The Antigallican Affair: Public and Ministerial Responses to Anglo-Spanish Maritime Conflict in the Seven Years War, 1756–1758

Abstract

Abstract In the first year of the Seven Years War, on 26 December 1756, the British privateer Antigallican captured the French East Indiaman Le Duc de Penthièvre some way off of the Spanish town of Ferrol. In short order the Duc de Penthièvre was given back to the French by Spanish authorities. The actions of the Spanish were a violation of Spain’s stated neutrality in the conflict and led to a protracted diplomatic incident that tested the commitment of Britain’s government to the preservation of Spain’s maritime neutrality, which was key to Britain’s overall wartime maritime strategy. Focusing on the Antigallican affair, this article presents a case-study which affords insight into how ministers dealt with public opinion that was in opposition to strategic needs at a specific political point in time, and over a specific issue. It also suggests that using measures based on the volume and intensity of press coverage as a proxy for public influence on policy making is an uncertain approach. By looking more deeply into the political, personal, and historical contexts of making policy, a micro-history offers a more certain method for understanding the complexity of policy-making and the power of the press at any given time. The point of such a close study is not to generalise about the power of the press to influence policy in the mid-eighteenth century, rather, it is to show that such generalisations are fraught with unanticipated errors and assumptions that gloss over the complexity of interactions between politics and public opinion.