Analysis
From a historical point of view, there is opinion that the treaty clearly favoured France. The territory of Spanish Louisiana, then inhabited by approximately 50,000 European settlers, extended from the Gulf of Mexico—the present day state of Louisiana—up to the Canadian borders, with a surface 100 times that of Tuscany. Moreover, Spain was losing the Duchy of Parma and the six battleships pledged in 1800. The treaty was then and later harshly criticised by historians.
Even Godoy blamed Urquijo's lack of expertise for the odd territorial exchange, adding also Urquijo's excessive admiration to France, and the king and queen's desire to favour their children—the infante Louis, nominated to the throne of Etruria, was king and queen's son-in-law, married to María Luisa de Borbón, Royal Couple's daughter. On the value of the territories he wrote:
(about Louisiana) ...because of our lack of means to provide it (Louisiana) with an increase at the same level of the other Spanish dominions of both Americas, not yielding much to our treasury, nor to our trade, and generating sizable expenses in money and soldiers without profit, and receiving other states in exchange of it, the return of the colony can be deemed as a gain, instead of a sacrifice.(...) Almost all is yet to be done, just a sprout of life on those unpopulated regions. In Tuscany all is done, cultivation perfect, industry flourishing, trade expanded, benign ways, civilization at high level, rich country in monuments and prodigies of art, in precious antiques, in magnificent libraries and renowned academies; a million and a half inhabitants; state revenues of about three million pesos fuertes, no debts; extension of six thousand five hundred square miles. —Manuel Godoy.Read more about this topic: Third Treaty Of San Ildefonso
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