cials of the town, and angered by their act, Commodore 
 Porter went to Fajardo, spiked the guns of the shore 
 battery and demanded satisfaction from the town au- 
 thorities. This incident led to a more careful watch of 
 the coast and a few months later the noted Porto Rican 
 pirate Robert Cofresi and his sloop were captured near 
 Guayama with the aid of the officers and men from an 
 American schooner. Cofresi and ten companions were 
 executed. The Portuguese pirate Almeida was captured 
 in 1827 and brought to this island but was not executed 
 until 1832. 
 
 60. In 1823 Ferdinand VII, aided by the French, 
 recovered the Spanish throne ; the constitution was again 
 annulled and absolute power was re-established. Ac- 
 cordingly, Captain General La Torre dissolved the leg- 
 islative assembly of Porto Rico, stopped the publication 
 of the official newspaper, suppressed the town councils 
 and placed the government of the island again in the 
 hands of the military officials. 
 
 61. In 1828 the imports of the island amounted 
 in value to $2,039,928; the exports to $2,590,726; and 
 the number of inhabitants was 221,000, the slaves num- 
 bering 22,000. In 1835 the imports amounted to $3,- 
 914,116; the exports to $3,949*534 \ and the number of 
 
 34 
 
inhabitants was 359,000, there being 42,000 slaves. 
 
 62. Because of the success of the revolutions in 
 South America, Mexico and Santo Domingo, General 
 La Torre feared a similar movement in Porto Rico, and 
 to distract the thoughts of the people from such mat- 
 ters, he arranged for them a continual round of pleasure 
 and festivity. Cock-fighting, horse-racing, dancing, 
 roulette playing and games of dice and cards were in- 
 dulged in to excess day and night, and liquor was con- 
 sumed in large quantities. Those who protested against 
 these proceedings gave to this period of license, the name 
 of the Government of the Three B's — baile, botella and 
 baraja. 
 
 63. In 1825 the island again suffered from the ef- 
 fects of a cyclone. 
 
 64. Spain and the Captains General of the island 
 neglected public education. Rafael Cordero, a negro 
 cigar-maker of San Juan, gave children free instruction 
 in his shop at 98 Luna street. His example was fol- 
 lowed by others in many parts of the island. In 1832 
 the Theological Seminary, now Colegio de San Pablo, 
 was installed in the building erected for this institution 
 in San Juan the same year, and was conducted by the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 65. Ferdinand VII died in 1833-and his daughter 
 Isabella II became queen of Spain. In 1836 an insur- 
 rection in Spain obliged the queen to rule according to 
 
 35 
 
the Constitution of 1812 and in the following year La 
 Torre's service as Captain General of Porto Rico ended. 
 In the same year, 1837, the Cortes framed a new consti- 
 tution for the monarchy, one of the articles of which 
 provided that the Spanish possessions should be gov- 
 erned by special laws, but no special laws were made 
 for the benefit of Porto Rico until nearly half a century 
 had passed. The Captain General continued to exercise 
 absolute power, as the delegate of the king, but the 
 island in its entirety would not submit quietly to this 
 arbitrary rule, and several citizens entered into a con- 
 spiracy against the government in 1838. The plot was 
 discovered, one of the conspirators committed suicide 
 and ten others were executed. 
 
 66. Captain General Lopez Banos, after crushing 
 this conspiracy, issued a " Proclamation of Good Gov- 
 ernment," this being a collection of the regulations con- 
 cerning the town and rural police, in which he declared 
 that any man or woman who had no profession or was 
 not an owner of property, was to be considered a day- 
 laborer and obliged to enter the service of some em- 
 ployer. The names of these laborers were registered 
 in the city hall of the municipality in which they worked, 
 and a close watch was kept upon them. Later the farm 
 laborers were required to carry note-books in which their 
 employers entered the date of arrival, the number of 
 days employed and the date of withdrawal from serv- 
 
 36 
 
ice. They were not allowed to leave a farm or planta- 
 tion until they had paid all their debts. The employers 
 entered false records in these note-books and the labor- 
 ers suffered accordingly during many years. 
 
