Spanish soldier and politician, born, of Irish descent, at Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe; entered the army, and attached himself to the cause of Queen Isabella, on whose emergence from her minority in 1843 he was made Governor of Cuba; there he enriched himself by trading in slaves, and returning to Spain threw himself into politics; he joined Espartero's cabinet in 1854, and two years later supplanted him as chief minister; he commanded in the Moorish war of 1858, and was created Duke of Tetuan after the capture of that city; he was again Prime Minister till 1866, and died in exile at Bayonne (1809-1867).