Just as in the case of the corso insurgente, Gastlereagh quickly realised that Spanish privateering had the potential to threaten Britain's neutrality in the Spanish American Wars of Independence. The problem he faced in this case was not that British merchant ships were being attacked by privateers commissioned by unrecognised states. Spain was an ancient nation and had been authorising privateering for centuries, which meant that Gastlereagh could openly communicate with the Spanish government on the subject through regular diplomatic channels. However, Spanish privateering still raised delicate questions of a political nature. By remaining neutral in the Spanish American Wars of Independence, the British government was aiming to expand British trade with independent Spanish American provinces without compromising the Anglo-Spanish alliance. Not only did Spanish privateers threaten this particular branch of trade, but Gastlereagh, in the way in which he responded to the threat, had to remain wary about antagonising Spain and jeopardising the Anglo-Spanish alliance. This chapter examines how Gastlereagh, and, later on, George Ganning, responded to Spanish privateering within this delicate political context.

Cautious Diplomacy 1813 to 1822

When Spanish privateers began to interfere with British trade and shipping from 1813 onwards, Gastlereagh responded along traditional lines. A hundred years previously, following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, British statesmen responded to the depredations of Spanish guardacostas in the American seas through diplomatic channels. A pattern emerged by which British diplomats would show respect for the jurisdiction of Spanish colonial prize courts but would raise objections whenever Britain’s interpretation of maritime rights appeared to have been violated. Such an approach helped to preserve the peace and at the same time allowed British officials to press Britain’s interpretation of the Law of Nations on the Spanish government.