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Frenchmen and Francophiles in New Spain from 1760 to 1810*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Jacques Houdaille
Jacques Houdaille*
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington, D.C
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Extract

IT is often said that the French Revolution and the ideas of the philosophers of the eighteenth century were of great influence in Latin America and that they constituted the intellectual motivation of its movements toward independence.

This idea is presented in the majority of elementary history books. It is worthy of note that in the national hymn of the Republic of Honduras, one of the stanzas lauds the work of the Convention and mentions Danton.

However, some years ago a French historian, Marius André, published a rather short essay, La fin de l’Empire Espagnol des Indes, in which he attempted to demonstrate that the independence of Spanish America was achieved by a group of conservatives who were frightened by the rebellion of Riego in Spain and who had no desire at any time to take the French Revolution as a model.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , April 1957 , pp. 1 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1957

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Footnotes

*

[Editor’s Note: This article was composed for the fulfillment of the publication requirement for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.]

References

1 André, Marius, La Fin de l’Empire Espagnol des Indes (Paris, 1922).Google Scholar

2 Fisher, Lillian Estelle, The Background of the Revolution of Mexican Independence (Boston, 1934).Google Scholar

3 Spell, Jefferson R., Rousseau in the Spanish World before 1833. A study in Franco-Spanish literary relations (Austin, 1938).Google Scholar

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7 Rangel, sNicolás, Los Precursores ideológicos de la Independencia, 1189–1194 (México, 1929),Google Scholar a collection of documents with a valuable introduction; see also La Masonería en México (México, 1933), by the same author.

8 Rydjord, John, Foreign Interest in the Independence of New Spain: An introduction to the War for Independence (Durham, 1935).Google Scholar

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11 Recopilación de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias mandadas imprimir y publicar por la Magestad católica del Rey Carlos III, Nuestro Señor. Hecha de orden del Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias (Madrid, 1791), II, 166. Also see Moreno, Laudelino, “Los Extranjeros y el ejercicio del Comercio en las Indias,” Boletín de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala, XIV (1937), 443,Google Scholar and Konetzke, Richard, “Legislación sobre inmigración de extranjeros en América durante la época colonial,” Revista Internacional de Sociología, XI (1942), 269–299.Google Scholar

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15 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 92, f. 17.

16 AGNM, Virreyes, 13, f. 461.

17 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 108, f. 114.

18 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 168, fs. 19, 100, 131, 143 and 169. In 1795 Hourat received his naturalization papers.

19 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 105, f. 56.

20 Aiton, Arthur Scott , “Spanish Colonial Reorganization under the Family Compact,” Hispanic American Historical Review, XII (1932), 269–280,Google Scholar and Christelow, Allan, “French Interest in the Spanish Empire during the Ministry of Choiseul,” HAHR, XXI (1941), 515–537.Google Scholar

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26 Pérez-Marchand, op. cit., p. 167.

27 Rangel, Nicolás, Los Precursores ideológicos …, Introduction, p. xxii, and Humboldt, op. cit., I, 203.Google Scholar

28 Bolton, Herbert, Athanase de Mézières (Buffalo, 1914), I, 167.Google Scholar

29 Bolton, Herbert, Spanish Borderlands (New Haven, 1921), pp. 252–254.Google Scholar

30 de Beaumont, Du Boscq, Officiers français au service de l’Espagne (Paris, 1904), pp. 32–36.Google Scholar

31 This information was taken from many volumes of the “Indiferente de Guerra” in the AGNM, whose pages were not numbered.

32 AGNM, Inquisición, 769, fs. 37–47, and José Toribio Medina, La Inquisición en Mexico. New edition by Eduardo O’Gorman (México, 1952), p. 359.

33 This chapter is based on original documents from the Archivo General de la Nación, Historia, 506, 507, 508, 510, 511, 514, 515, 516, 517 and 518. On the Frenchmen established in the Internal Provinces, see Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, XXIV (1953), 100–104.

34 Toussaint, Manuel, Taxco (Mexico, 1931), p. 87.Google Scholar

35 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 116, f. 159.

