Balthazar Hidalgo de Cisneros
Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros y de la Torre (January 6, 1756, Cartagena, Spain - June 9, 1829) was a Spanish colonial administrator and sailor who rose to the rank of admiral. He was the last viceroy of the Río de la Plata with effective power over the entire Río de la Plata territory since Francisco Javier de Elío, designated as his successor by the Regency Council, could only exercise his authority over some territories, mainly in the Montevideo governorate.
Biography
Family origin and early years
Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros was born in 1755, in the house where his parents and sisters resided, located on Calle de la Caridad in Cartagena, and was baptized days later in the parish of Santa María de Gracia. His parents were Francisco Hidalgo de Cisneros y Seijas, Lieutenant General of the Royal Navy, and Manuela de la Torre y Gofre. Despite the fact that the Hidalgo de Cisneros family had a long tradition of military service in the cavalry, Baltasar followed his naval career from a very young age, entering the Cádiz Academy of Midshipmen on March 3, 1770.
Military career in Spain
In 1780, in command of the sloop Flecha, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros captured two British privateering ships, the Rodney and the Nimbre. The following year and in command of the frigate Santa Bárbara, he captured four other corsairs of the same nationality. During the following years he participated in the Spanish military expedition to Algiers and was promoted to the rank of brigadier, participating in the defense of Cádiz against the English blockade. He was assigned to the General Staff of the Royal Navy, but in the last days of 1804 he decided to join the squadron that would join the French fleet in Cádiz for the decisive battle against Great Britain.
In 1805 he fought against the English in the Battle of Trafalgar, turning out to be one of the most outstanding Spanish sailors who participated in it. He also held the rank of general and squad leader and flew his insignia on the ship Santísima Trinidad, which was the largest ship of all those that took part in the battle and which was the protagonist of one of the most intense episodes. In this battle, he developed a certain degree of deafness from the blow received when the mainmast of his ship fell on him.
Trafalgar was his last naval action. He assumed command of the port of Cartagena and participated in the resistance against the Napoleonic invasion of his country. He was vice president of the Junta de Cartagena, president of the Junta de Guerra and captain general of the Naval Department of Cartagena, one of the most important military ports in Spain.
Viceroy of the Río de la Plata
The Supreme Council of Seville appointed Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros viceroy of the Río de la Plata in 1809, replacing Santiago de Liniers. His main mission was to rebuild the viceregal authority, eroded by disagreements between his predecessor, Santiago de Liniers (suspected of disloyalty to Spain because of his French origin) and the governor of Montevideo, Francisco Javier de Elío, who had created a Local Government Board.
When Cisneros arrived in Montevideo, in mid-July 1809, Elío accepted the authority of the new viceroy and dissolved the Junta, being appointed inspector of arms of the Viceroyalty. In Buenos Aires there were two opposition parties: the local Juntistas, led by Martín de Álzaga, were in decline after the defeat of the coup on January 1st. However, they were better seen in Spain, so Cisneros ingratiated himself with them by not disavowing Elío and pardoning those responsible for the coup. The other party, Carlotism, tried to establish the regency of Carlota Joaquina de Borbón in the Río de la Plata and questioned the authority of the Supreme Junta and —consequently— that of Cisneros. He avoided the Carlotta attacks by demanding and achieving the transfer of command outside the capital, in Cologne.
He finally took up his position in Buenos Aires, where he tried to appease the conspiracies and strengthen his power: although he was forced to send Elío to Spain, he managed to rearm the Spanish militias dissolved after the Álzaga coup, with which the political crisis was momentarily resolved.
But Cisneros took office at a time that was also one of economic crisis: with the defeat of the Spanish fleet by the British Royal Navy, trade with the colonies came to a standstill as they were unable to send ships to them. Although Spain later established an alliance with Great Britain, it could not trade with it due to the centuries-old Spanish monopoly of trade with its colonies.
Cisneros then authorized free trade with Great Britain, but this generated complaints from the most powerful merchants who made large profits from smuggling. In order not to lose his support, he annulled the free trade decree that he had issued. This in turn caused complaints from English merchants, who claimed that—as Spain's allies against Napoleon—they should not be harmed. To stay on good terms with both, he gave a four-month extension to free trade so the English could finish their business.
