“Perfectly Compatible Objects”: Mr. Pitt Contemplates Britain And South America

Abstract

“What may be the consequence to Spain of an hostile armament appearing off Mexico and Peru time only can discover; but there is every reason to suppose, from the present insurgent state of these Spanish settlements, that it would require but little address in a British Commander to excite a revolt” (“What” 3). The Times’ risky speculation in May 1790 adumbrates the beginning of British involvement with the “insurgent Spanish settlements” in the Romantic period. Earlier that year, Francisco de Miranda, known as “el Precursor” because he promoted the independence of Latin America long before Simon Bolívar appeared on the scene, had proposed to William Pitt that “England would assist [South America] to shake off the infamous oppression in which Spain keeps her” (“Proposal” 15: 111), and in exchange, England would obtain “the commercial intercourse to be formed between the English and natives upon the Grand Coasts of South America” (“Note” 15: 128). Miranda offered the vista of new markets in exchange for military assistance, no small incentive given the shift underway in the Atlantic economic system in the closing decades of the eighteenth century.¹ Adam Smith, whom Miranda read, called attention to South America’s potential in The Wealth of Nations.