|
|
||
|
|
Consul of the United States for the Port of Bilboa* by Jon Bilbao Mr. Juan D. Echevarria, author of El Abra, Ayer and a specialist in old photographs, has sent us a picture of liberal troops in Bilbao during the Second Carlist War (1872-76). At right, in the background, can be seen the American flag, indicating the site of the consulate. The location is the Arenal of Bilbao. At the time the person in charge of the American consulate was Mr. Eduardo de Aznar. Today the American consulate is located on the other side of the Nervión river facing the city hall, in the Aznar Building. The occasion of publishing this unique photograph gives us the opportunity to write a short sketch of the history of the American consulate in Bilbao up to the time of the photograph, based on its records, now available in microfilm from the National Archives. The first attempt to establish an American consulate in Bilbao was in 1791. Mr. Edward Church arrived in July of that year in Bordeaux, France, to board a boat which would carry him and his family directly to Bilbao. He was in an optimistic mood with plans to improve trade between the Basque port and the United States. However, he was informed at Bordeaux that the Biscayans would not allow in their land representatives of foreign countries. Unsure as to what next to do, Mr. Church wrote to the American minister in Madrid, Mr. William Carmichael, to ascertain if this was indeed the case. In a brief letter dated August 4th the minister confirmed that indeed “By privileges granted to the Biscayans no Foreign Consul is admitted at Bilbao.” So Church remained in Bordeaux at great expense to himself, his wife suffered a miscarriage, a daughter sickened, and he himself was ill with fever when he wrote in September to the president of the United States detailing his calamitous situation. No further attempt was made to establish a consulate in Bilbao until many years later—in 1818,1 shortly after John Quincy Adams became secretary of state. Adams was familiar with Bilbao, having accompanied his father there in 1779. The consul appointed was not an American, but a businessman from Bilbao who was at that time in New York, Mr. Francisco Xavier de Ealo. In a letter dated that March he thanked Adams for having nominated him “Consul of the United States for the port of Bilboa,” and in December announced his imminent departure from New York for Bilbao via Havana. But it took him six years to reach the Basque city due to the political situation in Spain from 1819 until 1823, which was only stabilized by the French intervention of 1823. He arrived, finally, in May of 1824. From then on the communication from Mr. Ealo to the United States government consisted primarily of lists of American vessels arriving in Bilbao with hides, tobacco, cod oil, ballast, cocoa, and sugar, generally, and leaving with wool, ballast, and, of course, iron. The number of American boats entering Bilbao increased from eleven in 1824 to twenty-five by 1829. The other two ports under his jurisdiction, Santander and San Sebastián, averaged about three or four yearly. We know, also, that when Mr. Ealo was absent from Bilbao, Mr. Francisco Gaminde served as acting consul. In 1832, when the political situation in Spain again became tense, Ealo went to Cuba where he had business interest, and from there wrote to the secretary of state to the effect that “The depressed state of commerce in Bilbao made me abandon that place...I thought best to leave no vice consul during my absence and consequently to retire the seals.” It is also possible that Ealo was unhappy about his political status in Bilbao. American consuls born in Spain were not protected by American citizenship. Ealo considered himself to be an American citizen by virtue of his office and had written to the secretary of state in 1831 requesting a clarification of his status as “either of a Public officer and consequently a citizen of N. America or of a Spanish subject...I must be the one or the other....” The fact that he was not granted American citizenship may have been a factor in his leaving his post. The next American consul was another man from Bilbao, Mr. Máximo de Aguirre. He was to be consul for sixteen years and witness the First Carlist War (1833-39), as a consequence of which the Basques lost a great part of their liberties. Aguirre became consul in 1833 after friends in the United States help him to put up a guaranty bond of $2,000 with the American government, a requisite against possible misuse of consular funds. Of particular interest are his dispatches regarding the political situation in the Basque country. That there are not more of these is due to his having also reported on a regular basis to the American minister in Madrid besides sending reports to the secretary of state in Washington. In one letter dated May 3, 1834 we find the following appraisal: “The civil war continues raging as fiercely as ever and the public spirit does not improve in the least in favour of the Queen’s government. The Carlist forces are presumed to amount to about 12,000 men, in nearly the following proportions: 4500 in Biscay, 1500 in Guipuzcoa, 2000 in Alava and 4000 in Navarra. In this last province the insurgents may have increased of late. Altho the Queen’s regular troops in these provinces are calculated between 16 and 26 thousand men, they are altogether inadequate to subdue their opponents, who by the rapidity of their movements, the knowledge they possess of the mountain passes, and