House of Commons
Friday, February 2, 1816
Mr. Brougham gave notice, that on Thursday next he should move an Address to the Prince Regent on the subject of certain recent transactions in Spain.—Sir S. Romilly gave notice, that on Wednesday next he should move for leave to bring in a Bill to render Freehold Estates liable for the payment of Simple Contract Debts.—Mr. Bennet observing a right hon. gentleman in his place, wished to ask him if any steps had been taken to carry into execution the recommendation contained in a report of a committee of the House of last session, relative to the three prisons of the King's Bench, Marshal sea and Fleet?—Mr. Addington answered, that a copy of the Report had been transmitted to the Chief Justice of the court of King's Bench, and was at present under his consideration. With respect to the two other prisons, the Prince Regent had thought proper to adopt the suggestions of the committee, and commissioners had been accordingly appointed. This was all that he knew relative to this subject.—Mr. Bennet wished to know why an exception had been made in the case of the King's Bench prison?—Mr. Addington said, he believed that an option was left either to transmit the Report to the Judges or to appoint commissioners to investigate the subject.—Mr. Grenfell gave notice, that on Tuesday se'nnight he should submit a motion to the House relative to the subsisting engagements between the Bank of England and the public.
Property Tax
wished to put some questions to the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on a subject which now considerably agitated the public mind; he meant the Property-tax. His first question would be, whether it was the intention of the right hon. gentleman simply to propose the renewal of the Property-tax to the amount of five per cent. with only some few modifications in the Act; or whether it was his intention entirely to remove those inquisitorial powers, which had been the subject of such great complaints? Secondly, he wished to know, whether his object in proposing the renewal of this Tax was merely for a temporary purpose of reducing the national debt, or whether he looked to it as a permanent source of revenue? And as it had been stated pretty broadly that in no case should the sinking-fund be touched, he wished to know whether the whole of this fund was to be kept operative for the complete reduction of the national debt, or whether a part of it might not still be touched in the way of a loan.
admitted that these questions had been put to him in a very clear and candid manner. It was his wish to conceal nothing from the House with respect to this subject. The measure he intended to propose would be founded on the basis of the present act; but it was not his intention to propose the renewal of all its provisions, and he meant to propose some modifications. The object of those modifications would be to remove a part of the pressure from some classes of society, but by no means to exempt any class of the community from contributing its fair proportion. As to the duration of the tax, he should propose it, not as a permanent tax, but as a continuation of a war tax for a certain time. He should propose the continuance of it for two or three years, when it would be again open to the wisdom of Parliament to dispose of it as they should think proper. The question of its probable duration appeared to be now premature, and it was a question upon which he had by no means made up his own mind. As to the sinking-fund, it was his wish that, for the present year, the whole of the sinking-fund should be left in full operation for the reduction of the national debt. He wished it to be entirely appropriated to this purpose, as long as the public credit required this support. It was upon the faith of the Act of 1792 that by far the greater part of the present public debt was contracted. On the faith of this Act the subscribers had lent their money, and Parliament had guaranteed it in accepting the loans. He thought, therefore, that that Act could not be departed from, except upon grounds which were equally for the interest of the public cre- ditor as for the public itself. The act of 1813 was founded upon this principle; but there was no provision of it which was applicable to a state of peace. He was sure the hon. gentleman could not expect him to give any pledge with respect to the future conduct of Parliament on the subject; but he wished to disclaim, for his own part, any intention of touching the sinking-fund, in a manner which could affect the public credit.
wished to know whether, while he allowed the whole of the sinking-fund to go to the reduction of the national debt, the right hon. gentleman had any intention of adding to this debt by proposing a loan?
said, that he could not answer a question which must depend upon so many circumstances. He certainly did not mean to preclude himself from loans on the principle of the Act of 1813, if such loans should be necessary for the service of the country.
wished to know whether, in the income tax that was to be proposed, any relief would be given to the present pressure on the cultivators of lands? He also wished to know whether the tax on leather, and upon horses used in agriculture, would be taken off?
said, that it was impossible for him, at this early period of the session, to answer those questions. The attention of Parliament would certainly be called to the present state of the agricultural interest.
gave notice, that on an early day, he should call the attention of the House to the practice in the Court of Exchequer of granting extents in aid of any person who, by his affidavit, declared himself to be a debtor of the Crown. It was not his object to interfere with extents really issued to recover debts due to the Crown; but it was to prevent the abuse of private debts being recovered in this manner, without the regular forms of law.
The Prince Regent's Speech on Opening the Session
Mr Methuen brought up the report of the Address on the Prince Regent's Speech, which was read a first time. On the question of its second reading,
said, he could not avoid expressing his regret that the Address did not contain any expression of regret, on the part of the House, that parliament had not been sooner assembled. An earlier meeting of parliament was necessary, both on account of the foreign negociations that were pending, and on account of the unexampled distress which had fallen upon individuals. Yet it was in times of unexampled distress that ministers had resolved upon a prorogation of unexampled length. Although this distress fell most heavily upon the agricultural interests, yet there was no department of commerce with which he was acquainted, that did not also feel an unusual pressure. The Address spoke of the prosperous state of our commerce, manufactures, and trade. He was sorry, however, to say that he believed the very contrary to be the fact. Although, on the part of the agricultural interests, the distress was greatest, and indeed extreme, yet distress had also pervaded every branch of commerce. He did not state this by way of imputing any blame to ministers, as if they had caused the distress, or could have helped it; but he thought that, in such a state of things, they were most reprehensible for not having assembled parliament sooner. By the declaration from the throne, however, it would appear as if we were in the most comfortable state imaginable. As to calculating the prosperity of our trade from the increase of exports in the last year, it was well known that the reason of that increase was, that the trade with America having been long stopped by the war there was an unusual export to that country the year after its termination. He believed, however, that instead of reckoning this great export to America as a proof of the prosperity of our commerce, it would be found that there had been more loss than gain in this great increase of export. As to the favourable predictions of the right hon. gentleman with respect to our financial prospects, he should be sincerely rejoiced to find those predictions realized. If they were realized, this country would indeed present a most extraordinary phenomenon of a country impoverished in all its resources, and yet consuming the same quantity of excise able articles as when the different classes of the community were in circumstances more affluent. If the reduction of revenue had not immediately taken place, he attributed it, in a great measure, to the circumstance that people could not immediately limit their consumption and customary wants, although they knew their circumstances to be impaired. As to the assessed taxes, it was not at the option of individuals to make an immediate retrenchment. It was not sufficient to get rid of their carriages, horses, and so forth; but they were required by the act to give a certain notice of their intention of putting down those things, before they could relieve themselves from the tax.—There was another part of the Address in which he could not agree, and that was, the warm congratulation respecting the island of Ceylon. When the war with the king of Candy was finished there was almost as great a parade made about this victory as that of Waterloo. A great many captured colours were sent over, all made of the best silk, and just as pretty playthings as the trophies of the celebrated field of Waterloo. It was, however, a little extraordinary, that at a time when so much had been said of this country being the rallying point of legitimate governments, this point of legitimacy did not appear to be much attended to in the island of Ceylon. The title of king of Candy would probably be added to that of "defender of the faith," and those other brilliant titles which adorn our crown: and yet, in taking this brilliant title, there would be some departure from the boasted principle of legitimacy. In general Brownrigg's proclamation, after mentioning the long name and titles of his Candian Majesty (which he would not now venture to repeat), the general says, that "having been in the habitual violation of the most sacred duties of a sovereign, he was thereby declared to be fallen and deposed from the office of a king." He might congratulate ministers on having so good a whig governor in Ceylon. He found no fault with these expressions, although they were a little at variance with the doctrine of legitimacy that was now so much cried up. As to the term "the office of king," perhaps general Brownrigg might have subjected himself to some slight reprimand, for using so coarse and unceremonious a phrase applied to that high station. However, not only the king of Candy was deposed, but all his relations in the ascending, descending, and collateral line were cut off for ever from the succession. He did not doubt but that this king of Candy had committed many enormities for which he deserved to lose his throne: but he believed that there was another king who had committed quite as great enormities, and whom we were at great trouble in setting upon a throne. The question of our conduct in the dethroning this king, and possessing ourselves of his territories, was certainly a question which required much consideration before he could be satisfied with the justice of it. As to the cant about legitimacy, he thought it was likely to produce mischief. To the people it could do no good, but it might put into the heads of some weak and wicked princes, that they had other titles to rule besides those upon which a good government rested its support.
admitted that distress prevailed in the country to a considerable extent, but considered it as the necessary and unavoidable consequence of the events that had taken place. The price of commodities had also materially risen: this likewise was an inevitable consequence of the same course of things, and unless that course continued, it was impossible that our commerce should continue on the same scale in which it had lately been carried on. The pressure of the moment had fallen chiefly on the body of exporters; but it had become almost necessary that some check should be given to inordinate speculation. However severe the regimen that circumstances had produced, he considered it on the whole as salutary and wholesome. Still he admitted that the severity of distress prevailed in many instances; but if ministers would take the situation of the country into their serious consideration; if they would, to the best of their power, apportion among the different branches of society the burthens to be borne by the public, this would be found the most effectual means to make our revenue and expenditure meet. The measures in contemplation with regard to the mode in which the exigencies of the country were to be supplied, were not of a permanent, but of a temporary nature. He thought, therefore, there was no inconsistency in the statement that our commerce and revenue were in a flourishing state, and he could not reproach himself with having acted wrong, in voting for the Address.
agreed, that for the most part the distress that prevailed was temporary; but he could not consider this to be the case with the agricultural interest. The pressure on that portion of society was not occasioned by any temporary or transient causes, but arose from the operation of positive laws; and it was not till these laws were repealed that agriculture could again hold up its head. It arose from that system of taxation that operated almost exclusively upon the husbandman; and if this system were continued, the agriculture of this country could never retrieve itself. He thought some mode must be adopted of apportioning taxation equally among the different branches of society; and certain he was that none could be gainers by the distress of the agriculturist. However the stockholder might at present seem to have the advantage, he would find in the end that the prosperity of agriculture was the only firm basis of security. He observed, that one part of the address from the throne recommended union among all classes of society, to ensure that prosperity which could not fail to ensue from the success we had enjoyed. He did not know exactly what was meant by this; he was aware of no disunion, unless we could designate as such that spirit which actuated every individual to save himself as far as possible from the gripe of exclusive taxation; but certainly the greatest disunion might prevail unless all were willing to bear the weight of equal taxation. There were several taxes, bearing excessively on the agriculturist, which must be repealed. There was the Malttax; a tax which amounted almost to a prohibition of that article; a tax which operated most cruelly on the industrious peasant, who could not now obtain a drop of that invigorating beverage so necessary to the discharge of his laborious functions. He thought we should review our taxes as they affected the titheholders. When agricultural produce bore a high price, every tax upon that produce operated as a bonus on tithes; because they always rose in proportion to the nominal price of commodities. But though the sellers of some commodities were no losers by the imposition of a tax (as was the case, for instance, with the wine-merchant), yet it was not so with the farmer: in agriculture there was such a competition, that the smaller farmers could not wait for a rise of price, but must bring their goods to market immediately. If, therefore, other duties were to be lessened, we must at least be careful to impose no taxes on agriculture, in which the titheholders should not also participate. The titheholder, we must remember, was a gainer by all improvements, although he was at no expense towards their adoption. Upon the whole, he was convinced that our agriculture, unless assisted, must very soon fail to supply the necessities of the country. He had taken the liberty of saying these few words, because he was acquainted with many practical agriculturists, and he was certain that there never was a time in which not only tenants, but landlords also, felt greater depression, and distress, and that unless we altered the system, we should find this not the height, but the beginning of all our evils. The artificial currency of the country he considered as one cause, and as a great aggravation of the distress that prevailed. He did not say that we could altogether remedy this distress, but he thought it incumbent on the House to direct all their attention to lighten the burthens of the agriculturist, and put him on a fair relation with the titheholder and landholder. He had made these observations from no selfish motives; the little property he possessed was almost equally divided, partly real and partly funded; but he was convinced that our security must ultimately depend on the protection afforded the agricultural interest.
The Address was then agreed to, and ordered to be presented by such members as were members of the privy council.
Copy of the General Treaty Signed in Congress at Vienna
Lord Castlereagh presented to the House, by command of the Prince Regent, a Paper intituled, "General Treaty, signed in Congress at Vienna, June 9, 1815, with the Acts thereunto annexed." Of which the following is a translation:
GENERAL TREATY,
SIGNED
IN CONGRESS,
AT VIENNA, JUNE 9, 1815; WITH THE
ACTS
THEREUNTO ANNEXED.
LIST.
GENERAL TREATY of Congress, signed at Vienna, 9 June, 1815.
1. Treaty between Russia and Austria, 21 April, 3 May.
2. Treaty between Russia and Prussia, 21 April, 3 May.
3. Additional Treaty, relative to Cracow, between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, 21 April, 3 May.
Constitution of the Free City of Cracow, 3 May.
4. Treaty between Prussia and Saxony, 18 May.
5. Declaration of the King of Saxony, and Acceptation, on the rights of the House of Schoenburg, 18 & 19 May.
6. Treaty between Prussia and Hanover, 29 May.
7. Convention between Prussia and the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1 June.
8. Convention between Prussia and the Duke and Prince of Nassau, 31 May.
9. Federative Constitution of Germany, 8 June.
10. Treaty between the King of the Low Countries and Prussia, England, Austria, and Russia, 31 May.
Act for the acceptance of the Sovereignty of the Belgic Provinces, by his Royal Highness, signed at the Hague, 21 July, 1814.
11. Declaration of the Powers on the affairs of the Helvetic Confederacy, signed at Vienna, 20 March, 1815.
Acceptance of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation, signed at Zurich, 27 May.
12. Protocal on the cessions made by the King of Sardinia to the Canton of Geneva, signed at Vienna, 29 March.
13. Treaty between the King of Sardinia, Austria, England, Russia, Prussia, and France, 20 May.
14. Conditions which are to serve as the bases of the union of the Genoese States to those of his Sardinian Majesty, 20 May.
Cession made by his Majesty the King of Sardinia, to the Canton of Geneva, 20 May.
15. Declaration of the Powers regarding the abolition of the Slave Trade, 8 February.
16. Regulations for the free navigation of rivers, 8 February.
Articles concerning the navigation of the Rhine, 8 February.
Articles concerning the navigation of the Necker, of the Mayne, of the Moselle, of the Meuse, and of the Scheldt, 8 February.
17. Regulation concerning the precedence of Diplomatic Agents, 19 March.
GENERAL TREATY.
(Translation.)
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
The Powers who signed the Treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of May 1814, having assembled at Vienna, in pursuance of the 32d Article of that Act, with the princes and states their Allies, to complete the provisions of the said Treaty, and to add to them the arrangements rendered necessary by the state in which Europe was left at the termination of the last war, being now de, sirous to embrace, in one common transaction, the various results of their negociations, for the purpose of confirming them by their reciprocal ratifications, have authorized their Plenipotentiaries to unite, in a general in- strument, the regulations of superior and permanent interest, and to join to that act, as integral parts of the arrangements of Congress, the Treaties, Conventions, Declarations, Regulations, and other particular acts, as cited in the present Treaty. And the above-mentioned powers having appointed Plenipotentiaries to the Congress, that is to say:
His majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Clement-Venceslas-Lothaire, Prince de Metternich-Winnebourg-Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand-Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander-Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of he Goldon Eagle of Würtemberg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the military Order of Maria-Theresa, a Trustee of the Academy of the Fine Arts, Chamberlain, Privy Councillor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Minister of State, of Conferences, and of Foreign Affairs; and the Sieur Baron de Wessenberg, Knight Grand-Cross of the Military and Religious Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, Grand-Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, and of the Crown of Bavaria, Chamberlain, and Privy Councillor of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty.
His Majesty the King of Spain, and the Indies, Don Peter Gomez Labrador, Knight of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles 3; his Counsellor of State.
His Majesty the King of France and Navarre, the Sieur Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince of Talleyrand, Peer of France, Minister, Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Grand-Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, of the Order of St. Andrew, of the Orders of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, of the Order of the Elephant, of the Order of St. Hubert, of the Crown of Saxony, of the Order of St. Joseph, of the Order of the Sun of Persia, &c. &c. &c. The Sieur Duke d'Alberg, Minister of State to his Majesty the King of France and Navarre, Grand-Cordon of the Legion of Honour, of that of Fidelity of Baden, and Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; the Sieur Count Gouvernet de Latour du Pin, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, and of the Legion of Honour, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of his said Majesty to his Majesty, the King of the Netherlands; and the Sieur Alexis Count de Noailles, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, Grand-Cross of the Royal and Military Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Leopold of St. Wolodimir, of Merit of Prussia, and Colonel in the service of France.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Privy Counsellor of his said Majesty, Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Londonderry Regiment of Militia, his principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, &c. &c. &c. The most excellent and most illustrious Lord Arthur Wellesley, Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Wellington, Marquess Douro, Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington, and Baron Douro of Wellesley, Privy Councillor of his said Majesty, Marshal of his armies, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse-Guards, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, and Knight Grand-Cross of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath: Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Grandee of Spain of the First Class, Duke of Vittoria, Marquess of Torres Vedras, Conde de Vimeira in Portugal; Knight Of the most illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, of the Military Order of St. Ferdinand of Spain, Knight Grand-Cross of the Imperial and Military Order of Maria-Theresa, Knight Grand-Cross of the Military Order of St. George of Russia of the First Class; Knight Grand-Cross of the Royal and Military Order of the Tower and Sword of Portugal; Knight Grand-Cross of the Royal and Military Order of the Sword of Sweden, &c. &c. &c. The right honourable Richard Le Poer Trench, Earl of Clancarty, Viscount Dunlo, Baron Kilconnel, Privy Councillor of his said Majesty, President of the Committee of Council for the Affairs of Trade and Colonies, Post-Master General, Colonel of the Galway Regiment of Militia, and Knight Grand-Cross of the most honourable Order of the Bath. The right honourable William Shaw, Earl Cathcart, Viscount Cathcart, Baron Cathcart and Greenock, Peer of Parliament, Privy Councillor of his said Majesty, Knight of the most ancient and most honourable Order of the Thistle, and of the Orders of Russia, General of his armies, Vice-admiral of Scotland, Colonel of the second regiment of Life-Guards, his Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russia. And the right honourable Charles William Stewart, Lord Stewart, a Lord of his Majesty's bed-chamber, Privy Councillor of his said Majesty, Lieutenant-general of his armies, Colonel of the twentieth Regiment of Light Dragoons, Governor of Fort Charles in Jamaica, Knight Grand-Cross of the most honourable military Order of the Bath, Knight Grand-Cross of the Orders of the Black and Red Eagle of Prussia, Knight Grand-Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword of Portugal, and Knight of the Order of St. George of Russia.
His royal highness the Prince Regent of the kingdoms of Portugal and the Brazils, the Sieur Don Peter de Sousa Holstein, Count of Palmella, a member of his council, Commander of the Order of Christ, captain of the German Company of Body Guards, Grand Cross of the royal and distinguished Order of Charles 3 of Spain. The Sieur Antonio de Saldanha da Gama, a member of his Council and of the Finances, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, Commander of the Military Order of St. Benedict of Avez, First Equerry to her royal highness the Princess of Brazil. And the Sieur Don Joachim Lobo da Silveira, a member of his Council, Commander of the Order of Christ.
His majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia, of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the first class of Russia, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of Charles 3 of Spain, of St. Hubert of Bavaria, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia Knight of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Elephant of Denmark, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, and of several others. And the Sieur Charles William, Baron de Humboldt, his Minister of State, Chamberlain, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Knight of the Grand Order of the Red Eagle, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia of the first class, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Anne of Russia, of the Order of Leopold of Austria, and of the Crown of Bavaria.
His majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Andrew, Prince de Rasoumoffsky, his Privy Councillor, Senator, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Wolodimir, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St Anne of the first class, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen, and of those of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle of Prussia. The Sieur Gustavus Count de Stackelberg, his Privy Counsellor, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Chamberlain, Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Newsky, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Wolodimir and of St. Anne of the first class, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle of Prussia. And the Sieur Charles, Count de Nesselrode, his Privy Councillor, Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Newsky, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Wolodimir of the second class, of St. Stephen of Hungary, of the Red Eagle of Prus- sia, of the Polar Star of Sweden, and of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg.
His majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, the Sieur Charles Axel, Count de Lowenhielm, Major-general of his Armies, Colonel of a regiment of Infantry, Chamberlain, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his majesty the Emperor of all the Russia, Vice Chancellor of his Orders, Commander of his Order of the Polar Star, and Knight of the Order of the Sword; Knight of the Orders of Russia, of St. Anne of the first class, and of St. George of the fourth class; Knight of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle of the first class, and Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
Such of the above Plenipotentiaries as have assisted at the close of the negociations, after having produced their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to place in the said general Instrument, the following Articles, and to affix to them their signatures:
ARTICLE I. The duchy of Warsaw, with the exception of the provinces and districts which are otherwise disposed of by the following Articles, is united to the Russian empire, to which it shall be irrevocably attached by its constitution, and be possessed by his majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his heirs and successors in perpetuity. His Imperial Majesty reserves to himself to give to this State, enjoying a distinct Administration, the interior improvement which he shall judge proper. He shall assume with his other titles that of Czar, King of Poland, agreeably to the form established for the titles attached to his other possessions.—The Poles, who are respective subjects of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, shall obtain a representation, and national institutions, regulated according to the degree of political consideration, that each of the governments to which they belong shall judge expedient and proper to grant them.
ART. II. The part of the duchy of Warsaw which his majesty the King of Prussia shall possess in full sovereignty and property, for himself, his heirs, and successors, under the title of the Grand Duchy of Posen, shall be comprised within the following line:
Proceeding from the frontier of Eastern Prussia to the village of Neuhoff, the new limit shall follow the frontier of Western Prussia, such as it subsisted from 1772 to the Peace of Tilsit, to the village of Leibitsch, which shall belong to the duchy of Warsaw; from thence shall be drawn a line, which, leaving Kompania, Grabowiec, and Szczytno to Prussia, passes the Vistula, near the last-mentioned place, from the other side of the river, which falls into the Vistula opposite Szczytno, to the ancient limit of the district of the Netze, near Gross Opoczko, so that Sluzewo shall belong to the duchy, and Przylranowa, Hollander, land Maciejewo, to Prussia. From Gross Opoczkzo it shall pass by Chlewiska, which shall remain to Prussia, to the village of Przybyslaw, and from thence by the villages of Piaski, Chelmce, Witowiczki, Kobylinka, Woyezyn, Orchowo, to the town of Powidz. From Powidz it shall continue by the town of Slupee to the point of confluence of the rivers Wartha and Prosna. From this point it shall re-ascend the course of the river Prosna to the village of Koscielnawies, to within one league of the town of Kalisch. Then leaving to that town (on the side of the left bank of the Prosna) a semi-circular territory measured by the distance from Koscielnawies to Kalisch, the line shall return to the course of the Prosna, and shall continue to follow it, re-ascending by the towns of Grabow, Wieruszow, Boleslawice, so as to terminate near the village of Gola, upon the frontier of Silesia opposite Pitschin.
ART. III. His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty shall possess, in full property and sovereignty, the salt-mines of Wieliczka, and the territory thereto belonging.
ART. IV. The way or bed of the Vistula shall separate Gallicia from the territory of the free town of Cracow. It shall serve at the same time as the frontier between Gallicia and that part of the ancient duchy of Warsaw united to the states of his majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, as far as the vicinity of the town of Zavichost. From Zavichost to the Bug the dry frontier shall be determined by the line drawn in the Treaty of Vienna of 1809, excepting such modifications as by common consent may be thought necessary to be introduced. The frontier from the Bug shall be re-established on this side between the two empires, such as it was before the said Treaty.
ART. V. His majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, cedes to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty the districts which have been separated from Eastern Gallicia, in consequence of the Treaty of Vienna of 1809, from the circles of Zloozow, Brzezan, Tarnopole, and Zalesczyk, and the frontiers on this side shall be re-established, such as they were before the date of the said Treaty.
ART. VI. The town of Cracow, with its territory, is declared to be for ever a free, independant, and strictly neutral city, under the protection of Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
ART. VII. The territory of the free town of Cracow shall have for its frontier upon the left bank of the Vistula, a line which, beginning at the spot near the village of Worlica, where a stream falls into the Vistula, shall ascend this stream by Clo, and Koscielniki as far as Czulice, so that these villages may be included in the district of the free tows of Cracow from thence passing along the frontiers of these villages, the line shall continue by Dziekanovice, Garlice, Tomaszou, Karniowice, which shall also remain in the territory of Cracow, to the point where the limit begins which separates the district of Krzeszowice from that of Olkusz; from thence it shall follow this limit between the two said pro- vinces, till it reaches the frontiers of Silesian Prussia.
ART. VIII. His majesty the Emperor of Austria, wishing particularly to facilitate as much as possible on his part, the commercial relations and good neighbourhood between Galicia and the free towns of Cracow, grants for ever to the town of Podgorze, the privileges of a free commercial town, such as are enjoyed by the town of Brody. This liberty of commerce shall extend to a distance of 500 toises from the barrier of the suburbs of the town of Podgorze. In consequence of this perpetual concession, which nevertheless shall not affect the rights of sovereignty of his, Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the Austrian custom-houses shall be established only in places situated beyond that limit. No military establishment shall be formed that can menace the neutrality of Cracow, or obstruct the liberty of commerce which his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty grants to the town and district of Podgorze.
ART. IX. The Courts of Russia, Austria, and Prussia engage to respect, and to cause to be always respected, the neutrality of the free town of Cracow and its territory. No armed force shall be introduced upon any pretence whatever. On the other hand it is understood and expressly stipulated that no asylum shall be afforded in the free town and territory of Cracow, to fugitives, deserters and persons under prosecution, belonging to the country of either of the High Powers aforesaid; and in the event of the demand of their surrender by the competent authorities, such individuals shall be arrested and given up without delay, and conveyed, under a proper escort, to the guard appointed to receive them at the frontier.
ART. X. The dispositions of the constitution of the free town of Cracow concerning the Academy, the Bishopric and Chapter of that town, such as they are specified in the 7th, 15th, 16th and 17th Articles of the additional Treaty relative to Cracow, which is annexed to the present General Treaty, shall have the same force and validity as if they were textually inserted in this Act.
ART. XI. A full, general, and special amnesty shall be granted in favour of all individuals, of whatever rank, sex, or condition they may be.
ART. XII. In consequence of the preceding Article, no person in future shall be prosecuted or disturbed, in any manner, by reason of any participation, direct or indirect, at any time, in the political, civil, or military events in Poland. All proceedings, suits, or prosecutions are considered as null, the sequestrations and provisional confiscations shall be taken off, and every Act promulgated on this ground shall be of no effect.
ART. XIII. From these general regulations on the subject of confiscations are excepted all those cases in which edicts or sentences, finally pronounced have already been fully executed, and have not been annulled by subsequent events.
ART. XIV. The principles established for the free navigation of rivers and canals, in the whole extent of ancient Poland, as well as for the trade to the ports, for the circulation of articles the growth and produce of the different Polish provinces, and for the commerce, relative to goods in transit, such as they are specified in the 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th and 29th Articles of the Treaty between Austria and Russia, and in the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 28th and 29th Articles of the Treaty between Russia and Prussia, shall be invariably maintained.
ART. XV. His Majesty the King of Saxony renounces in perpetuity for himself and all his descendants and successors, in favour of his Majesty the King of Prussia, all his right and title to the provinces, districts, and territories, or parts of territories, of the kingdom of Saxony, hereafter named; and his Majesty the King of Prussia shall possess those countries in complete sovereignty and property, and shall unite them to his monarchy. The districts and territories thus ceded, shall be separated from the rest of the kingdom of Saxony by a line, which henceforth shall form the frontier between the Prussian and Saxon territories, so that all that is comprised in the limit formed by this line, shall be restored to his Majesty the King of Saxony; but his Majesty renounces all those districts and territories that are situated beyond that line, and which belonged to him before the war.
The line shall begin from the frontiers of Bohemia near Wiese, in the neighbourhood of Seidenberg, following the stream of the river Wittich, until its junction with the Neisse. From the Neisse it shall pass to the circle of Eigen, between Tauchritz, which shall belong to Prussia, and Bertschoff, which shall remain to Saxony; then it shall follow the northern frontier of the circle of Eigin, to the angle between Pulsdorf and Ober-Schland; thence it shall be continued to the limits that separate the circle of Gorlitz from that of Bautzen, in such a manner that Ober-Mettel and Neider-Schland-Olich, and Radewitz, remain in the possession of Saxony. The great post-road between Gorlitz and Bautzen shall belong to Prussia, as far as the limits of the said circles. Then the line shall follow the frontier of the circle to Dubraucke; it shall then extend upon the heights to the right of the Lobauer-Wasser, so that this rivulet, with its two banks, and the places upon them, as far as Neudorf, shall remain, with this village, to Saxony. The line shall then fall again upon the Spree, and the Schwarz-Wasser, Liska, Hermsdorf, Ketten, and Solandorf, are assigned to Prussia.
From the Schwarze-Elster, near Solchdorf, a right line shall be drawn to the frontier of the lordship of Konigsbruck, near Grossgrabchen. This lordship remains to Saxony, and the line shall follow its northern boundary as far as the Bailiwick of Grossenhayn, in the neighbourhood of Ortrand: Ortrand, and the road from that place by Merzdorf, Stolzen-hayn, and Grobeln, to Muhlberg (with the villages on that road, so that no part of it remain beyond the Prussian Territory), shall be under the government of Prussia. The frontier from Grobeln shall be traced to the Elbe near Fichtenberg, and then shall follow the bailiwick of Muhlberg. Fichtenberg shall be the property of Prussia. From the Elbe to the frontier of the country of Merseburg, it shall be so regulated that the bailiwicks of Torgau, Eilenburg, and Delitsch, shall pass to Prussia, while those of Oschatz, Wurzen, and Leipsic, shall remain to Saxony. The line shall follow the frontier of these bailiwicks, dividing some inclosures and demi-inclosures. The road from Muhlberg to Eilenburg shall be wholly within the Prussian territory. From Podelwitz (belonging to the bailiwick of Leipsic, and remaining to Saxony) as far as Eytra, which also remains to her, the line shall divide the country of Merseburg in such a manner that Breitenfeld, Haenichen, Gross and Klein-Dolzig, Mark-Ranstadt and Knaut-Nauendorf, remain to Saxony; and Modelwitz, Skenditz, Klein - Liebenau, Alt - Ramstadt, Schkohlen and Zietschen, pass to Prussia.
From thence the line shall divide the bailiwick of Pegau, between the Floss-graben and the Weisse-Elster; the former, from the point where it separates itself above the town of Crossen (which forms part of the bailiwick of Haynsburg) from the Weisse-Elster, to the point where it joins the Saale below the town of Merseburg, shall belong, in its whole course between those two towns; with both its banks, to the Prussian territory. From thence, where the frontier touches upon that of the country of Zeitz, the line shall follow it as far as the boundary of the country of Altenburg, near Luckau. The frontiers of the circle of Neustadt, which wholly falls under the dominion of Prussia, remain untouched. The inclosures of Voigtland, in the district of Reuss, that is to say Gefall, Blintendorf, Sparenberg, and Blankenberg, are comprised in the share of Prussia.
ART. XVI. The provinces and districts of the kingdom of Saxony, which are transferred to the dominion of his Majesty the King of Prussia, shall be distinguished by the name of the duchy of Saxony, and his Majesty shall add to his titles those of duke of Saxony, Landgrave of Thuringia, Margrave of the two Lusatias, and count of Henneberg. His Majesty the King of Saxony shall continue to bear the title of Margrave of Upper Lusatia. His Majesty shall also continue, with relation to, and in virtue of his right of eventual succession to the possessions of the Ernestine branch, to bear the title of Landgrave of Thu, ringia and count of Henneberg.
ART. XVII. Austria, Russia, Great Britain, and France, guarantee, to his Majesty the King of Prussia, his descendants and successors, the possession of the countries marked out in the 15th Article, in full property and sovereignty.
ART. XVIII. His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, wishing to give to the King of Prussia a fresh proof of his desire to remove every object of future discussion between their two courts, renounces for himself and his successors, his tights of sovereignty over the Margraviates of Upper and Lower Lusatia, which belonged to him as King of Bohemia, as far as these rights concern the portion of these provinces placed under the dominion of his Majesty the King of Prussia, by virtue of the Treaty with his Majesty the King of Saxony, concluded at Vienna on the loth of May, 1813.—As to the right of reversion of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty to the said portion of the Lusatias united to Prussia, it is transferred to the House of Brandenburg now reigning in Prussia, his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, reserving to himself and his successors, the power of resuming that right in the event of the extinction of the said reigning House. His imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty renounces also, in favour of his Prussian Majesty, the districts of Bohemia inclosed within the part of Upper Lusatia ceded by the Treaty of the 18th of May 1815, to his Prussian Majesty, which districts comprehend the places of Güntersdorf, Taubentränte, Neukretschen, Nieder-Gerlachsheim, Winkel, and Ginkel, with their territories.
ART. XIX. His Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of Saxony, wishing particularly to remove every object of future contest or dispute, renounce, each on his own part, and reciprocally in favour of one another, all feudal rights or pretensions, which they might exercise or might have exercised, beyond the frontiers fixed by the present Treaty.
ART. XX. His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to direct that proper care be taken relative to whatever may affect the property and interests of the respective subjects, upon the most liberal principles. The present. Article shall be observed, particularly, with regard to the concerns of those individuals who possess property both under the Prussian and Saxon Governments, to the commerce of Leipsic, and to all other objects of the same nature; and, in order that the individual liberty of the inhabitants, both of the ceded and other provinces, may not be infringed, they shall be allowed to emigrate from one territory to the other, without being exempted, however, from military service, and after fulfilling the formalities required by the laws. They may also remove their property without being subject to any fine or drawback (Abzugsgeld).
ART. XXI. The communities, corporations and religious establishments, and those for public instruction in the provinces ceded by his Majesty the King of Saxony to Prussia, or in the provinces and districts remaining to his Saxon Majesty, shall preserve their property, whatever changes they may undergo, as well as the rents becoming due t o them, according to the act of their foundation, or which they have acquired by a legal title since that period under the Prussian and Saxon Governments; and neither party shall interfere in the administration and in the collection of the revenues provided that they be conducted in a manner conformable to the laws, and that the charges be defrayed, to which all property or rents of the like nature are subjected, in the territory in which they occur.
ART. XXII. No individual domiciliated in the provinces which are under the dominion of his Majesty the King of Saxony, any more than an individual domiciliated in those which by the present Treaty pass under the dominion of the King of Prussia, shall be molested in his person, his property, rents, penslons or revenues of any kind, in his rank or dignities, nor be prosecuted of called to account in any manner, for any part which he, either in a civil or military capacity, may have taken in the events that have occurred since the commencement of the war, terminated by the Peace concluded at Paris on the 30th of May 1814. This Article equally extends to those who, not being domiciliated in either part of Saxony, may possess in it landed property, rents, pensions or revenues of any kind.
ART. XXIII. His Majesty the King of Prussia having in consequence of the last war, reassumed the possession of the provinces and territories which had been ceded by the Peace of Tilsit, it is acknowledged and declared by the present Article that his Majesty, his heirs and successors, shall possess anew, as formerly, in full property and sovereignty, the following countries, that is to say:—Those of his ancient provinces of Poland specified by Article II; the city of Dantzic and its territory, as the latter was determined by the Treaty of Tilsit; the circle of Cottbus; the Old March; the part of the circle of Magdeburg situated on the left bank of the Elbe, together with the circle of the Saale; the principality of Halberstadt, with the lordships of Derenbourg, and of Hassenrode; the town and territory of Quedlinburg (save and except the rights of her royal highness the princess Sophia Albertine of Sweden, Abbess of Quedlinburg, conformably to the arrangements made in 1803); the Prussian part of the county of Mansfield; the Prussian part of the county of Hohenstein; the Eichsfeld; the town of Nordhausen with its territory; the town of Mulhausen with its territory; the Prussian part of the district of Treffurt with Dosla; the town and territory of Erfurth, with the exception of Klein-Brembach and Balstedt, inclosed in the principality of Weimar, ceded to the Grand Duke of Saxe Wiemar by the 29th Article; the bailiwick of Wandersleben, belonging to the county of Unterg-leichen; the principality of Paderborn, with, the Prussian part of the bailiwicks of Schwallenberg, Oldenberg and Stoppelberg, and the jurisdictions (Gerichte) of Hagendorn and Odenhausen, situated in the territory of Lippe; the county of Mark, with the part of Lippstadt belonging to it; the county of Werden; the county of Essen; the part of the duchy of Cleves on the right bank of the Rhine, with the town and fortress of Wesel the part of the duchy, situated on the left bank, specified in Artiele 25th; the secularized Chapter of Elten; the principality of Munster, that is to say, the Prussian part of the former Bishopric of Munster, with the exception of that part which has been ceded to his Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, in virtue of the 28th Article; the secularized Provost ship of Cappenburg; the county of Teckledberg; the county of Lingen, with the exception of that part ceded to the kingdom of Hanover by Article 27th; the principality of Minden; the county of Ravensberg; the secularised Chapter of Herford; the principality of Neufchatel, with the county of Valengen such as their frontiers are regulated by the Treaty of Paris, and by the 76th Article of this General Treaty. The same disposition extends to the rights of sovereignty and suzerainelé over the county of Wernigerode, to that of high protection over the county of Hohen-Limbourg, and to all the other rights or pretensions whatsoever which his Prussian Majesty possessed and exercised, before the Peace of Tilsit, and which he has not renounced by other treaties, Acts or Conventions.
ART. XXIV. His Majesty the king of Prussia shall unite to his monarchy in Germany, on this side of the Rhine, to be possessed by him and his successors in full property and sovereignty, the following couniries:—The provinces of Saxony designated in Article 15, with the exception of the places and territories ceded, in virtue of Article 29, to his highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar; the territories ceded to Prussia by his Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, by Article 29; part of the department of Fulda, and such of the territories comprehended therein as are specified in Article 40; the town and territory of Wetzlar, according to Article 12; the Grand Duchy of Berg with the lordships of Hardenberg, Brock, Styrum, Schöller and Odenthal, formerly belonging to the said Duchy under the Palatine Government; the districts of the ancient archbishopric of Cologne, lately belonging to the Grand Duchy of Berg: the Duchy of Westphalia, as lately possessed by his royal highness the Grand Duke of Hesse; the county of Dortmund; the principality of Corbey; the mediatised districts specified in Article 43. The ancient possessions of the House of Nassau-Dietz having been ceded to Prussia by his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, and a part of these possessions having been exchanged for the districts belonging to their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, the King of Prussia shall possess them, in sovereignty and property, and unite them to his monarchy. 1. The principality of Siegen with the bailiwicks of Burbach and Neunkirchen, with the exception of a part, containing 12,000 inhabitants, to belong to the Duke and Prince of Nassau. 2. The bailiwicks of Hohen-Solms, Greifenstein, Braunfels, Freusberg, Friedewald, Schönstein, Schönberg, Altenkirchen, Altenwied, Dierdorf, Neuerburg, Linz, Hammerstein, with Engers and Heddesdorf; the town and territory (Banlieur Gemarkung) of Newied; the parishes of Hamm, belonging to the bailiwick of Hackenberg; the parish of I Horhausen, constituting part of the bailiwick of Horsbach, and the parts of the bailiwicks of Vallendar and Ehrenbreitstein, on the right bank of the Rhine, designated in the Convention concluded between his Majesty the King of Prussia and their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, annexed to the present Treaty.
ART. XXV. His Majesty the King of Prussia shall also possess, in full property and sovereignty, the countries on the left bank of the Rhine, included in the frontier herein-after designated:—This frontier shall commence on the Rhine at Bingen: it shall thence ascend the course of the Nahe to the junction of this river with the Glan, and along, the Glan to the village of Medarf, below Lauterecken; the towns of Kreutznach and Meisenheim, with their territories, to belong entirely to Prussia; but Lauterecken and its territory to remain beyond the Prussian frontier. From the Glan the frontier shall pass by Medart, Merzweiler, Langweiler, Neideer and Ober Fechenbach, Ellenbach, Chreunchenborn, Ausweiler, Cronweiler, Niederbrambach, Burbach, Boschweiler, Heubweiler, Hambach, and Rintzenberg, to the limits of the Canton of Hermes-Keil; the above places shall be included within the Prussian frontiers, and shall, together with their territories, belong to Prussia. From Rintzenberg to the Sarre the line of demarcation shall follow the cantonal limits, so that the cantons of Hermeskiel and Conz (in which latter, however, are excepted the places on the left bank of the Sarre) shall remain wholly to Prussia, while the cantons of Wadern, Merzig, and Sarrebourg are to be beyond the Prussian frontier.
From the point where the limit of the canton of Conz, below Gomlingen, traverses the Sarre, the line shall descend the Sarre till it falls into the Moselle, thence it shall renascent the Moselle to its junction with the Sarre, from the latter river to the mouth of the Our, and along the Our to the limits of the ancient department of the Ourthe. The places traversed by these rivers shall not at all be divided, but shall belong, with their territories, to the power in whose state the greater part of these places shall be situated; the rivers themselves, in so far as they form the frontier, shall belong in common to the two powers bordering on them. In the old department of the Ourthe, the five cantons of Saint-Vith, Malmedy, Cronenbourg, Schleiden, and Eupen, with the advanced point of the canton of Aubel, to the south of Aix-la-Chapelle, shall belong to Prussia, and the frontier shall follow that of these cantons, so that a line, drawn from north to south, may cut the said point of the canton of Aubel, and be prolonged as far as the point of contact of the three old departments of the Ourthe, the Lower Meuse, and the Roer; leaving that point, the frontier shall follow the line which separates these two last departments till it reaches the river Worm, which falls into the Roer, and shall go along this river to the point where it again touches the limits of these two departments; when it shall pursue that limit to the south of Hillensberg, shall ascend from thence towards the north, and leaving Hillensberg to Prussia, and cutting the canton of Sittard in two parts, nearly equal, so that Sittard, and Susteren remain on the left, shall reach the old Dutch territory; then following the old frontier of that territory, to the point where it touched the old Austrian principality of Gueldres, on the side of Ruremonde, and (Erecting itself towards the most eastern point of the Dutch territory, to the north of Swalmen, it shall continue to inclose this territory.
Then, setting out from the most eastern point, it joins that other part of the Dutch territory in which Venloo is situated, without including the latter town and its district: thence to the old Dutch frontier near Mook, situated below Genep, it shall follow the course of the Meuse, at such a distance from the right bank, as that all the places situated within a thousand Rhenish yards (Rheinlandische Ruthen) of this bank, shall, with their territories, belong to the kingdom of the Netherlands; it being well understood, however, in regard to the reciprocity of this principle, that no point of the bank of the Meuse shall constitute a portion of the Prussian territory, unless such point approach to within eight hundred Rhenish yards of it.
From the point where the line just described joins the old Dutch frontier, as far as the Rhine, this frontier shall remain essentially as it was in 1795, between Cleves and the United Provinces. It shall be examined by the commission, which shall be appointed without delay, by the two governments, to proceed to the exact determination of the limits, both of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, designated in Articles 66 and 68, and this commission shall regulate with the aid of experienced persons, whatever concerns the hydrotechnical constructions, and other ana- logous points, in the most equitable manner; and conformably to the mutual interests of the Prussian states and of those of the Netherlands. This same disposition extends to the regulation of the limits, in the districts of Kyfwaerd, Lobith, and all the territory to Kekerdom.
The places named Huissen, Malburg, le Lyniers, with the town of Sevenaer, and the lordship of Weel, shall form a part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and his Prussian Majesty renounces them in perpetuity for himself, his heirs and successors. His Majesty the King of Prussia, in uniting to his states the provinces and districts designated in the present Article, enters into all the rights and takes upon himself all the charges and engagements stipulated with respect to the countries dismembered from France, by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May, 1814. The Prussian provinces upon the two banks of the Rhine, as far as above the town of Cologne, which shall also be comprised within this district, shall bear the name of Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, and his Majesty shall assume the title of it.
ART. XXVI. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, having substituted to his ancient title of Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, that of King of Hanover, and this title having been acknowledged by all the Powers of Europe, and by the Princes and free towns of Germany, the countries which have till now composed the Electorate of Brunswick Luneburg, according as their limits have been recognized and fixed for the future, by the following Articles, shall henceforth form the kingdom of Hanover.
ART. XXVII. His Majesty the King Of Prussia cedes to his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, to be possessed by his Majesty and his successors, in full property and sovereignty; 1. The principality of Hildesheim, which shall pass under the government of his Majesty, with all the rights and all the charges with which the said principality was transferred to the Prussian government. 2. The town and territory of Goslar. 3. The principality of East Frieseland, including the country called Harlinger-Land, under the conditions reciprocally stipulated in the 30th Article for the navigation of the Ems and the commerce of the port of Embden. The states of the principality shall preserve their rights and privileges. 4. The lower county (Nieder Graftschaft) of Lingen, and the part of the principality of Prussian Munster, which is situated between this county and the part of Rheina Wolbeck occupied by the Hanoverian Government; but as it has been agreed that the kingdom of Hanover shall obtain by this cession an cession of territory, comprising a population of 22,000 souls, and, as the lower county of Lingen and the part of the principality of Munster here mentioned, might not come up to this condition, his Majesty the King of Prussia engages to cause the line of demarcation to be extended into the principality of Munster, as tar as may be necessary to contain that population. The commission, which the Prussian and Hanoverian governments shall name without delay, to proceed to the exact regulation of the limits, shall be particularly charged with the execution of this provision. His Prussian Majesty renounces in perpetuity, for himself, his descendants and successors, the provinces and territories mentioned in the present article, as well as all the rights which have any relation to them.
ART. XXVIII. His Majesty the King of Prussia renounces in perpetuity, for himself, his descendants and successors, all right and claim whatever, that his Majesty in his quality of Sovereign of Eichsfeld, might advance to the chapter of St. Peter, in the borough of Neaten, or to its dependencies, situated in the Hanoverian territory.
ART. XXIX. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, cedes to his Majesty the King of Prussia, to be possessed by him and his successors, in full property and sovereignty. 1. That part of the duchy of Lauenbourg situated upon the right bank of the Elbe, with the villages of Lunebourg situated on the same bank. The part of the duchy upon the left bank remains to the kingdom of Hanover. The states of that part of the duchy which passes under the Prussian government shall preserve their rights and privileges; especially those founded upon the provincial recess of the 15th September 1702, and confirmed by the King of Great Britain, now reigning, under date of June 21, 1765. 2. The bailiwick of Klötze; 3. The bailiwick of Elbingesode; 4. The villages of Rudegershagen and Gœnseteich; 5. The bailiwick of Reckeberg. His Britannic Majesty, king of Hanover, renounces for himself, his descendants and successors for ever, the provinces and districts specified in the present Article, and all the rights which have reference to them.
ART. XXX. His Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, animated with the desire of entirely equalising the advantages of the commerce of the Ems and of the Port of Embden, and of rendering them common to their respective subjects, have agreed on this head to what follows: 1. The Hanoverian government engages to cause to be executed, at its expense, in the years 1415 and 1816, the works which a commission, composed partly of artists, and to be immediately appointed by Prussia and Hanover, shall deem necessary to render navigable that part of the river of Ems which extends from the Prussian frontier to its mouth, and to keep it after the exe- cution of such works, always in the same state in which those works shall have placed it for the benefit of navigation. 2. The Prussian subjects shall be allowed to import and export, by the port of Embden, all kinds of provisions, productions and goods, whether natural or artificial, and to keep in the town of Embden, warehouses, wherein to place the said goods for two years, dating from their arrival in the towns, without their being subject to any other inspection than that to which those of the Hanoverian subjects are liable. 3. The Prussian vessels and merchants of the same nation, shall not pay for navigation, for exportation or importation of merchandize, or for warehousing, any other tolls or duties than those charged upon the Hanoverian subjects. These tolls and duties shall be regulated by agreement between Prussia and Hanover, and no alteration shall be introduced into the tarif hereafter, but by mutual consent. The privileges and liberties just specified extend equally to those Hanoverian subjects who navigate that part of the river Ems which remains to the King of Prussia: 4. Prussian subjects shall not be compellable to employ the merchants of Embden for the trade they carry on with that port; they shall be at liberty to dispose of their commodities either to the inhabitants of the town or to foreigners, without paying any other duties than those to which the Hanoverian subjects are subjected, and which cannot be raised but by mutual consent.—His Majesty the King of Prussia, on his part, engages to grant to Hanoverian subjects the free navigation of the canal of the Stecknitz, so as not to exact from them any other duties than those which shall be paid by the inhabitants of the duchy of Lauenburg. His Prussian Majesty engages, besides, to insure these advantages to Hanoverian subjects, should he hereafter cede the duchy of Lauenburg to another sovereign.
ART. XXXI. His Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, mutually agree to three military roads through their respective dominions. 1st. One from Halberstadt, through the country of Hildesheim to Minden. 2d. A second from the Old March, through Gihorn and Neustadt to Minden. 3d. A third from Osnabruck, through Ippenbüren and Rheina to Bentheim. The two first in favour of Prussia, and the third in favour of Hanover. The two Governments shall appoint, without delay, a commission to prepare, by common consent, the necessary regulations for the establishment of the said roads.
ART. XXXII. The bailiwick of Meppen, belonging to the Duke of Aremberg, as well as the part of Rheina Wolbeck, belonging to the Duke of Looz-Corswaren, which at this moment are provisionally occupied by the Hanoverian government, shall be placed in such relations with the kingdom of Hanover, as the Federative Constitution of Germany shall regulate for the mediatised territories.—The Prussian and Hanoverian governments having nevertheless reserved to themselves to agree hereafter, if necessary, to the fixing of another line of frontier with regard to the county belonging to the Duke of Looz-Corswaren; the said governments shall charge the commission they may name for fixing the limits of the part of the county of Lingen ceded to Hanover, to deliberate thereupon, and to adjust definitively the frontiers of that part of the county belonging to the Duke of Looz-Corswaren, which as aforesaid, is to be possessed by the Hanoverian government.—The relations between the Hanoverian government and the county of Bentheim shall remain as regulated by the Treaties of Mortgage existing between his Britannic Majesty and the Count of Bentheim; and when the rights derived from this Treaty shall have expired, the relations of the county of Bentheim towards the kingdom of Hanover shall be such as the Federative Constitution of Germany shall regulate for the mediatised territories.
ART. XXXIII. His Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, in order to meet the wishes of his Prussian Majesty to procure a suitable arrondissement of territory for his Serene Highness the Duke of Oldenburg, promises to cede to him a district containing a population of 5,000 inhabitants.
ART. XXXIV. His Serene Highness the Duke of Holstein-Oldenburg shall assume the title of Grand Duke of Oldenburg.
ART. XXXV. Their Serene Highnesses the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, shall assume the titles of Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz.
ART. XXXVI. His Highness the Duke of Saxe-Weimar shall assume the title of Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar.
ART. XXXVII. His Majesty the King of Prussia shall cede from the mass of his states, as they have been fixed and recognised by the present Treaty, to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, districts containing a population of 50,000 inhabitants, contiguous to, or bordering upon, the principality of Weimar. His Prussian Majesty engages also to cede to his Royal Highness out of that part of the principality of Fulda which has been given up to him in virtue of the same stipulations, districts containing a population of 27,000 inhabitants. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Weimar shall possess the above districts in full property and sovereignty, and shall unite them in perpetuity to his present states.
ART. XXXVIII. The Districts and Territories which are to be ceded to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, in virtue of the preceding Article, shall be determined by a particular Convention; and his Majesty the King of Prussia engages to conclude this Convention, and to cause the above districts and territories to be given up to his Royal Highness, within two months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty concluded at Vienna, June 1, 1815, between his Prussian Majesty and his Royal Highness the Grand Duke.
ART. XXXIX. His Majesty the King of Prussia, however, cedes immediately, and promises to give up to his Royal Highness, in the space of a fortnight, reckoning from the signature of the above-mentioned Treaty, the following districts and territories; viz. The Lordship of Blankenhayn, with the reservation of the bailiwick of Wandersleben, belonging to Unter-Gleichen, which is not to be comprised in this cession. The lower lordship (Niedere-Herrschaft) of Kranichfeld, the commanderies of the Teutonic order Zwaetzen, Lehesten, and Liebstedt, with their demesnial revenues, which, constituting a part of the bailiwick of Eckartsberga, are inclosed in the territory of Saxe-Weimar, as well as all the other territories inclosed within the principality of Weimar, and belonging to the said bailiwick; the bailiwick of Tau-tenburgh, with the exception of Droizen, Gorschen, Wethalung, Wetterscheid, and Möllschütz, which shall remain to Prussia. The village of Remssla, as well as the villages of Klein-Brembach and Berlstedt, inclosed within the principality of Weimar, and belonging to the territory of Erfurth. The property of the villages of Bisschoffsroda and Probsteizella, inclosed within the territory of Eisenach; the sovereignty of which already belongs to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke. The population of these different districts is understood to form part of that of 50,000 souls, secured to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, by Art. 37, and shall be deducted from it.
ART. XL. The department of Fulda, together with the territories of the neighbouring ancient Noblesse, comprised, at this moment, under the provisional administration of this department; viz. Mansbach, Buchenau, Werda, Lengsfeld, excepting, however, the following bailiwicks and territories; viz. the bailiwicks of Hammelburg, with Thulba and Saleck, Brückenau, with Motten, Saalmünster, with Urzel and Sonnerz; also the part of the bailiwick of Biberstein, which contains the villages of Batten, Brand, Dietges, Findlos, Liebharts, Melperz, Ober-Bernharst, Saifferts, and Thaiden, as well as the domain of Holzkirchen, inclosed in the Grand Duchy of Wurzburg, is ceded to his Majesty the King of Prussia, and he shall be put in possession of it within three weeks from and after the 15th June of this year. His Prussian Majesty engages to take upon himself, in proportion to that part of the territory which he obtains by the present Article, his share of the obligations which all the new possessors of the heretofore Grand Duchy of Frankfort will have to fulfil, and to transfer such engagements to the Princes with whom his Majesty may hereafter make exchanges or cessions of these districts and territories of the department of Fulda.
ART. XLI. The domains of the principality of Fulda and of the county of Hanau having been sold to purchasers, who have not as yet made good all their instalments, a Commission shall be named by the Princes to whom the said domains are transferred, to regulate, in a uniform manner, whatever has any reference to this transaction, and to do justice to the claims of the purchasers of the said domains. This Commission shall pay particular attention to the Treaty concluded at Frankfort, December 2, 1813, between the Allied Powers and his Royal Highness the Elector of Hesse; and it is laid down as a principle, that in case the sale of these domains should not be considered as binding, the purchasers shall receive back the sums already discharged, and they shall not be obliged to quit before such restitution shall have had its full and entire effect.
ART. XLII. The town and territory of Wetzlar passes, in all property and sovereignty, to his Majesty the King of Prussia.
ART. XLIII. The following mediatised districts; viz. the possessions which the Princes of Salm-Salm, and Salm-Kyrburg, the Counts called the Rheimund, Wildgrafen, and the Duke of Croy, obtained by the principal Rescript of the extraordinary Deputation of the Empire, of the 25th February 1803, in the old Circle of Westphalia, as well as the Lordships of Anholt and Gehmen, the possessions of the Duke of Looz-Corzwaren, which are in the same situation (in so far as they are not placed under the Hanoverian Government), the county of Steinfurt, belonging to the Count of Bentheim-Bentheim, the county of Recklingshausen, belonging to the Duke of Aremberg, the lordships of Rheda, Gütersloh, and Gronau, belonging to the Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg, the county of Rittberg, belonging to the Prince of Kaunitz, the lordships of Neustadt and Gunborn, belonging to the Count of Walmoden, and the lordship of Homburg, belonging to the Princes of Saxe-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, shall be placed in such relations with the Prussian Monarchy as the Federative Constitution of Germany shall regulate for the mediatised territories. The possessions of the ancient and immediate nobility within the Prussian territory, and particularly the lordship of Wildenberg, in the Grand Duchy of Berg, and the barony of Schauen, in the principality of Halberstadt, shall belong to the Prussian Monarchy.
ART. XLIV. His Majesty the King of Bavaria shall possess, for himself, his heirs and successors, in full property and sovereignty, the Grand Duchy of Wurtzburg, as it was held by his Imperial Highnesss the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, and the principality of A schaffenburg, such as it constituted part of the Grand Duchy of Frankfort, under the denomination of Department of Aschaffenburg.
ART. XLV. With respect to the rights and prerogatives, and the maintenance of the Prince Primate as an ancient ecclesiastical Prince, it is determined: 1st. That he shall be treated in a manner analogous us to the Articles of the Rescript, which, in 1803, regulated the situation of the secularized Princes, and to the practice observed with regard to them. 2dly. He shall receive for this purpose, dating from June 1, 1814, the sum of 100,000 forms, by payments of three months, in good specie, at the rate of 24 florins to the mark, as an annuity. This annuity shall be paid by the Sovereigns under whose Governments the provinces or districts of the Grand Duchy of Frankfort pass, in proportion to the part which each of them shall possess. 3dly. The advances made by the Prince Primate, from his private purse, to the general chest of the principality of Fulda, such as they have been liquidated and proved, shall be refunded to him, his heirs, or executors. This expenditure shall be defrayed in proportions by the Sovereigns who shall possess the provinces and districts composing the principality of Fulda. 4thly. The furniture and other objects which may be proved to belong to the private property of the Prince Primate, shall be restored to him. 5thly. The officers of the Grand Duchy of Frankfort, as well civil and ecclesiastical as military and diplomatic, shall be treated conformably to the principles of the 59th Article of the Protocol of the Empire, dated the 25th February 1803, and from the 1st of June the pensions shall be proportionably paid by the Sovereigns who enter on the possession of the States which formed the said Grand Duchy since the 1st of June 1814. 6thly. A Commission shall be established without delay, composed of members appointed by the said Sovereigns, to regulate whatever relates to the execution of the dispositions comprised in this Article. 7thly. It is understood, that in virtue of this arrangement, any claim that might be advanced against the Prince Primate, in his character of Grand Duke of Frankfort, shall be annulled, and that he shall not be molested on account of any reclamation of this nature.