 6y. In 1847 Juan Prim became Captain General 
 of Porto Rico. The following year there occurred an 
 insurrection of negro slaves in the island of Santa Cruz, 
 and Prim, fearing a similar uprising in Porto Rico, or- 
 dered that slaves committing any offense whatsoever 
 should be tried by a court of military officers, and au- 
 thorized the planters to kill their slaves in the event of 
 their rebellion. This was called the Black Law. A 
 few slaves were shot in Ponce and in Vega Baja, but 
 the law was abolished a few months later. When the 
 owners wished to punish their slaves, they would beat 
 them or whip them, and some of the negroes died as a 
 result of this treatment. 
 
 68. Prim was Captain General only seven months. 
 Shortly after his arrival at San Juan, he visited the peni- 
 tentiary where he found a white man from Cabo Rojo, 
 heavily laden with chains, who was commonly called the 
 Eagle. He had been sent to prison for having stolen 
 some cattle. Prim liberated him on his promise of good 
 behavior, declaring that he would have him shot if he 
 ever attempted to deceive him. The man promised to 
 remain in San Juan. A little later, Prim visited Cabo 
 Rojo on a trip around the island, and while there it was 
 
 37 
 
rumored that the Eagle had returned to his home. The 
 following morning the governor's favorite horse was 
 missing. The animal was found later. The Eagle was 
 captured in the neighborhood and Prim had him exe- 
 cuted. The court at the capital protested against this 
 action and finally appealed to the sovereign, who shortly 
 after removed Prim and appointed Juan de la Pezuela as 
 Captain General. Captain General Pezuela was not pop- 
 ular because he prohibited horse-racing, attacked the cus- 
 toms of the people and restricted the press. 
 
 69. In 1 84 1 the town of Mayagiiez was destroyed 
 by fire and Captain General Mendez Vigo closed the port 
 of Cabo Rojo for the benefit of the stricken town. The 
 same year Mendez Vigo established in San Juan the 
 Casa de Beneficencia or asylum for orphans and the in- 
 sane. In 1855 the people suffered from an epidemic of 
 cholera and small-pox which caused the death of 30,000 
 persons, of which number 10,000 were slaves. 
 
 70. In 1850 the island was divided into seven dis- 
 tricts: Bayamon, Humacao, Guayama, Ponce, Arecibo, 
 Mayagiiez and Aguadilla, the island of Vieques belong- 
 ing to the district of Humacao. The same year a sys- 
 tem of public instruction was organized. 
 
 38 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Slavery Question — Insurrections Against Spanish Government 
 — Political Organization. 
 
 71. Civil war broke out in the United States in 
 1 86 1 on account of slavery, and the slaves there were 
 declared free by President Lincoln in 1863. These 
 events caused Segundo Ruiz Belvis of Hormigueros, and 
 Dr. Emeterio Betances of Cabo Rojo, to urge the grant- 
 ing of freedom to the slaves in Porto Rico. 
 
 J2. The republican government in Santo Domingo 
 gave way to Spanish dominion again in 1861. Four 
 years of fighting followed, during which the Porto 
 Ricans supported the cause of Spain in that island. In 
 1865 Spain withdrew from Santo Domingo and the re- 
 publican government was re-established there. 
 
 73. In 1865, at the request of the Spanish gov- 
 ernment, the Porto Ricans sent Jose Julian Acosta, Se- 
 gundo Ruiz Belvis, Francisco Mariano Quihones and 
 Manuel F. Zeno to Madrid to furnish information in 
 regard to the special laws promised in 1837. The great 
 need of reform was urged and the first three declared 
 that the abolition of slavery ought to be the first reform 
 granted to Porto Rico. The commissioners returned 
 home and nothing came of their labor. Roman Bal- 
 dorioty de Castro was associated with Jose Julian Acosta 
 in his efforts to secure the freedom of the slaves. 
 
 39 
 
74- Shortly after the return of the commission- 
 ers in 1867, when the feeling of the Porto Ricans to- 
 ward Spain was very bitter, a mutiny occurred in the 
 army here; the Spaniards seized upon this occurrence 
 as affording an excuse for banishing the Porto Rican 
 leaders and Dr. Betances, Ruiz Belvis, Dr. Pedro Ge- 
 ronimo Goico, Dr. Calixto Romero, Jose de Celis 
 Aguilera, Vicente Rufino de Goenaga and Julian E. 
 Blanco were arbitrarily ordered to Spain by Captain 
 General Marchesi. The Black Law was restored for a 
 time and the negro slaves suffered severely. Dr. Be- 
 tances and Ruiz Belvis escaped to the United States and 
 while there published a letter in a newspaper of New 
 York City, declaring that they considered it useless to 
 spend time and money in the hope of getting good gov- 
 ernment from Spain. Ruiz Belvis went to Chile and 
 died there. Dr. Betances went to Santo Domingo and 
 tried to secure assistance in carrying out a plan he had 
 formed to free Porto Rico from Spanish rule. Secret 
 societies were organized in Porto Rico to further the 
 scheme. Marchesi was succeeded as Captain General 
 by Julian Pavia and in 1868 Spain ordered the banished 
 Porto Ricans to return home. N 
 
