Franco-Maratha Treaty of 1716
Posted: 21:31:04 Friday, 28 October, 2016
Franco-Maratha Treaty of 1716
Recognising the long-standing ties of trade and friendship between the Maratha Empire and the Kingdom of France, and the efforts of Great Britain and the Mughal Empire to deny all other nations and peoples, both within the Indian subcontinent and without, their rights to trade - as well as their sovereign rights to exist - the following treaty of friendship, alliance and trade is hereby signed.
Recognising the long-standing ties of trade and friendship between the Maratha Empire and the Kingdom of France, and the efforts of Great Britain and the Mughal Empire to deny all other nations and peoples, both within the Indian subcontinent and without, their rights to trade - as well as their sovereign rights to exist - the following treaty of friendship, alliance and trade is hereby signed.
The Kingdom of France will:The Maratha Empire will:
- Recognise the Maratha Empire as a legitimate, sovereign state in India, and that other claims on the Maratha Empire or its territories constitute a violation of the royal rights of the esteemed royal line of Bhonsale, the rightful rulers of their people.
- Undertake to assist the Maratha Empire, in all ways within our power, in enjoying the benefits of European civilisation, and as such immediately dispatching military and economic advisors to the court of the Chhatrapati.
Both the Kingdom of France and the Maratha Empire will:
- Grant full access to ships of the Kingdom of France and traders of the Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales (henceforth “FEIC”) to ports of the Maratha Empire.
- Grant the right to establish privileged and exclusive FEIC trading posts at Maratha ports.
- Guarantee protection for all assets under the control of the French East India Company against the enemies of the Kingdom of France.
- Grant a fifty percent reduction in taxes, tariffs and customs duties for French merchants trading in Maratha territories, rising to eighty percent for the permanent duration of the treaty if the defensive alliance is invoked.
- Grant the Kingdom of France the status of Most Favored Nation.
- Accept a permanent diplomatic mission between one another in our respective capital cities, to be accorded with the full honours and respect due.
- Recognise a formal treaty of defensive alliance between our two great monarchies, by which an attack upon the interests, territory or property of one (in the Indian subcontinent and Indian ocean) shall be regarded as an equal attack upon the other, and be responded to accordingly.