ART. XLVI. The city of Frankfort, with its territory, such as it was in 1803, is declared free, and shall constitute a part of the Germanic League. Its institutions shall be founded upon the principle of a perfect equality of rights for the different sects of the Christian religion. This equality of rights shall extend to all civil and political rights, and shall be observed in all matters of government and administration. The disputes which may arise, whether in regard to the establishment of the Constitution, or in regard to its maintenance, shall be referred to the Germanic Diet, and can only be decided by the same.
ART. XLVII. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse, in exchange for the Duchy of Westphalia, ceded to his Majesty the King of Prussia, obtains a territory on the left bank of the Rhine, in the ancient department of Mount Tonnerre, comprising a population of 140,000 inhabitants. His Royal Highness shall possess this territory in full sovereignty and property. He shall likewise obtain the property of that part of the Salt Mines of Kreusznach which is situated on the left bank of the Nahe, but the sovereignty of them shall remain to Prussia.
ART. XLVIII. The Landgrave of Homburg is reinstated in his possessions, revenues, rights, and political relations, of which he was deprived in consequence of the Confederation of the Rhine.
ART. XLIX. In the ci-devant department of the Sarre, on the frontiers of the states of his Majesty the King of Prussia, there is reserved a district, containing a in of 69,000 souls, to be disposed of in the following manner: the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and the Duke of Oldenburg shall obtain each a territory comprising 20,000 inhabitants. The Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the Land-grave of Hesse-Homburg, each a territory comprising 10,000 inhabitants; and the Count of Pappenheim a territory comprising 9,000 inhabitants. The territory of the Count of Pappenheim shall be under the sovereignty of his Prussian Majesty.
ART. L. The acquisitions assigned by the preceding Article to the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, not being contiguous to their respective states, their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of all the Russias, and the Kings of Great Britain and Prussia, promise to employ their good offices, at the close of the present war, or as soon as circumstances shall permit, in order to procure for the said Princes, either by exchanges or any other arrangements, the advantages that they are disposed to insure to them; and that the administration of the said districts may be rendered less complicated, it is agreed that they shall be provisionally under the Prussian administration for the benefit of the new proprietors.
ART. LI. All the territories and possessions, as well on the left bank of the Rhine, in the old departments of the Sarre and Mont-Tonnere, as in the former departments of Fulda and Frankfort, or inclosed in the adjacent countries, placed at the disposal of the Allied Powers, by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1314, and not disposed of by other Articles of the present Treaty, shall pass in full sovereignty and property, under the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria.
ART. LII. The principality of Issenburg is placed under the sovereignty of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and shall belong to him, under such limitations as the Federative Constitution of Germany shall regulate for the mediatised States.
ART. LIII. The Sovereign Princes and Free-towns of Germany, under which denomination, for the present purpose, are comprehended their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Prussia, of Denmark, and of the Netherlands; that is to say, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia for all their possessions which anciently belonged to the German Empire, the King of Denmark for the Duchy of Holstein, and the King of the Netherlands for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, establish among themselves a perpetual Confederation, which shall be called "the Germanic Confederation."
ART. LIV. The object of this Confederation is the maintenance of the external and internal safety of Germany, and of the independance and inviolability of the confederated States.
ART. LV. The Members of the Confederation, as such, are equal with regard to their rights; and they all equally engage to maintain the Act which constitutes their union.
ART. LVI. The affairs of the Confederation shall be confided to a Federative Diet, in which all the Members shall vote by their. Plenipotentiaries, either individually or collectively, in the following manner, without prejudice to their rank:
Votes. 1. Austria 1 2. Prussia 1 3. Bavaria 1 4. Saxony 1 5. Hanover 1 6. Wurtemburg 1 7. Baden 1 8. Electoral Hesse 1 9. Grand Duchy of Hesse 1 10. Denmark, for Holstein 1 11. The Netherlands, for Luxembourg 1 12. Grand-Ducal and Ducal Houses of Saxony 1 13. Brunswick and Nassau 1 14. Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz 1 15. Holstein-Oldenburg, Anhalt and Schwartzburg 1 16. Hohenzollern, Lichtenstein, Reuss, Schaumburg, Lippe, Lippe and Waldeck 1 17. The Free Towns of Lubeck, Frankfort, Bremen and Hamburgh 1 Total Votes 17
ART. LVII. Austria shall preside at the Federative Diet. Each State of the Confederation has the right of making propositions, and the presiding State shall bring them under deliberation within a definitive time.
ART. LVIII. Whenever fundamental laws are to be enacted, changes made in the fundamental laws of the Confederation, measures adopted relative to the Federative Act itself, and organic institutions or other arrangements made for the common interest, the Diet shall form itself into a General Assembly, and, in that case, the distribution of votes shall be as follows, calculated according to the respective extent of the individual states:
Votes. Austria shall have 4 Prussia 4 Saxony 4 Bavaria 4 Hanover 4 Wurtemburg 4 Baden 3 Electoral Hesse 3 Grand Duchy of Hesse 3 Holstein 3 Luxembourg 3 Brunswick 2 Mecklenburg-Schwerin 2 Nassau 2 Saxe-Weimar 1 Saxe-Gotha 1 Saxe-Coburg 1 Saxe-Meinungen 1 Saxe-Hildburghausen 1 Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1 Holstein-Oldenburg 1 Anhalt-Dessau 1 Anhalt-Bernburg 1 Anhalt-Kotthen 1 Schwartzbourg-Sondershausen 1 Schwartzbourg-Rudolstadt 1 Hohenzollern-Heckingen 1 Lichtenstein 1 Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 1 Waldeck 1 Reuss, (Elder Branch) 1 Reuss, (Younger Branch) 1 Schaumburg-Lippe 1 Lippe 1 The Free Town of Lubeck 1 The Free Town of Frankfort 1 The Free Town of Bremen 1 The Free Town of Hamburgh 1 Total Votes 69
The Diet in deliberating on the organic laws of the Confederation, shall consider whether any collective votes ought to be granted to the ancient mediatised States of the empire.
ART. LIX. The question, whether a subject is to be discussed by the General Assembly, conformably to the principles above established, shall be decided in the ordinary assembly by a majority of votes. The same Assembly shall prepare the drafts of resolutions which are to be proposed to the General Assembly, and shall furnish the latter with all the necessary information, either for adopting or rejecting them. The plurality of votes shall regulate the decisions, both in the Ordinary and General Assemblies, with this difference, however, that, in the Ordinary Assembly, an absolute majority shall be deemed sufficient, while, in the other, two.: thirds of the votes shall be necessary to form the majority. When the votes are even in the Ordinary Assembly, the President shall have the casting vote; but when the Assembly is to deliberate on the acceptance of change of any of the fundamental laws, upon organic institutions, upon individual rights, or upon affairs of religion, the plurality of votes shall not be deemed sufficient, either in the Ordinary or in the General Assembly. The Diet is permanent: it may, however, when the subjects submitted to its deliberation are disposed of, adjourn for a fixed period, which shall not exceed four months. All ulterior arrangements relative to the postponement or the dispatch of urgent business, which may arise during the recess, shall be reserved for the Diet, which will consider them when engaged in preparing the organic laws.
ART. LX. With respect to the order in which the members of the Confederation shall vote, it is agreed, that while the Diet shall be occupied in framing organic laws, there shall be no fixed regulation; and whatever may be the order observed on such an occasion, it shall neither prejudice any of the members, nor establish a precedent for the future. After framing the organic laws, the Diet will deliberate upon the manner of arranging this matter by a permanent regulation, for which purpose it will depart as little as possible from those which have been observed in the ancient Diet, and more particularly according to the Recess of the Deputation of the Empire in 1803. The order to be adopted shall in no way affect the rank and precedence of the members of the Confederation, except in as far as they concern the diet.
ART. LXI. The Diet shall assemble at Frankfort on the Maine. Its first meeting is fixed for the 1st of September 1815.
ART. LXII. The first object to be considered by the Diet after its opening, shall be the framing of the fundamental laws of the Confederation, and of its organic institutions, with respect to its exterior, military, and interior relations.
ART. LXIII. The States of the Confederation engage to defend not only the whole of Germany, but each individual State of the Union, in case it should be attacked, and they mutually guarantee to each other such of their possessions as are comprised in this Union. When war shall be declared by the Confederation, no member can open a separate negociation with the enemy, nor make peace, nor conclude an armistice, without the consent of the other members. The confederated States engage, in the same manner, not to make war against each other, on any pretext, nor to pursue their differences by force of arms, but to submit them to the Diet, which will attempt a mediation by means of a Commission. If this should not succeed, and a juridical sentence becomes necessary, recourse shall be had to a well-organized Austregal Court (Austregal instanz), to the decision of which the contending parties are to submit without appeal.
ART. LXIV. The Articles comprised under the title of Particular Arrangements, in the Act of the Germanic Confederation, as annexed to the present General Treaty, both in original and in a French translation, shall have the same force and validity as if they were textually inserted herein.
ART. LXV. The ancient United Provinces of the Netherlands and the late Belgic provinces, both within the limits fixed by the following Article, shall form, together with the countries and territories designated in the same article, under the sovereignty of his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange-Nassau, sovereign prince of the United Provinces, the kingdom of the Netherlands, hereditary in the order of succession already established by the Act of the constitution of the said United Provinces. The title and the prerogatives of the royal dignity are recognised by all the Powers in the house of Orange-Nassau.
ART. LXVI. The line comprising the territories which compose the kingdom of the Netherlands, is determined in the following manner:—It leaves the sea, and extends along the frontiers of France on the side of the Netherlands as rectified and fixed by Article III. of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May, 1814, to the Meuse; thence along the same frontiers to the old limits of the duchy of Luxembourg. From this point it follows the direction of the limits between that duchy and the ancient Bishoprick of Liege, till it meets (to the south of Deiffelt) the western limits of that canton, and of that of Malmedy, to the point where the latter reaches the limits between the old departments of the Ourthe and the Roer; it then follows these limits, to where they touch those of the former French canton of Eupen, in the duchy of Limburg, and following the western limit of that canton, in a northerly direction, leaving to the right a small part of the former French canton of Aubel, joins the point of contact of the three old departments of the Ourthe, the Lower Meuse, and the Roer; parting again from this point, this line follows that which divides the two latter departments, until it reaches the Worm (a river falling into the Roer), and goes along this river to the point where it again reaches the limit of these two departments, pursues this limit to the south of Hillensberg, (the old department of the Roer), from whence it reascends to the north, and leaving Hillensberg to the right, and dividing the canton of Sittard into two nearly equal parts, so that Sittard and Susteren remain on the left, it reaches the old Dutch territory; from whence, leaving this territory to the left, it goes on following its eastern frontier to the point where it touches the old Austrian principality of Gueldres, on the side of Ruremonde, and directing itself towards the most eastern point of the Dutch territory, to the north of Swalmen, continues to inclose this territory.—Lastly, setting out from the most eastern point, it joins that part of the Dutch territory in which Venloo is situated; that town and its territory being included within it. From thence to the old Dutch frontier near Mook, situated above Genep, the line follows the course of the Meuse, at such a distance from the right bank, that all the places within a thousand Rhenish yards (Rheinlandische Ruthen) from it shall belong, with their territories, to the kingdom of the Netherlands; it being understood however, as to the reciprocity of this principle, that the Prussian territory shall not at any point touch the Meuse, or approach it within the distance of a thousand Rhenish yards.—From the point where the line just described reaches the ancient Dutch frontier, as far as the Rhine, this frontier shall remain essentially the same as it was in 1705, between Cleves and the United Provinces. This line shall be examined by a commission, which the governments of Prussia and the Netherlands shall name without delay, for the purpose of proceeding to the exact determination of the limits, as well of the kingdom of the Netherlands, as of the grand duchy of Luxembourg, specified in Art. LXVIII.; and this commission, aided by professional persons, shall regulate every thing concerning the hydrotechnical constructions, and other similar points, in the most equitable manner, and the most conformable to the mutual interests of the Prussian states, and of those of the Netherlands. This same arrangement refers to the fixing of limits in the districts of Kyfwaerd, Lobith and in the whole territory as far as Kekerdom.—The enclaves of Huissen, Malburg, Lymers, with the town of Sevenaer and lordship of Neel, shall form a part of the kingdom of the Netherlands; and his Prussian Majesty renounces them in perpetuity for himself, his heirs and successors.
ART. LXVII. That part of the old Duchy of Luxembourg which is comprised in the limits specified in the following Article, is likewise ceded to the sovereign prince of the United Provinces, now King of the Netherlands, to be possessed in perpetuity by him and his successors, in full property and sovereignty. The Sovereign of the Netherlands shall add to his titles that of Grand Duke of Luxembourg. His Majesty reserving to himself the privilege of making such family arrangement between the princes his sons, relative to the succession to the Grand Duchy, as he shall think conformable to the interests of his monarchy, and to his paternal intentions. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, serving as a compensation for the principalities of Nassau Dillenburg, Siegen, Hadamar and Dietz, shall form one of the States of the Germanic Confederation; and the Prince, King of the Netherlands, shall enter into the system of this Confederation, as Grand-Duke of Luxembourg, with all the prerogatives and privileges enjoyed by the other German Princes.—The town of Luxembourg, in a military point of view, shall be considered as a fortress of the Confederation: the Grand Duke shall, however, retain the right of appointing the governor and military commandant of this fortress, subject to the approbation of the executive power of the Confederation, and under such other conditions as it may be judged necessary to establish, in conformity with the future constitution of the said Confederation.
ART. LXVIII. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg shall consist of all the territory situated between the kingdom, of the Netherlands, as it has been designated by Art. LXVI, France, the Moselle, as far as the mouth of the Sure, the course of the Sure, as far as the junction of the Our, and the course of this last river, as far as the limits of the former French canton of St. Vith, which shall not belong to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
ART. LXIX. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, shall possess in perpetuity, for himself and his successors, the full and entire sovereignty of that part of the duchy of Bouillon, which I is not ceded to France by the Treaty of Paris; and which, therefore, shall be united to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.—Disputes, having arisen with respect to the said duchy of Bouillon, the competitor who shall legally establish his right, in the manner hereafter specified, shall possess, in full property, the said part of the duchy, as it was enjoyed by the last duke, under the sovereignty of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. This decision shall be made by arbitration, and be without appeal. For this purpose there shall be appointed a certain number of arbitrators, one by each of the two competitors, and others, to the number of three, by the courts of Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia. They shall assemble at Aix-la-Chapelle, as soon as the state of the war and other circumstances may admit of it, and their determination shall be made known within six months from their first meeting.—In the interim, his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxemburgh, shall hold in trust the property of the said part of the Duchy of Bouillon, in order that he may restore it, together with the revenues of the provisional administration, to the competitor in whose favour the arbitrators shall decide; and his said Majesty shall indemnify hum for the loss of the revenues arising from the rights of sovereignty, by means of some equitable arrangement. Should the restitution fall to Prince Charles of Rohan, this property, when in his possession, shall be regulated by the laws of the substitution which constitutes his title thereto.
ART. LXX. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands renounces, in perpetuity for himself his heirs and successors, in favour of his Majesty the King of Prussia, the sovereign possessions which the house of Nassau-Orangeheld in Germany, namely, the principalities of Dillenburg, Dietz, Siegen, and Hadamar, with the lordships of Beilstein, such as those possessions have been definitively arranged between the two branches of the house of Nassau, by the Treaty concluded at the Hague on the 14th July 1814. His Majesty also renounces the principality of Fulda, and the other districts and territorities which were, secured to him by the 12th Article of the principal recess of the Extraordinary Deputation of the Empire of the 25th of February 1803.
ART. LXXI. The right and order of succession, established between the two branches of the house of Nassau, by the Act of 1783, called Nassauischer Erbverein, is confirmed, and transferred from the four principalities of Orange Nassau, to the grand duchy of Luxembourg.
ART. LXXII. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, in uniting under his sovereignty, the countries designated in the 66th and 68th Articles, enters into all the rights, and takes upon himself all the charges and all the stipulated engagements, relative to the Provinces and districts detached from France by the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris the 30th May 1814.
ART. LXXIII. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, having recognised and sanctioned, under date of the 21st July 1814, as, the basis of the union of the Belgic Provinces; with the United Provinces, the eight Articles contained in the document annexed to the present Treaty, the said Articles shall have the same force and validity as if they were inserted, word for word, in the present Instrument.
ART. LXXIV. The integrity of the nineteen Cantons, as they existed in a political body, from the signature of the Convention of the 29th December 1813, is recognised as the basis of the Helvetic system.
ART. LXXV. The Vallais, the territory of Geneva, and the principality of Neufchatel, are united to Switzerland, and shall form three new cantons. The valley of Dappes, having formed part of the canton of Vaud, is restored to it.
ART. LXXVI: The bishoprick of Basle and the city and territory of Bienne shall be united to the Helvetic Confederation, and shall form part of the canton of Berne. The following districts, however, are excepted from this last arrangement: 1. A district of about three square leagues in extent, including the communes of Altschweiler, Schönbuch, Oberweiler, Terweiler, Ettingen, Fürsteintein, Plotten, Pfeffingen, Aesch, Bruck, Reinach, Ar- lesheim; which district shall be united to the canton of Basle. 2. A small enclave, situated near the village of Neufchatel de Lignieres, which is at present, with respect to civil jurisdiction, dependant upon the canton of Neufchatel, and with respect to criminal jurisdiction, upon that of the bishoprick of Basle, shall belong in full sovereignty to the principality of Neufchatel.
ART. LXXVII. The inhabitants of the bishoprick of Basle and those of Bienne, united to the cantons of Berne and Basle, shall enjoy, in every respect, without any distinction of religion (which shall be maintained in its present state) the same political and civil rights which are enjoyed, or may be enjoyed, by the inhabitants of the ancient parts of the said cantons: they shall, therefore, be equally competent to become candidates for the places of representatives, and for all other appointments, according to the constitution of the cantons. Such municipal privileges as are compatible with the constitution and the general regulations of the canton of Berne, shall be preserved to the town of Bienne, and to the villages that formed part of its jurisdiction.—The sale of the national domains shall be confirmed, and the feudal rights and tithes cannot be reestablished.—The respective Acts of the Union shall be framed, conformably to the principles above declared, by commissions, composed of an equal number of deputies from each of the directing parties concerned. Those from the bishopric of Basle, shall be chosen by the canton, from amongst the most eminent citizens of the country. The said Acts shall be guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation. All points upon which the parties cannot agree, shall be decided by a court of arbitration, to be named by the Diet.
ART. LXXVIII. The cession, made by the 3d Article of the Treaty of Vienna of the 14th October 1809, of the lordship of Razüns, inclosed in the country of the Grisons, having expired; and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, being restored to all the rights attached to the said possession, confirms the disposition which he made of it, by a declaration, dated the 20th March 1815, in favour of the canton of the Grisons.
ART. LXXIX. In order to ensure the commercial and military communications of the town of Geneva with the canton of Vaud, and the rest of Switzerland; and with a view to fulfil, in that respect, the 4th Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, his Most Christian Majesty consents so to place the line of custom-houses, that the road which leads from Geneva into Switzerland by Versoy, shall, at all times, be free, and that neither the post nor travellers, nor the transport of merchandize, shall be interrupted by any examination of the officers of the customs, nor subjected to any duty.—It is equally understood, that the passage of Swiss troops on this road shall not, in any manner, be ob- structed.—In the additional regulations to be made on this subject, the execution of the Treaties relative to the free, communication between the town of Geneva and the jurisdiction of Peney, shall be assured in the manner most convenient to the inhabitants of Geneva. His Most Christian Majesty also consents that the gendarmerie and militia of Geneva, after having communicated on the subject with the nearest military post of the French gendarmerie, shall pass on the high road of Meyrin, to and from the said jurisdiction, and the town of Geneva.
ART. LXXX. His Majesty the King of Sardinia cedes, that part of Savoy which is situated between the river Arve, the Rhone, the limits of that part of Savoy ceded to France, and the mountain of Salive, as far as Veiry inclusive, together with that part which lies between the high road called that of the Simplon, the lake of Geneva, and the present territory of the canton of Geneva, from Venezas to the point where the river of Hermance crosses the said road, and from thence, following the course of that river to where it enters the lake of Geneva, to the east of the village of Hermance (the whole of the road of the Simplon continuing to be possessed by his Majesty the King of Sardinia) in order that these countries shall be re-united to the canton of Geneva; with the reservation, however, of determining more precisely, by, commissioners respectively, their limits, particularly of that part which relates to the demarcation above Veiry, and on the mountain of Saleve; his said Majesty renouncing for himself and his successors, in perpetuity, without exception or reservation, all rights of sovereignty, or other rights which may belong to him in the places and territories comprised within this demarcation.—His Majesty the King of Sardinia also agrees, that the communication between the canton of Geneva and the Vallais, by the road of the Simplon, shall be established, in the same manner as it has been agreed to by France, between Geneva and the canton of Vaud, by the route of Versoy. A free communication shall also be at all times granted for the Genevese troops, between the territory of Geneva and the jurisdiction of Jussy, and such facilities shall be allowed as may be necessary for proceeding by the lake to the road of the Simplon.—On the other hand, an exemption from all duties of transit shall be granted for all merchandize and goods which, coming from the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia and the free port of Genoa, shall traverse the road called the Simplon in its whole extent, through the Vallais and the state of Geneva, This exemption, shall, however, be confined to the transit, and shall extend neither to the tolls established for the maintenance of the road, nor to duties levied on merchandize or goods intended to be sold or consumed in the interior. The same reservation shall apply to the communication granted to the Swiss between the Vallais and the canton of Geneva; and the different governments, shall for this purpose take such measures as, by common agreement, they shall judge necessary, either for taxation or for preventing contraband trade in their territories, respectively.
ART. LXXXI. With a view to the establishing of reciprocal compensations, the cantons of Argovia, Vaud, Tessin, and St. Gall, shall furnish to the ancient cantons of Schwitz, Unterwald, Uri, Glaris, Zug and Appenzell (Rhode Interior) a sum of money to be applied to purposes of public instruction, and to the expenses of general administration, but principally to the former object, in the said cantons.—The quota, manner of payment, and division of this pecuniary compensation, are fixed as follows: The cantons of Argovia, Vaud, and St. Gall, shall furnish to the cantons of Schwitz, Unterwald, Uri, Zug, Glaris, and Appenzell (Rhode Interior) a fund of 500,000 Swiss livres.—Each of the former cantons shall pay the interest of its quota, at the rate of five per cent. per annum, or have the option of discharging the principal either in money or funded property. The division, either of the payment or receipt of these funds, shall be made according to the scale of contributions laid down for providing the federal expenses. The canton of Tessin shall pay every year to the canton of Uri, a moiety of the produce of the tolls in the Levantine valley.
ART. LXXXII. To put an end to the discussions which have arisen, with respect to the funds placed in England by the cantons of Zurich and Berne, it is determined; 1. That the cantons of Berne and Zurich shall preserve the property of the funded capital as it existed in 1803, at the period of the dissolution of the Helvetic government, and shall receive the interest thereof from January 1st, 1815. 2. That the accumulated interest due since the year 1798, up to the year 1814, inclusive, shall be applied to the payment of the remaining capital of the national debt, known under the denomination of the Helvetic debt. 3. That the surplus of the Helvetic debt shall remain at the charge of the other cantons, those of Berne and Zurich being exonerated by the above arrangement. The quota of each of the cantons, which remain charged with this surplus, shall be calculated and paid according to the proportion fixed for the contributions destined to defray federal expenses. The countries incorporated with Switzerland since 1813, shall not be assessed on account of the old Helvetic debt.—If it shall happen that an over-plus remains after discharging the above debt, that overplus shall be divided between the cantons of Berne and Zurich, in the proportion of their respective capitals. The same regulations shall be observed with regard to those other debts the documents concerning which are deposited in the custody of the president of the Diet.
ART. LXXXIII. To conciliate disputes respecting lauds abolished without indemnification, an indemnity shall be given to persons who are owners of such lauds; and for the purpose of avoiding all further differences on this subject between the cantons of Berne and Vaud, the latter shall pay to the government of Berne, the sum of 300,000 Swiss livres, which shall be shared between the Bernese claimants, propietors of lauds. The payments shall be made at the rate of a fifth part each year, commencing from January 1, 1816.
ART. LXXXIV. The Declaration of the 20th March, addressed by the Allied Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris, to the Diet of the Swiss Confederation, and accepted by the Diet through the Act of Adhesion of May 27th, is confirmed in the whole of its tenor; and the principles established, as also the arrangements agreed upon, in the said Declaration, shall be invariably maintained.
ART. LXXXV. The frontiers of the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia shall be: On the side of France, such as they were on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the changes effected by the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814. On the side of the Helvetic Confederation, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the change produced by the cession At favour of the canton of Geneva, as specified by the 80th Article of the present Act. On the side of the states of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792; and the Convention concluded between their Majesties the Empress Maria Theresa, and the King of Sardinia, on the 4th of October 1751, shall be reciprocally confirmed in all its stipulations. On the side of the states of Parma and Placentia, the frontier, as far as it concerns the ancient states of the King of Sardinia, shall continue to be the same as they were on the 1st of January 1792.—The borders of the former states of Genoa, and of the countries called Imperial Fiefs, united to the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, according to the following Articles, shall be the same as those, which on the 1st of January 1792, separated those countries from the states of Parma and Placentia, and from those of Tuscany and Massa. The island of Capraja, having belonged to the ancient republic of Genoa, is included in the cession of the states of Genoa, to his Majesty the King of Sardinia.
ART. LXXXVI. The states which constituted the former republic of Genoa, are united in perpetuity to those of his Majesty the King of Sardinia; to be, like the latter, possessed by him in full sovereignty and hereditary property; and to descend, in the male line, in the order of primogeniture, to the two branches of his house, viz.; royal branch, and the branch of Savoy Carignan.
ART. LXXXVII. The King of Sardinia shall add to his present titles, that of Duke of Genoa.
ART. LXXXVIII. The Genoese shall enjoy all the rights and privileges, specified in the Act, intituled "Conditions which are to serve as the bases of the union of the Genoese states to those of his Sardinian Majesty," and the said Act, such as it is annexed to this General Treaty, shall be considered as an integral part thereof, and shall have the same force and validity, as if it were textually inserted in the present Article.
ART. LXXXIX. The countries called Imperial Fiefs, formerly united to the ancient Ligurian republic, are definitively united to the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, in the same manner as the rest of the Genoese states; and the inhabitants of these countries shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as those of the states of Genoa, specified in the preceding Article.
ART. XC. The right that the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, reserved to themselves by the 3d Art. of that Treaty, of fortifying such points of their states as they might judge proper for their safety, is equally reserved, without restriction, to his Majesty the King of Sardinia.
ART. XCI. His Majesty the King of Sardinia cedes to the canton of Geneva, the districts of Savoy, designated in the 80th Article above recited, according to the conditions specified in the Act, intituled "Cession made by his Majesty the king of Sardinia to the canton of Geneva." This Act shall be considered as an integral part of this General Treaty, to which it is annexed, and shall have the same force and validity as if it were textually inserted in the present Article.
ART. XCII. The provinces of Chablais and Faucigny, and the whole of the territory of Savoy to the North of Ugine, belonging to his Majesty the King of Sardinia, shall form a part of the neutrality of Switzerland, as it is recognised and guaranteed by the Powers. Whenever, therefore, the neighbouring powers to Switzerland are in a state of open or impending hostility, the troops of his Majesty the King of Sardinia which may be in those provinces, shall retire, and may for that purpose pass through the Vallais, if necessary. No other armed troops of any other power shall have the privilege of passing through or remaining in the said territories and provinces, excepting those which the Swiss Confederation shall think proper to place there; it being well understood, that this state of things shall not in any manner interrupt the administration of these countries, in which the civil agents of his Majesty the King of Sardinia may likewise employ the municipal guard, for the preservation of good order.
ART. XCIII. In pursuance of the renunciations agreed upon by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, the Powers who sign the present Treaty, recognize his Majesty the emperor of Austria; his heirs and successors, as legitimate Sovereign of the provinces and territories which had been ceded, either wholly or in part, by the Treaties of Campo-Formio of 1797, of Luneville of 1801, of Presburg of 1805, by the additional Convention of Fontainbleau of 1807, and by the Treaty of Vienna of 1809; the possession of which provinces and territories his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty obtained in consequence of the last war; such as, Istria, Austrian as well as heretofore Venetian, Dalmatia, the ancient Venetian isles of the Adriatic, the mouths of the Cattaro, the city of Venice, with its waters, as well as all the other provinces and districts of the formerly Venetian States of the Terra Firma, upon the left bank of the Adige, the duchies of Milan and Mantua, the principalities of Brixen and Trente, the county of Tyrol, the Voralberg, the Austrian Frioul, the ancient Venetian Frioul, the territory of Montefalcone, the government and town of Trieste, Carniola, Upper Carinthia, Croatia on the right of the Save, Fiume, and the Hungarian Littorale, and the district of Castua.
ART. XCIV. His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty shall unite to his monarchy, to be possessed by him and his successors, in full property and sovereignty; 1. Besides the portions of the Terra-Firma in the Venetian states mentioned in the preceding Article, the other parts of those states, as well as all other territory situated between the Tessin, the Po, and the Adriatic sea. 2. The vallies of the Valteline, of Bormio, and of Chiavenna. 3. The territories which formerly composed the republic of Ragusa.
ART. XCV. In consequence of the stipulations agreed upon in the preceding Articles, the frontiers of the states of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, in Italy shall be; 1. On the side of the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, such as they were on the 1st of January 1792. 2. On the side of the states of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, the course of the Po, the line of demarcation following the Thalweg of the river. 3. On the side of the states of Modena, such as they were on the 1st of January 1792. 4. On the side of the Papal states, the course of the Po, as far as the mouth of the Gozo. On the side of Switzerland, the ancient frontier of Lombardy, and that which separates the vallies of the Valteline, of Bormio, and Chiavenna, from the cantons of the Grisons, and the Tessino.—In those places where the Thalweg of the Po forms the frontier, it is agreed, that the changes which the course of the river may undergo shall not, in future, in any way affect the property of the islands therein contained.
ART. XCVI. The general principles, adopted by the Congress at Vienna, for the navigation of rivers, shall be applicable to that of the Po. Commissioners shall be named by the states bordering on rivers, within three months at latest after the ter- mination of the Congress, to regulate all that concerns the execution of the present Article.
ART. XCVII. As it is indispensable to preserve, to the establishment known by the name of the Mont-Napoleon at Milan, the means of fulfilling its engagements towards its creditors; it is agreed, that the landed and other immovable property of this establishment, in countries which formed part of the ancient kingdom of Italy, and have since passed under the government of different princes of Italy, as well as the capital belonging to the said establishment placed out at interest in these different countries, shall be appropriated to the same object.—The unfunded and unliquidated debts of the Mont-Napoleon, such as those arising from the arrears of its charges, or from any other increase of the outgoings of this establishment, shall be divided between the territories which composed the late kingdom of Italy; and this division shall be regulated according to the joint bases of their population and xevenue.—The Sovereigns of the said countries shall appoint commissioners, within the space of three months, dating from the termination of the Congress, to arrange with Austrian commissioners whatever relates to this object. This Commission shall assemble at Milan.
ART. XCVIII. His royal highness the Archduke Francis d'Este, his heirs and successors, shall possess, in full sovereignty, the duchies of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola, such as they existed at the signature of the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Archduchess Maria Beatrice d'Este, her heirs and successors, shall possess in full sovereignty and property, the duchy of Massa, and the principality of Carrara, as well as the Imperial Fiefs in La Lunigiana. The latter may be applied to the purpose of exchanges, or other arrangements made by common consent, and according to mutual convenience, with his imperial highness the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The rights of succession and reversion, established in the branches of the Archducal Houses of Austria, relative to the duchies of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola, and the principalities of Massa and Carrara, are preserved.
ART. XCIX. Her Majesty the Empress Maria Louisa shall possess, in full property and sovereignty, the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, with the exception of the districts lying within the states of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty on the left bank of the Po.—The reversion of these countries, shall be regulated by common consent, with the Courts of Austria, Russia, France, Spain, England and Prussia; due regard being had to the rights of reversion of the House of Austria, and of his Majesty the King of Sardinia to the said countries.
ART. C. His Imperial Highness the archduke Ferdinand of Austria, is re-established, himself, his heirs and successors, in all the rights of sovereignty and property, in the grand duchy of Tuscany and its dependencies, which he possessed previous to the Treaty of Luneville.—The stipulations of the 2d Article of the Treaty of Vienna, of the 3d of October, 1735, between the Emperor Charles 6 and the King of France, to which the other powers acceded, are fully renewed in favour of his Imperial Highness and his descendants, as well as the guarantees resulting from those stipulations.—There shall be likewise united to the said grand duchy, to be possessed in full property and sovereignty by the Grand Duke Ferdinand, his heirs and descendants;:1. The state of the Presidii. 2. That part of the island of Elba, and its appurtenances, which were under the suzeraineté of his Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies before the year 1801. 3. The suzerainete and sovereignty of the principality of Piombino and its dependencies.—Prince Ludovisi Buoncompagni shall retain, for himself and his legitimate successors, all the property which his family possessed in the principality of Piombino, and in the island of Elba and its dependencies, previously to the occupation of those countries by the French troops in 1799, together with the mines, founderies, and salt mines. The Prince Ludovisi shall likewise preserve his right of fishery, and enjoy an entire exemption from duties, as well for the exportation of the produce of his mines, founderies, salt-mines, and domains, as for the importation of wood and other articles necessary f or working the mines: he shall be also indemnified by his Imperial Highness the Grand duke of Tuscany, for all the revenues the family of the latter derive ed from the crown duties, before the year 1801. In case any difficulties should arise in the valuation of this indemnity, the parties concerned shall refer the decision to the courts of Vienna and Sardinia. 4. The late Imperial fiefs of Vernio, Montanto, and Monte Santa Maria, lying within the Tuscan states.
ART. CI. The principality of Lucca shall be possessed in full sovereignty by her Majesty the Infant Maria Louisa, and her decendants, in the direct male line. The principality is erected into a duchy, and shall have a form of government founded upon the principles of that which it received in 1805. An annuity of 500,000 francs shall be added to the revenue of the principality of Lucca, which his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke of Tuscany, engage to pay regularly, as long as circumstances do not admit of procuring another establishment for her Majesty the Infant Maria Louisa, her son, and his descendants. This annuity shall be specially mortgaged upon the lordships in Bohemia, known by the name of Bavaro Palatine; which, in case of the duchy of Lucca reverting to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, shall be freed from this charge, and shall again form a part of the private domain of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty.
ART. CII. The duchy of Lucca shall revert to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; either in case of its becoming vacant by the death of her Majesty the Infant Maria Louisa, or of her son Don Carlos, and of their direct male descendants; or in case the Infant Maria Louisa or her direct heirs should obtain any other establishment, or succeed to another branch of their dynasty. The Grand Duke of Tuscany however, engages, should the said reversion fall to him, to cede to the Duke of Modena, as soon as he shall have entered into possession of the principality of Lucca, the following territories: 1. The Tuscan districts of Tivizano, Pietra Santa, and Barga. 2. The Lucca districts of Castiglione, and Gallicano, lying within the states of Modena, as well as those of Minucciano and Montelgnose, contiguous to the country of Massa.
ART. CIII. The Marches, with Camerino, and their dependencies, as well as the duchy of Benevento and the principality of Ponte-Corvo, are restored to the Holy See. The Holy See shall resume possession of the legations of Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara, with the exception of that part of Ferrara which is situated on the left bank of the Po. His imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty and his successors shall have the right of placing garrisons at Ferrara and Commachio. The inhabitants of the countries who return under the government of the Holy See, in consequence of the stipulations of Congress, shall enjoy the benefit of the 16th Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814. All acquisitions made by individuals, in virtue of a title acknowledged as legal by the existing laws, are to be considered as good, and the arrangements necessary for the guarantee of the public debt, and the payment of pensions, shall be settled by a particular Convention between the courts of Rome and Vienna.
ART. CIV. His Majesty King Ferdinand 4, his heirs and successors, is restored to the throne of Naples, and his Majesty is acknowledged by the Powers as King of the Two Sicilies.
ART. CV. The Powers, recognizing the justice of the claims of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal and the Brazils, upon the town of Olivenca, and the other territories ceded to Spain by the Treaty of Badajos of 1801, and viewing the restitution of the same as a measure necessary to insure that perfect and constant harmony between the two kingdoms of the Peninsula, the preservation of which in all parts of Europe, has been the constant object of their arrangements, formally engage to use their utmost endeavours, by amicable means, to procure the retrocession of the said territories, in favour of Portugal. And the Powers declare, as far as depends upon them, that this arrangement shall take place as soon as possible.
ART. CVI. In order to remove the difficulties which opposed the ratification on the part of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of the kingdoms of Portugal and the Brazils, of the Treaty signed on the 30th of May 1814, between Portugal and France; it is determined, that the stipulations contained in the 10th Article of that Treaty, and all those which relate to it, shall be of no effect, and that with the consent of all the Powers, the provisions contained in the following Article shall be substituted for them, and which shall alone be considered as valid: with this exception, all the other clauses of the above Treaty of Paris shall be maintained, and regarded as mutually binding on the two courts.
ART. CVII. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of the kingdoms of Portugal and the Brazils, wishing to give an unequivocal proof of his high consideration for his Most Christian Majesty, engages to restore French Guiana to his said Majesty, as far as the river Oyapock, the mouth of which is situated between the fourth and fifth degree of north latitude, and which has always been considered by Portugal as the limit appointed by the Treaty of Utrecht. The period for giving up this colony shall be determined, as soon as circumstances shall permit, by a particular Convention between the two Courts; and they shall enter into an amicable arrangement, as soon as possible, with regard to the definitive demarcation of the limits of Portuguese and French Guiana, conformably to the precise meaning of the 8th Article of the Treaty of Utrecht.
ART. CVIII. The Powers whose states are separated or crossed by the same navigable river, engage to regulate, by common consent, all that regards its navigation. For this purpose they will name Commissioners, who shall assemble, at latest, within six months after the termination of the Congress, and who shall adopt as the basis of their proceedings, the principles established by the following Articles.
ART. CIX. The navigation of the rivers, along their whole course, refered to in the preceding Article, from the point where each of them becomes navigable, to its mouth, shall be entirely free, and shall not, in respect to commerce, be prohibited to any one; it being understood that the regulations established with regard to the police of this navigation, shall be respected; as they will be framed alike for all, and as favourable as possible to the commerce of all nations.
ART. CX. The system that shall be established both for the collection of the duties and for the maintenance of the police, shall be, as nearly as possible, the same along the whole course of the river; and shall also extend, unless particular circumstances prevent it, to those of its branches and junctions, which, in their navigable course, separate or traverse different states.
ART. CXI. The duties on navigation shall be regulated in an uniform and settled manner, and with as little reference as possible to the different quality of the merchandize, in order that a minute examination of the cargo may be rendered unnecessary, except with cargo view to prevent fraud and evasion. The amount of the duties, which shall in no case exceed those now paid, shall be determined by local circumstances, which scarcely allow of a general rule in this respect. The tarif shall, however, be prepared in such a manner as to encourage commerce by facilitating navigation; for which purpose the duties established upon the Rhine, and now in force on that river, may serve as an approximating rule for its construction. The tarif once settled, no increase shall take place therein, except by the common consent of the states bordering on the rivers; nor shall the navigation be burthened with any other duties than those fixed in the regulation.
ART. CXII. The offices for the collection of duties, the number of which shall be reduced as much as possible, shall be determined upon in the above regulation, and no change shall afterwards be made, but by common consent, unless any of the states bordering on the rivers should wish to diminish the number of those which exclusively belong to the same.
ART. CXIII. Each state bordering on the rivers is to be at the expense of keeping in good repair the towing paths, which pass through its territory, and of maintaining the necessary works through the same extent in the channels of the river, in order that no obstacle may be experienced to the navigation. The intended regulation shall determine the manner in which the states bordering on the rivers are to participate in these latter works, where the opposite banks belong to different governments.
ART. CXIV. There shall no where be established store-house, port, or forced harbour-duties. Those already existing shall be preserved for such time only as the states bordering on rivers (without regard to the local interest of the place or the country where they are established) shall find them necessary or useful to navigation and commerce in general.
ART. CXV. The custom-houses belonging to the states bordering on rivers shall not interfere in the duties of navigation. Regulations shall be established to prevent officers of the customs, in the exercise of their functions, throwing obstacles in the way of the navigation; but care shall be taken, by means of a strict police on the bank, to preclude every attempt of the inhabitants to smuggle goods, through the medium of boatmen.
ART. CXVI. Every thing expressed in the preceding Articles shall be settled by a general arrangement, in which there shall also be comprised whatever may need an ulterior determination. The arrangement once settled, shall not be changed, but by and with the consent of all the states bordering on rivers, and they shall take care to provide for its execution with due regard to circumstances and locality.
ART. CXVII. The particular regulations relative to the navigation of the Rhine, the Necker, the Maine, the Moselle, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, such as they are annexed to the present Act, shall have the same force and validity as if they were textually inserted herein.
ART. CXVIII. The Treaties, Conventions, Declarations, Regulations, and other particular Acts which are annexed to the present Act, viz.
1. The Treaty between Russia and Austria of the 21st April (3d May) 1815.
2. The Treaty between Russia and Prussia of the 21st April (3d May) 1815.
3. The additional Treaty relative to Cracow, between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, of the 21st April (3d May) 1815.
4. The Treaty between Prussia and Saxony of the 18th May 1815.
5. The Declaration of the King of Saxony respecting the rights of the House of Schoenburg, of the 18th May 1815.
6. The Treaty between Prussia and Hanover of the 29th May 1815.
7. The Convention between Prussia and the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar of the 1st June 1815.
8. The Convention between Prussia and the Duke and Prince of Nassau of the 31st May 1815.
9. The Act concerning the Federative Constitution of Germany of the 8th June 1815.
10. The Treaty between the King of the Netherlands, and Prussia, England, Austria, and Russia, of the 31st May 1815.
11. The Declaration of the Powers on the Affairs of the Helvetic Confederation of the 20th March, and the Act of Accession of the Diet of the 28th May 1815.
12. The Protocol of the 29th March 1815, on the cessions made by the King of Sardinia to the Canton of Geneva.
13. The Treaty between the king of Sardinia, Austria, England, Russia, Prussia, and France, of the 21st May 1815.
14. The Act intituled "Conditions which are to serve as the bases of the Union of the States of Genoa with those of his Sardinian Majesty."
15. The Declaration of the Powers on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, of the 8th February 1815.
16. The Regulations respecting the free navigation of Rivers.
17. The Regulation concerning the precedence of Diplomatic agents,—Shall be considered as integral parts of the arrangements of the Congress, and shall have, throughout, the same force and validity as if they were inserted, word for word, in the General Treaty.
ART. CXIX. All the Powers assembled in Congress, as well as the Princes and free towns, who have concurred in the arrangements specified, and in the Acts confirmed, in this General Treaty, are invited to accede to it.
ART. CXX. The French language having been exclusively employed in all the copies of the present Treaty, it is declared, by the powers who have concurred in this Act, that the use made of that language shall not be construed into a precedent for the future; every power, therefore, reserves to itself the adoption in future Negociations and Conventions, the language it has heretofore employed in its diplomatic relations; and this Treaty shall not be cited as a precedent contrary to the established practice.
ART. CXXI. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in six months, and by the Court of Portugal in a year, or sooner if possible.
A copy of this General Treaty shall be deposited, in the Archives of the Court and State of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, at Vienna, in case any of the Courts of Europe shall think proper to consult the original text of this instrument.
In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed this Act, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms.
Done at Vienna the 9th of June, in the year of our Lord 1815.
(The Signatures follow in the alphabetical order of the Courts.)
AUSTRIA, (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S.) The Baron de Wessenberg. SPAIN, FRANCE, (L. S.) The Prince de Talleyrand. (L. S.) The Duke de D'Alberg. (L. S.) The Count Alexis de Noailles. GREAT BRITAIN, (L. S.) Clancarty. (L. S.) Cathcart. (L. S.) Stewart, L. G. PORTUGAL, (L. S.) The Comte de Palmella. (L. S.) Antonio de Saldanha da Gama. (L. S.) D. Joaquim Loboda Silveira. PRUSSIA, (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Baron de Humboldt. RUSSIA, (L. S.) The Prince de Rasoumoffsky (L. S.) The Count de Stackelberg. (L. S.) The Count de Nesselrode. SWEDEN, (L. S.) The Count Charles-Axel de Lowenhielm.
Save and except the reservation made to the Articles 101, 102, and 104, of the Treaty.
ACTS, ANNEXED TO THE GENERAL TREATY.
ACT, No. I—The Treaty between Russia and Austria of the 21 April, 3 May, 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and his Majesty the King of Prussia, being equally desirous of coming to an amicable understanding upon the measures most proper to adopt for consolidating the welfare of the Polish people, in the new relations in which they are placed by the changes effected in the fate of the Duchy of Warsaw; and wishing at the same time to extend the effects of this benevolent disposition to the provinces and districts which composed the ancient kingdom of Poland, by means of such liberal arrangements as circumstances have permitted, and by, placing the intercourse of the inhabitants, in respect to commerce, upon the most advantageous footing; have agreed to conclude two separate Treaties, one between Russia and Austria; and the other between the former Power and Prussia, in order to comprise therein, the general engagements common to the three Powers, as well as the stipulations which concern them individually. Their Imperial Majesties have for this purpose named, for their separate Treaty, the following Plenipotentiaries:
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Andrew, Count de Rasoumoffsky, his Privy Counsellor, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew and of St. Alexander Newsky, Grand-Cross of the Order of St. Vlodimir, and his principal Plenipotentiary at the Congress.
And his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, the Sieur Clement-Venceslas-Lothaire, Prince de Metternich-Winnebourg-Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand-Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Orders of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of the Orders of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria-Theresa, Curator of the Academy of the Fine Arts, Chamberlain, intimate and actual Counsellor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Minister of State, of Conferences, and Of Foreign Affairs and his Plenipotentiary at the Congress; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in due and proper form, have agreed upon, concluded, and signed the following Articles:
ART. I. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias cedes to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the districts which were dismembered from Eastern Galicia, in virtue of the Treaty of Vienna of 1809, from the circles of Zloczow, Bzzezan, Tarnapol, and Zalesczyk; and the frontiers on this side shall be re-established as they existed previous to the date of the said Treaty.
ART. II. His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty shall possess, in full property and sovereignty, the salt-mines of Wieliczka, and the territory belonging to them.
ART. III. The Thalweg of the Vistula shall separate Gallicia from the territory of the free town of Cracow. It shall also form the frontier between Gallacia and that part of the ancient Duchy of Warsaw united to the dominions of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, as far as the environs of the town of Zawichost. The land frontier from Zawichost to the Bug shall be determined by the line designated in the Treaty of Vienna of 1809, with such modifications as, by common consent, it may be thought necessary to introduce. The frontier from the Bug, shall be re-established on this side, between the two empires, such as it was before the said Treaty.
ART. IV. The city of Cracow, as well as the territory designated in the additional Treaty, signed in common by the Courts of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, are declared free and independent.
ART. V. The Duchy of Warsaw, excepting the parts which have been otherwise disposed of, in virtue of the above Articles, and by the Treaty signed the same day between their Majesties the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, is united to the empire of Russia, to which it shall be irrevocably attached by its constitution, and be possessed by his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russins, his heirs and successors, for ever. His Imperial Majesty reserves to himself the right of giving to this State, enjoying a distinct administration, such interior improvement as he shall think proper. He shall add to his other titles that of Czar, King of Poland, agreeably to the form established for the titles attached to his other possessions.—The Poles, subjects, respectively, of the High Contracting Parties, shall obtain a representation, and national institutions regulated conformably to the system of political existence that each of the governments to which they belong shall think it useful and convenient to grant them.
ART. VI. If the inhabitants and landowners of the countries separated in virtue of the present Treaty should wish to settle under another Government, they shall be allowed six years to dispose of their property, moveable or immoveable, of whatever nature it may be, to sell it, to quit the country, and to export the produce thereof in specie, or in any other description of money, without any impediment or drawback whatever.
ART. VII. A complete, general, and special amnesty shall be granted to all indivi- duals, of whatever rank, sex, or condition they may be.
ART. VIII. In consequence of the preceding Article, no individual shall in future be prosecuted or disturbed, in any manner whatever, on account of his direct or indirect participation in the political, civil, or military events that have taken place in Poland at any period. All actions, prosecutions, or suits, shall be considered as at an end; sequestrations and provisional confiscations shall be taken off, and any act proceeding upon such grounds, shall not be followed up.
ART. IX. From these general regulations on the subject of confiscations are excepted all those cases in which edicts or sentences, finally pronounced, have already been fully executed, and have not been annulled by subsequent events.
ART. X. The condition of a subject of both Governments, as far as property is concerned, shall be acknowledged and maintained.
ART. XI. Every individual who possesses property under more than one Government shall be obliged, in the course of a year, dating from the day of the ratification of the present Treaty, to make the declaration of his settled abode, in writing, before the magistrate of the nearest city or town, or before the Commander of the nearest district, or before the nearest civil authority in the country that he may have chosen for his residence. This declaration, which the above Magistrate or other authority is to transmit to the superior authority of the province, renders him, as to his person and family, exclusively the subject of the sovereign in whose states he has fixed his abode.
ART. XII. With respect to minors, or other persons who are under the care of guardians, such guardians shall be obliged to make the necessary declaration at the appointed time.
ART. XIII. If any individual, possessing property under both Governments, shall have neglected, at the end of the prescribed term of a year, to make the declaration of his final abode, he shall be considered as a subject of the Power in whose States he last resided; his silence, in this case, being considered as a tacit declaration to that effect.
ART. XIV. Any individual, possessing property under both Governments, who shall have once made a declaration of his place of abode, shall be allowed, for the period of eight years, dating from the day of the ratification of the present Treaty, to settle under another Government, by making a new declaration, and by producing the permission of the Power, under whose government he wishes to reside.
ART. XV. Any individual, possessing property under both Governments, who has made a declaration of his place of abode, or who is considered as having made it, conformably to the stipulations of Article XIII, is not obliged, at any period whatever, to dis- pose of the possessions he may have in the dominions of a sovereign of whom he is not a subject. He shall enjoy, with respect to this property, all the rights attached to its possession. He shall be free to expend the revenues of these possessions in the country where he shall have chosen his abode, without sustaining any deduction whatever at the time of their removal. He may sell these possessions, and take the value thereof, without being subject to any drawback.
ART. XVI. The privileges specified in the preceding Article, of removing property without diminution, shall extend only to the effects of which such individuals may be possessed at the time of the ratification of the present Treaty.
ART. XVII. The same privileges are, however, attached to every acquisition made under either Government, by reason of inheritance, marriage, or gift of property, which, at the date of the ratification of the present Treaty, belonged lastly to a proprietor under both Governments.
ART. XVIII. Should any individual, having property under one of the two Governments only, whether by inheritance, legacy, gift, or marriage, become possessed of property under the other Government, he shall be considered as a proprietor under both Governments, and, as such, obliged to make, within the prescribed time, the declaration of his fixed abode. This term of a year shall date from the day on which he shall have produced the legal proof of his acquisition.
ART. XIX. An individual possessing property under both Governments, or his agent, shall be allowed at all times to pass from one of his possessions to the other; for which purpose it is the pleasure of the two Courts that the Governor of the nearest province shall give the necessary passports, on the application of the parties. These passports shall be deemed a sufficient protection, from one Government to the other, and shall be equally respected on both sides.
ART. XX. Possessors having estates divided by the frontier shall be treated, in respect to those possessions, according to the most liberal principles. Individuals whose property is thus circumstanced, their servants and tenants, shall have the privilege of passing and repassing from one part of the possession, so divided by the frontier, to the other, with their implements of husbandry, their cattle, tools, &c. the difference of sovereignty being no impediment thereto. They may also remove, from one place to the other, theirs crops, all articles of growth, their cattle, and every article of manufacture, without passports, molestation, rent or impost whatever. This privilege is, however, limited to articles the produce of the soil, or of industry, in the territory thus divided by the line of demarcation. It likewise extends to such lands only as belong to the same person, in the fixed distance of one mile (fifteen to the degree) on both sides, and which may have been divided by the line of frontier.
ART. XXI. The shepherds and drovers, subjects of both Powers, shall continue to enjoy the rights, immunities, and privileges, which have hitherto been granted to them; and no obstacle shall prevent the daily intercourse on the frontiers between the neighbouring people. (In German, Gränzverkehr).
ART. XXII. The Domiciliary Court shall also decide the differences between individuals which are brought forward by the Governor of these territories. But the Court of the territory, in which the property in litigation is situated, shall cause the sentence to be put into execution. This arrangement shall be in force for the term of ten years, at the end of which the two High Courts reserve to themselves the right of making any other regulation that may be necessary.
ART. XXIII. The sovereignty of the mills, manufactories, or foundaries established in the course of a river forming the frontier, shall be exercised by the Sovereign in whose territory the village or place is situated, to which these establishments belong. Should they constitute private property, the commission charged with the demarcation of the land frontiers, shall determine, according to the principles of equity and their local situation, what shall be proper with respect to the sovereignty. It is understood that new establishments of this description shall not be formed without the consent of the governments of the respective states, bordering on the river.
ART. XXIV. The navigation of all the rivers and canals throughout the whole extent of the ancient kingdom of Poland, (as it existed before the year 1772) to their mouths, as well in ascending as in descending, shall be free, so as not to be interdicted to any inhabitant of the Polish provinces, subject to either the Russian or Austrian government. The same liberty of passage and navigation is reciprocally permitted upon the streams or rivers which, not being navigable at present, may become so in future, as well as upon canals which may hereafter be cut. The same principles shall be adopted in favour of the above-mentioned subjects, in regard to their frequenting ports at which they may arrive by the navigation of the said rivers and canals.
ART. XXV. The tonnage and towage duties shall be alike on both rivers; the watermen shall nevertheless be obliged to conform to the regulations of the existing Police with regard to the mode of internal navigation.
ART. XXVI. In order to secure still further this liberty of navigation, and to remove every obstacle for the future, the two High Contracting Parties have agreed to establish only one kind of duty on shipping, proportioned to the burthen or tonnage of the vessel, or its lading. Commissioners shall be named on both sides to regulate the duty, which shall be at a moderate rate, and be solely applied to maintaining the rivers and canals in question, in a navigable state. This duty, once approved of by the two Courts, shall be changed only by common consent. The same rule shall be observed with regard to the Boards which shall regulate the collection of the said duty. If, however, either of the two Contracting Powers should, at His own expense, establish a new canal, the subjects of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias shall never be subjected to higher duties on navigation than those of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria. In this respect each party shall be considered on a perfect equality.
ART. XXVII. The Commissioners who shall be charged with the arrangements determined in the above Articles, shall be named without delay. Their labours shall be finished, examined, and approved, within six months at the latest, dating from the day of the ratification of the present. Treaty.
ART. XXVIII. The two High Contracting Parties, with the view of giving greater scope to the commercial relations, especially between Brody and Odessa, and vice versa, have agreed to grant the most perfect liberty in favour of the transit of merchandize, throughout all parts of ancient Poland. The duties to be collected on this account shall be as moderate as possible, and such as are levied on the merchants, or subjects of the most favoured nations.
ART. XXIX. With the view also of encouraging the import and export trade between the said provinces which constituted the ancient kingdom of Poland, it has been mutually agreed that the two Courts shall name Commissioners, who are to be charged with examining the regulations and tarifs now in force, to present plans, tending to regulate whatever is relative to this commerce, and especially to prevent all kinds of abuse, or undue interference on the part of the customs.
ART. XXX. His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty having issued from his general fund of state debts, (universal Stadts Schuldencassa) bonds for a sum equal to the quota of the old debts of the King and the Republic of Poland, with which he had been burthened, in consequence of the Convention of the 15th (26th) January 1797, and as these bonds are henceforth to remain at his charge, with all the arrears of, and present interest; it is agreed between the High Contracting Parties, that the government of the duchy of Warsaw, under the guarantee of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, shall be bound, on this account, to make good to the Court of Vienna, by way of a settlement in full, the sum of four millions of Polish florins.
ART. XXXI. On the other hand, his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty fully renounces every other pretension relative to loans and debts, of whatsoever nature they may be, which have been, or which might be either assigned to, mortgaged upon, or registered against the ceded territory.
ART. XXXII. The four millions of Polish florins, stipulated in Article 30, as a settlement in full on the part of the government of the duchy of Warsaw, shall be paid by that government to the Austrian Imperial treasury, in specie, and in eight equal annual instalments of 500,000 Polish florins each; the first of these annual payments shall become due the 12th (24th) June 1816, and the last on the same day in 1824. Having, however, taken into consideration the actual state of affairs, and the new exertions which circumstances may require, the High Contracting Parties have agreed, that if peace is not re-established at the precise time of the first payment becoming due, such first payment is to be deferred, and consequently the others progressively, so that the first payment shall take place six months after the ratification of the definitive Treaty of Peace.
ART. XXXIII. With respect to the new debts, which hear date since the erection of the duchy of Warsaw, his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty undertakes to provide for them, in the proportion of one ninth part; it being understood that the Court of Vienna shall participate in the interest resulting from their liquidation, in the same proportion.