During 1809, two revolutions occurred in Upper Peru, present-day Bolivia, which depended on the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata: the Chuquisaca Revolution broke out on May 25 and another in La Paz on July 16. In both cities, government boards were formed due to the absence of the Spanish king. Cisneros sent against him an army under the command of General Vicente Nieto, who achieved bloodless success in Chuquisaca. The uprising in La Paz, on the other hand, was crushed by troops sent from the Viceroyalty of Peru, and its leaders were sentenced to death. In Buenos Aires, the repression increased the resentment of the Buenos Aires revolutionaries: Domingo French and Antonio Luis Beruti criticized that the high Peruvian uprisings —led by Spanish Creoles— were repressed with capital punishment, while the uprisings against Liniers —led by peninsular Spaniards— had ended in pardons.
On May 13, 1810, a British frigate, the HMS Misletoe, arrived in Montevideo with news from Spain, which included the subjugation of the Spanish crown and the Seville Junta to the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte. The news was confirmed on Thursday, May 17, when the frigate HMS John Paris arrived in Buenos Aires with newspapers reporting the news. They stated that the Central Board of Seville had been dissolved and practically the entire Iberian Peninsula was in the hands of Napoleon.
Cisneros tried to seize the newspapers brought so that the news would not be known. However, one of those newspapers came into the hands of Manuel Belgrano and Juan José Castelli, who spread the news. Cisneros was forced to officially proclaim it on May 18.
May Revolution
The May Revolution, which took place temporarily between May 18 and 25, 1810, began with the confirmation of the fall of the Junta de Sevilla and led to the dismissal of Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros as viceroy of the River de la Plata and the assumption of the Primera Junta.
Castelli and Martín Rodríguez appeared on May 20 and demanded that Cisneros hold an open Cabildo to decide the fate of the government of the colony. It was held two days later, on May 22. In this the formation of a Governing Board was decided. On the 24th, the Buenos Aires council appointed a Board, of which Cisneros was named president. However, many people rejected his permanence in office. Cornelio Saavedra affirmed that this maneuver would not be sustained: the people would rebel anyway, and the soldiers would desert their posts. Consequently, the Board was dissolved.
During the morning of May 25, a large crowd began to gather in the Plaza Mayor, now Plaza de Mayo, led by the militiamen of Domingo French and Antonio Beruti. They demanded the annulment of the resolution of the previous day, the final resignation of Viceroy Cisneros and the formation of a new Governing Board. Given the delays in issuing a resolution, the people began to agitate, demanding the cry of "The people want to know what it is about!".
Cisneros continued to resist resigning but, after much effort, the capitulars managed to get him to ratify and formalize the terms of his resignation, abandoning claims to remain in government. This, however, was insufficient, since the representatives of the crowd gathered in the square claimed that the town had resolved to resume the authority delegated in the Open Town Hall on the 22nd, demanding the formation of a Board. In addition, the sending of an expedition of 500 men was arranged to help the interior provinces.
Soon the resignation of Cisneros reached the chapter house, after which the First Board was appointed. That same May 25, Cisneros dispatched José Melchor Lavín to Córdoba to warn Santiago de Liniers and ask him to take military action against the Junta.
Expulsion of Cisneros
On May 26 and 27, 1810, they were sworn "under protest" the Cabildo and the Real Audiencia; Juan José Lezica did it for the Cabildo and for the Court the crime prosecutor Antonio Caspe y Rodríguez and the judge Manuel José de Reyes. The Court of Accounts and the Ministers of the Royal Treasury also did so under protest. All this did not appear in the first issue of the Gazeta de Buenos Ayres, official government organ, which referred to the act as a demonstration of unity and order against a background of an unlikely crowd of twenty thousand people with artillery salutes, alive and cheers. The resistance of these institutions created a major internal problem for the government. On June 9, the Gazeta transcribed letters from Spain, one of them was entitled "The Regency Council of Spain and the Indies to the Spanish Americans." The editor of La Gazeta clarified at the end, in italics, that this proclamation, as well as that of the governor of Cádiz that the Royal Audience had sent to the government, lacked signature and legitimacy. Immediately afterwards, he published five official letters exchanged between the provisional Board and the Audiencia in which they discussed whether these forms were authentic enough for the government, based on them, to abide by and recognize the Regency Council, which was what the Royal Audience requested.. The Provisional Board ended the conflict by suspending all compliance until official documents were received from the peninsula. The following day, the prosecutor Caspe y Rodríguez was beaten and sabered at the entrance to his house by a group of & # 34; hooded men & # 34; which, according to members of the audience, was instigated by the lawyer and patrician captain Feliciano Chiclana and carried out by members of the so-called Infernal Legion. Castelli and Matheu were mentioned as ideological authors. The government repudiated the attack and, through an order signed the following day by Saavedra and Moreno, established strict norms of social control of the population.
On June 15, the members of the Royal Court swore allegiance in secret to the Council of Regency and sent circulars to the cities of the interior, calling to ignore the new government.
