The Spanish Colonial Question¹

Abstract

The Napoleonic Wars had virtually assured the emancipation of Spanish America, but European recognition of this newly won independence remained as important diplomatic question for a decade thereafter (1815–1825). By the fall of 1822, this question, like the slave trade, had become an issue to be decided primarily between Britain and France, since the interests of the other continental powers were only remotely involved. The role of the Congress of Verona, appears to have been that of a watershed in the colonial quest for European recognition.

If France occupied Spain, was it necessary, in order to avoid the consequences of that occupation, that we should blockade Cadiz? No. I looked another way. I sought materials for compensation in another hemisphere. Contemplating Spain, such as our ancestors had known her, I resolved that if France had Spain, it should not be Spain ‘With the Indies.’ I CALLED THE NEW WORLD INTO EXISTENCE, TO REDRESS THE BALANCE OF THE OLD. — Canning, 1826.²