ART. XXXIV. Immediately after the signature of the present Treaty, a Commission shall be named, which shall assemble at Warsaw. It shall be composed of a proper number of commissioners and assistants: its object shall be; 1. To prepare an exact balance of what is due by foreign governments. 2. To regulate, reciprocally, between the Contracting Parties, the accounts of their respective claims. 3. To settle the claims of subjects against their governments. In short, to adjust whatever relates to subjects of this nature.
ART. XXXV. As soon as the Commission mentioned in the preceding Article shall have entered upon its duties, it shall appoint a committee, for the purpose of proceeding immediately to the necessary arrangement for the restitution of all securities, whether consisting of money, or of deeds and documents, which the subjects of one of the Contracting Parties may have given, and which may be found in the states of the other. The same rule shall be observed in all judiciary depôts which may have been transferred from one province to the other. They shall be restored to the jurisdictions of the governments to which they belong.
ART. XXXVI. All documents, plans, maps or deeds whatever, which may be found in the archives of either of the Contracting Parties, shall be mutually restored to the power whose territory they concern. If a document of this kind be of common interest, the party who is in possession of it shall keep it, but a certified and legalized copy shall be given to the other.
ART. XXXVII. The acts of administration shall be separated: each of the Con- tracting Parties shall receive the part which concerns his states. The same rule shall be observed with regard to mortgage books and deeds. In the case provided for in the preceding Article, a legalized copy shall be given.
ART. XXXVIII. A military and civil Commission shall be immediately appointed, to construct an exact map of the new frontier, annexing the topographical description thereto, to place the boundary posts, and describe the angles of its situation, so that in no case the least doubt, dispute or difficulty may arise, if, in the course of time, it should be wished to replace a boundary mark, destroyed by any accident.
ART. XXXIX. It is agreed between the two High Contracting Parties, that the contract for the purchase of 500,000 quintals of salt, shall be mutually binding, for the term of five years; at the end of which period it may be renewed, on the conditions which shall then be agreed upon.
ART. XL. Immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty, the necessary orders shall be sent to the commanders of troops, and the competent authorities, for the evacuation of the provinces which are restored to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and for the restitution of the country, to Commissioners, who shall be appointed for this purpose; and this evacuation shall be effected so that it may be completed in six weeks, dating from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty.
ART. XLI. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in six days. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms. Done at Vienna the 21st April, (3d May) 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Count de Rasoumoffsky. (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich.
ACT, No. II.—Treaty between Russia and Prussia of the 21st April (3d May) 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and his Majesty the King of Prussia, animated with the desire of cementing more closely the ties of friendship which have united their arms and their subjects in a difficult and sanguinary war, the sacred object of which was to restore peace to Europe and tranquillity to nations, have judged it expedient, in order to fulfil their immediate engagements, and to put an end to all uncertainties, to fix definitively, by a solemn Treaty, every thing which concerns the arrangements relative to the duchy of Warsaw; as well as to settle the state of affairs resulting there from, by combined negotiations, founded upon the principles of a just balance of power and division of forces, discussed and agreed upon at the Congress of Vienna.—The national spirit, the advantages of commerce, the arrangements which may restore stability to the administration, regularity in the finances, public and individual prosperity in the provinces recently obtained, have all been taken into consideration, and their Imperial and Royal Majesties, in order to complete this salutary work, to settle and fix definitively the limits of their states, to agree on all the stipulations which can insure their happiness, have named for their Plenipotentiaries, viz.: His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Andrew, Count de Rasoumoffsky, his Privy Counsellor, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, and of St. Alexander Newsky, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Wolodimir, and his First Pleni potentiary at the Congress; and his Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia, of the Orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Newsky, and Of St. Ann of the first class of Russia, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of St. Charles of Spain, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Order of the Elephant of Denmark, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburg, and of several others, his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; Who, after having exchanged their full powers and found them in good and due form, have agreed on the following Articles: these Articles having been negotiated in common with the Treaties between Russia, Austria; and Prussia respectively, are inserted in all their form and tenor, excepting the modifications which are contained in that concluded with his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, occasioned by the particular state of affairs.
ART. I. The part of the duchy of Warsaw which his Majesty the King of Prussia is to possess, in full sovereignty and property, for himself and his successors, under the title of Grand Duchy of Posen, shall be comprised within the following line of demarcation:—Commencing from the frontier of Eastern Prussia, at the village of Neuhoff, the new limit shall follow the frontier of Western Prussia, as it has existed from 1772 to the Peace of Tilsit, as far as the village of Leibitsch, which shall belong to the duchy of Warsaw; from thence a line shall be drawn, which, leaving Kompania, Grabowiec, and Szczytno, to Prussia, passes the Vistula near the latter place, on the other side of the river, which falls, opposite Szczytno, into the Vistula, as far as the ancient limit of the district of the Netze, near Gros-Opoczko, in such a manner that Sluzewo shall belong to the duchy, and Przybranowa, Hollander, and Maciejewo, to. Prussia. From Gros-Opoczko it shall pass through Chlewiska, which shall remain to Prussia, to the village of Przybyslaw, and from thence by the villages of Piaski, Chelnice, Witowickski, Kobylinka, Woyczyr, Orchowo, as far as the town of Powidz. From Powidz it shall continue through the town of Slupse, to the point at which the rivers Wartha and Prosna join. From this point it as, cends the river Prosna as far as the village of Koscielnawies, a league from the town of Kalisch Thence, leaving to this town, (on the left bank of le Prosna) a territory describing a semi-circle, measured according to the distance between Koscielnawies and Kalisch, it rejoins the course of the Prosna, and continues to follow it, ascending by the cities Grabow, Wieruszow, Boleslawiec, and ending near the village of Gola, at the frontier of Silesia, opposite Pitschin.
ART. II. The city of Cracow is declared free and independent, as well as the territory designated in the additional Treaty, signed in common by the courts of Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
ART. III. The duchy of Warsaw, with the exception of the free city of Cracow and its territory, as well as of that line on the right bank of the Vistula which is restored to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and, excepting also the provinces which have otherwise been disposed of, in conformity to the Articles abovementioned, is united to the empire of Russia, to which it shall be irrevocably attached by its constitution, to be possessed by his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his heirs and successors, in perpetuity. His Imperial Majesty reserves to himself the right of giving to this state, enjoying a distinct administration, the internal modification which he shall judge proper. He shall assume, in addition to his other titles, that of Czar, King of Poland, agreeably to the form established for the titles attached to his other possessions.—The Poles, subjects respectively of the High Contracting Powers, shall obtain institutions by which the preservation of their nationality may be insured, according to the degree of political existence which each of the governments to which they belong, shall judge proper to allow them.
ART. IV. If the inhabitants and landed proprietors of the countries which have been separated in consequence of the present Treaty, wish to settle under another government, they shall be at liberty, during six years, to dispose of their property, moveable or immoveable, of whatever nature it may be, to sell it, to quit the country, and to remove the produce thereof, either in specie, or other description of money, without any impediment or deduction whatever.
ART. V. A complete, general, and special amnesty shall be granted to all individuals, of whatever rank, sex, or condition they may be.
ART. VI. In consequence of the preceding Article, no person shall in future be molested or disturbed, in any manner, on account of any part he may have taken, either directly or indirectly, and at any period, in the political, civil, or military events in Poland. All processes, proceedings, or prosecutions, shall be regarded as null. Sequestrations or provisional confiscations shall be taken off, and any act proceeding from similar causes, shall be of no effect.
ART. VII. From these general regulations respecting confiscations, all cases are excepted in which edicts or sentences, finally pronounced, shall have been carried into complete execution, and have not been annulled by subsequent events.
ART. VIII. The quality of a subject, of the two governments, with regard to property, shall be acknowledged and confirmed.
ART. IX. Every individual, possessing property under more than one government, is required, in the course of a year, dating from the day of the ratification of the present Treaty, to declare, in writing, before the magistrate of the nearest town, or the commander of the nearest district, or before the nearest civil authority in the country which he has chosen to reside in, the place which he shall have fixed upon for his settled abode. This declaration, which the above magistrate or other authority shall transmit to the superior authority of the province, renders him, as to his person and his family, exclusively the subject of the sovereign in whose states he has fixed his said residence.
ART. X. With regard to minors and other persons under the care of guardians, such guardians shall be compelled to make the necessary declaration at the time prescribed.
ART. XI. If an individual, possessing property under both governments, shall have neglected, at the expiration of the said term of one year, to make the declaration of his fixed abode, he shall be considered as being the subject of the power, in whose states he last resided; his silence, in this case, being considered a tacit declaration.
ART. XII. Every individual possessing property under both governments, having once declared his place of abode, shall never. The less retain, during the term of eight years, dating from the day of the ratification of the present Treaty, the liberty of settling under another government, upon making a new declaration of his abode, and upon producing the permission of the power, under whose government he wishes to settle.
ART. XIII. Any individual possessing property, and circumstanced as above, who has made his declaration of abode, or who is considered as having made it, conformably to the stipulations of the 11th Article, is not obliged to sell, at any period whatever, the property which he may possess in the states of a sovereign of whom he is not a subject. He shall enjoy, with regard to this property, all the rights which attach to possession. He shall be allowed to expend the revenues thereof in the country where he has chosen his residence, without being subject to any drawback at the time of exportation, and he may dispose of the said possessions, and remove the value thereof, without any impediment whatever.
ART. XIV. The privileges mentioned in the preceding Article extend solely to the property which such individual may possess at the time of the ratification of the present Treaty.
ART. XV. The same privileges are, however, attached to every acquisition made under either government by reason of inheritance, marriage, or gift of an estate, which at the date of the ratification of the present Treaty shall finally belong to a possessor under both governments.
ART. XVI. Should any individual, previously possessing property under one government only, become entitled, by inheritance, légacy, gift, or marriage, to any property under the other government, he shall be considered as a possessor under both governments, and, shall be required to declare his place of abode in the prescribed term of a year. This term shall be dated from the day on which he shall have produced the legal proofs of his new acquisition.
ART. XVII. Any individual, possessing property under both governments, or his agent, shall be at liberty, at all times, to proceed from one of his possessions to the other; and it is the pleasure of the two Courts, that the Governor of the nearest province shall grant the necessary passports for this purpose, on application of the parties. These passports shall be deemed sufficient authority for passing from one government to the other, and shall be mutually respected.
ART. XVIII. Possessors whose estates are divided by the frontier, shall be treated, in regard to such possessions, on the most liberal principles. Possessors under both governments, their servants and tenants, shall have the liberty of passing and repassing, with their implements of husbandry, their cattle, utensils, &c. from one part of the estate, thus separated by the frontier, to the other, the difference of sovereignty being no impediment thereto; as well as of removing, from one place to the other, their harvests, all productions of the soil, their cattle, and all manufactured articles, without passports, molestation, rent or impost, or duty whatever. This favour, however, shall be limited to articles of growth or of industry, in the territory thus separated by the line of demarcation. It shall likewise extend to such lands only as belong to the same individual, in the defined distance of a mile (15 to a degree) on each side of the frontier line.
ART. XIX. The shepherds and drovers, subjects of both Powers, shall continue to enjoy the rights, immunities, and privileges, which were formerly granted to them; nor shall any obstacle be thrown in the way of the daily communications between the inha- bitants of the borders. (In German, Gransverkehr).
ART. XX. The Domiciliary Court shall likewise decide differences, which may arise between any individual and the Governor of those territories, but it is the Chief Court of the territory, wherein the property in litigation is situated, which shall cause the sentence, emanating from the former Court, to be put in execution. This regulation shall be in force for the term of ten years, at the expiration of which, the two High Powers reserve to themselves the right of making any other regulation that may be necessary.
ART. XXI. The sovereignty of mills, manufactories, or foundaries, established upon a river constituting the frontier line, shall be exercised by the sovereign of the territory in which the village or place shall be situated, to which such establishment may belong. In the event of their constituting private property, the Commissioners who shall be charged with the demarcation of the line of frontier, shall determine, according to locality and the principles of equity, what shall be proper, as to the sovereignty. It is expressly understood, that new establishments of this description shall not be formed without the mutual consent of the governments of the respective states bordering on the rivers.
ART. XXII. The navigation of all rivers and canals, in all parts of ancient Poland (as it existed in the year 1772) along their whole extent, as far as their mouths, as well in going up as in coming down, whether those rivers be navigable at present, or become so in future, as well as canals which may be hereafter cut, shall be free, so as not to be interdicted to any inhabitant of the Polish provinces under the Russian and Prussian governments. The same principles established in favour of the subjects of the two High Powers, shall apply to the trade they carry on; it being understood that they refer to those parts only, at which they may arrive by the said streams, rivers, and canals, or by the Haff, in order to enter the port of Konigsberg.
ART. XXIII. The tonnage and towage duties on the banks of streams, rivers, and canals, shall be levied equally on the subjects of the two Powers. Boatmen shall nevertheless conform to the regulations of the Police, with regard to the interior navigation.
ART. XXIV. In order to secure, still further, the freedom of navigation, and to remove every obstacle thereto for the future, the two High Contracting Parties agree to establish only one kind of duty on navigation, levied according to the burthen, the tonnage, or the lading of the vessel. Commissioners shall be respectively appointed to regulate this duty, which shall be levied at a very moderate rate, to be applied solely to the keeping the rivers and canals in a navigable state. This duty, once approved by the two Courts, cannot again be altered but by common consent. The same rule shall be observed with regard to the Boards which are to settle the collection of those duties. The rate thus established, shall be collected on the territory of each of the two Contracting Powers, on their respective, account. If, however, either of the two Contracting Powers should cut, at their own expense, a new canal, the subjects of his Prussian Majesty shall never be liable to higher duties on navigation, than those of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. In this respect, both the parties shall be placed upon a perfect equality.
ART. XXV. In consequence of the principle laid down in the preceding Article, all oppressive duties of entrepôt, of staple, of breaking bulk, and others of a like nature, which may have been injurious to the free navigation of the said rivers and canals, shall be for ever abolished throughout their whole extent.
ART. XXVI. With regard to the rights and privileges of certain towns and ports, which might affect the rights of property, and which would consequently be contrary to the principles reciprocally adopted, it has been agreed that they shall be examined by a Board of Commissioners, appointed by the two Courts, to determine which shall be abolished, and to give that freedom and activity to commerce which is necessary to its prosperity. The Commissioners for this purpose, shall be nominated forthwith, and their operations shall be completed and approved six months, at latest, after the date of the ratification of the present Treaty.
ART. XXVII. Each Power shall be at liberty to accredit to the other consuls, or commercial agents, on condition, however, that they shall be recognised according to the usual forms.
ART. XXVIII. In order to promote agriculture as much as possible in all parts of ancient Poland, to encourage the industry, of its inhabitants, and to insure their prosperity, the two High Contracting Parties have agreed, that their paternal and beneficent views, in this respect, may be clearly understood, that the most unlimited circulation, for the future and for ever, of all articles of growth and industry, shall be permitted throughout their Polish provinces (as it existed in 1772). The Commissioners appointed to make the arrangements, conformable to the stipulations of the 26th Article, shall likewise determine, in the prescribed term of six months, the tarif of duties on the import and export of all articles of produce and manufacture, in the above-mentioned provinces. This duty shall not exceed 10 per cent. which is to be levied on the value of the merchandize, at the place of its departure. If the two Courts should think proper, respectively, to establish a duty on the importation of grain, it shall be fixed at the most moderate rate by the said Com- missioners, according to the instructions which shall be given them. In order to prevent foreigners profiting by the arrangements made in favour of the provinces above mentioned, it is determined, that all articles, the produce thereof, which shall pass from one territory to the other, shall be accompanied with the certificate of origin, without which they shall not be allowed to enter. In case the consul should be at too great a distance to grant one, that of the Magistrate of the place shall be sufficient.
ART. XXIX. The transit of merchandize shall be perfectly free in all parts of ancient Poland, and shall be subject to the most moderate duties. The Commission, mentioned in the 26th and 28th Articles, shall determine the mode by which the value shall be ascertained, and shall consider of the most certain means of preventing all delay in passing the Custom-houses, or any kind of impediment whatever.
ART. XXX. The stipulations agreed upon in the above-mentioned Articles, relative to commerce and navigation, shall not be partially applied: consequently, up to the period (which shall not exceed six months) in which the above-mentioned Commission shall have completed their labours, the navigation shall continue on the same footing as latterly. With regard to the import trade, each government shall adopt, during the interval, such measures as may be judged most expedient.
ART. XXXI. The particular attention of the two High Courts has been directed towards the regulations concerning debts, and the fixing of the proportions which each of the Contracting Powers shall bear in a transaction on which depend the interest of individuals, the regularity of the finance, and the execution of treaties. It has therefore been resolved to proceed with that precision which such arrangements require; and to distinguish them; viz. into old debts, those of King Stanislaus Augustus, and of the former Republic; and, into new ones, those of the Duchy of Warsaw.
ART. XXXII. With regard to the first class, all such debts as are to be liquidated by Prussia, in virtue of the Treaty of 1797, having been converted into bonds of the Mara, time Society, known by the name of Recognizances, and his Majesty being willing to become responsible for the total amount of those bonds, with their interest, the security which the Duchy of Warsaw (under the guarantee of the Emperor of all the Russias) is to afford to Prussia with regard to the principal, has been regulated, as well with respect to capital as interest, in the Table A. It has been determined, in consequence, that the regulations contained in that table should be considered as having the same validity as if they had been inserted, word for word, in the present Article. The table has, for this reason, been signed separately, and the sum total which thereby accrues to Prussia, shall be reimbursed to that Power in eight equal annual Payments, with an interest at the rate of 4 per cent. it being understood, that the instalments shall be regulated in such manner, that no compound interest shall be paid. The first payment shall be made 12th (24th) June 1816.
The High Contracting Powers having, however, taken into consideration the actual state of affairs, and the new efforts which the circumstances may require, have agreed, that if peace be not re-established at the above-mentioned period, the first payment is to be deferred, and the others progressively, according to the rule laid down, until the time when the troops of the respective Powers shall have returned to their homes.
ART. XXXIII. The Duchy of Warsaw shall be at liberty to reimburse Prussia, for the capital and interest, as settled in the aforesaid table, either in bonds of the Maritime Society, called Recognizances, in such bills as may supply the place of these Recognizances, or in specie; and, in the latter case, His Prussian Majesty consents to a discount of 10 per cent. This discount, however, is not to be taken on payment of the current interest, which may nevertheless be discharged in paper currency. (Coupons courants).
ART. XXXIV. With respect to the new debts of the Duchy of Warsaw, His Prussian Majesty undertakes to provide for them in the proportion of three tenths; it being understood that the Court of Prussia shall participate in the interest which may accrue on their liquidation, in the same proportion.
ART. XXXV. The quota which his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias engages to provide for the old debts of the Duchy of Warsaw, being specified in the table B, the regulations contained therein shall be considered as having the same validity as if they were inserted in the present Article, and the Russian Imperial Treasury shall pay, without delay, to the Prussian government, the amount which shall appear in this table, in the same order, by the same instalments, and bearing the same interest, as is stipulated and agreed upon for the reimbursements to be made from the treasury of the Duchy of Warsaw, under the guarantee of His Imperial Majesty; so that the said Duchy shall not be charged, on the part of Prussia, with a greater sum than eighteen millions, five hundred and seventy-three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-two, and twenty-one thirtieths, Polish florins.
ART. XXXVI. Immediately after the signature of the present Treaty, a Commission shall be named, which shall assemble at Warsaw. It shall be composed of a proper number of Commissioners and clerks: its object shall be: 1. To prepare an exact balance of what is due by foreign governments. 2. To regulate reciprocally between the Contracting Parties the demands arising from their respective claims. 3. To settle the claims of subjects upon their governments. In fine, to adjust whatever relates to subjects of this nature.
ART. XXXVII. As soon as the Commission mentioned in the preceding Article shall have assembled it shall name a Committee, for the purpose of proceeding immediately to the necessary arrangements for the restitution of all securities, whether consisting of money, or in deeds and documents, which the subjects of one of the Contracting Parties May have given, and which may be in the states of the other. The same rule shall be observed in all law or other offices, which may have been transferred from one province to the other. They shall be restored to the jurisdiction of the governments to which they belong.
ART. XXXVIII. All documents, plans, maps, or deeds whatever, which may be found in the archives of either of the Contracting Parties, shall be mutually restored to the Power whose territory they Concern. If a document of this kind be of a common interest, the party who is in possession of it shall keep it, but a certified and legalised copy thereof shall be given to the other.
ART. XXXIX. Acts of the administration shall be separated. Each of the Contracting Parties shall receive the part which concerns His states. The same rule shall be observed with regard to books and deeds concerning mortgages. In the case provided for in the above Article, a legalised copy shall be given.
ART. XL. If the restitution of the different kinds of depôts which, during the war of 1806, were placed in security at Konigsberg by Prussian officers, has not yet been effected, it shall take place forthwith, according to the principles established by the Convention of the 10th of September 1810, and conformably to what has been settled in the conferences of the respective Commissioners who have discussed this subject at Warsaw.
ART. XLI. A military and civil Commission shall be immediately appointed, to construct an exact map of the new frontier, annexing the topographical description thereto, to place the boundary posts, and describe the angles of its situation, so that in no case the least doubt, dispute, or difficulty may arise, if, in the course of time, the replacing of a boundary mark, destroyed by any accident, should be disputed.
ART. XLII. Immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty, the necessary orders shall be sent to the commanders of troops in the Duchy of Warsaw, as well as to the competent authorities, for the evacuation of the provinces which are restored to his Prussian Majesty, and for the restitution of the country to the Commissioners who shall be appointed for that purpose. And this evacuation shall take place so as to be completed in twenty-one days.
ART. XLIII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in six days. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms. Done at Vienna, the 21st April, 3rd May, 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Count de Rasoumoffsky. (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg.
ACT, No. III.—Additional Treaty relative to Cracow, between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, of 21st April, 3rd May, 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, wishing, to give effect to that Article of their respective Treaties which relates to the neutrality, the liberty and independance of the city of Cracow and of its territory, have appointed, to fulfil their benevolent intentions in this respect, namely:
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Clement Winceslas Lothaire, Prince de Metternich-Winnebourg-Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand-Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Grand-Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Orders of the Black and Red Eagle, of the Seraphim of Sweden, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Cross of Wurtemburg, of the Order of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others, Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Curator of the Academy of the Fine Arts, Chamberlain, Privy Counsellor to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Minister of State, of Conference and of Foreign Affairs, and his Plenipotentiary at the Congress;
His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Order of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia, of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class of Russia; Grand Cress of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of St. Charles of Spain, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Elephant of Denmark, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, and of several others, his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Andrew Count Rasoumoffsky, his Privy Counsellor, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew and of St. Alexander Newsky, Grand-Cross of the Order of St. Wolodimir, and his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed Upon,. concluded, and signed the following Articles:
ART. I. Cracow with its territory, shall be considered for ever as a free, independant, and strictly neutral city, under the protection of the three High Contracting Powers.
ART. II. The territory of the free city of Cracow shall have for its frontier, on the left bank of the Vistula, a line which shall commence at the village of Wolica, on the spot where a rivulet falls into the Vistula, and ascend this rivulet by Clokoscielnicki as far as Czulice, so that these villages are comprised in the district of the free city of Cracow: From thence, passing along the frontiers of the villages, it shall continue by Dziekanovice, Tomaszow, Karniowice, which shall also remain to the territory of Cracow, to the point where the limit, which separates the district of Krzezovice from that of Olkusz, commences: From thence it shall follow the limit between the two districts above-mentioned, till it reaches the frontier of Prussian Silesia.
ART. III. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria being anxious, on his part, to improve the commercial relations and good under, standing between Gallicia and the free city of Cracow, grants in perpetuity to the city of Podgorze, bordering on the river, the privileges of a free commercial city, with the same advantages as are enjoyed by the city of Brody. This freedom of commerce shall extend to a line of 500 hundred toises from the barriers of the suburbs of the city of Podgorze. In virtue of this privilege, which, however, is not to affect the rights of sovereignty of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Austrian custom-houses shall be established in no places but those situated beyond the above-mentioned line, nor shall any military establishment be formed which can menace the neutrality of Cracow, or prevent that freedom of commerce which his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty is desirous of affording to the town and district of Podgorze.
ART. IV. In pursuance of this concession, his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty has determined to grant permission for the city of Cracow to extend its bridges over to the right bank of the Vistula, and to fasten its boats at those places through which it has always been in the habit of communicating with Podgorze. The city shall be at the expense of repairing the bank where its bridges are anchored or moored. It shall also be at the expense of repairing the bridges, as well as the ferry-boats provided for the season, when a bridge of boats cannot be maintained. Should there, however, be any relaxation, neglect, or ill-will, in the estab- lishment, the three Courts shall, if any such facts be proved, order such a police, at the charge of the town, as may be competent to guard against any abuses of this description in future.
ART. V. Immediately after the signature of the present Treaty, a joint Commission shall be appointed, composed of an equal number of commissioners and engineers, to mark out the line of demarcation, to place the boundary-posts, to describe the angles and bearings, and to construct a map containing a local description, so that no misunderstanding or doubt may in future arise upon these points. The boundary-posts, describing the territory of Cracow, shall be numbered and marked with the arms of the Power bordering on that territory, and of those of the free city of Cracow. The frontiers of the Austrian territory, opposite to that of Cracow, being formed by the Thalweg of the Vistula, the Austrian boundary-posts shall be fixed on the right bank of that river. The circle comprehending the free commercial territory of Podgorze shall be pointed out by particular posts, marked with the arms of Austria, and bearing the inscription, "Free Line of Commerce." Wolny, Okrog, Dlahandlu.
ART. VI. The three Courts engage to respect, and to cause to be respected, at all times, the neutrality of the free city of Cracow and its territory, and no armed force shall enter it under any pretence whatsoever. On the other hand, it is understood, and expressly stipulated, that the free city and territory of Cracow shall not afford any asylum or protection to runaways, deserters, or persons under prosecution, belonging to the countries of either of the three Contracting Powers, and that, on the demand of their surrender by the competent authorities, such individuals shall be arrested without delay, and delivered up, under a proper escort, to the guard appointed to receive them at the frontier.
ART. VII. The three Courts having approved of a constitution, by which the free city of Cracow and its territory shall be regulated, and which is annexed to the present Article as an integral part thereof, respectively guarantee that constitution. They moreover engage, respectively to appoint a Commissioner, who shall proceed to Cracow, to act in concert with a temporary and local Commission, composed principally of individuals holding public situations, or of persons of character. Each of the three Powers shall, for this purpose, make choice of a candidate, either from the nobility, the clergy, or the commonalty. Each of the commissioners of the three Courts, shall fill the office of President, alternately, by the week. He who Shall first preside shall be appointed by ballot, and the President shall enjoy all the rights and privileges belonging to that office.—This committee shall be employed in laying down the constitutional bases in question, and shall carry them into effect. It shall also have the gift of the first official appointments; excepting, however, those who may have been appointed to the senate by the High Contracting Parties, who, for this time, reserve to themselves the right of choosing some well known persons. It shall also employ itself in assembling and putting into action the new government of the free city of Cracow and its territory. It shall enter into immediate communication with the existing administration, and is authorized to make all such changes therein as may be necessary for the public service, so long as this temporary state of affairs shall continue.
ART. VIII. The constitution of the free city of Cracow and its territory, does not admit of the right, or establishment, of customhouses. The city is, however, permitted to levy barrier-duties and bridge-tolls.
ART. IX. In order to establish a fixed regulation with regard to the tolls to be collected on the bridges and roads of the free city of Cracow, which are to be levied in proportion to the expense required to keep them in repair, it has been agreed that a general tarif shall be made by the Commission specified in the 7th Article, This tarif shall only apply to goods, beasts of burthen, or of draught and cattle. It shall not apply to individuals, except at those times when the passage must be effected by water. The toll-houses shall be established on the left bank of the Vistula. The same Commission shall also agree upon the principles concerning the currency.
ART. X. All the rights, obligations, advantages, and privileges, stipulated by the three High Contracting Parties, in the Articles relative to individuals possessing property under different governments, to a general amnesty, to free trade and navigation, are equally granted to the free city of Cracow and its territory. In order to facilitate the provisioning the city and territory of Cracow, the three High Courts consent to allow fire-wood, coals, and every other article of first necessity, freely to pass and repass through the territory of the city of Cracow.
ART. XI. A Commission shall regulate the rights of property, and the rents to be paid by the peasantry on ecclesiastical and crown lands, in the manner best calculated to relieve and ameliorate that class of individuals.
ART. XII. The free city of Cracow shall preserve for itself and upon its territory, the privileges of the post. Each of the three Courts, however, shall have the option of establishing either their own post-office at Cracow, for mails proceeding to and from their states, or merely to appoint a secretary at the post-office at Cracow, to superintend this department. The postage of foreign letters, and of those of the interior, shall be settled in the regulations to be agreed upon by the Commission mentioned in the 7th Article.
ART. XIII. Whatever may be found in the free city and territory of Cracow, to have been national property of the duchy of Warsaw, shall, as such, belong in future to the free city of Cracow. This property shall constitute one of its financial fluids, and the revenue arising there from shall be applied to the support of the academy, to other literary institutions, and principally to the improvement of the means of public education. The revenues arising from the barrier duties and bridge-tolls, are, from their nature, to be appropriated to keeping the bridges and highways in repair; both in the free city as well as in the territory of Cracow, the government shall be responsible for the execution of this part of the public service, so necessary to intercourse and commerce.
ART. XIV. The revenues of the free city of Cracow, being so regulated that the surplus of the expenses of administration shall be appropriated to the purposes mentioned in the preceding Article, the city of Cracow shall not be called to contribute towards the payment of the debts of the duchy of Warsaw, and, on the other hand, it shall have no share in the reimbursements which may be made to that duchy. The inhabitants of Cracow shall always be at liberty to submit the arrangement of their private claims to the Commission which shall be authorized to settle the accounts.
ART. XV. The buildings and library belonging to the academy of Cracow, its landed property, and mortgaged capital, together with all the privileges which it at present enjoys, are hereby secured to it.—Permission shall be granted to the inhabitants of the neighbouring Polish provinces to repair to that academy, and to study there, as soon as it shall be regulated conformably with the intentions of each of the three High Courts.
ART. XVI. The Bishopric of Cracow, and the Chapter of that free city, as well as all the secular and regular clergy, shall be continued. The funds, endowments, immoveable effects, rents, or collections, which constitute their property, shall be secured to them. The Senate, however, shall be at liberty to propose to the Assemblies of December, a different mode of expenditure from that which may exist, if it shall be proved that the present appropriation of the revenues, especially with regard to public instruction and the distressed situation of the inferior clergy, has been conducted in a manner contrary to the intention of the founders. In every change to be made, the same formalities shall be observed as are usual in respect to the adoption of a law of the state.
ART. XVII. As the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishopric of Cracow is not to extend to the Austrian and Prussian territories, the nomination of the bishop of Cracow is specially reserved to his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, who, on this particular occasion, shall make the first nomi- nation agreeably to his own choice. In future, the Chapter and Senate shall each have the privilege of recommending two canditates for that appointment, from among whom his said Majesty shall select the new bishop.
ART. XVIII. A copy of the Articles, before-mentioned, as likewise of the constitution which forms a principal part of them, shall be formally deposited, by the joint commission designated in the 7th Article, with the archives of the free City of Cracow, as a permanent proof of the generous principles adopted by the three High Powers in favour of the free City and territory of Cracow.
ART. XIX. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in six days. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna, the 21st April, 3d May, 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Comte de Rasoumoffsky.
Constitution of the Free City of Cracow.
ART. I. The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion, is confirmed as the religion of the country.
ART. II. Every sect of the Christian religion is free, and cannot constitute any difference with regard to social rights.
ART. III. The existing rights of the agriculturist, shall be maintained. The law knows no distinction among citizens, protecting all alike. The law protects also the sects which are tolerated.
ART. IV. The government of the free City of Cracow and its territory, shall be vested in a Senate, composed of twelve members, called Senators, and a President.
ART. V. Nine of the Senators, including the President, shall be elected by the Assembly of Representatives; the remaining four shall be chosen by the Chapter and the Academy, each of which shall have the right of returning two of their members to the Senate.
ART. VI. Six members shall be appointed for life. The President of the Senate shall remain in office for three years, with the power of being re-elected. Half of the remaining senators shall retire from the Senate every year, to make room for the newly elected; the three members who are to vacate their seats at the end of the first year, shall be regulated according to age; that is to say, the youngest members shall go out the first. With regard to the four senators elected by the Chapter and Academy, two of them shall remain in office for life; other two shall be replaced at the end of every year.
ART. VII. The members of the secular clergy, and of the University, as well as the owners of lands, houses, or any other kind of property, who pay fifty Polish florins land tax; all proprietors of manufactories, merchants, and all who are registered as members of the Exchange, distinguished artists, and professors of schools, shall, as soon as they have attained the required age, have the political right of voting. They may also be elected, provided they fulfil the other conditions which the law enjoins.
ART. VIII. The members of the administration shall be appointed by the Senate, which has the privilege of dismissing, at pleasure, public officers employed under its authority. It has likewise the nomination to ecclesiastical livings, the presentation to which belongs to the State; with the exception of four places in the chapter, which shall be reserved for the doctors of the faculties discharging the offices of instructors, and to which places the Academy shall appoint.
ART. IX. The city of Cracow with its territory shall be divided into city and country communes. The former shall, each of them, as far as local circumstances may permit, have a population of two thousand souls, and the latter three thousand five hundred, at least. Each of these communes shall have a Mayor, freely elected and charged with carrying the orders of Government into effect. In the country communes, mayoralties may be discharged by deputy, if circumstances require it.
ART. X. The assembly of Representatives shall meet in the month of December each year, and their sitting shall not exceed four weeks. The legislative power shall be vested in this assembly; it shall examine the annual accounts of the public administration, and shall prepare the budget every year; it shall elect the members of the Senate, according to the contents of the organic Article in this respect; the election of judges is also vested in this assembly, and they shall have the right (by a majority of two-thirds) to impeach public officers, of whatever rank, if suspected of embezzling money, or guilty of exaction, or of any other abuse in the discharge of their offices, and to bring them before the Supreme Court of Justice.
ART. XI. The assembly of Representatives shall be composed;—1. Of the deputies of communes, each electing one. 2. Of three members chosen by the Senate. 3. Of three prelates, appointed by the Chapter. 4. Of three doctors of the faculties, appointed by the University. 5. Of six magistrates of arbitration, actually in office, who shall serve in rotation. The President of the Committee shall be chosen from the three members appointed by the Senate. No project of a law, tending to introduce any alteration in an existing law or regulation, shall be proposed to the Committee of Representatives, unless it shall have been previously communicated to the Senate, and have received their sanction by a majority.
ART. XII. The assembly of Representatives shall employ itself in framing a civil and criminal code of laws, and in regulating the forms of proceeding. They shall appoint without delay a Committee to prepare the same, in the framing of which due regard shall be had to the local circumstances of the country, and to the habits of the people. Two members of the Senate shall be attached to this Committee.
ART. XIII. If a law has not received the consent of seven-eighths of the Representatives, and if the Senate declares, by a majority of nine votes, that the public interest requires it to be submitted again to the consideration of the Legislators, it shall be referred a second time to the decision of the Assembly of the following year. If it be an object of finance, the law of the preceding year shall remain in force until the new law has passed.
ART. XIV. The assembly of Representatives shall appoint a Magistrate of Arbitration to every district, consisting of not less than six thousand souls. He shall exercise his functions for three years. Besides his duty as Arbitrator, his business shall be to watch over the interests of minors, as well as to take cognisance of all suits relating to funds and landed property belonging to the State, or to public institutions. Upon all matters referred to him in his double capacity, he shall communicate with the youngest Senator, whose special duty it shall be to attend to the interests of minors, and to actions of law concerning funds or landed property of the State.
ART. XV. There shall be a Court of "First Instance," and a Court of Appeal. Three Judges in the former, and four in the latter Court, including their Presidents, shall hold their appointments for life. The other Judges attached to each of these Courts, to the number which local circumstances may require, shall depend upon the free election of the communes, and shall remain in office no longer than the period specified in the organic laws. These two Courts shall try causes of all descriptions, whatever be their nature, or the rank of the parties. If the decision of both Courts be alike, no further appeal can be had. If their verdicts are essentially at variance, or if the Academy, after having examined the written pleadings, declare that there is ground for a complaint of a violation of law, or that the essential forms of proceeding have not been observed in a civil cause, as well with regard to sentences inflicting capital or ignominious punishment, the suit shall again be brought before the Court of Appeal; but in this case, there shall be added to the ordinary number of Judges, all the Magistrates of Arbitration belonging to the city, and four individuals, two of whom shall be chosen by each of the leading parties concerned, from among the citizens. Three Judges are necessary to give judgment in the first instance, five in the second, and seven in the last resort.
ART. XVI. The supreme Court appointed to try such causes as are referred to in the tenth Article, shall be composed; 1. Of five Representatives, drawn by lot. 2. Of three Members of the Senate, elected by that assembly. 3. Of the Presidents of the two Courts of Justice. 4. Of four Magistrates of Arbitration, in their turn. 5. Of three citizens, chosen by the public officer brought to trial. Nine members are necessary to pronounce the sentence.
ART. XVII. Civil and criminal causes are to be decided in open court. In the mode of proceeding, (and, in the first instance, in causes strictly criminal) the institution of Juries shall be introduced, and adapted to the local situation of the country, and to the information and character of the inhabitants.
ART. XVIII. The judiciary body is independent.
ART. XIX. At the expiration of the sixth year, dating from the publication of the constitutional charter, the necessary qualifications for becoming a Senator, by the election of the Representatives, shall be;—1. He must be thirty-five years of age. 2. He must have completed his studies in one of the universities within the ancient kingdom of Poland. 3. He must have filled the office of Mayor during two years, that of judge during two years, and that of Representative during two sessions of the assembly. 4. He must have possessed, for a year at least previous to the election, an immoveable property, charged with a land-tax of a hundred and fifty Polish florins.
The qualifications for a Judge are;—1. To be thirty years of age. 2. To have completed his studies in one of the above-mentioned universities, and to have obtained the degree of Doctor. 3. To have been with an attorney for one year, and to have practised also with an advocate for the same period. 4. To possess immoveable property to the value of eight thousand Polish florins, which must have been acquired at least a year before the election. In order to be elected a Judge of the "Second Instance," or President of either of the courts, besides these qualifications, he must have filled the office of Judge in the first court, or that of Magistrate of Arbitration for two years, and have been a representative.
To be elected Representative of a commune, it is necessary;—1. That he shall be twenty-six years of age. 2. That he shall have gone through a course of studies at the university of Cracow. 3. That he shall be possessed of immoveable property rated at ninety Polish florins, and acquired at least a year before the election. The qualifications specified in the present Article shall not be applicable to those individuals who, during the existence of the duchy of Warsaw, filled situations by gift of the Crown, or by election of the Diet, nor shall they be applicable to those who have now obtained them by authority of the contracting Powers. These persons shall be fully entitled to be appointed or elected to every office.
ART. XX. All acts of Government, of the Legislature, and of the Courts of Justice, shall be in the Polish language.
ART. XXI. The revenues and expenditure of the Academy, shall be included in the general budget of the free city and territory of Cracow.
ART. XXII. The duty of the police and safety of the interior shall be performed by a sufficient number of the municipal militia. This detachment shall be alternately relieved, and commanded by an officer of the line, who, having distinguished himself in the service, shall accept such a retirement. A sufficient number of gendarmes shall be armed and mounted for the protection of the roads and country. Done at Vienna the 3d day of May, 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Comte de Rasoumoffsky.
ACT, No. IV.—Treaty between Prussia and Saxony of the 18th May, 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of Prussia on the one part, and his Majesty the King of Saxony on the other, animated with the desire of renewing the ties of friendship and good understanding which have so happily subsisted her tween their respective states; and being anxious to contribute towards the re-establishment of order and tranquillity in Europe, by carrying into effect the territorial arrangements stipulated at the Congress of Vienna; their said Majesties have named for their Plenipotentiaries, to agree upon, conclude, and sign a Treaty of peace and friendship, viz. His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle, and of the Red Eagle; of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia; of the Orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class of Russia; Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles of Spain, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, Knight of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Elephant of Denmark, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburg, and of several others; and the Sieur Charles William, Boron de Humboldt, his Minister of State, Chamberlain, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Knight of the Grand Order of the Red Eagle, of the Iron Cross of Prussia, and of St. Anne of the First Class of Russia; and his Majesty the King of Saxony, the Sieur Frederic Albert, Count de Schulemburg, his Chamberlaim, Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; and the Sieur Hans Augustus Furchtegott de Globig, his Chamberlain, Counsellor of the Court and of Justice, and Confidential Referendary; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:.
ART. I. From this day there shall be peace and friendship between his Majesty the King of Prussia on the one part, and his Majesty the King of Saxony on the other, their heirs and successors, their states and respective subjects, for ever.
ART. II. His Majesty the King of Saxony renounces for ever, for himself, his heirs and successors, in favour of his Majesty the King of Prussia, all right and title to the provinces, districts, and portions of territory of the kingdom of Saxony, hereafter designated; and his Majesty the King of Prussia shall possess these countries in full sovereignty and property, and shall unite them to his monarchy. The districts and territories thus ceded, shall be separated from the remainder of the kingdom of Saxony by a line, which shall form the future boundary between the Prussian and Saxon territories, so that all places comprised within this line of demarcation shall be restored to his Majesty the King of Saxony; and his Majesty renounces the possession of all districts and territories which may be situated without this line, and which belonged to him before the wan—Setting out from the confines of Bohemia, near Wiese, in the environs of Seidenberg, this line shall follow the course of the rivulet Wittich as far us its junction with the Neisse. From the Neisse it shall reach the circle of Eigen, between Tauchritz, which shall belong to Prussia, and Bertschof remaining to Saxony. It shall then follow the northern frontier of the circle of Eigen, as far as the angle between Paulsdorf and Ober-Sohland; from thence it shall continue as far as the limits which separate the circle of Görlitz from that of Bautzen, so that Ober-mittel and Nieder-Sohland, Olisch, and Radewitz, remain to Saxony.—The great post-road between Gorlitz and Bautzen, shall belong to Prussia, as far as the limits of the two circles above mentioned; then the line shall follow the frontier of the circle as far as Dubrauke, extending along the heights on the right of the Löbauer-Wasser, in such a direction that this rivulet, with its two banks and the places adjacent, as far as Neudorff, shall remain, with that village, to Saxony. This line shall then return to the Spree, and the Schwarz-Waisser; Liska-Hermsdorf, Ketten, and Solchdorf; being transferred to Prussia.—From the Schwarz-Elster, near Solchdorf, a direct line shall be drawn as far as the boundary of the territory of the lordship of Koenigsbrück, near Grossgräbchen. This lordship shall remain to Saxony, and the line shall follow the northern frontier of this lordship, as far as that of the bailiwick of Grossenhayn, in the environs of Ortrand. Ortrand, and the road from that place by Merzdorf, Stolzenhayn, and Gröebeln to Mühlberg, with the villages through which this road passes, shall remain to Prussia; the line being so drawn, that no part of the said route shall remain out of the Prussian territory. The frontier line from Gröebeln shall be carried as far as the Elbe by Fichtenberg, and shall be continued near the bailiwick of Mühlberg. Fichtenberg shall belong to Prussia.—From the Elbe to the frontier of the country of Mersebourg, the line shall be so drawn, that the bailiwicks of Torgau, Eilenburg, and Delitsch, shall belong to Prussia, and those of Oschatz, Wurzen, and Leipsic, remain to Saxony. The line shall then follow the frontiers bordering on these bailiwicks, dividing, certain enclaves and demi-enclaves. The whole road from Mühlberg to Eilenburg; shall be within the Prussian territory.—From Podelwitz, belonging to the bailiwick of Leipsic, which shall remain to Saxony, as far as Eytra, which shall also remain to that power, the line shall so divide the country of Mersebourg, as to leave Breitenfeld, Haenichen, Gross, and Klein-Dolzig, Mark-Ranstadt, and KnautNauendorf, to Saxony; and Modelwitz, ditz, Klein-Liebenau, Alt-Ranstädt, Schköhlen, and Zietschen, shall pass to Prussia.—Thence the line shall divide the bailiwick of Pegau, between the Floss-Graben and the Weisse-Elster, dividing the first river at the point where it separates from the Weisse-Elster, below the town of Crossen, which forms part of the bailiwick of Haynsberg, as far as the point where it joins the Saale below the town of Mersebourg; the whole course of this river, as it runs between these two towns, together with both its banks, shall belong to the Prussian territory. From thence where the frontier line touches upon the country of Zeitz, it shall follow that line as far as the country of Altenberg, near Luckau. The frontiers of the circle of Neustadt, which passes wholly under the dominion of Prussia, shall continue without alteration. The enclaves of Voigtland, in the country of Reuss, namely, Gefall-Blintendorf, Sparenberg, and Blankenberg, are included in the share belonging to Prussia.
ART. III. To prevent all injury of private property, and to protect, upon the most liberal principles, the property of individuals domiciliated upon the frontier, his Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of Saxony, shall each appoint Commissioners to proceed conjointly in fixing the limits of the countries which are to change Sovereigns, in virtue of the arrangements of the present Treaty.—As soon as the Commissioners shall have executed the duty assigned to them, and the same shall have been approved by the two Sovereigns, maps shall be constructed and signed by the respective Commissioners, and boundary marks placed to define their respective limits.
ART. IV. The provinces and districts of the kingdom of Saxony, which pass under the dominion of his Majesty the King of Prussia, shall be styled, the Duchy of Saxony; and his Majesty shall add to his titles those of Duke of Saxony, Landgrave of Thuringia, Margrave of the two Lusatiaso, and Count of Henneberg. His Majesty the King of Saxony shall continue to bear the title of Margrave of Upper Lusatia. His Majesty shall also continue to bear those of Landgrave of Thuringia, and Count of Henneberg, in virtue of his right of eventual succession to the possessions of the Ernestine branch.
ART. V. His Majesty the King of Prussia engages, that his troops shall evacuate the provinces, districts, and territories of the kingdom of Saxony which do not pass under his dominion, and to cause the administration thereof to be restored to the Saxon authorities, in fifteen days from the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty.
ART. VI. Every arrangement which shall be a necessary and indispensable consequence of the cession to Prussia of the provinces and districts designated in Article 2, shall be forthwith considered; such as those which relate to the archives, debts, paper-money, or other obligations of these provinces, as well as those of the kingdom in general; also those which relate to the public funds; to arrears, particularly those of the ordinary taxes and Crown rents, which have become due during the Prussian administration; to the landed property of the religious, civil, or military public establishments; to the army, the artillery; to provisions and warlike stores; to feudal rights, and other matters of a similar nature.—With respect to feudal rights, his Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of Saxony, being anxious carefully to remove every subject which might give rise to dispute or future discussion, respectively renounce, each in favour of the other, all right or pretension of this nature which they exercised, or might have exercised, beyond the frontiers specified in the present Treaty.—The execution of the present article shall take place by common consent, and Commissioners shall be appointed for this purpose by the two governments.
ART. VII. The separation of the records shall be effected in the following manner: The deeds of the Crown lands, documents and papers, relating exclusively to the provinces, territories or places, ceded entirely by his Majesty the King of Saxony to his Majesty the King of Prussia, shall be given up to the Prussian Commissioners in three months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications.—The restitution of plans of fortresses, and maps of towns and countries, shall be made in the same manner, and within the Same period. Where a province or territory is not wholly ceded to Prussia, originals of the documents referring to it, shall either be delivered to the Prussian Commissioners, or shall remain in the hands of the Saxon authorities, according as the greater or lesser portion of the province or territory shall have been ceded. The party retaining the origi- nals engages to furnish the other with legalised copies thereof. The Saxon Government shall retain the originals of all acts and papers which, though not coming under either of the cases above specified, are of common interest to both parties; engaging at the same time, to deliver to Prussia legalised copies of the same.—The Prussian Commissioners shall be enabled to decide which of these acts, documents, or papers, might be interesting to their government.
ART. VIII. With regard to the army, it is laid down as a principle, that all privates, non-commissioned officers, and other military persons below the rank of officers, shall be subject to that power to whom the place of their nativity shall belong. Officers of all ranks, not excepting surgeons and chaplains, are at liberty to remain in the service of that government which they shall prefer; and this privilege shall be also extended to soldiers and other military persons below the rank of officers, who are not natives of Saxony or Prussia.
ART. IX. The debts specially mortgaged on the provinces wholly ceded to Prussia, or remaining under the government of Saxony, shall be liquidated by the government to whom the said provinces shall belong. His Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty the King of Saxony, have established the following regulation, with regard to those debts which are to be liquidated by the provinces remaining in part to his Majesty the King of Saxony, as well as to those which belong to the kingdom in general.—The debts, for the liquidation of which certain revenues have been specially assigned (funded debts), either as to capital or interest, shall be distinguished from those for which no provision has been made. The former description of debts shall follow those revenues, so that the proportion in which such revenues fall under the dominion of one or other of the two governments, shall also be that in which they shall be divided between them. With regard to those debts, for the liquidation of which no certain revenues have been assigned (unfunded debts), the grounds upon which they have been contracted, shall likewise determine to which fund they ought to have been assigned; that is to say, what portion of the revenues should have been applied to the payment of interest and to the reimbursement of the capital. Prussia and Saxony shall contribute to their liquidation, according to the share they shall receive of these revenues. If, contrary to all expectation, a case should arise where it would be impossible to decide upon the exact fund to which a particular debt should have been assigned, it shall be understood, that out of the total amount of the revenues belonging to the province, establishment, institution, or fund, for the accommodation of which such debt shall have been contracted, the same shall be discharged; and it shall be at the charge of the two governments, in proportion to the part of those revenues which each of them may receive. The pledges to be withdrawn on the reimbursement of the capital for which they had been held as a security, shall return to the province, establishment, institution, or individual, to whom those pledges belonged. Those which are the property of a province divided between two powers, shall be shared according to the proportion which each part of such province may have contributed to the liquidation of the capital.—The principles above established concerning debts, shall likewise apply to credits.
ART. X. His Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty the King of Saxony, acknowledging the necessity of punctually fulfilling the engagements entered into for the wants and service of the kingdom of Saxony, by the Commision styled "Central Steuer Commission" have agreed, that they shall be mutually guaranteed and fulfilled by the two Governments. An equal number of Commissioners shall, therefore, be appointed without delay on both sides, to liquidate these debts, to divide them according to the regulation established by the 9th Article, for public unfunded debts, and to settle the mode and period of their payment.—Each Government engages to provide means for the discharge of these debts; reserving, however, to themselves, reciprocally, to make these payments, either by arrears of taxes, and the felling of an extra quantity of timber, upon which these payments had been secured, or by other measures affording equal security, so that the periods of payment, in anticipation of which the arrears of taxes, and the felling of timber was given, shall be punctually observed. Should, however, the produce of these arrears; and of this timber; prove insufficient to make good these stipulated engagements, it is agreed, that such produce, as far as it concerns the Prussian territory, shall be appropriated, in the first instance, to the discharge of those payments, for which the Bank and Maritime Society of Prussia are responsible: if, in these payments, it shall be necessary to call upon Saxony to contribute towards their liquidation, and that, unexpectedly, the produce of the taxes and timber in that part of Saxony which is to provide for the same, should be insufficient to furnish the two above-mentioned establishments with the necessary sums, at the time of their becoming due, Prussia agrees to grant a delay for their payment till the fair of Leipsic, held on St. Michael's day of the present year. With regard to the other debts, towards the payment of which the produce of the taxes and the felling of timber is to be employed, his Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty, the King of Saxony, reserve to themselves, in the event of this produce being inadequate to the object in view, to enter into an arrangement, either by an amicable understanding with the creditors, or by prolonging the periods of payment, and facilitating the means of effecting them.
ART. XI. His Majesty the King of Prussia expressly acknowledges, that the paper circulated under the name of "Cassenbillets," shall form part of the debts of the country, which shall be divided according to the principles established by Art. IX. His Prussian Majesty promises, in consequence; to provide for the payment of that part which falls to his share; and being desirous, equally with his Majesty the King of Saxony, to adopt such measures as may tend, as much as possible, to the welfare of their respective subjects, they mutually engage to form such an arrangement, with regard to this paper, as shall establish its credit in both territories. With this view the two governments have agreed to establish a joint office for "Cassenbillets," which shall be open at least wail the 1st of September of this year; and each government shall place at the disposal thereof, funds necessary for supporting the credit of this paper. They have also agreed that the regulations subsisting with regard to these "Cassenbillets," as to their acceptance at the public offices, and other places, shall be in force during the above period, as veil in that part of the kingdom of Saxony ceded to Prussia, as in that which remains to his Majesty the King of Saxony; and no change shall be made therein, except by common consent.
ART. XII. His Majesty the King of Saxony having claims, either on account of revenues due from the circle of Cottbus, or on account of advances made to this circle, the commission established by Article XIV., shall take them into their special consideration, and apply to them the principles established in the present Treaty for the regulation of subjects of a similar nature.
ART. XIII. His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to settle whatever may regard the property and interests of the respective subjects upon the most liberal principles. The stipulations contained in the present Article shall particularly apply to the concerns of individuals retaining property under both the Prussian and Saxon governments; to the commerce of Leipsic, and to all matters of this description; and in order that the personal liberty of the inhabitants of the ceded and other provinces may not be affected, they shall be permitted to emigrate from one territory to the other; they being liable, however, to military service, and provided they conform themselves to the laws. They shall be allowed the privilege of removing their property without being subject to any exportation duty or drawback (Abzugs Geld).
ART. XIV. His Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of Saxony, shall immediately appoint commissioners to determine, in an exact and detailed manner, the points which form the subject of this Act, from Articles VI. to XIII., and from XVI. to XX. This commission shall assemble at Dresden, and their labours shall be completed at latest in three months, dating from the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty.
ART. XV. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria having offered his mediation in every arrangement, between the Courts of Prussia and Saxony, rendered necessary in consequence of the territorial cessions stipulated in Art. II. his Majesty the King of Saxony and his Majesty the King of Prussia accept this mediation, both in regard to the general and particular arrangements entrusted to the commissions mentioned in the 3d and 14th Articles.—His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty engages, in consequence, to appoint without delay a commissioner, invested with full powers, to assist in the labours of the said commissions.
ART. XVI. The communities, corporations, and establishments both religious and of public instruction, existing in the provinces and districts ceded by his Majesty the King of Saxony to Prussia, or in the provinces and districts remaining to his Saxon Majesty, shall preserve their property, whatever changes their destination may undergo, as well as the rents belonging to them, according to their charter, or which they have acquired by a legal title, since that period, under the Prussian and Saxon Governments, and neither Power shall interfere in the administration or in the collection of the revenues; provided that they be conducted in a manner conformable to the laws, and that the charges be defrayed to which all property or rents of the like nature are subjected in the territory in which they are situated.
ART. XVII. The general principles which have been adopted at the Congress of Vienna for the free navigation of rivers shall serve as a guide to the commission appointed in virtue of the 14th Article, to regulate without delay, whatever relates to navigation; and shall be particularly applied to that of the Elbe, and floats of wood, and rafts of timber, as also to the waters known by the names of Elsterwerdaen, Flossgräben, the Schwarze-Elster and the Weisse-Elster; as well as to that of the Floss-Graben, which flows from this latter river.
ART. XVIII. His Majesty the King of Prussia, engages to fulfil the contracts made between the government and the farmers of Crown lands or land revenues, in the provinces and territories ceded in virtue of the 2nd Article, the leases of which are not yet expired.
ART. XIX. His Majesty the King of Prussia promises to furnish annually to the Saxon government, and the latter engages to receive 150,000 quintals of salt (the quintal calculated at 110 pounds market weight of Berlin) for a sum which, without augmenting the present price paid by Saxon subjects, shall secure to his Majesty the King of Saxony a duty as nearly equal as possible to that which he received on the sale of each quintal of salt, immediately previous to the last war. The Commission which shall assemble in virtue of Article XIV. shall regulate, according to this principle, the price of the quintal, as also the number of years during which it shall continue at that price; and at the expiration of such period, a new regulation shall be made by common consent, both with regard to the quantity and the price of the salt. The quantity of 150,000 quintals, sold yearly, may be increased, upon the demand of the Saxon Governments (of which demand, if the increase is to be 50,000 quintals, six months notice, at least, shall be given; if it shall exceed that quantity, a year's notice) to 250,000 quintals; which the Prussian government engages to furnish on the same conditions, as the minimum above mentioned. It is understood that, at the expiration of the period agreed upon, the minimum of 150,000 quintals shall not, under any circumstances, be reduced at the pleasure of either party, and that the principle established respecting the price, by the present Article shall again form the basis of the new regulation.—The salt which the Saxon government shall receive, in virtue of the present Article, shall be supplied from the salt-works of Durrenberg and Koesen; and in case the quantity above mentioned should not be procured from these salt-works, it shall be furnished from the Prussian salt-works nearest to the frontiers of Saxony.—No export duty shall be paid on the salt which the Prussian Government shall furnish to Saxony in virtue of this Article, on its conveyance from the works to the frontiers, nor shall any other duties whatever be paid thereon, except those levied at the barriers, bridges, canals, or locks, than are paid by Prussian subjects on the same route, and for the same modes of conveyance.
ART. XX. The exemption from export duties, referred to at the conclusion of the preceding Article, in respect to salt, shall be extended with the same modification, by the Prussian and Saxon governments respectively, to the exportation and importation from one territory to the other, of grain, of fuel, of every description, of timber, lime, slates, mill-stones, bricks, and stone of all kinds, whether these articles are purchased by subjects of the two governments, or by the governments themselves. His Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty the King of Saxony, at the same time, mutually engage never to prohibit or interrupt the exportation of the said articles.
