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Don Miguel Cabrera de Nevares: A Spanish Revolutionist in America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
There are epochs in the history of a literature which do not produce masterpieces but which contribute, nevertheless, to the history of that culture by providing new concepts and values which, in the long run, may become the germ of literary works of a broader and more universal nature. These are generally epochs of transition, lacking repose and stability, and which usually precede others more fortunate in the literary harvest. In Spain one of these periods is from 1809–1823, a turbulent, revolutionary epoch, of conspirators, pamphleteers, and philosophers, of the Cádiz Constitution of 1812, and in large measure precursor of the generation of ‘98 and its great literary flowering.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1963
References
1 He belonged to a group of political writers which included among others: Manuel Lozano Pérez Ramajo, Valentín de Foronda, José Alvarez de Toledo, Bartolomé José Gallardo, Antonio Alcalá Galiano, Miguel Cabral de Noroña, Gabriel de Mendizábal, Francisco Sánchez Barbero, Antonio Josef Ruiz de Padrón, José Mejia, etc.
2 Characters resembling liberals like Cabrera and Ramajo can also be found in Galdós, Los duendes de la camarilla. The period of Enlightenment came late to the Hispanic world.
3 In the section “Folletos Varios,” of the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, there is a short biography of Cabrera de Nevares written by himself. There is a brief biography of him in Somariba, Guillermo Smith, Calles y plazas de Cádiz, apuntes acerca del origen de sus nombres y de sus variaciones (Cádiz, 1913)Google Scholar; also in Nomenciator de las calles de Cádiz, por D. Manuel Escalera (Cádiz, 1856)Google Scholar.
4 Galiano, Antonio Alcalá, Memorias (Madrid, 1886), 1, 245Google Scholar..
5 The revolutionary newspaper, El Duende de los Cafées, was published in Cádiz during the years 1813–1814. It is considered “rare.” The Bibliotheca Nacional de Madrid has only a few isolated copies. A complete collection, originally belonging to D. Manuel Lozano Pérez Ramajo, one of the most interesting liberals of this period, can be found in the Archives of the Onis family in Salamanca. The Duende de los Cajees was repubished in Mexico in 1820 with the same format and pagination, but with different titles and footnotes. An issue of the 1820 publication may be found in the Emeroteca Municipal de Madrid. In 1822 Cabrera, also wrote for the Diario Mercantil de Cádiz: “Copia del parte que el jefe político de esta provincia D. Miguel Cabrera de Nevares da a los jefes de las provincias limítrofes, (Calatayud 14 de Julio.)” (July 24, 1822)Google Scholar.
6 Smith Somariba, op. cit.
7 (Madrid, 1821). A copy of this book is to be found in the University of California Library, Berkeley.
8 In Rodriguez-Moniño, D. Antonio, Correspondencia de D. Bartolomé José Gallardo (Badajoz, 1960), pp. 48–49 Google Scholar, there are two letters from Gallardo to Cabrera, Madrid, May 11, 1941, which support this contention.
9 The first issue of the liberal newspaper El Liberal (Cádiz, Spring, 1813) was devoted to the then much-discussed topic of making the Infanta Carlota regent of Spain. There was also a much-circulated pamphlet, Exposición sobre los derechos de la señora Infanta Carlota a la Corona de España en falta de sus hermanos varones, signed P. P. de A.
10 Galiano, Alcalá, Memorias, I, 426 Google Scholar. Mendizábal eventually became a member of the Order.
11 Ferdinand VII was particularly hard on liberal newspapermen. In the unpublished diary of his imprisonment Ramajo relates that Figueroa, the publisher of many of these newspapers, as punishment, was forced to witness the execution of the liberals. The most important newspapers of this type were: El Conciso, El Universal, La Atalaya de la Mancha, El Tribuno del Pueblo Español, El Redactor general de España, El Procurador General, El Diario de Madrid, El Fiscal Patriótico, El Amigo de las Leyes, and La Abeja Madrileña.
12 The Istúriz brothers, Francisco and Tomás, distinguished themselves during the Peninsular War (1804–1814). It was in their house, after the return of Ferdinand VII, the revolt of Quiroga and Riego was planned. When the Constitution was re-established in 1820, Francisco was made president of the Cortes in Seville and Cádiz. After the restoration of the absolute monarchy, along with other liberals, he took refuge in England. He was pardoned and returned to Spain in 1834, to become president of the Congress during the government of Mendizábal.
13 Alcalá Galiano, op. cit., I, 428.
14 Rubio, Julián María, La Infanta Carlota Joaquina y la política exterior de España (Madrid, 1920)Google Scholar.
15 Op. cit., II, 79.
16 Galiano refers here to Cabrera’s articles published in the Duende de los Cafées, and particularly to numbers: 249 (April 6, 1819), 254 (April 11, 1814), no number (May 1, 1814), 286 (May 13, 1814). Cabrera’s article in this last issue “Mueran los que destruyen la Constitución “closed the paper.
