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Imperial ‘Free Trade’ and the Hispanic Economy, 1778–1796

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

John Fisher
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Extract

It has been traditional for students of the Hispanic world in the eighteenth century to identify the introduction of ‘free trade’ between Spain and her American empire as the cornerstone of the Bourbon programme of economic reform. The reasons which they cite are subsumed with admirable clarity by the preamble to the famous Regiamento para el comercio libre of October 12, 1778 itself: the king was convinced, it explained, that ‘only a free and protected Commerce between European and American Spaniards can restore Agriculture, Industry, and Population in my Dominions to their former vigour.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , May 1981 , pp. 21 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

1 Bibiano, Torres Ramírez and Javier, Ortiz de la Tabla (eds.) Reglamento para el comercio libre, 1778 (Seville, 1979).Google Scholar

2 A full account of the process of legislative change is provided by Muñoz Pérez, J., ‘La publicación del reglamento del comercio libre de Indias,’ Anuario de Estudios Americanos, No. 4 (1947), pp. 615–64.Google Scholar

3 Reglamento, arts. 4 and 5. Details of the decisions of the Junta de Estado to reject applications for enfranchisement from Santa María, El Ferrol, and Bilbao arc in actas of 14 July 1788, and 18 May 1789, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid (hereafter cited as AHN), Estado, libros 2 and 3, and leg. 31881. The Junta did agree in 1791 to allow Valencia to export national goods, but no sailings seem to have resulted: Acta of 1 August 1791, AHN, Estado, libro 4. Details of sailings from San Lücar de Barrameda, San Sebastian, and Vigo have been found, however: see below, Appendix Table M.

4 Acta of Junta de Estado of 23 June 1788, AHN, Estado, libro 3, agreeing that minister Antonio Valdés should ‘abra la mano para conceder los Registros que se piden con destino à los Puertos de dhas Provincias,’ pending the issue of a royal decree.

5 This explanation is given in a circular royal order from Valdés to various consulados, 19 August 1787, Archivo General de Indias, Seville (hereafter cited as AGI), Audiencia de México, leg. 2505.

6 A full account of the debate and process of consultation which preceded the decision is in ‘Expediente sobre arreglo de Expediciones de Comercio para Nueva España, y Caraccas…,’ AGI, Audiencía de Mexico, leg. 2505. This records that the permitted tonnages for New Spain were 10,000 in 1784, 12,000 in 1785, 12,000 in 1786, and 6,000 in 1787, and that the market had been saturated. The definitive cabinet decision in the matter is minuted in acta of 16 February 1789, AHN, Estado, libro 3.

7 Reglamento, arts. 16, 32, 1, 2.Google Scholar

8 Ibid., arts. 6, 22, 24, 43.

9 Haring, C. H., The Spanish Empire in America (New York, 1947), pp. 320–1Google Scholar; Benjamin, Keen and Mark, Wasserman, A Short History of Latin America (Boston, 1980), p. 113Google Scholar. See, too, Dozer, Donald M., Latin America: an Interpretive History (Tempe, Arizona, 1980), p. 166.Google Scholar

10 Parry, J H., The Spanish Seaborne Empire (London, 1966), p. 317Google Scholar; Brading, D.A., ‘El mercantilismo ibérico y el crecimiento económico en la América Latina del siglo XVIII,’ in Florescano, E. (ed), Ensayos sobre el desarrollo econeómico de México y América Latina (Mexico, 1979), p. 296Google Scholar; Coxe, W., Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon 1700–1796, 3 vols. (London, 1813), 1, 380–2.Google Scholar

11 Robert, Jones Shafer, A History of Latin America (Lexington, 1978), p. 190.Google Scholar

12 Antonin, García-Baquero González, ‘Comercio colonial y producción industrial en Cataluńa a fines del siglo XVIII,’ Actas del I Coloquio de Historia Económica de Espańa (Barcelona, 1975), pp. 268–94.Google Scholar

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14 Stein, Barbara H. and Stein, Stanley J., ‘Concepts and Realities of Spanish Economic Growth, 1759–1789’ Historia Ibérica, Vol. 1 (1973), p. 111. Their principal source is Miguel Cayetano Soler, ‘Memoria del Ministerio de Hacienda…,’ 28 November 1801, British Library, Department of Manuscripts, Egerton MS 369, fol. 219.Google Scholar