36 AGNM, Inquisición, 736, IV, fs. 19–28.

37 AGNM, Inquisición, 1000, fs. 19–28.

38 AGNM, Inquisición, 1150, fs. 86–95.

39 AGNM, Inquisición, 1053, fs. 152–171.

40 Medina, Toribio, op. cit., p. 350.Google Scholar

41 AGNM, Inquisición, 1053, fs. 276–300.

42 AGNM, Inquisición, 1007, fs. 1–63.

43 AGNM, Inquisición, 1000, fs. 12–18.

44 AGNM, Inquisición, 1008, fs. 1–27 and Virreyes, 12, f. 155.

45 Rangel, Nicolás, La Masonería …, Introduction, pp. ix-xxvii.Google Scholar

46 See Freg, Arturo Arman y, “Don Fausto de Elhuyar y de Zubice,” Revista de Historia de América, VI (1940), 75,Google Scholar and Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, XI (1951), 38–42. It may be interesting to note that Don Fausto was a freemason. See Fisher, Lillian, “Early Masonry in Mexico (1806–1828),” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XLII (1939), 198.Google Scholar

47 AGNM, Inquisición, 1340, f. 47.

48 AGNM, Historia, 513; Declouet’s memorial to the Spanish government, Dec. 7, 1814, mentions a Frenchman, Jean Leclerc, who had lived in Mexico as the tutor of the sons of the Count of Casa Rui. Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXII (1939), 813.

49 Auguste Génin, Les Français au Mexique du XVIe siècle a nos jours (Paris, 1931), p. 239. This bulky work contains many errors but it presents much useful material drawn from published sources.

50 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 94, f. 102.

51 Nicolás Rangel, Los Precursores …, Introduction, p. lii.

52 Pérez-Marchand, op. cit., p. 170.

53 For example AGNM, Reales Cédulas 92, f. 18, and Virreyes 9, f. 986.

54 See See, Henri, “Documents sur le Commerce de Cadiz, 1691–1752,” Revue de l’Histoire des Colonies françaises, XIX (1926), 465–520, and XX (1927), 33–80;Google Scholar and by the same author “Esquisse d’une histoire du Commerce français à Cadiz au 18e siècle,” Revue d’Histoire Moderne, XIII (1928), 13–31.

55 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 134, f. 125.

56 Blue, George Verne, “French Protest against Restrictions on Trade with Spanish America,” HAHR, XIII (1933), 336–352.Google Scholar

57 AGNM, Virreyes, 13, f. 522; Reales Cédulas, 96, f. 72 and 95, f. 110. Also see Blue, George Verne George Verne George Verne George Verne, “French Interest in Pacific America,” Pacific Historical Review, IV (1935), 246–266,Google Scholar and Francisco de las Barras y Aragón, “Viaje del Astrónomo francés, Abate Chappe,” Anuario de Estudios Americanos, I (1949), 741–781.

58 Génin, , op. cit., p. 279.Google Scholar

59 Zavala, Silvio, América en el espíritu francés del siglo XVIII (México, 1949).Google Scholar

60 Villanueva, Carlos, Napoleón y la Independencia de América (Paris, 1911), pp. 25–27.Google Scholar The secret information from London to the Spanish government must refer to the same case although no names are mentioned. See Juan E. Hernández y Dávalos, Colección de Documentos para la Historia de la Guerra de Independencia de México de 1808 a 1821 (México, 1878), II, 620.

61 This chapter is based mainly on Rangel, Los Precursores …, I, 1–100.

62 Grandmaison, Geoffroy de, L’Ambassade française en Espagne sous la Révolution (Paris, 1892), p. 51.Google Scholar

63 Rydjord, op. cit., pp. 40–52; Miranda, op. cit., pp. 184–186; Rangel, op. cit., pp. 165–200, 254–300, and AGNM, the volumes mentioned in note 33 of the present article. Among the Frenchmen expelled from Mexico there was a certain Juan Lafita y Miramón who had come from southern France to manage the farm of his uncle Bernardo Miramón. This young man has been identified as the future privateer of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte His hatred towards Spain may be explained by the harsh treatment he received when imprisoned. See Ramsdell, Charles, “Why Jean Lafitte became a pirate,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XLIII (1939), 465–471.Google Scholar

64 Some witnesses maintained that a harmless French cook, Pedro Cervantes, kept in his house a flag that was to be used when his compatriots would invade Mexico. This flag turned out to be an old naval ensign bearing the royalist Fleurs de Lys. AGNM, Historia 504, fs. 228–242. In northern Veracruz two old Frenchmen were accused by their neighbors of drawing maps to help a French landing. AGNM, Historia 516, fs. 1–120.

65 On Allende’s family, see José María de Liceaga, Adiciones y Rectificaciones a la Historia de México que escribió Don Lucas Atamán, reprinted by Alvarez y Alvarez de la Cadena (México, 1944), p. 253.

66 Rangel, , Los Precursores …, pp. 10–286.Google Scholar

67 Rueda, Julio Jiménez, Las Herejías en la Nueva España (México, 1951), pp. 266–267.Google Scholar

68 AGNM, Inquisición, 1400, fs. 134–137.

69 AGNM, Historia, 419, f. 50.

70 AGNM, Historia, 506, f. 30.

71 Sarrail, Jean, UEspagne eclairée (Paris, 1954), p. 81 ff.Google Scholar The influence of the masonic lodges on the outburst of the French Revolution is quite a controversial question; see Mornet, Daniel, Les Origines intellectuelles de la Révolution Française (Paris, 1947), pp. 357–387.Google Scholar What he says of the non-political character of masonic lodges in France before 1789 explains why Frenchmen in Mexico spoke so freely of that secret society.

