Treaty of Lircay

Treaty of Lircay (May 3, 1814) was a truce treaty agreed between the Royalist and the Patriot forces during the Chilean War of Independence.

Due to the exhaustion of both armies in conflict after the long 1813 campaign and the battles of El Membrillar and Quechereguas, the arrival of the English Captain of the HMS Phoebe, James Hillyar with instructions from the Viceroy of Peru José Fernando de Abascal to negotiate with the rebels was considered opportune.

The treaty was signed on the banks of the Lircay River, about 7 kilometers outside the city of Talca by the commander of the Royal Armies in the province of Concepción, brigadier Gabino Gaínza, and the representatives of the Chilean Supreme Director Francisco de la Lastra, brigadiers Bernardo O'Higgins and Juan Mackenna.

It was during these negotiations that O'Higgins met José Antonio Rodríguez Aldea, who was the secretary of the Royalist Commander, and who later went on to become O'Higgins' minister of finance and one of the main causes of his unpopularity and eventual downfall.

The treaty was composed of 16 articles, plus a preamble. In the preamble, the treaty laid all blame for the destruction of the Kingdom on the Carrera family (without directly naming them). In the document proper the patriots reaffirmed their loyalty to King Ferdinand VII, defined Chile as an integral part of the Spanish monarchy, and promised to financially help the Spanish treasury within the economic possibilities of the country, to send deputies to the Cádiz Cortes, to abandon the use of their own flag and re-adopt the royal standard and to pull back all patriot troops north of the Lontué River.

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