François Cabarrus
Encyclopedia
Conde
Conde is a title of nobility in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese. In English, the title is Count or Earl. The female form is Condesa in Spanish and Galician and Condessa in Portuguese. The territory of a Conde is called a Condado, equivalent to Countship or County...
de Cabarrús (1752–1810) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
adventurer and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
.
Early life
He was born in BayonneBayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
, France, where his father, Dominique Cabarrus Fourcade was a merchant and shipbuilder, linked to a saga of Basque sea-captains , whalers and adventurers, who settled in Capbreton (a town near Bayonne), coming from the Navarre region of Spain. There is even a legend in Capbreton (it is still stated to this day in their tourist brochures), that a certain Captain Cabarrus or Gabarrus led a Basque whaling expedition to the shores of present-day Nova Scotia in Canada in the year 1392 (100 years before Columbus´ trip). In those days, this region of France belonged to the English crown and therefore it is said that the lands sighted were claimed for said crown and the documents proving this are kept in the Tower of London.
Francois was sent to study in Toulouse but was recalled to Bayonne by his family due to certain amorous adventures and was sent by his father to Spain to practice with one of his business correspondents, named Galabert. He not only learned the business, but also fell in love and married Maria Antonia Galabert Casanova, his employer's daughter. They settled in the town of Carabanchel Alto
Carabanchel
Carabanchel is a district in the south western suburbs of Madrid, Spain.-Overview:The area was the scene of fierce fighting during the Spanish Civil War -especially in November 1936, during the Battle of Madrid, when Nationalist troops tried to fight their way into the area. Unacustomed to street...
near Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, where Maria Antonia's grandfather had a soap factory. Their mansion in Carabanchel was named Maison St. Pierre (in French) and many years later this mansion and the lands surrounding it were incorporated into the Manor lands of the Count of Montijo (father of the Empress Eugenia de Montijo). However, he soon began to take an active interest in public matters of the court in nearby Madrid.
The Age of Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
had reached Madrid, and King Charles III
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
, was favourable to reforms advocated by a circle of politicians, including Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was an Asturian-born Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain.-Life:...
, Count Campomanes
Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes
Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes , Spanish statesman and writer, was born at Santa Eulalia de Sorribia, in Asturias....
, Count Floridablanca
José Moñino y Redondo, conde de Floridablanca
José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca , Spanish statesman. He was the reformist chief minister of King Charles III of Spain, and also served briefly under Charles IV. He was arguably Spain's most effective statesman in the eighteenth century...
, Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea (Count of Aranda). Among these Cabarrus became conspicuous, especially in finance.
Reforms and disgrace
He originated a bank, the Banco de San Carlos - which is the precursor of today's Bank of Spain, a company to trade with the South American colonies and with Asia through the Philippine IslandsPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
- the Real Compañia de Filipinas, and an agricultural and hydraulic project known as the Canal de Cabarrus which is the origin of today's Canal de Isabel II
Canal de Isabel II
Canal de Isabel II is the public company that manages the water supplies for Madrid, Spain. It is owned by the Autonomous Community of Madrid.The Y in the abbreviation is from the old spelling Ysabel.- External links :*...
, supplying the water to the city of Madrid, in the northeast of the Madrid Community - in the course of the Jarama
Jarama
Jarama is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid when El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez...
and within the municipal boundaries of the towns of Torrelaguna
Torrelaguna
Torrelaguna is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain.-Main sights:The parish church of La Magdalena is one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in the community of Madrid....
, Patones
Patones
Patones is a Spanish municipality in the region of the Comunidad de Madrid situated partly in the valley of the river Jarama and partly in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range....
, Torremocha del Jarama, Uceda
Uceda
Uceda is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 1,575 inhabitants....
and Caraquiz. He was also involved in at least two other projects involved in the opening of navegable waterways which were never completed. One was the Canal del Guadarrama which was supposed to open a navegable waterway from Madrid to the Ocean linking several river basins from the Guadarrama River up to the Guadalquivir River and from there to the sea (several ruins of these canals are still visible in the Guadarrama River basin area). The other project involved the widening of the LLobregat River in the province of Barcelona in Cataluña in order to open up the LLobregat River valley to shipping and thus give impulse to the future industrial region of Cataluña with all the textile and mining projects of the region. He counted on the Lemaur brothers for the technical part of the projects. He also probably took note of the Canal du Midi and the Canal del Languedoc, built about a century earlier in France which had given the French such good results by making available a navegable waterway from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean without having to navigate around Spain and avoiding the Strait of Gibraltar. The impulsor of the Canal del Lanquedoc was Pierre Paul Riquet, Count of Caraman and great-grandfather of Joseph Riquet, also Count of Caraman and later Prince of Chimay and the last husband of Teresa Cabarrus Galabert. The family relationship between several members of the Cabarrus family and the Lesseps family (also originary from Bayonne), one of whose most notable members was Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal probably also influenced in this canal building impulse.
