ral 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