To-day, the 19th of October, the Gaceta de Madrid (No. 293) has published the Royal Decree by which His Majesty King Alfonso XII is pleased to confer upon Huelva the title of City. The decree was signed at the Palace on the 17th of September and countersigned by the Minister of the Interior, Don Francisco Romero y Robledo.

The grounds set out in the decree are threefold: the importance which Huelva has attained as capital of the province, the growth of its population, and its commercial wealth. The measure followed upon the petition raised by the Ayuntamiento of Huelva on the 17th of August, in which the Corporation laid before the Crown the case for so signal a distinction.

The elevation from villa to ciudad is more than a matter of style. It affirms Huelva’s growing consequence within the province and beyond, in an age when her port and the traffic of her mines have carried her name far past the bar of the Odiel.

We offer our congratulations to Huelva and to her citizens upon an honour so justly earned.

[A Huelva Gazette article based on original documents and sources of the epoch.]