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Antonio De Alcedo: His Collaborators and His Letters to William Robertson
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
This article is divided into two parts. The first deals with Alcedo and his collaborators; the second treats his correspondence with the Scottish historian, William Robertson.
When Antonio de Alcedo y Bexerano published his valuable five-volume Diccionario geográfico-histórico de … América … (Madrid: 1786-1789), he was painfully aware that, given its magnitude, it inevitably contained errors and omissions. To remedy these deficiencies in a revised edition that he planned to bring out later but never did, he requested in his prologue that readers inform him about mistakes and shortcomings they might detect. Exactly how many heeded his call, we do not know; but prominent among those who offered assistance and whose correspondence has been found were three: two expatriated Spanish American Jesuits, the Mexican, Agustín Pablo de Castro, and the Argentinian, Francisco Javier Iturri, and the former Spanish governor and commander-general of Guayana, Colonel Manuel Centurión. Only the letters of Castro and Centurión to Alcedo are published here. Those of Iturri, one of which has already appeared, will be published later.
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1 A creole, born in Quito, Alcedo (1736–1812), son of the renowned Dionisio de Alcedo y Herrera (see footnote 17), left America in 1752 with his father and took up residence in Spain where he pursued a distinguished career in the Spanish army and was elected member of the Royal Academy of History in 1787. For further information, see the biobibliographical treatment of him in Ciriaco Pérez-Bustamante’s edition of the Diccionario entitled Diccionario geográfico de las Indias occidentales o América. … vols. 205–208 of Biblioteca de autores españoles desde la formación del lenguaje hasta nuestros días (continuación), 4 vols. (Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 1967), pp. xxii–xxxiii, xxxviii–xxxix, hereafter cited as Diccionario geográfico. Regarding Alcedo’s request for corrections and additions and their incorporation by Pérez-Bustamante into his 1967 revised edition, consult ibid., 6–7, xxxiii, respectively. See also Arana, Diego Barros, “Juicio crítico sobre la obra escrita por don Antonio de Alcedo con el título Diccionario jeográfico e histórico de las Indias occidentales,” Obras completas …, 16 vols. (Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cervantes, 1908–1914), 9, 35–44.Google Scholar
2 See de Onís, José, “The Letter of Francisco Iturri, S.J. Its Importance for Hispanic American Historiography,” The Americas, 8 (July 1951), 85–90.Google Scholar Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, Iturri (1738–1822) is particularly noted for his Carta Crítica sobre la Historia de América del Sr. Dn. Juan Bautista Muñoz escrita en Roma … (Madrid: n.p., 1798). It contains outspoken criticism of Muñoz for his heavy reliance on the Scottish historian, William Robertson (1721–1793), and the Dutch writer, Corneille de Pauw (1739–1799) for information about America. See Gerbi, , The Dispute (see following footnote for fuller publishing details), pp. 293–98.Google Scholar The most recent edition of the Carta Crítica can be found in Furlong Cardiff’s, Jesuit Guillermo Francisco Javier Iturri y su “Carta Crítica” (1797)… (Buenos Aires: Librería del Plata, 1955).Google Scholar
3 The classic treatment of this eighteenth century dispute is found in Gerbi, Antonello, The Dispute of the New World. The History of a Polemic 1750–1900, Revised and Enlarged Edition Translated by Moyle, Jeremy (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973)Google Scholar. Gerbi treats Buffon (1707–1788), on pp. 3–34, de Pauw on pp. 52–156, and Robertson on pp. 158–196 passim. Consult also Henry Steele Commager and Giordanetti, Elmo, Was America a Mistake? An Eighteenth-Century Controversy, Torchbooks, Harper (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1967), pp. 49–102 especially.Google Scholar
