878                          FOREIGN    RELATIONS.

                               [Inclosure.-Translation.]
         Letter from Piorto Rico, published in "La Epoca," Madrid,
March 8, 1874.

                                                  PORTO RICO, February 12,
1874.
  President Serrano's cabinet have made a most excellepnt selection in appointing
Gen-
eral Sanz as governor-general of this island. Had it not been for this appointment,
and for the taking of Cartagena, many misfortunes would have happened in
Porto
Rico. At a first glance it seems as if Cartagena had nothing to do with this
province.
We shall see, however, that we have been on the point of having partisans
of Con-
treras here.
  The nine months that we had of rebel propagandism greatly excited the minds
of
the people of this island, who are as impressionable as they are innocent
in political
matters. On seeing the military officers banished who had most distinguished
them-
selves by their attitude at Lares, or by the identity of their views with
those of the
Spanish party; on seeing deported to the little island of Vieques the only
member of
the expelled party who returned; on seeing that the reform press were permitted
loudly to demand the disarming of the volunteers and of the civil guard;
on seeing
the disorganization of compulsory labor and the annulment of the contracts
for three
years to which the freedmen were subjected by the law of emancipation; on
seeing
provincial and municipal interests intrusted to unskillfuluntilitarian, and
insolvent
hands; on seeing the plague of office-seeking developed with a celerity the
like of
which had never before been known; on seeing the Scandals caused by political
mani-
festations, which were not prevented by the authorities, and which hauled
down the
Spanish flag with impunity at San German and other places; on hearing the
filibuster
cry of "1Hurrah for free Porto Rico !" raised before the very eyes
of the captain-general,
who was haranguing a crowd composed mainly of negroes; on seeing a military
officer
of high rank acting as vice-president of a federal reform committee presided
over by
one of the amnestied actors at Lares; on seeing the Jesuits' college basely
attacked,
not because they were Jesuits, but because they were Spaniards; on seeing
the secret
societies (which here are always promoters of filibusterism, whether called
masonic or
otherwise) making threatening demonstrations in Vthepublic prints and at
public
meetings; on seeing the civil guard stripped of its powers and wholly under
the con-
trol of alcaldes belonging to the reform party; on seeing the captain-general
taking
turns with the negroes at his balls and his greased-pole games; on seeing,
in a word,
these and similar abuses permitted, encouraged, and even applauded by the
author-
ities, the audacity of federals, secessionists, and demagogues rose to such
a height
that the least spark would have been sufficient to cause a conflagration
had it fallen
upon this pile of combustible material.
  On the 13th of February news reached this island, via Havana, of the downfall
of
the federal Cortes, which were dissolvedwithout effusion of blood, and almost
fell to
pieces of themselves at the mere sight of the bayonets of the intrepid General
Pavia.
The news was joyfulily received here by the unconditional Spaniards, and
with terror
by those who are Spaniards only on certain conditions. The blow was a fatal
one for
the reform federal party of Porto Rico. This was.undoubtedly the reason why
the
wire-pullers. at once began to console their friends by means of a thousand
fables, each
one more alarming than its predecessor. Some said that the constituent Cortes
had
transferred their sessions to Saracrossa, where they held-the reins of government
and
were the only legitimate authority in Spain. Others asserted that the entire
southern
half of the peninsula had risen in a cantonal insurrection. Some said that
the illus-
trious Duke de la Torre and his companions had been dragged through the streets.
Others that the besieging army at Cartagena had been routed by the intransigentes.
  To all this the reform press, or, in other words, that which was considered
here as
the ministerial press, said in every tone that the government "created
by the fourteen
thousand bayonets of Pavia was an illegitimate government." "To
which of the
governments of Spain do we owe obedience,?" asked the so-called federal
reform
papers; "to that of Contreras, that of Don Carlos, that of Serrano,
or that of the
legitimate constituent Cortes?" And the panic spread among the good,
and the
audacity of the bad increased. Next came the news that, in a certain village,
the
alcaldes of the vicinity were holding meetings, at late hours of the night,
in the in-
terest of filibusterism, and that these meetings were attended by men whose
hostility
to Spain and to all orderly government was well known; and it was said that,
in cer-
*tain localities, companies of rebelliously-disposed persons had been formed,
and that,
after having chosen captains, officers, sergeants, corporals, and even commanders,
they were being drilled in musket-firing. Places were pointed out where guns
had
been introduced, and stories were -told of strange men who had ridden through
the
various jurisdictions at full speed, circulating documents supposed to have
been issued
by General Primo de Rivern.
   Meantime, other circumstances rendered the attitude of the authorities
more sus-
picious. One spoke of mysterious initerv iews; another of emissaries sent
to the rural