Eugenio Espejo - Character

Character

Eugenio Espejo was an autodidact, and he claimed with pride that he never left any book in his hands unread, and if he did, he would make up for it by observing nature. However, his desire to read everything indiscriminately sometimes led him to hasty judgments, which appear in his manuscripts. Through his own written work, it can be inferred that Espejo considered education as the main means for popular development. He understood that reading was basic in the formation of the self, and his conscience drove him to critiques of the establishment, based on observation and in the application of the law of his time.

By his writing, Espejo wanted to educate the people and to awaken a rebellious spirit in them. He embraced equality between Indians and criollos, an ideal that was ignored during the future processes of independence. He also favored women's rights but did not really develop these ideas. He had an advanced understanding of science, considering the circumstances in which he lived. He never traveled abroad but nonetheless understood the relation between microorganisms and the spreading of disease.

When he was arrested, it was rumored that his detention resulted from his support of the "impieties" of the French Revolution. However, Espejo was one of the few people at the time who distinguished between the actual deeds of the French Revolution and the irreligious spirit connected to it, while his contemporaries in Spain and the colonies erroneously identified the emancipation of the Americas with loss of the Catholic faith. The accusation of impiety was calculated to incite popular hatred against him. Espejo never lost his faith in Catholicism throughout his lifetime. He condemned the decadence of the clergy, but he never criticized the Church itself. Eugenio Espejo had a restless desire for knowledge and was anxious to reform by his works a state that seemed to him, influenced as he was by the Enlightenment, to be barbarian in every way.