 75. The cyclone of " San Narciso " swept over the 
 island in 1867. 
 
 76. In 1868 there occurred in the town of Lares 
 an insurrection fomented by the secret societies that were 
 
 40 
 
planning a revolution. About one thousand Porto 
 Ricans gathered and the independence of Porto Rico 
 was proclaimed. From Lares the people marched to 
 the town of Pepino, where they were met by a military 
 force from Aguadilla. At sight of the soldiers the peo- 
 ple fled but many of them were captured and made pris- 
 oners. Seven of the leaders in the movement were 
 condemned to death but the sentence was not executed. 
 Of those imprisoned, 79 died of yellow fever. The lead- 
 ers and those who survived the epidemic were liberated 
 later. 
 
 yy. Isabella II was a wicked woman and her gov- 
 ernment was very corrupt, so the Spaniards became dis- 
 gusted and in 1868 she was dethroned and obliged to 
 leave the peninsula. The new government promised to 
 give Porto Rico the benefit of the liberty proclaimed. 
 The revolutionary movement in the island was weak- 
 ened on this account, but Dr. Betances still cherished the 
 hope of making the island independent of Spain. In the 
 same year the insurrection in Cuba began. 
 
 78. In 1869 Captain General Jose Laureano Sanz 
 established the first telegraph in Porto Rico, and also 
 the body of police known as the Gnardia Civil. Sanz 
 was succeeded as Captain General by Gabriel Baldrich 
 who, in 1870, declared free all slaves over sixty and 
 under two years of age. He also abolished the lash, 
 the stocks and all forms of corporal punishment of the 
 
 41 
 
slaves. This was done in pursuance of an order from 
 the Spanish government, the Cortes having passed a law 
 providing for these reforms. The text of this law was 
 prepared by Roman Baldorioty who, at that time, was a 
 delegate to the Cortes from Porto Rico. 
 
 79. After Queen Isabella was banished from 
 Spain, Amadeo, a son of the king of Italy, was crowned 
 at Madrid, 1870, but the revolutionary spirit was so 
 active in the peninsula that he was forced to resign 
 the crown in 1873, and a republican form of govern- 
 ment was established. On March 22 of that year the 
 legislative bodies of the peninsula passed an act abol- 
 ishing slavery in Porto Rico, and authorized the nego- 
 tiation of a loan of $8,000,000 with which the slave 
 owners were reimbursed. By this act 34,000 slaves 
 were set free. At that time Juan Martinez Plowes was 
 Captain General of the island. The condition of the 
 island improved after the emancipation of the slaves, 
 as will be seen by comparing the value of the exports 
 for a few years prior to and following 1873 — 1864, 
 $4,965,382; 1869, $6,535,352; 1874, $7,111,636; 1879, 
 $10,946,268. 
 
 80. In 1873, under authority of an act to provide 
 public instruction, a school known as the Institute Civil, 
 was established in San Juan. Jose Julian Acosta was 
 appointed as principal of the institution. 
 
 81. In 1874 the Spanish republic came to an end 
 
 42 
 
and a provisional government was organized; the Porte 
 Rican legislative assembly and town councils were dis- 
 solved, the Instituto Civil was closed and the militia 
 was abolished. Later in the same year Alfonso XII, 
 son of Isabella II, was crowned king, and the assembly, 
 town councils and the Instituto Civil of Porto Rico were 
 restored. Two years later, the Ateneo, a society de- 
 voted to the discussion of literary and scientific sub- 
 jects, was founded in San Juan. In 1880 Captain Gen- 
 eral Despujol organized a system of public schools; the 
 number of schools reached 432 and the enrollment 15,- 
 318 pupils. In 1870 an English company laid a cable 
 connecting the island with the outside world. 
 