17 Galiano was, of course, mistaken; Cabrera came from a good family, very similar to his own. Cabrera was never a clerk. Galiano was not generous with Cabrera, Pérez Ramajo, Gallardo, and other liberals.
18 Galiano, , Memorias, II, 477–478 Google Scholar.
19 In more recent times Vicent Llorens has devoted an excellent book and several important articles to this same topic.
20 Ramón Sagra, who was also writing about the United States at this time, was born in Spain, but due to the fact he lived most of his life in Cuba, he is generally considered a Cuban.
21 Valentín de Foronda returned to Spain in 1809 to play an important role in the drafting of the Constitution of 1812. He is the author, besides many books and pamphlets, of Apuntes ligeros sobre la constitución española. This book was revised by Thomas Jefferson and later used as a model for the Spanish Constitution of 1812. Editor of the liberal review El Constitucional, he served a term in prison because of his political ideas. Pérez Ramajo refers to him in the diary of his imprisonment.
22 A Spanish priest, representative to the Cortes of Cádiz, and onetime resident of Philadelphia, he is the author of a pamphlet condemning the Inquisition and praising religious freedom in the United States. Dictamen del Dr. D. Antonio Josef Ruiz de Padrón, Ministro calificado del Santo Oficio, Abad de Villa Martín de Valdeorres y Diputado en Cortes por las Islas Canarias, que se leyó en la sesión pública de 18 de enero sobre el tribunal de la Inquisición: impreso en Cádiz, año de 1813. This pamphlet was the target for many conservative publications.
23 A Spanish priest, editor of El. Duende Político, a liberal publication: “Publicábase en Cádiz en 1811; era de ideas reformistas y duró poco tiempo; redactábalo el Presbítero D. Miguel Cabral de Noroña, espíritu inquieto no adecuado a su estado eclesiástico, el cual, por haber extremado sus ataques contra el Gobierno, a pesar de la marcada parcialidad que siempre tuvo éste para con los periodistas liberales, pensó sin duda proceder contra el desenvuelto sacerdote, que viose obligado para evitar persecuciones, a poner mar por medio, marchándose precipitadamente a la libre Filadelfia, donde siguío sus aficiones políticas; y con motivo del juramento que los españoles residentes en Filadelfia presentaron a la Constitución española, asistió al acto que para tal solemnidad tuvo lugar el 2 de Setiembre de 1812 en la morada de D. Luis de Onís, enviado extraordinario y Ministro plenipotenciario de su Majestad Cristiana D. Fernando VII, cerca de los Estados Unidos, pronunciando al terminar el acto un ampuloso discurso, que fué muy celebrado entre sus amigos.
Este discurso lo publicó íntegro el periódico gaditano El Tribunal del Pueblo Español, en los números 5 y 6 (Martes, 17 de Noviembre; Viernes 20 de Noviembre, de 1812).” Los periódicos durante la guerra de la independencia (1808–1814) (Madrid, 1910), p. 130.Google Scholar
24 José Alvarez de Toledo, author of many political pamphlets, representative to the Cortes of Cádiz for Santo Domingo and later marshal of the Mexican Northern Revolutionary Army, wrote a very interesting diary, still unpublished, during his stay iņ the United States.
25 Robertson, W.S., The Diary of Francisco de Miranda’s Tour of the United States, 1783–1784 (New York, 1928)Google Scholar.
26 de Onís, José, “Valentín de Foronda’s Memoir on the United States of North America, 1804,” The Americas, IV (1948), 351–387.Google Scholar
27 Onís, Luis de, Memoria sobre las negociaciones entre España y los Estados Unidos de América que dieron motivo al tratado de 1819. Con una noticia sobre la estadística de aquel país. Acompaña un apéndice, que contiene documentos importantes para mayor ilustración del asunto. 2 vols (Madrid, 1820)Google Scholar.
28 de Onís, José, The United States as seen by Spanish American Authors (1776–1890) (New York, 1952)Google Scholar.
29 lbid., pp. 111–112.
30 Ibid., pp. 112–115.
31 New York University, Council Minutes, I, 155.
32 Introducción al estudio de la Lengua Castellana para uso de los discípulos de D. Miguel Cabrera de Nevares, Professor de Lengua y de Literatura en la Universidad de Nueva York (Nueva York [imprenta españda del Redactor], 1833)Google Scholar.
33 New York University, Council Minutes, II, 37. “Resolve that while this Council greatly regrets the loss of Professor Cabrera’s valuable service in the University, they cannot but approve of the high motives of patriotism which induce him to return to his native land. . . . On motion, duly seconded, Resolved that Professor Cabrera be requested to maintain a correspondence with the Chancellor or Professors of the Institution as frequently as circumstances may permit, in such matters as he may deem of importance to the cause of science and letters.” (April 17, 1834), ibid., p. 33.
34 Clarindo is the pseudonym of Fr. Agustín de Castro. These verses are part of a poem entitled Letrillas, published in Atalaya de la Mancha en Madrid, Number 41, May 12, 1814.