Treaty of Paris (8 October 1801)

France and Russia signed a treaty of peace in Paris on 8 October 1801.[1] The treaty formally ended Russo-French hostilities in the War of the Second Coalition.[2] Two days later, on 10 October, they signed a secret convention of alliance.[1] The signatories for both were Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord for France and Count Arkady Morkov for Russia.[3] Ratifications were exchanged on 11 October. The French law recognizing the treaty is dated 9 December 1801.[3]

The public peace treaty contained declarations of perpetual peace and friendship. The secret convention contained the real bases for Franco-Russian relations going forward. It contained an agreement to work together to a satisfactory arrangement in the Holy Roman Empire, which at the time was in the process of putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Lunéville of 9 February 1801 through the a Reichsdeputation. France and Russia declared it their intent to find a "just equilibrium between the Houses of Austria and Brandenburg", that is, between the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollern.[2] Since the Tsar Alexander I was related to the rulers of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg, First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte agreed to increase to their power to counterbalance the Habsburgs of Austria and Hohenzollern of Brandenburg–Prussia.[1]

The Russo-French peace was part of a flurry of diplomatic activity winding down the War of the Second Coalition. Shortly before the peace with Russia, France signed a preliminary agreement with the United Kingdom in London on 1 October. This ultimately resulted in the Peace of Amiens.[4] On 4 October, Morkov signed a peace treaty in Paris with Spain.[5] Between the two Franco-Russian agreements, France signed a preliminary peace with the Ottoman Empire in Paris on 9 October. This was finalized in the Treaty of Paris of June 1802.[6]