Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-05-28T07:27:27.144Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Foreign Finance in Argentina for the First Half-Century of Independence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

D. C. M. Platt
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Extreme nationalism and a web of conspiracy theories make it particularly difficult to distinguish history from myth for the experience of foreign finance in Argentina. Julio Irazusta agrees with Raúl Scalabrini Ortíz that the London Loan of 1824 (the Baring Loan) was part of a system of spoliation, on a continental scale, by which Britons and their Government exacted full payment for the recognition of the newly independent Republics. Ortega and Duhalde report a gentleman’s agreement between London bankers in the mid-1802s; Hispanic America was to be partitioned into spheres of influence and Baring Brothers were left with the River Plate. The British loans of the 1820s were intended to tie the new Republics firmly to Britain; default was welcome, since ‘guarantees’ could then be enforced by Britain's armed might. Baring Brothers are condemned for failing to pay up the full proceeds of the 1824 loan to Buenos Aires, for plotting to overthrow Juan Manuel de Rosas, for negotiating a harsh settlement of the debt in 1857, and for intervening in one way or another at every stage in the politics and economics of Argentina, even to the extent of promoting the Paraguayan War.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , May 1983 , pp. 23 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Julio, Irazusta, Influencia Económica Británica en el Río de la Plata (Buenos Aires, 1963), p. 51. Scalabrini Ortíz himself was not, perhaps, the most impartial of observers. Horacio Cuccorese, no Anglophile, was compelled to admit that though Scalabrini’s works (which he cited frequently) were valuable: ‘la oposición sistemática de Scalabrini Ortíz contra los británicos deja una impresión de duda científica’.Google ScholarHistoria de los Ferrocarriles en la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1969), p. 28, fn. 1.Google Scholar

2 Rodolfo, Ortega Peña and Eduardo, Luis Duhalde, Baring Brothers y la Historia Política Argentina (Buenos Aires, 2nd ed., 1973), pp. 17, 19. No date is given, but the agreement was said to have been negotiated at the London Tavern, presumably sometime during the period 1824–5. The London Tavern (the authors add, significantly) vas next door to that well-known City establishment, the Café Jerusalem!Google Scholar

3 José, María Rosa, Rivadavia y el Imperialismo Financiero (Buenos Aires, 1964), pp. 66–7.Google Scholar

4 Ortega and Duhalde, Baring Brothers, passim.

5 Juan, Carlos Vedoya, La magra cosecha, 1868–1874 (Buenos Aires, n.d.), pp. 90 ff.Google Scholar

6 Albert, B. Martínez and Maurice, Lewandowski, The Argentine in the Twentieth Century (London, 1911), p. 359.Google Scholar

7 Irazusta, , Influencia Económica Británica, p. 72.Google Scholar

8 Richard, E. Boyer and Keith, A. Davies, Urbanization in 19th Century Latin America: Statistics and Sources (Los Angeles, 1973), p. 7.Google Scholar

9 Ibid. pp. 7, 9.

10 United Kingdom Trade and Navigation Accounts (published in Parliamentary Papers, 1876, LXXII).Google Scholar

11 Ferns, H. S., Britain and Argentina in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford, 1960), p. 133.Google Scholar

12 I spell this out in more detail in my book Latin America and British Trade, 1806–1914 (London, 1972), passim, but particularly Part I.Google Scholar

13 Ferns, , Britain and Argentina, pp. 135, 141.Google Scholar

14 United Nations (Department of Economic and Social Affairs), ‘The Growth of Foreign Investments in Latin America’, reprinted in Marvin, D. Bernstein (ed), Foreign Investment in Latin America (New York, 1966), p. 32.Google Scholar

