Emilio Castelar

Emilio Castelar, portrait by José Nin y Tudó

Emilio Castelar y Ripoll (born September 7, 1832 in Cádiz , † May 25, 1899 in San Pedro del Pinatar , Murcia ) was a Spanish politician and writer. He was President of the First Republic of Spain from September 7, 1873 to January 3, 1874 .

Republican career

Castelar studied at the University of Madrid first law , then preferably philosophy and literature . As a writer, Castellar first appeared in the field of novels and later in politics.

Introduced into political life by the Republican José María Orense , he wrote for democratic newspapers, became professor of history and philosophy at the University of Madrid in 1857 (chair for “Philosophical and Critical History of Spain”) and exerted a great influence through his brilliant lectures out on the youth. In 1864 he founded the paper “La Democracia”, in which he fought for individual freedom and against the arbitrariness of Bourbon rule , but also against socialism . Later he also defended his republican principles in the Cortes with enthusiastic, adorable, if somewhat phrase-rich eloquence.

His violent attacks on the government resulted in his suspension in 1865 , and when he participated in the unsuccessful military uprising of June 22, 1866 in Madrid, he had to flee to France and was sentenced to death in contumaciam .

The September Revolution of 1868 called him back from exile. A new era began for Castelar: elected as a member of the constituent Cortes, he fought every kind of monarchy, defended the federal republic as the only correct form of constitution and demanded religious freedom in lively speeches . He also raved about an alliance of all peoples of the Romanesque tribe and attacked Germany violently because of the French War of 1870/71 .

President of the First Republic

After the abdication of Amadeus of Savoy in February 1873, Castelar's friend Estanislao Figueras formed a new government in which Castelar took over the position of Minister of State. The Figueras government implemented a federal structure for Spain. Castelar himself campaigned for the abolition of titles of nobility and the elimination of slavery in Puerto Rico . The disorganization of the army as a result of federal reforms soon led to the disorganization of rule in numerous provinces. Figueras, Pi i Margall and Salmerón , who succeeded the head of state, abdicated after a brief government, so that Castelar was elected President of the Cortes on August 26, 1873. He sought to preserve national unity, to strengthen the central government and to restore or consolidate order in the country as well as army discipline.

On September 7th, Castelar was elected president of the executive power, that is, head of state. He was given extraordinary dictatorial powers, which he used energetically to successfully wage the Third Carlist War and suppress the federalist uprisings in the south. In order to save the fatherland, he did not shy away from acting against the views he had previously announced.

Castelar resigns and the republic falls

Castelar monument in Madrid ( M. Benlliure , 1908).

Castelar monument in Cadiz

He was therefore considered an apostate by all the Republicans, and when a vote of thanks applied for him to the Cortes on January 2, 1874 after his accountability did not find a majority, he resigned from his office. After the coup d'état of General Manuel Pavía that followed immediately, after which Francisco Serrano Domínguez became president, but not in the spirit of the republic but ruled dictatorially, Castelar withdrew for a long time from political life and made a long trip abroad.

Activity after the restoration

Only under King Alfonso XII. he was re-elected to the Cortes, in which he represented moderate republican principles and was at the head of the small group of order republicans (posibilistas) who sought reform of the regime from within. In public he appeared less often for his republican views than for the union of the Romance peoples; he repeatedly showed his hatred of Germany in a harsh manner. In 1893 he withdrew from politics.

Works (selection)

Letters

• Correspondance de Emilio Castelar , 1868–1898. Rivadeneyra, Madrid 1908.

prose

• Discursos poéticos . Madrid 1873.
• Memories of Italy (“Recuerdos de Italia”). Hartung Verlag, Leipzig 1876 (translated by Julius Schanz).
• Tragedias de la historia . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1883.

Non-fiction

• La civilización en los cinco primeros siglos del cristianismo . 2nd edition. Editorial Maria, Madrid 1865.
• Cuestiones políticas y sociales . Jubera, Madrid 1870 (3 vols.).
• Discursos parliamentarios en la asemblea constituyente . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1871 (3 vols.).
• Historia del movimiento republicano en Europa . Rodriguez, Madrid 1874 (2 vol.).
• Miscelánea de historia, de religón, de arte y de política . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1874.
• Vida de Byron . Havana 1873 (Biblioteca de la propaganda literaria).
• Estudios históricos sobre la edad media. Otros fragmentas . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1875.
• Cartas sobre política europea . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1875 (2 vol.).
• La cuestión de Oriente . Madrid 1876.
• El ocaso de la libertad. Obra líteraria e histórica . Madrid 1877.
• Ensayos literarios . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1880.
• La Rusia contemporánea. Bocetos históricos . Madrid 1881.

Work edition

• Obras escogidas . Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1925.

literature

• Michael Georg Conrad : Spanish and Roman. Critical chats about Don Emilio Castelar, Pio Nono, the Vatican god and other curious contemporaries . Schottländer Verlag , Breslau 1877.
• David Hannay: Don Emilio Castelar . Bliss & Sands, London 1896.
• Carmen Llorca Vilaplana: Emilio Castelar. Precursor de la democracia cristiana . Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid 1966.
• Isabel Morales Sánchez (Ed.): Emilio Castelar. Nuevas aportaciones . UP, Càdiz 2003, ISBN 84-96274-30-6 .
• Marie L. Rattazzi: Une époque. Emilio Castelar, sa vie, son œuvre, son rôle . Alcan, Paris 1899.
• Andrés S. del Real: Emilio Castelar. Su vida, su carácter, sus costumbres, sus obras, sus discursos, su influencia en la idea democrática, etc. Barcelona 1873.
• Manuel Serrano Vélez: Centenario de la muerte de Emilio Castelar . In: Historia y Vida , Vol. 32 (1999), No. 374, pp. 52-64.

Web links

Commons : Emilio Castelar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Emilio Castelar  in the German Digital Library

predecessor	Office	successor
Cristino Martos y Balbi	Minister of State of Spain February 12, 1873–7. June 1873	José Muro y López-Salgado
Nicolás Salmerón Alonso	President of the Congreso de los Diputados August 25, 1873–8. September 1973	Nicolás Salmerón Alonso
Nicolás Salmerón Alonso	President of Spain September 7, 1873–3. January 1874	Francisco Serrano Domínguez