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ESPARTERO, BALDOMERO (1792-1879)

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 773 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ESPARTERO, BALDOMERO (1792-1879) , See also:duke of See also:Vitoria, duke of See also:Morelia, See also:prince of Vergara, See also:Count Luchana, See also:knight of the Toison d'Or, &c. &c., See also:Spanish soldier and statesman, was See also:born at Granatulu, a See also:town of the See also:province of See also:Ciudad Real, on the 27th of See also:February 1792. He was the ninth See also:child of a See also:carter, who wanted to make him a See also:priest, but the lad at fifteen enlisted in a See also:battalion of students to fight against the armies of See also:Napoleon I. In 1811 Espartero was appointed a See also:lieutenant of See also:Engineers in See also:Cadiz, but having failed to pass his examination he entered a See also:line See also:regiment. In 1815 he went to See also:America as a See also:captain under See also:General Morillo, who had been made See also:commander-in-See also:chief toquell the risings of the colonies on the Spanish See also:Main. For eight years Espartero distinguished himself in the struggle against the colonists. He was several times wounded, and was made See also:major and See also:colonel on the battlefields of See also:Cochabamba and Sapachni. He had to surrender to See also:Sucre at the final See also:battle of See also:Ayacucho, which put an end to Castilian See also:rule. He returned to See also:Spain, and, like most of his companions in arms, remained under a See also:cloud for some See also:time. He was sent to the See also:garrison town of Logrono, where he married the daughter of a See also:rich landowner, Dona Jacinth, See also:Santa Cruz, who eventually survived him. Henceforth Logrono became the See also:home of the most prominent of the Spanish See also:political generals of the 19th See also:century. Espartero became in 1832, on the See also:death of See also:King See also:Ferdinand VII., one of the most ardent defenders of the rights of his daughter, See also:Isabella II.

The See also:

government sent him to the front, directly the Carlist See also:War See also:broke out, as commandant of the province of See also:Biscay, where he severely defeated the Carlists in many encounters. He was quickly promoted to a divisional command, and then made a lieutenant-general. At times he showed qualities as a guerillero quite equal to those of the Carlists, like See also:Zumalacarregui and See also:Cabrera, by his daring See also:marches and surprises. When he had to move large forces he was greatly See also:superior to them as an organizer and strategist, and he never disgraced his successes by See also:cruelty or needless severity. Twice he obliged the Carlists to raise the See also:siege of See also:Bilbao before he was appointed commander-in-chief of the See also:northern See also:army on the 17th of See also:September 1836, when the See also:tide of war seemed to be setting in favour of the pretender in the Basque provinces and See also:Navarre, though See also:Don See also:Carlos had lost his ablest lieutenant, the Basque Zumalacarregui. His military duties at the See also:head of the See also:principal See also:national army did not prevent Espartero from showing ' for the first time his political ambition. He displayed such See also:radical and reforming inclinations that he laid the See also:foundations of his popularity among the See also:lower and See also:middle classes, which lasted more than a See also:quarter of a century, during which time the Progressists, Democrats and advanced Liberals ever looked to him as a See also:leader and adviser. In See also:November 1836 he again forced the Carlists to raise the siege of Bilbao. His troops included the See also:British See also:legion under See also:Sir de See also:Lacy See also:Evans. This success turned the tide of war against Don Carlos, who vainly attempted a See also:raid towards See also:Madrid. Espartero was soon at his heels, and obliged him to See also:hurry northwards, after several defeats. In 1839 Espartero carefully opened up negotiations with Maroto and the principal Carlist chiefs of the Basque provinces.