ART. XXI. No individual settled in the provinces which are under the dominion of his Majesty the King of Saxony, nor any one settled in those which, by the present Treaty, pass under the dominion of the King of Prussia, shall be molested in his person, property, rents, pensions, and revenues of any kind, nor in his rank and dignities; nor be prosecuted or called to account in any manner, for any part which he, either in a civil or military capacity, may have taken in the events that have occurred since the commencement of the war terminated by the peace signed at Paris on the 30th of May 1814. This Article equally extends to those who, not being domiciliated in either part of Saxony, may possess in it landed property, rents, pensions, or revenues of whatever description they may be.
ART. XXII. His Majesty the King of Saxony renounces for himself, his heirs and successors, as well as for the princes of his House, their heirs and successors, for ever, every claim arising from crown or other property, which might be derived from the possession of the duchy of Warsaw.—His Majesty recognizes the rights of sovereignty over that country, such as they are stipulated by the Treaty of Vienna, of the 21st April (3d May), of the present year, for the provinces which pass under the sceptre of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, with the title of King of Poland; for those parts which revert to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, on the right bank of the Vistula; as well as for the provinces to be possessed by his Majesty the King of Prussia, under the title of Grand Duchy of Posen.
ART. XXIII. His Majesty the King of Saxony engages, that the records, maps, plans, and all documents whatever belonging to the duchy of Warsaw, shall be faithfully restored. This restitution shall take place within six months from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty.
ART. XXIV. His Majesty the King of Saxony is released from all responsibility and charge whatever, with regard to the payment of debts contracted on account of the duchy of Warsaw, by consent of the ministry of Finance, or other public officers of that country; particularly from all obligations imposed upon him by the Convention of Bayonne, which is annulled, and from the loan obtained on the salt mines of Wieliezka.—With regard to the 2,550,193 florins, claimed as having been transferred from the treasury of Saxony into that of the duchy of Warsaw; as it is stipulated by the Treaty signed the 21st April (3d May), between Prussia, Austria, and Russia, that a Commission of liquidation, composed of Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Commissioners, should immediately assemble at Warsaw, and that the three Courts have invested this Commission with the necessary authority to enquire into the exterior and interior debt, and also their claims and charges against each other; the above claim shall be disposed of in the same manner. The claims on the part of Saxony, to that sum, shall undergo the same examination, and shall be submitted to the said Commission, to which his Majesty the King of Saxony shall be at liberty to send an accredited Commissioner on his part, who shall assist in their deliberations.
ART. XXV. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the acts of ratification exchanged in three days, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna, the 18th May 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Baron de Humboldt. (L. S.) The Count Schulenberg. (L. S.) De Globig.
ACT, No. V.—Declaration of the King of Saxony, on the Rights of the House of Schönburg, of the 18th May 1815.
His Majesty the King of Saxony, being willing to conform to the arrangements made by the Courts of Russia, Austria, France, Great Britain, and Prussia, relative to the House of Schönburg, as contained in the following Article, which forms the 33d of those Articles that have been communicated to his said Majesty at Presbourg, viz.:
"ARTICLE. The High Contracting Parties, in expressly reserving to the House of the Princes of Schönburg the rights which shall in future belong to that family, in consequence of the rank it holds in the Germanic Confederation, confirm and guarantee to them, respectively, in regard to their possessions in the kingdom of Saxony, all the prerogatives which the Royal House of Saxony has recognized in the recess of the 4th of May 1740, concluded between Saxony and the House of Schönburg;"
Declares, 1. That he engages to the five Powers above-mentioned, to acknowledge the advantages and rights which shall be secured, in the Germanic League, to the Princes and Counts of Schönburg; which shall, however, not affect the rights which the Court of Saxony exercises over the possessions of the said House. 2. His Majesty the King of Saxony engages also to the five Powers, for himself and his successors, to fulfil, and to cause to be fulfilled, for ever, and in their full extent, the stipulations contained in the recess of the 4th May 1740.—The present Declaration shall have the same force and validity as if it had been inserted in the Treaty concluded this day between his said Majesty and their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia. Done at Vienna, the 18th May 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Count Schulenburg. (L. S.) De Globig.
Act of Acceptation.
The undersigned Plenipotentiaries of Austria, Russia, France, Great Britain, and Prussia, formally accept, on the part of their respective Courts, the above Declaration, made in the name of his Majesty the King of Saxony; to the end that the engagement therein contained, shall have the same force as if they had been textually inserted in the Treaty concluded on the 18th of May, between the above Courts and his Majesty the King of Saxony: Done at Vienna, the 29th May 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S.) The Prince de Talleyrand. (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) Clancarty. (L. S.) The Prince de Rasoumoffsky.
ACT, No. VI.—Treaty between Prussia and Hanover, of the 29th May 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, desiring to comprise, in a particular Treaty, the dispositions contained in the Protocols signed the 13th and 21st of February 1815, of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of England, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and France, in order to carry into effect the stipulations of the Treaty concluded at Reichenbach, on the 14th June 1813, and to fulfil the territorial arrangements consequent upon the engagement therein contained on the part of his Prussian Majesty, the two sovereigns have named Plenipotentiaries, to concert, agree upon, and sign whatever relates to this subject; viz.: His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle, and of the Red Eagle, Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia; Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of Russia, of the First Class; Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St, Stephen of Hungary; Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles of Spain; of St. Hubert of Bavaria; of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia; Knight of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden; of the Elephant of Denmark; of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, and of several others; his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and the Sieur Charles William Baron de Humboldt, his said Majesty's Minister of State, his Chamberlain, Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty; Knight of the Grand Order of the Red Eagle, of the Order of the Iron Cross of Prussia, and of St. Anne of the First Class of Russia; his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna. And his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, the Sieur Ernest Frederic Herbert, Count Munster, Hereditary Grand Marshal of the Kingdom; Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St, Stephen; his Minister of State and of the Cabinet, and his Minister Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and the Sieur Ernest Christian George Augustus Count de Hardenberg, Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold of Austria; and of the Red Eagle of Prussia; Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; his Minister of State and of the Cabinet, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and proper form, have agreed to the following Articles:
ART. I. His Majesty the King of Prussia cedes to his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, to be possessed by his Majesty and his successors, in full property and sovereignty; 1. The principality of Hildesheim, which shall pass under the government of his Majesty, with all the rights and all the charges with which the said principality passed under the Prussian government. 2, The town and territory of Goslar. 3. The principality of East Frieseland, including the country called Harlinger-Land, under the conditions reciprocally stipulated in the 5th Article for the navigation of the Ems, and the trade with the port of Embden. The states of the principality shall preserve their rights and privileges. 4. The lower county (Nieder Grafschaft) of Lingen, and the part of the principality of Prussian Munster which is situated between that county and the part of Rheina Wolbeck possessed by the Hanoverian government; but as the two High Contracting Parties have agreed that the kingdom of Hanover shall obtain by this cession an increase of territory containing a populalion of 22,000 souls, and, as the lower county of Lingen and the part of the principality of Munster above-mentioned, might not fulfil this condition, his Majesty the King of Prussia agrees to extend the line of demarcation in the principality of Munster, as far as shall be necessary to comprise the said population. The Commission, which shall be immediately appointed by the Prussian and Hanoverian governments, to proceed to the exact determination of the limits, shall be particularly charged with the execution of this arrangement. His Prussian Majesty renounces in perpetuity, for himself, his descendants and successors, all the provinces and territories mentioned in the present Article, as well as all the rights which relate to them.
ART. II. His Majesty the King of Prussia renounces for himself; his heirs and successors, for ever, all right and title, of every description, which his Majesty, as sovereign of Eichsfeld, might advance to the Chapter of St. Peter, in the borough of Norten, or to its dependencies, situated in the Hanoverian territory.
ART. III. His Majesty the King of Prussia engages, in consideration of certain indemnities to be taken out of the mass of the countries secured to him by the arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, to induce; 1. His Royal Highness the Elector of Hesse to cede to his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, to be possessed by him and his successors, in full sovereignty and property, the three bailiwicks of Uechte, Freudenberg and Aubourg, otherwise called Wagenfeld, with the districts and territories dependent thereon, as well as that part which his Royal Highness possesses of the county of Schaumbourg and the lordships of Plessen and Neuengleichen. 2. His Serene Highness the Landgrave of Hesse Rothenburg, to renounce for ever the rights which he possesses in the said lordship of Plessen, in order that these rights may be transferred to his Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover. As the cession on the part of his Royal Highness the Elector of Hesse and the renunciation of the Landgrave of Hesse Rothenburg, above-mentioned, have not been obtained within the three months prescribed by the 40th Article of the Protocol of the 13th of February; and as the reciprocal cessions ought to have been effected pursuant to that Article, with the reservation, that whilst Prussia continued in possession of the territory destined as a compensation to the Elector of Hesse and the Landgrave of Rothenburg, Hanover should retain, on her part, that portion of the duchy of Lauenburg which has been made over to his Prussian Majesty, in virtue of the 4th Article; this arrangement shall continue in force until Hanover shall have actually acquired the cessions and renunciations on the part of Hesse, and until the governments of Prussia and Hanover, shall have agreed upon indemnities to be given to the latter for the diminution which would result from the loss of the territories comprised in the said cession and renunciation; indemnities, which shall be provided out of the country of Eichsfeld, and of the Prussian part of the county of Hohenstein.—His Prussian Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Great Britain and Hanover, having already consented to the other cessions to be made in virtue of the stipulations contained in the Protocol of the 13th February 1815, the two High Contracting Parties will give the necessary orders that these cessions may be completed in eight weeks from the date of the signature of the present Treaty.
ART. IV. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, cedes to his Majesty the King of Prussia, to be possessed by him and his successors, in full property and sovereignty; 1. That part of the duchy of Lauenburg situated upon the right bank of the Elbe, with the villages of Luneburg situated upon the same bank. That part of the duchy upon the left bank, remains to the kingdom of Hanover. The states of that part of the duchy which passes under the Prussian go- vernment shall preserve their rights and privileges; especially those founded on the provincial recess of the 15th of September 1702, confirmed by his Majesty the King of Great Britain, now reigning, under date of the 21st June 1765. 2. The bailiwick of Klötze; 3, The bailiwick of Elbingerode; 4. The villages of Rudegershagen and Gœnseteich; 5. The bailiwick of Reckeberg. His Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, renounces for himself, his heirs and successors, for ever, the provinces and districts specified in the present Article, and all the rights which belong to them.
ART. V. His Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, animated with the desire of rendering the advantages of the commerce of the Ems and of the Port of Embden, entirely equal and common to their respective subjects, have determined upon the following arrangements 1. The Hanoverian government engages for the erection, at its expense, in the years 1815 and 1816, of the works which a Commission, composed of professional men of both governments, to be immediately appointed by Prussia and Hanover, shall deem necessary to render that part of the river of Ems navigable, which extends from the confines of Prussia to its mouth, and to keep that part of the river constantly in the state in which those works shall have placed it, for the benefit of navigation. 2. Prussian subjects shall have the liberty of importing and exporting, by the port of Embden, all kinds of commodities, productions, and goods whatever, whether natural or artificial, and to have warehouses in the town of Embden, wherein to place the said goods for two years, dating from their arrival in the town, without their being subject to any other inspection than that to which those of Hanoverian subjects are liable. 3. Prussian vessels, and merchants of the same nation, shall not pay for navigation, for the export or import of merchandize, or for warehousing, any other tolls orduties than those charged upon Hanoverian subjects. These tolls and duties shall be regulated by agreement between Prussia and Hanover, and no alteration shall be introduced into the tarif, hereafter, but by mutual consent. The privileges and liberties herein specified extend equally to Hanoverian subjects who navigate that part of the river Ems which remains to his Prussian Majesty. 4. Prussian subjects shall not be compelled to employ the merchants of Embden, for the trade which they carry on with that port; they shall be at liberty to dispose of their commodities, either to inhabitants of the town, or to foreigners, without paying any other duties than those to which Hanoverian subjects are liable, and which cannot be raised but by mutual consent.—Hip Majesty the King of Prussia, on his part, engages to grant to Hanoverian subjects the free navigation of the Stecknitz canal, so as not to exact from them any other duties than those which shall be paid by the inhabitants of the duchy of Lauenburg. His Prussian Majesty engages, besides, to insure these advantages to Hanoverian subjects, even if he should hereafter cede the duchy of Lauenburg to any other sovereign.
ART. VI. His Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, mutually agree to three military roads through their respective states, viz.: 1st. One from Halberstadt, through the country of Hildesheim, to Minden. 2d. A second from the Old March, through Gifhorn and Neustadt, to Minden, 3d. A third from Osnabruck, through Ippenbüren and Rheina, to Bentheim. The two first in favour of Prussia, and the third in favour of Hanover. The two governments shall appoint a Commission, without delay, to prepare, by common consent, the necessary regulations for the said roads.
ART. VII. The military, in the active service of the two High Contracting Powers, natives of the countries ceded by one Power to the other in virtue of the present Convention, shall be sent home in one year from the exchange of the ratifications of the present Convention. Officers of every rank may have the option of continuing in the service to which they are at present attached.—The pensions allowed to different ranks of military, shall continue to be paid by the Powers who have granted them.
ART. VIII. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally engage to restore to each other the title-deeds of Crown lands, and the documents and papers which relate to provinces and districts mutually ceded, within two months from the day of the restitution of each of the said provinces or districts. The same rule shall be observed with respect to the plans and maps of the towns and countries above-mentioned.
ART. IX. In all the countries ceded or exchanged in pursuance of the present Convention, the new possessor shall be responsible for all the debts, specially mortgaged upon the said countries, as well as for those contracted for the expenses incurred in the actual improvement of these countries.—The debts constitutionally contracted in the name of the country, particularly those in the duchy of Lauenburg since 1798; for the expenses of forming the line of frontier, and those occasioned by the occupation of the French; shall be acknowledged as debts of the country, and the mode of effecting the speedy and punctual reimbursement of the capital and interest, shall be settled, with the concurrence of the provincial states.
ART. X. The bailiwick of Meppen, belonging to the Duke of Aremberg, as well as the part of Rheina Wolbeck which belongs to the Duke of Looz-Corswaren, which are now provisionally occupied by the Hanoverian government, shall be placed in the situation, with respect to the kingdom of Hanover, which the Federative Constitution of Germany shall settle for the mediatised territories.—The Prussian and Hanoverian governments having nevertheless reserved to themselves, by Article XLIII. of the said Protocol of the 13th of February, to agree hereafter, if necessary, upon the fixing of another line of frontier with regard to the county belonging to the Duke of Looz-Corswaren; the said governments will instruct the Commission, which they may name for settling the limits of that part of the county of Lingen ceded to Hanover, to deliberate thereupon, and to adjust definitively the frontiers of that part of the county belonging to the Duke of Looz Corswaren, which, as aforesaid, is to be possessed by the Hanoverian government.—The relations between the Hanoverian government and the county of Bentheim shall remain as settled by the mortgage Treaties existing between his Britannic Majesty and Count Bentheim; and when the rights derived by Treaty shall have expired, the relations of the county of Bentheim towards the kingdom of Hanover shall be such as the Federative Constitution of Germany shall determine for the mediatised territories.
ART. XI. His Majesty the King of Prussia, desiring to make certain exchanges of territory with his Serene Highness the Duke of Brunswick, for the consolidation of their respective territories; his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, engages to use his best endeavours in inducing his Serene High, ness to consent to these arrangements; and to facilitate the same, he consents beforehand to any cessions of territory which the two Parties may agree upon. The present Article refers particularly to Calvoerde and Walkenried, without being absolutely restricted to these two places.
ART. XII. His Britannic Majesty, King of Hanover, with a view to acceding to his Prussian Majesty's wish, that a suitable accession of territory should be provided for his Serene Highness the Duke of Oldenburg, promises to cede to him a district containing a population of 5,000 inhabitants.
ART. XIII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged within four weeks, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna the 29th May 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Baron de Humboldt. (L. S.) The Count Munster. (L. S.) The Count Hardenberg.
ACT, No. VII—Convention between Prussia and the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimer, of the 1st June 1815.
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of Prussia being desirous of carrying into effect the arrangements agreed upon at the Congress of Vienna, in favour of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and which his Prussian Majesty has engaged to fulfil; and his Majesty, as well as his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, having resolved to conclude a particular Treaty for this purpose, the two sovereigns have named Plenipotentiaries to concert, agree upon, and sign, whatever relates to this subject, viz.; His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle and the Reel Eagle, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia; of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of Russia of the First Class; Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles of Spain, of St. Hubert of Bavaria, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia, Knight of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Elephant of Denmark, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburg, and of several others, his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and the Sieur Charles William, Baron Humboldt; his Minister of State, Chamberlain, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Knight of the Grand Order of the Red Eagle, of the Iron Cross of Prussia, and of the Order of St. Anne of Russia of the First Class; his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, the Sieur Ernest Augustus, Baron de Gersdorff, his Privy Counsellor; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to the following Articles:
ART. I. His Majesty the King of Prussia engages to cede to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, from the mass of his states, as they have been fixed and recognised by the stipulations of the Congress of Vienna, certain districts, containing a population of 50,000 inhabitants, either contiguous to, or bordering upon the principality of Weimar. His Prussian Majesty engages also to cede to his Royal Highness, in that part of the principality of Fulda which has been given up to him in virtue of the same stipulations, districts containing a population of 27,000 inhabitants. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Weimar shall possess the above districts in full sovereignty and pro- petty, and shall unite them, in perpetuity, to his present states.
ART. II. The districts and territories which are to be ceded to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, in virtue of the preceding Article, shall be determined by a particular Contention; and his Majesty the King of Prussia engages to conclude this Convention, and to cause the above districts and territories to be given up to his Royal Highness, within two months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty.
ART. III. In order, however, to meet the wishes of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, his Majesty the King of Prussia cedes immediately, and promises to give up to his Royal Highness, in the space of a fortnight, reckoning from the signature of the present Treaty, the following districts and territories, viz.: The lordship of Blankenhayn; with the understanding, however, that the bailiwick of Wandersleben, belonging to Unter-Gleichen, shall not be comprised in this cession. The lower lordship (Niedere-Herrschaft) of Kranickfeld, the commanderies of the Teutonic Order, Zwaetzen, Lehesten, and Liebstädt, with their demesnial revenues, which, constituting part of the bailiwick of Eckartsberga, form enclaves in the territory of Saxe-Weimar, as well as all the other territories lying within the principality of Weimar, and belonging to the said bailiwick. The bailiwick of Tautenbourg, with the exception of Droizen, Gorschen, Wethaburg, Wetterscheid, and Mõllschutz, which shall remain to Prussia. The village of Ramssla, as well as the villages of Klein-Brembach and Berlstedt, lying within the principality of Weimar and belonging to the territory of Erfurth. The property of the villages of Bisschoffsroda and Probsteizalla, lying within the territory of Eisenach, the sovereignty of which already belongs to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke. The population of these different districts is understood to form part of that of 50,000 souls, secured to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke by the 1st Article, and shall be deducted from it.
ART. IV. All additional arrangements to be made, in virtue of the cessions stipulated in the 3d Article, relative to debts, records, public funds, and other objects of a similar nature, shall form part of the particular Convention mentioned in the 2d Article. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke specially engages, on obtaining possession of the principality of Fulda, according to the extent of the possessions which shall belong to him, to fulfil the engagements which will be required of the new possessors of the former Grand Duchy of Frankfort.
ART. V. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in four weeks. In faith of which, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms.
Signed. (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Baron de Humboldt. (L. S.) The Baron de Gersdorff.
ACT, No. VIII.—Convention between Prussia and the Duke and Prince of Nassau, of 31st May 1815.
The hereditary possessions of the House of Orange having been transferred as an indemnity to his Majesty the King Prussia, in virtue of the stipulations agreed upon between the powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna, and a territorial arrangement with their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, having been expressly reserved, his Majesty the King of Prussia has appointed as his Plenipotentiary to conclude such arrangement, viz. the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia; of the Order of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of Russia, of the First Class; Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary; Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour; Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles of Spain; of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia; Knight of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Order of the Elephant of Denmark, of St. Hubert of Bavaria, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, and of several others; his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna. And their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, Ernest Francis Louis Marschal de Bieberstein, Grand Cross of the Order of Fidelity of Baden, and their Principal Minister of State and Plenipotentiary at the Congress; who, after having exchanged their full powers, have agreed on the following Articles:
ART. I. Their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, cede to his Majesty the King of Prussia, in full sovereignty and property, the bailiwicks, parishes, and places hereafter mentioned: 1. The bailiwick of Linz. 2. The bailiwick of Altenwied. 3. The bailiwick of Schoeneberg. 4. The bailiwick of Altenkirchen. 5. The parish of Stamm, formerly composing part of the bailiwick of Hackenburg. 6. The bailiwick of Schoenstein. 7. That of Freusberg. 8. That of Friedewald. 9. That of Dierdorff. 10. The detached part of the bailiwick of Hersbach, bordering on Altenkirchen. 11. The bailiwick of Neuerberg. 12. That of Hamsstein, together with Irlich and Engers. 13. The bailiwick of Heddesdorf. 14. The town of Neuwied. 15. The communes of Gladbach, Heimbach, Weiss, Sayn, Mühlhofen Bendorf, Weitersburg, Vallendar, and Malleindar, forming part of the bailiwick of Vallendar. 16. The communes of Nieder-Werth, Niederberg, Urbar, Immendorf, Neudorff, Ahrenberg, Ehren- breitstein, together with the mills of Arzheim, Pfaffendorf and Horchheim, forming part of the bailiwick of Ehrenbreitstein. 17. The bailiwick of Braunfels. 18. That of Creifenstein. 19. That of Hohensolms.
ART. II. His Majesty the King of Prussia, on his part, cedes to their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, with all the rights of sovereignty and property thereunto belonging; 1. The three principalities formerly possessed by the House of Nassau-Orange, viz. Diez, Hadamar, and Dillenbourg, including the lordship of Beilstein; excepting, however, the bailiwicks of Burbach and Neunkirchen. 2. A part of the Principality of Siegen, and of the bailiwicks of Burbach and Neunkirchen, containing a population of 12,000 inhabitants, and composed of communes contiguous to the principality of Dillenbourg. 3. Lastly, the lordships of Westerburg and Schadeck, and that part of the bailiwick of Runkel which belonged to the former Grand Duchy of Berg.
ART. III. The part of the principality of Siegen, and of the bailiwicks of Burbach and Neunkirchen, which is to be ceded in virtue of the above Articles, shall be determined by Commissioners, to be appointed by the two High Contracting parties, with as little delay as possible, and, at furthest, within four weeks after the ratification of the present Treaty; but, at all events, previously to the taking possession of the provinces belonging to the House of Nassau-Orange. The Commissioners shall conform to the principle of the contiguity of these portions with the respective territories; and they shall take especial care that the relations with regard to communes, to the church, and to industry, as they at present exist, shall be maintained. Under the relations of industry, are specially included those which relate to the working of mines. In the event of these Commissioners not agreeing, upon one or other of these points, they are authorized to refer to an Arbitrator, of their own appointment, whose decision shall be final.
ART. IV. The bailiwicks and portions of territory to be reciprocally ceded, in conformity to the 1st, 2d, and 3d Articles, shall be transferred to the future possessor, with all the precincts of the communes belonging thereto, together with all the public and demesnial property contained in these territories, under whatever denomination they may have been held, or whatever be the title by which they may have been acquired. Neither party shall possess enclaves in the territory of the other, and particularly the abbeys of Bomersdorf, Sayn, Niederwerth, and Besselick, situated in the communes ceded by Art. I. shall be comprehended in the Prussian territory, with all their property inclosed within the Prussian limits. The two Contracting Parties renounce reciprocally, in behalf of each other, all revenues, rights of suzeraineté, feudal, or other rights, of whatever descrip- tion, which might have belonged to one party in the territory of the other. The utensils of the mint of Ehrenbreitstein, the furniture in the castle of Enders, and the yachts belonging to their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, are reserved to them, to be taken away in three months from the date of the ratification of the present Treaty.
ART. V. In order to insure and complete the fortifications and defence of the ancient fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, situated in the territory ceded by the House of Nassau; in case it should be considered expedient to reestablish it, it is agreed, that Prussia shall, in general, be at liberty to erect military works wherever it may be thought proper, at the distance of 1,500 Rhenish yards (Rheinlandische ruthen) from the fortress, even in those communes which may remain under the sovereignty of the House of Nassau, an indemnity being, however, given to the landowners, and without prejudice to territorial relations.
ART. VI. In order that the cessions agreed upon in Article I. may not prove detrimental to the commerce of the Duchy of Nassau, it is agreed, that the import and export trade on the Rhine, by roads leading to that river, through Ehrenbreitstein and Vallendar, shall not experience any obstacle, in respect to the inhabitants of that Duchy, nor be subjected to any new charges.
ART. VII. With respect to arrears of revenues, and the surplus of the public chests, the same principles shall be acted upon as have been adopted, and are now observed, in regard to similar objects towards his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, in those proportions of territory which have been transferred to his said Majesty by his Majesty the King of Prussia.
ART. VIII. With regard to debts belonging to the ceded portions of territory, it is agreed; A. That the private debts of the communes, parishes, bailiwicks, districts, or provinces, shall be transferred, with these communes, parishes, bailiwicks, districts, and provinces, to their future possessor, and shall continue to belong to them. When the bailiwicks, districts, or provinces, shall have been divided, the debts of these bailiwicks, districts, or provinces, respectively, shall be shared between the two governments, in the proportion in which the ceded parts have hitherto contributed to the payment of interest and the reimbursement of the capital; or, if this proportion cannot be settled, in that in which these countries have in general contributed to the ordinary expenses.—B. The debts of the public chests and chamber of finance, of the Duchy of Nassau, such as their amount was ascertained to be on the 31st December 1814, shall be divided between the two parties, in the proportion of the net revenues which the ceded territories have annually paid into the central state chests and the chamber of finance, taking for average the five years immediately preceding 1312, adding thereto, however, the net revenue of the bailiwick of Runkel, in the year 1814.—C. The State debts, and those of the chamber of finance of the Princes of Nassau-Orange, Shall be divided between the two Contracting Parties, in the proportion, and according to the period already agreed upon, taking as the average the net revenues of the chamber of Nassau-Orange, in the five years from 1801 to 1805, and adding to each of these years the net revenues of the lordships of. Westerburg and Schadeck, such as they were in 1814.—D. The debts of Nassau-Saarbruck, with which the State chest of the Duchy of Nassau may yet be burthened, are not comprised in this distribution, but shall remain exclusively at the charge of the House of the Duke and Prince of Nassau.
ART. IX. The pensions which have been granted for services rendered to a particular part of territory, or which are charged upon secularized property lying in one of those parts; in a word, all pensions which, according to the nature of their origin, belonging to any territory in particular, shall be paid by the party possessing the property upon which they were originally assigned. The pensions granted to the army shall be paid by the government possessing the territory where the pensioner was born. All other pensions, which do not come under this head, shall be divided in proportion to the revenues, in the manner which has been settled for public debts. Annuities shall be provided for in the same manner as debts, and paid, either wholly or in part, by the two governments, according as different parts of a territory, or a whole country, are burthened with them.
ART. X. The local functionaries, and other persons in office, shall go with the territories ceded in the divided bailiwicks; the government to whom the place of their actual residence may pass, shall accept their services. All central and provincial functionaries employed in the administrations or Wiesbaden; Weilburg, Diez, and Dillenbourg, shall either continue with, or be transferred to the House of Nassau. Prussia shall take charge of those of Ehrenbreitstein. The central functionaries who cannot continue in the service of either of the two governments, or who shall be allowed to retire, by either party, in three months from the date of the present Convention, shall receive the pensions or, superannuations fixed by the Edict of the. Duke and Prince of Nassau, of the 3d and 6th December 1811. These pensions shall be paid by the two governments, according to the rate agreed upon with respect to debts. No public officer who is to be provided for by either government, shall be placed upon a less favourable footing than that fixed in the said, Edict.
ART. XI. All military persons, natives of the territories reciprocally ceded, not holding the rank of an officer, shall, after the conclusion of the approaching campaign, be sent to the military authorities of the government to whom the place of their nativity shall belong: until that period, they shall continue in the service in which they are at present. Officers shall not be prevented, by the government to whom the place of their nativity shall remain, or be transferred, from having the option of continuing in the service of the other government.
ART. XII. Persons condemned to prisons, or houses of correction, and insane persons confined in hospitals, shall be sent to the respective governments to whom the places of their nativity belong.
ART. XIII. The archives and collections of papers, shall be given up, according to the partition of the territories, and each government shall be put in possession of the deeds and instruments which relate to that portion which is ceded to it.
ART. XIV. Prussia undertakes to fulfil the engagements entered into by the Ducal House of Nassau, relative to the post of Taxis, as far as these engagements attach to those parts, of the territory which are ceded to that power.
ART. XV. The high road from Giessen to Ehrenbreitstein, which crosses the country of Nassau, shall be made a military road for Prussia, to establish a communication between Erfurth and Coblentz. Whatever has been agreed upon with respect to the military roads belonging to Prussia, which pass through the states of the King of Hanover and the Elector of Hesse, shall be applicable to the said road from Giessen to Ehrenbreitstein.
ART. XVI. In order to settle definitively all such points as require ulterior arrangement, especially such as relate to debts, pensions, public functionaries, and other persons in office, the two governments shall appoint Commissioners, immediately after the ratifications of the present Treaty, who shall assemble at Wiesbaden, for the purpose of settling all such arrangements with as little delay as possible. They shall be empowered to take such measures as may be necessary, in order that the payment of the interest of public debts, and that of pensions, may not experience any interruption, that the public credit may not be shaken, and that the business of the public offices may be conducted as heretofore.
ART. XVII. As the Convention concluded the 31st May, between their Majesties the King of Prussia and of the Netherlands, relative to mutual cessions of territory, contains an Article, worded as follows: "A commission shall be named, without delay, by his Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King a the Netherlands, to determine all matters that relate to the cession of his Majesty's Nassau possessions, with regard to archives, debts, excesses of public chests, and other objects of the same nature. Such part of the archives as concern the House of Orange, and have no relation to the ceded countries, and all the private and personal property of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, his library, collections of maps, and other similar objects, shall be retained by his Majesty, and be delivered up to him immediately. A part of the said possessions having been exchanged against possessions of the Duke and Prince of Nassau, his Majesty the King of Prussia engages, and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands consents, to transfer the engagement stipulated by the present Article to their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, as tar as regards that part of the said possessions which shall be united to their States." Their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau engage to fulfil, in the name and place of his Majesty the King of Prussia, the engagements he has contracted on their account, as far as these engagements concern the territories and portions of territory belonging to the House of Nassau-Orange which, by the present Treaty, are ceded to them.
ART. XVIII. The ratifications of this Convention shall be exchanged in four weeks, or sooner, if possible. The ceded subjects shall be at once released from the oaths of fidelity which bound them to their former Sovereigns. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, and have caused to be affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna the 31st May 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) Marschall de Bieberstein.
ACT, No IX. — Federative Constitution of Germany, of the 8th June 1815.
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
The Sovereign Princes and free towns of Germany, animated with the mutual desire of carrying into effect the 6th Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, and convinced of the advantages which will result to the safety and independence of Germany, and to the equilibrium of Europe, from their solid and lasting union, have agreed to form a perpetual Confederation, and have for this purpose invested with their full powers their Envoys and Deputies at the Congress of Vienna, viz.
His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the Sieur Clement Wenceslas, Prince of Metternich Winnebourg Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Knight of the Order of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Curator of the Academy of the Fine Arts, Chamberlain, Privy Counsellor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Minister of State, of Conferences, and of Foreign Affairs; his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and the Sieur John Philip, Baron Wessenberg, Grand Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Mauritius and St. Lazarus, and of the Royal Order of the Crown of Bavaria, Chamberlain, and Privy Counsellor of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress:
His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, of the Red Eagle, of St. John of Jerusalem and of the Iron Cross of Prussia, of the order of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of Russia of the First Class, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of St. Charles of Spain, of the Annunciation of Sardinia, of the Order of the Seraphim of Sweden, of the Elephant of Denmark, of St. Hubert of Bavaria, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburg, and of several others; and the Sieur Charles William, Baron Humboldt, Minister of State of his said Majesty, Chamberlain, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle, of the Iron Cross of Prussia of the First Class; Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold of Austria, and of St. Anne of Russia of the First Class; of the Order of Merit, and of the Crown of Bavaria.
His Majesty the King of Denmark, the Sieur Günther, Count de Bernstorf, his Privy Counsellor of Conferences, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and his Plenipotentiary at the Congress; Knight of the Order of the Elephant, Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, and of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary; and the Sieur Joachim Frederic, Count de Bernstorf, his Privy Counsellor of Conferences, his Plenipotentiary at the Congress, and Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog.
His Majesty the King of Bavaria, the Sieur Aloysius Francis Xavier, Count de Rechberg and Rothenlowen, Chamberlain and Privy Counsellor, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Imperial and Royal Court; Grand Cross of the Order of St. Hubert, Titular Commander of the Order of St. George, and Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Merit of Bavaria.
His Majesty the King of Saxony, the Sieur John Augustus Furchtegott de Globig, his Privy Counsellor, Chamberlain, Counsellor of the Court and of Justice, and Confidential Referendary.
His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the Sieur Francis Christopher, Baron de Gagern; Minister Plenipotentiary of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, and of their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, Grand Cross of the Order of the Golden Lion of Hesse, and of Fidelity of Baden.
His Majesty the King of Great Britain and Hanover, the Sieur Ernest Frederic Herbert, Count de Munster, Hereditary Grand Marshal of the Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, his Britannic-Hanoverian Majesty's Minister of State and of the Cabinet, and his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress at Vienna; and the Sieur Ernest Augustus, Count Hardenberg, Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold of Austria, Knight of the Royal Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, and of St. John of Jerusalem; his Britannic-Hanoverian Majesty's Minister of State and of the Cabinet, his Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna.
His Royal Highness the Elector of Hesse, the Sieur Dorotheus Louis, Count de Keller, his Minister of State, Grand Cross of the Order of the Golden Lion and of the Red Eagle of Prussia, and the Sieur George Ferdinand, Baron de Lepel, his Chamberlain and Privy Counsellor of Government.
His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse, the Sieur John, Baron Turckheim von Altdorff, his Privy Counsellor, Minister of State and Envoy Extraordinary to the Congress; Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Hesse, and Commander of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary.
His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, the Sieur Ernest Augustus, Baron de Gersdorff, his Privy Counsellor; the Sieur Frederick Augustus, Baron de Minckwitz acting in his stead.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, the Sieur Frederick Augustus, Baron de Minckwitz, his Privy Counsellor.
Her Serene Highness the Duchess of Saxe-Cobourg-Meinungen, in the capacity of Regent and Guardian to her son, the said Baron de Minckwitz.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, the Sieur Charles Louis Frederick Baton de Baumbach, his Privy Counsellor, and President of the government.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg-Saalfeld, the Sieur Francis Xavier de Fischler von Treuberg, Colonel, Knight of the Imperial Order of Leopold of Austria, and of the Crown of Bavaria.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, in the absence of the Sieur William Justus Eberhardt Schmidt Phiseldeck, his Privy Counsellor, has named the Sieur Dorotheus Louis Count de Keller, Minister of State to the Elector of Hesse, &c, &c.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Holstein-Oldenburg, the Sieur Albert, Baron de Maltzahn, President of the Goverenment of the principality of Lubeck, Grand Cross of the Russian Order of St. Anne, and Knight of St. John of Jerusalem.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the Sieur Leopold, Baron de Pilessen, his Minister of State, Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, the Sieur Augustus Otto Ernest, Baron de Oertzen, his Minister of State, Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, on his own part, and in the capacity of guardian to the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, a minor and his Serene Highness the Duke of Anhalt-Bernbourg, jointly, the Sieur Wolf Charles Augustus de Wolfframsdorff, President of the government of Dessau.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, the Sieur Francis Anthony, Baron de Franck, his Privy Counsellor.
His Serene Highness the Duke of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the Sieur John Francis Louis de Kirchbauer, his Privy Counsellor of Legation.
Their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, the highnesses Francis Christopher, Baron de Gagern, and Ernest Francis Louis, Mareschall von Bieberstein, Grand Cross of the Order of Fidelity, Plenipotentiary of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, for his German dominions, and of their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Lichtenstein, the Sieur George Walter Vincent de Wiese, Vice-Chancellor of the government of the Prince of Reuss, at Gera.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Schwartzbourg-Sondershausen, the Sieur Adolphus de Wiese, his Privy Counsellor and Chancellor.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Schwartzbourg-Rudolstadt, the Sieur Frederic William, Baron, de Kettelholdt, his Chancel-and President, Hereditary Cup-bearer of the county of Henneberg, and Grand Cross of the Order of Fidelity of the Grand Duke of Baden.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the Sieur Günther Henry de Berg, Doctor of Laws, and President of the government of the Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Their Serene Highnesses the Princes of Reuss, of the elder and younger branch, the Sieur George Walter Vincent de Wiese, Vice-Chancellor of the government of Gera.
His Serene Highness the Prince of Schumburg-Lippe, the Sieur Günther Henry de Berg.
Her Serene Highness the Princess of Lippe, in the capacity of Regent and Guardian to the Prince her son, the Sieur Frederic William Hellwing, her Chancellor of government.
The free city of Lubbock, the Sueur John Frederic Hack, Doctor of Laws, and Senator of that city.
The free city of Frankfort, the Sieur John Ernest Frederic Danz, Doctor of Laws, and Senator of that city.
The free city a Bremen, the Sueur John Schmidt, Senator of that city.
The free city of Hamburg, the Sueur John Michael Grimes, Recorder of that city.
Conformably to the above agreement, the Said Plenipotentiaries, after exchanging their full powers, found in due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. the Sovereign Princes and free towns of Germany, among whom, as far as concerns the present Act, are included their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Prussia, of Denmark, and of the Netherlands; that is to say, the Emperor Of Austria and the King of Prussia for all those of their possessions which anciently belonged to the German Empire; the King of Denmark for the Duchy of Holstein, and the King of the Netherlands for the Grand Duchy of Lexembourg, establish among Themselves a perpetual Confederation, which shall be called "The Germanic Confederation."
ART. II. The object of this Confederation is the maintenance of the external and internal safety of Germany, and of the independance and inviolability of the confederated States.
ART. III. The Members of the Confederation,. as such, are equal in respect to rights; and they all equally engage to support the Act which constitutes their union.
ART. IV. The affairs of the Confederation shall be confided to a Federative Diet, in which all the Members shall vote by their Plenipotentiaries, either individually or collectively, in the following manner, without prejudice to their rank:
Vote. 1. Austria 1 2. Prussia 1 3. Bavaria 1 4. Saxony 1 5. Hanover 1 6. Wurtemburg 1 7. Baden 1 8. Electoral Hesse 1 9. Grand Duchy of Hesse 1 10. Denmark, for Holstein 1 11. The Netherlands, for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg 1 12. Grand-Ducal and Ducal Houses of Saxony 1 13. Brunswick and Nassau 1 14. Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1 15. Holstein-Oldenburg, Anhalt and Schwartzburg 1 16. Hohenzollern, Lichtenstein, Reuss, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe and Waldeck 1 17. The Free Towns of Lubeck, Frankfort, Bremen and Hamburgh 1 Total Votes. 17.
ART. V. Austria shall preside at the Federative Diet. Each State of the Confederation has the right of making propositions, and the presiding State shall bring them under deliberation within a definite time.
ART. VI. Whenever fundamental laws are to be enacted, or changes made in the fundamental laws of the Confederation, measures to be adopted relative to the Federative Act itself; and organic institutions, or other arrangements to be made for the common interest, the Diet shall form itself into a General Assembly, and, in that case, the distribution of the votes shall be as follows, calculated according to the respective extent of the different States:
Votes. Austria shall have 4 Prussia 4 Saxony 4 Bavaria 4 Hanover 4 Wurtemburg 4 Baden 3 Electoral Hesse 3 Grand Duchy of Hesse 3 Holstein 3 Luxembourg 3 Brunswick 2 Mecklenburg-Schwerin 2 Nassau 2 Saxe-Weimar 1 Saxe-Gotha 1 Saxe-Coburg 1 Saxe-Meinungen 1 Saxe-Hildburghausen 1 Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1 Holstein-Oldenburg 1 Anhalt-Dessau 1 Anhalt Bernbourg 1 Anhalt-Koethen 1 Schwartzbourg-Sondershausen 1 Schwartzbourg-Rudolstadt 1 Hohenzollern-Hechingen 1 Lichtenstein 1 Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 1 Waldeck 1 Reuss, (Elder Branch) 1 Reuss, (Younger Branch) 1 Schaumburg-Lippe 1 Lippe 1 The Free Town of Lubeck 1 The Free Town of Frankfort 1 The Free Town of Bremen 1 The Free Town of Hamburgh 1 Total Votes 69
The Diet, in deliberating on the Organic Laws of the Confederation, shall consider whether it be proper to grant to the ancient mediatised districts of the Empire any collective votes.
ART. VII. The question, whether a subject is to be discussed by the General Assembly, conformably to the principles above established, shall be decided in the ordinary Assembly by a majority.—The same Assembly shall prepare the drafts of resolutions to be proposed to the General Assembly, and shall furnish the latter with all the information necessary, either for adopting or rejecting them.—The plurality of votes shall regulate the decisions, both in the Ordinary and General Assemblies, with this difference, however, that, in the Ordinary Assembly, the absolute majority shall be deemed sufficient, while, in the other, two-thirds of the votes shall be necessary to form the plurality. When the votes are even in the Ordinary Assembly, the President shall decide the question: but when the Assembly is to deliberate on the acceptation or change of any of the fundamental laws, upon organic institutions, upon individual rights, or upon affairs of religion, the majority shall not be deemed sufficient, either in the Ordinary or in the General Assembly. The Diet is permanent, but may, when the objects submitted to its deliberation are terminated, adjourn for a period not exceeding four months.—All ulterior dispositions relative to the adjournment, or the expedition of pressing affairs, which may arise during the recess, are reserved for the Diet, which shall take due notice of them when engaged in the drawing up of the Organic Laws.
ART. VIII. In regard to the order in which the members of the Confederation shall vote, it is determined, that while the Diet is occupied with framing Organic Laws, there shall be no fixed rule in this respect; and whatever may be the rule that is observed on such an occasion, it shall neither prejudice any of the members, nor establish a precedent for the future. After framing the Organic Laws, the Diet shall deliberate upon the manner of fixing this object, by a permanent regulation; for which purpose it shall depart as little as possible from those regulations which have been observed by the ancient Diet, and chiefly according to the recess of the Deputation of the empire in 1803: the order to be adopted shall not in any way influence the rank and precedence of the members of the Confederation, except in as far as they have any relations with the Diet.
ART. IX. The Diet shall sit at Frankfort on the Maine. Its first meeting is fixed for the 1st of September 1815.
ART. X. The first object to be considered by the Diet after its meeting, shall be the enactment of the fundamental laws of the Confederation, and of its Organic Institutions, with respect to its exterior, military, and interior relations.
ART. XI. The States of the Confederation engage to defend from all hostile attack, the whole of Germany, as well as each individual state of the Union; and they mutually guarantee to each other all their possessions comprised in this Union. When war is d-, dared by the Confederation, no member can open a separate negociation with the enemy, nor make peace, nor conclude an armistice, without the consent of the other members.—While they reserve to themselves the right of forming alliances, the members of the Confederation bind themselves, nevertheless, not to contract any engagement which might be directed against the safety of the Confederation or a any of the individual states composing it.—The confederated states engage, in the same manner, not to make war on one another, on any pretext, nor to pursue their differences by force of arms, but to submit them to the Diet, which shall attempt a mediation by means of a Commission. If this should not succeed in bringing the contending parties to an accommodation, and a juridical sentence becomes necessary, it shall be obtained by a well organized Austregal jury (Austregal instanz,) to which the contending parties are to submit without appeal.
2. Particular arrangements.
Besides the points settled in the preceding Articles, relative to the establishment of the Confederation, the confederated states have agreed to the arrangements contained in the following Articles, with regard to the subjects hereafter mentioned; which Articles shall have the same force and validity as the preceding ones.
ART. XII. Those members of the Confederation whose possessions do not contain a population to the number of 300,000 souls, shall unite themselves to the reigning houses of the same line, or to others of the confederated states, whose population, added to theirs, will amount to the number here specified, for the purpose of jointly forming a supreme tribunal. In those states, however, of a smaller population, where similar tribunals of the third instance already exist, they shall be continued, on their present footing, provided the population of the state to which they belong, be not less than 150,000 souls. The four free cities shall have the right of uniting together, in the formation of a common and supreme tribunal. Each party appearing before these joint and supreme tribunals shall be authorized to demand a reference of the proceedings to the Faculty of Law belonging to a foreign University, or to a Court of Reference (siège d'echevin) to whom the final sentence shall be submitted.
ART. XIII. There shall be Assemblies of the States in all the countries belonging to the Confederation.
ART. XIV. In order to secure to the ancient States of the empire, mediatised in 1806, and in the subsequent years, the enjoyment of equal rights in all countries belonging to the Confederation, and conformable to the relations at present existing between them, the confederated states establish the following principles:—A.—The houses of the mediatised princes and counts are nevertheless to rank equally with the high nobility of Germany, and are to retain the same privileges of birth-right with the sovereign houses (Ebenbürtigkeit,) as they have hitherto enjoyed.—B.—The heads of these houses are to form the principal class of the states in the countries to which they belong: they, as well as their families, are to be included in the number of the most privileged persons, particularly in respect to taxes.—C.—With regard to themselves, their families and property, they are generally to retain all the rights and privileges attached to their possessions, and which do not belong to the supreme authority, or to the attributes of government.
Among the rights which are secured to them by this Article, are specially included, 1. The perfect liberty of residing in any state belonging to the Confederation, or at peace with it. 2. The maintenance of family compacts, conformably to the ancient constitution of Germany; and the right of connecting their estates and the members of their families, by obligatory arrangements; which, however, ought to be made known to the sovereign, and to the public authorities. The laws by which this right has been hitherto restricted, shall not be applicable to future cases. 3. The privilege of being amenable only to superior tribunals, and of being exempt from all military conscription, for themselves and families. 4. The exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction, in the first instance; and, if the possessions are sufficiently extensive, in the second instance; the exercise of the forest jurisdiction, of the local police, and of the inspection of churches, schools, and charitable institutions; the whole conformably to the laws of the country to which they remain subject, as well as to the military regulations and supreme authority reserved to the governments, respecting objects of the above-mentioned prerogatives, for the better determining them, and, in general, for the adjusting and consolidating the rights of mediatised princes, counts, and lords, in a manner uniform to all the states of the German Confederation. The Ordinance issued upon this subject, by his Majesty the King of Bavaria, in 1807, shall be adopted as a general rule.—The ancient and immediate nobility of the empire shall enjoy the rights specified in sections 1 and 2; namely, of sitting in the Assembly of the States, of exercising the patrimonial and forest jurisdiction, of the local police, of presentations to church benefices, as well as of not being amenable to the ordinary tribunals. These rights shall, however, be exercised according to the regulations established by the laws of the country in which the members of this nobility have possessions. In the provinces detached from Germany by the peace of Luneville of the 9th of February 1801, and which are at present re-united thereto, the principles above specified, relative to the ancient and immediate nobility of the empire, shall, in their application, be subject to such modifications as may be rendered necessary by the relations which exist in these provinces.
ART. XV. The continuation of the direct and subsidiary rents assigned upon the duties of the navigation of the Rhine, as well as the arrangements of the recess of the Deputation of the empire, dated the 25th of February 1803, relative to the payment of debts and pensions granted to individuals of the clergy or laity, are guaranteed by the Confederation. The members of the late Chapters of the cathedral churches, as well as those of the free chapters of the empire, shall have the benefit of the pensions Secured to them by the said recess, in every country at peace with the Germanic Confederation. The members of the Teutonic Order, who have not yet obtained adequate pensions, shall obtain them according to the principles established for the chapters Of cathedral churches by the recess of the Deputation of the empire of the year 1803; and the Princes who have acquired Possessions formerly belonging to the Teutonic Order, shall pay these pensions, according to their proportion of the property of The Teutonic Order. The Diet of the Confederation shall deliberate upon the measures to be adopted for establishing a fund for The support and pensioning of bishops and other members of the clergy belonging to the countries on the left bank of the Rhine, The payment of which pensions shall be transferred to the Powers actually possessing the said countries. This matter shall be Settled within a year and until that time the pensions shall be paid as heretofore.
ART. XVI. The different Christian sects in the countries and territories of the Germanic Confederation, shall not experience any difference in the enjoyment of civil and political rights. The Diet shall consider of the means of effecting, in the most uniform manner, an amelioration in the civil state of those who profess the Jewish religion in Germany, and shall pay particular attention to the measures by which the enjoyment of civil rights shall be secured and guaranteed to them in the confederated states; upon condition, however, of their submitting to all the obligations imposed upon other citizens. In the mean time, the privileges already Granted to this sect, by any particular state, shall be secured to them.
ART. XVII. The family of the Princes of Tour and Taxis shall retain the revenues arising from the post in the confederated states, under the same regulations as were granted by the recess of the Deputation of the empire of the 25th February 1803, or by subsequent Conventions, in so far as they shall not have been altered by new Conventions freely acceded to on both sides. In all cases the rights and pretensions of this horse, whether with regard to retaining the post, or to a fair indemnity for the same, such as the above recess has settled, shall be maintained. This regulation also applies to the case where the former administration of the post may have been abolished since 1803, in contravention of the recess of the Deputation of the empire: unless, however, an indemnity shall have been absolutely settled by a particular Convention.
ART. XVIII. The Princes and the free towns of Germany have agreed to secure to the subjects of the confederated states, the following rights—A.—That of acquiring and possessing funded property beyond the limits of the state in which they are settled, without being liable to pay to the foreign Power any higher tax or duty than those paid by its own subjects.—B.–1. That of emigrating from one confederated state to another, provided it be proved that the state in which they settle receive them as subjects. 2. That of entering into the civil or military service of any of the confederated states; it being, however, understood, that the exercise of either of these rights does not release them from being liable to military service in their own country. And in order that the difference of the laws with regard to their liability to military service may not be attended with any partial advantages or injurious consequences to any particular state, the Diet of the Confederation shall consider of the means of establishing regulations upon this subject, as impartial as possible.—C.—The exemption from all export duty, drawback, or other impost of that description, in case they remove their property from one confederated state to another, unless it should be otherwise stipulated by particular Conventions concluded between them.—D.—Upon its first meeting, the Diet shall frame laws for the liberty of the press in general, and shall adopt such measures as may secure authors and editors against the piracy of their works.
ART. XIX. The confederated states reserve to themselves the right of deliberating, at the first meeting of the Diet at Frankfort, upon the manner of regulating the commerce and navigation from one state to another, according to the principles adopted by the Congress of Vienna.
ART. XX. The present Act shall be ratified by all the Contracting Parties, and the ratifications shall, in six weeks, or sooner If possible, be addressed to the Royal and State Chancery of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria at Vienna, and deposited in The archives of the Confederation, on the opening of the Diet. In faith of which all the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present instrument, and have affixed thereunto the seal of, their arms. Done at Vienna, the 8th June 1815.
Signed (L. S.) Prince Metternich. (L. S.) Baron Wessenberg. (L. S.) Charles Prince Hardenberg. (L. S.) William Baron Humboldt. (L. S.) Ch. Count Bernstorff. (L. S.) J. Count Bernstorff. (L. S.) A. Count Rechberg and Rothenlowen. (L. S.) John Augustus Baron Globig. (L. S) H. Baron Gagern. (L. S.) E. Count Munster. (L. S.) Count Hardenberg. (L. S.) Count Keller, acting at the same time for Brunswick. (L. S.) G. J. Baron Lepel. (L. S.) J. Baron Turckheim. (L. S.) Baron Minkwitz, in the place of Mr. de Gersdorff; Plenipotentiary of the Grand Duke of Weimar, and of the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha and of Saxe-Meinungen. (L. S.) Baron Baumbach. (L. S.) Baron Fischler von Treuberg. (L. S.) Baron Maltzahn. (L. S.) Leopold Baron Plessen. (L. S.) Baron Oertzen. (L. S.) De Wolfframsdorff. (L. S.) Baron Franck. (L. S.) Francis Aloysius Kirchbauer. (L. S.) De Marschall von Bieberstein. (L. S.) Dr. George Wiese, Plenipotentiary of the Princes Lichtenstein and Reuss. (L. S.) De Weise. (L. S.) Baron Kettelholdt. (L. S.) De Berg, acting for Waldeck and Schaumburg Lippe. (L. S.) Hellwing. (L. S.) Hach. (L. S.) Danz. (L. S.) Schmidt. (L. S.) Gries.
ACT, No. X.—Treaty between the King of the Netherlands, Prussia, England, Austria, and Russia, of the 31st May 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being desirous of carrying into effect and of completing the arrangements contained in the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris the 30th of May 1814, which, while it establishes a just equilibrium in Europe, and assigns to the United Provinces such a proportion of territory as may enable them to support their own independance, secures to them the countries comprised between the sea, the frontiers of France, and the Meuse, leaves undefined their limits on the right bank of that river; and their said Majesties having resolved to conclude a separate Treaty on this subject, conformably to the arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, have appointed Plenipotentiaries to concert, agree upon, and sign whatever relates to this subject, viz: His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and. Bohemia, the Sieur Clement, Vinceslas Lothaire, Prince Metternich-Winnebourg-Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class; Grand Cordon of the legion of Honour; Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation; of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, of the. Seraphim, Knight of the Order of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Würtemburg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Curator of the Academy of the Fine Arts, Chamberlain, intimate and actual Counsellor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Minister of State, of Conferences, and of Foreign Affairs, his principal Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and the Sieur John Philip Baron Wessenberg, Knight Grand Cross of the Military and Religious Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus, Chamberlain, and intimate and actual Counsellor of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, his second Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the Sieur Gerhard Charles Baron de Spaen de Voorstonden, Member of the Corps of Nobles of the province of Gueldre, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, at the Court of Vienna, and one of his Plenipotentiaries at the Congress; and the Sieur Hans Christopher Ernest, Baron de Gagern, Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Hesse, and of the Order of Fidelity of Baden, Plenipotentiary of his said Majesty at the Congress of Vienna; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to the following Articles:
ART. I. The old United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the former Belgic Provinces,. both within the limits fixed by the following article, shall form, together with the countries designated in the same article, under the sovereignty of his royal highness the Prince of Orange-Nassau, Sovereign Prince of the United Provinces, the kingdom of the Netherlands; hereditary in the order of succession already established by the Act of the Constitution of the said United Provinces. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, acknowledges the title and prerogatives of the royal dignity in the House of Orange-Nassau.
ART. II. The line comprising the territories which shall compose the kingdom of the Netherlands, is determined in the following manner: It leaves the sea, and extends along the frontiers of France on the side of the Netherlands, as rectified and fixed by the third Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, to the Meuse; thence along the same frontiers to the old limits of the duchy of Luxembourg: from this point it follows the direction of the limits between that duchy and the old bishopric of Liege, till it meets (to the south of Deiffelt) the western limits of that canton, and of that of Malmedy, to the point where the latter reaches the limits between the old departments of the Ourthe and the Roer; it then goes along these limits to where they touch those of the former French canton of Eupen, in the duchy of Limburg, and following the western limit of that canton in a northerly direction, leaving to the right a small part of the former French canton of Aubel, joins at the point of contact of the three old departments of the Ourthe, the Lower Meuse, and the Roer; parting again from this point, this line follows that which divides the two latter departments, until it reaches the Worm (a river falling into the Roer), and goes along this river to the point where it again reaches the limit of these two departments, pursues this limit to the south of Hillensberg (the old department of the Roer) from whence it reascends to the north, and leaving Hillensberg to the right, and dividing the canton of Sittard into nearly equal parts, so that Sittard and Susteren remain on the left, it reaches the old Dutch territory; from whence, leaving this territory to the left, it goes on following its eastern frontier, to the point where it touches the old Austrian principality of Gueldres, on the side of Ruremonde; and, directing itself towards the most eastern point of the. Dutch territory to the north of Swalmen, continues to encircle this territory.—Lastly, setting out from the most eastern point, it joins that other part of the Dutch territory in which Venloo is situated; that town and its territory being included within it. From thence to the old Dutch frontier near Mook, situated below Genep, the line follows the course of the Meuse, at such a distance from the right bank, that all the places within a thousand Rhenish yards from it, (Rheinlandische Ruthen) 1,970 of which yards are equal to the 15th part of a degree of the meridian, shall belong, with their territories, to the kingdom of the Netherlands; it being understood, however, as to the reciprocity of this principle, that the Prussian territory shall not at any point touch the Meuse, or approach it within the distance of 800 Rhenish yards.—From the point where the line just described reaches the ancient Dutch frontier, as far as the Rhine, this frontier shall remain essentially the same as it was in 1795, between Cleves, and the United Provinces.—This line shall be examined by a commission, which the Governments of Prussia and the Netherlands shall name without delay, for the purpose of proceeding to the exact determination of the limits, as well of the kingdom of the Netherlands as of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, specified in the 4th Article: and this commission, aided by professional persons, shall regulate every thing concerning hydrotechnical constructions and other points, in the most equitable manner, and the most conformable to the mutual interests of the Prussian States, and of those of the Netherlands. This same arrangement refers to the fixing of limits in the districts of Kyfwaerd; Lobith, and in the whole territory as far as Kekerdom.—The enclaves of Huissen, Malburg, Lymers, with the town of Sevenaer, and the lordship of Wiel, shall form part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and his Prussian Majesty shall renounce them in perpetuity for himself, his heirs and successors.
