Emilio Castelar
Real Academia Española | |
|---|---|
| In office 25 April 1880 – 25 May 1899 | |
| Preceded by | Pedro Felipe Monlau |
| Succeeded by | Jacinto Octavio Picón |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Emilio Castelar y Ripoll 7 September 1832 Cádiz, Spain |
| Died | 25 May 1899 (aged 66) San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain |
| Resting place | Saint Isidore Cemetery |
| Signature |  |
Emilio Castelar y Ripoll (7 September 1832 – 25 May 1899) was a Spanish republican politician, and a president of the First Spanish Republic.
Castelar was born in Cádiz. He was an eloquent orator and a writer. Appointed as Head of State in 1873 in the midst of the Third Carlist War and having been given full powers by the Parliament, he ruled by decree. He left office after a coup led by General Pavía the following year.
He wrote a history of the Republican Movement in Europe among other works of political interest.[1]
Early life
At the age of seven he lost his father, who had taken an active part in the progressive agitations during the reign of
Start of political life
From that moment on, he took an active part in politics, radical journalism, and literary and historical pursuits. Castelar was involved in the First Uprising of June 1866, which was organized by
The Federal Republic
Amadeus' abdication led to the proclamation of the Federal Republic. The Senate and Congress, very largely composed of monarchists, permitted themselves to be dragged along into democracy by the republican minority headed by Salmerón, Figueras, Francesc Pi i Margall, and Castelar. The short-lived federal republic from 11 February 1873 to 3 January 1874 was the culmination of the career of Castelar, and his conduct during those eleven months was much praised by the wiser [citation needed] part of his countrymen, though it alienated from him the sympathies of the majority of his sometime friends in the republican ranks.[2]
Before the Revolution of 1868, Castelar had begun to dissent from the doctrines of the more advanced republicans, and particularly as to the means to be employed for their success. He abhorred bloodshed, disliked
First Federal Republic Government
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At first Castelar did his best to work with the other republican members of the first government of the federal republic. He accepted the post of minister for foreign affairs. Castelar even went so far as to side with his colleagues, when serious difficulties arose between the new government and the president of the Cortes, Señor Martos, who was backed by a very imposing commission composed of the most influential conservative members of the last parliament of the
The battalions and the militia that had assembled in the bullring near Marshal Serrano's house to assist the anti-democratic movement were disarmed, and their leaders, the politicians and generals, were allowed to escape to France or Portugal. The Cortes were dissolved, and the federal and constituent Cortes of the republic convened, but they only sat during the summer of 1873, long enough to show their absolute incapacity, and to convince the executive that the safest policy was to suspend the session for several months.[4]
This was the darkest period of the annals of the Spanish revolution of 1873–1874. Matters got to such a climax of disorder, disturbance and confusion from the highest to the lowest strata of Spanish society, that the president of the executive, Figueras, deserted his post and fled the country. Pi y Margall and Salmeron, in successive attempts to govern, found no support in the really important and influential elements of Spanish society. Salmeron had even to appeal to such well-known reactionary generals as
Ruler of Spain, 1873
On becoming the ruler of Spain at the beginning of September 1873, Castelar at once devoted his attention to the reorganization of the army, whose numbers had dwindled down to about 70,000 men. This force, though aided by considerable bodies of local militia and volunteers in the northern and western provinces, was insufficient to cope with the 60,000
Castelar and the Church
Castelar next turned his attention to the Church. He renewed direct relations with the
At the end of 1873 Castelar had reason to be satisfied with the results of his efforts, with the military operations in the peninsula, with the assistance he was getting from the middle classes and even from many of the political elements of the Spanish revolution that were not republican. On the other hand, on the eve of the meeting of the federal Cortes, he could indulge in no illusions as to what he had to expect from the bulk of the republicans, who openly dissented from his conservative and conciliatory policy, and announced that they would reverse it on the very day the Cortes met. Warnings came in plenty, and no less a personage than the man he had made captain-general of Madrid, General Pavia, suggested that, if a conflict arose between Castelar and the majority of the Cortes, not only the garrison of Madrid and its chief, but all the armies in the field and their generals, were disposed to stand by the president. Castelar knew too well what such offers meant in the classic land of pronunciamientos, and he refused so flatly that Pavia did not renew his advice. The Cortes met on 2 January 1874. The intransigent majority refused to listen to a last eloquent appeal that Castelar made to their patriotism and common sense, and they passed a vote of censure. Castelar resigned. The Cortes went on wrangling for a day and night until, at daybreak on 3 January 1874, General Pavia forcibly ejected the deputies, closed and dissolved the Cortes, and called up Marshal Serrano to form a provisional government.[4]
_con_Emilio_Castelar,_Jos%C3%A9_Garc%C3%ADa-Vaso_y_otros_amigos.jpg)
Castelar kept apart from active politics during the twelve months that Serrano acted as president of the republic. Another pronunciamiento finally put an end to it in the last week of December 1874, when Generals Campos at
In this latter period Castelar acted as a sort of independent auxiliary of Sagasta and of the Liberal party. As soon as Castelar saw universal suffrage re-established he solemnly declared in the Cortes that his task was accomplished, his political mission at an end, and that he proposed to devote the remainder of his life to those literary, historical, philosophical, and economic studies which he had never neglected even in the busiest days of his political career. Indeed, it was his extraordinary activity and power of assimilation in such directions that allowed him to keep his fellow-countrymen so well informed of what was going on in the outer world.[5]
Work
His literary and journalistic labors occupied much of his time, and were his chief means of subsistence. He established a daily newspaper, El Globo, in Madrid in 1875.[6] He left unfinished a history of Europe in the 19th century. The most conspicuous of his earlier works were: A History of Civilization in the First Five Centuries of Christianity, Recollections of Italy, Life of Lord Byron, The History of the Republican Movement in Europe, The Redemption of Slaves, The Religious Revolution, Historical Essays on the Middle Ages, The Eastern Question, Fra Filippo Lippi, History of the Discovery of America, and some historical novels. Castelar died near Murcia on 25 May 1899, at the age of sixty-six. His funeral at Madrid was an imposing demonstration of the sympathy and respect of all classes and parties.[7]
References
- ^ Wood 1907.
- ^ a b c d Houghton 1911, p. 469.
- ^ Houghton 1911, pp. 469–470.
- ^ a b c d e f Houghton 1911, p. 470.
- ^ Houghton 1911, pp. 470–471.
- ^ "Title: El Globo (Madrid. 1875)". Hemeroteca Digital. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ^ Houghton 1911, p. 471.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Houghton, A. E. (1911). "Castelar y Ripoll, Emilio". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 469–471.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Castelar, Emilio". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.
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