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British-American Rivalry in the Chilean Trade, 1817–1820

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Dorothy Burne Goebel
Dorothy Burne Goebel
Affiliation:
Hunter College
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Extract

The early commercial relations between the United States and South America in the years preceding the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine have until quite recently received but scant attention. This neglect may in part be attributed to the historian's concern with the political implications of the revolutionary movements in Spanish. America and their bearing upon our foreign policies. In part, also, it may be ascribed to the paucity of materials (either published or in manuscript); information on commercial affairs transmitted by American special agents and consuls in the ports of Latin America was generally fragmentary and incomplete. Yet even a tardy examination of our trade relations with Chile in the years 1817-1820 may be of value, especially since the materials available for this study present a picture of the volume, the variety, and the difficulties of our trade that is unique in the annals of our early relations with South America.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , November 1942 , pp. 190 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1942

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References

1 Manning, W. R., ed., Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States concerning Independence of the Latin American Nations, II, 899Google Scholar. The final proclamation of independence was drawn up January 1, 1818, and proclaimed February 12, 1818. Ibid., 900, n. 1 and 913.

2 D'Arcy and Didier to Henry Hill, May 23,1817. Records of the Department of State, Chile, Claim No. 5, Eugene L. Didier, Admr. et al. Aug. 7, 1892, National Archives, Washington, D. C. For Henry Hill's career, cf. Eugene Pereira Salas, “Henry Hill, comtnerciante, vice-consul y misionero,” Revista Chilena de Historia y Geografia, LXXXVII (1939), 1–30.Google ScholarCf. also Hill, Henry, Incidents in Chile, South America, 1817-1821 (Weymouth, 1889?)Google Scholar.

3 Henry Hill to D'Arcy and Didier, July 4, 1817. Hill Papers, II, Yale University Library.

4 Evans, H. C., Chile and Its Relations with the United States (1927), 33Google Scholar.

5 Hill to Lynch, Zimmermann, February 23, 1818. Hill Papers, II. The amount of the commission varied according to circumstances. In the case of goods sold at Tacna in Peru (then closed to all foreigners save by special license from the Viceroy), a four per cent commission was charged. Sen. Ex. Doc, 35 Congress, 1st sess., Vol. 13, No. 58, p. 29.

6 Hill to Lynch, Zimmermann Co., February 7, 1818; also same to Don Estanislao Lynch, February 13, 1818; same to D'Arcy and Didier, February 18, 1818. Hill Papers, II. Francis Ribas stated that he had been admitted to Santiago with all the privileges that the natives of the country enjoyed. Ribas to John Jacob Asor, March 10, 1818, Jeremy Robinson Papers, Box II, Mss. Division, Library of Congress.

7 Hill to Perry, June 19, 1817; same to same, June 29, 1817; same to Palmer, Hamilton, December 13,1817. Hill Papers, II.

8 Hill to D'Arcy and Didier, February 6, 1818. Hill Papers, II. Cf. also for the part subsequently played by the Navy in those regions, Whitaker, A. P., The United States and the Independence of Latin America 1800-1830 (1941), 275–316passimGoogle Scholar.

9 W. G. D. Worthington to Secretary of State, July 9,1818, “Enclosure No. 13, Protest of Captain Townshend.” Argentine Dispatches Special Agents, vol. I, pt. I, National Archives. In this letter Worthington also enclosed his protests to. O'Higgins of April 21, and May 11, 1818, against the continuance of the practice.

10 Hill to Palmer and Hamilton, November 5, 1817. Hill Papers, II.

11 Hill to Phillips, February 9, 1818; cf. also same to D'Arcy and Didier, February 6, 1818. Hill Papers, II.

12 Cf. note 9 above. See also Manning, I, 131-132. Worthington's dispatch of July 9, 1818, gives full information of the affair of the Lion, an American vessel. In this case seamen were not only induced to desert by the commander of the Chilean privateer, the Lautaro, but the American vice-consul was accused of having paid the bounties as agent for the Chilean authorities and of having urged the shipmasters to release to the Chilean navy a part of their men. Hill was suspended from his office for this action but reinstated by Prévost. Cf. Jeremy Robinson, Chile Diary 1818, May 31, June 1, 2, 3, and 5; Mss. Division, Library of Congress; J. B. Prévost to Secretary of State, June 3, 1818. Special Agents. Letters Prévost, Biddle. National Archives. Prévost defended Hill's action on the ground that it allayed anti-foreign feeling and declared Hill to be a “zealous, intelligent, honorable and meritorious officer.”

13 Manning, II, 973-975.

14 Hill to D'Arcy and Didier, June 16, 1817. Hill Papers, II.

15 Same to same, August 14,1817, ibid.

16 Manning, II, 974-975.

17 Hill to D'Arcy and Didier, June 23, 1817. Hill Papers, II.

18 Hill to Perry, June 9, 1817; same to D'Arcy and Didier, June 12, 1817, ibid. The papers relating to the brig Savage are in the file of the D'Arcy and Didier claim, Records of the Department of State, Chile, Claim No. 5. National Archives.

19 Hill to Secretary of State, June 30, 1818. Enclosure 2. Consular Dispatches, Valparaiso, vol. I. National Archives.

20 Ibid. and cf. also Enclosure I in the same letter.

21 Manning, II, 1005. Cf. also 998-1005, for a general discussion of the importance of Chile for United States trade.

22 Manning, II, 919-920. Cf. also Hill, HenryIncidents in Chile, South America, 1817–1821. For the commission to Hill cf. Records of the Department of State, Special Agents, vol. I, p t 1,1817-1818. National ArchivesGoogle Scholar.

