In 1738, Jenkins appeared in Parliament to testify about his treatment. Other merchants sent petitions, and the powerful South Sea Company mobilised popular opinion. To many, the Spanish Empire was crumbling, and its South American possessions were ripe for the picking. A vociferous group in Parliament demanded war with Spain. Walpole was adamantly opposed to such a policy and became a target for unprecedented attacks. Newcastle too came under intense pressure but initially considered the demands for Britain to declare war with Spain a dangerous step, and in spite of his increasingly bellicose statements, he still considered the idea of an Anglo-Spanish alliance as late as 1739. He tried to negotiate a solution to the crisis with the Convention of Pardo, which agreed a sum of compensation to be paid to British merchants, but British public opinion had shifted, and Walpole felt that there was no option but to declare war in December 1739.