Bill for the immediate abolition of slavery in the island of Porto Rico, presented by the colonial minister, Chamber of Deputies, December 24, 1872., December 23, 1872

Bill for the immediate abolition of slavery in the island of Porto Rico, presented by the colonial minister, Chamber of Deputies, December 24, 1872.

[From El Diario de las Sesiones de Cortes.]

To the Cortes: In the name of God and in obedience to right, morality, and justice, to the welfare of the people and the dignity of the nation, this government, fulfilling the most sacred of its promises and the most humanitarian of its duties, submits for the approval of the Cortes a bill for the immediate abolition of slavery in the province of Porto Rico. Its most ardent desires would be realized and its most delicate scruples satisfied if the insensate obstinacy of a few rebels did not hinder it from granting the same inestimable boon to Cuba, with the modifications that would necessarily be demanded in view of the different organization of the system of labor in the two islands, the different density of their population, the enormous inequality in the number of their slaves, and other fundamental differences in their social status.

The government would fear to offend the good judgment of the Cortes if it sought to justify its generous resolve before them. Unhappy are they the muteness of whose conscience renders needful the cold language of reason.

It is an evident and consolatory moral law that utility is ever the inseparable companion of justice; but the government owes it to itself to declare in this solemn moment that, after examining this reform under every aspect, it has only found new and powerful reasons that at once assure its opportuneness and prove its justice.

Gradual abolition, which will, perhaps, one day be the necessary form of emancipation in Cuba, offers no advantages to recommend it in Porto Rico. The population of African origin in the latter island is relatively less numerous than that of European extraction; nearly all the blacks have been born in the island; of the 31,000 held in slavery, less than 10,000, perhaps less than 8,000, are devoted to field-labor; the remainder live in a sort of domestic servitude, as barren of profit to the masters as it is favorable to the education of the slaves or those employed in mechanical operations. No danger, therefore, arises from the number or condition of those who in a single day may cease to be chattels and acquire the noble station of free men.

Let the happy day dawn when Spain may pay the debt of honor she has contracted toward modern civilization. By a chance, which seems providential, the presentation of this project falls on the day consecrated by Christianity to the commemoration of the birth of Him who was to change the face of the world, breaking the bonds of all servitude and proclaiming the equality of all men before their God.

Let us, then, aid his work and realize a fresh achievement in the interest of humanity and for the good of the country. Slavery is a monstrous wrong, no less baleful to them who impose than to them who bear it. All great humane and patriotic interests cry aloud for its disappearance, which will at one and the same time redound to the well-being of the redeemed and the honor of the liberators. It is demanded by religion, for among the sons of our common Father there should be neither oppressed nor oppressors. It is demanded by morality, for there can be no merit in acts performed without free will, and the soul of the slave is nearly always a place apart, shut out from all idea of duty and all sentiments of virtue. It is demanded by right, for there is no wrong comparable with the mutilation of human entity in its most noble and essential attributes. It is demanded by utility, for slave-labor is the least intelligent, the least productive, and the least active of all. It is demanded by patriotism, since apathy and weakness and corruption are the common chastisements of those peoples who sleep in luxury and leave to the hands of bondmen the thousand-fold applications of that labor which is the eternal law of our nature and the eternal companion of our own self-worth. It is demandable by policy, because domestic habits are so intimately linked with public customs that where the groan of the slave is heard it is hard to rear citizens apt for the ruder exercise of liberty. It is demanded by prudence, for the unwise continuance of any abuse makes its remedy more difficult and its correction more violent; and lastly, it is demanded by the necessities of the government under our system of representative institutions, for in free nations no resistance can prevail against the force of opinion, and in Spain, fortunately, opinion is frankly and resolutely pronounced against this barbarous monstrosity whose supposed benefits consist in reducing to gold the sweat, the tears, the blood, and the souls of an unhappy race, condemned until now to suffer the lash and the chain.

Basing this action on the foregoing high considerations, the undersigned minister, in accord with his colleagues and with the previous authorization of His Majesty, has the honor (which he esteems as the greatest of his life) to submit to the consideration of the Cortes the following

bill.

• Article 1. Slavery is hereby totally and forever abolished in the province of Porto Rico. The slaves shall be de facto free at the expiration of four months from the date of the publication of this law in the Official Gazette of that province.
• Art. 2. The owners of the slaves thus emancipated shall be indemnified for their value within the term fixed in the foregoing article, conformably to the provisions of this law.
• Art. 3. The amount of the indemnification to which the preceding article refers shall be fixed by the government, on the recommendation of a commission composed of the superior civil governor of Porto Rico, who shall be chairman; the financial intendente of the province, the attorney-general of the audiencia, three persons named by the provincial assembly, and three others chosen by the five largest slave-owners in the island.
• The resolutions of this commission shall be adopted by a majority of its members.
• Art. 4. Of the amount fixed by way of indemnification, 80 per centum shall be delivered to the owners of the slaves emancipated, half at the charge of the state and the other half at the charge of the province of Porto Rico, the remaining 20 per centum being at the charge of the owners themselves.
• Art. 5. The government is hereby authorized to raise the necessary funds and to adopt such measures, as it may deem conducive to the exact fulfillment of this law within the period fixed in Articles 1 and 2. The minister of the colonies,