[Footnote 55: He had been President of the Royal Academy.]
[Footnote 56: El Porvenir, for the Liberals, the Boletin Mercantíl, for the Conservatives.]
[Footnote 57: Extracts from the History of the Insurrection of Lares, by José Perez Moris.]
CHAPTER XXVI
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND—THE DAWN OF FREEDOM
1874-1898
The Spanish Republic was but short lived. From the day of its proclamation (February 11, 1873) to the landing in Barcelona of Alphonso XII in the early days of 1876 its history is the record of an uninterrupted series of popular tumults.
The political restlessness in the Peninsula, accentuating as it did the party antagonisms in Cuba and Puerto Rico, led the governors, most of whom were chosen for their adherence to conservative principles, to endeavor, but in vain, to stem the tide of revolutionary and Separatist ideas with more and more drastic measures of repression.
This persistence of the colonial authorities in the maintenance of an obsolete system of administration, in the face of a universal recognition of the principles of liberty and self-government, added to the immediate effect on the economic and social conditions in this island of the abolition of slavery, for which it was unprepared,[58] brought it once more to the brink of ruin.
From 1873 to 1880 the resources of the island grew gradually less, the country's capital was being consumed without profit, credit became depressed, the best business forecasts turned out illusive, the most intelligent industrial efforts remained sterile. The sun of prosperity which rose over the island in 1815 set again in gloom during this period of seven years.