ART. III. That part of the old duchy of Luxemburg which is comprised in the limits specified in the following Article, is likewise ceded to the Sovereign Prince of the United Provinces, now King of the Netherlands, to be possessed in perpetuity by him and his successors in full property and sovereignty. The Sovereign of the Netherlands shall add to his titles that of Grand Duke of Luxemburg, his Majesty reserving to himself the privilege of making such family arrangements between the princes his sons, relative to the succession to the Grand Duchy; as he shall think conformable to the interests of his monarchy and his paternal intentions.—The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg being intended as an indemnity for the principalities of Nassau-Dillenburg, Siegen, Hadamar, and Dietz, shall form one of the States of the. Germanic Confederation, and the Prince, King of the Netherlands, shall form a part of the system of this Confederation, as Grand Duke of Luxemburg with all the prerogatives and privileges which the other German princes might enjoy.—The town of Luxemburg, in a military point of view, shall be considered as a fortress belonging to the Confederation. The Grand Duke shall, however, retain the power of appointing the governor and military commandant of this fortress, subject to the approbation of the executive power of the Confederation, and under such other conditions as it maybe judged necessary to establish, in conformity to the future constitution of the said Confederation.
ART. IV. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg shall consist of all the territory situated between the kingdom of the Netherlands, such as it has been designated by Article II. France, the Moselle, as far as the mouth of the Sure, the course of the Sure, as far as the junction of the Our and the course of this last river, as far as the limits of the former French canton of St. Vith, which is not to belong to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.—Disputes having arisen with regard to the property of the duchy of Bouillon, his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, engages to restore the part of the said duchy which is comprised in the line of frontier above-mentioned, to that party whose claims shall be legally confirmed.
ART. V. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands renounces in perpetuity, for himself, his heirs and successors, in favour of his Majesty the King of Prussia, the sovereign possessions which the House of Nassau Orange held in Germany, namely, the principalities of Dillenburg, Dietz, Siegen, and Hadamar, together with the lordships of Bielstein, such as those possessions have been definitively arranged between the two branches of the House of Nassau, by the Treaty concluded at the Hague the 14th of July 1811. His Majesty equally renounces all claim to the principality of Fulda, and to the other districts and territories, which had been secured to him by the 12th Article of the principal recess of the extraordinary deputation of the empire on the 25th February 1803.
ART. VI. The right and order of succession established between the two branches of the House of Nassau, by the Act of 1783, called (Nassauischer Erb-Verein) is confirmed and transferred from the four principalities of Orange-Nassau, to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.
ART. VII. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, uniting under his sovereignty the countries designated in the 2nd and 4th Articles, enters into all the rights and takes upon himself all the charges, and all the stipulated engagements, relative to the provinces and districts detached from France by the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris the 30th May 1814.
ART. VIII. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands having recognised and sanctioned under date of the 21st July 1814, as the bases of the union of the Belgic Provinces with the United Provinces, the eight Articles contained in the document annexed to the present Treaty, the said articles shall have the same force and validity as if they were inserted word for word, in the present instrument.
ART. IX. A Commission shall be immediately appointed by his Majesty the King of Prussia, and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, to settle whatever relates to the cession of those possessions of the House of Nassau which belong to his Majesty, with regard to records, debts, excesses of the public chests, and other subjects of this nature.—That part of the records which does not concern the ceded provinces, but only the House of Orange, and libraries, collections of maps, and all other objects of the same description, belonging to his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, shall be retained by him as private and personal property, and shall be immediately restored to his Majesty. A part of the said possessions being exchanged against other possessions of the Duke and Prince of Nassau, his Majesty the King of Prussia engages, and his Majesty the King Of the Netherlands consents, that the engagement stipulated in the present Article shall be transferred to their Serene Highnesses the Duke and Prince of Nassau, with respect to those possessions which are to be united to their States.
ART. X. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the above-mentioned plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna, the 31st of May, 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince Metternich. (L. S.) The Baron Wessenberg. (L. S.) The Baron de Spaen. (L. S.) The Baron de Gagern.
[Note.—The same Treaty has been concluded and signed between his Majesty the King of the Netherlands and the Courts of London, Berlin, and Petersburg.]
Act annexed to Article VIII. of the Treaty of 1815;
Signed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of his Royal Highness's acceptance of the Sovereignty of the Belgic Provinces. His Excellency the Earl of Clancarty, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from his Britannic Majesty to his Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, having delivered to the undersigned a copy of the Protocol of a conference which took place in the month of June last, between the Ministers of the High Allied Powers, and signed by them, on the subject of the Union of Belgium with Holland; and the said Ambassador having also communicated to him the instructions he had received from his Court, to enter into an arrangement with General Baron Vincent. Governor-general of Belgium, for delivering up the provisional government of the Belgic Provinces to the person whom his Royal Highness shall entrust with it, in the name of the Allied Powers, until the time of their definitive and formal Union; provided that the said Ambassador, previously, and in conjunction with the Ministers, or other Diplomatic Agents of Austria, Russia and Prussia, now at the Hague, should receive from his Royal Highness his formal accession to the conditions of the Union of the two countries, according to the invitation made to the Prince Sovereign, in the said Protocol; the undersigned has laid before his Royal Highness the copy of the Protocol, and the official Note of the said Ambassador, which contained the substance of his instructions on this subject. His Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign declares, that the conditions of the Union, contained in the Protocol, are conformable to the following eight Articles:
ART. I. This Union shall be intimate and complete, so that the two countries shall form but one and the same state; governed by the Constitution already established in Holland, which shall be modified by common consent, according to existing circumstances.
ART. II. No innovation shall be made in the Articles of this Constitution, which assure equal protection and favour to every sect, and guarantee the admission of all citizens, whatever their religious belief may be, to public employments and offices.
ART. III. The Belgic Provinces shall be properly represented at the Assembly of the States General, of which the ordinary sessions shall be held, in time of peace, in a city in Holland and in a city of Belgium, alternately.
ART. IV. Every inhabitant of the Netherlands being thus placed by the Constitution upon the same footing, the different provinces shall equally enjoy all such commercial and other advantages as are consistent with their respective situations; and no kind of impediment or restriction shall be imposed on either, to the advantage of the other.
ART. V. Immediately after the Union, the provinces and towns of Belgium shall participate in the commerce and navigation of the colonies, upon the same footing as the provinces and towns of Holland.
ART. VI. As the expenses as well as the profits are to be jointly shared, the debts contracted up to the period of the Union of the Dutch Provinces, on the one side, and the Belgic Provinces on the other, shall be at the charge of the Treasurer-General of the Netherlands.
ART. VII. Upon the same principles, the expenses necessary for the establishment and preservation of the frontier fortresses of the new state, shall be defrayed by the Treasurer-General, as resulting from an object connected with the safety and independence of all the provinces and of the whole nation.
ART. VIII. The expenses of establishing and repairing dykes shall be defrayed by the districts more immediately interested in this part of the public convenience; the state in general, however, shall not be exempted from contributing towards the same, in case of extraordinary disaster, as it has hitherto been the custom in Holland. And his Royal Highness having accepted these eight Articles, as the bases and conditions of the Union of Belgium with Holland, under the sovereignty of his Royal Highness; the undersigned Anne William Charles Baron de Nagell, Chamberlain to his Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, and his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, is charged and authorized in the name and on the part of his august master, to accept the sovereignty of the Belgic Provinces, upon, the conditions contained in the eight preceding Articles, and to guarantee, by the present Act, their acceptance and execution. In faith of which the undersigned Anne William Charles Baron de Nagell, Chamberlain to his Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the United Netherlands, and his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has confirmed the present Act by his signature, and has caused to be affixed thereunto the seal of his arms. Done at the Hague the 21st of July 1814.
Signed (L. S.) A. W. C. de Nagell.
ACT, No. XI.—Declaration of the Powers on the affairs of the Helvetic Confederacy, of the 20th March; and Act of Accession of the Diet of the 27th May 1815.
(Declaration.)
The Powers called upon to mediate in the arrangement of the affairs of Switzerland, in order to carry into effect the 6th Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, having acknowledged that the general interest demands that the Helvetic States should enjoy the benefit of a perpetual neutrality; and wishing, by territorial restitutions and cessions, to enable it to secure its independence and maintain its neutrality;
After having obtained every information relative to the interests of the different cantons, and taken into consideration the claims submitted to them by the Helvetic Legation; Declare, That as soon as the Helvetic Diet shall have duly and formally acceded to the stipulations contained in the present instrument, an Act shall be prepared, containing the acknowledgment and the guarantee, on the part of all the Powers, of the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland, in her new frontiers; which Act shall form part of that which, in execution of the 32d Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May, was to complete the arrangements contained in this Treaty.
(Transaction.)
ART. I. The integrity of the nineteen cantons, as they existed in a political body at the period of the Convention of the 29th December 1813, is acknowledged as the basis of the Helvetic System.
ART. II. The Vallais, the territory of Geneva, and the principality of Neufchatel, are united to Switzerland, and shall form three new cantons. The valley of Dappes, which formed part of the canton of Vaud, is restored to the latter.
ART. III. The Helvetic Confederation, having expressed a desire that the bishopric of Basle should be united to it, and the mediating Powers wishing to settle definitively the fate of these countries, declare, that the said bishopric., and the town and territory of Bienne, shall in future form part of the canton of Berne The following districts only are excepted: I. A district of about three square leagues in extent, including the communes of Altschweiler, Schönbuch, Obersweiler Terweiler, Ettingen, Fürsteintein, Plotten, Pfeffingen, Aisch, Bruck, Reinach, Arles heim; which district shall be united to the canton of Basle. 2. A small enclave, situated near the Neufchatel village of Lignicres, being at present, with respect to civil jurisdiction, under the sovereignty of the canton of Neufchatel, and, with respect to criminal jurisdiction, under that of the bishopric of Basle, shall belong in full sovereignty to the principality of Neufchatel.
ART. IV. 1. The inhabitants of the bishopric Basle and Bienne, united to the cantons of Berne and Basle, shall enjoy, in every respect, without any distinction of religion (which shall be maintained in its present state) the same political and civil rights which are enjoyed, or may be enjoyed, by the inhabitants of the ancient parts of the said cantons. They shall, consequently, be eligible equally with them for the places of representatives, and for other offices, according to the Constitutions of the cantons. Such municipal privileges as are conformable with the Constitution and the general regulations of the canton of Berne, shall be continued to the town of Bienne, and to the villages that formed part of his jurisdiction. 2. The sale of the national domains is confirmed; the feudal rents and tithes cannot be re-established. 3. The respective Acts of Union shall be framed conformably to the principles above declared, by Commissions, composed of an equal number of deputies from each of the interested parties. Those from the bishopric of Basle shall be chosen by the canton director from amongst the most eminent citizens in the country. The said Acts shall be guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation. All the points upon which the parties cannot agree, shall be decided by an arbitrator appointed by the Diet. 4. The ordinary revenues of the country shall be collected on account of the present Administration, until the date of the accession of the Diet to the present transaction. The arrears of the said revenues shall be collected in like manner, but the extraordinary taxes, which have not yet been paid into the public chest, shall not be demanded. 5. No indemnity having been received by the Prince Bishop of Basle, for the quota of the revenues accruing to him from the bishopric which hitherto formed a part of Switzerland, and a stipulation having been made in the recess of the German empire of 1803, in favour of those countries only which become an integral part of the said empire, the cantons of Berne and Basle are to pay to him, in addition to the said annuity, the sum of 12,000 florins of the empire, dating from the Union of the bishopric of Basle to the cantons of Berne and Basle; the fifth part of this sum shall be applied to, and re, main as a provision for, the support of the canons of the ancient cathedral of Basle, in order to make up the annuity which has been settled by the recess of the German empire. The Helvetic Diet shall determine whether it be expedient to retain a bishopric in this part of Switzerland, or whether this diocese may not be united to that which, pursuant to the new arrangements, shall be formed out of the Swiss territory which belonged to the diocese of Constance. In case the bishopric of Basle should be continued, the canton of Berne shall furnish, in the same proportion as the other countries which shall in future be placed under the spiritual administration of the bishop, such a sum as may be necessary for the support of this prelate, of his chapter, and of his seminary.
ART. V. In order to secure the commercial and military communications of the town of Geneva with the canton of Vaud, and the rest of Switzerland, and with a view to fulfil, in that respect, the 4th Article of the Treaty of Paris, his Most Christian Majesty consents to place the line of custom-houses, so that the road which leads from Geneva into Switzerland by Versoy, shall at all times be free, and that neither the post, nor travellers, nor the conveyance of merchandize, shall be molested by any examination of the officers of the Customs, nor subjected to any duty. It is equally understood, that the passage of Swiss troops shall not in any manner be obstructed. In the additional regulations to be made on this subject, the execution of the Treaties relative to the free communication between the town of Geneva and the jurisdiction of Peney, shall be guaranteed in a manner the most suitable to the interests of the inhabitants of Geneva. His Most Christian Majesty consents likewise, that the gendarmerie and militia of Geneva, after having communicated on the subject with the nearest military post of the french gendarmerie, shall pass on the high road of Meyrin, in the said jurisdiction, to and from the town of Geneva. The Contracting Powers, moreover, interpose their good offices for the purpose of obtaining for the town of Geneva a suitable accession of territory on the side of Savoy.
ART. VI. With a view to provide mutual compensations, the cantons of Argovia, Vaud, Tessin, and St. Gall, shall furnish to the ancient cantons of Schwitz, Unterwald, Uri, Glaris, Zug, and Appenzell (Rhode Interior) a sum which shall be applied to the purposes of public instruction, and to the expenses of general administration, but principally to the former object, in the said cantons. The quality, the mode of payment, and the proportions of this pecuniary compensation, are determined as follows: 1. The cantons of Argovia, Vaud, and St. Gall, shall furnish to the cantons of Schwitz, Unterwald, Uri, Zug, Glaris, and Appenzell (Rhode Interior) the sum of 500,000 Swiss livres. 2. Each of the former cantons shall pay the interest of its quota, at the rate of five per cent. per annum, or have the option of discharging the principal, either in money or landed property. 3. The proportions, either of the payment of this sum, or of the recept of it, shall be determined according to the scale of contribution regulated for providing the federal expenses. The canton of Tessin shall pay every year to the canton of Uri, the half of the produce of the tolls in the Levantine valley. A Commission appointed by the Diet shall superintend the execution of the preceding arrangements.
ART. VII. To put an end to the disputes which have arisen, with respect to the funds placed in England by the cantons of Zurich and Berne, it is agreed; 1. That the cantons of Berne and Zurich shall preserve the property of the funded capital as it was in 1803, at the period of the dissolution of the Helvetic Government, and shall enjoy the interest thereupon, dating from January 1st, 1815. 2. That the accumulated interest due since the year 1798, up to the year 1814, inclusive, shall be applied to the payment of the remaining capital of the national debt, known under the denomination of the Helvetic debt. 3. That the surplus of the Helvetic debt shall remain at the charge of the other cantons, those of Berne and Zurich being exonerated by the above arrangement. The quota of each of the cantons, charged with this surplus, shall be calculated and paid in the proportion fixed for the contributions destined to the payment of federal expenses. The countries incorporated with Switzerland since 1813, shall not be assessed on account of the old Helvetic debt. If an excess of interest should remain, after discharging the above debt, such excess shall be divided between the cantons of Berne and Zurich, in proportion to their respective capitals. 4. The same dispositions shall be observed with regard to other debts, the deeds concerning which are now in the custody of the President of the Diet.
ART. VIII. The Mediating Powers wishing to conciliate all contentions respecting the lauds cancelled without indemnity, have determined that an indemnity shall be paid to the individuals proprietors of lauds for the purpose of avoiding all future dispute on this subject between the cantons of Berne and Vaud, the latter shall pay to the Government of Berne the sumof 300,000 Swiss livres, to be afterwards divided between the claiming Bernese proprietors of lauds The payment shall be made at the rate of a fifth each year, commencing from January 1st, 1816.
ART. IX. The Mediating Powers, acknowledging the justice of securing to the Prince Abbot of St. Gall an honourable and independent existence, direct, that the canton of St. Gall shall pay to him an annuity of 6,000 florins of the Empire, and to those under him, an annuity of 2,000. These pensions shall be paid by instalments (commencing from the 1st of January 1815) into the hands of the directing canton, every three months, which shall place them at the disposal of the Prince Abbot of St. Gall, and of those under him, respectively. The Powers mediating in the affairs of Switzerland, by the above Declaration, afford a manifest proof of their desire to secure the internal tranquillity of the Confederation. They also feel it a duty to omit nothing which may accelerate its accomplishment. They expect, therefore, that the cantons, laying aside, for the public good, every secondary consideration, will no longer delay their accession to the Federal Union, freely consented to by a great majority of the Swiss States; the common interest imperiously demanding that every part of Switzerland should unite, as soon as possible, under the same federative Constitution. The Convention of the 16th August 1814, annexed to the Act of the Federal Union, can no longer be an obstacle to their union. Its end being already attained by the Declaration of the Powers, it is in fact annulled.—To insure still further the repose of Switzerland, the Powers desire that a general amnesty be granted to all individuals who, led astray at a period of uncertainty and irritation, might have acted in some respect or other contrary to the present order of things. Far from weakening the legitimate authority of Governments, this act of clemency will afford them a new claim to exercise that salutary severity against whoever shall attempt in future to excite disturbance in the country.—Finally, the Mediating Powers trust, that the patriotism and the good sense of the Swiss people will point out to them the propriety, as well as the necessity, of mutually obliterating the remembrance of those differences which have divided them, and of consolidating the work of their reorganization by endeavouring to perfect it, in a spirit conducive to the public good, without any recollection of the past.
The present Declaration has been inserted in the Proctocol of the Congress assembled at Vienna, at its sitting of the 19th March 1315. Done and certified by the Plenipotentiaries of the eight Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris. Vienna the 20th March 1815.
(The Signatures follow in the alphabetical order of the Courts.)
AUSTRIA, The Prince Metternich. The Baron Wessemberg. SPAIN, P. Gomez Labrador. FRANCE, The Prince Talleyrand. The Duke de D'Alberg. Latour du Pin. The Count Alexis de Noailles. GREAT BRITAIN, Wellington. Clancarty. Cathcart. Stewart. PORTUGAL, The Count Palmella. Saldanha. Lobo. PRUSSIA, The Prince Hardenberg. The Baron Humboldt. RUSSIA, The Count Rasoumoffsky. The Count Stackelberg. The Count Nesselrode. SWEDEN, Lowenhielm.
The Diet of the Swiss Confederation, at its special sitting held at Zurich.
Having received in its sitting of the 3d of April 1815, through the mediation of the Ministers accredited to the Confederation; viz. M. de Schraut, Austrian Minister, in the name of his Imperial and Royal Apostolick Majesty, as also by virtue of special powers, of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal; M. Stratford Canning, accredited on the part of his Majesty the Kingof the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Count Augustus Talleyrand, on the part of his Most Christian Majesty the King of france, as also by virtue of special powers, of his Majesty the King of Spain and of the Indies; the Baron Chambrier d'Olleyres, in the name of his Majesty the King of Prussia; the Baron Krudener, Chargé d'Affaires of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia; the Declaration relative to the affairs of Switzerland, inserted in the Protocol of the Congress of Vienna the 19th, and signed the 20th of March 1815, by the Plenipotentiaries of the eight Powers who were parties to the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814; hastened to communicate this Act to the nineteen confederated cantons, inviting them to give their sanction to the Diet's declaring, in due and proper form, the general accession of Switzerland to the arrangements contained in the said instrument.
The chief authorities of each canton, having maturely considered the object of this communication, and having successively made known to the Federal authority their final determination, the Diet of the Swiss Confederation, in pursuance of the acts deposited in their archives, and of the declarations inserted in their Proctocol, by which it appears that a number of cantons, exceeding that which the Federal union prescribes, for the acceptance of the most important resolutions of the Helvetic body, have declared their consent thereto; which, according to the terms of the Constitution, becomes thereby that of the whole Confederation; have adopted the following Resolutions; 1. The Diet accedes, in the name of the Swiss Confederation, to the declaration of the powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna, under date of the 20th March 1815, and promises that the stipulations contained in the "Transaction" inserted in this Act, shall be faithfully and religiously observed. 2. The Diet expresses the eternal gratitude of the Swiss nation, towards the High Powers, who, by the above declaration, assign to them, with a boundary far more advantageous, its ancient important frontiers; unite three new cantons to the Confederation, and promise solemnly to acknowledge and guarantee the perpetual neutrality of the Helvetic Body, as being necessary to the general interest of Europe. The Diet feels the same sentiments of gratitude for the uniform kindness with which the august Sovereigns have exerted themselves in bringing about a reconciliation of the differences which had arisen between the cantons. 3. In pursuance of the present Act of Accession, and of the Note addressed to the Swiss Envoys at Vienna, the 20th March 1815, by Prince Metternich, President of the Conferences of the eight Powers the Diet declares its wish that the Ministers of their Majesties, residing in Switzerland, would, in pursuance of the instructions which they have received, and of the powers with which they have been invested, give effect to the dispositions of the declarations of the 20th March, and carry into execution the engagements therein contained.
In faith of which the present Act has been signed and sealed, at Zurich the 27th May 1815. In the name of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation, the Burgomaster Of the Canton of Zurich, President,
(L. S) of Switzerland. Signed. De Wyss, the Chancellor of the Confederation. Signed. Mousson.
ACT, No. XII.—Protocol of the 29th of March, 1815, on the Cessions made by the King of Sardinia to the Canton of Geneva.
The Allied Powers having expressed their earnest desire that certain facilities should be granted to the canton of Geneva, either for connecting a disjointed part of its possessions, or for opening its communications with Switzerland; his Majesty the King of Sardinia being anxious on his part, to evince to his high and powerful Allies, the great satisfaction which he experiences in rendering them any service in his power, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have agreed to what follows:
ART. I. His Majesty the Kingof Sardinia places at the disposal of the High Allied Powers that part of Savoy which is situated between the river Arve, the Rhone, the limits of that part of Savoy occupied by france, and Mount Saléve, as far as Veiry inclusive, together with that part which lies between the high road called the Simplon, the Lake of Geneva, and the present territory of the canton of Geneva, from Venezas to the point where the river of Hermance crosses the said road, and from thence, following the course of that river, to where it enters the Lake of Geneva, to the east of the village of Hermance (the whole of the road of the Simplon continuing to be possessed by his Majesty, the King of Sardinia) in order that these countries may be united to the canton of Geneva; with the reservation, however, of determining more precisely, by Commissioners respectively appointed, their limits, particularly of that part which relates to the demarcation above Veiry and on Mount Salève. His Majesty renounces for himself and his successors in perpetuity, all rights of sovereignty, and other rights which may have belonged to him over all the places and territories comprised in this line, without exception or reservation.
ART. II. His Majesty agrees, that the communication between the canton of Geneva and the Vallais, by the road of the Simplon, shall be established, in the same manner as it has been agreed to by france, between Geneva and the canton of Vaud, by the route of Versoy. A free communication shall also he at all times granted for the Genevese troops, between the territory of Geneva and the jurisdiction of Jussy, and such facilities shall be allowed as may be necessary for proceeding by the lake to the road of the Simplon.
ART. III. On the other hand, his Majesty feeling reluctant to giving his consent to a part of his territory being united to a State, whose prevailing religion is different, without securing to the inhabitants of the country which he cedes, the enjoyment of the free exercise of their religion, and the means of keeping up their religious establishments, with the full enjoyment of all the rights of citizens, it is agreed that, 1. The Catholic religion shall be maintained and protected, in the same manner as at present, in all those communes ceded by his Majesty the King Sardinia, which are to be united to the canton of Geneva. 2. Those parishes which are neither dismembered nor divided by the line of the new frontiers, shall retain their present extension, and shall be served by the same number of clergymen; and with regard to the parts dismembered, which may not be sufficiently large to constitute a parish, application shall be made to the bishop of the diocese, in order to obtain their annexation to some other parish of the canton of Geneva. 3. If the number of Protestants inhabiting the communes ceded by his Majesty should be less than that of the Catholics, the schoolmasters residing in those communes shall always he Catholics. No Protestant church shall be established, excepting in the town of Carrouge, which shall have one. Two-thirds of the municipal officers shall be Catholics, and of the three individuals who fill the offices of mayor and his two assistants, two of them shall always be catholics. In case it should happen that an equal number of Protestants and Catholics should reside in the same commune, the municipal body shall be composed of an equal number of Protestants and Catholics, and they shall fill the office of mayor alternately; in this case, however, there must always be a Catholic school-master, even where a Protestant one is already established. It is not intended by this Article to prevent Protestants residing in a commune inhabited by Catholics, from erecting at their own expense a private chapel, for the exercise of their religion, if they desire it, or from having, also at their expense, a Protestant school-master for the private instruction of their children. 4. The funds, revenues, and the administration of religious and charitable institutions, shall remain untouched, and private individuals shall not be prevented from erecting new ones. 5. The government shall make the same provision as the present Government for the support of the clergy, and places of worship. 6. The Catholic church, now established at Geneva, shall be maintained, as at present, at the expense of the State, as the laws of the Constitution of Geneva have already decreed a suitable establishment and provision shall be made for the officiating clergyman. 7. The Catholic communes and the parish of Geneva shall continue to form part of the diocese which is to govern the provinces of the Chablais, and Faucigny; unless it should be otherwise regulated by the authority of the Holy See. 8. The bishop shall not, under any circumstances, be disturbed in his pastoral visits. 9. The inhabitants of a ceded country shall be placed entirely upon the same footing in point of civil and political rights, with the Genevese of the city; they shall exercise these rights conjointly with them, excepting, however, the rights of property, of citizenship, or of communes. 10. Catholic children shall be received into the public schools. They shall not be instructed in religion with the Protestants, but separately; and persons of the Catholic communion shall be appointed for this purpose. 11. The communal property belonging to the new communes, shall be preserved to them, and they shall continue to administer them as hitherto, and to apply the revenues to their use. 12. The new communes shall not be liable to greater taxes than the old communes. 13. His Majesty the Kingof Sardinia reserves to himself the right of making known to the Helvetic Diet, and to support by means of his diplomatic agents accredited to it, every claim to which the non-fulfilment of the above Articles might give rise.
ART. IV. All title deeds of landed property, and documents concerning ceded effects, shall be given up by his Majesty the King of Sardinia, to the canton of Geneva, as soon as possible.
ART. V. The Treaty concluded at Turin, the 3rd of June 1754, between his Majesty the King of Sardinia and the Republic of Geneva, is hereby confirmed, with regard to all those Articles which are not at variance with the present transaction; but his Majesty, wishing to give the canton of Geneva a particular mark of his favour, contents nevertheless to annul that part of Article XIII. of the above Treaty, which denied to the citizens of Geneva, who since that time have had establishments and property in Savoy, the privilege of making it their principal residence.
ART. VI. His Majesty consents, from the same motives, to make arrangements with the canton of Geneva, for facilitating the conveyance from his states of articles intended for the consumption of the town and canton. Vienna the 29th March 1815.
(Signed) De St. Marsan. AUSTRIA, (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S.) The Baron de Wessenberg. SPAIN, (L. S.) Gomez Labrador. FRANCE, (L. S.) The Prince de Talleyrand. (L. S.) The Duke de D'Alberg. (L. S.) The Count Alexis de Noailles GREAT BRITAIN, (L. S.) Clancarty. (L. S.) Cathcart. (L. S.) Stewart, Lt. G. PORTUGAL, (L. S.) The Comte de Palmella. (L. S.) Antonio de Saldanha da Gama. (L. S.) Lobo da Silveira. PRUSSIA, (L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg. (L. S.) The Baron de Humboldt. RUSSIA, (L. S.) The Prince de Rasoumoffsky (L. S.) The Count de Stackelberg. (L. S.) The Count de Nesselrode. SWEDEN, (L. S.) The Count de Lowenhielm.
ACT, No. XIII.—Treaty between the King of Sardinia, Austria, England, Russia, Prussia, and France, of the 20th May 1815.
In the name of the Most holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the Kingof Sardinia, &c. &c. being restored to the full and entire possession of his Continental States, in the same manner as he possessed them on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the part of Savoy ceded to france by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814; and certain changes having since been agreed upon, during the Congress of Vienna, relative to the extent and limits of the said States; his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, wishing to confirm and establish, by a formal Treaty, every thing relating to these points, have in consequence named for their Plenipotentiaries; viz. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, Kingof Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Clement-Venceslas-Lothaire, Prince de Meternich - Winnebourg - Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the first Class; Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour; Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle, of the Orders of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tus- cany, of St. Hubert, of the Orders of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria-Theresa, Curator of the Academy of the fine Arts, Chamberlain, intimate and actual Counsellor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, his Minister of State, of Conferences, and of Foreign Affairs, his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and the Sieur John Philip, Baron de Wessenberg, Knight Grand Cross of the Military and Religious Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, Chamberlain, and intimate and actual Counsellor of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, &c. &c. the Sieurs Don Anthony Maria Philip Asinari, Marquis de St. Marsan and de Carial, Count de Castigliole, Cartosio and Castelletto, Val d'Erro, Knight Grand Cross of the Military and Religious Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, of the Orders of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle of Prussia; Major general of Cavalry, his Minister of State, and Principal Secretary for the War Department; and his first Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and Count Don Joachim Alexander Rossi Knight Grand Cross, and Commander of the Royal and Military Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, his Majesty's Counsellor, and his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress; who, in virtue of the full powers produced by them at the Congress of Vienna, found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. The frontiers of the States of his Majesty the Kingof Sardinia shall be, on the side of france, such as they were on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the changes effected by the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814. On the side of the Helvetic Confederation, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the change produced by the cession in favour of the Canton of Geneva, as specified in the 7th Article hereinafter inserted. On the side of the States of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792; and the Convention concluded between their Majesties the Empress Maria-Theresa and the King of Sardinia, on the 4th of October 1751, shall be reciprocally confirmed in all its stipulations. On the side of the States of Parma and Placentia, the frontier, as far it concerns the ancient States of the King of Sardinia, shall continue to be the same as it was on the 1st of January 1792. The borders of the former States of Genoa, and of the countries called Imperial Fiefs,. united to the States of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, according to the following Articles, shall be the same as those which, on the 1st of January 1792, separated those countries from the States of Parma and Placentia, and from those of Tuscany and Massa. The island of Capraja, having belonged to the ancient Republic of Genoa, is included in the cession of the States of Genoa to his Majesty the King of Sardinia.
ART. II. The States which constituted the former Republic of Genoa, are united in perpetuity to those of his Majesty the Kingof Sardinia; to be, like the hitter, possessed by him in full sovereignty and hereditary property, and to descend, in the male line, in the order of primogeniture, to the two branches of his House, viz, the Royal Branch, and the Branch of Savoy Carignan.
ART. III. The King of Sardinia shall add to his present titles, that of Duke of Genoa.
ART. IV. The Genoese shall enjoy all the rights and privileges specified in the Act, intituled "A. A. Conditions which are to serve as the bases of the union of the Genoese States to those of his Sardinian Majesty," and the said Act shall be considered as an integral part of the present Treaty, and shall have the same force and validity, as if it were textually inserted in the present Article.
ART. V. The countries called Imperial Fiefs, formerly united to the ancient Ligurian Republic, are definitively united to the States of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, in the same manner as the rest of the Genoese States; and the inhabitants of these countries shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as those of the States of Genoa, specified in the preceding Article.
ART. VI. The right that the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, reserved to themselves, by the 3d Article of that Treaty, of fortifying such points of their States as they might Age proper for their safety, is equally reserved, without restriction, to his Majesty the King of Sardinia.
ART. VII. His Majesty the King of Sardinia cedes to the canton of Geneva, the districts of Savoy specified in the Act annexed, intituled "B. B. Cession made by his Majesty the King of Sardinia to the canton of Geneva," and on the conditions specified in the same Act. That Act shall be considered as an integral part of the present Treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it were textually inserted in the present Article.
ART. VIII. The provinces of Chablais and Faucigny, and the whole of the territory of Savoy to the north of Ugine, belonging to his Majesty the King of Sardinia, shall form a part of the neutrality of Switzerland, as recognized and guaranteed by all the Powers. Whenever, therefore, the neighbouring Powers to Switzerland are in a state of open or impending hostility, the troops of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, which may be in those provinces, shall retire, and may for that purpose pass through the Vallais, if necessary. No other armed troops of any other Power, shall have the privilege of passing through, or remaining in the said territories and pro- vinces, excepting those which the Swiss Confederation shall think proper to place there; it being well understood, that this state of things shall not in any manner interrupt the administration of these countries, in which the civil agents of his Majesty the King of Sardinia may likewise employ the municipal guard for the preservation of good order.
ART. IX. The present Treaty shall form part of the definitive arrangements of the Congress at Vienna.
ART. X. The ratifications of the present Treaty shall be exchanged in six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna the 20th of May, 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S) The Marquis de St. Marsan. (L. S.) The Baron de Wessenberg. (L. S.) The Count Rossi.
[N. B.]—The same Treaty has been concluded and signed between his Majesty the King of Sardinia and the Courts of London, Berlin, Petersburg, and Paris.]
ACT, No. XIV.—A. A. Conditions annexed to Article IV. of the Treaty of the 20th May 1815, which are to serve as the bases of the union of the Genoese States, to those of his Sardinian Majesty.
ART. I. The Genoese shall, in every respect be placed upon the same footing with the other subjects of the King. They shall be equally eligible with them to civil, judicial, military, and diplomatic employments of the monarchy and, excepting the privileges which are hereafter granted and guaranteed to them, they shall be subject to the same laws and regulations, with such modifications as his Majesty shall judge it expedient to introduce. The Genoese nobility shall be admitted, equally with the nobility of the other parts of the monarchy to the principal offices and employments of the Court.
ART. II. The Genoese military, at present composing the troops of Genoa, shall be incorporated with the royal troops; the officers and non-commissioned officers shall retain their respective ranks.
ART. III. The arms of Genoa shall be introduced in the royal escutcheon, and its colours into the flag of his Majesty.
ART. IV. The free port of Genoa shall be re-established, with the regulations which existed under the ancient government of Genoa. Every facility shall be given by the King to the transit, through his states, of merchandize proceeding from that free port, under such restrictions as his Majesty shall judge expedient for preventing the said merchandise being illicitly sold or consumed in the interior. It shall be subject only to the usual moderate duty.
ART. V. A Provincial Council shall be established in the district of each Intendant, composed of thirty members, chosen from among the most respectable individuals of each class, out of a list of 300 persons of the greatest note in each district. They shall be named, in the first instance, by the King, and renewed in the same manner, by fifths, every two years. The retirement of the four first-fifths shall be decided by ballot. The organization of these Councils shall be regulated by his Majesty. The President named by the King need not be selected from the Council; in such case, he shall not possess the right of voting, The members cannot be re-elected until four years after their retirement. The council shall attend only to the wants and claims of the communes of the Intendancy, as to what concerns their particular administration, and shall be allowed to make representations on the subject. It shall assemble each year at the principal place of the intendancy, at such period and for such length of time as his Majesty shall determine. His Majesty shall have the right of assembling it upon extraordinary occasions, should he think fit. The Intendant of the province, or he who supplies his place, shall have the right of a seat in the Assembly, as the King's Commissioner. Whenever the exigencies of the State shall require the levy of new taxes, the King shall assemble the different Provincial Councils in such city of the ancient Genoese territory as he shall appoint, and under the presidency of such person as he shall have delegated for that purpose. The president, when not chosen from the Council, shall not have a deliberative vote. The King shall not send to the Senate of Genoa, for registration any edict having for its object the imposing of extraordinary takes, until the assent of the Provincial assembled as above, shall have been received. A majority of one vote shall determine the question in the Provincial Councils, whether assembled separately or together.
ART. VI. The maximum of taxes, which his Majesty shall have the right to establish in the States of Genoa, without consulting the united Provincial Councils, shall not exceed the proportion actually established in the other parts of his dominions; the taxes at present levied, shall be regulated by this standard, and his Majesty reserves to himself to make such modifications as his wisdom and his goodness towards his Genoese subjects, may dictate with respect to what assessment should be made, whether upon land, or for direct or indirect taxes. The maximum of taxation being, thus regulated, whenever the exigencies of the State shall require the levy of new taxes or extraordinary duties, his Majesty shall refer to the Provincal Councils for their vote of approbation, for the sum which he shall judge it proper to propose, and for the description of tax to be established.
ART. VII. The public debt, such as it legally existed under the late French Government, is guaranteed.
ART. VIII. Pensions, both civil and military, granted by the State, according to the laws and regulations, shall be continued to all Genoese subjects living in his Majesty's States. Under the same conditions, those pensions shall be continued which have been granted to the clergy, or to individuals of both sexes formerly belonging to religious institutions; as well as those, which, by way of relief, have been granted to Genoese Nobles by the french government.
ART. IX. A grand Court of Justice or Supreme Tribunal shall be established at Genoa, with the same powers and privileges as those of Turin, Savoy, and Nice, and which, like them, shall be called a Senate.
ART. X. The gold and silver currency of the ancient State of Genoa, actually in circulation, shall be received at the public offices equally with Piedmontese coins.
ART. XI. The levies of troops, called Provincial Levies, in the country of Genoa, shall not exceed the proportion of those in the other States of his Majesty. The naval and military services shall be calculated alike.
ART. XII. His Majesty shall raise a Genoese company of body guards, which shall form a fourth company of his guards.
ART. XIII. His Majesty shall establish at Genoa a municipal body, composed of forty Nobles, twenty citizens of independent property, or following any liberal prfession, and twenty of the principal merchants. The first appointments shall be made by the King, and the vacancies shall be filled up by the Municipal Body itself, subject to the King's approbation. This body shall receive from the King its particular regulations with respect to its President and the division of its labours. The Presidents shall take the title of Syndics, and shall be chosen from among its members. The King reserves to himself; whenever he shall judge it proper, to appoint a person of the first distinction as President of the Municipal Body. The powers belonging to the Municipal Body shall be, the administration of the city revenues, the superintendance of the petty police of the city, and the care of its charitable institutions. A King's Commissioner shall assist at the sittings and deliberations of the Municipal Body. The members of this body shall wear a particular dress, and the Syndics shall have the privilege of wearing a robe or gown similar to that of the Presidents of Tribunals.
ART. XIV. The University of Genoa shall be continued, and shall enjoy the same privileges as that of Turin. His Majesty will consider of the means of providing for its wants. His Majesty shall take this establishment under his special protection, as well as the other institutions of instruction, education, the Belles Lettres, and charity, which shall also be maintained. His Majesty will preserve, to his Genoese subjects, the exhibitions which they enjoy in the college called the Lyceum, at the expense of Government; reserving to himself the adoption of such regulations upon this subject as he shall judge proper.
ART. XV. The King shall preserve to Genoa, a tribunal and a Chamber of Commerce, with the powers actually belonging to those two establishments.
ART. XVI. His Majesty shall take into his particular consideration, the situation of persons in the states of Genoa who are now in office.
ART. XVII. His Majesty will gladly receive the plans and propositions which may be presented to him upon the means of reestablishing the Bank of St. George. A true copy, of the original deposited in the Court and State Chancery at Vienna.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich.
B. B.—Cession, made by his Majesty the King of Sardinia, to the canton of Geneva.—Annexed to Article VII. of the Treaty of the 20th May 1815.
ART. I. His Majesty the King of Sardinia places at the disposal of the High Allied Powers, that part of Savoy which is situated between the river Arve, the Rhone, the limits of that part of Savoy ceded to France, and Mount Salève, as far as Veiry inclusive, together with that part which lies between the high road, called that of the Simplon, the lake of Geneva, and the present territory of the canton of Geneva, from Vezenas to the point where the river of Hermance crosses the said road, and from thence, following the course of that river to where it enters the lake of Geneva, to the east of the village of Hermance (the whole of the road of the Simplon continuing to be possessed by his Majesty the King of Sardinia) in order that these countries shall be united to the canton of Geneva; with the reservation, however, of determining more precisely, by Commissioners respectively, their limits, particularly of that part which relates to the demarcation above Veiry, and on Mount Salève. His Majesty renounces, for himself and his successors, in perpetuity, all rights of sove, and other rights, which may belong to him in all the places and territories comprised in this line of frontier, without exception or reservation.
ART. II. His Majesty consents that the communication between the canton of Geneva and the Vallais, by the road of the Simplon, shall be established, in the same manner as it has been agreed to by france, between Geneva and the canton of Vaud, by the route of Versoy. A free communication shall also be at all times granted for the Genevese troops, between the territory of Geneva and the jurisdiction of Jussy, and such facilities shall be allowed as may be necessary for proceeding the lake, the road of the Simplon.
ART. III. On the other hand, his Majesty being averse to giving his consent that a part of his territory should be ceded to a state whose prevailing religion is different, without securing to the inhabitants of the country so ceded, the enjoyment of the free exercise of their religion, the means of keeping up their religious establishments, and the free enjoyment of all rights of citizenship; it is agreed, that, 1. The Roman Catholic religion shall be maintained and protected, in the same manner as at present, in all the communes ceded by his Majesty the King of Sardinia, which are to be united to the canton of Geneva. 2. Those parishes which are neither dismembered nor divided by the new frontier line, shall retain their present boundaries, and shall be served by the same number of clergymen; and with regard to the detached portions, which are not sufficiently extensive to constitute a parish, application shall be made to the bishop of the diocese, to obtain their annexation to some other parish of the canton of Geneva. 3. If the number Of Protestants in the said communes ceded by his Majesty, is less than that of the Roman Catholics, the school-masters shall at all times be Roman Catholics. No Protestant place of worship shall be established, excepting one in the town of Carrouge. Two-thirds at least of the municipal officers shall be Roman Catholics; and of the three individuals who fill the office of Mayor and his two assistants, two shall always be Roman Catholics. In case the number of Protestants in any of the communes shall equal that of the Roman Catholics, they shall stand upon an equal footing, and shall be alternately elected to the Municipal Body and to the office of Mayor; in this case, however, there shall always be a Roman Catholic school-master, even if there be a Protestant one established. The present Article is not intended to prevent Protestants, residing in a commune inhabited by Roman Catholics, from erecting at their own expense a private chapel, for the exercise of their religion, they think proper; or from having likewise at their own expense, a Protestant schoolmaster, for the private education of their children. 4. The funds, revenues, and the administration of existing charitable donations and institutions shall remain untouched; and private individuals shall not be prevented from making new ones. 5. The new government shall continue the provision made by the present government, for the support of the clergy and of religious worship. 6. The Roman Catholic Church, now established at Geneva, shall be maintained, as at present, at the expense of the state, as the eventual laws of the constitution of Geneva have already decreed: a suitable establishment and provision shall be made for the clergyman. 7. The Roman Catholic communes and the parish Geneva shall continue to form part of the diocese which is to govern the pre- vinces of Chablais and Faucigny, unless it should be otherwise regulated by the authority of the Holy See. 8. In no case whatever shall the bishop be disturbed in his pastoral visits. 9. The inhabitants of the ceded territory are placed entirely on the same footing, in point of civil and political rights, with those of the city of Geneva: they shall enjoy these rights equally with them; excepting, however, the rights of property, of citizenship, or of the commune. 10. Roman Catholic children shall be received into the public schools: they shall not be instructed in matters of religion in common with the Protestants, but separately; and ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic communion shall be appointed for this purpose. 11 The communal property, or property belonging to new communes, shall be preserved to them, and it shall continue to be administered as heretofore, and the revenues applied to their use. 12. These communes shall not be taxed more than the old ones. 13. His Majesty the King of Sardinia reserves to himself the right of representing to the Helvetic Diet, and of supporting by means of his diplomatic agents accredited to it, every claim to which the non-fulfilment of the above Articles might give rise.
ART. IV. All deeds of landed property, and documents concerning ceded matters, shall be given up by his Majesty the King of Sardinia to the canton of Geneva, as soon as possible.
ART. V. The Treaty concluded at Turin the 3d of June 1754, between his Majesty the Kingof Sardinia and the republic of Geneva, is hereby confirmed, with regard to all those Articles which are not at variance with the present transaction; but his Majesty, wishing to give the canton of Geneva a particular mark of his good will, consents, nevertheless, to annul that part of Article XIII. of the above Treaty, which denied to the citizens of Geneva, who at that time had establishments and property in Savoy, the privilege of making it their principal residence.
ART. VI. His Majesty, from the same motives, agrees to make arrangements with the canton of Geneva, in order to facilitate the conveyance, from his states, of articles, intended for the consumption of the town and canton.
ART. VII. An exemption from all duties of transit shall be granted for all merchandise and goods which, coming from the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia and the free port of Genoa, shall traverse the road called the Simplon in its whole extent, through the Vallais and the state of Geneva. It is understood that this exemption is confined to the transit, and shall not extend, either to the toils established for the maintenance of the road, or to duties levied on merchandise or goods intended to be sold or consumed in the interior. The same reservation shall apply to the communication granted to the Swiss between the Vallais and the canton of Geneva; and the different governments shall for this purpose take such measures as, by common agreement, they shall judge necessary, either for taxation, or for preventing contraband trade in their territories respectively. A true copy, of the original deposited in the Court and State Chancery of Vienna.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich.
ACT, No. XV.—Declaration of the Powers, on the Abolition if the Slave Trade, of the 8th February 1815.
The Plenipotentiaries of the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, assembled in conference,
Having taken into consideration that the commerce, known by the name of "the Slave Trade," has been considered, by just and enlightened men of all ages, as repugnant to the principles of humanity and universal morality; that the particular circumstances from which this commerce has originated, and the difficulty of abruptly arresting its progress, may have concealed, to a certain extent, what was odious in its continuance, but that at length the public voice, in all civilized countries, calls aloud for its prompt suppression; that since the character and the details of this traffic have been better known, and the evils of every kind which attend it, completely developed, several European governments have virtually come to the resolution of putting a stop to it, and that successively all the Powers possessing colonies in different parts of the world have acknowledged, either by Legislative Acts, or by Treaties, or other formal engagements, the duty and necessity of abolishing it;
That by a separate Article of the late Treaty of Paris, Great Britain and france engaged to unite their efforts at the Congress of Vienna, to induce all the Powers of Christendom to proclaim the universal and definitive Abolition of the Slave Trade;
That the Plenipotentiaries assembled at this Congress cannot do greater credit to their mission, better fulfil their duty, and manifest the principles which actuate their august Sovereigns, than by endeavouring to carry this engagement into effect, and by proclaiming, in the name of their Sovereigns, their wish of putting an end to a scourge, which has so long desolated Africa, degraded Europe, and afflicted humanity;
The said Plenipotentiaries have agreed to open their deliberations, on the means of accomplishing so salutary an object, by a solemn Declaration of the principles which have governed them in this undertaking; accordingly, being duly authorized for this purpose, by the unanimous accession of their respective Courts to the principle laid down in the said Separate Article of the Treaty of Paris; they declare, in the face of Europe, that, considering the universal Abolition of the Slave Trade as a measure particularly worthy of their attention, conformable to the spirit of the times, and to the generous principles of their august Sovereigns, they are animated with the sincere desire of concurring in the most prompt and effectual execution of this measure, by all the means at their disposal; and of acting, in the employment of these means, with all the zeal and perseverance which is due to so great and noble a cause.
Too well acquainted, however, with the sentiments of their Sovereigns, not to perceive, that however honourable may be their views, they cannot be attained without due regard to the interests, the habits, and even the prejudices of their subjects; the said Plenipotentiaries at the same time acknowledge that this general Declaration cannot prejudge the period that each particular Power may consider as most advisable for the definitive Abolition of the Slave Trade. Consequently, the determining the period when this trade is to cease universally, must be a subject of negociation between the Powers; it being understood, however, that no proper means of securing its attainment, and of accelerating its progress, are to be neglected; and that the engagement reciprocally contracted in the present Declaration, between the Sovereigns who are parties to it, cannot be considered as completely fulfilled, until the period when complete success shall have crowned their united efforts.
In communicating this Declaration to the knowledge of Europe, and of all civilized countries, the said Plenipotentiaries hope to prevail on every other government, and particularly on those which, in abolishing the Slave Trade, have already manifested the same sentiments, to give them their support in a cause, the final triumph of which will be one of the noblest monuments of the age which embraced it, and which shall have brought it to a glorious termination.
Vienna the 8th of february 1815.
Signed Castlereagh. Stezeart, Lieut. Gen. Wellington. Nesselrode. C. Lowenhielm. Gomez Labrador. Palmella. Saldanha. Lobo. Humboldt. Metternich. Talleyrand.
ACT, No. XVI.—Regulations for the free Navigation of Rivers.
Articles concerning the Navigation of the Rivers which, in their Navigable. Course, separate or cross different States.
(General Arrangements.)
ART. I. The Powers whose states are separated or traversed by the same navigable river, engage to regulate, by common consent, all that regards its navigation. For this purpose they will name Commissioners, who shall assemble, at latest within six months after the termination of Congress, and who shall adopt as the bases of their proceedings, the following principles:
(Prineiples.—Liberty of Navigation.)
ART. II. The navigation of the rivers, along their whole course, referred to in the preceding Article, from the point where each of them becomes navigable, to its mouth, shall be entirely free, and shall not, in respect to commerce, be prohibited to any one; it being, however, understood, that the regulations established with regard to the police of this navigation, shall be respected; as they will be framed alike for all, and as favourable as possible to the commerce of all nations.
(Uniformity of System.)
ART. III. The system that shall be established, both for the collection of the duties and for the maintenance of the police, shall be, as nearly as possible, the same along the whole course of the river; and shall also extend, unless particular circumstances prevent it, to those of its branches and junctions, which, in their navigable course, separate or traverse different states.
(Tarif.)
ART. IV. The duties on navigation shall be regulated in an uniform and settled manner, and with as little reference as possible to the different quality of the merchandise, in order that a minute examination of the cargo may be rendered unnecessary, except with a view to prevent fraud and evasion. The amount of the duties, which shall in no case exceed those now paid, shall be determined by local circumstances, which scarcely allow of a general rule in this respect. The Tarif shall, however, be prepared in such manner as to encourage commerce by facilitating navigation, for which purpose the duties established upon the Rhine, and now in force on that river, may serve as an approximating rule for its construction. The Tarif once settled, no increase shall take place therein, except by the common consent of the states bordering on the rivers; nor shall the navigation be burthened with any other duties than those fixed in the regulation.
(Offices for the collection of Duties.)
ART. V. The offices for the collection of duties, the number of which shall be reduced as much as possible, shall be settled in the above regulation; and no change shall afterwards be made but by common consent, unless any of the States bordering on rivers should wish to diminish the number of those which exclusively belong thereto.
(Towing Paths.)
ART. VI. Each State bordering on the rivers, shall be at the expense of keeping in good repair the towing-paths which pass through its territory, and of maintaining the necessary works through the same extent in the bed of the river, in order that no obstacle may be experienced in the navigation. The intended regulation shall determine the manner in which the States bordering on rivers are to participate in these latter works, where the opposite banks belong to different Governments.
(Harbour Duties.)
ART. VII. There shall no where be established store-house, port, or forced harbour duties: those already existing shall be preserved for such time only as the States bordering on the rivers (without regard to the local interest of the place or the country where they are established) shall find them necessary or useful to navigation and commerce in general.
(Custom-houses.)
ART. VIII. The custom-houses belonging to the States bordering on rivers shall not interfere in the duties of navigation. Regulations shall be established to prevent officers of the customs, in the exercise of their functions, throwing obstacles in the way of the navigation: but care shall be taken by means of a strict police, on the bank, to preclude every attempt of the inhabitants to smuggle goods, through the medium of boatmen.
(Regulation.)
ART. IX. Every thing expressed in the preceding Articles shall be settled by a general arrangement, in which there shall also be comprised whatever may need any ulterior determination. The arrangement once settled, shall not be changed, but by and with the consent of all the States bordering on rivers, and they shall take care to provide for its execution, with due regard to circumstances and locality.
Signed. D'Alberg. Clancarty. Humboldt. Wessenberg.
Articles concerning the Navigation of the Rhine.
ART. I. The navigation of the Rhine, along its whole course, from the point where it becomes navigable to the sea, either in ascending or descending, shall be entirely free, and shall not, in respect to commerce, be prohibited to any one: due regard, however, being had to the regulations established with respect to its police, which shall be framed alike for all, and as favourable as possible to the commerce of all nations.
ART. II. The system to be adopted for the collection of the duties, as well as for them, maintenance of the police, shall be the same along the whole course of the river, and shall extend, as far as circumstances may permit, to those of its branches and junctions which, in their navigable course, separate traverse different States.
ART. III. The tarif of duties to be levied on merchandize conveyed along the Rhine shall be so regulated that the whole amount of duty to be paid between Strasbourg and the frontier of the kingdom of the Netherlands, shall be, in passing up the river two francs, and in passing down the river one franc and 33 centimes, per hundred-weight; and that the levying of this tarif shall be extended (increasing the amount of duty the same proportion) to the distances between Strasbourg and Basle, and between the frontier of the kingdom of the Netherlands and the mouths of that river. The duty of reconnoisance shall remain as fixed by Article 94 of the Convention, relative to duties on the navigation of the Rhine concluded at Paris the 15th of August 1804; with the reservation, however, of making such other alteration in the scale of duties, as that boats from 2500 to 5000 quintals, shall be included therein. But this duty shall also extend, in the same proportion, to the above-mentioned distances. The abatements of the general Tarif, which established the maximum of duties fixed by Articles 102 and 105 of the Convention of the 15th August 1804 shall remain in force; but the Commission to be charged with settling the new regulations shall consider whether their distribution into different classes will not require alterations still more favourable, as well to navigation and commerce, as to agriculture and the wants of the inhabitants of the States of the Rhine.
ART. IV. The tarif thus settled shall not be augmented but by mutual consent, and the Governments on the Rhine, adopting for a principle, that their true interest consists in encouraging the commerce of their States, and that the duties on navigation should chiefly be appropriated to defraying the expenses of its preservation; formally engage not to increase the same but for the most just and urgent reasons, nor to impose any other duties whatever on navigation, in addition to those fixed by the present regulations, under any denomination or pretext whatsoever.
ART. V. There shall be only twelve offices for the collection of duties, throughout the whole extent of the Rhine between Strasbourg and the frontier of the kingdom of the Netherlands: and those which it may be expedient to establish between Strasbourg and Basle shall be fixed, according to the same principles, and at proportionate distances. The offices shall be placed in the most convenient manner for navigation, and their number shall be settled by common consent. Each State bordering on the river shall, however, be allowed to diminish the number exclusively assigned to it by the existing arrangement.
ART. VI. The duty shall be collected, in each state bordering on the river, on its own account and by its own collectors; the whole of the duties being distributed in proportion to the extent of the respective possessions of the different States on the bank. The collectors shall make oath to observe strictly, the regulation definitively agreed upon. If the same office is employed by two or more States, the proceeds shall be divided between them according to the extent of their respective possessions on the bank; this rule shall also apply in case the opposite banks should belong to two different States. Every thing relating to the establishment of the offices, to the mode of collecting, and of verifying the payment of the duties, shall be settled in an uniform manner by the definitive regulation, and shall not be changed but by common consent.
ART. VII. Each State of the Rhine shall be at the expense of keeping the towing-paths which pass through its territory in good repair, and of maintaining the necessary works through the same extent in the channel of the river, in order that no obstacle may be experienced to the navigation.
ART. VIII. A judicial authority shall be attached to each office for the collection of duties, for the purpose of investigating and determining, agreeably to the regulation, in the first instance, all disputes relating to the objects therein mentioned. These judicial authorities shall be maintained St the expense of that State of the Rhine in which they are situated, and shall pronounce sentence in the name of their Sovereigns; but the individuals who compose them, shall make oath strictly to observe the regulation, and the Judges shall not be deprived of their situations unless by a regular and formal process, and by a judgment given against them Their proceedings shall be determined in the regulation, and shall be uniform along the whole course of the Rhine, and as summary as possible. Where an office for the collection of duties shall belong to more than one State, individuals invested with the judicial functions shall be nominated by the Sovereign in whose territory the office in question is situated, and judgment shall be given in his name; but the expenses shall be defrayed by those States who divide the receipts of such office, and in proportion to the share which accrues to them.
ART. IX. Parties wishing to appeal against the decisions of the courts of justice specified in the preceding Article, shall have the option of applying for this purpose to the Central Commission hereafter mentioned, or to the Superior Tribunal of the country in which the court of first instance, before which they shall have pleaded, is situated. Each State of the river engages to establish a similar tribunal of second instance, or to refer the decision of causes of this nature to one of those already existing. These tribunals shall likewise make oath to observe the law concerning navigation. Their organization and mode of proceeding shall form part of the regulation, and they shall not hold their meetings in a town situated too of are from the bank of the Rhine. The regulation shall contain the particular arrangements for that purpose. Their sentences shall be final, and no further appeal shall be allowed.
ART. X. In order to establish a perfect controul over the observance of the general regulation, and to constitute an authority which may serve as a means of communication between the States of the Rhine upon all subjects relating to navigation, a Central Commission shall be appointed.
ART. XI. Each State bordering on the Rhine shall name a Commissioner for its formation; and it shall assemble regularly at Mentz on the 1st November in each year. They shall judge according to circumstances, and the business upon which they may have to decide, whether after this session, it will be necessary to hold another in the spring. The President, who without any other prerogative, shall be employed in the general management of the labours of the Commission, shall be chosen by ballot, and replaced every month, in case the session should be prolonged. Another member of the Commission, who shall be chosen by the members, shall keep the minutes of their proceedings.
ART. XII. In order that a permanent authority may exist, which, in the absence of the Central Commission may superintend the observance of the regulation, and to which the merchants and boatmen may at all times refer, there shall be named a Chief Inspector and three Deputy Inspectors. The Chief Inspector shall also reside at Mentz; the Deputy Inspectors shall be appointed for the Upper, Middle, and Lower Rhine.
ART. XIII. The Chief Inspector shall be chosen by the Central Commission, by a majority of votes, but in the following manner; a certain number of votes shall be given of which the Prussian Commissioner shall have one-third; the french Commissioner one-sixth; the Commissioner of the Netherlands, one-sixth; and that of the other German Princes, excepting Prussia, one third. The distribution of the votes of these Princes shall be regulated as soon as the whole bank of the Rhine shall have been finally disposed of; but the distribution shall be made proportionately to the extent of their respective possessions on the bank. The three Deputy Inspectors shall be chosen; the first by Prussia, the second, alternately by france and the Netherlands, and the third by the other German Princes, joint possessors of the bank, who shall agree upon the mode of making this appointment.
