Ramon Freire

Ramón Saturnino Andrés Freire y Serrano (Santiago, November 29, 1787 - ibid., December 9, 1851) was a Chilean soldier and leader, belonging to the so-called "pipiolo band& #34;, who fought during his country's War of Independence, reaching the rank of captain general. He served on various occasions in the first magistracy, with the positions of Supreme Director, in 1823 and President of the Republic on two occasions (the first provisional and the second as titular), in 1827. In the exercise of his position, had to face the different factions that tried to prevail in Chile, finally being defeated by the side led by Diego Portales. After a period of exile in Oceania (Polynesia and Australia), he returned to his country to live out his last years.

As a historical figure, he was constantly considered by conservative historiography as unfit for the exercise of the charges entrusted to him, constantly living in the shadow of his predecessor, Bernardo O'Higgins, and by whom he exercised royal power after his fall, Diego Portales. Despite the above, and thanks to the work of various historians (especially Gabriel Salazar), his figure has been the subject of a new and renewed analysis, where his role as a leader in the organization process of the newly independent Chile has come to be considered one one of the most important for his defense of the regional interests of the provinces against the mercantile centralism of the business community of the capital.

Early Years

He was the son of Francisco Antonio Freire y Paz and Gertrudis Serrano y Arrechea. At the age of 16 and after the death of his father, Freire went to Concepción and worked as a clerk in a business house. He entered the army as a cadet in 1811, enlisting in the Dragones de la Frontera squadron. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1813. He participated in the battles of Huilquilemu, Talcahuano, El Quillo and El Roble. Promoted to captain, he participated in the Battle of Rancagua, on October 1 and 2, 1814, which meant the defeat of the patriotic forces, having to go into exile in Buenos Aires.

In Buenos Aires, he joined the corsair squadron of Admiral Guillermo Brown, who carried out several forays across the Pacific Ocean. In 1815 he suffered a shipwreck at Cape Horn, barely saving himself. In 1816 he joined the Army of the Andes, under the command of General José de San Martín. He sent him to take the city of Talca, defeating the garrison with one hundred men, on February 11, on the eve of the Battle of Chacabuco. On March 9 he seized Linares, and seven days later he occupied Chillán. He participated in the Combat of Cerro Gavilán, in Concepción, on May 5, 1817. In December of that year, he had the patriot and bandit José Miguel Neira, an unconditional ally of Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, arrested, subjected him to summary trial for acts of looting and He had him shot in the Plaza de Talca.

He had an outstanding participation in the Battle of Maipú, and after the destruction of the royalist army, he was appointed Mayor of Concepción on January 25, 1819, a position he held until 1823. He participated in the Second campaign to southern Chile and After this, he fought and defeated the royalist bandit Vicente Benavides (in the Alameda de Concepción), on November 25 and 27, 1820.

In 1823 he declared himself against the government of Bernardo O'Higgins, and after leading an insurrectionary movement from the provinces, O'Higgins was forced to abdicate power in a three-person junta in the city of Santiago. The Constituent Assembly named him Director and substitute Supreme Head of State, assuming command on an interim basis on April 4, 1823 and as property on August 21.

Marriage and children

He married in Santiago, on October 1, 1826, with Manuela Caldera Mascayano, who affectionately called him "Moncho" and with whom he had four children: Liborio Ramón, Juan Zenón, Amable and Francisco de Paula.

Freire's government

Supreme Director (1823-1826)

Ramon Freire Serrano.

On August 12, 1823, a Constituent Congress was formed, which confirmed General Freire in power. On December 27, 1823, a new constitution was issued, whose main author was Juan Egaña. This normative text was known as the moralistic constitution and its complex operating systems made it impractical. Due to this, its provisions were never put into effect, to the point that, by successive decrees, its application was partially suspended and almost totally repealed.

At the start of his government, he terminated the residence trial of his predecessor Bernardo O'Higgins, whom he allowed to leave the country to his exile in Peru in an honorable manner. During his government, the law that definitively abolished slavery was passed and he signed the Supreme Decree that changed the word Patria in official documents to the name Chile .