15 Rippy, J. Fred, British Investments in Latin America, 1822–1949 (Minneapolis, 1959), p. 19.Google Scholar

16 Ferns, , Britain and Argentina, p. 146.Google Scholar

17 Peters, H. E., The Foreign Debt of the Argentine Republic (Baltimore, 1934), p. 16,Google Scholar and Ernesto, J. Fitte, El precio de la Libertad: La presión británica en el proceso emancipador (Buenos Aires, 1965), p. 40. But it is agreed by all.Google Scholar See, for example, Tulio, Halperín Donghi, Argentina de la Revolución a la Confederación Rosista (Buenos Aires, n.d.), p. 192.Google Scholar

18 William, Parish Robertson to Rothschild, N.M., Buenos Aires, 26 04 1824 (this letter was never sent): Archive of Baring Brothers ’ Co. Ltd., Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa (hereafter ‘Ottawa’), frame nos. 60612–17.Google Scholar

19 Irazusta, , Influencia Económica Británica, p. 51.Google Scholar

20 Alvear subscribed for £4,000 of scrip and Martéinez for an improbable £40,000! This was reported in a letter from Felix Castro, one of the contractors, to Barings, 3 August 1824. Ottawa, frame no. 60660.

21 The accounts in Buenos Aires have been examined and discussed by Ernesto, J. Fitte, Historia de ten Eméristito: La emisión de Baring Brothers en 1824 (Buenos Aires, 1962), chapter IV. Barings’ own accounts, which are complete, are in the archives of Baring Brothers & Co. Ltd., Guildhall Library, London (hereafter ‘Baring’), European Ledger and C. a/c A–L (31 December 1823 to 30 December 1824).Google Scholar

22 Fitte, , El precio de la Libertad, 405–6.Google Scholar

23 Ferns, H. S., ‘Beginnings of British Investment in Argentina’, Economic History Review, and. ser., vol. 4, no. 3 (1952), p. 347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 Irazusta, of course, is one, but it is more curious to find the same misunderstanding in Peters, , Foreign Debt of the Argentine Republic, p. 14.Google Scholar

25 Ford, A. G., The Gold Standard 1880–1914: Britain and Argentina (Oxford, 1962), p. 98.Google Scholar

26 Samuel, E. Amaral, ‘Comercio y Crédito: El Banco de Buenos Aires (1822–1826)’, América, no. 4 (1977), p. 17.Google Scholar

27 Sergio, Bagú, El Plan Económico del Grupo Rivadaviano, 1811–27 (Rosario, 1966), p. 76.Google Scholar

28 Ibid. p. 76.

29 Jonathan, C. Brown, A Socioeconomic History of Argentina, 1776–1860 (Cambridge, 1979), pp. 179, 183. The same author notes (p. 181) that the inheritance left by Nicolás Anchorena in 1857 was valued at more than $7 million silver (£1.4 million).Google Scholar

30 Miron, Burgin, The Economic Aspects of Argentine Federalism 1820–1852 (Cambridge, Mass., 1946), p. 266.Google Scholar

31 The Economist, 20 03 1852, p. 309 (leading article on the ‘Defeat of Rosas’).Google Scholar

32 Burgin, , Economic Aspects of Argentine Federalism, p. 215.Google Scholar

33 Zimmerman, Frazier to Barings, , 25 01 1839: Baring, HC 4.1.9.Google Scholar

34 Burgin, , Economic Aspects of Argentine Federalism, p. 51.Google Scholar

35 Angel, M. Quintero Ramos, A History of Money and Banking in Argentina (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, 1965), p. 36.Google Scholar

36 Barings, (Joshua Bates) to Falconnet, , 5 10 1842: Baring, PLB 1842.Google Scholar

37 Falconnet, to Barings, , Buenos Aires, 24 12 1843: Baring, HC 4. 1. 14.Google Scholar

38 Thomas, Baring to David, Robertson, 3 04 1849: Baring, PLB 1849.Google Scholar

39 Henry, Southern to Thomas, Baring, Rio de Janeiro, 13 02 1852. Baring, HC 4. 1. 26. Southern himself was a man of doubtful reputation, both in matters of money and love (he was reputed to be the lover of Rosas’ daughter, Manuelita).Google Scholar

