CHAPTER NINE
THE SPANISH USE OF DECEPTION AND THE DEFENSE OF AMERICA DURING THE WAR OF JENKIN’S EAR (1739–1740)
Ignacio Rivas Ibáñez
The War of Jenkins’ Ear between Britain and Spain was a conflict over trading interests in America and during the conflict the government of Felipe V of Spain showed its full determination to mobilize the country’s resources in the defense of the Spanish dominions. Before the declaration of war, the Spanish authorities recognised the superiority of the British navy and decided to create the threat of an invasion of Britain. The pur- pose of this threat was to force the British government to dedicate large amounts of resources—in terms of manpower, ships and intelligence— that would have been otherwise destined for the military expeditions to America, to defending Britain. The Spanish stratagem was conducted with French support, although it did not oblige the Spanish to give in to French comercial interests in America. Ultimately, it enabled the Spanish authori- ties to put their territories in America in a good state of defense before the arrival of the British expeditions. The war broke out after years of tension between the two countries in the West Indies and the origins of this tension are to be found in the peace treaty that ended the War of Spanish Succession (1702–13). The Treaties of Utrecht awarded Britain two concessions that provided a legal trading route into the Spanish colonies. The navío de permiso gave Britain the right to sell products to be transported in a single ship into the annual fair in Portobello. The asiento de negros gave Britain the monopoly of the sale of African slaves in the Spanish colonies. Immediately upon obtaining these concessions, the British government granted a monopoly of both to the South Sea Company.1 However, during the following years the South Sea Company used its privileged
1 Alejandro del Cantillo, Tratados, Convenios y Declaraciones de Paz y de Comercio que Han Hecho las Potencias Extranjeras con los Monarcas Españoles. Desde el año 1700 hasta el Día (Madrid, 1843), pp. 115–53.
2 Ernest G. Hildner, “The Role of the South Sea Company in the Diplomacy Leading to the War of Jenkins’ Ear, 1729–1739”, Hispanic American Historical Review 18 (1938), pp. 322– 41; William Thomas Morgan, “The Origins of the South Sea Company”, Political Science Quarterly 49 (1929), pp. 16–37; George H. Nelson, “Contraband under the Asiento, 1730– 1739”, The American Historical Review 51 (1945), pp. 55–67; Harold W.V. Temperley, “The Causes of the War of Jenkins’ Ear”, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Third Series 3 (1909), pp. 197–236; Philip Woodfine, “Suspicious Latitudes: Commerce, Colonies and Patriotism in the 1730’s”, Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 27 (1998), pp. 25–52. 3 Agustín González Enciso, Felipe V: La renovación de España. Sociedad y economía en el reinado del primer Borbón (Pamplona: EUNSA, 2003). 4 Philip Woodfine, Britannia’s Glories. The Walpole Ministry and the 1739 War with Spain (Woodbridge: Royal Historical Society/Boydell Press, 1998), p. 1.