Neutral Trade in the Early 18th-Century Spanish Atlantic: The "Friendship and Union" of Spain and France?

Shortly after the death of Spain’s last Habsburg monarch in 1699, Louis XIV sent naval ships to protect Spanish America from Dutch and English invaders. Later, while Spain’s first Bourbon king defended Spanish territory in Italy in 1701, the queen and governors issued a decree ordering viceroys, governors, and port officials to allow French vessels to enter Spanish American ports and to permit its’ sailors to engage in limited trade. Anticipating resistance, the Crown stressed that sailors should be allowed to trade for supplies and to seek refuge when persecuted by enemy ships in light of the "friendship and union of this Crown with that of France. "

The Spanish Crown depended on the protection of French ships through the entirety of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), but given its complicated history with France (who had only recently represented Spain’s greatest enemy) and its restrictive trade regulations, this “neutral trade” policy confused many of its subjects. Furthermore, the decree placed enough qualifications on trade that the Council of the Indies received numerous enquiries regarding exactly how to interpret the decree. This paper focuses on the role of French naval ships during the War of the Spanish Succession and the debates provoked regarding their rights to trade, especially in New Spain. I argue that limited trade with France not only awoke anxieties regarding the union of the Spanish and French Crowns with the rise of Philip V, but it also made smuggling easier. Many, including the viceroy of New Spain, would take advantage of Spain’s decree and use French ships to flood New Spain with contraband goods. While protecting Spanish sovereignty during the War of the Spanish Succession, French naval ships also helped to reveal the fragility of the Spanish mercantilist system.