The fortress of Fuenterrabía was also besieged in May 1719 by the French army commanded by the Duke of Berwick. Once a breach was opened in June, it surrendered on the 16th of the same month, without King Philip V being able to relieve it. The siege, which lasted one month, ended with a capitulation allowing the people of Hondarribia to leave “to the sound of drums.”
New Navarrese Attempt (1743-1757)
The report of the Cortes of Navarre of 1795 again provides important information:
« In the instruction given by the Cortes in 1743 and 1744, the same objective was pursued: to the incorporation of Fuenterrabía, as without it Navarrese merchants would be almost at the mercy of the Consulate and Province of Guipuzcoa, which, by imposing extra taxes on goods or under the pretext of public needs, could undermine our trade. And, since Fuenterrabía was not part of this Kingdom, jurisdictional disputes would arise, and the cases of our merchants would be appealed to the Chancery of Valladolid—classic inconveniences all resolved when Fuenterrabía was separated from Guipuzcoa. The most illustrious Diputación dealt with this matter with the greatest circumspection in consultation with the city of Fuenterrabía, which, willing to become a member of Navarre, consulted in 1747 the bishop of Casia and Don Juan Gregorio Muniain, then governor of the fortress. The first raised no substantial obstacles, and the second only those concerning the reason of state, since we would have subjected our interests, if the case arose, to the discretion of France, if it established customs on the shores under its authority and allowed its troops to cross the Pyrenees. Following Muniain’s advice, the Diputación withdrew the , which the Cortes considered null and void in 1757. »
In 1754, « the city of Fuenterrabía, with the towns under its jurisdiction, namely the universities of Irún and Lezo and the town of Pasajes in its district », empowered the lawyers Don Juan de Arriaga and Don Miguel Antonio de Casadevante to manage in Madrid and before the Navarrese Diputación its reincorporation into Navarre. In return, it ed a seat in the Cortes with voice and vote and wished to maintain its military, civil, and economic superiority over its subordinates.