d as had been the case in Havana and Manila, kept up an
absurd show of superior strength. This is well manifested by a
proclamation which, signed by Jose Reyes, Celestins Dominguez and Genara
Cautino, was issued to the people of Guayama on May 20, 1898. As one of
the curiosities of the war, it can only be compared to the celebrated
and laughable manifesto which Captain-General Augustin issued at Manila
just before the appearance of Admiral Dewey's fleet.

The Porto Rican proclamation ran as follows:

"To the people of Guayama. Hurra for Spain!

"A nation that is our enemy, by its history, by its race, and because
she is the principal cause of our misfortunes in Cuba, having fomented
in this island that is our sister a war in which she supplied all kinds
of resources, taking away at last the mask with which she concealed her
fictitious friendship, has excited us to-day to vowed war.

"There is a deep abyss between the manner of being of that people and
ours, which established antagonism that we should never be able to
remove. Our sonorous language, our habits, the religion of our
ancestors, and our necessities are conditions of our life so different
from those of that race, so opposite to those of that people, that we
are frightened in thinking that we should be constrained to accept a
manner of being that is repugnant to our origin, our heart and our
feelings. We are a people entirely Spanish, and we were born to a
civilized life under a flag that was, and we hope ever will be, that of
our wives and children. For four hundred years the warmth of the mother
of our native country has given life to our organisms, ideas to our
brains, majestic thoughts to our souls, and generous undertakings to our
hearts, and in those four centuries the glories of the Spanish house
have been our glories, her gayeties our gayeties, and her misfortunes
our own misfortunes.

"We have been full of haughtiness when, being considered as the
Conqueror's sons, we know that we had participation in the heroic
actions of our brothers, and that the laurels with which they crowned
their hero's front were also our laurels. When in tranquil hours we
heard in our hearths our predecessors' epopee, describing as
superfluously exact their achievements; giving them lively color that
always inspires our tropical fancy, our nerves felt the thrill produced
by enthusiasm; at those moments, our being all affected, our breast with
its strong aspirations and ou