above all by the support and information they receive from the generality of the peasantry devoted to their cause, are enabled to elude all serious engagements in which they have not secured beforehand all the advantages of numerical superiority and strong positions. Unless Government displays overwhelming forces in each of these provinces, as the struggle is likely to last long, the country will be ruined. Commercial business is of course completely stopped. No American vessels are now in port.” A year later he makes mention of an epidemic of cholera morbus in Bilbao having taken many lives, and, in spite of all the Carlist victories, Aguirre saw the cause as “hopeless” and hoped for a French military intervention as “the most effective means to put an immediate end to this bloody contest”—a thought repeated a year later when he wrote, “I see no prospect of peace for many years to come unless foreign powers interfere in the struggle. Trade is of course annihilated, and the country is running fast to complete ruin.” So it was doubtless a surprise to him when a peace treaty was signed some weeks later with the Queen’s government agreeing to guarantee the freedoms of the Basques. A year later he reports that “Peace seems to be consolidated in this Province, and while their privileges are maintained there appears to be no probability of any disturbance.” However, less than six months later, he writes “This province continues to enjoy peace, which I believe will not be disturbed, altho’ the encroachments of the Regency over the Fueros have created some excitement among the peasants. The principal object of the General Government is to establish customhouses in the Basque Provinces, which would drive all foreign shippery from our port, on account of the incriminating duties highly favourable to Spanish navigation.” Aguirre seems also to have been involved in Spanish politics, for in July of 1843 he mentions that he had just been “designated the first Alcalde Constitucional of the town,” and was therefore submitting his resignation. Washington Irving, who was then the American minister in Madrid, accepted his resignation but requested he remain in his post until the arrival of a new consul. However, his new political life was apparently short, for only a few days later he withdrew his resignation, and shortly left with his family to vacation in Bagneres-de-Bigorre in the French Pyrenees, leaving his nephew Venancio de Aguirre in charge. Henceforth, the communications consisted almost entirely of official reports relating to fees, vessels, etc. In 1854 he took a leave of absence leaving his son Charles in control; and by 1856 he is retired from business: “my old age and declining health force me to decline to remain in office and beg leave respectfully to render my resignation.” However, he continued to serve in the capacity until the arrival of the next consul in July of 1862. Mr. Daniel Evans, born in Pennsylvania, but a resident of La Salle, Illinois, was the first American to serve as consul in Bilbao. He arrived from New York via Liverpool in 1862 and soon acquainted himself with both the Spanish and French Basque country. He suggested that a consulate be established in Bayonne because of the increasing numbers of American tourists in Biarritz and other parts of the French Pyrenees. As the distance by boat from Bilbao was only about eight hours, he suggested that he himself be nominated also as consul of Bayonne. But by the time his application reached Washington, the president had already appointed Mr. George P. Van Wyck as the American consul for Bayonne. Evans wrote some excellent reports on the state of the Basque country during the years 1862-64, and often included opinions about the Basque language. He was confident that a profitable market could be found there for American products, and showed an exceptional interest in the Basque country, translating several articles from the local paper Irurac Bat of Bilbao. He describes the Basque country as comprehending “besides Alava, Guipuzcoa and Biscaya...Navarra, that within a few years has lost the privileges belonging to the provinces above mentioned, and also the contiguous cantons of Soule, Labourd and Basse Navarre, on the French side of the Pyrenees.” At the end of 1865, he requested a leave of absence to return home, and to be posted to the consulate in St. Petersburg. In March of 1866 he left Bilbao, leaving as vice consul a Norwegian, Mr. Lorentz Dahl, who had been in Spain for a number of years. Finally, the political situation in Spain following the revolution of 1868 culminated in the establishment of the first Spanish republic in 1871. This was followed by the Second Carlist War (1872-76), which was fought almost exclusively in the Basque country. The last letter from the consulate to the secretary of state is signed by Mr. Eduardo de Aznar, reporting that “on account of the civil war all business and mercantile activities are almost stopped in these two years and the town of Bilbao has suffered a great deal with the siege and bombardment, being still entirely blockaded by land by Carlist forces.” *Bilboa, and not Bilbao, was, and still is, the usual spelling in English. In the Basque language the city is called Bilbo, and this is the term used by Shakespeare in referring to some iron products from Bilbao. 1This delay of over twenty-five years is not surprising. The French Revolution first, and then the Napoleonic Wars, disrupted practically all normal commerce in Europe. |
|
|
|
|
