The news of the death at Bern, whither he had gone to undergo a delicate surgical operation, of the eminent Huelva public man, His Excellency Don Manuel Vázquez López, has caused the most sorrowful impression among his countrymen.

A democrat at heart, he served in his early years in the Republican party, for which he was twice returned as deputy — the first time in 1871, as a deputy of the opposition, and the second during the period of the failed Republic — coming later to the monarchist camp, within the Liberal party, upon the recommendation of his beloved friend, the illustrious tribune Don Emilio Castelar, when the latter resolved to withdraw from active political life; and he remained in that party, labouring always for liberal ideas until his last hour.

In 1881 he was elected senator for Huelva for the first time, being re-elected in 1886. In 1897 he was again elected senator, but declined to accept the office.

He contributed effectively to the creation of the Junta de Obras del Puerto [Port Works Board], of which he was vice-president for many years, his administration from that post proving most beneficial to the interests of our capital. He likewise contributed effectively to the establishment in this province of the present School of Mining Foremen.

As regards the School of Arts and Industries, he was not only its founder but its most affectionate protector, contributing splendidly from his own purse to the maintenance of so instructive and useful an institution.

To Señor Vázquez López is owed also the founding and the sustaining, over twenty years, of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he was the first and only president.

The illustrious deceased was a man of unbreakable will and of extraordinary love of work, qualities which, joined to a clear talent for business, earned him as their reward the accumulation of a considerable fortune.

May he rest in peace.

LA PROVINCIA joins in the tremendous grief suffered by the afflicted family of the deceased for him who was in life a most loving father and a tireless fighter.

[Translated from La Provincia September 2nd 1904]