Nicolás Salmerón Alonso (10 April 1838 – 21 September 1908) was a 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...

 statesman

Statesman

A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

.

Biography

He was born at Alhama la Seca in the province of Almería, was educated at Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

 and became assistant professor of literature and philosophy at Madrid. The last years of the reign of Isabella II

Isabella II of Spain

Isabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...

 were times of growing discontent with her government and with the monarchy. Salmerón joined the small party who advocated the establishment of a republic. He was director of the opposition paper La Discussion, and co-operated with Emilio Castelar

Emilio Castelar y Ripoll

Emilio Castelar y Ripoll was a Spanish republican politician, and a president of the First Spanish Republic.Castelar was born in Cádiz. He was an eloquent and literary man...

 on La Democracia. In 1865 he was named one of the members of the directing committee of the Republican party. In 1867 he was imprisoned with other suspects.

When the revolution of September 1868 broke out, he was at Almería recovering from a serious illness. Salmerón was elected to the Cortes in 1871, and though he did not belong to the Socialist party, defended its right to toleration. When Amadeo of Savoy

Amadeo I of Spain

Amadeo I was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy...

 resigned the Spanish crown on the 11th of February 1873 Salmerón was naturally marked out to be a leader of the party which endeavoured to establish a republic in Spain. After serving as minister of justice in the Figueras cabinet, he was chosen president of the Cortes, and then, on 18 July 1873, president of the Executive Power of the Republic, in succession to Pi y Margall

Francisco Pi y Margall

Francisco Pi y Margall was a liberal Spanish statesman and romanticist writer. He was briefly president of the short-lived First Spanish Republic in 1873.-Early life:...

. He became president at a time when the Federalist party had thrown all the south of Spain into anarchy.

Salmerón was compelled to use the troops to restore order. When, however, he found that the generals insisted on executing rebels taken in arms, he resigned (September 6) on the ground that he was opposed to capital punishment. He was again elected president of the Cortes on September 9. His successor, Castelar, was compelled to restore order by drastic means. Salmerón took part in the attack made on him in the Cortes on 3 January 1874, which provoked the generals into closing the chamber and establishing a provisional military government. Salmerón went into exile and remained abroad till 1881, when he was recalled by Sagasta

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta

Práxedes Mariano Mateo Sagasta y Escolar was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister on eight occasions between 1870 and 1902—always in charge of the Liberal Party—as part of the turno pacifico, alternating with the Liberal-Conservative leader Antonio Cánovas...

.

In 1886 he was elected to the Cortes as Progressive deputy for 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...

, and unsuccessfully endeavoured to combine the jarring republican factions into a party of practical moderate views. On 18 April 1907 he was shot at, but not wounded, in the streets of Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 by a member of the more extreme Republican party. He died at Pau on the 21st of September 1908.