23 Hill to Secretary of State, June 30, 1819. Enclosure 4. Consular Dispatches, Valparaiso, vol. I.

24 Figures taken from the following reports: Henry Hill to the Secretary of State, December 31, 1819, Enclosures; same to same, June 30, 1820, Enclosures; same to same, December 31, 1820, Enclosure. Consular Dispatches, Valparaiso, vol. I.

25 Hill to David C. DeForest, October 11, 1817; same to D'Arcy and Didier, October 16, 1817. Hill Papers, II.

26 Hill to Palmer and Hamilton, December 13, 1817, ibid.

27 Hill to D'Arcy and Didier, February 18, 1818, ibid.See also Francis Ribas to John Jacob Astor, January 2, 1818. Jeremy Robinson Papers, Box II, Mss. Division, Library of Congress. Ribas had shipped as supercargo on the Beaver, a vessel owned by Astor, with a cargo worth $150,000. Ribas established himself in Santiago to carry on a commission business. For the later fate of the Beaver, which continued on its voyage after the halt in Chile, cf. Whitaker, 283-284.

28 Jeremy Robinson, Diary Chile 1818, entry of May 24. For Robinson as a “free lance” agent, see Wriston, H. M., Executive Agents in American Foreign Relations (Baltimore, 1929), 419–420Google Scholar.

29 Manning, II, 943.

30 John Zimmermann, Report to the Secretary of State, December 31, 1820, Consular Dispatches, Buenos Ayres, vol. I, pt. II. J. M. Forbes, to the Secretary of State, April 1, 1821, ibid.; J. M. Forbes to the Secretary of State, January 3, 1823, vol. II, pt. I. Cf. Whitaker, 121-124.

31 Henry Hill (of Connecticut) to Secretary of State, May 8, 1814. Consular Dispatches, St. Salvador, vol. II, pt. I; Henry Hill to Secretary of State, May 26, 1815, ibid.; Henry Hill to Secretary of State, June 28, 1818, ibid.

32 Henry Hill to Secretary of State, December 31, 1818, Enclosure 2, Consular Dispatches, Valparaiso, vol. I.

33 Manning, II, 932. Cf. also Hill to Geo. Edwards, June 11, 1817, Hill Papers, vol. II; Lynch to Hill, October 9, 1817, Lynch Papers, vol. I, Yale University Library.

34 Henry Evans, Chile and the United States, 26, Alvarez, A., Rasgos Generates de la Historica Diplomática de Chile, 210–211, cited in Evans. Whitaker, 217-222, 245-246Google Scholar.

35 Manning, II, 1023.

36 Ibid., 934, 938-939, 944.

37 Worthington to Secretary of State, July 9, 1818, Enclosure 13. (Biddle to Worthington, June 1, 1818; Worthington to Masters of United States Merchantmen in Chile.) Argentine Dispatches, Special Agents, W. G. D. Worthington, vol. I, pt. I. Cf. also Manning, II, 925-926.

38 Manning, II, 943-944, 1025-1026. H. Evans, 25.

39 Hill to Secretary of State, May 15, 1819. Consular Dispatches, Valparaiso, vol. I.

40 Manning, II, 1039.

41 Hill to Secretary of State, September 28, 1819 and Enclosures. Consular Dispatches, Valparaiso, vol. I.

42 Hill to Secretary of State, April 8, 1820, and Enclosures, ibid. Hill to Secretary of State, December 31, 1819, Enclosures, gives the dates of evidence of the above vessels at Valparaiso as follows: the Montezuma, June 5; the Pallas, November 9; the Canton, December 14.

43 Ibid. The Canton enjoyed the distinction of having previously been seized by the Spanish authorities at Talcahuana in 1818. Released through the efforts of Captain Biddle and the United States agents she was cleared by the Peruvian Court of Appeals late in 1818 and restored to her legal owners but no indemnification offered for her cargo or the delay. Cf. Jeremy Robinson to Secretary of State, August 9, 1818, and Robinson to Secretary of State, December 6, 1818, Special Agents Letters, Jeremy Robinson, National Archives. For a brief account of the case of the Beaver which suffered the same fate at that time, cf. Whitaker, 283-285.

44 Allen to Secretary of State, November 5, 1825 and Enclosure No. 22. Dispatches, Chile, I, State Department Mss., National Archives.

45 J. Robinson to Secretary of State, October 4, 1820, Jeremy Robinson Papers, Box II, Library of Congress. For earlier requests for the need of American naval vessels to protect commerce, cf. Robinson to Secretary of State, June 8, August 12, 1818. Cf. also Prévost-Robinson conversation concerning this need, Jeremy Robinson, Chile Diary 1818, June 2. An account of the activities of the American Navy in relation to commerces is given in Whitaker, 295-300.

46 Whitaker, 244-245, 386. Setser, V. G., The Commercial Reciprocity of the United States, 1774-1829 (1937), 243–246.Google ScholarPerkins, D., The Monroe Doctrine, 1823–1826, 40, 41Google Scholar, is of the opinion that economic influences had little to do with our foreign policy and passes over the important debates in Congress on recognition bills in which commercial interest was urged as a reason for recognition. Cf. Annals 15th Congres, 1st Session, 1486, 1534, 1562, 1611. (Counter arguments 1513-1514, 1639, 1642), ibid. 16th Congress, 1st Session, 2226-2228; especially Trimble's speech, 17th Congress., 1st Session, 1386, 1400.

47 Rippy, J. Fred, Rivalry of the United States and Great Britain over Latni America (1808–1830) (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1929), 116–117; Whitaker, 486-491, for somewhat different estimate of Adams's contribution to the “two spheres” doctrineGoogle Scholar.