Treaty of Basel (July 22, 1795)

The Treaty of Basel between the French Republic and the Monarchy of Charles IV of Spain, signed on July 22, 1795 in the Swiss town of Basel, put an end to the War of the Convention between the two countries that had begun in March 1793 and that had turned out to be a disaster for the Spanish monarchy, since the Basque provinces and part of Catalonia ended up occupied by French troops. This treaty was signed after the peace between France and Prussia agreed in April of that same year.

History

The military disaster and the pitiful situation in which the royal treasury was left - the expenses of the war had caused a serious deficit -, along with the appearance of "Catalan" and "Basque" sentiments in the " «provinces»" where he was fighting, they forced Manuel Godoy to start peace negotiations. On the French side there was also war fatigue, and the fall of Robespierre in July 1794 and the coming to power of the moderate republicans or Thermidorians opened a new stage in the Republic. After some initial unsuccessful contacts, the negotiations took place in Basel, where François Barthélemy, representative of the French Republic to the Swiss Confederation, resided, where Domingo de Iriarte, ambassador of the Monarchy of Charles IV at the court of Warsaw, attended, who knew to Barthélemy since his stay at the Paris embassy in 1791, a friendship that made it much easier to reach an agreement - which was also favored by the death in prison of the Dauphin Louis XVII on June 8, 1795, since Charles IV demanded his release. as a condition for achieving peace. Thus, the two plenipotentiaries finally signed the Treaty of Basel on July 22, 1795, which put an end to the Convention War.

By virtue of it, Spain achieved the return of all the territory occupied by the French south of the Pyrenees but had to cede to France, in exchange, its part of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, although it kept Louisiana, also claimed by the French. This part of the treaty could not be carried out, due to the Haitian Revolution, with Spain maintaining this possession (current Dominican Republic), until the invasion from Haiti by Toussaint Louverture in January 1801.

In a secret clause, another controversial issue was resolved: the release of the sister of the deceased Dauphin and daughter of Louis XVI (Mary Theresa of France), who would be delivered to the Emperor of Austria. In another secret article it was stipulated:

For five consecutive years since the ratification of the present treaty the French republic will be able to extract from Spain mares and horses fathers of Andalusia, and sheep and rams of merino cattle, in number of fifty fathers horses, one hundred and fifty mares, one thousand sheep and one hundred rams a year

On the other hand, the Treaty opened the door to improving relations between the Monarchy of Spain and the French Republic because in its article 1 it not only spoke of peace, but of "friendship and good intelligence between the King of Spain and the French Republic", and another article even spoke of the signing of a "new trade treaty", although this never saw the light of day. According to the historian Enrique Giménez, "the modesty of the French claims" was due to the fact that "The Republic sought reconciliation with Spain and reissue the alliance that had united the two neighboring powers during the 18th century against the common British enemy."

As a reward for the success of the treaty, Manuel Godoy, first Secretary of State and Office, received from the kings the title of "Prince of Peace", something that went against the tradition of the Hispanic Monarchy that only recognized the title of prince to the heir to the throne - in this case the first-born male of the kings, Fernando, Prince of Asturias.