4 See Miguel Batllori, S.J., La cultura hispano-italiana de los Jesuitas expulsos: españoles-hispanoamericanos-filipinos, 1767–1814, Biblioteca románica hispánica (Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1966), pp. 579–90Google Scholar, Gerbi, , The Dispute, pp. 195–233 Google Scholar, and Ronan, , Clavigero: His Life and Works, pp. 77–93 (see following footnote for fuller publishing details).Google Scholar
5 Born in Veracruz, Clavigero (1731–1787) presented his defense of America in his Storia antica del Messico …, 4 vols. (Cesena: per Gregorio Biasini all’Insegna di Pallade, 1780–1781) and his Storia della California. Opera postuma …, 2 vols. (Venice: M. Fenzo, 1789). For a biobibliographical treatment of Clavigero, see Roñan, Charles E., S.J., Francisco Javier Clavigero (1731–1787), Figureof the Mexican Enlightenment: His Life and Works (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute, 1977)Google Scholar. Also Gerbi, , The Dispute, pp. 195–211.Google Scholar
6 Born near Talca, Molina (1740–1829), well known as an historian and naturalist, authored three histories of Chile and several essays on Italy’s natural history. For a biobibliographical treatment of this Jesuit, see Espinosa, Januario, El Abate Molina, uno de los precursores de Darwin, prólogo de don Francisco A. Encina (Santiago de Chile: n.p., 1946)Google Scholar. Also Hanisch, Walter S.J., Juan Ignacio Molina, sabio de su tiempo … (Caracas: Universidad Católica “Andrés Bello,” 1974)Google Scholar. Concerning Molina’s confrontation with de Pauw, which was much milder than the aforementioned Clavigero’s, see Gerbi, , The Dispute, pp. 212–17.Google Scholar
7 ConsultLerner, Isaias, “The Diccionario of Antonio de Alcedo as a Source of Enlightened Ideas,” in Aldridge, A. Owen (ed.), The Ibero-American Enlightenment (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971), pp. 71–93.Google Scholar
8 This work has only relatively recently been published: Bibliotheca americana. Catálogo de los autores que han escrito de la América en diferentes idiomas y noticia de su vida y patria, años en que vivieron, y obras que escribieron … año de1807, prólogo de Jorge A. Garcés G. (Quito: n.p., 1964–1965). The Bibliotheca was originally planned as part of the Diccionario geográfico. See Alcedo, , Diccionario geográfico, I, 32, 7 Google Scholar. Also de Onís, José, “Alcedo’s Bibliotheca americana,” The Hispanic American Historical Review, 31 (August 1951), 530–41.Google Scholar
9 Alcedo, , Bibliotheca americana, 1, 6 Google Scholar. Excepting the Argentinian, Gaspar Juares (Xuarex), and the Ecuadorean, Juan de Velasco, the other Jesuits are identified in the course of the article. Juares (1731–1804), a botanist, was born in Santiago del Estero and is treated by William Furlong Cardiff in his Gaspar Juares, S.J. y sus “Noticias fitológicas” (1789) … (Buenos Aires: Librería del Plata, 1954). Velasco (1727–1819), born in Riobamba, was a reputable historian and a vigorous opponent of the aforementioned de Pauw. An informative biobibliographical study of him by José Jouanen, S.J. can be found in Velasco’s own posthumously published Historia moderna del reyno de Quito y Crónica de la provincia de la Compañía de Jesús del mismo reyno, tomo I. Años 1550 a1685, publicación dirigida por Raul Reyes … Biblioteca Amazonas, vol. VIII (Quito: Imprenta de la Caja del Seguro, 1941), pp. 1–47.
10 The letter is published in Cardiff, William Furlong, Historia social y cultural del Río de la Plata 1536–1810. El trasplante cultural: ciencia (Buenos Aires: Tipográfica Editora Argentina, 1969), pp. 16–17 Google Scholar. Joaquín Camaño (1737–1820), missionary to the Chiquitos Indians in the Paraguayan Reductions, was also a cartographer and ethnographer. See Cardiff, William Furlong, Joaquín Camaño y su “Noticia del Gran Chaco” (1778) … (Buenos Aires: Librería del Plata, 1955)Google Scholar. Also Batllori, , Cultura hispano-italiana, pp. 286 Google Scholar, 586–89. Little is known about Miguel de Castro (1742–?). Interesting correspondence exchanged between him and his brother can be found in Valle Pimentel, Agustín Pablo de Castro (see following footnote for fuller publishing details), pp. 232–256.
