The privilege of Villa Exenta and the titles of Muy Leal, Noble y Invicta granted by Carlos IV on August 28, 1803, six years after having defeated the British squad commanded by Rear Admiral Horacio Nelson, would be the origin of the subsequent aggrandizement of Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tenerife, since when the first constitutional period arrived in 1812 it had already consolidated itself as the administrative head of all the Islands, since most of the State administrations were established here.
The first triumph of Santa Cruz in favor of its capital rights – rights that no one took away, since there was no capital until then – occurred when the captain general of the Canary Islands, with residence in Santa Cruz, notified the political superior of the province that in article 3 of the Decree on the formation of the Electoral Boards, promulgated by the Cortes of Cádiz in 1812, it was specified “that the Captain General of the province was the President of the Electoral Board, if he was in the town in let that one be located ”; For this reason, when the Cortes approved the establishment of the Electoral Board in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the opinions issued and the discussions in which the Canarian deputies had been involved would remain without effect, so that when the elections were held on May 30, 1813 of deputies to Cortes, the Provincial Delegation settled in Santa Cruz, as head of all the islands.
When in 1820 the Constitution of 1812 was proclaimed again, the political leader returned to Santa Cruz, a new captain general was appointed, and elections were held for the Cortes and the Diputación and, although the Extraordinary Cortes established in 1821 recommended that the Proposals of the Provincial Councils that had been created eight years ago, a Royal Decree of March 1821 named the heads of electoral parties to La Laguna, Granadilla, La Orotava and Garachico, with Santa Cruz depending on La Laguna.
For this reason, when the aforementioned Royal Decree reached the Islands, the Santa Cruz City Council met in an extraordinary town hall and agreed to appeal it in the Cortes of Madrid, appointing Mr. José Murphy y Meade, attorney-in-fact (councilor).
Murphy, for fear of being arrested, moved to the Peninsula in a Swedish brig bound for Setúbal (Portugal), arriving in Madrid in mid-July and, although the Cortes were closed, he managed to get the king to and to the Government the appeal in which it stated that the new designation of electoral parties could not be considered valid, since at the beginning of the Liberal Triennium, as we have said, the Cortes had recommended that the heads of electoral parties be the same as those proposed in 1812.
The Government considered the appeal logical and, without waiting for the reopening of the Cortes, on August 8 modified its previous decision, once again the municipalities of Santa Cruz, La Laguna, La Orotava and Icod were head of the electoral party.
The negotiations were not easy for Murphy, as he was a commissioner of the Santa Cruz City Council who wanted to make a presentation before the Plenary of the Courts, where he had no vote, and the Canarian deputies (Gomeros) Echeverría and Cabeza preferred that the capital fall in La Laguna and Las Palmas; However, developing a laborious management of “corridor diplomacy” in search of support would achieve that when the parliamentary sessions resumed, on October 1, 1821, he managed to present in the Spanish Parliament his most famous and important argument so that the capital of the Canary Islands relayera in Santa Cruz.
“For a century, in Santa Cruz various authorities established their residence, whose presence symbolized the capital of the town in which they lived and, emanating from the Constitutional Regime, other Institutions were established, as a natural, simple and ordinary thing.
Many generations have seen this order of things naturally, and that they have always been, are and cannot less than be capital those towns where the authorities residing in Santa Cruz exist; that is to say: Political Superior Chief, Provincial Delegation, General Captain, Intendant, Court of Appeals, Superior Board of Health, and Post Office Administration. By contrast, Las Palmas only has the Territorial Court and a Cathedral, while La Laguna only has a new Cathedral, two years old, and it is known that neither the Audiences nor the Cathedrals are always in the provincial capitals. In addition, Santa Cruz is the main seaport, the town of greatest commercial importance, that its relations with all the islands are constant and close, that it is the only city in the Canary Islands that can offer true comforts to foreigners and foreigners, which is a beautiful population and the largest neighborhood ”.
On October 5, when the Commission in charge of discussing the issue of the capital of the Canary Islands met for the first time, there was only one document on the table to initiate the deliberations: the draft decree in which the name of La Laguna appeared. as the capital of the Archipelago. After numerous and heated interventions, the decision was reconsidered and, at the meeting of the second day, it was ordered that all the members of the table had the presentation of Murphy in their possession, so that, in the debate of the third day, the Committee did not approve the designation of La Laguna.
The Commission met again on the 18th, and after a score of interventions, replies and counter-replies, the deputies were inclined for the capital to be Santa Cruz, assessing the number of authorities and institutions that were already established in the Villa.
In the fourth session, held on the 19th, the Commission stated: “By declaring the point sufficiently discussed, the Commission’s opinion is approved: the capital will be Santa Cruz.”
Then, one of the two Canarian deputies, Mr. Echeverría, alleged: “In the sessions held by the Commission, none of the Canarian deputies agreed to the establishment of the government in Santa Cruz, and only one commissioner was assigned has given all the leading role, when we must bear in mind that in the deputies of the Nation, elected by their provinces, there must be more trust than in any other. ”
On October 22, 1821, Don José Murphy y Meade, informed his native city of the agreement that had just been taken in the Cortes:
“I have the satisfaction of communicating to VS Iltma, that the Extraordinary Courts, in a session of the 19th of the current, have served to designate that Very Noble, Loyal and Invicta Villa, as Capital of the Canary Islands”.
This news, written in such a concise way, despite its enormous importance, was the fruit of the hard work of a man, undoubtedly the greatest Canarian politician of the 19th century, who, despite not being a deputy in the Cortes He knew how to function in an unknown environment for him, in some aspects hostile, obtaining support in an awful job and personal management. For this reason, this tireless fighter, authentic and main architect of the single capital, has deserved the title of Political Father of Santa Cruz.
Three months later, on January 27, 1822, Fernando VII promulgated the Royal Decree establishing the division of Spanish territory into 52 provinces. On it you could read: “Canarias (islands). Population: 215,108 souls.- Deputies: three.- Capital: Santa Cruz de Tenerife ”.
We would maintain the sole capital of the Canary Islands until September 23, 1927, when the Government of the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja decreed the division of the Archipelago into two provinces: Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.
