Both of these books of biography are additions to the literature of the Independence movement in northern South America. The first contains the biographies of two distinctly second-class Colombian-born men: Pedro Fermín de Vargas (1762-1812?) and Manuel Mallo (1771-1838). Pedro Fermín de Vargas had undoubted scientific and administrative talents. Disenchanted with the moribund Spanish Empire, he began conspiring and advocating ideals of liberty in South America even before Antonio Nariño. He is shown as a deluded precursor of independence from Spain, who became a world traveler moving in the shadow of Miranda and trying to persuade William Pitt and other high-placed officials in England, France, and the United States to commit their countries outright to the cause of South American independence. His travels and escapades in avoiding the Spanish government provide interesting sidelights on the period. He exemplified to a large degree the well-educated South American at the time of independence. Manuel Mallo was born in Popayán but grew up in Venezuela. At the age of 17, he went to Madrid and for the remainder of his life moved in the circles of the decadent Spanish courts of Carlos IV and Fernando VII. His career had practically no significance except as his up and down fortunes reflect the changing state of affairs in Spain. At one time the lover of the willing Queen María Luisa, he spent the best years of his life in palace intrigues with resultant imprisonments and exiles before dying in Madrid at the age of 67. His life exemplified another facet of the well-placed South American of his era. Alberto Miramón readily concedes that both of these men are of secondary importance but he interprets them as being representative of the society of northern South America at the time that the spirit of independence was brewing. Since he is trying to portray the psychology of an era through their two lives, the book has some value for students of the Independence movement, as an interpretation. The lack of an index detracts from the usefulness of the work.
The biography of Fray Ignacio Mariño, O. P., (17751-1821), who became chaplain general of the Liberating Army, has more significance for the period of Independence than the previous two. As a religious, military, and political leader in the critical years from 1813 to 1819 in Venezuela and Colombia, Mariño stood high in the councils of the Liberating Army and was closely associated with Bolívar and other important figures. His life, also, helps to shed light on the position of the Church during that period. Some historians may carp at Father Tisnes’ interpretation of the last third of the eighteenth century and his contention that the French encyclopedists and the French Revolution played little part in the stirrings of independence sentiment in New Granada. Some, too, might contend that the biography is perhaps too laudatory and uncritical to Bolívar, Mariño, and the Dominicans. However, this book contains some documentary material that is useful and worthy of study. An index of names adds to the effectiveness of the work.