40 Taken from the remarks of the Minister of Finance at a meeting of merchants, and reported by Ferdinand, White to Barings, Buenos Aires, 31 07 1852. Baring, HC 4.1.24.Google Scholar

41 White’s memorandum on Buenos Aires paper money, Buenos Aires, undated. Baring, HC 4.1. 24.

42 Peters, , Foreign Debt of the Argentine Repablic, p. 22.Google Scholar

43 The memorandum, undated but written from Buenos Aires in 1857, is in Baring, HC 4.1. 24.

44 Hobson, C. K., The Export of Capital (London, 1914), p. 104;Google ScholarFerns, , ‘Beginnings of British Investment in Argentina’, loc. cit. p. 341. Nationalist literature makes this assumption automatically.Google Scholar

45 George, White’s letters to Barings, from Buenos Aires, 04 1837 to 10 1857, are in Baring, HC 4. 1. 34. His letter book and diary for the same period are in Baring, HC 4. 1. 35.Google Scholar

46 The suggestion was made in White’s, diaries, in the retrospective entries for 31 August and 18 09 1857. Baring, HC. 4.1. 35.Google Scholar

47 Baring, to Buschenthal, , 6 11 1858. Baring, PLB 1858.Google Scholar

48 Fenn on the Funds (London, 1876 ed), p. 242.Google Scholar

49 Brazilian credit and the 1865 Loan are discussed in Bertrand, Gille, Histoire de la Maison Rothschild, 1848–1870 (Geneva, 1967), pp. 410–13, 458–60. The applications for the 1865 Brazilian Loan were reported in Barings to Hope & Co., 19 and 22 September 1865. Baring, PLB 1865.Google Scholar

50 Barings, to Jutting, , 3 01 1866. Baring, PLB 1866.Google Scholar

51 Barings’ correspondence with Norberto de la Riestra is in Baring, PLB 1865 and Ottawa, frame no. 75638. The best explanation of the ill-success of the 1866 Argentine Loan is in Barings to Hope & Co., 10 January 1866, and Barings to Baron Stieglitz, 11 January 1866. Ottawa, frame no. 75684 and Baring, PLB 1866, respectively.

52 Thomas, Baring to Norberto, de la Riestra, 12 04 1867. Ottawa, frame nos. 75789–90.Google Scholar

53 Baring, to Riestra, , 19 08 1867. Baring, PLB 1867. The correspondence between Thomas Baring and Riestra, where it has not strayed into the Ottawa collection, is in Baring, HC 4.1.41 and PLB 1867.Google Scholar

54 The Times, 22 06 1868, 7a.Google Scholar

55 Peters, , Foreign Debt of the Argentine Republic, p. 24. The Economist anticipated this reaction when reporting the new issue, 20 06 1868, p. 712.Google Scholar

56 The correspondence with Norberto de la Riestra for the 1868 Loan is in Baring, PLB 1868 and HC 4. 1. 41, and in Ottawa, , frame nos. 75896–7 and 75908.Google Scholar

57 As reported in The Economist (Investors’ Monthly Manual), 26 12 1868, p. 383.Google Scholar

58 Report by MrMacDonell, H. G., and Secretary to Her Majesty’s Legation, on the Budget of the Argentine Republic for the year 1869–70: P.P. (Parliamentary Papers: United Kingdom), 1870, LXV, 445.Google Scholar

59 The Economist, 8 10 1870, p. 1231.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., 8 04 1871, p. 418.

61 Investor’s Monthly Manual, 28 12 1872, p. 409.Google Scholar

62 The Economist, 20 06 1868, p. 711.Google Scholar

63 Medley’s, G. W. memorandum on Loans to Foreign States, Report of the Royal Commission on the London Stock Exchange, P.P. 1878, 19, 670 (Appendix no. x).Google Scholar

64 These are the Argentine official statistics, as quoted by Vicente, Vázquez-Presedo, ‘The Role of Foreign Trade and Migration in the Development of the Argentine Economy, 1875–1914’ (D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1968), pp. 185, 246.Google Scholar