He made a first expedition to the Island of Chiloé, which was still held by the Spanish Crown, under the command of Colonel Antonio de Quintanilla. Despite some triumphs by Colonel Jorge Beauchef, after the battle of Mocopulli the expedition ended in failure and at the end of April the troops returned defeated to Talcahuano and Valparaíso.

During those years, it was agreed to hand over the tobacconist's to the company Portales, Cea y Cia., which would have unforeseen consequences in the future. In July he resigned from the position of Supreme Director, but Congress (so that he could remain in power) authorized him to suspend the effects of the Constitution of 1823. On November 14, Freire set out in command of 2,500 men to conquer Chiloé. After the battles of Pudeto and Bellavista, the royalists surrendered and on January 19 the Treaty of Tantauco was solemnly signed, through which the archipelago was incorporated into the sovereignty of Chile.

Due to the political turmoil he encountered upon his return, he resigned his command, and Manuel Blanco Encalada was elected as the first president of Chile.

Ministers of State of the Supreme Director

State ministries of the First Government of Ramón Freire Serrano
Ministry	Owner	Period
Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs	Mariano Egaña Francisco Antonio Pinto Joaquín Campino Juan de Dios Vial del Río Francisco Ramón Vicuña	1823 - 1824 1824 - 1825 1825 1825 1825 - 1826
Ministry of War and Marina	Santiago Fernández Barriga Rafael Correa de Saa José María Novoa	1823 - 1825 1825 1825 - 1826
Ministry of Finance	Diego José Benavente José Ignacio Eyzaguirre Rafael Correa de Saa Diego José Benavente Manuel José Gandarillas	1823 - 1825 1825 1825 1825 1825 - 1826

President of the Republic (1827)

Some time later, Ramón Freire would briefly return to government, this time with the title of President of Chile.

The federalization process of Chile turned out to be a failure due to the inapplicability of its regulations, causing the resignation of the first president of Chile, Manuel Blanco Encalada. His vice president, Agustín de Eyzaguirre, as interim president, would try to continue with the federalization process without much success. In January 1827 he would be overthrown in a coup led by Enrique Campino, who sought to put Francisco Antonio Pinto as President and Campino as Vice President. It should be said that Pinto had no knowledge or participation in the revolt. The uprising was finally put down by the Army commanded by Ramón Freire at the request of the National Congress.

Since another constituent process was necessary, the National Congress appointed Ramón Freire as provisional president on January 25, 1827. To legitimize the new government, elections were called in February of that year. At that time, the presidents were chosen by the National Congress and Ramón Freire won the elections with 77.08% of the votes, the rest being abstentions.

Although legally mandated, Ramón Freire would act as a provisional president, convening the Constituent Commission to initiate a new process of creating a constitution for Chile. When this Commission was created, Freire resigned as President on May 5, 1827, leaving his vice president Francisco Antonio Pinto in charge.

Ministers of State

State ministries of the Second Government of Ramón Freire Serrano
Ministry	Owner	Period
Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs	Manuel José Gandarillas	1827
Ministry of War and Marina	Thomas Obejero	1827
Ministry of Finance	José Raymundo del Río	1827

Civil War and exile

Installment of the Conservative Republic

Statue in memory of Ramón Freire Serrano in La Alameda. Sculpted by the Englishman Josuah Mason and inaugurated on September 21, 1856.

He retired to his farm in Cachagua and stayed away from politics until 1829. After the uprising led by General Prieto in the south of the country, Freire once again returned to the political arena.

Once a Governing Board was established in Santiago, it ceded power to the President of the Senate, Francisco Ruiz-Tagle Portales. Faced with this, General Freire tried to bring order to the situation, not recognizing the established government. Although he initially refused to participate, he would eventually take command of the troops and be defeated at the Battle of Lircay.

The Freire Expedition

He was discharged and exiled to Peru. In strange circumstances for the time, Freire managed to acquire through third parties the lease of two warships of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Although the only purpose that Freire would have with those ships was to overthrow the Prieto government, there is discussion about whether Orbegozo and Santa Cruz knew about the proximity of these plans. Some allege their ignorance, while others blame them for being behind the financing of the expedition.

