Pedro Gómez Labrador
Pedro Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador (* 1772 in Valencia de Alcántara, † 1850 in Madrid ) was a Spanish aristocrat and diplomat who had represented the Kingdom of Spain at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) at the end of the coalition wars. He failed in achieving the diplomatic goals entrusted to him: to bring the Bourbons, deposed by Napoleon Bonaparte, back to their thrones in the former Spanish possessions in Italy; restore control of Spain over the American colonies that had rebelled against their metropolis during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain.
Life
Pedro Gómez Labrador came from a Spanish aristocratic family, studied law at the University of Salamanca , which he graduated with a master's degree in 1793. He initially worked as a judge at the Seville Court. In 1798 King Charles IV sent him as an agent to Pope Pius VI. to try to free the prisoners made in Florence by the French since February. After the death of Pius VI. in August 1799, Labrador was appointed ambassador of the Kingdom of Etruria , created by Napoleon Bonaparte to enthrone the princes of Bourbon-Parma .
After the dissolution of the Kingdom of Etruria in 1807, Labrador returned to Spain. During the French invasion of 1808, he refused to cooperate with the French and fled to Cádiz to join the Spanish Liberals. He was appointed Minister of State by the Cortes of Cadiz, although his political convictions did not coincide with the Liberals. In 1812 King Ferdinand VII appointed him acting Foreign Minister with the rank of State Secretary. He held this office from September 27, 1812 to July 11, 1813.
After the defeat of the French, Labrador sought to abolish the 1812 Constitution, contrary to the aspirations of liberalism. He took on the task of representing Ferdinand VII at the Congress of Vienna (1814 to 1815). But he did not succeed in realizing the Spanish concerns, neither the recovery of Louisiana nor the restoration of the Bourbons in Italy nor the rights of Spain to their rebellious American possessions.
However, Ferdinand's demand to get back the former Spanish colony of Louisiana, which was now part of the United States, was doomed to failure from the start. Apart from the fact that the USA was not officially represented at the Congress of Vienna and the French sale of Louisiana to the USA was fundamentally lawful, the Spanish demand only concerned Spanish US policy and was far removed from the problems with which the Europeans deal Great powers in Vienna grapple.
Spain's supporting role was consolidated by the fact that Labrador did not receive any funds from his king to finance receptions in his residence in Palais Pálffy on Josefsplatz. With this he lost the opportunity to continue negotiations in the context of such social events, which, as is well known, played no small role in Vienna.
Labrador refused to sign the Final Act of Congress on June 9, 1815 because the great powers refused to add an appendix to protest that the Bourbons had not been restored to their Italian possessions. Spain finally ratified the Final Act on May 7, 1817. The only thing Labrador received at the Congress was the tiny Duchy of Lucca in Italy, given to Infanta Maria Luisa of Bourbon , sister of Ferdinand VII.
Towards the end of his life, Ferdinand VII repealed the Salic law with a pragmatic sanction in order to secure the crown for his daughter Isabel at the expense of his brother Carlos. Thereupon Labrador declared patriarchally that he could not imagine a woman on the Spanish throne and switched to the side of the Carlist. As a punishment, he was demoted and went to Paris.
Pedro Gómez Labrador died in Madrid, mentally disabled, blind and ruined.
Labrador in the judgment of contemporaries and posterity
The Duke of Wellington harshly described him as "the dumbest man I have ever seen in my life". As a person, Labrador was loveless. Nor was it able to cope with the demands of an international conference in which social life was decisive. His chronic lack of money also hurt him, as the Spanish crown never made financial contributions to banquets or receptions. It was said that his participation in the Congress of Vienna was completely inconspicuous, as badly organized as a reception in his residence in Vienna in the Palais Pálffy on Josefsplatz .
The Marquis of Labrador was almost universally condemned by historians for his incompetence in Congress to achieve its diplomatic goals for Spain. His mediocrity, his haughty character, and his total submission to the whims of the inner circle of the king were held against him.
From today's point of view, it should be nuanced that the insignificant role of Spain at the Congress of Vienna is not only attributable to Labrador, but also goes back to the vague and sometimes unrealistic instructions from Madrid, where the new king had yet to establish himself politically and a foreign policy operated, which served the interests of his family more than Spain itself.
Remarks
- ↑ a b c Ralf Junkerjürgen: Pedro Gómez de Labrador . In: Winfried Böttcher (Ed.): The “new folders” of Europe at the Congress of Vienna 1814/15 . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2017, p. 197-201 .
- ^ Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815–1830 (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991), 99.
- ↑ See Ernesto Jimenez Navarro, La Historia de España (Madrid: Compañia Bibliografica Española, SA, 1946), 506.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gomez Labrador, Pedro |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gómez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador, Pedro (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spanish diplomat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1772 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Valencia de Alcantara |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1850 |
| Place of death | Madrid |