ART. XIV. The appointments, as well of the Chief Inspector as of the Deputy Inspectors, shall be for life. If the Commission should deem it expedient to remove one of its officers, from being dissatisfied with his services, it shall be put to the vote whether he shall be merely replaced by another, or brought to trial. In the former case, which likewise applies to retirement in consequence of infirmity, the individual shall retire upon a pension, amounting to half his salary, should he not have served ten years; and two-thirds of it if he has served ten years or upwards. This pension shall be paid in the same manner as the salary. In the second case, the Commission shall determine, in the manner prescribed by Article 17, by which courts of the first and second instance he shall be tried. The individual shall be entitled to the pension if he is fully acquitted; and on the other hand, he shall be proceeded against according to the sentence which shall have been passed upon him. Whenever the Commission shall vote upon the question of removing any of the Inspectors, the votes shall be given in the manner determined upon in the 13th Article; but the individual cannot be deprived of his situation, unless two-thirds of the number of votes determined upon, shall be against him.
ART. XV. The duties of the Chief Inspector, assisted by the Deputy Inspectors, are to superintend the fulfilment of the regulation, and to arrange every thing relating to the police of the navigation. It will therefore be his right and his duty to issue orders on this subject to the offices for collecting duties, and to communicate with the other local authorities of the States bordering on the Rhine. Persons employed in the offices, and the local authorities, shall obey and assist him in every thing concerning the observance of the regulation, and shall not oppose the execution of his orders, unless he shall exceed the limits of his authority. In this case, they shall immediately make it known to their superiors. The Chief Inspector shall likewise collect every information which may be necessary for the Central Commission regarding, the state and defects of the navigation, and shall submit to them such measures as he may consider advisable to be adopted. On pressing occasions, he shall be at liberty, and it will be his duty, to hold a corres- pondence with its members, even when they are not sitting.
ART. XVI. The Central Commission shall direct the Inspectors to report to them an account of their proceedings; they shall assist them in their duties, and superintend the manner in which they are performed; they shall at the same time attend to all matters that may contribute to the general interests of navigation and commerce, and shall publish, at file close of every year, a detailed report of the state of the navigation of the Rhine, its annual movement, its progress, the changes which may take place, and of every thing relating to domestic and foreign commerce.
ART. XVII. The decisions of the Central Commission shall be had by an absolute majority of votes, which shall be given in perfect equality: but as its members should be considered as agents of the States of the Rhine, charged with making arrangements for their mutual interests, their decisions shall not be binding upon these States until their consent shall have been given by their Commissioners.
ART. XVIII. The salary of the Chief Inspector and of the Deputy Inspectors, but not that of the Commissioners, who may be merely temporary agents, shall be fixed by the regulation. It shall be at the joint expense of all the States bordering on the Rhine, who shall contribute in proportion to the part which they take in their nomination. The regulation shall contain every thing relating to the future establishment of the Central Commission, and of its permanent administration, and shall determine, in a precise and detailed manner, all its functions and privileges.
ART. XIX. The staple duties having been suppressed by Article 8 of the Convention of the 15th August 1804, that suppression is hereby extended to the duties which the towns of Mayence and Cologne levied, under the denomination of Harbour and Port Duties, and on breaking bulk, (umschlag,) so that individuals shall be at liberty to navigate along the whole course of the Rhine, from the point where it becomes navigable to where it falls into the sea, either in passing up or down the river, without being compelled to break bulk, or to remove the cargoes into another vessel, in any port, town, or place whatever.
ART. XX. A superintending Police shall, however, be appointed, of or the prevention of fraud, where vessels are laden or unladen, as well as where cargoes are shifted; and the crane, quay, and storehouse duties, in places where such accommodations exist, or where they may hereafter be erected, shall be fixed by the regulation, in an uniform manner, and they shall not afterwards be augmented but by common consent.
ART. XXI. No company, much let's any qualified boatman (in places where there, are no companies) shall in any of the States of the Rhine, exercise any exclusive right of navigation on this river, or on any part of it. The subjects of any one of these States may continue to be members of a company in any other of the States.
ART. XXII. The custom-houses of the States of the Rhine, being unconnected with the duties on navigation, shall not interfere with the collection of the latter. The definitive regulation shall contain the necessary arrangements to prevent the superintending officers of the customs from throwing obstacles in the way of the navigation.
ART. XXIII. The custom-house boats, and small craft, shall bear the flag of the State to which they belong, but in order to denote their belonging to the customs, the word "Rhenus" shall be inscribed upon it.
ART. XXIV. The duties on the navigation of the Rhine shall never be farmed out either wholly or partially.
ART. XXV. No demand of exemption, or abatement of duties, shall be admitted, either by the Overseers of the Customs, or even by the Central Commission, whatever may be the nature, origin, or destination of the boats, effects, or merchandize, and to whatever individuals, bodies, towns, or States, either of them may belong, or for whatever service, or on whose account so ever the same may be shipped.
ART. XXVI. If it should happen (which God forbid) that war should break out among any of the States of the Rhine, the collection of the customs shall continue uninterrupted, without any obstacle being thrown in the way by either party. The vessels, and persons employed by the custom-houses, shall enjoy all the rights of neutrality. A guard shall be placed over the offices and chests belonging to the customs.
ART. XXVII. The existing Commission, having been obliged to confine itself to the establishing of the most general principles, without entering into the details necessary to be regulated; all particular arrangements, and especially those relating to the Tarif of duties, to that adopted for merchandize in general, and also to that for goods which, being of a certain description, pay smaller duties; the situation of the offices for the collection of duties, their internal management, and mode of collection; the organization of judicial authorities of the first and second instance, and their mode of proceeding; the preservation of the towing paths, and the works in the bed of the river; the manifests; the guaging, and designation of boats and floats of wood; the weights, measures, and coins to be used, and their proportions and valuation; the police of the ports for shipping, unloading, or shifting cargoes; the companies of watermen, the requisite qualifications for watermen; the greater and lesser navigation, if such a distinction, which no longer exists in the sense given to it by the Convention of 1804, should be maintained, under other circumstances, and for other reasons; the scale of charges for freight; contraventions; the separation of offices for the navigation, of the custom-houses, &c. &c. shall be deters mined in the Definitive Regulations, which shall be framed in the manner hereafter mentioned.
ART. XXVIII. The regulations of the 9th, 14th, 17th, 19th and 20th Articles of the Principal Recess of the Extraordinary Deputation of the Empire of the 25th of February 1803, concerning the permanent rents, directly assigned upon the produce of the duties on the navigation of the Rhine, shall be continued. For this purpose;—1. The German Governments, joint possessors of the banks of the Rhine, charge themselves with the payment of the above rents; reserving, however, to themselves the power of purchasing such rents, according to the 30th Article of the Recess, either at 2½ per cent., or by any other arrangement upon which the parties concerned may mutually agree. 2. Cases are excepted from the general principle, concerning the payment of the rents mentioned in the preceding paragraph, where there shall exist peculiar and legal objections against the claiming of such rents. These cases shall be considered and determined upon, as mentioned in the following paragraph; 3. The adoption of the principle mentioned in the first paragraph, relative to the various claims, and the decisions concerning exceptions referred to in the second paragraph, shall be entrusted to a Commission, composed of five persons, whom, the Court of Vienna, at the desire of the German Governments, joint possessors of the bank of the river, shall nominate; by choosing, as far as may be practicable, individuals, who have been Members of the Aulic Council of the Empire, and are still here. This Commission shall settle this matter in the most just and equitable manner, and the Governments from whom such rents are due promise to abide by such decision, without any appeal or objection whatever. 4. The above-mentioned Commission shall inquire into the right of demanding arrears of rents, and shall decide on the principle, whether the possessors of the bank of the Rhine are liable to pay these arrears, or whether the application of this principle, if admitted by the Commission, applies to the various claims of arrears, in particular. Its labours shall terminate in three months from the day of its assembling. 5. If the Commission shall decide, that the arrears should be paid, and shall fix the instalments, the Central Commission shall regulate the mode of payment, in such manner that the debiting Governments shall have the option either of discharging the same in ten successive years, at the rate of one-tenth each year, or of transferring them, analogous to the 30th of the Recess, at 2½ per cent., into rents, in addition to those which the Governments to whom they belong actually possess. The Central Commission shall likewise decide whether, and in what proportion, france ought to contribute to the payment of these arrears. 6., All payments, decided on by the present Article, are to be made half yearly. The Central Commission shall fix the manner in which these payments shall be made, favouring, as much as possible, these to whom the said rents belong, and the debiting Governments shall contribute to them in proportion to their share of the duties. This proportion shall be definitively arranged by the Central Commission at its first meeting, on the average of the amount of a year's receipts of the different offices of collection which have existed during the first six years, from the time of the Convention of 1804 having been in force.
ART. XXIX. The regulations comprehended in the Articles LXXIII and LXXVIII, of the Convention of the 15th August 1804, concerning a fund to be appropriated to the payment of pensions on retirement, and to the relief of widows and children of government officers, the number of vacancies, and the right of superannuation, as well as the amount of the pensions, and the relief to be granted to widows and orphans, being intimately connected with the general receipt of duties, shall immediately cease, and the business of granting pensions on the retirement of officers of the customs, and relief to their widows and orphans, is left to the discretion of each particular State bordering on the river. The Central Commission shall nevertheless be employed immediately on its Opening, in arranging with France the restitution of the fund, of ormed in virtue of the 73d Article of the Convention, for the drawback of 4 per cent. upon salaries, which has been paid into the sinking fund; and the french government engages to make the restitution, as soon as the amount of this fund shall have been liquidated by the Central Commission. This restitution being made, the Commission shall consider what pensions and relief are still to be paid out of this fund, and shall assign them, according to the principles established by the Convention of 1804. Individuals who have been employed in the tax-office, and to whom, in Consequence of the new arrangements, proper situations cannot be given, or who shall allege such reasons for not accepting such situations as the Central Commission shall deem sufficient, shall have pensions and allowances granted to them, conformably to the principles established by the 59th Article of the recess of the empire of 1803.
ART. XXX. The pensions granted to the receivers of duties, discontinued by the 39th Article of the recess of 1803, shall be paid by the German governments, joint possessors of the bank of the river. Those which have been legally granted since the period at which the duties on navigation have been in force, shall also be paid; but the Central Commislion shall investigate and determine in what proportion the governments, joint proprietors of the bank, (the kingdom of the Netherlands, however, excepted,) shall contribute to these payments. It shall discharge the amount of all these pensions, and finally settle the scale by which such payments shall be regulated. The payment of these pensions, as well as of those mentioned in the 29th Article, shall be regulated in the mannerofixed by the 6th paragraphof the 28th Article, for the payment of rents.
ART. XXXI. As soon as the general principles for the navigation of the Rhine shall have been laid down by the Congress, the States of the Rhine shall appoint persons for the formation of the Central Commission; and this Commission shall assemble at latest on the 1st of June of this year, at Mayence. At the same time the present Provincial Administration shall deliver up the direction with which they have been charged, to the Central Commission, and to the authorities of the States of the Rhine; the partial collection of the duties shall be substituted for the general collection, and they shall publish, in the name of all the States of the Rhine, a temporary instruction, by which it shall be ordered, that until the completion and final approval of the new regulation, the Convention of the 15th August 1804 shall be observed; it being distinctly pointed out, which of its Articles are already annulled by the present arrangements, and what other arrange, ments ought immediately to be adopted in lieu of them.
ART. XXXII. As soon as the Central Commission shall have assembled it shall occupy itself; 1. In drawing up the regulations for the navigation of the Rhine. It is sufficient to observe here, that the present Articles shall serve as a guide to them, and that the points which the regulations are to embrace; are mentioned as well in the present instrument, as in the Convention of the 15th August 1804, and that care must be taken to retain whatever is good and useful in that Convention. When the regulations are completed, they shall be submitted to the governments of the Rhine for their approbation and until such approbation shall have been given, the new order of things shall not commence, nor shall the Central Commission enter upon its regular duties. 2. In acting for the present Central Administration, where it shall be necessary, until the publication of the new regulations.
Signed, D'Alberg. Clancarty. Wrede. Turckheim. Berckheim. De Marschall. Spaen. Humboldt. Wessenberg.
Articles concerning the Navigation of the Necker, the Mayne, the Moselle, the Meuse, and the Scheldt.
ART. I. The same freedom of navigation that has been granted for the Rhine, shall be extended to the Necker, the Mayne, the Moselle, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, from the point where each of them becomes navigable, to their mouths.
ART. II. Storehouse and forced harbour duties, on the Necker and the Mayne, are and shall continue abolished, and all qualified watermen shall be allowed to navigate along the whole extent of these rivers, in the same manner that such liberty has been restored, by Article XIX. on the Rhine.
ART. III. The tolls levied on the Necker, and the Mayne shall not be increased; on the contrary, the governments, joint possessors of the bank, engage to reduce them, in case they should exceed the Tarifs in use in 1802, to the rates of those Tarifs. They likewise engage not to burthen navigation by any new imposts whatever, and will meet, as soon as possible, to arrange a Tarif as similar to the duties levied on the Rhine, as circumstances may permit.
ART. IV. The duties now levied on the Moselle and the Meuse, in pursuance of the decree of the French government of the 12th November 1806, and of the 10th Brumaire of the year 14, shall not be increased; on the contrary, the governments, joint possessors of the bank, engage to reduce them, in case they are higher than those levied on the Rhine, to the same rate. This engagement not to increase the present Tarifs, refers, however, only to the amount and maximum of duties; the governments expressly reserving to themselves the power of fixing, by new regulations, every thing relative to the division into different classes of such merchandize as is subject to a lower Tarif; to the difference now established for passing up and down the river at the custom-houses; to the mode of collection; to the police of the navigation; or to any other subject requiring ulterior determination. This regulation shall be made to correspond, as nearly as possible, with that of the Rhine; and the better to insure such uniformity, it shall be drawn up by those members of the Central Commission of the Rhine, whose governments shall also have possessions on the banks of the Moselle and the Meuse. No increase shall take place in the Tarif, to be finally settled by the new regulation, unless a similar increase shall be considered necessary on the Rhine, and that only in the same proportion; and no other part of the regulation shall be altered but by common consent.
ART. V. The States of the rivers specified in the 1st Article, engage to keep the towing-paths in repair, as well as the necessary works in the beds of the rivers, in the same manner as agreed upon in the 7th Article for the Rhine.
ART. VI. The subjects of the States of the rivers Necker, the Mayne, and the Moselle, shall enjoy the same rights of navigation on the Rhine, and Prussian subjects on the Meuse, as the subjects of the States of the two last rivers; paying due regard, however, to the regulations therein established.
ART. VII. Every thing relating to the navigation of the Scheldt, which may need ulterior arrangement, besides the freedom of navigation on this river, specified in the 1st Article, shall be definitively regulated in a manner the most favourable to commerce and navigation, and the most analogous to the regulations established on the Rhine.
Signed, D'Alberg. Count Keller. Clancarty. Wrede. Turckheim. Danz. Berckheim. De Marschall. Spaen. The Buron Linden, subject to the approbation of his Majesty the King. Wessenberg.
ACT, No. XVII.—Regulation concerning the Precedence of Diplomatic Agents,
In order to prevent in future the inconveniencies which have frequently occurred, and which may still occur, from the claims of precedence, among the different diplomatic characters, the Plenipotentiaries of the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris have agreed on the following Articles, and think it their duty to invite those of the other crowned heads to adopt the same regulations.
ART. I. Diplomatic characters are divided into three classes. That of Ambassadors, Legates or Nuncios. That of Envoys, Ministers, or other persons accredited to Sovereigns. That of Chargé d'Affaires, accredited only to the Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
ART. II. Ambassadors, Legates or Nuncios, only, shall have a representative character.
ART. III. Diplomatic characters, charged with any special mission, shall not, on that account, assume any superiority of rank.
ART. IV. Diplomatic characters shall rank in their respective classes, according to the date of the official notification of their arrival. The present regulation shall not occasion any change respecting the representatives of the Pope.
ART. V. There shall be a regular form adopted by each State for the reception of diplomatic characters of every class.
ART. VI. Ties of consanguinity, or family alliances between Courts, confer no rank on their diplomatic agents. The same rule also applies to political alliances.
ART. VII. In Acts or Treaties between several Powers that admit the alternity, the order which is to be observed in the signatures of Ministers shall be decided by ballot. The present regulation is inserted in the Protocol of the Plenipotentiaries of the eight Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris, at their sitting of the 19th March 1815. (The signatures follow in the alphabetical order of the Courts.) Signed,
AUSTRIA, The Prince de Metternich. The Baron de Wessenberg. SPAIN ESPAGNE, P. Gomez Labrador. FRANCE, The Prince de Talleyrand. The Duke D'Alberg. Latour du Pin. The Count Alexis de Noailles. GREAT BRITAIN, Clancarty. Cathcart. Stewart, Lt. G. PORTUGAI, The Count Palmella. Saldanha. Lobo. PRUSSIA, Prince Hardenberg. Baron Humboldt. RUSSIA, Count Rasoumoffsky. Count Stackelberg. Count Nesselrode. SWEDEN, Lowenhielm.
Treaties of Accession and of Subsidy
Lord Castlereagh also presented a Paper intituled, "CLASS A.—Treaties of Accession and of Subsidy, between Great Britain and other Powers, in virtue of the Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia, signed at Vienna, 25th March 1815"* with Translations. The following is a List of the said Papers:
TREATIES OF ACCESSION.
1. Baden, signed at Vienna, 13 May, 1815.
2. Bavaria, 15 April.
3. Denmark, signed at Paris, 1 September.
Translation of the preceding, 1 September.
4. Hanover, signed at Vienna, 7 April.
5. Hesse (Grand Duke), 23 May.
6. Netherlands, 28 April.
7. Portugal, 8 April.
* For a Copy of this Treaty, see Vol. 31, p. 303.
8. Sardinia, 9 April.
9. Saxony, 27 May.
10. Switzerland, signed at Zurich, 20 May.
Translation of the preceding, 20 May.
11. Wurtemberg, signed at Vienna, 30 May.
12. Princes and Free Towns of Germany, 27 April.
TREATIES OF SUBSIDY.]
1. Baden, signed at Brussels, 19 May, 1815.
2. Bavaria, 7 June.
3. Denmark, signed at Paris, 14 July.
4. Hanover, 26 August.
5. Hesse (Grand Duke), 15 July.
6. Sardinia, signed at Brussels, 2 May.
7. Saxony, signed at Paris, 14 July.
8. Wurtemberg, signed at Brussels, 6 June.
PRINCES AND FREE TOWNS OF GERMANY, viz.
9. Anhalt-Dessau, Bernbourg, and Cathen, signed at Paris, 10 July, 1815.
10. Brunswick-Luneburg, 28 August.
11. Frankfort on the Maine, 1 August.
12. Hesse (Elector), 15 July.
13. Holstein-Oldenburgh, 5 September.
14. Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Sigmaringen, 1 August.
15. Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Bremen, 21 July,
16. Mecklenburgh-Schwerin, 29 July.
17. Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 8 August.
18. Nassau, signed at Brussels, 16 June.
19. Reuss, signed at Paris, 1 August.
20. Saxe-Coburg, Meinungen, and Hildburshausen, signed at Brussels, 15 June.
21. Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg, signed at Paris, 1 August.
22. Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach, 1 August.
23. Schaumburg-Lippe and Lippe, 1 August.
24. Schwartzburg-Sondershausen and Rudelstadt, 1 August.
25. Waldeck and Pyrmont, 1 August.
Additional Convention with Russia, signed at Paris, 4 October.
Translation of Russia, signed at Paris, 4 October.
Various Treaties and Conventions Concluded Between Great Britain and Other Powers in the Year 1815
Lord Castlereagh also presented a Paper, intituled, "CLASS B.—Various Treaties concluded between Great Britain and other Powers, in the Year 1815," with Translations. Of which the following are Copies:
CLASS B.
VARIOUS TREATIES.
concluded between
GREAT BRITAIN AND OTHER POWERS IN THE YEAR 1815.
1. Convention between Great Britain and Portugal, respecting the Slave Trade, signed at Vienna, 21 January, 1815.
2. Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal, on the same subject, 22 January.
3. Convention between Great Britain and France relative to the East Indies, signed at London, 7 March.
4. Convention between Great Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands, respecting the Russian Loan in Holland, 19 May.
5. Treaty between Great Britain and Sardinia, respecting the Sardinian territories, signed at Vienna, 20 May.
6. Treaty between Great Britain and the Netherlands, respecting the territories of the King of the Netherlands, 31 May.
7. Convention between Great Britain and Austria, concerning the custody of Napoleon Buonaparté, signed at Paris, 2 August.
Translation of between Great Britain and Austria, concerning the custody of Napoleon Buonaparté, signed at Paris, 2 August.
8. Convention between Great Britain and Russia, on the same subject, 2 August.
Translation of between Great Britain and Russia, on the same subject, 2 August.
9. Convention between Great Britain and Prussia, on the same subject, 2 August.
Translation of between Great Britain and Prussia, on the same subject, 2 August.
10. Convention between Great Britain and the United States of America, for regulating the commerce between the two countries, signed at London, 3 July.
11. Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands, concerning the late Dutch West India Colonies, 12 August.
12. Treaty between Great Britain and Saxony, respecting the territories of Saxony and Warsaw, signed at Paris, September.
No. I.—PORTUGAL.—Convention between Great Britain and Portugal, respecting the Slave Trade, signed at Vienna 21st January 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Britannic Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal, being equally desirous to terminate amicably all the doubts which have arisen relative to the parts of the coast of Africa with which the subjects of the Crown of Portugal, under the laws of that kingdom and the Treaty subsisting with his Britannic Majesty, may lawfully carry on a Trade in Slaves; and whereas several ships, the property of the said subjects of Portugal, have been detained and condemned, upon the alleged ground of being engaged in an illicit Traffic in Slaves; and whereas his Britannic Majesty, in order to give to his intimate and faithful Ally the Prince Regent of Portugal, the most unequivocal proof of his friendship and the regard he pays to his Royal Highness's reclamations, and in consideration of regulations to be made by the Prince Regent of Portugal for avoiding hereafter such doubts, is desirous to adopt the most speedy and effectual measures, and without the delays incident to the ordinary form of law, to provide a liberal indemnity for the parties whose property may have been so detained under the doubts as aforesaid; in furtherance of the said object, the High Contracting Parties have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, viz. his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Hon. Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, a Member of his said Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Col. of the Regiment of Militia of Londonderry, his said Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and his Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal; the Most illustrious and Most Excellent Dom Pedro de Sousa Holstein Count of Palmella, a Member of his Royal Highness's Council, Commander of the Order of Christ, Captain of a Company of the Royal German Life Guard; the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Anthony de Saldanha da Gama, a Member of his Royal Highness's Council, and of his Council of Finance, Commander of the Military Order of St. Benedict of Aviz; and Dom Joachim Lobo de Silveira, Member of his Council, and Com-. mander of the Order of Christ, his Plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Vienna; who, having mutually exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. That the sum of 300,000l. be paid in London, to such person as the Prince Regent of Portugal may appoint to receive the same; which sum shall constitute a fund to be employed under such regulations, and in such manner as the said Prince Regent of Portugal may direct, in discharge of claims for Portuguese ships detained by British cruisers previous to the 1st day of June, 181–1, upon the alleged ground of carrying on an illicit traffic in Slaves.
ART. II. That the said sum shall be considered to be in full discharge of all claims arising out of captures made previous to the 1st day of June 1814; his Britannic Majesty renouncing any interference whatever in the disposal of this money.
ART. III. The present Convention shall be ratified and the Ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of five months or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereunto affixed the seals of their arms. Done at Vienna this 21st day of January, 1815.
(Signed)
(L. S.) Castlereagh. (Signed)
(L. S.) Conde de Palmella.
(L. S.) Antonio de Saldanha da Gama.
(L. S.) B. Joaquim Lobo de Silveira.
No. II.—PORTUGAL.—Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal, respecting the Slave Trade, signed at Vienna the 22d of Jan. 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal having, by the 10th Article of the Treaty of Alliance, concluded at Rio de Janeiro on the 19th February 1810, declared his determination to co-operate with his Britannic Majesty in the cause of humanity and justice, by adopting the most efficacious means for bringing about a gradual Abolition of the Slave Trade; and his Royal Highness, in pursuance of his said Declaration, and desiring to effectuate, in concert with his Britannic Majesty and the other Powers of Europe, who have been induced to assist in this benevolent object, an immediate Abolition of the said traffic upon the parts of the Coast of Africa which are situated to the northward of the Line; his Britannic Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal, equally animated by a sincere desire to accelerate the moment when the blessings of peaceful, industry and an innocent commerce may be encouraged throughout this extensive portion of the Continent of Africa, by its being delivered from the evils of the Slave Trade, have agreed to enter into a Treaty for the said purpose, and have accordingly named as their Plenipotentiaries; viz. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, a Member of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Regiment of Militia of Londonderry, his said Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and his Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal, the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Dom Pedro de Sousa Holstein, Count of Palmella, a Member of his Royal Highness's Council, Commander of the Order of Christ, Captain of a Company of the Royal German Life Guard; the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Anthony de Saldanha da Gama, a Member of his Royal Highness's Council and of his Council of Finance, Commander of the Military Order of St. Benedict of Avis; and the Most Illustrious and Most Excellent Dom Joachim Lobo da Silveira, a Member of his Royal Highness's Council, and Commander of the Order of Christ, his Royal Highness's Plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Vienna who, having mutually exchanged their hill powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. That from and after the ratification of the present Treaty, and the publication thereof, it shall not be lawful for any of the subjects of the Crown of Portugal to pur- chase Slaves, or to carry on the Slave Trade, on any part of the coast of Africa to the northward of the Equator, upon any pretext or in any manner whatsoever: Provided, nevertheless, that the said provision shall not extend to any ship or ships having cleared out from the ports of Brazil, previous to the publication of such ratification; and provided the voyage, in which such ship or ships are engaged, shall not be protracted beyond six months after such publication as aforesaid.
ART. II. His Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal hereby agrees, and binds himself to adopt, in concert with his Britannic Majesty, such measures as may best conduce to the effectual execution of the preceding engagement, according to its true intent and meaning; and his Britannic Majesty engages, in concert with his Royal Highness, to give such orders as may effectually prevent any interruption being given to Portuguese ships resorting to the actual Dominions of the Crown of Portugal, or to the territories which are claimed in the said Treaty of Alliance, as belonging to the said Crown of Portugal, to the southward of the Line, for the purposes of trading in Slaves, as aforesaid, during such further period as the same may be permitted to be carried on by the Laws of Portugal, and under the Treaties subsisting between the two Crowns.
ART. III. The Treaty of Alliance concluded at Rio de Janeiro, on the lath February 1810, being founded on circumstances of a temporary nature, which have happily ceased to exist, the said Treaty is hereby declared to be void in all its parts, and of no effect; without prejudice, however, to the ancient Treaties of Alliance, Friendship, and Guarantee, which have so long and so happily subsisted between the two Crowns, and which are hereby renewed by the High Contracting Parties, and acknowledged to be of full force and effect.
ART. IV. The High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves, and engage to determine by a separate Treaty, the period at which the Trade in Slaves shall universally cease, and be prohibited throughout the entire Dominions of Portugal; the Prince Regent of Portugal hereby renewing his former declaration and engagement, that, during the interval which is to elapse before such general and final abolition shall take effect, it shall not be lawful for the subjects of Portugal to purchase or trade in Slaves, upon any parts of the coast of Africa, except to the southward of the Line, as specified in the 2d Article of this Treaty; nor to engage in the same, or to permit their flag to be used, except for the purpose of supplying the transatlantic possessions belonging to the Crown of Portugal.
ART. V. His Britannic Majesty hereby agrees to remit, from the date at which the ratification mentioned in the 1st Article shall be promulgated, such further payments as may then remain due and payable upon the loan of 600,000l. made in London for the service of Portugal, in the year 1809, in consequence of a Convention signed on the 21st of April of the same year; which Convention, under the conditions specified as aforesaid, is hereby declared to be void and of no effect.
ART. VI. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Rio de Janeiro in the space of five months, or sooner, if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereunto affixed the seals of their arms.
Done at Vienna this 22d day of January, 1815.
(Signed)
(L. S.) Castlereagh. (Signed.
(L. S.) Conde de Palmella.
(L. S.) Antonio de Saldanha de Gama.
(L. S.) B. Joaquim Lobo da Silveira.
Additional Article.
It is agreed, that in the event of any of the Portuguese settlers being desirous of retiring from the Settlements of the Crown of Portugal on the Coast of Africa to the northward of the Equator, with the Negroes bonâ fide their domestics, to some other of the possessions of, the Crown of Portugal, the same shall not be deemed unlawful, provided it does not take place on board a Slave-trading vessel, and provided they be furnished with proper Passports and Certificates, according to a form to be agreed on between the two Governments.
The present Additional Article shall have the same force and effect as if it were inserted word for word in the Treaty signed this day, and shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at the same time.
In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereunto affixed the seals of their arms.
Done at Vienna this 22d day of January, 1815. [Signed as before.]
No. III.—FRANCE.—Convention between Great Britain and France relative to the East Indies; signed at London 7th of March 1815.
(Translation,)
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
The Trade in Salt and Opium throughout the British Sovereignty in India, having been subjected to certain regulations and Restrictions which, unless due provision be made, might occasion differences between the subjects and agents of his Britannic Majesty and those of his Most Christian Majesty; their said Majesties have thought proper to conclude a Special Convention for the purpose of preventing such differences, and removing every cause of dispute between their respective subjects in that part of the world, and this view have named for their respective Plenipotentiaries, viz.: his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Robert, Earl of Buckinghamshire, a Peer of the United Kingdom, one of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in England and in Ireland, and President of the Board of his Majesty's Commissioners for the Affairs of India; and his Majesty the King of France and Navarre, the Sieur Claude Louis de La Chatre, descendant of the Princes of Deols, Count de la Chatre, Commander of the Royal and Hospitable Orders of St. Lazarus and of Mount Carmel, Honorary Commander of the Order of Malta, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, Lieutenant-General of his Armies, and his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of London; who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. His Most Christian Majesty engages to farm to the British Government in India, the exclusive right to purchase at a fair and equitable price, to be regulated by that which the said Government shall have paid for Salt in the districts in the vicinity of the French Possessions on the coast of Coromandel and Orixa respectively, the Salt that may be manufactured in the said Possessions, subject however to a reservation of the quantity that the Agents of his Most Christian Majesty shall deem requisite for the domestic use and consumption of the inhabitants thereof; and upon the condition, that the British Government shall deliver in Bengal, to the Agents of his Most Christian Majesty, the quantity of Salt that may be judged necessary for the consumption of the inhabitants of Chandernagore; reference being had to the population of the said Settlement; such delivery to be made at the price which, the British Government shall have paid for the said article.
ART. II. In order to ascertain the prices as aforesaid, the official accounts of the charges incurred by the British Government, for the Salt manufactured in the districts in the vicinity of the French Settlements on the coasts of Coromandel and Orixa respectively; shall be open to the inspection of a Commissioner to be appointed for that purpose by the Agents of his Most Christian Majesty in India; and the price to be paid by the British Government shall be settled according to an average to be taken every three years, of the charges as aforesaid ascertained by the said official accounts, commencing with the three years preceding the date of the present Convention. The price of Salt at Chandernagore to be determined, in the same manner, by the charges incurred by the British Government for the Salt manufactured in the districts nearest to the said Settlement.
ART. III. It is understood that the Salt Works in the Possessions belonging to his Most Christian Majesty shall be and remain under the direction and administration of the Agents of his said Majesty.
ART. IV. With a view to the effectual attainment of the objects in the contemplation of the High Contracting Parties, his Most Christian Majesty engages to establish in his Possessions on the coasts of Coromandel and Orixa, and at Chandernagore in Bengal, nearly the same price for Salt, as that at which it s hall be sold by the British Government in the vicinity of each of the said Possessions.
ART. V. In consideration of the stipulations expressed in the preceding Articles, his Britannic Majesty engages that the sum of Four Lacs of Sicca Rupees shall be paid annually to the Agents of his Most Christian Majesty duly authorized, by equal quarterly instalments; such instalments to be paid at Calcutta or at Madras, ten days after the bills that may be drawn for the same by the said Agents, shall have been presented to the Government of either of those Presidencies; it being agreed that the rent above stipulated, shall commence from the 1st of October 1814.
ART. VI. With regard to the trade in Opium, it is agreed between the High Contracting Parties, that at each of the periodical Sales of that article, there shall be reserved for the French Government, and delivered upon requisition duly made by the Agents of his Most Christian Majesty, or by the persons duly appointed by them, the number of chests so applied for; provided that such supply shall not exceed three hundred chests in each year; and the price to be paid for the same shall be determined by the average rate at which Opium shall have been sold at every such periodical sale. It being understood that if the quantity of Opium applied for at any one time, shall not be taken on account of the French government by the Agents of his Most Christian Majesty, within the usual period of delivery, the quantity so applied for shall nevertheless be considered as so much in reduction of the three hundred chests herein before-mentioned. The requisitions of Opium as aforesaid, are to be addressed to the Governor-general at Calcutta, within thirty days after notice of the intended sale shall have been published in the Calcutta Gazette.
ART. VII. In the event of any restriction being imposed upon the exportation of Saltpetre, the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty shall nevertheless be allowed to export that article to the extent of eighteen thousand maunds.
ART. VIII. His Most Christian Majesty, with the view of preserving the harmony subsisting, between the two nations, having engaged by the 12th Article of the Treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of May 1814, not to erect any Fortifications in the Establishments to be restored to him by the said Treaty, and to maintain no greater number of troops than may be necessary for the purposes of Police; his Britannic Majesty on his part, in order to give every security to the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty residing in India, engages, if at any time there should arise between the High Contracting Parties, any misunderstanding or rupture, (which God forbid), not to consider or treat as prisoners of war, those persons who belong to the Civil Establishments of his Most Christian Majesty in India, nor the officers, non-commissioned officers, or soldiers, who, according to the terms of the said Treaty, shall be necessary for the maintenance of the Police in the said Establishments, and to allow them to remain three months to settle their personal affairs, and also to grant them the necessary facilities and means of conveyance to France with their families and private property.—His Britannic Majesty further engages to permit the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty in India, to continue their residence and commerce so long as they shall conduct themselves peaceably, and shall do nothing contrary to the laws and regulations of the Government. But in case their conduct should render them suspected, and the British Government should judge it necessary to order them to quit India, they shall be allowed the period of six months to retire with their effects and property to France, or to any other country they may choose. At the same time it is to be understood, that this favour is not to be extended to those who may act contrary to the laws and regulations of the British Government.
ART. IX. All Europeans and others whosoever, against whom judicial proceedings shall be instituted within the limits of the Settlements or Factories belonging to his Most Christian Majesty, for offences committed, or for debts contracted within the said limits, and who shall take refuge out of the same, shall be delivered up to the Chiefs of the said Settlements and Factories; and all Europeans and others whosoever, against whom judicial proceedings as aforesaid shall be instituted without the said limits, and who shall take refuge within the same, shall be delivered up by the Chiefs of the said Settlements and Factories, upon demand being made of them by the British Government.
ART. X. For the purpose of rendering this Agreement permanent, the High Contracting Parties hereby engage, that no alteration shall be made in the Conditions and Stipulations in the foregoing Articles, without the mutual consent of his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of his Most Christian Majesty.
ART. XI. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London in the space of one month from the date hereof, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereunto affixed the seals of their arms.
Done at London this 7th day of March, 1815. Signed
(L. S.) Buckinghamshire. Signed
(L. S.) Le Comte de la Chatre.
No. IV.—RUSSIA AND THE NETHERLANDS.—Treaty between Great Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands, respecting the Russian Loan in Holland; signed at London, 19th May 1815.
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of the Netherlands being desirous, upon the final re-union of the Belgic Provinces with Holland, to render to the Allied Powers who were Parties to the Treaty concluded at Chaumont on the 1st of March 1814, a suitable return for the heavy expense incurred by them in delivering the said territories from the power of the Enemy; and the said Powers having, in consideration of arrangements made with each other, mutually agreed to wave their several pretensions under this head in favour of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; his said Majesty the King of the Netherlands has thereupon resolved to proceed immediately to execute with his Imperial Majesty, a Convention to the following effect, to which his Britannic Majesty agrees to be a Party, in pursuance of engagements taken by his said Majesty with the King of the Netherlands, in a Convention signed at London on the 13th day of August 1814.
In consequence thereof; the three said High Contracting. Parties have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, namely; his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, one of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Londonderry Regiment of Militia, and his Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, &c. &c.; his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Christopher Count de Lieven, Lieutenant-General of his Armies, his Aide-de-Camp-general, his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty, Knight of the Orders of St. Alexander Newsky, of St. George of the Third Class, Grand Cross of St. Vladimir of the Second Class, of St. Anne of the First Class, Commander of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of the Prussian Orders of the Black and the Red Eagles and Commander Grand Cross of the Swedish Order of the Sword; and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the Sieur Henry Baron Fagel, a Member of the Corps des Nobles of the Province of Holland, his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty, &c. &c.; who, after having mutually exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands hereby engages to take upon himself, a part of the capital and arrears of interests, to the 1st of January 1816, of the Russian Loan made in Holland through the intervention of the house of Hope and Co. in Amsterdam, to the amount of twenty-five millions of florins, Dutch currency; the animal interest of which sum, together with an annual payment for the liquidation of the same, as hereafter specified, shall be borne by, and become a charge upon the Kingdom of the Netherlands. And his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland engages, on his part, to recommend to his Parliament to enable him to take upon himself an equal Capital of the said Russian Loan, viz. twenty-five millions of florins, Dutch currency; the annual interest of which sum, together with an annual payment for the liquidation of the same, as hereafter specified, shall be borne by, and become a charge upon the Government of his Britannic Majesty.
ART. II. The future charge, to which their said Belgic and Britannic Majesties shall be respectively liable in equal shares on account of the said Debt, is to consist of an annual interest of five per cent. on the said Capitals, each of twenty-five millions, together with a sinking fund of one per cent. for the extinction of the same, the said sinking fund being subject, however, to be increased on the demand of the Russian Government to any annual sum not exceeding three per cent.; the same to be payable till the capital of the said debt shall be fully discharged, when the aforesaid charge for interests and sinking fund shall wholly cease to be borne by their said Belgic and Britannic Majesties respectively.
ART. III. Their said Belgic and Britannic Majesties respectively bind themselves, on or before the usual day or days in each year, on which the interest on the said debt shall be due and payable, to deposit with the Agent of the Russian Government in Holland, their respective proportions of the said interest and sinking fund, as above specified; provided always, that previously to the advance of each successive instalment so to be paid, the said Agent shall be authorized to furnish a certificate to each of the said two High Contracting Parties, declaring that the preceding instalment has been duly applied in discharge of the interest, and in reduction of the principal of the said debt; together with the corresponding payments, on account of the Russian government, on that part of the debt which shall remain a charge on the said government.
ART. IV. The Russian government shall continue, as heretofore, to be security to the creditors for the whole of the said Loan, and shall be charged with the administration of the same; the governments of the King of the Netherlands and of his Britannic Majesty remaining liable and bound to the government of his Imperial Majesty, each for the punctual discharge, as above, of the respective proportions of the said charge.
ART. V. It is hereby understood and agreed between the High Contracting Parties, that the said payments on the part of their Majesties the King of the Netherlands and the King of Great Britain, as aforesaid, shall cease and determine, should the Possession and Sovereignty (which God forbid) of the Belgic Provinces at any time pass or be severed from the Dominions of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands previous to the complete liquidation of the same. It is also understood and agreed between the High Contracting Parties, that the payments on the part of their Majesties the King of the Netherlands and the Icing of Great Britain, as aforesaid, shall not be interrupted in the event (which God forbid) of a war breaking out between any of the three High Contracting, Parties; the government of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias being actually bound to its creditors by a similar agreement.
ART. VI. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratification thereof shall be exchanged at London in six weeks, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof we the undersigned, in virtue of our full powers, have signed the present Convention, and affixed thereto the seal of our arms.—Done at London, the 19th day of May, 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. Lieven. H. Fagel.
No. V.—SARDINIA.—Treaty between Great Britain and Sardinia, respecting the Sardinian Territories. Signed at Vienna the 20th May 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of Sardinia, &c. &c. being restored to the full and entire possession of his Continental States, in the same manner as he possessed them on the 1st of January 1792, and to the whole of them, with the exception of the part of Savoy ceded to France by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814; certain changes having since been agreed upon, during the Congress of Vienna, relative to the extent and limits of the said States; his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, wishing to confirm and establish, by a formal Treaty, every thing relating to these points, have in consequence named for their Plenipotentiaries, viz. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Richard Le Poer Trench, Earl of Clancarty, Viscount Dunlo, Baron Kilconnel one of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in Great Britain, and also in Ireland, President of the Committee of the former for the affairs of Trade and of Plantations, Joint Post-master-General in Great Britain, Colonel of the Galway Regiment of Militia, Knight Grand-Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and one of his said Majesty's Plenipotentiaries at the Congress; and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, &c. &c. the Sieurs Don Anthony Maria Philip Asinari, Marquis de St. Marsan and de Carail, Count de Castigliole, Cartosio and Castelletto, Val d'Erro, Knight Grand-Cross of the Military and Religious Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, of the Orders of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle of Prussia, Major-general of Cavalry, his Minister of State, and principal Secretary for the War Department, and his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress; and Count Don Joachim Alexander Rossi, Knight Grand-Cross, and Commander of the Royal and Military Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus, his Majesty's Counsellor, and his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress; who, in virtue of the full powers produced by them at the Congress of Vienna, found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. The frontiers of the States of his Majesty the King of Sardinia shall be; on the side of France, such as they were on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the changes effected by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814. On the side of the Helvetic Confederation, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the change produced by the cession, in favour of the canton of Geneva, as specified in the 7th Article hereinafter inserted. On the side of the States of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792; and the Convention concluded between their Majesties the Empress Maria-Theresa and the King of Sardinia, on the 4th of October 1751, shall be reciprocally confirmed in all its stipulations. On the side of the States of Parma and Placentia, the frontier, as far as it concerns the ancient States of the King of Sardinia, shall continue to be the same as they were on the 1st of January 1792. The borders of the former States of Genoa, and of the countries called Imperial Fiefs, united to the States of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, according to the following Articles, shall be the same as those which, on the 1st of January 1792, separated those countries from the States of Parma and Placentia, and from those of Tuscany and Massa. The island of Capraja, having belonged to the ancient Republic of Genoa, is included in the cession of the States of Genoa to his Majesty the King of Sardinia.
ART. II. The States which constituted the former Republic of Genoa, are united in per- petuity to those of his Majesty the King of Sardinia; to be, like the latter, possessed by him in full sovereignty and hereditary property, and to descend, in the male line, in the order of primogeniture, to the two branches of his House, viz. the Royal Branch, and the Branch of Savoy Carignan.
ART. III. The King of Sardinia shall add to his present titles, that of Duke of Genoa.
ART. IV. The Genoese shall enjoy all the rights and privileges specified in the Act, intituled "A. A. Conditions which are to serve as the bases of the union of the Genoese States to those of his Sardinian Majesty,"* and the said Act shall be considered as an integral part of the present Treaty, and shall have the same force and validity, as if it were textually inserted in the present Article.
ART. V. The countries called Imperial Fiefs, formerly united to the ancient Ligurian Republic, are definitively united to the States of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, in the same manner as the rest of the Genoese States; and the inhabitants of these countries shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as those of the States of Genoa, specified in the preceding Article.
ART. VI. The right that the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, reserved to themselves, by the 3d Article of that Treaty, of fortifying such points of their States as they might judge proper for their safety, is equally reserved, without restriction, to his Majesty the King of Sardinia.
ART. VII. His Majesty the King of Sardinia cedes to the canton of Geneva, the districts of Savoy specified in the Act annexed, intituled "B. B.† Cession made by his Majesty the King of Sardinia to the canton of Geneva," and on the conditions specified in the same Act. That Act shall be considered as an integral part of the present Treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it were textually inserted in the present Article.
ART. VIII. The provinces of Chablais and Faucigny, and the whole of the territory of Savoy to the north of Ugine, belonging to his Majesty the King of Sardinia, shall form a part of the neutrality of Switzerland, as recognized and guaranteed by all the Powers. Whenever, therefore, the neighbouring Powers to Switzerland are in a state of open or impending hostility, the troops of his Majesty the King of Sardinia, which may be in those provinces, shall retire, and may for that purpose pass through the Vallais, if necessary. No other armed troops of any other Power, shall have the privilege of passing through, or remaining in the said territories and provinces, excepting those which the Swiss Confederation shall think proper to place there, it being well understood, that this state of things shall not in any manner interrupt the administration of these countries, in which
* Vide General Treaty of Congress, p. 194.
† Vide Geperal Treaty of Congress, p. 197.
the civil Agents of his Majesty the King of Sardinia may likewise employ the municipal guard for the preservation of good order.
ART. IX. The present Treaty shall form part of the definitive arrangements of the Congress of Vienna.
ART. X. The ratifications of the present Treaty shall be exchanged in six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms.—Done at Vienna the 20th of May 1815.
Signed (L. S.) The Prince de Metternich. (L. S.) The Marquis de St. Marsan. (L. S.) The Baron de Wessenberg. (L. S.) The Count Rossi.
No. VI.—NETHERLANDS.—Treaty between Great Britain and the Netherlands, respecting the Territories of the King of the Netherlands; signed at Vienna the 31st May 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being desirous of carrying into effect and of completing the arrangements contained in the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris the 30th of May 1814, which, while it establishes a just equilibrium in Europe, and assigns to the United Provinces such a proportion of territory as may enable them to support their own independance, secures to them the countries comprised between the sea, the frontiers of France, and the Meuse, leaves undefined their limits on the right bank of that river; and their said Majesties having resolved to conclude a separate Treaty on this subject, conformably to the arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, have appointed Plenipotentiaries to concert, agree upon, and sign whatever relates to this subject; viz. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Richard le Poer Trench, Earl of Clancarty, Viscount Dunlo, Baron Kilconnel, one of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in Great Britain, and also in Ireland, President of the Committee of the former for the Affairs of Trade and Plantations, Joint Post-Master-General in Great Britain, Colonel of the Galway Regiment of Militia, Knight Grand-Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and one of his said Majesty's Plenipotentiaries at the Congress; and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the Sieur Gerhard Charles Baron de Spaen de Voorstonden, Member of the Corps of Nobles of the Province of Gueldre, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, at the Court of Vienna, and one of his Plenipotentiaries at the Congress; and the Sieur Hans Christopher Erneste Baron de Gagern, Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Hesse, and of the Order of Fidelity of Baden, Plenipotentiary of his said Majesty at the Congress of Vienna; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to the following Articles:
ART. I. The old United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the former Belgic Provinces, both within the limits fixed by the following Article, shall form, together with the countries designated in the same Article, under the sovereignty of his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange-Nassau, Sovereign Prince of the United Provinces, the kingdom of the Netherlands, hereditary in the order of succession already established by the Act of the Constitution of the said United Provinces. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, acknowledges the title and prerogatives of the royal dignity in the House of Orange-Nassau.
ART. II. The line comprising the territories which shall compose the kingdom of the Netherlands, is determined in the following manner: It leaves the sea, and extends along the frontiers of France on the side of the Netherlands, as rectified and fixed by the third Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, to the Meuse; thence along the same frontiers to the old limits of the duchy of Luxemburg: from this point it follows the direction of the limits between that duchy and the old bishopric of Liege, till it meets (to the south of Deiffelt) the western limits of that canton, and of that of Malmedy, to the point where the latter reaches the limits between the old departments of the Ourthe and the Roer; it then goes along these limits to where they touch those of the former French canton of Eupen, in the duchy of Limburg, and following the western limit of that canton in a northerly direction, leaving to the right a small part of the former French canton of Aubel, joins, at the point of contact of the three old departments of the Ourthe, the Lower Meuse, and the Roer; parting again from this point, this line follows that which divides the two latter departments, until it reaches the Worm (a river falling into the Roer), and goes along this river to the point where it again reaches the limit of these two departments, pursues this limit to the south of Hillensberg (the old department of the Roer) from whence it re-ascends to the north, and leaving Hillensberg to the right, and dividing the canton of Sittard into two nearly equal parts, so that Sittard and Susteren remain on the left, it reaches the old Dutch territory; from whence, leaving this territory to the left, it goes on following its eastern frontier, to the point where it touches the old Austrian principality of Gueldres, on the side of Ruremonde; and, directing itself towards the most eastern point of the Dutch territory to the north of Swalmen, continues to encircle this territory.—Lastly, setting out from the most eastern point, it joins that other part of the Dutch territory in which Venloo is situated; that town and its territory being included within it. From thence to the old Dutch frontier near Mook, situated below Genep, the line follows the course of the Meuse, at such a distance from the right hank, that all the places within a thousand Rhenish yards from it, (Rheinländische Rotten) 1,970 of which yards are equal to the 15th part of a degree of the meridian, shall belong with their territories, to the kingdom of the Netherlands: it being understood, however, as to the reciprocity of this principle, that the Prussian territory shall not at any point touch the Meuse, or approach it within the distance of 800 Rhenish yards.—From the point where the line just described reaches the ancient Dutch frontier, as far as the Rhine, this frontier shall remain essentially the same as it was in 1795, between Cleves and the United Provinces.
This line shall be examined by a Commission, which the governments of Prussia and the Netherlands shall name without delay, for the purpose of proceeding to the exact determination of the limits, as well of the king-, dour of the Netherlands as of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, specified in the 4th Article: and this Commission, aided by professional persons, shall regulate every thing concerning hydrotechnical constructions and other points, in the most equitable manner, and the most conformable to the mutual interests of the Prussian States; and of those of the Netherlands. This same arrangement refers to the fixing of limits in the districts of Kyfwaerd; Lobith, and in the whole territory as far as Kekerdom.—The enclaves of Huissen, Malburg, Lymers, with the town of Sevenaer, and the lordship of Wiel, shall form part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, and his Prussian Majesty shall renounce them in perpetuity for himself, his heirs, and successors.
ART. III. That part of the old Duchy of Luxemburg which is comprised in the limits specified in the following Article, is likewise ceded to the Sovereign Prince of the United Provinces, now King of the Netherlands, to be possessed in perpetuity by him and his successors in full property and sovereignty. The Sovereign of the Netherlands shall add to his titles that of Grand Duke of Luxemburg, his Majesty reserving to himself the privilege of making such family arrangements between the princes his sons, relative to the succession to the Grand Duchy, as he shall think conformable to the interests of his monarchy and his paternal intentions. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg being intended as an indemnity for the principalities of Nassau-Dillenburg, Sieben, Hadamar, and Dietz, shall form one of the States of the Germanic Confederation, and the Prince, King of the Netherlands, shall form a part of the system of this Confederation, as Grand Duke of Luxemburg, with all the prerogatives and privileges which the other German princes might enjoy. The town of Luxemburg, in a military point of view, shall be considered as a fortress belonging to the Confederation. The Grand Duke shall, however, retain the power of appointing the governor and military commandant of this fortress, subject to the approbation of the executive power of the Confederation, and under such other conditions as it may be judged necessary to establish, in conformity to the future constitution of the said Confederation.
ART. IV. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg shall consist of all the territory situated between the kingdom of the Netherlands, such as it has been designated by Article H.; Trance, the Moselle, as far as the mouth of the Sare; the course of the Sure, as far as the junction of the Our, and the course of this last river, as far as the limits of the former French canton of St. Vith, which is not to belong to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.—Disputes having arisen with regard to the property of the Duchy of Bouillon, his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, engages to restore the part of the said duchy which is comprised in the fine of frontier above mentioned, to that party whose claims shall be legally confirmed.
ART. V. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands renounces, in perpetuity for himself, his heirs and successors, in favour of his Majesty the King of Prussia, the sovereign possessions which the House of Nassau-Orange held in Germany; namely, the principalities of Dillenburg, Dietz, Sieger, and Hadamar, together with the lordships of Bielstein, such as those possessions have been definitively arranged between the two branches of the House of Nassau, by the Treaty concluded at the Hague the 14th July 1814. His Majesty equally renounces all claim to the principality of Fulda, and to the other districts and territories, which had been secured to him by the 12th Article of the principal Recess, of the extraordinary deputation of the empire on the 25th February 1803.
ART. VI. The right and order of succession established between the two branches of the House of Nassau, by the Act of 1783, called (Nassauischer Erb-Verein) is confirmed and transferred from the four principalities of Orange-Nassau, to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.
ART. VII. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, uniting under his sovereignty the countries designated in the 2nd and 4th Articles, enters into all the rights and takes upon himself all the charges, and all the stipulated engagements, relative to the provinces and districts detached from France by the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris the 30th May 1314.
ART. VIII. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands having recognized and sanctioned, under date of the 21st July 1814, as the bases of the union of the Belgic Provinces with the United Provinces, the eight Articles contained in the document annexed to the present Treaty,* the said Articles shall have the same force and validity as if they were inserted, word for word, in the present instrument.
ART. IX. A Commission shall be immediately appointed by his Majesty the King of Prussia and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, to settle whatever relates to the cession of those possessions of the House of Nassau which belong to his Majesty, with regard to records, debts, excesses of the public chests, and other subjects of this nature. That part of the records which does not concern the ceded provinces, but only the House of Orange, and libraries, collections of maps, and all other objects of the same description, belonging to his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, shall be retained by him as private and personal property, and shall be immediately restored to his Majesty. A part of the said possessions being exchanged against other possessions of the Duke and Prince of Nassau, his Majesty the King of Prussia engages, and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands consents, that the engagement stipulated in the present Article, shall be transferred to their Serene Highness the Duke and Prince of Nassau, with respect to those possessions which are to be united to their States.
ART. X. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at Vienna, the 31st of May 1815.
(L. S.) Clancarty.
(L. S.) The Baron de Spaen.
(L. S.) The Baron de Gagern.
No. VII.—AUSTRIA.—Convention between Great Britain and Austria, concerning the Custody of Napoleon Buonaparté, Signed at Paris, 2d August 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
Napoleon Buonaparté being in the power of the Allied Sovereigns, their Majesties the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia, and the King of Prussia, have agreed, in virtue of the stipulations of the Treaty of the 25th March 1815, upon the measures most proper to render all enterprize impossible on his part, against the repose of Europe; his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria having
* Vide General Treaty of Congress, p. 180.
therefore named Plenipotentiaries to this intent; viz. His Britannic Majesty, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, one of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Londonderry Regiment of Militia, and his Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and the Most Noble Lord Arthur, Duke, Marq. and Earl of Wellington, Marq. Douro, Visc. Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington, and Baron Douro of Wellesley, one of his said Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council, Field-Marshal of his Armies, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Prince of Waterloo, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and Grandee of Spain of the First Class, Duke of Vittoria, Marquis of Torres Vedras, Condé de Vimeira in Portugal, Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, of the Military Order of St. Ferdinand of Spain, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Theresa, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of St. George, Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Royal Military Order of the Tower and Sword, Knight Grand Cross of the Swedish Royal Military Order of the Sword, and Knight of many other orders, and Commander in Chief of the British Armies, and of those of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands in France; and his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty the Sieur Clement Winceslas Lothaire, Prince of Metternich - Winnbeourg - Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Grand-Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others, Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, Trustee to the Academy of Fine Arts, Chamberlain, Actual Privy Counsellor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Minister of State, of Conferences, and for Foreign Affairs: the said Plenipotentiaries have agreed upon the following points and Articles:
ART. I. Napoleon Buonaparté is considered by the Powers who have signed the Treaty of the 25th March last as their prisoner.
ART. II. His custody is especially entrusted to the British government. The choice of the place, and of the measures which can best secure the object of the present stipulation, are reserved to his Britannic Majesty.
ART. III. The Imperial Courts of Austria and of Russia, and of the Royal Court of Prussia, are to appoint. Commissioners to proceed to, and abide at the place which the government of his Britannic Majesty shall have assigned for the residence of Napoleon Buonaparté, and who, without being responsible for his custody, will assure themselves of his presence.
ART. IV. His Most Christian Majesty is to be invited, in the name of the four above-mentioned Courts, to send in like manner a French Commissioner to the place of detention of Napoleon Buonaparté.
ART. V. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, binds himself to fulfil the engagements which fall to him by the present Convention.
ART. VI. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within fifteen days, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at Paris the 2d August 1815.
(Signed)
(L. S.) Castlereagh. (Signed)
(L. S.) Wellington.
(L. S.) The Prince of Metternich.
Nos. VIII. and IX. Similar Conventions signed on the same day by the Plenipotentiaries of his Majesty with those of the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, respectively.
No. X. AMERICA.—Convention of Commerce between Great Britain and the United States of America; signed at London, 3d July 1815.
His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, being desirous, by a Convention, to regulate the commerce and navigation between their respective countries, territories, and people, in such a manner as to render the same reciprocally beneficial and satisfactory, have respectively named Plenipotentiaries, and given them full powers to treat of and conclude such convention; that is to say, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, has named for his Plenipotentiaries the Right Honourable Frederick John Robinson, Vice President of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Plantations, Joint Paymaster of his Majesty's Forces, and a Member of the Imperial Parliament; Henry Goulburn, Esq. a Member of the Imperial Parliament, and Under Secretary of State; And William Adams, Esq. Doctor of Civil Laws: and the President of the United States, by and with the consent of the Senate thereof; hath appointed for their Plenipotentiaries John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Albert Gallatin, citizens of the United States; and the said Plenipotentiaries having mutually produced and shown their said full powers, and exchanged copies of the same, have agreed on and concluded the following Articles; viz.