Thus, the "Orbegozo" and the "Monteagudo" They left for Chile. Freire's expedition had the objective of reaching the Isla Grande de Chiloé, establishing his authority in that part of the country and subduing the Chilean continental territory, taking advantage of the great resistance generated by the despotic regime that was imposed after Lircay. Although the "Orbegozo" it fulfilled its objective by capturing one of the most important forts in the archipelago, the Monteagudo rose in revolt and surrendered into government hands. Freire, who was unaware of these events, was deceived by the rebel crew of the "Monteagudo", taken prisoner and confined to the Juan Fernández archipelago on direct orders from Portales.

Banishment in Polynesia

When the expedition failed, he was sentenced to death, although the sentence was later reduced to 10 years in exile in Juan Fernández. With the start of hostilities with the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, in 1837 he was transferred on the Colo Colo schooner to Australia and from there he moved to Tahiti to be closer to Chile, circumstances in which he officiated as Queen Pomaré's representative between 1838 and 1839 before the French admiral Du Petit-Thouars, avoiding the annexation in exchange for the protectorate. Freire was introduced by the Belgian merchant Jacques Antoine Moerenhout, who was highly influential at court and who would finally establish religious freedom on the islands. Freire arrived on the island in September 1837 and would remain there until October 1839, when he learned of the victory in the battle of Yungay.He returned to Chile in 1842, thanks to an amnesty law, and retired to life. private. He passed away on December 9, 1851.

New interpretation of her figure

Colorful photograph of Ramón Freire Serrano.

Some more recent studies, such as that of the national history award winner Gabriel Salazar, have vindicated the figure of Ramón Freire. Salazar points out that Freire was:

...[u]n general that had a leaf of military triumphs more nurtured than that of O'Higgins and Carrera, and a statesman who played integer (with surprising skill, for six years, the multiple traps that the Santiago mercantile patriotism set for him) so that 'the peoples' (the producing communities) could build free, deliberately and democratically, the kind of state they needed for their development.
Freire was not a dictator like O'Higgins – even though he was also appointed Supreme Director. Not even a coup plotter like Portales, who could have hit the military in more than one opportunity (he was playing with enormous popularity among the military and with great confidence in the provincial citizenry) or clinging to power (he voluntarily abdicated not one, but several times, and was called many others to the government, by all sectors). There is no doubt that it was, first of all, a citizen-conscious military and a democratic liberal permanently concerned that popular sovereignty had the best opportunity to exercise its constituent power by itself. There has been no military in the entire history of Chile who has acted with such political ethics.

Gabriel Salazar

• His nephew, Nicolás Freire González, born Peruvian, not only accompanied him in his revolutionary attempts in Chile, but also fought on the confederate side during the campaigns from 1837 to 1839. Another member of his Peruvian family, the captain of Fragata Ramón Freire Goytizolo, served in the Peruvian Navy during the Pacific War on board the Huáscar Monitor. At the Iquique Naval Combat he was wounded in the left leg.

Distinctions and decorations

• Grand Officer of the Mexican Legion of Chile (Chile).

Predecessor: Bernardo O'Higgins	Chief of the Chilean Army 1823 - 1830	Successor: José Joaquín Prieto
Predecessor: Agustín Eyzaguirre Arechavala Director of the Government Board	Chief Executive Officer 4 April - 13 August 1823	Successor: He Himself Supreme Director
Predecessor: He Himself Chief Executive Officer	Supreme Director 13 August 1823 - 9 July 1826	Successor: Manuel Blanco Encalada Interim President of the Republic
Predecessor: Agustín Eyzaguirre Arechavala Vice-Chairman	Interim President 25 January - 15 February 1827	Successor: He Himself President of the Republic
Predecessor: Himself Interim President	President of Chile 15 February - 8 May 1827	Successor: Francisco Antonio Pinto Díaz Vice-Chairman