These ended in their accepting his terms under the famous See also:

convention of Vergara, which secured the recognition of their ranks and titles for nearly loon Carlist See also:officers. Twenty thousand Carlist See also:volunteers laid down their arms at Vergara; only the irreconcilables led by Cabrera held out for a while in the central provinces of Spain. Espartero soon, however, in 1840, stamped out the last embers of the rising, which had lasted seven years. He was styled " El pacificador de Espana," was made a See also:grandee of the first class, and received two dukedoms. During the last three years of the war Espartero, who had been elected a See also:deputy, exercised from his distant headquarters such See also:influence over Madrid politics that he twice hastened the fall of the See also:cabinet, and obtained See also:office for his own See also:friends. At the See also:close of the war the See also:queen See also:regent and her ministers attempted to See also:elbow out Espartero and his followers, but a pronunciamiento ensued in Madrid and other large towns which culminated in the See also:marshal's accepting the See also:post of See also:prime See also:minister. He soon became virtually a See also:dictator, as Queen See also:Christina took offence at his popularity and resigned, leaving the See also:kingdom very soon afterwards. Directly the See also:Cortes met they elected Espartero regent by 179 votes to 103 in favour of Arguelles, who was appointed See also:guardian of the See also:young queen. For two years Espartero ruled Spain in accordance with his Radical and conciliatory dispositions, giving See also:special See also:attention to the re-organization of the See also:administration, See also:taxation and finances, declaring all the estates of the See also:church, congregations and religious orders to be national See also:property, and suppressing the diezma, or tenths. He suppressed the Republican risings with as much severity as he did the military pronunciamientos of Generals Concha and Diego de See also:Leon. The latter was shot in Madrid. Espartero crushed with much See also:energy a revolutionary rising in See also:Barcelona, but on his return to Madrid was so coldly welcomed that he perceived that his See also:prestige was on the wane.

The advanced Progressists coalesced with the partisans of the ex-regent Christina to promote pronunciamientos in Barcelona and many cities. The rebels declared Queen See also:

Isabel of See also:age, and, led by General See also:Narvaez, marched upon Madrid. Espartero, deeming resistance useless, embarked at Cadiz on the 3oth of See also:July 1843 for See also:England, and lived quietly apart from politics until 1848, when a royal See also:decree restored to him all his honours and his seat in the See also:senate. He retired to his See also:house in Logrono, which he See also:left six years later, in 1854, when called upon by the queen to take the See also:lead of the powerful Liberal and Progressist See also:movement which prevailed for two years. The old marshal vainly endeavoured to keep his own Progressists within See also:bounds in the Cortes of 1854-1856, and in the See also:great towns, but their excessive demands for reforms and liberties played into the hands of a clerical and reactionary See also:court and of the equally See also:retrograde governing, classes. The growing ambition of General O'Donnell constantly clashed with the views of Espartero, until the latter, in sheer disgust, resigned his premiership and left for Logrono, after warning the queen that a conflict was imminent between O'Donnell and the Cortes, backed by the Progressist See also:militia. O'Donnell's pronunciamiento in 1856 put an end to the Cortes, and the militia was disarmed, after a See also:sharp struggle in the streets of the See also:capital. After 1856 Espartero resolutely declined to identify himself with active politics, though at every See also:stage in the onward See also:march of Spain towards more liberal and democratic institutions he was asked to take a leading See also:part. He refused to allow his name to be brought forward as a See also:candidate when the Cortes of 1868, after the Revolution, sought for a ruler. Espartero, strangely enough, adopted a laconic phrase when successive governments on their See also:advent to See also:power invariably addressed themselves to the See also:venerable See also:champion of liberal ideas. To all—to the Revolution of 1868, the Constituent Cortes of 1869, King Amadeus, the Federal See also:Republic of 1873, the nameless government of Marshal Serrano in 1874, the See also:Bourbon restoration in 1875—he simply said: " Cumplase la voluntad nacional " (" Let the national will be accomplished "). King Amadeus made him prince of Vergara.

The Restoration raised a statue to him near the See also:

gate of the Retiro See also:Park in Madrid. Spaniards of all shades, except Carlists and Ultramontanes, paid See also:homage to his memory when he passed away at his Logrono See also:residence on the 8th of See also:January 1879. His tastes were singularly modest, his See also:manners rather reserved, but always See also:kind and considerate for humble folk. He was a typical Spanish soldier-politician, though he had more of the better traits of the soldier born and bred than of the arts of the statesman. His military instincts did not always make it easy for him to accommodate himself to courtiers and professional politicians. (A. E.

End of Article: ESPARTERO, BALDOMERO (1792-1879)

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