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DON MIGUEL RICARDO DE ALAVA (1770-1843)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 478 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DON See also:MIGUEL See also:RICARDO DE See also:ALAVA (1770-1843)  , See also:Spanish See also:general and statesman, was See also:born at See also:Vittoria in 1770 . He served first in the See also:navy, and had risen to be See also:captain of a See also:frigate when he exchanged into the See also:army, receiving corresponding See also:rank . He was See also:present as a marine at the See also:battle of See also:Trafalgar on See also:board the See also:flagship of his See also:uncle See also:Admiral See also:Alava . In politics he followed a very devious course . At the See also:assembly of See also:Bayonne in 18o8 he was one of the most prominent of those who accepted the new constitution from See also:Joseph See also:Bonaparte as See also:king of See also:Spain . After the See also:national rising against See also:French aggression, and the defeat of General See also:Dupont at Bailen in 18o8, Alava joined the national See also:independent party, who were fighting in See also:alliance with the See also:English . The Spanish See also:Cortes appointed him See also:commissary at the English headquarters, and the See also:duke of See also:Wellington, who regarded him with See also:great favour, made him one of his aides-de-See also:camp . Before the See also:close of the See also:campaign he had risen to the rank of brigadier-general . On the restoration of See also:Ferdinand, Alava was See also:cast into See also:prison, but the See also:influence of his uncle Ethenard,-ALAVA the inquisitor, and of Wellington secured his speedy See also:release . He soon contrived to gain the favour of the king, who appointed him in 1815 See also:ambassador to the See also:Hague . It was therefore his remarkable See also:fortune to be present at the battle of See also:Waterloo with Wellington's See also:staff . He is supposed to have been the only See also:man who was present at both Waterloo and Trafalgar .

Four years later he was recalled owing, it is said, to the marked kindness he had shown to his banished See also:

fellow-countrymen . On the breaking out of the revolution of 1820 he was chosen by the See also:province of Alava to represent it in the Cortes, where he became conspicuous in the party of the Exaltados, and in 1822 was made See also:president . In the latter See also:year he fought with the See also:militia under Francisco Ballesteros and Pablo See also:Murillo to maintain the authority of the Cortes against the rebels . When the French invested See also:Cadiz, Alava was commissioned by the Cortes to treat with the duc d'See also:Angouleme, and the negotiations resulted in the restoration of Ferdinand, who pledged himself to a liberal policy . No sooner had he regained See also:power, however, than he ceased to hold himself See also:bound by his promises, and Alava found it necessary to retire first to See also:Gibraltar and then to See also:England . On the See also:death of Ferdinand he returned to Spain, and espousing the cause of Maria See also:Christina against See also:Don See also:Carlos was appointed ambassador to See also:London in 1834 and to See also:Paris in 1835 . After the insurrection of La Granja he refused to sign the constitution of 1812, declaring himself tired of taking new oaths, and was consequently obliged to retire to See also:France, where he died at Bareges in 1843 . Frequent and See also:honourable mention of Alava is made in See also:Napier's See also:History of the See also:Peninsular See also:War, and his name is often met both in lives of the duke of Wellington and in his See also:correspondence .

End of Article: DON MIGUEL RICARDO DE ALAVA (1770-1843)
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