72 Rangel, , La Masonería …, pp. 135–204.Google Scholar

73 Ibid., pp. 207–417, and Rueda, Jiménez, op. cit., pp. 272–273.Google Scholar

74 AGNM, Inquisición, 1351, fs. 1–28.

75 AGNM, Inquisición, 1352, fs. 12–13.

76 AGNM, Inquisición, 1393, fs. 233–241.

77 AGNM, Inquisición, 1377, II, fs. 250–348 and 1358, I, fs. 1–161.

78 AGNM, Historia, 506, III, fs. 1–54.

79 AGNM, Virreyes, 137, f. 454; Reales Cédulas 132, f. 24, and 153, f. 42; Historia 511, XII.

80 See Caillet-Bois, Richardo R., “La América española y la Revolución Francesa,” Boletín de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, XIII (1940), 161–181.Google Scholar On Catadino see Miranda, José, op. cit., pp. 170–171,Google Scholar and Cuevas, Mariano, Historia de la Iglesia en México (México, 1947), IV, 483.Google Scholar On Enderica, see Rangel, , Los Precursores …, Introduction, pp. xlii-lv Google Scholar and Rueda, Jiménez, op. cit., p. 261.Google Scholar

81 Archivo de Indias, Inquisición, 1790, legajo 4429, doc. 3.

82 Rangel, , Los Precursores …, pp. xv-xx.Google Scholar

83 AGNM, Inquisición 1374, fs. 348–373.

84 Rangel, , Los Precursores …, pp. xx-xxiii.Google Scholar

85 Ibid., pp. xxxii-xlii. Among the “criollos” involved in the plot, the name of Andrés José Sánchez de Tagle is often mentioned. It is interesting to note that a certain Manuel Sánchez de Tagle, probably his close relative, belonged in 1810 to the Society of Guadalupe, an underground organization aimed at helping the insurgent movement in Mexico. See Wilbert H. Timmons, “Los Guadalupes: a secret society in the Mexican Revolution for Independence,” HAHR, XXX (1950), 457.

86 Pérez-Marchand, op. cit., p. 182.

87 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 153, fs. 90, 155 and 200.

88 AGNM, Inquisición, 1376, f. 11.

89 AGNM, Inquisición, 1367, f. 300.

90 AGNM, Inquisición, 1373, f. 213.

91 Fisher, Lillian, Background …, p. 249.Google ScholarPubMed

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94 Ibid., II (1931), 46–59.

95 AGNM, Inquisición, 1368, f. 107.

96 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 179, f. 17.

97 AGNM, Virreyes, 202, f. 66.

98 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 179, f. 17.

99 Génin, , op. cit., p. 146.Google Scholar

100 On Durrey and other Frenchmen registered in Mexico by that time see AGNM, Historia, 452, 516 and 519.

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105 AGNM, Historia, 201, f. 161; Virreyes, 244, f. 11, and Reales Cédulas, 203, f. 213; see also Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, VIII (1936), 151–163.

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107 AGNM, Historia, 450, fs. 20–23.

108 In 1810 in Mérida the artist Francisco Zápari was denounced as a francophile by José Matías Quintana, the father of the famous Independence leader, Quintana Roo. AGNM, Inquisición, 1447, fs. 237–244, quoted in Rubio Mañé, “Las Ideas políticas en 1810 en Yucatán,” Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, XXI (1949), 263–267.

109 Lafuente-Ferrari, Enrique, El Virrey Iturrigaray (Madrid, 1947), pp. 168–171.Google Scholar

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112 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 204, f. 11.

113 Grandmaisony, Geoffroy de, Correspondance du Comte de la Forest, Ambassadeur de France en Espagne, 1808–1813 (Paris, 1913), II, 141, 147 and III, 221 (among many other references).Google Scholar

114 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 201, f. 90.

115 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 204, f. 309.

116 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 205, f. 259.

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119 AGNM, Historia, 409, fs. 8–33.

120 AGNM, Historia, 282, f. 456.

121 AGNM, Historia, 431, fs. 185–282.

122 AGNM, Historia, 452, fs. 110–188.

123 AGNM, Reales Cédulas, 210, f. 9.

124 Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, XVI (1945), 42–56.

125 Villanueva, Carlos, op. cit., p. 229.Google Scholar

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128 Ernesto de la Torre Villar, “Hidalgo y las Proclamas de José Bonaparte,” Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, XVIII (1947), 277–283.