15 Walker, Geoffrey J., Spanish Politics and Imperial Trade, 1700–1789 (London, 1979);CrossRefGoogle ScholarJavier, Ortiz de la Tabla, Comercio exterior de Veracruz, 1778–1821: crisis de dependencia (Seville, 1978).Google Scholar

16 Annual returns for Alicante (1782), Barcelona (1780, 1781, 1792, 1795), Cartagena (1780, 1782, 1791), La Coruña (1781–1783, 1790, 1792), Málaga (1780, 1782, 1783), Palma (1783), Santa Cruz (1782, 1793, 1795), Santander (1781–1783), San Lúlcar (1786), Seville (1783, 1795), Tortesa (1787), and Vigo (1790) are in Archivo General de Simancas, Dirección General de Rentas, 2 remesa (hereafter cited as AGS, DGR.2), legs. 568–80.

17 ‘Relacion del numero de embarcaciones que han salido…’ and ‘Plan que demuestra los Puertos de España havilitados…,’ AGS, DGR.2, leg. 568.

18 An armistice with Britain was in force from January 1783, although the definitive peace was not signed until September.

19 The registers of three departures for Vera Cruz in 1779 are in AGI, Contratación, leg. 2902A, and eight for 1780 and two for 1781 are in Indiferente General, legs. 2173–2174. But Garzón Pareja, M., ‘El “riesgo” en el comercio de Indias,’ Reuista de Indias, Vol.35 (1975), p. 187–227 suggests that 24 vessels left Cádiz for America in the first half of 1779, and a further 22 between the outbreak of war and September 1781.Google Scholar

20 AGI, Indiferente General, legs. 2173–2174 for Cádiz registers; the Barcelona figures for the period 1778–1787 are from ‘Estado que manifiesta los registros que se han despachado vajo las reglas del comercio libre…,’ Barcelona, 20 February 1788, ibid., leg. 2183; those for other ports are from annual returns in AGS, DGR.2, legs. 570–1.

21 ‘Comercio libre de America. Año de 1783. Plan que demuestra lo que há producido al Real Herario en dho año el libre Comercio de Indias…,’ Madrid, 4 March 1784, AGS, DGR.2, leg. 572. In cases where the individual returns – in ibid., leg. 571 – differ slightly from the general statement, the former have been preferred as the source.

22 ‘Estado general que manifiesta el valor de los frutos y efectos tanto Espańoles como extrangeros que se embarcaron en los puertos havilitados de España con destino a los de Indias en todo el año proximo pasado de 1784…,’ and ‘Estado general que manifiesta… en todo ci año proximo pasado de 1785…,’ Gazeta de Madrid, 18 04 1786, pp. 259–60.Google Scholar

23 ‘Comercio libre de Indias. Año de 1785,’ AGS, DGR.2, leg. 572. For ports other than Cádiz the figures in this statement are identical with or differ only slightly from those published by the Gazeta. See Stein, and Stein, , ‘Concepts and Realities,’ pp. 112–14.Google Scholar

24 One obvious error is that the exports of Seville are exaggerated by the combination of direct exports to America with those despatched to Cádiz for packing and re-registration: see Appendix Table K, not a.

25 AGI, Indiferente General, legs. 2175–2177. An additional register for a vessel sailing direct to Cavite (Philippines) has not been included.

26 AGI, Indiferente General, legs. 2178–2196.

27 ‘Comercio libre de America, Año de 1788,’ AGS, DGR.2, leg. 575.

28 Balanza del comercio de España con los dominios de S.M. en América y Indias en al año de 1792 (Madrid, 1805)Google Scholar

29 Stein, and Stein, , ‘Concepts and Realities,’ p. 111. See note 14.Google Scholar

30 For example, Miguel de Musquiz to Conde de Floridablanca, 23 March 1779, AHN, Estado, leg. 45702, suggesting that Cádiz functioned almost as a free port; acta of Junta de Estado, 19 May 1788, AHN, Estado, libro I, discussing the marking of French and Genoese silk stockings as of Spanish origin; Pedro de Lerena to Francisco Pérez Mesia, 12 December 1785, AGS, DGR.2, leg. 448; Antonio de Gálvez to Pedro de Lerena, 3 May 1785, ibid., leg. 451, and Lerena to Pérez Mesia, 4 November 1788, ibid., leg. 448; representation of consulado of Cádiz, 22 April 1794, AGS, Secretaría y Superintendencia de Hacienda, leg. 884.