11 The original of this letter can be found in Rich I, Alcedo Letters, MSS. and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. Castro (1728–1790), born in Cordoba, Mexico, was among the Jesuit promoters of enlightened reform in Mexico. Consult Valle Pimentel, Miguel, Agustín Pablo de Castro, 1728–1790, Vida y semblanza … (México: Universidad Iberoamericana …, 1962)Google Scholar. Also Roñan, , Clavigero: His Life and Works, pp. 17–18.Google Scholar
12 Centurión’s original letter can also be found in Rich I, Alcedo Letters, MSS. and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. Second governor of Guayana (1766–1776), Centurión was a meritorious figure in the history of eighteenth century Venezuela. His map of Guayana (1771) and his reports to the Crown were consulted at the time of the late nineteenth century Venezuela-British Guayana boundary dispute. For facsimiles of his map, see ReverendStrickland, Joseph, S.J., Documents and Maps on the Boundary Question between Venezuela and British Guayana from the Capuchin Archives in Rome with a Brief Summary of the Question … (Rome: Printed by the Unione Cooperativa Editrice, 1896), pp. vii, xviiiGoogle Scholar. Also Venezuela-British Guiana Boundary Arbitration. The Counter-Case of the United States of Venezuela before the Tribunal of Arbitration to Convene at Paris under the Provisions of the Treaty between the United States of Venezuela and Her Britannic Majesty Signed at Washington, February 2,1897, vol. 4. Appendix (Baltimore: A. Hoen and Co., 1898), p. 4, and Padrón, F. Morales y Mira, J. Llavador, Mapas, planos y dibujos sobre Venezuela existentes en el Archivo General de Indias (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1965), pp. 17 Google Scholar, 24, 26, 60. For more on Centurión, see Caulin-Ojer, , Historia de la Nueva Andalucía, 1. CLXIII–CCLXXXVGoogle Scholar, passim (see footnote 14 for fuller publishing details) and Strickland, , Documents and Maps, pp. 16–26.Google Scholar
13 Eighteenth-century Guayana (Guiana) is described as that vast territory lying within the boundaries of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers and stretching east to the Atlantic ocean. See Alcedo, , Diccionario geográfico, 2, 171–175 Google Scholar. For a modern-day description, see James, Preston E., Latin America, revised edition (New York: The Odyssey Press, 1950), pp. 47, 67–69.Google Scholar
14 Born in Bujalance, Spain, Antonio Caulin (1719–1802) labored for sixteen years in the Franciscan missions of Piritu, a province along Venezuela’s northern coast. Detailed information about him and his history, which was also consulted in the boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana, can be found in the preliminary studies of the two most recent editions of his work: (1) Historia corográfica, natural y evangélica de la Nueva Andalucía, provincia deCumaná, Nueva Barcelona, Guayana y vertientes del Río Orinoco …, vol. 107 of Biblioteca de autores españoles…Historiadores de Indias, III, Venezuela, estudio preliminar y edición de don Guillermo Morón (Madrid: Ediciones Atlas, 1958); (2) Historia de la Nueva Andalucía, estudio preliminar y edición crítica de Pablo, Ojer S.J. Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, vols. 81–82, 2 vols. (Caracas: Fuentes para la Historia colonial de Venezuela, 1966)Google Scholar. See also López, Atanasio O.F.M., “Historiadores de Venezuela y Colombia, Fr. Antonio Caulin” Archivo Ibero-Americano (Madrid) …, 15 (enero-febrero, 1921), 360–76Google Scholar. Caulin was a warm admirer of Centurión. See the prologue to his Historia Corográfica.
15 Three items in Centurión’s letter merit further comment: (1) Iturriaga’s expedition is fully treated in Pérez, Demetrio Ramos, El Tratado de límites de 1750 y la expedición de Iturriaga al Orinoco, prólogo del Dr. Amando Melón y Ruiz Gordejeula (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Juan Sebastian Elcano, 1946)Google Scholar; (2) An excellent facsimile of Caulin’s map can be found in Vindel, Francisco, Mapas de América en los libros españoles de los siglos XVI al XVIII (1503–1789) … (Madrid: n.p., 1955), pp. 279–82Google Scholar; (3) Despite Centurion’s inference to the contrary, Alcedo was well acquainted with Caulin’s Historia Corográfica. See Alcedo, , Diccionario geográfico, 3, 205; V, 349.Google Scholar
16 Although both letters are undated, internal evidence in the second letter points to 1778 and 1787 respectively as the dates for their composition. See footnote 25. Both letters, reproduced here exactly as Alcedo wrote them, can be found in the Robertson-MacDonald Collection, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, MSS 3943, 3953. Robertson (1721–1793), a Scottish Presbyterian clergyman, is known for his justly famous History of America, first published in 1777. Influenced by de Pauw in his views of America and the native American, he clashed with the Mexican Jesuit, Clavigero, on the issue. For further information, see Humphreys, Robin A., “William Robertson and his History of America,” in his Tradition and Revolt in Latin America and Other Essays (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969), pp. 18–36 Google Scholar; Ronan, , Clavigero: His Life and Works, pp. 287–96Google Scholar, and Gerbi-Moyle, , The Dispute, pp. 165–69.Google Scholar Ironically, Alcedo’s sketch of Robertson in his Bibliotheca Americana, II, 212, is replete with errors, especially his attributing twenty-one children to the historian. Interestingly enough, not all Jesuits were hostile to Robertson. The Spanish Jesuit literary historian, Juan Andrés (1740–1811) hailed him as one of the outstanding representatives of their “enlightened century.” Praising his impressive contribution to “the development of historical studies,” he classed him among those who made “immortal the fame of English literature by leaving to posterity excellent models of histories” that respected the best of the past and were at the same time both useful and delightful reading. See Mazzeo, Guido Ettore, El Abate Juan Andrés, Literary Historian of the XVIII Century (New York: Hispanic Institute in the United States, 1965), pp. 118, 121.Google Scholar
17 Born in Madrid, Don Dionisio (1690–1776) devoted fifty-three years of his life to government service, many of them in Spanish America. At the time of Antonio’s birth (1735), he was president of the Royal Audiencia of Quito and Commander General of the district. An historian of merit, he collaborated generously with his son and supported him warmly in the composition of the Diccionario geográfico. For more biobibliographical data, see Pérez-Bustamante’s treatment in his edition of Alcedo’s Diccionario geográfico, I, xvii–xxii, xxxvii–xxxviii. Also Alcedo, Bibliotheca americana, I, 28–34. For Robertson’s tribute to Don Dionisio, see footnote 20.
