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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
The main outlines of Spain's trading relations with its Latin American colonies are well known. Although in the eighteenth century, under pressure from international political and domestic economic considerations, the Bourbon monarchs had permitted some liberalization, the fundamental policy remained that of confining transatlantic commerce to the mother country. Even after the so-called free trade laws were issued by Charles III, only certain ports within the peninsula and relatively few merchants were able to engage in the American trade. These merchants acted on their own account buying and selling cargoes within Spain or from Europe, or as commission agents arranging the import-export cycle for a fixed fee or percentage. Few were manufacturers in their own right and most gained a substantial part of their business from the fact that Spain remained to a large extent a channel through which foreign manufactures were sent to the colonies. Organized in their powerful guilds, they constituted an effective and influential vested interest group, determined to protect their highly privileged position against any attempted incursions by foreigners or Spaniards. Their reasons, of course, were obvious and often denounced at the time. Commerce with America was highly lucrative and large fortunes were made from it, particularly during the last quarter of the eighteenth century when a significant expansion in the value and volume of trade took place.
Research for this article was made possible by a grant from the British Academy. I am grateful to Dr. B. Hamnett for assistance in its preparation.
1 Comprehensive details of the merchants’ contribution towards the Spanish military campaigns in America are given in ‘Memoria sobre las operaciones de la Comisión de Reemplazos de América, formada por orden del Rey Ν.S. por la de Corte. Año de 1831’. This manuscript is in the library of the Ministry of Hacienda, Madrid. A brief article summarizing mainly its statistical data is Tascón, A. Mattila, ‘Las expediciones o reemplazos militares enviados desde Cádiz a reprimir el movimiento de independencia de Hispanoamérica’, Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, LVII (Madrid, 1951), 37–52.Google Scholar
2 González, A. García-Baquero, Comercio colonial y guerras revolucionarias (Seville, 1972)Google Scholar provides lists of annual bankruptcies at Cádiz which were at least in part the result of the disruption in the American trade.
3 This manuscript collection is in the Archivo Histórico of Barcelona. It is entitled Fondo Comercial (hereinafter referred to as F. C.) and a catalogue of its contents has been published by Bou, P. Voltes, Catálogo del Fondo Comercial del Instituto Municipal de Historia (Barcelona, 1961 ).Google Scholar It consists of some 1,260 volumes of the records of more than three hundred commercial and industrial enterprises.
4 All the merchants trading with America refer to the problem posed by the pirates and certainly, they seem to have suffered heavy losses to them. For example, in its issue of 22 June 1814, the Diario de Barcelona reported that in the previous six months, pirates had captured 16 merchant ships, including Spanish, Portuguese and English.
5 Roig to E. de J. Picardo, 13 July 1816, F.C., B785.
6 F.C, B785.
7 Roigto F. Martorell, 13 September 1816, ibid.
8 Roig to C. Roig, 26 October 1816, ibid.
9 A recent brief account of the negotiations with Britain is in Bartley, R. H., Imperial Russia and the struggle for Latin American independence, 1808–1828 (Austin, 1978), p. 123, n. 123.Google Scholar
10 See the letters to P. Bru at Málaga (28 May 1817) and Pablo Masó at Havana (3 June 1817), F.C., B786.
11 Roig to G. Oncle, 2 August 1817, ibid.
12 Roig to Oncle, 7 August 1817, ibid.
13 Roig to M. Sueco y Cía., 3 July 1822, F.C., B792. Obtaining insurance cover became increasingly difficult for Spanish merchants as the war in America and especially the piracy danger spread. Rates obviously increased at Cádiz which was the main centre in Spain for insurance on the transatlantic route, and also in various other European cities where the Barcelona merchants tried to get cover.
14 For example, Roig to Martorell, Pla y Cía. at Veracruz, 1 February 1822, ibid.
15 Roigto J. Roig, 19 November 1816, F.C., B785.
16 R. Parés to D. Parés, 7 May 1814, ibid.. B643.
17 R. Parés to A. Miret, 31 May 1815, ibid.
18 Accounts in ibid., B395, fol. 19.
19 These various letters are in F.C., B687.
20 Lamarque to F. Machado, 18 July 1821, ibid.
21 See his correspondence of March-April 1820 (ibid.) where he repeatedly states that commerce was expected to improve soon and benefit from measures by “nuestro ilustrado gobierno.”