ART. I. There shall be between all the territories of his Britannic Majesty in Europe, and the territories of the United States, a reciprocal liberty of Commerce. The inhabitants of the two countries respectively shall have liberty freely and securely to come with their ships and cargoes to all such places, ports, and rivers in the territories aforesaid, to which other foreigners are permitted to come, to enter into the same, and to remain and reside in any parts of the said territories respectively; also to hire and occupy houses and warehouses for the purposes of their commerce; and generally the merchants and traders of each nation respectively shall enjoy the most complete protection and security for their commerce; but subject always to the laws and statutes of the two countries respectively.
ART. II. No higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the territorities of his Britannic Majesty in Europe, of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture, of the United States, and no higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States, of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, than are or shall be payable on the like articles, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country, nor shall any higher or other duties or charges be imposed in either of the two countries on the exportation of any articles to his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, or to the United States, respectively, than such as are payable on the exportation of the like articles to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed upon the exportation or importation of any articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, or of his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, or to or from the said territories of his Britannic Majesty in Europe, to or from the said United States, which shall not equally extend to all other nations.
No higher or other duties or charges shall be imposed in any of the ports of the United States on British vessels, than those payable in the same ports by vessels of the United States; nor in the ports of any of his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe on the vessels of the United States, than shall be payable in the same port on British vessels.
The same duties shall be paid on the importation into the United States of any articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, whether such importation shall be in vessels of the United States or in British vessels, and the same duties shall be paid on the importation into the ports of any of his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, of any article, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, whether such importation, shall be in British vessels or in vessels of the United States.
The same duties shall be paid, and the same bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, to the United States, whether such exportation shall be in vessels of the United States or in British vessels; and the same duties shall be paid and the same bounties allowed, on the exportation of any article, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, to his Britannic Majesty's territories in Europe, whether such exportation shall be in British vessels, or in vessels of the United States.
It is further agreed, that in all cases where drawbacks are or may be allowed, upon the re-exportation of any goods, the growth, produce, or manufacture of either country, respectively, the amount of the said drawbacks shall be the same, whether the said goods shall have been originally imported in a British or American vessel; but when such re-exportation shall take place from the United States in a British vessel, or from the territories of his Britannic Majesty in Europe in an. American vessel, to any other foreign nation, the two Contracting Parties reserve to themselves, respectively, the right of regulating or diminishing, in such case, the amount of the said drawback.
The intercourse between the United States and his Britannic Majesty's possessions in the West Indies, and on the continent of North America, shall not be affected by any of the provisions of this Article, but each party shall remain in the complete possession of its rights, with respect to such an intercourse.
ART. III. His Britannic Majesty agrees that the vessels of the United States of America shall be admitted, and hospitably received at the principal settlements of the British dominions in the East Indies, viz. Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, and Prince of Wales' Islands, and that the citizens of the said United States may freely carry oh trade between the said principal settlements and the said United States, in all articles of which the importation and exportation, respectively, to and from the said territories, shall not be entirely prohibited: provided only, that it shall not be lawful for them in any time of war, between the British Government and any State or Power whatever, to export from the said territories, without the special permission of the British Government, any military stores or naval stores, or rice. The Citizens of the United States shall pay for their vessels, when admitted, no higher or other duty or charge than shall be payable on the vessels of the most favoured European nations, and they shall pay no higher or, other duties or charges on the importation or exportation of the cargoes of the said ves- sels, then shall be payable on the same articles when imported or exported in the vessels of the most favoured European nations.
But it is expressly agreed, that the vessels of the United States shall not carry any articles from the said principal settlements to any port or place, except to some port or place in the United States of America, where the same shall be unladen.
It is also understood, that the permission granted by this Article, is not to extend to allow the vessels of the United States to carry on any part of the coasting trade of the said British territories, but the vessels of the United States having, in the first instance, proceeded to one of the said principal settlements of the British dominions in the East Indies and then going with their original cargoes, or any part thereof, from one of the said principal settlements to another, shall not be considered as carrying on the coasting trade. The vessels of the United States may also touch, for refreshments, but not for commerce, in the course of their voyage to or from the British territories in India, or to or from the dominions of the Emperor of China, at the Cape of Good Hope, the Island of St. Helena, or such other places as may be in the possession of Great Britain, in the African or Indian seas; it being well understood, that in all that regards this article, the citizens of the United States shall be subject, in all respects, to the laws and regulations of the British Government, from time to time established.
ART. IV. It shall be free for each of the two Contracting Parties respectively to appoint Consuls, for the protection of trade, to reside in the dominions and territories of the other party; but before any Consul shall act as such, he shall in the usual form be approved and admitted by the Government to which he is sent; and it is hereby declared, that in case of illegal and improper conduct towards the laws or government of the country to which he is sent, such Consul may either be punished according to law, if the laws will reach the case, or be sent back, the offended Government assigning to the other the reasons for the same. It is hereby declared, that either of the Contracting Parties may except from the residence of Consuls such particular places as such party shall judge fit to be so excepted.
ART. V. This Convention, when the same shall have been duly ratified by his Britannic Majesty and by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of their Senate, and the respective ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be binding and obligatory on his Majesty and on the said United States for four years from the date of its signature; and the ratifications shall be exchanged in six months from this time, or sooner, if possible.
Done at London this 3rd day of July, 1815.
Signed. Signed. Fred. J. Robinson. John Q. Adams. Henry Goulburn. H. Clay. William Adams. Albert Gallatin.
Declaration.
The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires in the United States of America, is commanded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, to explain and declare, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the Convention concluded in London on the 3rd of July of the present year, for regulating the commerce and navigation between the two countries, that in consequence of events which have happened in Europe subsequent to the signature of the Convention aforesaid, it has been deemed expedient and determined, in conjunction with the Allied Sovereigns, that St. Helena shall be the place allotted for the future residence of General Napoleon Buonaparté, under such regulations as may be necessary for the perfect security of his person, and it has been resolved, for that purpose, that all ships and vessels whatever, as well British ships and vessels as others, excepting only ships belonging to the East India Company, shall be excluded from all communication with or approach to that Island.
It has therefore become impossible to comply with so much of the Third Article of the Treaty as relates to the liberty of touching for refreshment at the Island of St. Helena, and the ratifications of the said Treaty will be exchanged under the explicit declaration and understanding that the vessels of the United States cannot be allowed to touch at, or hold any communication whatever with the said Island, as long as the said Island shall continue to be the place of residence of the said Napoleon Buonaparte.
Signed,.
Anthony St. John, Baker.
Washington, November 24, 1815.
No. XI.—NETHERLANDS.—Convention between Great Britain and the Netherlands concerning the late Dutch West India Colonies, signed at London 12th August 1815.
In the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being equally desirous of promoting and cementing the harmony and good understanding so happily established between the two countries, by carrying into immediate execution that part of the provisions of the first Additional Article of the Convention of the 13th of August 1814, which stipulates that the subjects of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being proprietors in the colonies of Demerara, Essequebo and Berbice, shall be at liberty (under certain regulations) to carry on trade between the said settlements and the territories in Europe of his said Majesty, have nominated for their Plenipotentiaries, viz. his Majesty the Kim, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Henry Earl Bathurst, a Member of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and one of his Principal Secretaries of State; and his Majesty the king of the Netherlands, the Sieur Henry Baron Fagel, a Member of the Corps des Nobles of the province of Holland, and his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty: who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in due and proper form, have agreed to the following Articles:
ART. I. It is hereby agreed that for the space of five years from the 1st January 1816, the aforesaid trade may be carried on in any ships being the property of subjects of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, wheresoever built, and without any restriction or limitation as to the mariners navigating them: but at the expiration of the said five years, or as much sooner as his Majesty the King of the Netherlands shall think proper, such trade shall be carried on only in such ships as are Dutch built, and whereof the Master and three-fourths of the crew are subjects of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands.
ART. II. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands reserves to himself the liberty of imposing such duties as he may think fit, upon the importation into the European dominions of his said Majesty, of the produce of the Colonies in question; and vice-versâ, with regard to exportation: but the duties to be paid within the Colonies shall be applicable to the Dutch, as well as to the British trade.
ART. III. The subjects of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being proprietors in the said Colonies, shall be at perfect liberty to go to the said Colonies, and to return, without being subjected in this respect to any delay or difficulty; or to appoint persons to act for them in the management of the said intercourse or of their properties in the said colonies; subject, however, during their residence there, to the laws and regulations of the same. They shall also have full liberty to dispose of their property in any manner in which they may think fit: but it is understood that in regard to negroes, they are to be subject to the same restrictions as British subjects.
ART. IV. In order to protect the proprietors of estates in the said Colonies from the ruinous effects of the immediate foreclosure of mortgages due to the subjects of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, it is further agreed, that in all cases in which the proprietor of an estate shall offer to the holder of any mortgage on the said estate, made prior to the 1st of January 1814 (such mortgagee being a subject of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands) the security hereinafter specified, such mortgagee shall not be at liberty to proceed to the immediate or summary foreclosure of the said mortgage; it being however understood, that in all cases in which no such security shall be offered by the proprietor, the mortgagee shall retain all those rights as to foreclosure, to which he is at present entitled.
The security in question must provide that the mortgagee shall receive, at the expense of the proprietor of the estate, a new mortgage far the whole amount of the debt now due to him, including both that part of the original debt which has not been discharged, and the interest which may have accrued upon it up to the 31st December 1814 inclusive. That this security shall reserve to the mortgagee that priority of claim over other morgagees and creditors to which he is entitled under his original mortgage; that it shall bear an annual interest, beginning from the 1st January 1815, at the same rate, and payable in the same manner, as that which was payable under the original mortgage; and that the whole amount of the new debt shall be payable by eight annual instalments, the first of which is to become payable on the first of January, 1820.
The new security shall also afford to the mortgagee all those means of legal redress, in the event of non-payment of the interest, or omission to discharge the principal when due, and all those other privileges and advantages to which he would be entitled under his existing mortgage, and shall place him, with respect to the debt for which the new security is given, in the same situation as hp stood with respect to his original claim upon the estate, excepting only in what relates to the period at which the payment may be demanded, so that no later creditor shall derive, from this arrangement, any power to affect the rights of the original creditor, and that no further suspension of payment (surchéance) beyond that herein agreed upon, shall take place without the original creditor's especial consent.
It is farther agreed, that in order to entitle, the mortgagee to receive the security specified in this Article, he shall, as soon as the said security is duly recorded in the said Colony and delivered to the mortgagee or his agent, in the Colony (the expenses of such record being defrayed by the proprietors), deliver up to be cancelled the mortgages or bonds originally granted to him, or exhibit legal proof that the said mortgages and bonds have been duly cancelled, and are no longer of any value.
It is further expressly agreed, that, with the exceptions of the modifications specified in this Article, the rights of mortgagees and creditors shall remain intact.
ART. V. It is agreed that all Dutch proprietors, acknowledged to be such by the present Convention, shall be entitled to supply their estates from the Netherlands with the usual articles of supply; and in return, to export to the Netherlands the produce of the said estates. But that all other importation of goods from the Netherlands into the Colonies, or export of produce from the Colonies to the Netherlands, shall be strictly prohibited; and it is further agreed, that the exportation of all such articles as may be prohibited to be exported to those Colonies from the British dominions, shall be also prohibited to be exported from the Netherlands.
ART. VI. By Dutch proprietors are to be understood:—1. All subjects of his Majesty the King of the Netherlands resident in his said Majesty's European dominions, who are at present proprietors in the said Colonies. 2. All subjects of his said Majesty who may hereafter become possessed of estates now belonging to Dutch proprietors therein. 3. All such proprietors as being now resident in the above Colonies, and being natives of the Netherlands, may (by virtue of Article VIII. of the present Convention) declare that they wish to continue to be considered as such; and 4. All subjects of his said Majesty who may be the holders of mortgages on estates in the said Colonies, made prior to the date of this Convention, and who may, under their mortgage deeds, have the right of exporting from the said Colonies to the Netherlands, the produce of the said estates; subject, nevertheless, to the restrictions specified in Article IX.
ART. VII. In all cases where the right of supplying the mortgaged estate with articles of supply, and exporting produce from it to the Netherlands, is not actually secured to the mortgagee by the mortgage deed, the mortgagee shall be allowed to export from the Colony only such quantity of produce as will be sufficient, when estimated at the current prices of the Colony, to pay the amount of interest or principal annually due to him, and to import into the Colony articles of supply in the same proportion.
ART. VIII. All proprietors, subjects to his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, now residing in the above Colonies, must, in order to entitle themselves to the benefit of this Convention, declare, within three months after the publication of this Convention in the said Colonies, whether they wish to be considered as such.
ART. IX. In all cases where both Dutch and British subjects have mortgages upon the same property in the said Colonies, the quantity of produce to be consigned to the different mortgagees, shall be in proportion to the amount of the debts respectively due to them.
ART. X. In order more easily to carry into effect, and the better to ensure the execution of the provisions of this Convention, it is agreed, that exact and specific lists shall be made out every year, by order of the King of the Netherlands, containing the names and places of abode of the proprietors resident in the Netherlands, together with the name and description of the estate belonging to them respectively, specifying whether the same be a sugar or other plantation, and whether the whole or only part of the estate belongs to the proprietor in question: similar lists shall also be made out of the existing mortgages on estates, in as far as these mortgages are held by Dutch subjects, specifying the amount of the debt on mortgage, either actually existing, or to be made out by virtue of the provisions of Article IV. These lists shall be delivered over to the British government, and shall be sent to the Colonies in question, in order to make out from them, in conjunction with a list of the Dutch proprietors resident in the said Colonies, the whole amount of the Dutch population and property on interest in the said Colonies.
ART. XI. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, having represented to his Britannic Majesty that the Company of Dutch Merchants and others (styling themselves the Berbice Association), have a just claim to certain estates formerly settled by them in the colony of Berbice, of which they were dispossessed by the Revolutionary Government of Holland, and which, on the capture of the said Colony by his Britannic Majesty, were considered as Government property; his Britannic Majesty engages to restore to the said Berbice Association, within six months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present Convention, the estates of Dageraad, Dankbaarheid, Johanna, and Sandooul, together with all the negroes and stock now actually employed upon the same; such restoration to be in full compensation and satisfaction of all claims which the said Association may have, or may pretend to have, against his Britannic Majesty or his subjects, on account of any property heretofore belonging to them in the Colony of Berbice.
ART. XII. All questions of a private nature, relating to such property as comes with in the operation of this Convention, shall be decided by competent judicial authority, according to the laws in force in the said colonies.
ART. XIII. His Britannic Majesty engages, that the utmost fairness and impartiality shall be shown in all matters affecting the rights and interests of Dutch proprietors.
ART. XIV. The two High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves the power of making such future modifications in the present Convention, as experience may point out to be desirable for the interest of both.
ART. XV. Lastly, it is agreed, that the provisions of this Convention shall be in force from the date of the exchange of the ratifications.
ART. XVI. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged in London, within three weeks from the date hereof, or sooner, if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and affixed thereunto the seal of their arms. Done at London, the 12th of August 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Bathurst. (L. S.) W. Fagel.
No. XII.—SAXONY.—Treaty between Great Britain and Saxony, signed at Paris, September 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, having agreed to the arrangements made respecting Saxony and the Duchy of Warsaw, by the Great Act of Congress, signed on the 9th day of June last, and also by the Treaty of the 18th of May thereto annexed, and herein after particularly set forth; and his Majesty the King of Saxony, desirous of procuring the immediate accession of his Britannic Majesty to the said Treaty of the 18th of May, having invited, and his said Majesty having agreed, to accede thereto by a direct Treaty with his Saxon Majesty; their said Majesties have named; his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, one of his Majesty's Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Regiment of Londonderry Militia, and Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and his Majesty the King of Saxony, Count de Schulenburg, a Privy Counsellor, Chamberlain of his said Majesty, and Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; who, having exchanged their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britainand Ireland, accedes to all the stipulations of the Treaty entered into between their Majesties the Kings of Prussia and Saxony, bearing date the 18th of May 1815, and also between his said Majesty the King of Saxony, and the Emperors of Austria and Russia respectively, as hereafter inserted. [Here follows a copy of the Treaty referred to, for which see General Treaty of Congress, Act, No. IV.]
ART. II. His Majesty the King of Saxony accepts of the above Accession, and renews to his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the engagements therein contained, and engages to fulfil and execute, in the whole and every part thereof, all the stipulations of the said Treaty, which his Saxon Majesty has on his part therein stipulated to fulfil and execute.
ART. III. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in the term of three months, or sooner, if possible. In witness whereof, the respective Plenipo- tentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms. Done at Paris this day of September, 1815.
(Signed)
(L. S.) Castlereagh. (Signed)
(L. S.) Le Comte de Schulenburg.
Definitive Treaty Between Great Britain and France, Signed at Paris the 20th November 1815, and Other Conventions and Documents
Lord Castlereagh also presented a Paper, intituled, "CLASS C. Definitive Treaty between his Majesty and his Most Christian Majesty, signed at Paris, the 20th of November 1815; and other Conventions and Documents;" of which the following are Copies:
CLASS C.
DEFINITIVE TREATY
BETWEEN HIS MAJESTY AND MS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY. Signed at Paris the 20th of November, 1815; and other
CONVENTIONS AND DOCUMENTS.
1. Definitive Treaty between Great Britain and France, signed at Paris, 20th November 1815.
2. Additional Article to the preceding Treaty, relative to the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 20 November.
3. Convention between Great Britain and France, relative to the Pecuniary Indemnity to be furnished by France to the Allied Powers, 20 November.
4. Convention between Great Britain and France, relative to the occupation of a Military Line in France by an Allied Army, 20 November.
5. Additional Article to the preceding Convention, relative to Deserters, 20 Nov.
6. Tarif, annexed to the preceding Convention, 20 November.
Note from the Ministers of the Allied Powers to the Duke of Richelieu, on the nature and extent of the powers attached to the Command of the Duke of Wellington, 20 November.
7. Convention between Great Britain and France, relative to the claims of British subjects on the French Government, 20 November.
8. Additional Article to the preceding Convention, relative to British Merchandise at Bordeaux, 20 November.
9. Treaty of Alliance between His Majesty and the Emperor of Austria, 20 Nov.
10. Note from the Ministers of the United Cabinets to the Duke of Richelieu, communicating a copy of the said Treaty of Alliance, 20 November.
11. Extract of a Protocol, relative to the ter- ritories and places ceded by France, 20 November.
12. Protocol, respecting the distribution of the Seven Hundred Millions of Francs which France is to pay to the Allied Powers, 20 November.
13. Convention between Great Britain and France, relative to the examination and liquidation of the claims of the subjects of the Allied Powerson France, 20 Nov.
Additional Article to the preceding Convention, relative to the claims of the House of the Counts de Bentheim and Steinfurth, 20 November.
14. Treaty between His Majesty and the Emperor of all the Russias, respecting the Ionian Islands, 5 November.
15. Note from Viscount Castlereagh to the Ministers of the Allies, respecting the restitution of the Works of Art, 11 Sept.
16. Dispatch from the Duke of Wellington to Viscount Castleleagh, on the same subject, 23 September.
17. Dispatch from Viscount Castlereagh to the Earl of Liverpool, relative to the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 27 July.
Two Inclosures on the same subject.
First.—Extract of Protocol of 15th Conference.
Second.—Note, from Viscount Castlereagh to Prince Talleyrand thereupon.
18. Dispatch from Viscount Castlereagh to the Earl of Liverpool, on the same subject, 29 July.
19. Dispatch from Viscount Castlereagh to the Earl of Liverpool, on the same subject, 31 July.
Two Inclosures.
First.—Note from Prince Talleyrand to Viscount Castlereagh, declaring the Slave Trade for ever abolished throughout the dominions of France, 30 July.
Second.—Viscount Castlereagh's reply to the preceding Note, 31 July.
20. A.—Act of Acknowledgment and Guarantee of the Neutrality of Switzerland, on the part of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and France, 20 Nov.
20. B.—Extract of Protocol respecting the Neutrality of Switzerland, 3 November.
No. I.—DEFINITIVE TREATY, between France and the Allied Powers, Signed at Paris the 20th of November, 1815.
In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
The Allied Powers having by their united efforts, and by the success of their Arms, preserved France and Europe from the convulsions with which they were menaced by the late enterprize of Napoleon Buonapaite, and by the Revolutionary System reproduced in France, to promote its success; participating at present with his Most Christian Majesty in the desire to consolidate, by maintaining inviolate the Royal Autho- rity, and by restoring the operation of the Constitutional Charter, the order of things which had been happily re-established in France, as also in the object of restoring between France and her Neighbours those relations of reciprocal confidence and goodwill which the fatal effects of the Revolution and of the System of Conquest had for so long a time disturbed: persuaded, at the same time, that this last object can only be obtained by an arrangement framed to secure to the Allies proper Indemnities for the Past and solid Guarantees for the Future, they have, in concert with his Majesty the King of France, taken into consideration the means of giving effect to this arrangement; and being, satisfied that the Indemnity due to the Allied Powers cannot be either entirely territorial or entirely pecuniary, without prejudice to France in the one or other of her essential interests, and that it would be more fit to combine both the modes, in order to avoid the inconvenience which would result, were either resorted to separately, their Imperial and Royal Majesties have adopted this Basis for their present transactions; and agreeing alike as to the necessity of retaining, for a fixed time in the Frontier Provinces of France, a certain number of Allied Troops, they have determined to combine their different arrangements, founded upon these Bases, in a Definitive Treaty. For this purpose, and to this effect, his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for himself and his Allies on the one part, and his Majesty the King of France and Navarre on the other part, have named their Plenipotentiaries to discuss, settle, and sign, the said Definitive Treaty; namely, his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, a Member of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Londonderry Regiment of Militia, and his said Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Most Illustrious and Most Noble Lord Arthur, Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Wellington, Marquess of Douro, Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington, and Baron Douro of Wellesley, a Member of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Field Marshal of his Armies, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Prince of Waterloo, Duke of Ciudad. Rodrigo, and a Grandee of pain of the First Class, Duke of Vittoria, Marquess of Torres Vedras, Count of Vimiera in Portugal, Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, of the Spanish Military Order of St. Ferdinand, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Theresa, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of St. George of Russia, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia, Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Royal and Military Order of the Tower and Sword, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Sweden of the Sword, Knight Grand Cross of the Orders of the Elephant of Denmark, of William of the Low Countries, of the Annunciade of Sardinia, of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, and of several others, and Commander of the Forces of his Britannic Majesty in France, and of the Army of his Majesty the King of the Low Countries; and his Majesty the King of France and Navarre, the Sieur Armand Emanuel du Plessis Richelieu, Duke of Richelieu, Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, and of the Orders of St. Alexander Newsky, St. Wladomir, and St. George of Russia, Peer of France, First Gentleman of the Chamber of his Most Christian Majesty, his Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and President of the Council of his Ministers; who, having exchanged their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have signed the following Articles:
ART. I. The Frontiers of France shall be the same as they were in the year 1790, save and except the modifications on one side and on the other, which are detailed in the present Article. FIRST, on the Northern Frontiers, the Line of Demarcation shall remain as it was fixed by the Treaty of Paris, as far as opposite to Quiverain, from thence it shall follow the ancient limits of the Belgian Provinces, of the late Bishopric of Liege, and of the Duchy of Bouillon, as they existed in the year 1790, leaving the Territories included (enclavés) within that line, of Phillippeville and Marienbourg, with the Fortresses so called, together with the whole of the Duchy of Bouillon without the Frontiers of France. From Villers near Orval upon the confines of the Department Des Ardennes, and of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as far as Perle, upon the great road leading from Thionville to Troves, the line shall remain as it was laid down by the Treaty of Paris. From Perle it shall pass by Lauensdorff, Walwich, Schardorff, Niederveiling, Pelweiler (all these places with, their Banlieues or dependencies remaining to France) to Houvre; and shall follow from thence the old limits of the district (Pays) of Sarrebruck, leaving Sarrelouis, and the course of the Sarre, together with the places situated to the right of the line above described, and their Banlieues or dependencies without the limits of France. From the limits of the district of Sarrebruck the line of demarcation shall be the same which at present separates from Germany the departments of the Moselle and of the Lower Rhine, as far as to the Lauter, which river shall from thence serve as the Frontier until it falls into the Rhine. All the territory on the left bank of the Lauter, including the fortress of Landau, shall form part of Germany.
The town of Weissenbourg, however, through which that river runs, shall remain entirely to France, with a rayon on the left bank, not exceeding a thousand Wises, and which shall be more particularly determined by the Commissioners who shall be charged with the approaching designation of the boundaries. SECONDLY, leaving the mouth of the Iauter, and continuing along the departments of the Lower Rhine, the Uppee Rhine, the Doubs and the Jura to the Canton de Vaud, the Frontiers shall remain as fixed by the Treaty of Paris. The Thalweg of the Rhine shall form the boundary between France and the States of Germany, but the property of the island shall remain in perpetuity, as it shall be fixed by a new survey of the Course of that river, and continue unchanged whatever variation that course may undergo in the lapse of time. Commissioners shall be named on both sides, by the High Contracting Parties, within the space of three months, to proceed upon the said survey. One half of the bridge between Strasbourg and Kehl shall belong to France, and the other half to the Grand Duchy of Baden. THIRDLY, in order to establish a direct communication between the Canton of Geneva and Switzerland, that part of the Pays de Gex, bounded on the east by the lake Leman; on the south, by the territory of the Canton of Geneva; on the north, by that of the Canton de Vaud; on the west, by the course of the Versoix, and by a line which comprehends the communes of Collex Bossy, and Meyrin, leaving the commune of Ferney to France, shall be ceded to the Helvetic Confederacy, in order to be united to the Canton of Geneva. The line of the French custom-houses shall be placed to the West of the Jura, so that the whole of the Pays de Gex shall be without that Line. FOURTHLY, from the frontiers of the Canton of Geneva, as far as the Mediterranean, the line of demarcation shall be that which the year 1790, separated France from Savoy, and from the County of Nice. The relations which the Treaty of Paris of 1814 had re-established between France and the Principality of Monaco, shall cease for ever, and the same relations shall exist between that Principality and his Majesty the King of Sardinia. FIFTHLY, all the Territories and Districts included (enclavés) within the boundary of the French Territory, as determined by the present Article, shall remain united to France. SIXTHLY, the High Contracting Parties shall name within three months after the signature of the present Treaty, Commissioners to regulate every thing relating to the designation of the Boundaries of the respective countries, and as soon as the labours of the Commissioners shall have terminated, Maps shall be drawn; and Land-marks shall be erected, which shall point out the respective limits.
ART. II. The Fortresses, Places, and districts, which, according to the preceding Article are no longer to form part of the French Territory, shall be placed at the disposal of the Allied Powers, at the periods fixed by the ninth Article of the Military Convention annexed to the present Treaty; and his Majesty the King of France renounces for himself, his Heirs and successors for ever, the Rights of Sovereignty and property, which he has hitherto exercised over the said Fortresses, Places, and Districts.
ART. III. The Fortifications of Huninguen having been constantly an object of uneasiness to the town of Bâle, the High Contracting Parties, in order to give to the Helvetic Confederacy a new proof of their good-will and of their solicitude for its welfare, have agreed among themselves to demolish the Fortifications of Huninguen, and the French Government engages, from the same motive, not to re-establish them at any time, and not to replace them by other Fortifications, at a distance of less than that of three leagues from the Town of Bâle. The neutrality of Switzerland shall be extended to the Territory situated to the north of a line to be drawn from Ugine, that town being included, to the south of the Lake of Annecy, by Faverge, as far as Lecheraine, and from thence, by the Lake of Bourget, as far as the Rhone, in like manner as it was extended to the Provinces of Chablais and of Faucigny, by the 92d Article of the final Act of the Congress of Vienna.
ART. IV. The pecuniary part of the indemnity to be furnished by France to the Allied Powers, is fixed at the sum of 700 millions of Francs. The mode, the periods, and the guarantees for the payment of this sum, shall be regulated by a Special Convention, which shall have the same Force and Effect as if it were inserted, word for word, in the present Treaty.
ART. V. The state of uneasiness and of fermentation, which after so many violent convulsions, and particularly after the last catastrophe, France must still experience, notwithstanding the paternal intentions of her King, and the advantages secured to every class of his Subjects by the Constitutional Charter, requiring, for the security of the neighbouring States, certain Measures of precaution, and of temporary guarantee, it has been judged indispensable to occupy, during a fixed time, by a corps of Allied Troops, certain military positions along the frontiers of France, under the express reserve, that such occupation shall in no way prejudice the Sovereignty of his Most Christian Majesty, nor the state of possession, such as it is recognized and confirmed by the present Treaty. The number of these troops shall not exceed 150,000 men. The Commander in Chief of this army shall be nominated by the Allied Powers. This army shall occupy the Fortresses of Condé, Valenciennes, Bouchain, Cambray, Le Quesnoy, Maubeuge, Lan- drecies, Avesnes, Recroy, Givet, with Charlemont, Mezières, Sedan, Montmedy, Thionville, Longwy, Bitsch, and the Tête-de-Pont of Fort-Louis. As the maintenance of the army destined for this service is to be provided by France, a Special Convention shall regulate every thing which may relate to that Object. This Convention, which shall have the same force and effect as if it were inserted word for word in the present Treaty, shall also regulate the relations of the army of occupation with the civil and military authorities of the Country. The utmost extent of the duration of this Military Occupation, is fixed at five Years. It may terminate before that period, if, at the end of Three Years, the Allied Sovereigns, after having, in concert with his Majesty the King of France, maturely examined their reciprocal situation and interests, and the progress which shall have been made in France in the re-establishment of order and tranquillity, shall agree to acknowledge that the motives which led them to that measure have ceased to exist. But whatever may be the result of this deliberation, all the Fortresses and Positions occupied by the Allied Troops shall, at the expiration of five years, be evacuated without further delay, and given up to his Most Christian Majesty, or to his Heirs and Successors.
ART. VI. The Foreign Troops, not forming part of the Army of Occupation, shall evacuate the French Territory within the term fixed by the 9th Article of the Military Convention annexed to the present Treaty.
ART. VII. In all countries which shall change Sovereigns, as well in virtue of the present Treaty, as of the arrangements which are to be made in consequence thereof, a period of six years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications shall be allowed to the inhabitants, natives or foreigners, of whatever condition and nation they may be, to dispose of their property, if they should think ht so to do, and to retire to whatever country they may choose.
ART. VIII. All the dispositions of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 1814, relative to the Countries ceded by that Treaty, shall equally apply to the several Territories and Districts ceded by the present Treaty.
ART. IX. The High contracting Parties having caused representation to be made of the different claims arising out of the non-execution of the nineteenth and following Articles of the Treaty of the 30th of May 1814, as well as of the Additional Articles of that Treaty signed between Great Britain and France, desiring to render more efficacious the stipulations made thereby, and having determined, by two separate Conventions, the line to be pursued on each side for that purpose, the said two Conventions, as annexed to the present Treaty, shall, in order to secure the complete execution of the above-mentioned Articles, have the same force and effect as if the same were inserted, word for word, herein.
ART. X. All Prisoners taken during the hostilities, as well as all Hostages which may have been carried off or given, shall be restored in the shortest time possible. The same shall be the case with respect to the Prisoners taken previously to the Treaty of the 30th of May 1814, and who shall not already have been restored.
ART. XI. The Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 1814, and the final Act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th of June 1815, are confirmed, and shall be maintained in all such of their enactments which shall not have been modified by the Articles of the present Treaty.
ART. XII. The present Treaty, with the Conventions annexed thereto, shall be ratified in one Act, and the Ratifications thereof shall be exchanged in the space of two months, or sooner, if possible.
In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms. Done at Paris this 20th day of November, 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.)Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. II—ADDITIONAL ARTICLE.
The High Contracting Powers, sincerely desiring to give effect to the measures on which they deliberated at the Congress of Vienna, relative to the complete and universal abolition of the Slave Trade, and having, each in their respective dominions, prohibited without restriction their Colonies and Subjects from taking any part whatever in this traffic, engage to renew conjointly their efforts, with the view of securing final success to those principles which they proclaimed in the Declaration of the 4th of February 1815, and of concerting, without loss of time, through their Ministers at the Courts of London and of Paris, the most effectual measures for the entire and definitive abolition of a commerce so odious, and so strongly condemned by the laws of religion and of nature.
The present Additional Article shall have the same force and effect as if it were inserted, word for word, in the Treaty signed this day. It shall be included in the ratification of the said Treaty.
In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms. Done at Paris this 20th day of November, 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. III.—CONVENTION between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity to the Fourth Article of the Prin- cipal Treaty, relative to the Payment of the Pecuniary Indemnity to be furnished by France to the Allied Powers.
The payment to which France has bound herself to the Allied Powers as an Indemnity by the fourth Article of the Treaty of this day, shall take place in the form and at the periods prescribed by the following Articles:
ART. I. The sum of 700 Millions of Francs, being the amount of the Indemnity, shall be discharged day by day, in equal portions, in the space of five Years, by means of Bons au Porteur on the Royal Treasury of France, in the manner that shall be now set forth.
ART. II. The Treasury shall give over immediately to the Allied Powers, Fifteen Engagements for Forty-six Millions and Two-thirds each, forming together the sum of 700 Millions; the first engagement payable on the 31st of March 1816, the second on the 31st of July of the same year, and so on, in every fourth month, during the five successive years.
ART. III. These Engagements shall not be negotiable, but they shall be periodically exchanged against Bons au Porteur negotiable, drawn in the form used in the ordinary service of the Royal Treasury.
ART. IV. In the month which shall precede the four in the course of which an Engagement is to be paid, that Engagement shall be divided by the Treasury of France, into Bons au Porteur payable in Paris, in equal portions, from the first to the last day of the four months. Thus the Engagement of Forty-six Millions and Two thirds, falling due the 31st of March 1816, shall be exchanged in the month of November 1815, against Bons au Porteur payable in equal portions from the 1st of December 1815, to the 31st of March 1816; the Engagement of Forty-six Millions and Two-thirds which will fall due the 31st of July 1816, shall be exchanged in the month of March of the same year, against Bons au Porteur payable in equal portions from the 1st of April 1816 to the 31st of July of the same year; and so on, every four months.
ART. V. No single Bon an Porteur shall be delivered for the sum due each day, but the sum so due, shall be divided into several Coupures or Bills of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 20,000 Francs, the which sums added together, will amount to the sum total of the payment due for each day.
ART. VI. The Allied Powers, convinced that it is as much their interest as that of France, that too considerable a sum of Bons au Porteur should not be issued at once, agree that there never shall be in circulation Bons for more than Fifty Millions of Francs at a time.
ART. VII. No interest shall be paid by France for the delay of Five Years which the Allied Powers allow to her for the payment of the Seven Hundred Millions of Francs.
ART. VIII. On the 1st of January 1816, there shall be made over by France to the Allied Powers, as a Guarantee for the regularity of the payments, a fund of interest inscribed in the Grand Livre of the Public Debt of France, of Seven Millions of Francs, on a capital of one hundred and forty millions. This fund of interest shall be used to make good, if there should be need of it, the deficiencies in the Acceptances of the French Government, and to render the payments equal, at the end of every Six Months, to the Bons au Porteur which shall have fallen due, as shall be hereafter detailed.
ART. IX. This fund of interest shall be inscribed in the name of such persons as the Allied Powers shall point out; but these persons cannot be the holders of the Inscriptions, except in the case provided for in the Eleventh Article ensuing The Allied Powers further reserve to themselves, the right to transfer the Inscriptions to other names, as often as they shall judge necessary.
ART. X. The Deposit of these Inscriptions shall be confided to one Treasurer named by the Allied Powers, and to another named by the French Government.
ART. XI. There shall be a mixed Commission, composed of an equal number on both sides, of Allied and French Commissioners, who shall examine, every six months, the state of the payments, and shall regulate the balance. The Bons of the Treasury paid, shall constitute the payments; those which shall not yet have been presented to the Treasury of France, shall enter into the account of the subsequent balance; those also which shall have fallen due, been presented, and not paid, shall constitute the arrear, and the sum of Inscriptions to be applied at the market price of the day, to cover the deficit. As soon as that operation shall have taken place, the Bons unpaid shall be given up to the French Commissioners, and the mixed Commission shall order the Treasurers to pay over the sum so determined upon, and the Treasurers shall be authorized and obliged to pay it over to the Commissioners of the Allied Powers, who shall dispose of it as they shall think proper.
ART. XII. France engages to replace immediately in, the hands of the Treasurers, an amount of Inscriptions equal to that which may have been made use of, according to the foregoing Article, in order that the fund stipulated in the Eighth Article may be always kept at its full amount.
ART. XIII. France shall pay an interest of Five per Cent. per Annum from the date of the Bons au Porteur falling due, upon all such Bons the payment of which may have been delayed by the act of France.
ART. XIV. When the first 600 Millions of Francs shall have been paid, the Allies, in order to accelerate the entire liberation of France, will accept, should it he agreeable to the French government, the Fund mentioned in the Eighth Article at the market price of that day, to such an amount as will be equal to the remainder due of the 700 Millions. France will only have to furnish the difference, should any exist.
ART. XV. Should this plan not be convenient to France, the 100 Millions of Francs which would remain due, may be discharged in the manner pointed out in the Second, Third, Fourth, and Filth Articles; and, after the complete payment of the 700 Millions, the Inscriptions stipulated for in the Eighth Article shall be returned to France.
ART. XVI. The trench government engages to execute, independently of the pecuniary indemnity stipulated by the present Convention, all the Engagements stipulated for in the Special Conventions concluded with the different Powers and their Co-Allies relative to the Clothing and Equipment of their Armies; and engages for the exact deliverance and payment of the Bons and Mandats arising from the said Conventions, in as far as they shall not have been already discharged at the time of the signature of the Principal Treaty, and of the present Convention. Done at Paris this 20th day of November 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. IV.—CONVENTION between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity to the Fifth Article of the Principal Treaty, relative to the Occupation of a Military Line in France, by an Allied Army.
ART. I. The composition of the Army of 150,000 men, which, in virtue of the Fifth Article of the Treaty of this day, is to occupy a military line along the Frontiers of France; the force and nature of the contingents to be furnished by each Power, as well as the choice of the Generals who are to command those troops, shall be determined by the Allied Sovereigns.
ART. II. This army shall be maintained by the French government in the manner following: The lodging, the fuel and lighting, the provisions and forage, are to be furnished in kind. It is agreed that the total amount of daily rations shall never exceed 200,000 for men, and 50,000 for horses, and that they shall be issued according to the Tarif annexed to the present Convention. With respect to the pay, the equipment, the clothing, and other incidental matters, the. French government will provide for such expense by the payment of a sum of Fifty Millions of Francs per annum, payable in specie from month to month, from the 1st of December 1815, into the hands of the Allied Commissioners. But the Allied Powers, in order to concur as much as possible in every thing which can satisfy his Majesty the King of France, and relieve his subjects, consent that only Thirty Millions of Francs, on account of pay, shall be paid in the first year; on condition of the difference being made up in the subsequent years of the occupation.
ART. III. France engages equally to provide for the keeping up of the Fortifications and of the buildings of the Military and Civil Administrations, as well as for the arming and provisioning the Fortresses which, in virtue of the Fifth Article of the Treaty of this day, are to remain as a deposit in the hands of the Allied troops. These respective services, which are to be regulated upon the principles adopted by the French Administration of the War Department, shall be executed upon demand, addressed to the French government by the Commander in Chief of the Allied Troops, with whom some plan shall be agreed upon for ascertaining what may be needful, and concerting the measures necessary to remove all difficulties which may arise, and for accomplishing the object of this stipulation in a manner equally satisfactory to the interests of the respective parties. The French government will take such measures as it shall judge to be the most effectual, for securing the accomplishment of the different services stated in this and in the preceding Article; and will concert to that effect with the Commander in Chief of the Allied Troops.
ART. IV. In conformity to the Fifth Article of the Principal Treaty, the Military Line to be occupied by the Allied Troops, shall extend along the Frontiers which separate the Departments of the Pas de Calais, of the North of the Ardennes, of the Meuse, of the Moselle, of the Lower Rhine, and of the Upper Rhine, from the interior of France. It is further agreed, that neither the Allied Troops nor the French Troops, shall occupy (except it be for particular reasons, and by common consent) the Territories and Districts hereafter named, id est. In the Department of the Somme, all the Country north of that River, from Ham, to where it falls into the Sea; in the Department of l'Aisne, the Districts of St. Quentin, Vervins and Laôn; in the Departments of the Marne, those of Rheims, St. Ménéhould, and Vitry; in the Department of the Upper Marne, those of St. Diner and Joinville; in the Department of the Meurthe, those of Toul, Dieuze, Sarrebourg and Blamont; in the Department of the Vosges, those of St. Diez, Brugères and Remiremont. The District of Lure, in the Department of the Upper Saône; and that of St. Hyppolite in the Department of the Doules.
Notwithstanding the occupation, by the Allies, of the portion of territory fixed by the Principal Treaty, and by the present Convention, his Most Christian Majesty may, in the towns situated within the territory occupied, maintain garrisons, the number of which, however, shall not exceed what is laid down in the following enumeration: At Calais 1,000 men, Gravelines 500, Bergues 500, St. Omer 1,500, Béthune 500, Montreuil 500, Hesdins 250, Ardres 150, Aire 500, Arras 1,000, Boulogne 300, St. Venant 300, Lille 3,000, Dunkirk and its Forts 1,000, Douay and Fort de Scarpe 1,000, Verdun 500, Metz 3,000, Lauterbourg 200, Weissenbourg 150, Lichtenbourg 150, Petite Pierre 100, Phalsbourg 600, Strasbourg 3,000, Schlestadt 1,000, Neuf Brisach and Fort Mortier 1,000, Befort 1,000.
It is, however, well understood, that the Material belonging to the Engineer and Artillery Departments, as well as such Articles of Military Equipment as do not properly belong to those Fortresses, shall be withdrawn from them, and shall be transported to such places as the French government shall think fit, provided those places are situated without the line occupied by the Allied Troops, and without the Districts in which it is agreed not to leave any troops either Allied or French. If any infraction of the above stipulations should come to the knowledge of the Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies; he shall make his representations on the sub,- ject to the French government, which engages to do what is right thereupon. The Fortresses above mentioned being, at this moment, unprovided with Garrisons, the French government may place therein, as soon as it shall think fit, the number of troops fixed as above, apprizing always before-hand the Commander in Chief of the Allied Troops, in order to avoid any difficulty and delay which the French troops might experience in their march.
ART. V. The Military Command in the whole extent of the Departments which shall remain occupied by the Allied Troops, shall belong to the General in Chief of those troops; it is, however, distinctly understood, that it shall not extend to the Fortresses which the French Troops are to occupy, in virtue of the Fourth Article of the present Convention, nor to a rayon of a Thousand Toises around each of these places.
ART. VI. The Civil Administration, the Administration of Justice, and the collection of Taxes and Contributions of all sorts, shall remain in the hands of the agents of his Majesty the King of France. The same shall be the case with respect to the Customs. They shall remain in their present state, and the Commanders of the Allied Troops shall throw no obstacle in the way of the measures to be taken by the officers employed in that service, to prevent frauds: they shall even give them, in case of need, succour and assistance.
ART. VII. To prevent all abuses which might affect the regulations of the Customs, the Clothing and Equipment, and other necessary articles destined for the Allied Troops, shall not be allowed to enter, except they be furnished with a Certificate of Origin, and in pursuance of a communication to be made by the Commanding Officers of the different corps to the General in Chief of the Allied Army, who will, on his part, cause information to be given thereof to the French government, who will, in consequence thereof, issue the proper orders to their officers employed in the administration of the Customs.
ART. VIII. The service of the Gen-d'Armerie being acknowledged as necessary to the maintenance of order and public tranquillity, shall continue, as hitherto, in the Countries occupied by the Allied Troops.
ART. IX. The Allied Troops, with the exception of those that are to form the Army of Occupation, shall evacuate the territory of France in twenty-one days after the signature of the Principal Treaty. The territories which, according to that Treaty, are to be ceded to the Allies, as well as the Fortresses of Landau and Sarre-Louis, shall be delivered up by the French Authorities and troops, in ten days from the date of the signature of the Treaty. Those places shall be given up in the state in which they were on the 20th of September last. Commissioners shall be named on both sides, to ascertain and declare that state; and to deliver and receive respectively the Artillery, the Military Stores, Plans, Models, and Archives belonging as well to the said places, as to the different Districts ceded by France accordingly to the Treaty of this day. Commissioners shall also be named to examine and ascertain the state of those places still occupied by the French troops, and which, according to the Fifth Article of the Principal Treaty, are to be held in deposit, for a certain time, by the Allies. These places shall also be delivered up to the Allied Troops in ten days from the date of the signature of the Treaty. Commissioners shall also be named by the French Government, on one part, and by the General commanding in Chief, the Allied Troops destined to remain in France, on the other; also by the General commanding the Allied Troops which are at present in possession of the Fortresses of Avesnes, Landrecy, Maubeuge, Rocroy, Givet, Montmedy, Longwy, Mezières, and Sedan, to ascertain and declare the state of those places, and of the Military Stores, Maps, Plans, Models, &c. which they shall contain at the moment which shall be considered as that of the occupation, in virtue of the Treaty. The Allied Powers engage to restore, at the expiration of the temporary occupation, all the places named in the Fifth Article of the Principal Treaty, in the state in which they shall have been found at the time of that occupation, save and except the Damages which may have been caused by time, and which the French Government should not have provided against by the necessary repairs.
Done at Paris, this 20th day of November, 1815.
Signed Signed (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. V.—ADDITIONAL ARTICLE to the Military Convention, signed at Paris the 20th of November 1815.
The High Contracting Parties having agreed, by Article 5, of the Treaty of this day, to occupy for a certain period, with an Allied Army, Military Positions in France, and being desirous of anticipating all that might hazard the order and discipline which it is so important to maintain in that army, it is determined upon by the present Additional Article, that every Deserter, who, from either of the corps of the said army, should go over to the French side, shall immediately be arrested by the French Authorities, and delivered up to the nearest Commander of the Allied Troops, in like manner as all Deserters from the French Troops, who might come over towards the Allied Army, shall be immediately delivered up to the nearest French Commandant. The tenor of this Article is to apply equally to such Deserters from either side who may have forsaken their colours previously to the signature of the Treaty; the same to be without delay restored and delivered up to the respective corps to which they may belong. The present additional Article shall have the same force and validity as if it were inserted, word for word, in the Military Convention of this day. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms.
Done at Paris, the 20th Nov. 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. VI.—TARIF annexed to the Convention relative to the occupation of a military line in France by an Allied Army.
NOTE from the Allied Ministers to the Duke de Richelieu, on the nature and extent of the Powers, attached to the command of the Duke of Wellington; Paris, Nov. 20th, 1815.
The Allied Sovereigns having entrusted Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington with the command in chief of that portion of their troops which, by Art. V. of the Treaty concluded this day with France, is to remain in that country for a certain number of years, the undersigned Ministers of the Cabinets, &c. &c. &c. think it advisable to come to an understanding with his Excellency the Duke de Richlieu upon the nature and extent of the powers attached to this command.
Although chiefly led to the adoption of this measure by motives of consideration for the security and welfare of their own subjects, and far from having the intention of employing their troops in the maintenance of the police or interior administration of France, or of interfering with or shackling the free exercise of the royal authority in that country, the Allied Sovereigns have, nevertheless, in consideration of the high interest which induces them to strengthen the authority of the legitimate Sovereign promised to his Most Christian Majesty, to support him with their arms against all revolutionary convulsion, tending to overturn by force the state of things actually established, and which would thus threaten anew the tranquillity of Europe.
But not forgetting that under the variety of shapes in which the revolutionary spirit might still show itself in France there might be doubts as to what cases might require the interference of a foreign force, and being well aware of the difficulty of giving precise instructions, applicable to each particular case, the Allied Sovereigns have thought it most advisable to confide to the known prudence and discretion of the Duke of Wellington, the determination of the time and mode in which it would be proper to employ the troops under his orders, in a full confidence that he will in no case act without having previously concerted his measures with his Majesty the King of France, and that he will acquaint, as soon as possible, the Allied Sovereigns with the motives which have engaged him to take his determinations.
And, as in order to assist the Duke of Wellington, in the choice of his dispositions, it will be important that he should be accurately informed of the events which take place in France, the ministers of the four Allied Courts accredited to his Most Christian Majesty have received orders to keep up jointly a regular correspondence with his grace, and to be at the same time the regular channel of communication between the French government and the Commander in Chief of the Allied troops, for the purpose of forwarding to the French government those communications which the Duke of Wellington may have to address to it, and also transmit to the Field Marshal those views and applications which the Court of France might wish he should receive.
The undersigned hope that the Duke de Richelieu will perceive in these arrangements the same character and the same principles in which the measure of the military occupation of part of France has been conceived and adopted. They, moreover, carry with them, in quitting this country, the consolatory persuasion, that notwithstanding the elements of disorder which France may still contain in consequence of the revolutionary events, a wise and paternal government, acting on principles adapted to compose and conciliate the minds of the people, and abstaining from all acts contrary to such system will succeed not only in maintaining the public repose, but also in re-establishing universal union and confidence, while it will relieve the Allied Powers, as far as the measures of the government will admit, from the painful necessity of recurring to the adoption of means, which, in the event of renewed disorder, would be imperiously prescribed to them by the duty of providing for the security of their own subjects, and the general tranquillity of Europe.
The undersigned, &c.
(Signed) (Signed) Castlereagh. Capo D'Istria. Hardenberg. Rasoumoffsky. Metternich. Wessenberg.
No. VII—CONVENTION between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity to the Ninth Article of the Principal Treaty, relative to the Examination and Liquidation of the Claim of the Subjects of his Britannic Majesty against the Government of France.
ART. I. The subjects of his Britannic Majesty, having Claims upon the French Government, who, in contravention of the Second Article of the Treaty of Commerce of 1786, and since the 1st of January 1793 have suffered on that account, by the Confiscations or Sequestrations decreed in France, shall, in conformity to the Fourth Additional Article of the Treaty of Paris of the year 1814, themselves, their heirs or assigns, subjects of his Britannic Majesty, be indemnified and paid, when their claims shall have been admitted as legitimate, and when the amount of them shall have been ascertained, according to the forms and under the conditions hereafter stipulated.
ART. II. The subjects of his Britannic Majesty, holders of permanent Stock under the French Government, and who on that account have, since the first of January 1793, suffered by the Confiscations or Sequestrations decreed in France, shall themselves, their heirs or assigns, subjects of his Britannic Majesty, be inscribed in the Great Book of the consolidated Debt of France, for an amount of Stock equal to the amount of the Stuck they possessed prior to the Laws and Decrees of Sequestration or of Confiscation above mentioned. In the cases in which the Edicts or Decrees constituting the above-mentioned Stock shall have added thereto profitable conditions, or favourable chances, account shall be had thereof in favour of the Creditors, and an addition, founded upon a just evaluation of such advantages, shall be made to the amount of the Stock to be inscribed. The new Inscriptions shall bear date and bear interest from the 22nd of March 1816. Such subjects of his Britannic Majesty who, by receiving their annuities at a third, after the 30th of September 1797, have submitted themselves by their own act to the laws existing upon this subject, are exempted from the above-mentioned dispositions.
ART. III. Such of the subjects of his Britannic Majesty or their heirs or assigns, subjects of his Britannic Majesty, as possessed Life Annuities from the French Government before the Decrees of Confiscation or Segues- tration, shall equally be inscribed upon the Great Book of the Life Annuities of France, for the same sum of Life Annuities as they enjoyed in 1193. Such of the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, however, as have changed the nature of their claims, by receiving their annuities at a third, and thus by their own act have submitted themselves to the laws existing upon this subject shall be excepted from the above dispositions. The new inscriptions shall bear date, and bear interest from the 22nd of March, 1816. Prior to the delivery of the new inscriptions, the claimants shall be bound to produce certificates, according to the usual form, declaring that the persons in whose names their Life Annuities were constituted are still alive. With respect to those of the above-mentioned subjects of his Britannic Majesty possessing Life Annuities in the names of persons who are dead, they shall be bound to produce Certificates of Demise, in the usual forms, stating the period of the decease; and in that case, the Annuities shall be paid up to such period.
ART. IV. Such arrears of the Perpetual and Life Annuities as shall have been liquidated and allowed, and as shall be due up to the 22nd of March next exclusively, save the cases of exemption specified in the Second and Third Articles; shall be inscribed in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, at the rate which shall be the medium price between par and the current market price of the day, at the date of the signature of the present Treaty. The Inscriptions shall bear date and bear interest from the 22nd of March, 1816, inclusively.
ART. V. In order to determine the Capital due on immoveable property which belonged to subjects of his Britannic Majesty, to their heirs or assigns, equally subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and which was sequestered, confiscated and sold, the following process shall be had: The said subjects of his Britannic Majesty shall be obliged to produce; 1st, the Deed of Purchase proving their proprietorship: 2ndly, the acts proving the facts of the sequestration, and of the confiscation against themselves, their ancestors or assignors, subjects of his Britannic Majesty. In default however of all proofs in writing, considering the circumstances under which the confiscations and sequestrations took place, and those which have since arisen, such other proof shall be admitted as the Commissioners of Liquidation hereafter mentioned shall judge sufficient in lieu thereof.—The French government further engages to facilitate by every means, the production of all titles and proofs serving to substantiate the claims to which the present Article refers, and the Commissioners shall be authorized to make all search, which they shall judge necessary to arrive at such information, and to obtain the production of such titles and proofs; they shall also be empowered to examine upon oath, in case of need, such persons employed in the public offices, as may have it in their power to point them out, or to furnish them.
The value of the said immoveable property shall be determined and fixed by the production of an extract of the "Matrice," of the "Roles," of the "Contribution foncière" for the year 1791, and at the rate of twenty times the revenue mentioned in the said "Roles." If the "Matrices" should no longer exist, and that it should therefore be impossible to produce the extracts, the claimants shall be authorised to furnish such other proofs, as shall be admitted by the Commission of Liquidation mentioned in the following Articles—The capital thus liquidated and allowed shall be inscribed upon the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, at the rate which has been fixed in the fourth Article for the inspection of the arrears of the annuities; and the Inscriptions shall bear date and shall bear interest from the 22nd of March next inclusively.—The arrears due upon the said capital from the period of its sequestration, shall be calculated at the rate of four per cent. per annum, without deduction, and the whole amount of those arrears up to the 22nd of March next exclusively, shall be inscribed in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France at the rate above-mentioned, and shall bear interest from the 22nd of March next inclusively.
ART. VI. In order to fix the capital as well as the arrears which shall be due to such of the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, whose moveable property in France has been sequestered, confiscated and sold, or to their heirs or assigns, subjects of his Britannic Majesty, the following process shall be had: The claimants shall be obliged to produce: 1st, the procès verbal containing the inventory of the moveable effects seized or sequestered. 2ndly, the procès verbal of the sale of the said effects, or in default of proofs in writing, such other proof as the respective Commissioners of the two Powers shall judge sufficient in lieu thereof, according to the principles established in the preceding''Article; the French government engaging in this respect to give the same facilities, and the Commissioners are authorized to make the same search, and to take the same measures, at have been detailed in the foregoing Article, with respect to immoveable property. The amount of the stock arising from the seizures and sales of the moveable property shall be thus determined; regard being always had to those periods during which paper money was in circulation and to the fictitious augmentation of prices resulting therefrom.—The capital liquidated and allowed shall be inscribed upon the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, at the rate which has been fixed by the preceding Articles, and the Inscriptions shall bear date, and shall bear interest from the 22nd of March next inclusively.—The arrears liquidated and allowed, due upon the said capital from the period at which the claimant was deprived of the possession of his or her move- able property, shall be calculated at the rate of three per cent. per annum, without deduction, and the whole amount of the said arrears up to the 22nd of March next, exclusively, shall be inscribed upon the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, at the rate above mentioned; and shall bear interest from the 22nd of March next, inclusively.—The vessels, ships, cargoes and other moveable property which shall have been seized and confiscated either to the profit of France, or to the profit of the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty, in conformity to the Laws of War, and the prohibitory Decrees, shall not be admitted to the liquidation, nor to the payments mentioned in the present Article:
ART. VII. The claims of the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, arising from the different loans made by the French government, or from mortgages upon property sequestered, seized and sold by the said government, or any other claim whatsoever r, not comprised in the preceding Articles, and which would be admissible according to the terms of the fourth Additional Article of the Treaty of Paris of 1814, and of the present Convention shall be liquidated and fixed, adopting with respect to each claim, the modes of admission, of verification, and of liquidation, which shall be conformable to their respective natures, and which shall be defined and fixed by the mixed Commission mentioned in the following Articles, according to the principles laid down in the above Articles.—These claims thus liquidated, shall be paid in Inscriptions in the Great Book at the rate above mentioned, and the Inscriptions shall bear date, and shall bear interest from the 22nd of March next inclusively.—In the cases wherein the Edicts or Decrees constituting the claims above-mentioned shall have assured to the creditors the reimbursement of the capitals, and other profitable conditions or favourable chances, account shall be had thereof to the benefit of the claimants, as detailed above in Article II.
ART. VIII. The amount of the Inscriptions arising to each creditor from his claims liquidated and allowed shall be divided by the Commissioners of Deposit, into five equal portions: the first of which shall be delivered immediately after liquidation, the second three months after, and so on with respect to the other portions, every three months; the creditors will nevertheless, receive the interests of the whole of their debts liquidated, and allowed from the 22d of March 1816, inclusive, as soon as their respective claims shall have been allowed and admitted.
