PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 



29 



pressed by England with great energy and warmth, 

 and strenuously resisted by Spain. On the 23d 

 March, 1851, Senor Bertran de Lis writes to Lord 

 Howden : 



" But it seems impossible that the well-known 

 perspicuity of the Cabinet of London should have 

 overlooked in its turn the immense responsibility 

 imposed upon the queen's government by the pre- 

 sent circumstances of the Spanish Antilles, and the 

 stringent duty in which it is placed, of proceeding 

 with the greatest prudence and circumspection, in 

 all matters which may exercise- either directly or 

 indirectly any influence upon the social and political 

 situation of those colonies. 



" You are aware of the dangers by which these 

 colonies are menaced. You know that for the pre- 

 vention of these dangers, for the consolidation of the 

 security and preservation of its transatlantic posses- 

 sions, her majesty's government, hitherto, unfortu- 

 nately, reduced to its own means, cannot as yet rely 

 upon the decided protection of its most important 

 allies." 1 



The moment was opportune for England, and she 

 did not hesitate to take advantage of it. General 

 Lopez was at that time preparing in this country his 



1 Report on the Slave Trade, &c., 1853, p. 72. 