 82. In 1887 a political party led by Baldorioty 
 de Castro, held a convention in Ponce, and while recog- 
 nizing Spain's authority over the island, claimed for 
 the Porto Ricans the right to regulate the affairs that 
 concerned the island alone, such as the preparation of 
 the budget and the election of municipal officers and of 
 delegates to the legislative assembly of the island. In 
 other words, the convention demanded autonomy. Some 
 young men formed a secret society for the purpose of 
 injuring the business interests of the Spaniards on the 
 island; Captain General Romualdo Palacio charged the 
 members of the autonomist party with conspiracy in this 
 movement and the Guardia Civil was employed to sur- 
 prise them in their homes at night, take them to lonely 
 
 43 
 
places and whip and torture them for the purpose of 
 forcing confession or securing information that would 
 implicate others. 
 
 8$' In 1 89 1 the members of the autonomist party 
 again convened. Baldorioty de Castro was dead and 
 the leadership was undertaken by others. Five years 
 later the party became divided, Luis Mufioz Rivera and 
 his followers favoring a union with the liberal party 
 among the Spaniards, and Jose C. Barbosa, Manuel F. 
 Rossy and Luis Sanchez Morales adhering to the old 
 plan of self-government. 
 
 84. The carretera central or military road, from 
 San Juan to Ponce, is one of the chief public works 
 completed by the Spaniards. In 1521 the San Antonio 
 bridge on this road near San Juan, was first built. The 
 road from San Juan to Rio Piedras was completed in 
 1773. It was extended to Caguas in 1812, to Cayey 
 in 1874 and to Ponce in 1888. The carretera from 
 Cayey to Guayama was begun in 1888 and finished in 
 1898; that from Arecibo to Ponce was begun in 1881 
 and finished by the Americans in 1903. Several other 
 carreteras in different parts of the island are now in 
 use. The Americans found here 159 miles of road in 
 1898, the construction having cost $21,287 P er mile. 
 
 85. The steam railroad of the island was con- 
 structed by a company organized by French, Spanish 
 and Porto Rican capitalists who had secured a conces- 
 
 44 
 
sion from the Spanish government. The greater part 
 of the company's stock was owned by Frenchmen. The 
 railroad was opened to traffic in 1891 between San Juan 
 and Camuy; Aguadilla and Mayagiiez; Yauco and 
 Ponce; and Martin Pena and Carolina. In 1901 the 
 company was reorganized under the name of the Amer- 
 ican Railroad Company of Porto Rico, a new conces- 
 sion having been granted by the Executive Council. 
 Two years later the line was extended from Mayagiiez 
 to Yauco and in 1906 the towns of Camuy and Agua- 
 dilla were connected, making the railroad continuous 
 from San Juan to Ponce. 
 
 86. In 1897 the insurrection in Cuba still con- 
 tinued. Weyler, the Spanish general there, was very 
 cruel to the Cubans and the attention of the United 
 States was drawn to Spain's government in that island. 
 
 8y. The city walls of San Juan between Fort San 
 Cristobal and San Justo street, were torn down in 1897, 
 with the gate of Santiago at the eastern entrance to the 
 city. 
 
 88. During the nineteenth century Spain suffered 
 many changes in government, six different constitutions 
 being in force within that period. These constitutions 
 were known according to the years in which they were 
 adopted — 1808, 1812, 1837, 1845, 1S69 and 1876. 
 That of 1869 provided for a liberal government, and 
 although Porto Rico was granted adequate representa- 
 
 45 
 
tion in the Cortes, the island was still dominated by the 
 officials appointed by the king. Until 1872 the Spanish 
 power was absolute, but in that year sixteen delegates 
 and four senators, elected by the people, were sent to 
 Madrid as representatives of Porto Rico in the Cortes. 
 Only those who were able to read and write or who 
 paid a tax of eight dollars could vote in these elections, 
 and on that account the number of voters was small. 
 The island continued to send delegates and senators to 
 the Cortes, but the great majority of these representa- 
 tives were members of the conservative or Spanish 
 party. The people claimed that the elections were not 
 honest and that their candidates could never be elected 
 while the Spaniards were in power, so very few Porto 
 Ricans voted and the government continued practically 
 the same as in former times. The administration of 
 affairs in the island was in the hands of the Captain 
 General, a Secretary, a Board of Authorities composed 
 of eight officials, an Administrative Council of twelve 
 members of whom eight were the officials constituting 
 the Board of Authorities, and a House of Delegates of 
 twelve members. The Captain General had the power 
 to appoint all the mayors and many of the judges and 
 insular officials of lower grade. 
 
