Félix Berenguer de Marquina

Félix Berenguer de Marquina

Félix Ignacio Juan Nicolás Antonio José Joaquín Buenaventura Berenguer de Marquina y FitzGerald (born November 20, 1736 (according to other sources: 1738 ) in Alicante , Spain ; † October 10, 1826 ibid) was a Spanish colonial administrator who served as governor of the Philippines and viceroy officiated from New Spain.

Life

Family, education and early career

Félix Berenguer was the only child of Ignacio Berenguer de Marquina y Pasqual de Riquelme and María FitzGerald. The father came from a wealthy family of the lower nobility; the mother came from Cork , Ireland , from the line of the Counts of Kildare and Desmond.

After attending school, he joined the Spanish Navy in 1754 at the age of eighteen. First it was used in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, later it was stationed in Cádiz . Here he married María de Ansoátegui y Barrón in 1758. The first son Joaquín was born in 1763, followed by a daughter named Ana Agustina in 1765.

Félix became interested in science and became a teacher of mathematics and astronomy at the Naval Academy in Cartagena (Spain) . He later became director of the Spanish Navy's pilot corps.

In the 1780s he broke off contact with both children after they had found spouses against his will: Joaquín married the daughter of Francisco Hidalgo de Cisneros, who also worked in the navy and was enemies with Berenguer. His daughter Ana Agustina took Gabriel Ciscar y Ciscar as a man whose liberal views Berenguer displeased. His son-in-law was to play a leading role in the overthrow of the absolutist ruling King Ferdinand VII in 1820 .

Term of office as governor of the Philippines

In 1788, Berenguer was appointed governor of the Philippines. He traveled to Manila with his wife . As governor, he opened the port of Manila to all non-European goods. Further measures to improve the economic situation of the colony were worked out, but not yet implemented, when Berenguer was relieved of his post in 1793. He was reconciled with his son, who followed him to Manila in the early 1790s. He died in 1795. Berenguer and his wife returned to Europe in 1795.

Interlude in Europe

In Spain he took over duties in the naval administration from 1795. He was reconciled with his daughter and was promoted to lieutenant general.

Tenure as Viceroy of New Spain

In November 1799, King Charles IV appointed him Viceroy of New Spain. His good relationship with Manuel de Godoy , the strong man of foreign and war policy in Spain, benefited him. He embarked for Mexico and was arrested by a British warship shortly before arrival and taken prisoner to Jamaica. After a short time he was let go again.

On April 29, 1800 he took over the official business in Mexico City and made his ceremonial entry into the city the following day.

In military terms, Spain has repeatedly faced attacks by British and US pirates on merchant ships. Spain had little to oppose British dominance at sea. Berenguer strengthened the port facilities in Veracruz (Veracruz) and had parts of the goods stored there brought inland to Xalapa .

On October 1, 1800, Spain surrendered the territory of Louisiana (colony) to France , as it had promised in the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . In return, Napoleon Bonaparte gave the Tuscany he had conquered back to the Bourbons.

Domestically, Berenguer banned bullfighting , which did not contribute to his popularity with the people.

During his tenure fell the end of the smuggler Philip Nolan , who ran a flourishing trade in goods from the USA for wild horses from Texas in the north of the colony . A troop of Spanish soldiers brought him in March 1801 and killed him.

At the beginning of 1801 a group of Indians rose up in the mountains near Tepic under Indio Marino ; they fought under the banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe and strove to rebuild the Aztec Empire . The Spaniards put down the rebellion; Marino escaped, several insurgents were arrested, but most of them were soon released. Another uprising (which also failed) instigated the naval officer Francisco Antonio Vázquez.

Progressive for its time was the decision to allow women to work, even if local regulations prevented it.

The collaboration with the Colonial and Finance Ministry was evidently not to Berenguer's satisfaction. The authorities gave in to the miners' pressure to reduce silver production as the British naval blockade made it impossible to transport it to Spain. Viceroy Berenguer had spoken out against it, but was passed over by the authorities in Mexico and Madrid.

Immediately after the peace with Great Britain in 1802 he asked for his replacement, which he was finally granted. 1803 handed over the office to José de Iturrigaray and immediately returned to Spain.

Return to Europe

He returned to Alicante with his wife. He worked there in the naval management. His daughter and several grandchildren lived in the area.

In 1808 Napoleonic troops attacked Spain. Berenguer organized the defense at sea. Berenguer viewed the resistance of the loyal Spaniards by the Junta Suprema Central (which also included his son-in-law Gabriel Ciscar y Ciscar ) and the Cortes of Cadiz with suspicion.

He withdrew from politics and administration. During the revolution against the absolutist regime of the returned King Ferdinand in 1820, representatives of the liberals nevertheless forced him to sign the constitution. After the Trienio Liberal in 1823 and the return to absolutism, his liberal son-in-law Ciscar had to go into exile in Gibraltar .

Félix Berenguer died in Alicante in October 1826.

literature

• Fernando Orozco: Gobernantes de México . 3. Edition. Panorama Editorial, Mexico City 2004, ISBN 968-38-0260-5 , p. 173-174 ( books.google.de ).
• Juana Vázquez Gómez: Dictionary of Mexican Rulers, 1325–1997 . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, CT, USA 1997, ISBN 0-313-30049-6 ( books.google.de ).

Web links

• Biography (spanish)
• Family history (spanish)
• Short biography (Spanish)
• History of his tenure (Spanish)
• Entry at Geneall.net

predecessor	Office	successor
Miguel José de Azanza	Viceroy of New Spain 1800–1803	José de Iturrigaray