31 Stein, and Stein, , ‘Concepts and Realities,’ pp. 111–14.Google Scholar

32 Consulado of Lima to Jorge de Escobedo, 5 May 1787, and Escobedo to Marqués de Sonora, no. 975, 5 September 1787, AGI, Audiencia de Lima, leg. 1111; consulado of Santander to Antonio Valdés, 9 November 1787, AGI, Audiencia de México, leg. 2505.

33 See Brading, D. A., Haciendas and Ranchos in the Mexican Bajío (Cambridge, 1979), p. 177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34 Intendant of Vera Cruz to Valdés, no. 24, 1 October 1788, AGI, Audiencia de México, leg. 2505.

35 A summary of the report of the Cádiz consulado to Valdés, 14 December 1787, and of the reports of other consulados is in ‘Expedients sobre arreglo de expediciones de comercio para Nueva Espańa y Caracas…,’ AGI, Audiencia de México, leg. 2505. The report of the consulado of Cádiz to Valdés, 13 February 1789, is in ibid.

36 Campomanes to Floridablanca, 11 August 1788, AHN, Estado, leg. 32081 argued strongly in favour of freeing trade from the grip of ‘un cuerpo exclusivo’ de comerciantes' in Mexico, Lima, and Cádiz, who acted as ‘cuerpos unidos’.

37 See Table III.

38 Diego Gardoqui to Duque de la Alcudia, 12 May 1793, AHN, Estado, leg. 45701.

39 Representation of considado of Cádiz, 22 April 1794, AGS, Secretaría y Superintendencia de Hacienda (hereafter cited as SSH), leg. 884.

40 Camón Fernández de Avila, R., ‘La emancipación y el comercio catalán con América,’ Revista de Indias, Vol. 35 (1975), pp. 234–235.Google Scholar

41 Acta of Consejo de Estado, 25 June 1792, AHN, Estado, libro 5.

42 Manuel González Guira to Gardoqui, 11 June 1793, and 8 November 1793, AGI, Indiferente General, leg. 2192, gives details of convoys of 22 and 36 merchant ships which left Cádiz in June and November; Guira to Gardoqui, 1 January 1794, 18 April 1794, and 5 August 1794, ibid., leg. 2193, gives details of smaller convoys in 1794; the last major convoy of the war (16 merchantmen, 3 warships) left Cádiz for the Caribbean in May 1795: Guira to Gardoqui, 12 May 1795, ibid., leg. 2194.

43 Garcia-Baqucro, , Comercio colonial, pp. 132–8.Google Scholar

44 Consulado of Cádiz to Gardoqui, 30 August 1796, AGS, SSH, leg. 884.

45 Minister of Finance to consulado of Cádiz, 27 February 1797, acknowledging representation, AGS, SSH, leg. 884; García-Baquero, , Comercio colonial, p. 144.Google Scholar

46 García-Baquero, , ‘Comercio colonial,’ and Comercio colonial, pp. 68–74Google Scholar are the main sources for the discussion which follows. See, too, Rahola, F., Comercio de Cataluña con América en el siglo XVIII (Barcelona, 1931),Google Scholar and Josep, Townsend, A Journey through Spain in the Years 1786 and 1787 (London, 1791), pp. 134–68.Google Scholar

47 Francisco, Bejarano Robles, Historia del consulado y de la junta de comercio de Málaga, 1785–1859 (Madrid, 1947), pp. 7, 13–15, 214–32.Google Scholar

48 Consulado of Málaga to Gardoqui, 9 February 1793, AGS, SSH, leg. 889.

49 ‘Estado general…’ for 1795, AGS, DGR.2, leg. 579, showing exports of national silks worth 2,481,980 reales, linens worth, 2,503, 232, and caldos worth 11,378,078.

