BALLESTEROS, bal-yes-ta'n5s, Don Francisco, Spanish general: b. Saragossa 1770; d. Paris, 22 June 1832. He first served in Catalonia against the French during the campaigns.of 1792 and 1795, and was appointed to a captaincy. Discharged in 1804 on account of embezzlement, he was nevertheless entrusted by the all-powerful Godoy, °prince of the peace,* with one of the most productive offices in the custom-house, the direction of the res guardo at Oviedo. When the French army in vaded Spain in 1808 Ballesteros was promoted to a colonelcy by the provincial junta of As turias and joined the Castilian army under Cas taiios and Black. The regency of C,adiz pro moted him to the rank of lieutenant-general and put him in command of the army of Anda lusia. He had then to fight against some of the most skilful chiefs of the French army, and succeeded in avoiding their pursuit by peculiar tactics. When Wellington in 1812 took over the general command of all the armies in the Peninsula, Ballesteros showed such violent op position that he was arrested for treason and sent as a prisoner to Ceuta. A few months later he was restored to liberty but was not al lowed to re-enter the military service. On the
return of Ferdinand VII to Spain Ballesteros evinced such devotion to monarchical principles that he was appointed Secretary of War, but was soon dismissed and sent to Valladolid, where he was placed under the strictest sur veillance. When the struggle between the roy alists and the constitutionalists commenced he managed so artfully that each party thought Ballesteros was acting in concert with it. Commissioned by the chiefs of the latter. to obtain the assent of the King to the Constitu tion, he succeeded beyond their anticipations and became a member of the council of state, while he was at the same time admitted in the communeros association. This double-dealing seemed to be perfectly successful, for in 1823, on the entry of the French into Spain, he was appointed to the command of the army; but instead of showing fight he concluded a capitu lation with the Duke of Angouleme, which be came the occasion of accusations of such a char acter that Ballesteros thought it imprudent to stay any longer in his own country and took refuge in France, where he died a forgotten exile.