Francisco Serrano, duke de la Torre, a Spanish statesman, born at San Fernando, near Cadiz, in 1810. He entered the army when still a boy, and took part in the war against the Carlists. In 1843, during the contest between the partisans of Maria Christina and Espartero, he espoused the interests of the former, and was one of the junta of Barcelona which declared the majority of Queen Isabella and deposed Espartero. After the restoration of Maria Christina he joined Narvaez in overthrowing the ministry of Olózaga. In 1846 his extraordinary influence over the queen, whose lover he was, led to dissensions between her and her husband, and caused much scandal; and the ministry of Sotomayor attempted to remove him from court, but was overthrown by him. The Pacheco-Salamanca ministry, which he supported, fell before public opposition; and Serrano then, as an offset to the rising favor of Narvaez, caused the recall of Olózaga and Espartero. On the advent of Narvaez to power in 1849, Serrano was made captain general of Granada; and he afterward vigorously opposed in the senate the ministries which rapidly succeeded each other.

In February, 1854, he was implicated in an insurrectionary movement at Saragossa, and exiled, but was restored by the revolution of July, and joined the "liberal union" which supported the coalition of Espartero and O'Donnell; and when they separated, Serrano declared for the latter. He had been made in 1854 captain general of artillery, which office he exchanged some time later for that of captain general of New Castile. Madrid being thus under his control at the time of O'Donnell's coup d'état in July, 1856, he suppressed the insurrection in the Prado and the Retiro, and soon afterward superseded 0lózaga as ambassador to Paris, but was recalled on the fall of O'Donnell in October. On his return he joined in the senate the opposition which led to the downfall of Narvaez in November, 1857. In 1860 he was appointed captain general of Cuba, and was succeeded by Dulce, Dec. 11, 1862. On his return to Spain he was created duke de la Torre for his services in the rean-nexation of Santo Domingo to Spain in 1861. In June, 1865, he was made captain general of Madrid. On the return of Narvaez to power in 1866, Serrano as president of the senate, with Rios Rosas, president of the deputies, presented a protest against the prorogation of the cortes, and in consequence was imprisoned for a short time at Alicante. In the revolution of 1868 he took a prominent part.

With other generals he had been exiled to the Canary islands in July, but the revolutionists sent a vessel for them, and they landed on Sept. 19 at Cadiz. At the head of the insurgents Serrano defeated the government troops at Alcolea, Sept. 28, and entered Madrid on Oct. 3. The junta made him president of the council and commander-in-chief of the army; and in February, 1869, with the consent of the cortes, he assumed the executive power. The new constitution was, promulgated in June, and on the 15th, by a vote of the cortes, Serrano became regent. He resigned that office on the arrival of Amadeus to take the throne, Jan. 2, 1871, and was made prime minister. In April, 1872, he was appointed to the chief command of the forces sent against the Carlists, with whom he concluded in May the convention of Amoro-vieta; and on his return he succeeded Sagasta as head of the ministry. His concessions to the Carlists in the late convention were the cause of much popular dissatisfaction, but the cortes passed a vote of approval. The insurrection however was still active; the republicans also threatened armed opposition; and in the difficulties which beset Amadeus, Serrano suggested that the ministry should have the power to suspend the constitutional guarantees when they should deem it necessary.

Amadeus refused; Serrano and his cabinet resigned, and he was succeeded by Zorrilla. After the proclamation of the republic following the abdication of Amadeus (Feb. 11, 1873), Serrano was conspicuous in the opposition to the new government, in April became implicated in a seditious movement, and fled from the country. With the restoration of quiet he soon returned, and in February, 1874, after the coup d'état by Pavia, which followed the resignation of Cas-telar's administration, he was elected by the cortes president of the republic. He almost immediately placed himself at the head of the army against the Carlists, whom he engaged with varying success till May, when he returned to Madrid. In August he obtained a recognition of his government and the republic by Great Britain, France, and Germany, in September resumed command of the army against the Carlists, and in January, 1875, retired from office on the proclamation of Alfonso XII. as king of Spain.