Anson's voyage. These changes seriously affected the position of Spain on the west side of the continent. Indeed, her power there had already been challenged, for in 1740–44 Commodore George Anson was sent by the British Admiralty to attack Spain in the Pacific, especially along the coasts of South America and in the Philippines. Through great misfortunes at sea, the program of offensive warfare could be carried out only partially. Yet, Anson stormed Payta, a town on the Peruvian coast, and captured it; he cruised off the Mexican coast in search of the Manila galleon, which went into hiding and escaped him. He afterward captured one of the galleons in the Philippines, taking a prize valued at $1,500,000. The voyage was completed by sailing to China and around the Cape of Good Hope to England. It was believed that had the squadron rounded Cape Horn at the proper season, thus avoiding undue losses, it could easily have captured Baldivia in Chili, terrified that kingdom and "awed the most distant parts of the Spanish Empire in America."[1]
Arthur Dobbs prophesies British expansion in the Pacific. About the time of Anson's return from the Pacific, Mr. Arthur Dobbs, a public spirited English gentleman, issued a book[2] in which he pointed to the Pacific as the most promising field of British explor-
