¡Españoles!: la ciudad de Cádiz, puesta en
armas con toda su provincia, con la armada anclada en su puerto y todo el
departamento marítimo de la Carraca, declara solemnemente que niega su
obediencia al Gobierno que reside en Madrid, asegura que es leal intérprete de
los ciudadanos (…) y resuelta a no deponer las armas hasta que la nación
recobre su soberanía, manifieste su voluntad y se cumpla.
Hollada
(pisoteada) la ley fundamental,
convertida siempre antes en
celada (oculta) que en defensa del
ciudadano; corrompido el sufragio por
la amenaza y el soborno;
dependiente la seguridad individual,
no del derecho propio, sino de la irresponsable voluntad cualquiera de
las autoridades, muerto el municipio, pasto la Administración y la Hacienda de la inmoralidad y del
agio (del negocio),
tiranizada la enseñanza, muda la prensa … Españoles!, quién la aborrece tanto que se atreva a
exclamar: ¿Así ha de ser siempre ? (…)
(…) Queremos vivir la vida de la honra y de la
libertad.
Queremos que un Gobierno Provisional que
represente todas las fuerzas vivas de su país asegure el orden, en tanto que el
Sufragio Universal eche los cimientos de nuestra regeneración social y
política.
Contamos
para realizarlo (…) con el concurso de todos los liberales, unánimes
y compactos ante el
común peligro; con el apoyo de las clases acomodadas, (…) con los
ardientes partidarios de las libertades individuales, cuyas aspiraciones
pondremos bajo el amparo de la ley; con el apoyo de los ministros del altar,
interesados antes que nadie en
cegar en su origen las fuentes
del vicio y del
ejemplo; con el pueblo todo y
con la aprobación… Acudid a
las armas no con la furia de la ira, siempre débil, sino con la solemne y
poderosa serenidad con que la justicia empuña su espada. ¡Viva
España con honra!
CLASSIFICATION
This text is a
political document, the audience is all the Spanish Nation. The place and date
are indicated in the text: Cádiz, September 19, 1868, and it’s signed by the
Duque de la Torre, Prim who was a political and military Spanish men who
belongs to liberal Union, Domingo Dulce, Serrano a political and military
Spanish men who was the president of the council and the last president of the
first Spanish´s republic and leader of the Progressive Party, Ramón Nouvilas,
Rafael Primo de Rivera, Antonio Caballero de Rodas, Juan Topete military
Spanish men, who were military men who headed the uprising against Isabella II
and he belongs to the liberal Union. Among the signatories military, we can
highlight Serrano, Prim and Topete. The manifesto was written by the unionist
writer Adelardo López de Ayala.
Regarding the
historical context, this text precedes the uprising which started the
revolution of 1868, known as "The Glorious Revolution", in the final
phase of Isabella II’s reign (1856-1868),
ANALYSIS
The main idea of this text is in the third
paragraph “Declara solemnemente que niega su obediencia al Gobierno que reside
en Madrid, asegura que es leal intérprete de los ciudadanos (…) y resuelta a no
deponer las armas hasta que la nación recobre su soberanía, manifieste su
voluntad y se cumpla”. With this
call the leaders of the uprising are encouraging the citizens to disobey the
government of Isabella II for its
unconstitutional behaviour, and reaffirm the idea that sovereignty must
correspond to the Nation.
Secondary Ideas like:
- The intention to
form a provisional government with the participation of all the country.
- The second paragraph
explains the reasons why they signatories of the manifesto have to rise up
against Isabella II’s regime: violation of the constitutional system, lack of
autonomy of municipalities, administrative system corruption, lack of freedom,
censorship
The text also says
that they have the support of the upper classes (the bourgeoisie) and even with
the support of the church, but this wasn’t completely true
This manifesto is the
starting point of the revolutionary movement known as the Glorious Revolution
(September 1868). Its main causes were:
- Triple economic crisis: financial crisis
(railway crash), subsistence crisis (due to bad harvests and drought) and
industrial crisis (growth of unemployment due to the lack of USA cotton)
- Political crisis:
increasing discredit of the Crown and loss of almost all Isabella II’s support
(only the moderates continued to back the Queen), the exclusion of the
progressives and democrats from the government, because the Queen always
preferred the moderates and, in the last part of her reign, the only change was
the alternation of the moderates with the Liberal Union. Protests were
repressed by force.
