Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes

Who was Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes?

Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes, Spanish statesman and writer, was born at Santa Eulalia de Sorribia, in Asturias.

From 1788 to 1793 he was president of the council of Castile; but on the accession of Charles IV he was removed from his office, and retired from public life.

His first literary work was Antiquidad maritima de la republica de Cartago, with an appendix containing a translation of the Voyage of Hanna the Carthaginian, with curious notes. This appeared in a quarto volume in 1756. His principal works are two admirable essays, Discurso sobre el fomento de la industria popular, 1774, and Discurso sobre la educación popular de los artesanos y su fomento, 1775.

As a supplement to the last, he published four appendices, each considerably larger than the original essay. The first contains reflections on the origin of the decay of arts and manufactures in Spain during the last century. The second points out the steps necessary for improving or re-establishing the old manufactures, and contains a curious collection of royal ordinances and rescripts regarding the encouragement of arts and manufactures, and the introduction of foreign raw materials. The third treats of the gild laws of artisans, contrasted with the results of Spanish legislation and the municipal ordinances of towns. The fourth contains eight essays of Francisco Martínez de Mata on National commerce, with some observations adapted to present circumstances. These were all printed at Madrid in 1774 and 1777, in five volumes. Count Campomanes died on the 3rd of February 1802.