65 David, Joslin, A Century of Banking in Latin America (Oxford, 1963), pp. 28–9.Google Scholar

66 The figures are from Charles, Jones, ‘Commercial Banks and Mortgage Companies’, in Platt, D. C. M., (ed.), Business Imperialism, 1840–1930: An inquiry based on British experience in Latin America (Oxford, 1977), p. 21.Google Scholar

67 Mulhall is an embarrassingly amateurish source. In this case, however, there is a better chance of accuracy than elsewhere. Michael G. Muihall was the founder and editor of the Buenos Aires Standard from 1861, and the publisher of the Handbook of the River Plate (six editions from 1869). With his contacts, he must have had some idea of what he was saying. These figures come from his The English in South America (Buenos Aires, 1878), p. 529.Google Scholar

68 Ibid., p. 529. Moreover, Mulhall was writing after four years of commercial and financial crisis during which (he said, unreliably) ‘more than 400 commercial houses in the River Plate alone have failed, for an aggregate sum often to fifteen millions sterling’ (p. 528)Google Scholar.

69 The figures are from Ernesto Tornquist & Co. Ltd., The Economic Development of the Argentine Republic in the last Fifty Years (Buenos Aires, 1919), p. 116.Google Scholar

70 Raül, Scalabrini Ortíz, Historia de los Ferrocarriles Argentinos (4th. ed., Buenos Aires, nd.), p. 18.Google Scholar

71 Tornquist, , Economic Development of the Argentine Republic, p. 122.Google Scholar

72 Winthrop, R. Wright, British-Owned Railways in Argentina (Austin, Texas, 1974), p. 22.Google Scholar

73 Boyer, & Davies, , Urbanization in 19th Century Latin America, p. 7.Google Scholar

74 Tornquist, , Economic Development of the Argentine Republic, p. 140.Google Scholar

75 Boyer, and Davies, , Urbanization in 19th Centary Latin America, p. 9.Google Scholar

76 Ibid. p. 11.

77 Ferns, , Britain and Argentina, pp. 34–6, 344.Google Scholar

78 Colin, Lewis, ‘Problems of Railway Development in Argentina, 1857–1890’, InterAmerican Economic Affairs, vol. 22, no. 2 (autumn 1968), pp. 69–70.Google Scholar

79 Ferns, , Britain and Argentina, pp. 347–8.Google Scholar

80 Lewis, , ‘Problems of Railway Development’, p. 36.Google Scholar

81 Ibid.. p. 70.

82 Ricardo, M. Ortíz, El Ferrocarril en Ia Economía Argentina (2nd. ed., Buenos Aires, 1958), pp. 31–2. Yet, bearing in mind the size achieved by Argentina’s railway system, it is unrealistic to conclude, as does Ortíz, that state activities in railways ‘constituyan por si solos una actividad comparable a la desarrollada por los organismos ferroviarios de origen extranjero’. If possible, Scalabrini is even more unreliable in this respect.Google Scholar Raúl Scalabrini, Ortíz, Hisloria de los Ferrocarriles Argentinos (Buenos Aires, 1940), passim.Google Scholar

83 Ferns, , Britain and Argentina, p. 334.Google Scholar

84 Burgin, , Economic Aspects of Argentine Federalism, p. 55.Google Scholar

85 The Economist, 10 1869, p. 1191.Google Scholar

86 Ferns, , Britain and Argentina, p. 311.Google Scholar

87 John, Fogarty, Ezequiel, Gallo, and Héctor, Dieguez (eds), Argentina y Anstralia (Buenos Aires, 1979), p. 15.Google Scholar

88 Butlin, N. H., Investment in Australian Economic Development, 1861–1900 (Cambridge, 1964), pp. 32–33.Google Scholar

89 Ibid., p. 31.

90 Carlos, Díaz Alejandro, Essays in the Economic History of the Argentine Republic (New Haven, 1970), p. 31.Google Scholar