Recognition answered one question
The agreement acknowledged English sovereignty over American territories then in English possession. It also provided aid in the other power’s ports for ships in distress. Haring gives the conclusion as 8/18 July 1670, reflecting the differing calendars. [1]
Recognition mattered to England’s position in the Caribbean. It was not the same thing as giving English merchants an unrestricted right to buy and sell throughout the Spanish colonies.
Trade remained a separate dispute
Haring explicitly distinguishes the settlement from general trading privileges. Restricted commerce and the logwood controversy continued to create friction after the treaty. [1]
That limit is central to understanding the aftermath. If every disputed transaction had become lawful in 1670, later seizures and demands for instructions would be difficult to explain.
An agreement in Europe still needed to be communicated
The treaty required publication in the West Indies. News and official instructions did not all arrive together. Haring describes a Spanish messenger bringing articles to Jamaica while Modyford still lacked formal notice from England. [1]
The timing does not automatically excuse every subsequent action. It does show why signing, receiving instructions and implementing a policy are different dates in a historical explanation.
Panama made the settlement more difficult
News of Morgan’s campaign provoked anger in Spain and required diplomatic assurances from English representatives. Modyford was recalled, while Lynch arrived with instructions to enforce the peace and revoke commissions prejudicial to Spain. [1]
The consequences crossed the ocean in both directions. Colonial violence could destabilize negotiations, and decisions made in Europe could alter the career of a governor in Jamaica.
Enforcement was a process of persuasion and coercion
Lynch offered pardon and alternative work while pursuing companies that continued raiding. Some submitted, some moved to other bases and some entered another ruler’s service. Haring’s examples show why a proclamation was not an instant transformation of all maritime behavior. [1]
Read Panama, logwood and later pardon policies. Peace changed the choices and labels available to participants; it still had to be made effective.
Questions, answered.
Did the treaty open every Spanish colonial port to English trade?
No. General freedom of commerce was not granted by this settlement.
Why do accounts give 8 and 18 July for the agreement?
Those are corresponding dates in the differing calendars then used; they should not be treated as two separate treaties.
Sources & reading notes
Source checks distinguish an artifact, a reported account and a modern interpretation. They do not constitute independent historian review.
- The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century (1910)Clarence Henry Haring; Project Gutenberg transcription · Early twentieth-century historical study; public domain in the USA
Chapter V, pp.197–199, treaty, publication and Panama controversy;Chapter VI, pp.200–203, Lynch’s instructions and enforcement. Haring gives 8/18 July 1670, reflecting the calendar difference; the dual date is retained where specified. An older secondary study drawing on colonial records and earlier narratives. Its imperial framing, racial generalizations and claims about national character are not adopted as fact. Not a substitute for current scholarship.
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