On June 22, the government sent a letter to the members of the Audiencia summoning them to the fort at six in the afternoon to deal with a very important matter. He also cited Cisneros. There Castelli and Matheu received them, who informed them that the government had decided, to protect their lives, to immediately embark them on a ship prepared for that purpose to transfer them to a Spanish port. In this way, accompanied by an escort of militiamen, they were taken to the port and from there to the English sloop or cutter Dart which was anchored in beacons three leagues away ready to set sail. Thus, Cisneros, the judges Francisco Tomás Anzotegui, Manuel de Velasco, Manuel José de Reyes and the prosecutors Manuel Genaro Villota and Antonio Caspe y Rodríguez were secretly expelled. The oidor Marqués del Plata was not, because he was in the Banda Oriental, and the regent, Lucas Muñoz Cubero, due to his advanced age and illness.
These measures, planned in four stages, complemented the subrogation of the command of Viceroy Cisneros in May 1810.
First, with the publication of the Gazeta on June 9 as a "symbolic coercion".
Second, with the direct action or attack against prosecutor Antonio Caspe y Rodríguez, which created a climate of insecurity against the colonial hierarchy and which justified the expulsion and increased control of the population.
Third, with the hiring of the English cutter Dart under the command of its owner, the privateer and smuggler Marcos Bayfield (who some historians write Grigied) commercially linked to the vocal Larrea. The same day of the expulsion, eight members of the Provisional Board, which gives the pattern of its importance, signed a contract with Bayfield by which he had to take the expelled to the Canary Islands without touching another port. Bayfield funds held by Larrea were withheld as security for compliance. In compensation, Bayfield could introduce merchandise for a value of 100,000 pesos back and load fruits of the country for the same value without paying customs duties. It was clarified that in the event of any change in tariffs that modified the expected profits, they would be compensated by increasing the amount to be imported and exported. When Bayfield returned to Buenos Aires in March 1811, Larrea was in charge of managing the agreement, choosing the merchandise that should be exempted and presenting the supporting invoices, which he never did. Two important details were that the cutter Dart already had permission to leave on June 10 and that it was retained until the 22nd, and that the substitute judges and prosecutors were appointed that same day, which reinforces the idea that there was no improvisation.
Fourth, with three printings that La Gazeta made, for the first and only time, on the 23rd. The editor appreciated the government's action writing that "Mr. Cisneros, three Oidores, and the Prosecutors, will be inside shortly presented before the Majesty of the Throne (...) fortunately (sic) those who disturbed your peace are far away. It will be the King who decides”. It also published unknown, unpublished and unlikely events that occurred on May 26 and 27, 1810: that Caspe y Rodríguez and the oidor Reyes had appeared to swear before the Board, picking their teeth with a toothpick, the first, and with the nail, the second. (Gazette Extraordinary June 23, 1810 p=69-82) Thus the expelled were stigmatized showing the little respect they had from the beginning for the new government and the sacred oath ceremony.
Return to Europe
Upon arriving in the Canary Islands, the deposed viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros informed the Council of the Regency about the events that occurred in Buenos Aires, and requested a few months of sick leave. After meeting there with his family from Buenos Aires, he left for Cádiz in July 1811.
In January 1813 he was appointed Commander General of the department of Cádiz and soon after was promoted to the rank of Captain General. On September 14, 1818 he was appointed Minister of the Navy and in December of the same year General Director of the Navy, with the order that he perform in commission the general captaincy of Cádiz and take charge of the preparations for the expedition to America that the Count of La Bisbal was preparing.
However, in 1820 the revolt of the constitutionalists triumphed and Cisneros was arrested and taken to the arsenal of La Carraca, remaining in that situation until the king swore the Constitution of 1812. Regardless of political opinions, the government recognized his merits and granted him the honors of the Council of State and his headquarters in the department of Cartagena, where he was appointed captain general on November 6, 1823.
Marriage and offspring
Personally, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros married Inés de Gastambide in Cartagena on the 23rd of 1788, with whom he had José María, Baltasar, Esteban and Francisco, all soldiers. A great-great-grandson of his was Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros, also a soldier, head of the Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.
Last bureaucratic position and death
With the arrival of the Liberal Triennium, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros was dismissed from all his posts and returned to Cartagena. In 1823, when the absolutist government of Fernando VII was restored, he was named Captain General of Cartagena and he died in office six years later, on June 9, 1829.
| Predecessor: Santiago de Liniers | Virrey del Río de la Plata 1809 - 1810 | Successor: Francisco Javier de Elío |
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