The Duke of Linares entered Mexico in 1710. The first years of his administration were uneventful, nor was his whole government distinguished, in fact, by any matter which will make it particularly memorable in the history of New Spain.
In 1712, Philip V. found himself master of nearly the whole of Spain, and being naturally anxious to end the war with honor, his emmissaries improved every opportunity to withdraw members of the combined powers from a contest which threatened to be interminable. Accordingly, he approached the English with the temptations of trade, and through his ambassadors who were assisting at the congress of Utrecht, he proposed that the British Queen Anne should withdraw from the contest, if he granted her subjects the right to establish trading houses in his ports on the main and in the islands, for the purpose of supplying the colonies with African slaves. A similar contract had been made ten years before with the French, and was about to expire on the 1st of May.