In 1866: the progressives
and the democrats signed the Pact of Ostend and agreed on overthrowing the
monarchy and calling elections to Constituent Cortes by universal male
suffrage. After O’ Donnell’s death, the Liberal Union also joined the
conspiracy.
The conspiracy was led
by generals Serrano, Prim and Topete. On the 18th September 1868 General Topete
rose up with the fleet anchored in Cádiz and on the 19th he issued the “Spain
with Honour” Manifesto, calling the people to support the uprising. The city of
Cádiz immediately joined the revolution, boards were formed in most of the
cities, claiming for universal suffrage, national sovereignty and more
liberties. General Prim sailed across the Mediterranean to get the support of
the coastal cities and General Serrano confronted the royal troops, commanded
by Novaliches, at Alcolea Bridge on the 28th September. After the withdrawal of
the royal troops on the 30th September, Isabella II and her government left San
Sebastián and took up exile in France. Once again, the popular support was
decisive for the triumph of the revolution.
Isabella’s dethroning
meant the opening of a new political stage: the Democratic Sexenio and its main
stages were:
The Provisional Government, Amadeus I’s
monarchy, 1st Republic, and the return of Alphonse of Bourbon as a new king.
At the beginning of
October, a Provisional Government was formed, presided by General Serrano and
made up by 5 progressives and 4 unionists only. They ordered the dissolution of
the revolutionary boards and the disarmament of the Freedom Volunteers
(Voluntarios de la Libertad, urban militia appeared in September). The boards
that resisted were dissolved by force. They made economic decisions also and
call of the elections to Constituent Cortes, which wrote the 1869 Constitution,
which included universal suffrage, as the manifesto promised. As the Cortes
decided that Spain would continue to be a monarchy, General Serrano was
appointed Regent and General Prim became prime minister and was in charge of
looking for a monarch for the country. There were several candidates, discarded
by different reasons (Duke of Montpensier, Ferdinand of Coburg, Leopold of
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Espartero…). Finally, the Italian Amadeus of Savoy
accepted and was voted by the Cortes, but some days before his arrival, on the
30th December 1870, Prim was killed.
The provisional
government also had to face the outbreak of an independence war in Cuba (Ten
Years´War or Great Cuba War, between 1868 and 1878) started in October 1868
with the Cry of Yara, an independence manifesto issued by the Creole Carlos
Manuel Céspedes who promised the abolition of slavery. But the sugar oligarchy
of the West of the island opposed and confronted both the rebels and Spanish
government.
Amadeus I had very
little support from the beginning because the aristocrats didn´t accept him,
the hierarchy of the church and the people too. In addition a new Carlist War
(the third one) broke up in 1872 with a new pretender to the throne (Charles
VII). Finally Amadeus I had a confrontment with the government due to some
military appointments in the artillery crops and decide to abdicate on the 10th
February 1873. As there wasn´t any option the Cortes, voted for the Republic on
the 11th February. It lasted for 11 months and was characterized by its
permanent instability and the accumulation of difficulties made it impossible
to put any program into practice.
Some problems were:
Cantonal revolution:
many cities and regions proclaimed themselves independent (cantons) and tried
to create a Federal Republic from below. The government repressed all these
uprisings, which contributed to make them lose popular support. Cartagena
canton resisted until 1874. Expansion of the cantonal revolution and the
Carlist War. Pavía´s coup, Pavía was a Madrid´s captain general who evacuated
the cortes, after this, a new government was formed, presided by General
Serrano (Liberal Union), with no republicans. No one defended the Republic.
Although it officially continued to exist until December 1874, in fact it was a
dictatorship, during the last stage of the Republic. Finally Canovas del
Castillo worked to get wide support to restore the monarchy with Alphonse, Isabella II´son.
Finally on the 29th
December General Martinez Campos proclaimed Alphonse of Bourbon King.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this manifesto is the starting point of the
revolutionary movement known as the Glorious Revolution and Spain will have a
period (1868-1874), of full national sovereignty and universal suffrage, although
very unstable, with various events, such as the reign of Amadeus of Savoy,
proclamation of the First Republic, Carlist insurrection, which degenerate in
the return of the Bourbons of Spain, in the figure of Alphonse XII. The text
also says that they have the support of the upper classes (the bourgeoisie) and
even with the support of the church, but this wasn’t completely true.
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