50 Bejarano, , Historia del consulado, pp. 130, 136–47.Google Scholar

51 Ibid., p. 45, and note of 30 06 1796, on ‘Estado que manifiesta el numero y clase de embarcaciones…,’ Vera, Cruz, 22 03 1796, AGI, Indiferente General, leg. 2195.Google Scholar

52 Richard, Herr, The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain (Princeton, 1958), p. 136.Google Scholar

53 See Fernando, Barreda, Comercio maritirno entre los Estados Unidos y Santander (1778–1829) (Santander, 1950), pp. 7–26,Google Scholar and Ringrose, David R., Transportation and Economic Stagnation in Spain, 1750–1850 (Durham, N.C., 1970), p. 30.Google Scholar

54 ‘Observaciones sobre los nuevos decretos…,’ 19 September 1789, AHN, Estado, leg. 31881.

55 Acta of Junta de Estado, June 16, 1788, AHN, Estado, libro 2.

56 Acta of Junta de Estado, 4 August 1788, AHN, Estado, libro ‘Reflexiones sobre la real orden de 20 de agosto de 1788…,’ AHN, Estado, leg. 31881.

57 Acta of Junta de Estado, 23 May 1791, AHN, Estado, libro 4.

58 Acta of Junta de Estado, 11 May 1789, AHN, Estado, libro 3.

59 Acta of Junta de Estado, 27 March AHN, Estado, libro 4.

60 Acta of Consejo de Estado, 24 May 1792, AHN, Estado, libro 5. In May 1794 it was agreed that the delicate international situation made it impossible to take effective action against English, Prussian, and Dutch manufactures: acta of Consejo de Estado, 16 May 1794, AHN, Estado, libro 8.

61 Actas of Junta de Estado, 6 April 1789, and 10 October 1789, AHN, Estado, libro 3.

62 Representation of directors of Compañia de Hilados de Algodón, Barcelona, 31 October 1789, AHN, Estado, leg. 32882; acta of Junta de Estado, 8 October 1789, AHN, Estado, libro 3. See, too, Marfa, Lourdes Díaz-Trechuelo Spinola, La Real Compañiá de Filipinas (Seville, 1965).Google Scholar

63 Representation of El Colegio y Arte Mayor de la Seda, Valencia, 11 January 1791, AHN, Estado, leg. 3182.

64 Acta of Junta de Estado, 13 June 1792, AHN, Estado, libro 4.

65 Actas of Consejo de Estado, 7 January 1793, and 24 June 1793, AHN, Estado, libro 6.

66 An indication of the volume and variety of colonial imports is provided by Manuel, Deogracias Nifo, Noticia de los caudales, frutos y efectos que han entrado en España de América en el feliz reynado de nuestro Católico Monarca Don Carlos III (Madrid, 1788).Google Scholar

67 See Stein, and Stein, , ‘Concepts and Realities,’ pp. 102–103.Google Scholar

68 See Jean, Francois Bourgoing, Travels in Spain, 3 vols. (London, 1789), 11, 41–7.Google Scholar

69 Ibid. See, too, Richard, Twiss, Travels through Portugal and Spain in 1772 and 1773 (London, 1775), pp. 224–5,Google Scholar On Cartagena, and Francisco, Figueras Pacheco, El consulado marítimo y terrestre de Alicante (Alicante, 1957), pp. 34–5, 96, on Alicante.Google Scholar

70 See Ortiz, de la Tabla, Comercio exterior de Vera Cruz, p. 49.Google Scholar

71 These calculations are based on a series of annual returns in AGI, Indiferente General, legs. 2185, 2187, 2189, 2192, and 2194 from the intendants of Vera Cruz, showing for each year both the registered and local values of goods received in the port.

72 ‘Estado de los caudales que se han embarcado…,’ Vera Cruz, 16 January 1790, ACT, Indiferente General, leg. 2187.

73 Acta of Junta de Estado, 19 February 1789, AHN, Estado, libro 3, and acta of Consejo de Estado, 12 October 1792, ibid., libro 5. See, too, Ortiz, de la Tabla, Comercio exterior de Vera Cruz, pp. 167–223.Google Scholar

74 Acta of Junta de Estado, 17 October 1791, AHN, Estado, libro 4.

75 Acta of Consejo de Estado, 25 June 1792, AHN, Estado, libro 5.

76 See Anna, Timothy E., The Fall of the Royal Government in Peru (Lincoln, 1979), p. 4.Google Scholar

77 Consulado of Lima to viceroy, 10 February 1779, Archivo General del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Lima, Sección Colonial, libro 2–2.

78 Acta of Consejo de Estado, 27 May 1796, AHN, Estado, libro 11.