Britain had gained a thirty-year asiento, or…
January 1739 CE
Britain had gained a thirty-year asiento, or contract-right, to supply an unlimited number of slaves to the Spanish colonies, and five hundred tons of goods per year by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 at the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession.
This had provided British traders and smugglers potential inroads into the traditionally closed markets in Spanish America.
However, Britain and Spain have often been at war during this period, fighting one another in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20), the Blockade of Porto Bello (1726) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729).
In the Treaty of Seville (1729), following the Anglo-Spanish War, Britain had accorded Spanish warships the right to stop British traders and verify if the asiento right was respected.
Over time the Spanish had become suspicious that British traders were abusing the contract and had begun to board ships and confiscate their cargoes.
In their attempt to enforce the ban on foreign ships trading with Spanish colonies in the West Indies and South America, the Spanish authorities have arrested the crews of numerous British ships and tortured some, such as the notable case of Robert Jenkins, who in April 1731 had had his ear cut off by Spanish Coast Guards.
After very strained relations between 1727 and 1732, the situation had improved between 1732 and 1737, when Sir Robert Walpole had supported Spain during the War of Polish Succession, but the causes of the problems remain.
The opposition against Walpole having grown, so has the anti-Spanish sentiment among the British public.
In spring 1738, Jenkins had repeated his story with dramatic details before a committee of the House of Commons, producing his severed ear, pickled in a jar.
The issue had provoked a surge of public opinion in Britain clamoring for a military solution.
The Spanish are not in a position to fight, and are keen to avoid war.
The British cabinet, dominated by Walpole and the Duke of Newcastle, also wants to maintain peace, Delegates from both sides, meeting at the El Pardo palace in Madrid from late 1738, have drawn up a basic agreement by January 1739.
The British had initially demanded two hundred thousand pounds in compensation but ultimately reduced this claim to just ninety-five thousand pounds.
Spain had initially demanded unlimited rights to search vessels, but they had eventually agreed to territorial limits.
Britain is also to pay Spain sixty-eight thousand pounds in return for not-payment of proceeds from the Asiento.
The signatories also agree to further discussion of the boundaries of Georgia.
The chief British negotiator Sir Benjamin Keene feels Britain has got a good deal from the Convention, which is signed on January 14.
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