UTRECHT, TREATY OF, the general name given to the important series of treaties which in 1713 and 1714 con cluded the War of the Spanish Succession (q.v.).
The congress opened on Jan. 29, 1712. But it was not until July 1o, 1712, that King Philip of Spain signed a renunciation of his rights to the succession of the crown of France. Then, England and France having concluded a truce, the pace was quickened and the main treaties were signed on April 11, 1713.
By the treaty between England and France Louis XIV. recog nized the Protestant succession in England and undertook to give no further aid to the Stuarts. France ceded to England, Newfound land, Nova Scotia or Acadia, the island of St. Kitts or St. Christopher, and the Hudson's bay territory, and promised to demolish the fortifications of Dunkirk.
The treaty between France and the United Provinces was mainly concerned with securing the barrier of fortresses. These arrangements were somewhat complicated and to a large extent provisional, as Austria and Bavaria, two countries deeply in terested in the fate of the Netherlands, had not yet assented to the terms of peace. By a commercial treaty concluded on the same day, France gave the Dutch privileges similar to those enjoyed by England. Other treaties concluded at the same time were between France and Savoy, France and Prussia, and France and Portugal. By the first the duke of Savoy regained Savoy and Nice, and France undertook to obtain for him the island of Sicily and the title of king. By the second Prussia secured some small additions of territory, including part of Gelderland and Neuchatel; in return France definitely and fin ally obtained the principality of Orange. The treaty between France and Portugal mainly concerned the Portuguese settle ments in Brazil, her claim to these being recognized by France.
Other treaties were signed at Utrecht between Spain and the allies, Philip now concluding these as the recognized king of Spain. On July 13, 1713, a treaty was signed between England and Spain, which embodied certain commercial arrangements previously made between the two countries. Spain ceded to England Gibraltar and Minorca, and promised to give up Sicily to Savoy. She gave also to England the monopoly for 3o years of the lucrative slave trade with Spanish America, hitherto enjoyed by France : this was the famous Asiento Treaty. The peace between Spain and the United Provinces was signed on June 26, 1714, but the conclusion of that between Spain and Portugal was delayed until the following February. The former was concerned mainly with commercial matters, Spain giving the United Provinces most-favoured-nation treatment.
The Treaty of Utrecht also provided compensation for the Emperor Charles VI. as soon as he surrendered his claim to Spain. He was to receive Naples and Milan, and also the Spanish Netherlands, henceforward known as the Austrian Netherlands.
But the general pacification was still incomplete, as France and the Empire continued at war. It was not long, however, bef ore Charles VI. realized that without allies he was no match for France. Accordingly, his representative, Prince Eugene, met the French marshal Villars at Rastatt in Nov. 1713, and here peace was made on March 7, 1714, Charles VI. concluding the treaty without waiting for the assent of the States of the Empire. This consent, however, was necessary, and a little later the rep resentatives of some of the princes of the Empire met those of France at Baden, where, on Sept. 7, 1714, the Treaty of Baden, the last of the treaties included in the ge.neral peace of Utrecht, was signed. This dealt entirely with the question of the frontier between France and the Empire, which was restored as it was before the war except that France gained Landau.
One other important matter was dealt with at Utrecht. A second barrier treaty between England and the United Provinces was signed on Jan. 3o 17_13, and a third treaty signed at Ant werp on Nov. 15 1715 clinched the matter. Seven fortresses were to be garrisoned by a total of 35,00o men, three-fifths of the cost being borne by the imperial government and the re mainder by the United Provinces.
' The treaties were bitterly assailed by the Whigs, and after the accession of George I. four of its Tory authors, Bolingbroke, Oxford, Ormonde and Strafford, were impeached for concluding it, the charges brought against them being that they had cor responded with the queen's enemies and had betrayed the honour and interests of their own country.