Antonio Nariño is principally remembered as one of the intellectual “precursors” of Spanish American independence. His translation of the French “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” (1794) is frequently if somewhat cursorily mentioned in histories of the independence era. But Nariño deserves attention for a long series of activities. He suffered imprisonment several times on suspicion of involvement in obscure intrigues against the viceregal government of New Granada (in 1794, 1797, and again on the eve of revolution in 1809). Twice he escaped from detention in Spain by bold and adventurous maneuvers (1796 and 1819). During the early years of the revolutionary movement he served for a time as governor of his native province of Cundinamarca, where he engaged in somewhat reckless but not unsuccessful civil war against his “federalist” revolutionary rivals. He led a campaign against royalist forces in the South with bravery, but ended it again prisoner of the royalists. The final chapters in his career coincided with the beginnings of Bolívar’s Colombia, in which Nariño served briefly as vice-president and as presiding officer of the constitutional congress of Cúcuta (1821). The last years before his death in 1823 were embittered by a violent and unsuccessful rivalry with General Francisco de Paula Santander for the vice-presidency and hence for the chief civil authority in the republic during Bolívar’s absence on military duty.
Nariño had quick intelligence, an effective journalistic style, and great fortitude demonstrated on numerous occasions. He combined these qualities with occasional erratic or ill-judged behavior, intense partisanship, and a stubbornness which he felt to be devotion to principle, but which some ascribed to exaggerated egotism. The author of this biography is a great admirer of his hero and sees hardly any flaws in his character. He plays down or excuses Nariño’s quarrels with his rivals and emphasizes his courage and devotion in misfortune. Though the man can quite properly be defended against the devious and extreme attacks of Santander and his adherents, it is also necessary to recognize that Bolívar and others not prejudiced against Nariño felt that he was more memorable as propagandist and figurehead than as statesman.
On the whole, the best part of the book is that which deals with Nariño’s life before 1810. His activities during the period of the patria boba and after his final return from captivity in 1820 are less well covered. The author has extensively studied the voluminous printed sources. He has made less use of archival manuscript sources (chiefly transcripts from Spanish archives). More than one-third of the over six hundred footnotes in the volume refer to the massive documentary collection on the “Precursor” published by Posada and Ibáñez. The author is well acquainted with the pertinent secondary literature.
The first full-length study of Nariño appeared in 1910; several have appeared since, among them one by Raimundo Rivas based on all the sources available at the time (1936). The present work is the first to appear in English. It will be useful, though like practically all Colombian political biographies it is definitely partisan. It contains minor slips in matters of fact (many in the introductory chapter) and some infelicities of expression. These will annoy the sticklers for accuracy, but not materially interfere with the primary object of the book: to present to English language readers a full account of an extraordinary man and an important figure in the struggle for the independence of New Granada.