22 Riera to Bell and Watson, 24 August 1814, F.C., B625. These letters were written in English.
23 Correspondence in ibid., B168.
24 Riera to J. Hodge, 13, 16 March 1816, F.C., B626.
25 Soler y Cía. to R. de Meer, 18 October 1815, F. C.,B 337.
26 Soler to J. F. Puig, 8 June 1816, ibid.
27 F.C, B336, carpeta no. 15 contains samples of cloth, prices etc. which were to be sent to an agent in Buenos Aires, dated 3 December 1805.
28 These letters are in ibid.
29 Maxauch to Β. Clemente, 14 September 1814, F.C., B400.
30 These details are from the libro de facturas in ibid.
31 This company has been studied in two unpublished dissertations by students at the University of Barcelona: Timoneda, T., ‘Estudio de la Casa Comercial “Llano y Chávarri”, Barcelona, 1819–1829’ (University of Barcelona, 1958),Google Scholar and Rodriguez, L. C. Maleta, ‘Comercio exterior de la casa Llano-Chávarri’ (University of Barcelona, 1969).Google Scholar de Avila, R. C. Fernández, “La emancipación y el commercio catalán en América,” Revista de Indias, 35 (1975), 229–260,Google Scholar provides further information on the Llano y Chávarri Company and on other merchants.
32 These details are from Timoneda, ch. III.
33 It is virtually impossible to work out the total value and volume of the trade of any of these companies, not least because of the enormous confusion of currencies used in the account books and also because participation in illicit activities, for example, slave trading, was disguised in the accounts. Maleta y Rodríguez (p. 225) calculated that the Llano y Chávarri firm sent goods to the approximate value of 150,000 pesos per year to Veracruz and 100,000 pesos per year to Havana. Timoneda concluded that it was impossible to calculate profit margins.
34 Llano y Chávarri to D. Martorell, 20 January 1821, F.C., B541.
35 Correspondence in ibid.
36 Ramón to Francisco Llano y Chávarri, 2 June 1821, ibid.
37 D. Martorell, Havana, to R. y M. Llano y Chávarri, 18 April 1821, F.C., A102.
38 Letters to Tutzo y Grau and Β. Mandri, 2 June 1821, F.C., B541.
39 Correspondence in ibid.
40 Cited in Maleta Rodríguez, p. 80.
41 Llano y Chávarri to D. Martorell, 1 September 1821, F. C. Β 541.
42 Llano y Chávarri to D. Martorell, 28 November 1821, ibid.
43 Llano y Chávarri to C. Canaleta, 12 December 1821, ibid.
44 Llano y Chávarri to D. Martorell, 23 January 1822, ibid.
45 Ramón to Francisco Llano y Chávarri, 2 February 1822, ibid.
46 In a letter to Francisco Gámez on 8 March 1822 (F.C., B541), Ramón reported the latest news from Madrid about the American revolts, in particular that the congress had refused to ratify the treaties of Córdoba. He also reported a curious rumour that the British government had offered Spain 30,000,000 pesos, 20,000 troops and 20 warships for as long as needed to reconquer Mexico and other provinces in exchange for Spanish cession of all rights to Buenos Aires. Spain had rejected the offer, he said.
47 There was a protracted legal dispute over the firm’s assets in Mexico between the Barcelona based brothers and the brother Francisco in Mexico City. The latter was eventually expelled under the Mexican law of 1827 expelling Spanish residents (Maleta Rodríguez, p. 27). Apparently, Francisco Gámez managed to avoid similar expulsion.
48 For a study of some statistical evidence, see Lazaro, J. Fontana, ‘Colapso y transformación del comercio exterior español entre 1792 y 1827”, Moneda y Crédito, 115 (Madrid, 1970), pp. 3–23.Google Scholar
49 In addition to the study of Cádiz by García Baquero, the work by Bernal, A. M. y García-Baquero, A., Tres siglos del comercio sevillano (1598–1868): cuestiones y problemas (Seville, 1976)Google Scholar provides further evidence of the general impact on individual merchants of the loss of the colonies.
50 This also seems to have been the case with the Seville merchants: Bernal, , Tres sighs…, pp. 119 ff.Google Scholar
51 Rafael Catató to Francisco Milans, 15 March 1813, F.C., B336.