As one of the most influential members of the council of finance, he had planned many reforms in that department. When Charles III died (1788), and the reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
administration of Charles IV
Charles IV of Spain
Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...
put a stop to Enlightenment reforms, the men who had taken an active part in reform were suspected and prosecuted. Cabarrus himself was accused of embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
and thrown into prison in the Castle of Batres
Batres
Batres is a small town in Spain. The town as is known today was founded in the 12th century after it was recaptured by the Spaniards from the Almoravids, or north African settlers....
, a town near Madrid.
Under French domination
After two years he was released, created a countCount
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
and employed in stately missions - he would even have been sent to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as Spanish ambassador, had not the French Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
objected to him as being of French birth.
Cabarrus took no part in the maneuvers through which Charles IV was obliged to abdicate
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
and make way for Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
(as KIng Jose I of Spain), brother of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, but his French birth and intimate knowledge of Spanish affairs recommended him to the emperor as the fittest person for the difficult post of minister of finance, which he held at his death. He died in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
while on a trip accompanying Joseph Bonaparte and is buried in the Cathedral of Seville
Seville Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See , better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville . It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world....
.
Legacy
Due to the support he had given Joseph Bonaparte during his short reign in Spain, he was considered an afrancesadoAfrancesado
Afrancesado was the term used to denote Spanish and Portuguese partisans of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism, or the French Revolution, who were supporters of the French occupation of Iberia and of the First French Empire.-Origins:...
and, although he had already died, when Ferdinand VII recovered the throne, his family was persecuted and his fortune and holdings were confiscated. There is even a rumor that states that his remains were removed from his tomb in the Cathedral of Seville and thrown into the Guadalquivir
Guadalquivir
The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...
. With all of the political turmoil of the following period, the heritage he left his heirs was restored and confiscated several times depending on who would be governing in Madrid.
His son, heir and second Conde de Cabarrus, Domingo Cabarrús Galabert, held several positions in government and was governor of the provinces of Palencia
Palencia (province)
Palencia is a province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of León, Cantabria, Burgos, and Valladolid....
and Valladolid
Valladolid (province)
Valladolid is a province of central/northwest Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, León, Palencia, Burgos, Segovia, Ávila, and Salamanca....
among other official posts. His beautiful daughter, Teresa Cabarrus Galabert, Thérèse Tallien, also Madamme Tallien (afterwards Countess of Caraman and Princess of Chimay
Chimay
Chimay a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006, Chimay had a total population of 9,774. The total area is 197.10 km² which gives a population density of 50 inhabitants per km²...
), played a part in the later stages of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, being named as Notre Dame de Buon Secours and Notre Dame de Thermidor by her contemporaries. One of his grandsons Domingo Cabarrus Quilty married Enriqueta Kirkpatrick y Grivegnée, sister of Manuela Kirkpatrick y Grivegnée, mother of Empress Eugenia de Montijo who married Emperor Napoleon III of France, and of the Duquesa de Alba. Domingo Cabarrus Quilty died before his father, Domingo Cabarrus Galabert and therefore did not become the third Count of Cabarrus, title that was inherited by his daughter, Paulina Cabarrus KIrkpatrick, as third Countess of Cabarrus.
Francisco Cabarrus Lalanne also acquired the title of Viscount of Rabouilhet from Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda, originally for his other son, Francisco Cabarrus Galabert, but the early death of this son made him join both titles and up to today the present Counts of Cabarrus carry also the title of Viscounts of Rabouilhet. The town of Rabouilhet and its neighboring towns and countryside (also included in the title deed) are in the Lanquedoc region of France.
His close friend, Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, painted a full body portrait of him. This portrait is currently exhibited in the Bank of Spain building in Madrid.