 89. On November 28, 1897, Spain granted auton- 
 omy to Porto Rico in the form of an assembly of dis- 
 trict representatives and an administrative council, un- 
 
 46 
 
der the governor and a cabinet of five secretaries, and 
 there was to be the same number of delegates and sena- 
 tors in the Cortes from the island as had been allowed 
 since 1872. Early in 1898 Manuel Macias was ap- 
 pointed governor and the cabinet was constituted as 
 follows : Luis Mufioz Rivera, Manuel Fernandez Jun- 
 cos, Juan Hernandez Lopez, Manuel F. Rossy and Jose 
 Severo Quinones. A few months later two of these 
 secretaries retired from the cabinet as they differed po- 
 litically from the government then in power. In March 
 the members of the assembly and of the council were 
 elected. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Spanish-American War — New Sovereignty Over Island. , 
 
 90. In April, 1898, the United States declared 
 war on Spain on account of her treatment of the Cubans. 
 At that time Alfonso XIII, a boy twelve years of age, 
 was king of Spain, his father, Alfonso XII, having 
 died in 1885. On May 12 ten American warships un- 
 der Admiral Sampson bombarded San Juan to test the 
 strength of the fortifications and to see if any Spanish 
 warships were in the harbor. Morro Castle, the In- 
 fantry Barracks, the church of San Jose, the Beneficen- 
 cia and other buildings were damaged. The fleet sailed 
 away in the evening of the same day. 
 
 91. Spain had two small cruisers and a gun-boat 
 
 47 
 
in Porto Rican waters, and to these was added a de- 
 stroyer from Admiral Cervera's fleet. The port of San 
 Juan was blockaded by an American cruiser and on June 
 22 the Spanish destroyer left the harbor to attack the 
 American vessel. One broadside from the latter forced 
 the destroyer to return to port. Shortly after, one hun- 
 dred boxes of powder were accidentally exploded at 
 Miraflores, causing the death of seventeen persons. 
 
 92. On July 17, 1898, the two legislative bodies 
 convened in San Juan and on July 25 an American 
 army under General Miles landed in Guanica. The peo- 
 ple in Yauco welcomed the Americans. Ponce was taken 
 three days later, the Spanish forces there retreating to 
 Coamo. According to the campaign planned, General 
 Brooke was to lead a division of the army to Cayey from 
 Arroyo, which had been taken August 2; General Wil- 
 son another from Ponce to Coamo; General Schwan 
 another from Yauco to Mayagiiez; and General Stone 
 another from Ponce to Adjuntas. There was fighting 
 near Hormigueros, Mayagiiez, Rio Prieto and Coamo. 
 
 93. On August 12, 1898, peace was declared and 
 the war ended, the Spaniards having been defeated in 
 Cuba, the Philippine Islands and in Porto Rico within 
 four months. Spain ceded Porto Rico and the Philip- 
 pine Islands to the United States. The Americans later 
 made Cuba a republic. 
 
 94. When General Miles left Porto Rico, General 
 
 48 
 
Brooke took charge of the island. On October 13, 1898, 
 Captain General Macias, the 11 8th governor of Porto 
 Rico, returned to Spain and on October 18 the flag 
 of the United States was raised on the Fortaleza in San 
 Juan, proclaiming American sovereignty over the island. 
 On October 23, the Spanish army returned to Spain. 
 The cabinet of secretaries resigned, but General Brooke 
 asked the members to continue in office. In December 
 General Henry succeeded General Brooke. He dissolved 
 the cabinet, the assembly and the council, and created 
 four departments, State, Justice, Finance and Interior, 
 all subject to the military governor. The liberty of the 
 press, freedom of religious belief, and the right to hold 
 public meetings were established. The lottery and cock- 
 fighting were prohibited. Labor was regulated, the 
 working day being fixed at eight hours. The judicial 
 system was reorganized. Stocks, chains and irons in 
 the prisons were abolished. The Insular Police force 
 was created. Sanitary regulations were enforced. 
 United States money was introduced, the peso being 
 exchanged for sixty cents. The annuity paid to the 
 Catholic Church from the insular treasury was abolished. 
 The census of 1899 showed that there were 953> 2 43 in- 
 habitants on the island. A public school system was 
 organized and text books and supplies were furnished 
 by the government. General Henry was succeeded by 
 General Davis on May 18, 1899. 
 
