Segismundo Moret Prendergast

Segismundo Moret

Segismundo Moret y Prendergast (born June 2, 1833 in Cádiz , † January 28, 1913 in Madrid ) was a Spanish politician and Prime Minister of Spain ( Presidente del Gobierno ) .

Life

Studies, professional career and member of parliament

After attending school, he completed a law degree at the Central University of Madrid , where he was appointed professor of political economy and finance in 1858 after completing his studies . In 1867 he was the author of the textbook "Estudios Financeros" (financial studies).

He began his political career in 1863 when he was first elected Member of Parliament ( Congreso de los Diputados ), in which, however, he initially only represented the interests of the Almadén constituency for a short time . After the successful revolution ( La Gloriosa ) of 1868, which led to the disempowerment of Queen Isabella II , he was reelected as a member of the Congress of Deputies, to which he belonged for almost 44 years until his death. At the same time he was one of the authors of the constitution of 1869 ( Constitución española de 1869 ).

minister

On March 3, 1870, he was appointed to a government for the first time as Colonial Minister ( Ministro de Ultramar ) and, as such, was a member of Juan Prim's cabinet until January 4, 1871. In this position he led on 4 July 1870, the Law for the prohibition of slavery , the so-called "freedom of the mothers bodies" ( Ley de libres vientres a), also after him Ley Moret was called. At the same time, a constitution for the colony of Puerto Rico was enacted during his tenure , which, among other things, enabled the implementation of the Ley Moret in Puerto Rico , but also in Cuba . In addition, during his tenure from December 2, 1870 to January 4, 1871, he was also Minister of the Treasury ( Ministro de Hacienda ) for a little over a month .

He was then appointed ambassador to London , where he only worked from 1872 to 1873. After his return to Spain after the re-establishment of the monarchy ( Restauración borbónica ) he was the founder of the Democratic- Monarchist Party ( Partido Democrático-monárquico ) in 1875 , which merged with other parties on the Dynastic Left ( Izquierda Dinástica ) in 1882 .

Prime Minister José de Posada Herrera appointed him Minister of the Interior (Ministro de Gobernación) in his cabinet on October 13, 1883, of which he was a member until January 18, 1884. Immediately after he joined the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) in 1885, he was appointed Foreign Minister ( Ministro de Estado ) on December 27, 1885 by its party chairman, Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, in his government . He kept this office until the government was reshuffled on June 12, 1888 when he was again appointed Minister of the Interior. However, Sagasta released him a few months later as part of the cabinet reshuffle on November 30, 1888.

On December 11, 1892, however, Sagasta reappointed him to his fifth cabinet, to which he belonged until March 12, 1894 as Minister of Development ( Ministro de Fomento ). At the same time he was again acting Foreign Minister for some time from April 5, 1893 to November 5, 1894.

Sagasta appointed him to his sixth cabinet on January 4, 1897. As colonial minister, he ordered the autonomy of the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico by decree to prevent the two countries from striving for independence, which ultimately failed because of the emerging Spanish-American war . After Spain's defeat by the United States , Sagasta also dismissed him in 1898.

On March 6, 1901, however, Sagasta appointed him again as Minister of the Interior, dismissed him again after some time and finally appointed him again after the government reshuffle on March 19, 1902. Moret Prendergast led in his term of office, which lasted until December 6, 1902 among other things the establishment of the institute for social reforms ( Instituto de Reformas Sociales ) by, from which later the labor ministry ( Ministerio de Trabajo ).

After Sagasta's death on January 5, 1903, he was defeated by José Canalejas Méndez in the internal power struggle for his successor as chairman of the Partido Liberal .

Multiple Prime Minister under King Alfonso XIII.

After Prime Minister Eugenio Montero Ríos resigned because of the affair surrounding the satirical weekly magazine "¡Cu-Cut!" he was from King Alfonso XIII. on December 1, 1905 his successor as Prime Minister of Spain ( Presidente del Gobierno ) . During his tenure, which lasted until July 6, 1906, the Law on Jurisprudence ( Ley de Jurisdicciones ) was passed, which expanded the army's power within the state. After a vote defeat in the Cortes Generales , he had to resign and hand over the office of Prime Minister to José López Domínguez .

After his resignation, he was again prime minister of a transitional government for five days from November 30 to December 4, 1906.

When Prime Minister Antonio Maura Montaner had to resign because of the bloody suppression of the uprisings during the tragic week ( Semana trágica ) on October 21, 1909, he was again Prime Minister as his successor. However, he had to resign on February 9, 1910 after he did not receive a majority for the dissolution of parliament to consolidate his power. He was succeeded by his party rival Canalejas.

After Canalejas was murdered on November 12, 1912, he finally became chairman of the Partido Liberal as his successor. The parliamentary majority of the Partido Liberal around Prime Minister Álvaro Figueroa Torres soon afterwards also led to his election as President of the Congress of Deputies ( Congreso de los Diputardos ), an office which he held until his death two and a half months later.

Honorary positions

Like many politicians of his time, Moret Prendergast also held several honorary posts in addition to his political activities.

Due to his recognition as a commercial and financial lawyer, he was a member of the Revision Commission for the Revision of Commercial Law ( Código de Comercio ) and Vice-President of the Consultative Monetary Council ( Junta Consultativa de la Moneda ). He was also an advisor to the Supreme Council for Agriculture , Industry and Trade and Honorary President of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce .

From 1884 to 1886, 1894 to 1898 and finally from 1899 until his death, he was President of the Ateneo de Madrid . Furthermore, he became a member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas on November 25, 1885 , where he took the armchair ( Sillón ) 25 until his death . Finally, in 1894, he was appointed a member of the Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), whose chair H he occupied until his death.

In addition, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III. ( Order de Carlos III ) awarded.

Web links

• Biography on the homepage of the Spanish Prime Ministers ( Memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
• Biography (spanish)
• Sexenio Revolucionaria - The Spanish Governments from 1868 to 1874 ( Memento of January 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• The cabinets during the reign of Alfonso XII. (1874-1884 - La Restauració)
• The cabinets during the reign of Maria Christina of Austria (1885-1902 - La Restauració)
• The governments during the reign of Alfonso XIII. (1902-1931)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ley del 4 de julio de 1870 (Ley Moret)
2. ^ After Slavery: Emancipation and Its Discontents (= Howard Temperley = [Hrsg.]: Studies in slave and post-slave societies and cultures . Volume 10 ). Psychology Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7146-5022-6 , ISSN  1462-1770 , pp. 193 ff . (English, 310 pp., limited preview in Google book search).
3. ↑ Spanish Ambassador in London ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ List of Foreign Ministers ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Presidents of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate from 1869 to 2008
6. ^ President of the Ateneo de Madrid ( Memento of September 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ Members of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas - Armchair 25 ( Memento from September 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Members of the Real Academia Española - Sillón H ( Memento of the original of December 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Eugenio Montero Ríos	Prime Minister of Spain 1905–1906	José López Domínguez
José López Domínguez	Prime Minister of Spain 1906	Antonio Aguilar Correa
Antonio Maura Montaner	Prime Minister of Spain 1909–1910	José Canalejas Méndez