The Treaty of Bastia was an agreement signed in 1814 (near the end of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

) between

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

n nationalists and

Lord William Bentinck Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 177417 June 1839), known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British military commander and politician who served as the governor of the Be ...

, commander of British forces in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It gave sovereignty over the island to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

, while allowing local self-government. The treaty arose after assemblies of Corsican notables met in

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

, Saint-Florent, and

L'Île-Rousse L'Île-Rousse (; , , or , ; , ; ) is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It was founded in 1758 by Pasquale Paoli to create a port that would not be in the hands of the Genoese (such as Calvi). As ...

, and sent an invitation to Bentinck to send troops and take control of Corsica from French imperial forces. Bentinck sent British troops to Corsica, which drove out the French. Recalling the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom of 1794–1796, Bentinck signed the Treaty of Bastia. Bentinck was also an advocate of

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

and may have regarded the treaty as a step towards Corsica later joining Italy. The British Foreign Secretary, Castlereagh, rejected any revival of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom. He was a strong supporter of Bourbon Restoration in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and all its former dominions. As it had already been agreed by Britain and her allies that

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

was to rule Corsica, he sent an order to repudiate the treaty. The treaty was not universally accepted by Corsicans. The Court of Appeals in

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

specifically rejected its legality.

References

Bibliography

* Treaties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922) Napoleonic Wars treaties Treaty of Bastia 1814 treaties Treaty of Bastia {{Treaty-stub