 49 
 
95- The cyclone of " San Ciriaco," accompanied by 
 a very heavy fall of rain, devastated parts of the island 
 on August 8, 1899. The loss of life was estimated at 
 3,500 and the damage to property at 36,000,000 pesos. 
 Many coffee plantations were destroyed and this misfor- 
 tune increased the misery of the people dependent on 
 the coffee crop, which had begun in 1896 with the decline 
 of the price of this product. The United States sent 
 large quantities of clothing and medicines and 32,455,- 
 000 pounds of food supplies for the relief of the suffer- 
 ers. These supplies were distributed by the American 
 soldiers. Since 15 14 forty-one cyclones have been re- 
 ported in Porto Rico, but the actual number of these 
 storms must be larger, for between the years 1537 and 
 1738, a period of 200 years, only five cyclones were re- 
 ported. 
 
 96. On May 1, 1900, the Organic Act creating 
 civil government in Porto Rico, took effect. The act 
 provided for a Governor and an Executive Council of 
 eleven members to be appointed by the President of the 
 United States, and a House of Delegates of 35 mem- 
 bers and a Commissioner to the United States to be 
 elected by the people. The Governor and members of 
 the Executive Council are appointed to serve four years 
 and the members of the House of Delegates and the 
 Commissioner to the United States are elected every 
 two years. The officers of all the municipalities are also 
 
 50 
 
elected every two years; they are the mayor, the mem- 
 bers of the municipal council and of the local school 
 boards, road supervisors and municipal judges. Six of 
 the members of the Executive Council are also heads of 
 the six executive departments of the government and 
 hold the titles of Secretary, Attorney General, Treasurer, 
 Auditor, Commissioner of Education and Commissioner 
 of the Interior. The judicial department consists of the 
 Supreme Court of five judges appointed by the President 
 for four years, the United States District Court of one 
 judge appointed by the President for four years, seven 
 District Courts of one judge each appointed by the 
 Governor and twenty-four Municipal Courts in the larger 
 towns, each presided over by one judge elected by the 
 people every two years. Justices of the Peace are ap- 
 pointed by the Governor to preside over the courts in the 
 smaller towns. Free trade between the United States 
 and Porto Rico was also established. 
 
 97. Charles H. Allen was the first civil governor. 
 William H. Hunt succeeded him on September 15, 1901, 
 and Beekman Winthrop succeeded Governor Hunt on 
 July 4, 1904. 
 
 98. The figures given in the following table show 
 the progress made in public school work since 1880. 
 
 5i 
 
YEAR. 
 
 NUMBER OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 NUMBER OF PUPILS. 
 
 1880 
 
 43 2 
 
 15,318 
 
 1896 
 
 525 
 
 25,615 
 
 1898 
 
 551 
 
 25,644 
 
 1900 
 
 525 
 
 24,392 
 
 1902 
 
 874 
 
 42,070 
 
 I904 
 
 1,113 
 
 63,556 
 
 I906 
 
 1,134 
 
 68,826 
 
 99. No buildings were erected by the Spaniards 
 for school purposes. From 1898 to 1906 the Americans 
 built 79 school-houses and developed an excellent system 
 of public schools. 
 
 100. The Spanish government here had two police 
 organizations, the Guardia Civil, numbering 788 men, 
 and the Vigilantes, numbering 244 men. These police 
 were directly under the orders of the governor. Besides 
 these two bodies, each town had municipal police who 
 were controlled directly by the mayor. The entire police 
 force of the island was about 2,000 men. The Guardia 
 Civil and the Vigilantes were dreaded by the people, as 
 they had the power to make arrests without waiting for 
 orders from their superiors, and as the inhabitants were 
 closely watched, anyone was likely to be thrown into 
 jail at any time without knowing what the charge against 
 him was. The municipal police organizations have been 
 abolished and in 1906 the only police force on the island 
 
 52 
 
was the organization known as the Insular Police, num- 
 bering 770 men. 
 
 101. In time of peace Spain kept in Porto Rico 
 a force of 4,000 regular soldiers from the peninsula and 
 twelve battalions of militia scattered about the island, 
 all under the orders of the governor. The United States 
 maintained here in 1906 eight companies of Porto Rican 
 soldiers and one company of American marines, the com- 
 bined forces numbering 700 men. The little island of 
 Culebra was made a naval base in 1901, and a naval 
 station was established there in 1904. Two companies 
 of American marines, numbering about 100 men, are 
 stationed at this place. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 
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