18 In August, 1777, Robertson was unanimously elected a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid. His history, which was to be revised by the Academy and enriched with documentation, was entrusted for translation into Spanish to a member of the Academy, Ramón de Guevara Vasconcelos. By the following December, he had completed his task, and on January 8, 1778, the king authorized its publication. The translation, however, never appeared, for a formidable opposition had persuaded Charles III to suspend publications and to forbid entrance of the work into Spanish America and the Philippines. Various explanation were given for these royal decrees, but the fundamental reason was the Crown’s determination to sponsor its own official, well-documented history of Spain in America which would refute the falsehoods of the Robertsons and de Pauws. Juan Bautista Muñoz (1745–1799) was appointed to the project in 1779, but only one volume of his Historia del Nuevo Mundo was published (1793) because of the animosity against him. The full story can be found in the following sources: (1) Cesareo Fernández Duro, “D. Juan Bautista Muñoz. Censura por la Academia de su Historia del Nuevo Mundo,” Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, XLII (enero 1903), 6–14; (2) Humphreys, , “William Robertson,” pp. 34–36 Google Scholar; (3) José Torre Revello, El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en América durante la dominación española, con ilustraciones y apéndice documental, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Publicaciones del Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, número LXXIV (Buenos Aires: n.p., 1940), pp. 77–86, Apéndice, CLXXX-CLXXXVI; (4) three articles by Antonio Ballesteros Beretta in the Revista de Indias: (a) “Don Juan Bautista Muñoz. Dos facetas científicas,” II (enero-marzo 1941), 5–37; (b) “Juan Bautista Muñoz. La creación del Archivo de Indias,” (abril-junio 1941), 55–95; (c) “Don Juan Bautista Muńoz: la Historia del Nuevo Mundo,” III (octubre-diciembre 1942), 589–660. One final word: even Alcedo enters the picture. Always hopeful that an official history of the New World would be written, he hit upon the scheme of executing the task by continuing the Décadas of Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas. He presented his plan to the Royal Academy of History in 1812, but nothing ever came of it, as he died the same year. Consult Ciriaco Pérez-Bustamante, Antonio de Alcedo y su “Memoria” para la continuación de las Décadas de Herrera (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto “Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo,” 1968).
