Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros was born on 6 January 1756, which is the religious feast of
Epiphany day, Hence he was named Baltasar after one of the
Biblical Magi. Son of Francisco Hidalgo de Cisneros y Seijas, lieutenant of the
Spanish Royal Navy, and Manuela de la Torre y Galindo de Espinosa. He commenced his naval career in 1770 and went to the coasts of
Africa and
Peru and took part in the military campaign at
Algiers. He was involved in the capture of an enemy ship in the
English Channel, and was promoted to ship's lieutenant. In 1795, he was promoted to commander of the
San Pablo, part of the Spanish fleet under
José de Córdoba y Ramos. Spain at that time was engaged in the
Anglo-Spanish War. The fleet engaged a smaller British fleet, but was defeated in the
Battle of Cape St Vincent. His ship, regarded as one of the most powerful of its time, was captured by
HMS Neptune but sank the following day. Cisneros was taken prisoner and received medical care. Whilst under capture he was awarded
battle honours and on returning to Spain he was promoted to lieutenant general. The Junta created a political office to conduct direct foreign relations with
colonial Brazil, to reign in the autonomy being exercised by the viceroy which was seen as potentially insubordinate and secessionist. Nevertheless, Liniers accepted to give up his government to Cisneros without resistance. Noticing that Liniers was not the rebel governor that the Junta thought, he authorized him to stay in the Viceroyalty. Javier de Elío accepted as well the authority of the new Viceroy and dissolved the
Junta of Montevideo, becoming once again the Governor of the city. Cisneros tried to take a conciliating policy with the many conflicting political groups. He kept the criollo militias, and granted their commanders to achieve
veteran status, which so far was only allowed to
peninsular military. He rearmed back the Spanish militias that were disbanded after the coup against Liniers. He also pardoned the responsibles; Álzaga was not freed, but his sentence was changed to
house arrest. However, the attempts to please the criollos found resistance from the Junta, which did not approve the request to promote
Cornelio Saavedra to
colonel rank. He tried to stay in good relations with the British and the landowners by removing the laws that forbid free trade, but retailers forced Cisneros to restore such laws.
Mariano Moreno, a criollo lawyer, wrote a document to request Cisneros the reopening of free trade, entitled "
The Representation of the Landowners". It is considered the most comprehensive economic report of the time. Cisneros finally decided to grant an extension of free trade, which would end on 19 May 1810. , by
Joaquín Pinto. On 25 May 1809, a
revolution in
Chuquisaca deposed the governor and president of the
Royal Audiencia of Charcas,
Ramón García de León y Pizarro, and accused him of supporting a Portuguese protectorate under the authority of Charlotte Joaquina. Military command fell to Colonel
Juan Antonio Alvarez de Arenales who, due to uncertainty as to who should be in charge of the civilian affairs, also exercised some civil powers. On 16 July, in the city of
La Paz, a second
revolutionary movement led by Colonel
Pedro Domingo Murillo forced the governor to resign and replaced him with a Junta, the "
Junta Tuitiva de los Derechos del Pueblo" ("Junta, keeper of the rights of the people"), headed by Murillo. Among others,
Juan José Castelli was present at the proceedings of the
University of Saint Francis Xavier where the
Syllogism of Chuquisaca was developed. This would greatly influence his position during the
May week. On 25 November 1809 Cisneros created the Political Surveillance Court with the aim of pursuing the supporters of "French ideologies", and those who encouraged the creation of political regimes that opposed the dependence on Spain. However, he rejected a proposal of the economist José María Romero to banish a number of people which were considered dangerous to the Spanish regime: Saavedra, Paso, Chiclana, Vieytes, Balcarce, Castelli, Larrea, Guido, Viamonte, Moreno, Sáenz and Belgrano, among many others. All these measures, and a proclamation issued by the Viceroy to prevent the spreading of news that might be considered subversive, made the Criollos think that a formal pretext would be enough to take actions that would lead to the outbreak of a revolution. In April 1810, Cornelio Saavedra expressed his famous quote to his friends: ''It's not time yet, let the figs ripen and then we'll eat them''.
May Revolution of 22 May. The news of the fall of the Junta of Seville reached Buenos Aires in May 1810. With both the king of Spain and the Junta removed of power, many people thought that Cisneros had no legitimacy to govern, starting the
May Revolution. Cisneros tried to calm down the population, to no avail. He called the commanders of the local armies and requested their support, but they denied it. Cisneros was ultimately forced to allow an
open cabildo, which would discuss what to do. Although those meetings were usually composed of the wealthiest population, the army and a group of rioters plotted to prevent the entry of many wealthy people and allow
common people instead. The open cabildo decided to end the mandate of viceroy Cisneros, and establish a
government Junta instead. However, the Cabildo tweaked the will of the open cabildo, and appointed Cisneros as president of the Junta; he would remain in power, albeit under a new title. The Junta made the
oath of office, but popular unrest became uncontrollable. By the end of the same day the Junta was appointed, the members resigned, and Cisneros did so as well. Initially, the Cabildo rejected his resignation, but the popular unrest was so high that the Cabildo itself was partially overrun by the rioters. Cisneros' resignation was finally accepted, and the
Primera Junta was appointed instead, with members proposed by the people. Once deposed, Cisneros dispatched a messenger to Córdoba, to inform the former viceroy of the events, and bestowing on him the authority to gather an army and depose the Junta.
Return to Spain After being deposed, Cisneros formally became a common citizen in Buenos Aires, under the protection of the Junta. A few days later, he assisted to a mass in honour of the king Ferdinand VII. However, the Junta distrusted him, so he was banished to the
Canary Islands, along with the members of the
Royal Audiencia of Buenos Aires, under the pretext that his life was in danger. His wife Inés de Gaztambide stayed in Buenos Aires as his representative, but she left the city afterwards and moved to Montevideo. Montevideo, a city that rejected the Junta of Buenos Aires, welcomed her like a queen. The
Liniers counter-revolution was completely defeated by the forces from Buenos Aires, and Liniers captured and executed. Once in Spain, Cisneros moved to Cádiz, to submit himself to the
trial of residence. The government had no complaints about his rule, and promoted him to general captain of Cádiz. He was jailed during an uprising in Spain, and liberated after the return of Ferdinand VII. He was then appointed general captain of his home city of Cartagena in 1823, and died in 1829. ==References==