Manuel de Sarratea - First Triumvirate

First Triumvirate

Sarratea was educated in Madrid. He returned to the country to work as a diplomat. He participated in the May Revolution of 1810 and per advice from Belgrano he was named ambassador in Río de Janeiro. When the Primera Junta was dissolved, he returned and took part on the following government body, the so-called First Triumvirate. One of the Triumvirate's political accomplishments was a treaty signed with vicerroy Francisco Javier de Elío, where the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay was ceded to the crown.

In 1812, after the change of government in Montevideo, the treaty was broken and the war against the royalists in the city was resumed. Most of the Criollo soldiers had abandoned the territory, following their caudillo, José Artigas. Sarratea took charge of the army in the Banda Oriental, making his primary mission to get back the troops from Artigas. He attempted to convince him and when this failed he attempted to bribe him, also without success. He then declared Artigas a traitor but this measure was rejected by the rest of the Triumvirate.

The Triumvirate was dominated by minister Rivadavia, until its fall in October 1812. Sarratea continued to be in charge of the Banda Oriental army until the first part of the following year, when he was replaced by José Rondeau. Only when the ex-Triumvir Sarratea left, did Artigas and his men return to the siege of Montevideo.

Sarratea remained inactive for more than two years, until Director Gervasio Posadas sent him on a diplomatic mission to Madrid and London. Arriving in Spain he offered the recently restored king, Ferdinand VII, the submission of the United Provinces to the Spanish crown under a certain autonomy. Instead he was treated as the representative of a group of rebels and had to leave and go to England.