19 Waddilove (1736–1828), chaplain to the embassy from 1771 to 1779, was most helpful to Robertson during that time. Gaining access to the library of the Escorial, he was able to obtain valuable information, rare books, and copies of manuscripts. For Robertson’s thanks to him, see his The History of America …, 2 vols. (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851), I, V; II, 296–97, hereafter cited as History of America (1851). Robertson tells (ibid., I, v) how he himself forwarded “a set of queries” to Waddilove regarding “the customs and policy of native Americans, and the nature of several institutions in the Spanish settlements, framed in such a manner, that a Spaniard might answer them without disclosing anything that was improper to be communicated to a foreigner.” He goes on to say that the chaplain translated them into Spanish “and obtained from various persons who had resided in most of the Spanish colonies such replies as have afforded … [him] much instruction.” Alcedo was undoubtedly one of those interviewed by Waddilove. Another was the Chilean intellectual and admirer of Robertson, José Antonio de Rojas (1742–1817). He is treated in Hussey, Ronald Dennis, “Manuscript Hispanic Americana in the Harvard Library,” HAHR, 17 (May 1937), 274 Google Scholar; Donoso, Ricardo, Un letrado del siglo XVIII, el doctor José Perfecto Salas, advertencia Caillet-Bois, de Ricardo R., 2 vols. (Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires …, 1936), 1, 339–76Google Scholar; II, 551–644; and Collier, Simon, Ideas and Politics of Chilean Independence, 1808–1833 (Cambridge, England: At the University Press, 1967), pp. 16–90 passim.Google Scholar
20 Robertson referred to Don Dionisio as “… a person of such respectable character for probity and discernment that his testimony in any point would be of much weight; but the greater credit is due to it in this case [his account of the illicit dealings of the South Sea Company’s agents at the Fair in Puerto Bello], as he was an eye-witness of the transactions which he relates, and was often employed in detecting and authenticating the frauds which he describes. It is probable, however, that his representation, being composed at the commencement of the war which broke out between Great Britain and Spain, in the year 1739, may, in some instances, discover a portion of the acrimonious spirit natural at that juncture. His detail of facts is curious; and even English authors confirm it in some degree. …” The “Note 95” that Alcedo cites in his letter can be found in the second edition (1778) of The History of America, II, 506–07, which he had in his possession. This fact of possession seems clear from the closing paragraph of the second letter where he inquires about a third edition. Owing, however, to certain revisions that Robertson made in the last and definitive 1788 edition of The History of America, “Note 95” appears in volume II as Note XL VII in this and in all subsequent reprints.
21 This sentence is confusing. The following paraphrase is offered for clarification: I had the satisfaction to speak to Mr. Waddilove, who visited me, about America and a Geographical Dictionary, [which was] my own labor of some years. Before [on another occasion], I offered him several of my Father’s works, now printed, with other Books and papers.” As the letter reads, one might think that he offered Waddilove his Diccionario geográfico; but this was impossible, since the first volume did not appear until 1786.
22 Robertson added the memorial that Alcedo sent him to his list of sources under the entry “Alcedo y Herrera (D. Dionysio de).” He entitles it as “Memorial sobre diferentes Puntos tocantes al Estado de la real Hacienda y del Comercio etc. en las Indias.” See History of America (1851), I, xiii. Also Alcedo, , Bibliotheca americana, 1, 31.Google Scholar
23 Buchan (1729-1805) was an English physician. The first production of its kind in English, his work went into numerous editions and was more popular on the Continent and in America than in England. Its full title is The Family Physician: Being an Attempt to Render the Medical Art More Generally Useful, by Shewing People What is in Their Power both with Respect to the Preventions and Cure of Diseases. Chiefly Calculated to Recommend a Proper Attention to Regimen and Simple Medicines … (Edinburgh: Balfour, Auld, and Smellie, 1769). See King, Lester S., M.D., The Medical World of the Eighteenth Century ([Chicago]: The University of Chicago Press, [1958]), pp. 318–20, 323–24.Google Scholar
24 As is obvious from the following letter, Alcedo’s translation appeared sometime prior to 1786. However, not even in the biobibliographical account that he gives of himself (Bibliotheca Americana, I, 27–28) does he mention it. A 1798 reprint carries this title: Medicina doméstica; o, Tratado completa de metodo de precaver y curar las enfermedades con el régimen y medicinas simples, y un ápendice que contiene la farmacopea necessaria para el uso de un particular. Escrito en inglés por el doctor Juan Buchan … Traducida en castellano por el Coronel D. Antonio de Alcedo … (Madrid: Ramón Ruíz, 1798). The New York Public Library owns an 1818 reprint.
25 Since publication of the Diccionario geográfico began in 1786, this letter was obviously written in 1787. For greater clarification, the phrase “don’t I wrote you in 1778” must be treated parenthetically and in question form: “didn’t I write you about it (the Diccionario geográfico) in 1778?” This observation is also evidence for the date of the first letter, it would seem.
26 To clarify the meaning of this sentence, the following paraphrase is offered: “I was hoping for an opportunity that our friend Guevara now gives me of sending you an exemplar (copy of the Diccionario geográfico) and offering anew at the same time my services; I beseech you to be indulgent towards the shortcomings of a work which is the labor of only one man who toiled without any governmental assistance, as he states in the preface. Despite its defects, it is better than no publication at all.”
27 Alcedo’s mention of Gibraltar obviously refers to Spain’s war against England (1779–1783) at the time of our American Revolution when Spain unsuccessfully besieged that English-held fortress.