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CAMPILLO, JOSE DEL (1695—1743)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 136 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMPILLO, JOSE DEL (1695—1743) , See also:Spanish statesman, was of very obscure origin. From his own See also:account of his youth, written to See also:Antonio de Mier in 1726, we only know that he was See also:born in " a See also:house equally poor and honest," that he studied Latin by his own wish, that he entered the service of See also:Don Antonio Maldonado, See also:prebendary of See also:Cordoba, who wished apparently to See also:train him as a See also:priest, and that he declined to take orders. He See also:left the service of Maldonado in 1713, being then eighteen years of See also:age. In 1715 he became " See also:page " to D. Francisco de Ocio, See also:superintendent See also:general of customs, who doubtless employed him as a clerk. In 1717 he attracted the favourable See also:notice of Patine, the See also:head of the newly-organized See also:navy, and was by him transferred to the See also:naval See also:department. Under the See also:protection of Patine, who became See also:prime See also:minister in 1726, Campillo ~t as constantly employed on naval administrative See also:work both at See also:home and in See also:America. It was Patiiio's policy to build up a navy quietly at home and in America, without attracting too much See also:attention abroad, and particularly in See also:England. Campillo proved an industrious and honest subordinate. See also:Part of his experience was to be See also:present at a shipwreck in Central America in which he was credited with showing spirit and See also:practical ability in saving the lives of the See also:crew. In 1726 he was denounced to' the See also:Inquisition for the offence of See also:reading forbidden books. The proceedings against him were not carried further; but the incident is an example of the vexatious tyranny exercised by the See also:Holy See also:Office, and the effect it must have had even in its decadence in damping all intellectual activity.

It was not until in 1741, when See also:

Spain was entangled in a See also:land See also:war in See also:Italy and a naval war with England, that Campillo was summoned by the See also:king to take the See also:place of prime minister. He had to find the means of carrying on a policy out of all proportion to the resources of Spain, with an empty See also:treasury. His See also:short See also:tenure of See also:power was chiefly notable for his vigorous See also:attempt to sweep away the See also:system Of farming the taxes, which left the See also:state at the See also:mercy of contractors and financiers. Campillo's predecessors were constantly compelled to apply to capitalists to provide funds to meet the demands of the king for his buildings and his See also:foreign policy. A whole See also:year's See also:revenue was frequently forestalled. Campillo persuaded the king to allow him to establish a system of See also:direct collection, by which See also:waste and pilfering would be avoided. Some progress was made towards putting the See also:national finances on a See also:sound footing, though Campillo could not prevent the king from disposing, without his' knowledge, of large sums of See also:money needed for the public service. He died suddenly on the 11th of See also:April 1743. Campillo was the author of a See also:treatise on a New System of See also:Government for America printed at See also:Madrid 1789. He also left a MS. treatise with the' curious See also:title, What is superfluous and is wanting' in Spain, in See also:order that it may be what it ought to be, and not what it is. See D.

End of Article: CAMPILLO, JOSE DEL (1695—1743)

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