BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-09-23

the neighboring island was annexed,
together with certain savage or semi
savage islands of the distant Asiatic
seas.
The language of the treaty establish
ing distinctions between "Spaniards
born in the Peninsula" and "natives of
the territories" awakened in some of
these persons the idea that Porto Rico,
as the Asiatic Islands, was peopled by
natives, who, being of the "West
Indies" must necessarily be some race
of semi-savage Indians" They were
not in possession of the fact that in the
whole Island of Porto Rico there re-
mained, according to the Porto Rican
official reports of the epoch, only sixty
native Indians in I543.
/ 1t was therefore in that epoch more
difficult to find an Indian" in Porto
Rico than it is to-day to chance upon
one on the asphalted streets of Boston,
Philadelphia or Washington.
But, as l will not speak to you about
our Eextinct Indian aborigines of Porto
Rico, allow me to quote concerning
LL1OLl q OtotClINat vi q lllSlOlldu uCy
were" says Fray lingo Abad, very
dexterous in the throwing of the arrow,
but they never used poison on them. as
did the CaribbeaDs," 0heir adversaries
in the neighboring islands).
This moral feature of our insular
character has been inherited by the
people of Porto Rico to such an extent
that it has remained as their most
prominent trait, even centuries after the
disappearance of the arrows. If you
forget it you cannot possibly understand
our history, nor be able to realize the
political popularity which distinguishes
the Porto Rican people, to wit, a serenity
a love Of peace which is the distinctive
feature of the Porto Rican collective
psychology. If you forget it, you will
unavoldably fall into the same error as
the official h storian, according to whom
the history of Porto Rico presents but
few points of interest as compared with
Cuba or the other colonies of Spain in
this hemisphere" CWar Department
Report of the Director of the Census of
Porto Rico, 1899, page I3)
From strictly military standpoint
this statement is probably correct.
With the exception of the attack on
San Juan, in the year 1926, by Dutch
fleet, which, after siege of twenty.eight
days. was forced to withdraw with
considerable loss, and also an attempt
by the French in the following year,
which was also repulsed and still
another attack directed by Lord Ralph
Abercrombie, in 1897; equally unsuccess-
ful-there have been no military events
in the history of the Island. In the
matter of sanguinary glories the Porto
Rican people have only enough to prove
that they possess the manly qualities
necessary to defend their country
against foreign invasions, and that these
qualities are not incompatible with the
love of peace.
Therefore, if history is to be appreciat-
ed as chain of military achievements,
the War Department Report is right,
and the history of Porto Rico presents
but few points of interest" especially if
compared with that of Cuba One fact
is sufficient to prove this. The people
of Cuba maintained war for ten years
Qrom 1868 to 1887 in which many
individual feats were performed, great
sufferings endured, thousands of precious
and worthy lives lost, an immense
amount of property destroyed, and
about $3oooooooo wasted, to obtain
through the treaty or s'capitulation" of |
Zanjon the same greater" civil, polit- |
ical, and administrative privileges" to
the people, that Porto Rico had former
ly obtained without shedding drop of
human blood.
To be continued tomorrow.