ART. IX. A capital, producing an interest of 3,500,000 Francs, commencing from the 22d of March 1816, shall be inscribed as a fund of guarantee, in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, in the name of two or four Commissioners, the one half English and the other half French, chosen by their respective governments. These Commissioners shall receive the raid interest from the 22d of March 1816, every six months; they shall hold it in deposit, without having the power of negociating it, and they shall further be bound to place the amount of it in the Public Funds, and to receive the accumulated and compound interest of the same, for the profit of the creditors. In case the 3,500,000 Francs of interest shall be insufficient, there shall be delivered to the said Commissioners Inscriptions for larger sums, until their amount shall be equal to what may be necessary to pay all the debts mentioned in the present Act. These Additional Inscriptions, if there shall be any, shall be delivered, bearing interest from the same period as the 3,500,000 Francs, above stipulated, and shall be administered by the Commissioners, according to the same principles, so that the claims which shall remain to be paid, shall be paid with the same proportion of accumulated and compound interest, as if the Fund of Guarantee had been from the first sufficient, and as soon as all the payments due to the creditors shall have been made, the surplus of the interest fund not employed, with the proportion of accumulated and compound interest which shall belong thereto, shall, if there be any, be given up to the disposal of the French government.
ART. X. In proportion as the liquidation shall be effected, and as the claims shall be allowed, distinction being made between the sums representing the capitals, and the sums, arising from the arrears or interest, the Commission of Liquidation, which shall be mentioned in the following Articles, shall deliver to the creditors, allowed to be such, two certificates for the value of the whole inscription to be made, bearing interest from the 22d of March 1816, inclusive; one of the certificates relating to the capital of the debt, and the other relating to the arrears, or interest liquidated up to the 22d of March 1816 exclusively.
ART. XI. The certificates above mentioned shall be delivered over to the Commissioners holding the annuities in deposit, who shall check the same, in order that they be immediately inscribed into the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, to the debit of the deposit fund, and to the credit of the new creditors, acknowledged as such, bearers of the said certificates, care being taken to distinguish the Perpetual from the Life Annuities. And the said creditors shall be authorised from the day of the definitive liquidation of their claims, to receive, for their profit, from the said Commissioners the interests which are due to them, together with the accumulated and compound interests, if there be any, as well as such portion of the capital as shall have been paid, according to what has been regulated by the preceding Articles.
ART. XII. A further delay shall be allowed, after the signature of the present Convention, to the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, who shall have claims upon the French Government, for the matters specified in the present Act, in order that they may bring forward their claims and produce their titles.—This delay shall be extended to three months for the creditors residing in Europe, six months for such as are in the Western colonies, and twelve months for such as are resident in the East Indies, or in other countries equally distant. After the expiration of these periods, the said subjects of his Britannic Majesty shall no longer have the benefit of the present liquidation.
ART. XIII. In order to proceed in the liquidation and allowance of the claims mentioned in the preceding Articles, there shall be formed a commission, composed of two French and two English commissioners, who shall be nominated and appointed by their respective Governments. These Commissioners after they shall have allowed and admitted the titles to the claims, shall proceed, according to the principles pointed out, to the allowance, liquidation, and determination of the sums which shall be due to each creditor. In proportion as the claims shall be allowed and ascertained, they shall deliver to the creditors the two certificates mentioned in the 10th Article, one for the capital, the other for the interests.
ART. XIV. A Commission of Arbitrators shall at the same time be named, composed of four members, two of whom shall be named by the British Government and two by the French Government. If it shall be necessary to call upon the Arbitrators, in case of an equality of votes on any point, the four names of the Arbitrators, English and French, shall be put into an urn, and the one of the four whose name shall be drawn first shall be the Arbitrator of the particular affair upon which there shall have been such equality of votes. Each of the Commissioners of Liquidation shall, in his turn, take from the urn the ticket which is to point out the Arbitrator. A Procès-verbal shall be made of this operation, and shall be annexed to the one which shall be drawn up for the liquidation and determination of the particular claim. If a vacancy shall take place, either in the commission of liquidation or in that of arbitration, the government, which ought to provide for the nomination of a new member, shall proceed to that nomination without delay, in order that the two commissions may always remain as far as possible complete. If one of the Commissioners of Liquidation shall be absent, he shall be replaced, during his absence, by one of the Arbitrators of his nation; and as in that case there will remain but one arbitrator of that nation, the two arbitrators of the other nation shall also be reduced to one by lot. And if one of the Arbitrators should absent himself, the same operation shall take place, in order to reduce to one the two Arbitrators of the other nation. It is generally understood, that in order to obviate all manner of delay in this business, the liquidation and adjudication shall not be suspended provided there shall be present, and in activity, one Commissioner and one Arbitrator of each nation, the principle of equality between the Commissioners and the Arbitrators of the two nations being always preserved and re-established if necessary by lot. Whenever either of the Contracting Powers shall proceed to the nomination of new Commissioners of Liquidation, of Deposit, or of Arbitration, the said Commissioners shall be obliged, previously to their entering upon their functions, to make the oath, and in the forms detailed in the following Article.
ART. XV. The Commissioners of Liquidation, the Commissioners of Deposit, and the Arbitrators shall together make oath, in presence of the Ambassador of his Britannic Majesty, and between the hands of the Keeper of the Seals of France, to proceed justly and faithfully, to have no preference either for the creditor or for the debtor, and to act in all their proceedings according to the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 1814, and of the Treaties and Conventions with France signed this day, and more particularly according to those of the present Convention. The Commissioners of Liquidation and the Arbitrators shall be authorised to call witnesses whenever they shall judge it necessary and to examine them by oath in the usual forms, upon all points relative to the different claims which form the object of this Convention.
ART. XVI. When the 3,500,000 francs of interest, mentioned in the 9th Article, shall have been inscribed in the name of the Commissioners who are to hold that sum in deposit, and on the first demand which shall be thereafter made by the French Government, his Britannic Majesty shall give the necessary orders to carry into execution the restoration of the French colonies, as stipulated by the Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 184 comprehending Martinique and Guadaloupe, which have been since occupied by the British Forces. The inscription above mentioned shall be made before the 1st of January next, at the latest.
ART. XVII. The prisoners of war, officers and soldiers, both naval and military, or of any other description, taken during the hostilities which have lately ceased, shall on both sides be immediately restored to their respective countries, under the same conditions which are specified in the Convention of the 23d of April 1814, and in the Treaty of the 30th of May of the same year; and the British Government renounces all claim to any sums or indemnities whatsoever, which might belong to it from the surplus arising from the maintenance of the said prisoners of war, subject nevertheless to the condition specified in the 4th Additional Article of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 1814.
Done at Paris the 20th day of Nov. 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. VIII.—ADDITIONAL ARTICLE to the preceding Convention, relative to British Merchandise at Bourdeaux.
The claims of the subjects of his Britannic Majesty founded on a decision of his Most Christian Majesty relative to the British merchandise introduced into Bordeaux, in conformity to the tarif of customs published in the above-mentioned city, by his Royal Highness the Duke d'Angouleme, on the 24th of March 1814, shall be liquidated and paid, according to the principles and the object declared in the above-mentioned decision of his Most Christian Majesty. The Commission instituted by the 13th Article of the Convention of this day is directed to proceed immediately to the liquidation of the said claim, and to fix the dates of its payment to be made in money. The decision which shall be made by the commissioners shall be executed immediately, according to its form and tenor. The present Additional Article shall have the same force and effect as if it were inserted word for word in the Convention signed this day relative to the examination and liquidation of the claims of the subjects of his Britannic Majesty against the Government of France.
In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereto affixed the seals of their arms.—Done at Paris, the 20th day of November 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
No. IX.—TREATY of Alliance and Friendship between His Britannic Majesty, and the Emperor of Austria. Signed at Paris the 20th of November 1815.
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
The purpose of the Alliance concluded at Vienna the 25th day of March 1815, having been happily attained by the re-establishment in France of the order of things which the last criminal attempt of Napoleon Buonaparté had momentarily subverted; Their Majesties the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Emperor of till the Russias, and the King of Prussia, considering that the Repose of Europe is essentially interwoven with the confirmation of the order of things founded on the maintenance of the Royal Authority and of the Constitutional Charter, and wishing to employ all their means to prevent the general tranquillity, (the object of the wishes of mankind and the constant end of their efforts) from being again disturbed; desirous moreover to draw closer the ties which unite Them for the common interests of Their People, have resolved to give to the principles solemnly laid down in the Treaties of Chamont of the 1st of March 1814, and of Vienna of the 25th of March 1315, the application the most analagous to the present state of affairs, and to fix beforehand by a solemn Treaty the Principles which They propose to follow, in order to guaranty Europe from the dangers by which She may still be menaced; for which purpose the High Contracting Parties have named to discuss, settle and sign the conditions of this Treaty, namely; His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart Vise. Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Member of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Colonel of the Londonderry Regiment of Militia, and His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and the Most Illustrious and Most Noble Lord Arthur, Duke, Marquess and Earl of Wellington, Marquess of Douro Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington, and Baron Douro, of Wellesley, one of His said Majesty's Privy Councillors, Field Marshal of His Armies, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Prince of Waterloo, Duke of Ciudad:Rodrigo, and a Grandee of Spain of the First Class, Duke of Vittoria, Marquess of Torres Vedras, Earl of Vimeira in Portugal, Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, 4 the Spanish Military Order of St. Ferdinand, Grand Cross of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Theresa, Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of St. George of Russia, Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia, Grand Cross of the Royal Portuguese Military Order of the Tower and Sword, Grand Cross 4 the Royal Swedish Military Order of the Sword, Grand Cross of the Orders of the Elephant of Denmark, of William of the Netherlands, of the Annunciation of Sardinia, of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, and of several others, and Commander in Chief of the British Armies in France and those of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands; and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Clement Wenceslas Lothaire, Prince of Metternich - Winnebourgh - Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Orders of St. Andrew, of Saint Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation, of the Black and of the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, of Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others, Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria-Theresa, Curator of the Academy of Fine Arts, Chamberlain and Privy Councillor of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, His Minister of State, of Conferences and for Foreign Affairs; and the Sieur John Philip Baron of Wessenberg, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen, Grand Cross of the Military and Religious Orders of St. Maurice and of St. Iazarus, Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, of that of the Crown of Bavaria, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, and of Fidelity of Baden, Chamberlain and Privy Councillor of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia; who, after having exchanged their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally promise to maintain, in its force and, vigour, the Treaty signed this day with His Most Christian Majesty, and to see that the stipulations of the said Treaty, as well as those of the particular Conventions which have reference thereto, shall be strictly and faithfully executed in their fullest extent.
ART. II. The High Contracting Parties, having engaged in the war which is just terminated, for the purpose of maintaining inviolably the Arrangements settled at Paris last year, for the safety and interest of Europe, have judged it advisable to renew the said Engagements by the present Act, and to confirm them as mutually obligatory, subject to the Modifications contained in the Treaty signed this day with the Plenipotentiaries of his Most Christian Majesty, and particularly those by which Napoleon Buonaparté and his family, in pursuance of the Treaty of the 11th of April 1814, have been for ever excluded from Supreme Power in France, which exclusion the Contracting Powers bind themselves, by the present Act, to maintain in full vigour, and, should it be necessary, with the whole of their Forces. And as the same Revolutionary Principles which upheld the last criminal Usurpation, might again, under other forms, convulse France, and thereby endanger the repose of other States; under these circumstances, the High Contracting Parties solemnly admitting it to be their Duty to redouble their watchfulnes for the tranquillity and interests of their People, engage, in case so unfortunate an event should again occur, to concert amongst themselves, and with his Most Christian Majesty, the measures which they may judge necessary to be pursued for the safety of their respective States, and for the general Tranquillity of Europe.
ART. III. The High Contracting Parties, in agreeing with his Most Christian Majesty that a line of military positions in France should be occupied by a corps of Allied troops during a certain number of years, had in view to secure, as far as lay in their power, the effect of the stipulations contained in Articles I. and II. of the present Treaty, and uniformly disposed to adopt every salutary measure calculated to secure the tranquillity of Europe by maintaining the order of things re-esta blished in France, they engage, that in case the said body of troops should be attacked or menaced with an attack on the part of France, that the said Powers should be again obliged to place themselves on a war establishment against that Power, in order to maintain either of the said stipulations, or to secure and support the great interests to which they relate, each of the High Contracting Parties shall furnish, without delay, according to the stipulations of the Treaty of Chaumont, and especially in pursuance of the 7th and 8th Articles of this Treaty, its full Contingent of Sixty Thousand Men, in addition to the forces left in France, or such part of the said Contingent as the exigency of the case may require should be put in motion.
ART. IV. If, unfortunately, the forces stipulated in the preceding Article should be found insufficient, the High Contracting Parties will concert together, without loss of time, as to the additional number of troops to be furnished by each for the support of the Common Cause; and they engage to employ in case of need, the whole of their forces, in order to bring the War to a speedy and successful termination, reserving to themselves the right to prescribe, by common consent; such Conditions of Peace as shall hold out to Europe a sufficient Guarantee against the recurrence of a similar calamity.
ART. V. The High Contracting Parties having agreed to the dispositions laid down in the preceding Articles, for the purpose of securing the effect of their Engagements during the period of the temporary occupation, declare, moreover, that even after the expiration of this measure, the said Engagements shall still remain in full force and vigour, for the purpose of carrying into effect such measures as may be deemed necessary for the maintenance of the stipulations contained in the Articles I. and II. of the present Act.
ART. VI. To facilitate and to secure the execution of the present Treaty, and to consolidate the connexions which at the present moment so closely unite the Four Sovereigns for the Happiness of the World, the High Contracting Parties have agreed to renew their meetings at fixed periods, either under the immediate auspices of the Sovereigns themselves, or by their respective ministers, for the purpose of consulting upon their common interests, and for the consideration of the measures which at each of those periods shall be considered the most salutary for the repose and prosperity of Nations, and for the maintenance of the Peace of Europe.
ART. VII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within Two Months, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and affixed thereto the seal of their arms.—Done at Paris, the 20th of November; 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Metternich. (L. S.) Wellington. (L. S.) Wessenberg.
NOTE.—Similar Treaties were signed on the same day by the Plenipotentiaries of his Majesty, with those of the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, respectively.
No. X.—NOTE from the Ministers of the United Cabinets, to the Duke de Richelieu, communicating a Copy of the preceding Treaty of Alliance; dated Paris 20th November 1815.
The Undersigned Ministers of the United Cabinets have the honour to communicate to his Excellency the Duke de Richelieu the New Treaty of Alliance which they have just signed, in the name and by command of Their august Sovereigns; the object of which has been, to give to the Principles established by those of Chaumont and Vienna the application the most conformable to existing circumstances, and to unite the destinies of France with the common interest of Europe.
The Allied Cabinets consider the stability of the order of things, happily re-established in this Country, as one of the essential bases of a solid and durable tranquillity. It is towards this end that their united efforts have been constantly directed; it is their sincere desire to maintain and to consolidate the result of these efforts, which has dictated all the stipulations of the New Treaty. His Most Christian Majesty will perceive in this Act the solicitude with which they have concerted measures the most proper to remove every thing which might in future endanger the interior repose of France, and prepared remedies against the dangers with which the Royal Authority, the basis of public order, might yet be menaced. The principles and the intentions of the Allied Sovereigns in this respect are invariable; of this the engagements which they have just contracted furnish the most unequivocal proofs; but the lively interest which they take in the satisfaction of his Most Christian Majesty, as well as in the tranquillity and prosperity of his Kingdom, makes them hope that the fatal chances supposed in these engagements, will never be realized.
The Allied Cabinets find the first guarantee of this hope in the clear principles, magnanimous sentiments, and personal virtues of his Most Christian Majesty. His Majesty acknowledges with them, that in a State torn during a quarter of a century by Revolutionary Convulsions, it is not by force alone, that calm can be restored to the mind, confidence to the heart, and equilibrium to the different parts of the social body; but that Wisdom should be united with Vigour, and Moderation with Firmness, for producing these happy changes.
Far from fearing that his Most Christian Majesty will ever lend an ear to imprudent or impassioned councils, tending to renew discontents and alarms, to excite hatred and divisions, the Allied Cabinets are entirely relieved from that anxiety by the wise as well as generous disposition which the King has evinced at every period of his reign, and especially at that of his return after the last criminal attempt. They know that his Majesty will oppose to all the enemies of the public good, and of the tranquillity of his Kingdom, under whatever form they may present themselves, his adherence to the Constitutional Laws, promulgated under his own Auspices, his well-understood intention, to be the Father of all his subjects, to efface from remembrance the evils which they have suffered, and to preserve of times past only the good which Providence has brought forth even from the bosom of public calamity. It is thus only that the views formed by the Allied Cabinets for the preservation of the Constitutional authority of his Most Christian Majesty, for the happiness of his Country, and for the maintenance of the Peace of the World, will be crowned with a complete success, and that France, established upon her ancient basis, will resume the eminent place to which she is called in the European System.
The Undersigned have the honour to renew to his Excellency the Duke de Richelieu the assurances of their high consideration.
(Signed.) Signed.) Metternich. Castlereagh. Hardenberg. Capo D'Istria.
No. XI.—EXTRACT OF A PROTOCOL for regulating the Dispositions relative to the Territories and Places ceded by France, by Articles I, II, and III, of Treaty.
The Ministers of the Imperial and Royal Courts of Austria, of Russia, of Great Britain, and of Prussia, having taken into consideration the measures become necessary by those arrangements with trance which are to terminate the present war, have agreed to lay down, in the Present Protocol, the dispositions relative to the territorial cessions to be made by France, and to the contributions destined for strengthening the line of defence of the bordering States.
ART. I. Kingdom of the Low Countries.—Considering that his Majesty the King of the Low Countries ought to participate in a just proportion in the advantages resulting from the present arrangement with France, and considering the state of his frontiers on the side of that country; it is agreed, that the districts which formed part of the Belgic Provinces, of the Bishopric of Liege, and of the Duchy of Bouillon, as well as the Towns of Philipeville and Marienbourg, with their Territories, which France is to cede to the Allies, shall be assigned to his Majesty the King of the Low Countries, to be united to his dominions; his Majesty the King of the Low Countries shall receive, moreover, out of that part of the French contribution which is destined towards strenthening the line of defence of the States bordering upon France, the sum of sixty millions of franks, which shall be laid out in fortifying the frontiers of the Low Countries, in conformity with the plans and regulations which the Powers shall settle in this respect. It is besides agreed, that in consideration of the advantages which his Majesty the King of the Low Countries will derive from these dispositions, both in the increase of, and in the means for defending his territory, that that proportion of the pecuniary indemnity payable by France to which his said Majesty might lay claim, shall serve towards putting the indemnities of Austria and Prussia on the level of a just proportion.
ART. II. Acquisitions of Prussia.—The districts which, by the new Treaty with France, will be detached from the French territory in the department of the Sarre and the Moselle; including the fortress of Sarre-Louis, shall be united to the dominions of the King of Prussia.
ART. III. Acquisitions of Austria.—The territories which France is to cede in the department of the Lower Rhine, including the town and fortress of Landau, shall be united to those possessions on the left bank of the Rhine which devolve to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty by the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. His Majesty may dispose of his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, in the territorial arrangements with Bavaria, and other States of the Germanic Confederation.
ART. IV. Helvetic Confederation.—Versoix, with that part of the Pays de Gex which is to be ceded by France, shall be united to Switzerland, and form part of the Canton of Geneva. The neutrality of Switzerland shall be extended to that territory, which is placed north of a line to be drawn from Ugina (in eluding that town) to the south of the Lake of Annecy, and from thence to the Lake of Bourget, as far as the Rhone, in the same manner as it has been extended to the Provinces of Chablris and Faucigny by the 92nd Article of the final Act of the Congress of Vienna.
ART. V. Sardinia.—In order that his Majesty the King, of Sardinia may participate, in a just proportion in the advantages resulting from the present arrangement with France, it is agreed, that the portion of Savoy which remained to France in virtue of the Treaty Paris of the 30th of May 1814, shall be reunited to the dominions of his said Majesty, with the exception of the Commune of St. Julian, which shall be given up to the Canton of Geneva. The Cabinets of the Allied Courts will use their good offices for inducing his Sardinian Majesty to cede to the Canton of Geneva the Communes of Chesne, Thoneex and some others necessary for disengaging the Swiss territory of Jassy from the effects of the retrocession, by the Canton of Geneva, of that territory situated between the road of Euron and the lake, which had been ceded by his Sardinian Majesty, by the Act of the 29th March 1815. The French Government having consented to withdraw its lines of Custom and Excise from the frontiers of Switzerland, on the side of the Jura, the Cabinets of the Allied Powers will employ their good offices for inducing his Sardinian Majesty to withdraw, in like manner, his lines of Custom and Excise, on the side of Savoy, at least upwards of a league from the Swiss frontiers, and on the outside of the great road of Saleve, and of the mountains of Sion and of Waache. His Majesty the King of Sardinia shall receive, moreover, out of that part of the French contribution which is destined for the strengthening the line of defence of the States bordering upon France, the sum of ten millions of franks, which is to be laid out in fortifying his frontiers, in conformity with the plans and regulations which the Powers shall settle in this respect. It is likewise agreed, that, in consideration of the advantages which his Sardinian Majesty will derive from these dispositions, both in the extension and in the means for defending his territory that part of the pecuniary indemnity payable by France, to which his said Majesty might lay claim, shall serve towards putting the indemnities of Austria and Prussia on the level of a just proportion.
No. XII.—PROTOCOL respecting the Distribution of the 700 millions which France is to pay to the Allied Powers, under Art. IV. of the Treaty, and which is to serve instead of a particular Convention on that head.—Paris 20th Nov. 1815.
The undersigned Plenipotentiaries being met to fix the principles of the distribution of the sums which France is to pay, in pursuance of the Treaty of Paris of the 20th November 1815, between their respective Courts and the other Allied States, and having taken it into consideration, that it appears superfluous to conclude a particular Convention for this arrangement, have resolved to lay down, in the present Protocol, every thing that relates to that object, and to consider this Protocol as having the same force and validity as a formal and express Convention entered into by virtue of the full powers with which they are armed, and in pursuance of the instructions they have received from their respective Courts. In conformity with this determination they have concluded the following Articles:
ART. I. The Allied Powers, acknowledging the necessity of guaranteeing the tranquillity of the countries bordering on France, by erecting fortifications on certain points the most exposed, have determined to set apart for that object a portion of the sums which are to be paid by France, leaving the remainder for general distribution, under the head of Indemnities. A fourth part of the total sum to be paid by France shall be ap- plied to the erecting fortifications. But as the cession of the fortress of Saar Louis, equally founded on the motive of general safety, renders the construction of new fortifications in the vicinity of that fortress superfluous, and that the same has been estimated at fifty millions, by the Military Committee who were consulted upon that point, the said fortress shall be set down at the above-mentioned sum, in the calculation of the sums to be expended in fortifications, so that the aforesaid fourth part shall not be deducted from the 700 millions of francs promised by France, but from 750 millions, including the cession of Saar-Louis. In conformity with this disposition, the sum destined for fortifications is fixed at 187½ millions of francs, viz. 137½ millions in real value, and 50 millions, represented by the fortress of Saar-Louis.
ART. II. In apportioning these 187½ millions of francs amongst the states bordering on France, the undersigned ministers have had in view the necessity, more or less urgent, of those states to have additional fortresses, and the expense, more or less considerable, which the erecting them would incur, compared with the means which they severally possess, or will acquire by the present Treaty. According to these principles, the King of the Netherlands will receive 60 millions; the King of Prussia 20; the King of Sardinia 10; the King of Bavaria, or such other Sovereign of the countries bordering on France between the Rhine and the Prussian territory 15, the king of Spain 7½. Of the 25 millions which remain to be distributed, five shall be appropriated to finish the works at Mayence, and the remaining twenty shall be assigned for the erection of a new federal fortress upon the Upper Rhine. These sums shall be employed conformably with the plans and regulations which the powers shall adopt for that purpose.
ART. III. The sum destined for the fortifications being deducted, there remains 562½ millions, under the head of Indemnities which shall be apportioned in the following manner:
ART. IV. Although all the Allied States have afforded proofs of the same zeal and devotion for the common cause, there are some, notwithstanding, like Sweden, (which, from the very commencement, was released from all active co-operation, in consequence of the difficulty of conveying her troops across the Baltic) who have made no efforts whatever: others, like Spain, Portugal, and Denmark, although they have armed to assist in the struggle, have been prevented by the rapidity of events from effectually contributing to its success. Swisserland, which has rendered most essential services to the common cause, did not accede to the Treaty of the 25th March on the same conditions as the other Allies. These States are thereby placed in a different situation which does not allow of their being classed with the other Allied States, according to the number of their troops: it is therefore agreed, in order to obtain for them a just indemnity, as far as circumstances will permit to apportion 12½ millions in the following manner:—To Spain 5 millions; to Portugal 2; to Denmark 2½; to. Swisserland 3.
ART. V. The burthen of the war having been borne in the first instance by the armies under the respective commands of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Prince Blucher; and these armies having, moreover taken the city of Paris, it is agreed that there shall be retained out of the contributions paid by France, the sum of 25 millions for the service of Great Britain, and 25 millions for that of Prussia. Subject to the arrangements which Great Britain is to make with the powers, whose forces constituted the army of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, as to the sum which is to fall to their share under this head.
ART. VI. The 500 millions which remain after the deduction of the sums stipulated in the preceding Articles shall be apportioned in such manner as that Prussia, Austria, Russia and England shall each have a fifth part.
ART. VII. Notwithstanding the States which have acceded to the Treaty of the 25th of March of this year, have furnished collectively less than one fourth of the number of troops furnished by the four principal powers conjointly; it has been resolved not to take notice of this inequality; they will therefore, taken collectively, enjoy the fifth part which, in pursuance of the disposition contained in the preceding Article, remains of the five hundred millions.
ART. VIII. The allotment of this fifth amongst the several acceding States shall be in proportion to the number of troops furnished by them, and in the same manner as they have participated in the sum of ten millions, allowed by the French government for the pay of the troops; the table of this allotment is annexed to the present Protocol.
ART. IX. As his Majesty the King of Sardinia recovers part of Savoy, and his Majesty the King of the Low Countries receives in addition to the places of Marienbourg and Philipeville, and some other districts, that part of Belgium which the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, left to France; and it being understood that these two Sovereigns finding, in those accessions of territory, a fair compensation for their efforts, are not to participate in the pecuniary indemnity, their proportion, such as it is fixed in the table annexed to the preceding Article, shall be divided between Prussia and Austria.
ART. X. As the payments of the French government are to be made at the periods fixed by the Treaty, and of the Convention annexed thereto, it is resolved that each state who participates in these payments, in consequence of the present Protocol, shall receive at each of these periods the pro-rata of his share, and the same rule shall be followed where a State participates under various heads at once. Austria, for instance, in right of its fifth and in right of the part which she is to receive of the proportion of Belgium and Sardinia. This principle shall likewise be adopted, if, in case of the non-payment of the Trench government, it should be necessary to proceed to the sale of a portion of the Inscriptions which shall be deposited by way of pledge.
ART. XI. Prussia and Austria having declared the pressing necessity of their obtaining, in the course of the six first months, a larger sum than by an equal distribution would fall to their share; Russia and England consent, in order to facilitate the general arrangement, that each of those two powers should anticipate ten millions of francs of their proportion, to take date from the first payment, on condition of their holding themselves accountable for that sum in the subsequent years.
ART. XII. This deduction shall be made by one-fifth every year, so that Austria and Prussia will each relinquish to Russia and England 2,500,000 francs of their respective shares, in each of the four subsequent years.
ART. XIII. In order to avoid the numberless inconveniencies which must result from a want of unity in recovering the sums to be paid by France, it has been settled, that a commission, residing at Paris, shall have the sole management of recovering the same; that none of the States participating in these payments shall treat separately with the French government for this object; that they shall neither ask or receive directly from the said government, and without the intervention of the said commission, the documents by which the said payments may be obtained.—This Commission shall be composed of commissioners from Austria, Russia, Great Britain and Prussia, who shall treat with the French government; it shall be at the option of the other Allied States, in like manner to delegate Commissioners expressly to superintend their interests at the said Commission, which Commission shall be charged to deliver to them the effects or the specie which shall be recovered for their States. A regulation shall be forthwith drawn up respecting the exercise of the functions of the said Commission; to which shall be annexed the Table of the proportion which each State is to receive, and of the period of payment, according to the principles laid down in the present Act.
ART. XIV. The fifty millions stipulated by the Article of the Military Convention annexed to the Treaty of the 20th instant for the pay and other demands of the army which is to occupy a part of France shall be divided in such wise, as that
When France shall only pay, as will be the case in the first year, thirty millions, or any other sum less than fifty millions, for the object above specified; the same proportion shall be observed in the distribution of the sum so modified. The money which is referred to here shall be levied and allotted by the same Commission, established in pursuance of the 13th Article of the present Act, for the raising of the pecuniary indemnity.
ART. XV. Four exact copies shall be made of the present Protocol, which shall be furnished with the signature of the under-mentioned Plenipotentiaries, and shall have the force and validity herein-before expressed.
(Signed) (Signed) Castlereagh. Rasoumoffsky. Metternich. Hardenberg. Wessenberg. Humboldt. Capo D'Istria Wellington.
TABLE OF THE ALLOTMENT of the One Hundred Millions of Francs amongst the acceding Powers. Names of the acceding Powers, The 100 Millions of Francs make per Man 425 Francs 29 15,623/23,513 Cent. Men. Francs. Cents. Bavaria 60,000 25,517,798 66½ Low Countries 50,000 21,264,832 22½ Wirtemberg 20,000 8,505,932 88½ Sardinia 15,000 6,379,449 66½ Baden 16,000 6,804,746 31½ Hanover 10,000 4,252,966 44 Saxony 16,000 6,804,746 31½ Hesse-Darmstadt 8,000 3,402,373 15½ Heese-Cassel 12,000 5,103,559 73½ Mecklenburg-Schwerin 3,800 1,616,127 24½ Mecklenburg-Strelitz 800 340,237 31½ Saxe-Gotha 2,200 935,652 61½
Francs. Cent. Russia shall receive 7,142,857 16 Austria 10,714,285 71 England 10,714,285 71 Prussia 10,714,285 71 The Acceding States 10,714,285 71
Saxe-Weimar 1,600 680,474 63½ Nassau 3,000 1,275,889 93½ Brunswick 3,000 1,275,889 93½ Hanse Towns 3,000 1,275,889 93½ Town of Francfort 750 318,972 48½ Hohenzollern-Hittengen 194 82,507 54¼ Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 386 164,164 50½ Lichtenstein 100 42,529 66½ Saxe-Meinungen 600 255,177 98½ Heldbourghausen 400 170,118 66 Saxe-Cobourg 800 340,237 81½ Anholt 1,600 680,474 63½ Schwarzbourg 1,300 552,885 63½ Reusse 900 382,766 37 Lippe 1,300 552,885 63½ Waldeck 800 340,237 31½ Oldenberg 1,600 680,474 63½ Total 235,130 100,000,000
No. XIII.—CONVENTION between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity to the Ninth Article of the Principal Treaty, relative to the Examination and Liquidation of the Claims upon the French Government.
In order to remove the difficulties which have arisen in the execution of divers Articles of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, and especially of those relating to the Claims of subjects of the Allied Sovereign Powers, the High Contracting Parties, being desirous of enabling their respective subjects speedily to enjoy the rights which those Articles ensure to them, and at the same time prevent as much as possible all controversy which might arise on the interpretation of some of the dispositions of the said Treaty, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. The Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, being confirmed by Article XI. of the Principal Treaty, to which the present Convention is annexed, this confirmation extends principally to Articles 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, and 31, of the said Treaty, so far as the stipulations contained in the said Articles have not been altered or modified by the present Act; and it is expressly agreed, that the explanations and developements which the High Contracting Parties have thought advisable to give to them by the following Articles, shall in no wise prejudice the claims of any other nature which may be authorized by the said Treaty, though not especially stipulated by the present Convention.
ART. II. In conformity to this resolution, his Most Christian Majesty engages to cause to be liquidated, in the manner hereinafter specified, all sums which France may be found to owe, in countries out of her territory, as fixed by the Treaty to which the present Convention is annexed, by virtue of Art. 19, of the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814, either to individuals, or to "Communes," or to private establishments, the revenues of which are not at the disposal of Government. This liquidation shall extend particularly to the following claims:
1. To those arising from supplies and deliveries of all kinds, furnished by "Communes," or individuals, and in general by all others but the different branches of the Government, by virtue of contracts or arrangements made by the French Administrative Authorities, under promise of payment; whether the said supplies and deliveries may have been furnished, either to or for the use of military magazines in general, or for the provisioning of towns and fortresses in particular, or, in short, to the French armies, to detachments of troops, or of "gendarmerie," to the French Administrations, or the Military Hospitals, or in fine, for any public service whatsoever. These deliveries and supplies are to be vouched by receipts, from the storekeepers, officers, civil or military, commissaries, agents or inspectors, the validity of which shall be acknowledged by the Commission of Liquidation, described in Art. V. of the present Convention. The prices shall be regulated by the contracts or other engagements of the French authorities, or in failure thereof, by the market prices of the places, the nearest to that where the delivery shall have taken place.
2. To arrears of pay, and allowances, travelling expenses, gratuities, and other indemnifications due to military or other persons employed in the French army, and become, by the Treaties of Paris of 30th May 1814, and 20th November 1815, subjects of another Sovereign Power, during the period when the individuals in question served in the French armies, or were attached to establishments thereunto belonging, such as hospitals, dispensaries, magazines, &c. These demands are to be supported by the production of the necessary vouchers, as required by the existing military rules and regulations.
3. To the re-imbursement of expenses for the maintenance of French troops in such civil hospitals as did not belong to Government, inasmuch as the payment of that maintenance has been stipulated for by positive engagements. The quota of the said expenses is to be vouched by abstracts of accounts, certified by the Superintendents of those establishments.
4. To the restitution of funds, intrusted to the French Post-offices, which have not reached their destination, the event of force being, however, excepted.
5. To the discharge of "Mandats," "Bons," and Orders for payment, given either on the Public Treasury of France, or on the "Caisse d'Amortissement," or their "Annexés," as well as of "Bons" given by this last-mentioned "Caisse," which "Mandats," "Bons," and Orders, have been subscribed to in favour of inhabitants, "Communes," or establishments situated in provinces which have ceased to form part of France, or which may be in the hands of the said inhabitants, "Communes," or establishments, it being not possible for France to refuse payment of the same, on the plea, that the objects, by the sale of which the said."Bons," "Mandats," and Orders were to be realized, have passed under foreign dominion.
6. To loans made to the French Civil and Military Authorities, under promise of repayment.
7. To indemnities granted for non-enjoyment of national domains, let on lease; to all other indemnity and refunding for leases of national domains, and also for professional attendance, remuneration, and fees for appraising, inspecting, or reporting, on the buildings, or other objects, done by order and on account of the French Government, inasmuch as the said indemnities, refundings, professional attendance, remuneration, and fees, have been acknowledged to be at the expense of the Government, and legally ordered by the French Authorities at the time existing.
8. To the re-imbursement of advances made from the funds of the "Communes," by order of the French Authorities, and under promise of re payment.
9. To indemnities due to individuals for loss of grounds, the demolition and destruction of buildings, in consequence of orders from the French Military Authorities, for the enlargement or security of fortresses and citadels, in such cases where indemnity is due, by virtue of the law of 10th July 1791, and where there may have been engagement to pay, either by report of arbitrators, regulating the amount of the indemnity, or by any other deed of the French Authorities.
ART. III. The claims of the Senate of Hamburgh, on account of the Bank of that city, shall be the subject of a Special Conven- tion between the Commissioners of his Most Christian Majesty and those of the City of Hamburgh.
ART. IV. Those claims shall also be liquidated, preferred by several individuals against the execution of a Decree, dated Nassen, the 8th May 1813, by virtue of which colonial goods, part of which they had purchased of French Government were seized to their detriment, and by virtue of which they have been obliged to pay, a second time, on cottons, the single and double Custom-house dues, although they had paid, in due time, what they owed lawfully. These claims shall be liquidated by the Commissioners appointed by the Convention of this day, and the amount thereof shall be paid, in inscriptions, on the great book of the public debt, at a rate not under 75, in the same manner as has been agreed upon with regard to the securities to be refunded.
ART. V. The High Contracting Parties, being animated by the desire of agreeing on a mode of liquidation, calculated at once to accelerate the same, and promote, in each particular case, a final decision, have resolved, while expounding the arrangements of Article 20 of the Treaty of 30th May 1814, to appoint Commissions of Liquidation, to be employed, in the first place, in the examination of the claims; and also Commissions of Arbitration, which are to decide on such cases on which the former Commission do not agree. The mode to be acted upon in this respect, is to be as follows:
1. Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, France, and the other High Contracting Parties, or those interested in this object, shall name Commissioners of Liquidation, and Commissioners of Arbitration, or Umpires, who are to reside at Paris, and shall be instructed to direct, and carry into execution, the arrangements contained in Articles 18 and 19 of the Treaty of 30th May 1814, and Articles, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, of the present Convention.
2. The Commissioners of Liquidation are to be named by all parties interested, in such numbers as each of them may think proper to appoint. They will be instructed to receive and examine, according to a scale fixed upon for that purpose, and with the least possible delay, and liquidate, if there be just cause, all claims. Each Commissioner shall be at liberty to unite in one Committee all the Commissioners of the respective Governments, and to lay before them, and cause them to examine the claims of the subjects of his Government, or else to treat separately with the French Government.
3. The Arbitrators are to be instructed to decide definitively, and without appeal, on all cases referred to them, in conformity to the present Article, by the Commissioners of Liquidation, who may not have been able to agree thereon. All the High Contracting Par- ties, or those interested, may name as many of these Arbitrators as they may think proper; but every one of these Arbitrators must make oath, before the Chancellor of France, and in the presence of the Ministers of the other High Contracting Parties residing at Paris, to pass judgment, without partiality whatever for the parties, according to the principles laid down by the Treaty of 30th May 1814, and by the present Convention.
4. As soon as the Arbitrators named by France, and by at least two of the other Parties interested, shall have taken this oath, all the said Commissioners who may be in Paris shall meet, under the Presidency of the senior Commissioner, for the purpose of arranging the appointments of one or more of the Recorders or Record-keepers, and of one or more Clerks, who are to be sworn before them, as well as for the purpose of discussing, if necessary, a general system for the dispatch of business, the keeping of the registers, and other matters of internal regulation.
5. The Commissioners appointed to form the Commissions of Arbitration being thus ordained, whenever the Commissioners of Liquidation shall not have agreed on a case, the Arbitrators are to proceed with the same in the manner hereinafter mentioned.
6. In those cases wherein the claims are of the nature provided for by the Treaty of Paris, or by the present Convention, and wherein the question is merely to determine on the validity of the demand, or the amount of the sum claimed, the Commission of Arbitration is to be composed of six Umpires, namely, three French, and three appointed by the reclaiming Government. The said six Arbitrators shall then draw lots, for the purpose of deciding which of them is to be thrown out, and being thus reduced to five, are then finally to determine on the claim referred to them.
7. In the event of the question being, whether the contested claim can be reckoned amongst those provided for by the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814, or by the present Convention, the Commission of Arbitration is to be composed of six Members, whereof three are to be French, and three named by the Government reclaiming; these six Umpires are then to decide by a majority, whether the claim is susceptible of being admitted to liquidation; in the event of equality of votes, the examination of the affair is to be suspended, and is to become subject matter of future regular negociation between the Governments.
8. Every time that a case shall be referred to the decision of a Commission of Arbitration, the Government, whose Commissioner of Liquidation shall not have been able to agree with the French Government, shall name three Umpires, and France shall name as many, all of them chosen amongst those who shall have taken, or may take, previously to their acting, the stipulated oath. This choice is to be made known to the Record-Keeper, at the same time transmitting to him the whole of the documents. The Record-Keeper will duly note this nomination, and the deposit of the papers, and will enter the claim in the proper register, which shall have been opened for that purpose. When the turn of a claim shall come round in its regular order of entry, the Record-Keeper is to summon the six Arbitrators above-named.—When the case shall happen to be one of those specified in Section 6 of the present Article, the names of the said six Arbitrators shall be put in an urn, the last drawn shall of course go out, in order that their number may be reduced to five. The parties are, however, at liberty to abide, if they all agree thereto, by a Commission of four Arbitrators, the number of whom, in order to obtain an odd number, is to be in like manner reduced to three. In the cases specified by Section 7 of the present Article, the six Umpires, or the four, if the parties have agreed to that number, are to enter into discussion, without previous elimination of one of their number. In either of these cases, the Arbitrators convoked for the purpose are immediately to enter upon the examination of the claim, or class of claim in question, and are to decide by a majority of voices without appeal. The Record-Keeper is to attend all the sittings, and to act as Minute-Clerk. If the Commission of Arbitration have not decided upon the class of a claim, though it has, on a claim itself, such decision terminates the affair. If it has decided on the class of a claim, the case, provided that class be acknowledged as admissible, goes back to the Commission of Liquidation, for that Commission to determine on the admission of the individual claim, and the amount thereof, or refer it anew to a Commission of Arbitration of five or three Members. Judgment being given, the Recorder is to notify to the Commission of Liquidation every such sentence, for the purpose of being inserted in their proceedings, as the said decisions are to be considered and acted upon as precedents by the Commission of Liquidation.—It is to be well understood, that the Commissions appointed by virtue of the present Article are not to extend their labours beyond the liquidation of the obligation specified by the present Treaty, and that of 30th May 1814.
ART. VI. The High Contracting Parties, desiring to secure the full performance of the 21st Article of the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814, and accordingly determinate the mode of crediting France for such debts, specially secured in their origin by mortgages upon countries which have ceased to form part of France, or otherwise contracted by their internal administration, and which have been converted into Inscriptions in the Great Book of the National Debt of France, have agreed, that the amount of the capital, which each of the Governments of the said respective coun- tries may have to reimburse to France, shall be determined by the price which the funds may bear, on an average, between the day of the signature of the present Convention and the 1st of January 1816. This capital is to be made good to France, according to the statements which the Commission appointed by Article V of the present Convention shall draw up and settle, every two months, after the titles have been duly verified, on the strength of which the Inscriptions have been made.—France is not to be reimbursed the amount of the Inscriptions arising from debts secured by mortgage on immoveables which the French Government have alienated, whatever be the nature of the said immoveables, provided the purchasers thereof have paid the amount into the hands of the agents of the French Government, unless the said immoveables should at present be (otherwise than by possession obtained unfairly during the continuance of the French admmistration) in the hands either of the present Government, of Public Establishments, or of the former possessors. The French Government remains charged with the payment of the dividends on those Inscriptions. The countervailing accounts of what may become due to France, in Inscriptions and the payments to which she has engaged herself by the present Convention, cannot be settled, but with mutual consent, excepting for what follows in the succeeding Article.
ART. VII. From these reimbursements shall be deducted: 1. The interest on Inscriptions in the Great Book of the State till the period of the 22d December 1813; also, the interest which France may have paid subsequent to that period shall in like manner be made good to her by the respective Governments; 2. The capitals and interest secured by mortgage on immoveables alienated by the French Government, although the said capitals have not vet been converted into Inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt, provided, however, that, on account of the present stipulation, nothing shall be done contrary to the laws or orders of the Government, which decreed forfeitures, &c. or in virtue of which the debts were to become extinct to the benefit of France, by way of "confusion" or of compensation.
ART. VIII. The French Government having refused to recognise the claim of the government of the Low Countries, relative to the payment of the interest of the debt of Holland, which may not have been paid for the half years of March and September 1813, it is agreed to refer to a Commission of Arbitration the decision of the principle of the said question. This Commission is to be composed of seven members, two of them to be named by the French Government, two by the Government of the Netherlands, and the three others to be chosen from the States decidedly neuter, and who have no interest in the question, such as Russia, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, and the kingdom of Naples. The choice of these three last commissioners is to be made in such manner, that one of them is to be named by the-French Government, the other by that of the Netherlands, and the third by the said two neutral commissioners. The commission is to meet at Paris on the 1st of February 1816. The members thereof are to take the same oath to which the Commissioners of Arbitration are subject, as stated in Art. V. of the present Convention, to be administered in the same manner. As soon as the commission shall be constituted, the commissioners of liquidation of the two Powers shall each submit in writing the arguments in support of their opinion, in order that the Arbitrators may be enabled to decide which of the two Governments, the French Government, or the Government of the Netherlands, shall be bound to pay the aforesaid arrears of interest, taking for basis the dispositions of the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814, and whether the reimbursement which the Government of the Netherlands may have to make to France for inscriptions of the debts of countries reunited to the Crown of the Netherlands, and detached from France, is to be required with-, out deducting the dividends of the debt of Holland, in arrear for 1813.
Art. IX. The liquidation shall be proceeded in of the unpaid interests of the debts secured on mortgage upon the soil of countries ceded to France by the Treaties of Campo Formio and Luneville, and arising from loans formally acknowledged by the Governments of the ceded countries, or from expenses incurred by the effective administration of the said countries. The Commissioners of Liquidation are to regulate their operations according to the dispositions of the Treaties of Peace, and the laws and decrees of the French Government, with respect to the liquidation and extinction of the debts of the nature in question.
ART. X. As it has been stipulated by Art. XXIII. of the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814, that the French Government should reimburse the securities given by the public functionaries entrusted with the management of public money in the countries separated from France, six months after the presenting of their accounts, the case alone of misdemeanor being excepted, it remains agreed:
1. That the obligation of presenting their accounts to the French Government does not extend to the Receveurs Communaux; nevertheless, as the French Government has had an interest in certain portions of the receipts wherewith those accountable persons were charged, and that consequently it may still call for redress against then, in cases of misdemeanor, no application for restitution of their securities shall be presented, without being accompanied by a certificate from the superior authorities of the country to which these persons accountable may belong, at the same time specifying the sum which, after the audit of their accounts, shall have been acknowledged to be due to the French Government on the account above mentioned, and which the latter shall deduct from the security, giving proof that nothing is due to the same, except, in either case, the deduction of those balances which France has reserved to herself by Art. XXIV. of the present Convention.
2. The accounts of the functionaries who have had the management of money belonging to the French Government, and who were bound to have their administration approved by the Court of Accounts, shall be examined by the French Government, in conjunction with the Commissioner of the present Government of the province where the person accountable has been employed. The examination of each account is to take place within six months after it has been delivered in; if during this period no decision has been given, the French Government renounces all claim against the person accountable. This stipulation does not derogate, with respect to those who are accountable from the time of forfeiture, fixed by Art. XVI., it being well understood, that in the event of the non-presentation of the accounts, the French Government reserves to itself the right of proceeding against the said persons accountable, in the customary manner.
3. The functionaries not being liable to be made responsible for what has occurred relatively to their "caisses" since the entrance of the foreign troops, it has been expressly agreed, that the French Government are not to charge them with the balances which they owed at that period, and that it shall only be a manifest misdemeanor, committed before the entrance of those troops, which shall authorize the French Government to withhold the whole or part of the security. In all other respects the same is to be restored, in the manner expressed in Art. XIX., Section 2.
ART. XI. Conformably to Article XXV., of the Treaty of the 30th May 1814, the funds deposited by "Communes" and public establishments, in the coffers of Government, are to be repaid to them, with deduction of the advances which may have been made to them. The Commissioners of Liquidation are to verify the amount of the said deposits and advances. Nevertheless, should there be lodged any attachments, the repayment of these funds shall not take place until replevin shall have been ordered, by the proper tribunals, or voluntarily allowed by the attaching creditors. The French Government shall be bound to show the justice of the said attachments. It is well understood, that such attachments lodged by creditors who are not Frenchmen, cannot authorize the French Government to detain these deposits.
ART. XII. The funds belonging to the "Caisse d'Agriculture" of Holland, and which have been lodged as a deposit in the "Caisse d'Amortissement," in the "Caisse de Service," or in any other "Caisse" of Government, shall be restored as well as all other deposits, with the exception of such compensations as the said "Caisses," may have to debit the said funds.
ART. XIII. The Commissioners of Liquidation and of Arbitration, ordained by virtue of Article V. of the present Convention, shall also be employed in the liquidation of the objects, recited in Arts. XXII. to XXV. of the Treaty of the 30th May 1314, and shall proceed in the same manner, with regard to these points, as that adopted for the other liquidations with which they are charged. The French Government engages to deliver, four months after the signature of the present Convention, to the respective Commissioners of Liquidation, exact statements, drawn from the treasury and other registers, of all sums and debts alluded to in the aforesaid Articles; and these statements are to be compared with the receipts of the claimants, for the purpose of being thus proved.
ART. XIV. The 26th Article of the Treaty of the 30th May 1814, which releases the French Government from the 1st January, of the same year, from the payments of all pensions, civil, military and ecclesiastical, allowances on retiring, and half-pay, to all individuals no longer longer subjects of France, is maintained.—With regard to the arrears of pensions, to the period above mentioned, the French Government engages to give evidence of them, by furnishing exact statements, drawn from the pension registers, which are to be compared with those by the local administrative authorities.
ART. XV. Doubts having arisen upon the 31st Article of the Treaty of the 30th of May 1814, concerning the restitution of the maps of the countries which have ceased to belong to France, it is agreed that all the maps of the countries ceded, including those which the French Government has caused to be executed, shall be exactly given up, with the copperplates belonging to them, in the space of four weeks after the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty. The same shall be done respecting the archives, maps, and plates, taken away from the countries occupied for a time by the different armies, as it is stipulated in the second paragraph of the 31st Article of the said Treaty.
ART. XVI. Governments who have claims to prefer in behalf of their subjects, engage to cause them to be presented for liquidation within a year, dating from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty; after which time they are to forfeit all right to claim and recovery.
ART. XVII. Every two months an abstract is to be drawn up of the liquidations finally adjusted, approved, or decided, specifying the name of each creditor, and the amount for which his debt is to be discharged, either in principal, or arrears of interest. The sums which are to be paid in cash by the Royal Treasury, either for capital or interest, shall be remitted to the Commissioners of Liquidation of the Government concerned, upon their receipts, signed or approved by the French Liquidators. With regard to the debts which, in conformity to Articles IV. and XIX. of the present Convention, are to be paid in inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt, they are to be entered in the names of the Commissioners of Liquidation of the Governments concerned, or of those whom they may appoint. These inscriptions are to be taken from the Guarantee Fund, stipulated by Art. XX. of the present Convention, and in the manner specified by Art. XXI.
ART. XVIII. All debts which bear interest, either according to law, or the Treaty of the 30th May 1814, are to continue to bear the same. With respect to those, to which no interest appertains, either from their nature, or by the said Treaty, they are to bear an interest of 4 per cent. from the date of the signature of the present Convention. All interest is to be paid in cash, and on the amount of the nominal value of the debt. The stipulations relating to interest are to be reciprocal between France and the other Contracting Powers.
ART. XIX. The Treaty of the 30th May 1814, in regulating the periods within which payments were to be completed, proclaimed three classes of debts. In order to make things agree with such an arrangement, it has been resolved to adopt, in like manner, three classes for reimbursement as follows: 1. The deposits legally entrusted to the "Caisse d'Amortissement" are to be refunded in money within six months from the exchange of the ratifications of the present Convention, Whenever the delivery of the documents shall have taken place during the first three months of the liquidation. Those cases, whereof the documents shall have been delivered in subsequently, are to be liquidated within the succeeding three months. 2. The debts arising from the payment of securities or from funds which were deposited by the "Communes," and public establishments, in the "Caisse de Service," the "Caisse d'Amorlissement," or any other "Caisse" of the French Government, are to be reimbursed in inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt, at par; on condition, however, that in the event of the price of the day of settlement being under 75, the French Government is to have the benefit of the difference between the price of the day and 75. 3. The other debts, not comprehended in the two preceding sections, are to be likewise reimbursed in inscriptions at par, with this difference, however, that the French Government guarantees to them only a price of 60; at the same time engaging to make good the difference between the price of the day and 60.
ART. XX. On the 1st of January next, at latest, shall be inscribed, as a guarantee fund, in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, a Capital producing 3,500,000 French francs yearly revenue, with possession, from 22d March 1816, in the name of two, four, or six Commissioners, one-half the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty, and the other half of the Allied Sovereign Powers; which said Commissioners are to be chosen and appointed, namely, one, two, or three, by the French government, and one, two, or three, by the Allied Powers. They are to receive the said yearly income every six months, of which they are to be the trustees, without power of negociating the same. They are to place the amount thereof in the public funds, and receive the accumulated and compound interest of the same for the benefit of the creditors.—In case the 3,500,000 francs of interest shall be insufficient, there shall be delivered to the said Commissioners inscriptions for larger sums, until their amount shall equal what may be necessary to pay the debts mentioned in the present Convention. These additional Inscriptions, if they are necessary, shall be made over with the dividends from the same period as the 3,500,000 francs, yearly revenue above stipulated, and shall be administered by the same Commissioners, and according to the same principles. So that the debts which shall remain to be paid, shall be paid with the same proportion of accumulated and compound interest, as if the Fund of Guarantee had been from the first sufficient.—As soon as the payments due to the creditors shall have been made, the surplus of the Inscriptions not employed, if there be any, as well as the proportion of accumulated and compound interest which shall belong thereto, shall be given up to the disposal of the French Government.
ART. XXI. In proportion as the Abstracts of Liquidation, prescribed by Art. XVII. of the present Convention, shall be delivered to the Trustees or Commissioners of Deposit, the latter are to examine the same, in order to their being forthwith entered in the Great Book of the Public Debt, to the debit of their trust, to and the credit of the Commissioners of Liquidation of the reclaiming Governments.
ART. XXII. The present Sovereigns of the countries which have ceased to belong to France hereby renew the engagement which they have contracted, by Art. XXI. of the Treaty of the 30th May 1814, to account with the French Government, from the 22d December 1813, for such of the debts of the said countries as have been converted into inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France. The accounts relative to all the said debts shall be drawn up and adjusted by the Commissions appointed by Article V, of the present Convention. It being understood, of course, that France is to continue the payment of the dividends on these Inscriptions.
ART. XXIII. The Governments aforesaid renew the engagement to refund to French subjects in the service of the ceded countries, the sums which they may have to claim on account of securities, or deposits in their respective treasuries. These re-imbursements to be made in the same manner agreed to in Art. XIX. of the present Convention, towards subjects of the said countries, for payments of a like nature.
ART. XXIV. It is reserved to the French Government the right of deducting from those securities, which by Art. XXII. of the Treaty of the 30th of May 1814, and by Article X. of the present Convention, it has engaged to refund, such balances due, from persons accountable, whom a judgment of the Court of Accounts, given before the 30th of May 1814, shall have declared to be withholders of public money. Such deduction is to take place, without, however, being prejudicial to the proceedings which, in default of sufficient security, may be directed against the defaulters, in the ordinary course, before the tribunals of the countries wherein the persons accountable have settled.
ART. XXV. In the countries ceded by the Treaty of the 30th of May 1314, and by the present Treaty, such persons who have accepted bills negotiable, to the advantage of the Royal Treasury, or of the "Caisse d'Amortissement" (not receivers of direct contributions), and who should not have honoured the same, when they become due, may be proceeded against for payment, before the regular tribunals of the country where they are settled, unless they should have been compelled to pay them before the 30th of May 1814, or, with regard to the countries ceded by the present Treaty, before the November, in favour of the Agents of the new possessors of the countries.
ART. XXVI. All that has been agreed to by the present Convention, with respect to the period within which the creditors of France are to deliver in their claims for liquidation, the time when the Abstracts of Liquidations are to be drawn up, the interest to be allowed to the respective classes of debts, and the manner in which they are to be paid, applies equally to those debts which France may have to claim from the Governments of the countries detached from France.
Done at Paris, the 20th of November, 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.) Castlereagh. (L. S.) Richelieu. (L. S.) Wellington.
Additional Article.
The House of the Counts de Bentheim and Steinfurth having advanced a claim against the French Government upon different grounds; viz. in pursuance of a Convention of the 22d of May 1804, 800,000 francs, interest at 6 per cent. per ann. upon that sum 480,000, for restitution of the Land Tax 78,200, clearing the Ysel 30,000, for various alienations and indemnities 634,000, for the revenues of the County of Bentheim, since the French Government took possession thereof 2,225,000: total 4,247,200 francs. It has been settled, in the form of an agreement, that the Government of France shall pay to that House, in lieu of every claim whatsoever—1. The sum of 800,000 francs in specie, to be paid by twelfths, in monthly instalments, commencing from the 1st of January 1816. 2. The sum of 510,000 francs, by Inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt, at par, guaranteeing to the same the exchange at 75, or snaking up the difference between the exchange of the day and 75. These Inscriptions shall be delivered before the 1st of January, and the interest on them shall commence from the 22d of March 1816. In consideration of the payment of this sum of 1,310,000 francs, the House of the Counts de Bentheim and Steinfurth renounces the right of advancing or renewing any claim against the French Government, under any title or on any ground whatsoever, the said renunciation being made by agreement.
Done at Paris the 20th of November, 1815.
(Signed) (Signed) (L. S.)Castlereagh. (L. S.)Richelieu. (L. S.)Wellington.
No. XIV.—TREATY between Great Britain and Russia, &c. respecting the Ionian Islands; lined at Paris 5th November, 1815.
In the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and his Majesty the King of Prussia, animated by the desire of prosecuting the Negociations adjourned at the Congress of Vienna, in order to fix the destiny of the Seven Ionian Islands, and to insure the independence, liberty, and happiness, of the inhabitants of those Islands, by placing them and their Constitution under the immediate protection of one of the Great Powers of Europe, have agreed to settle definitively by a Special Act, whatever relates to this object, which, grounded upon the rights resulting from the Treaty of Paris of the 30th. May 1814, and likewise upon the British Declarations at the period when the British arms liberated Cerigo, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura, Ithaca, and Paxo, shall be considered as forming part of the General Treaty concluded at Vienna on the 9th June of the year 1815, on the termination of the Congress: and in order to settle and sign the said Act, the High Contracting Powers hive nominated Plenipotentiaries; that is to say, his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, a Member of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Londonderry Regiment of Militia, and his said Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and the Most Illustrious and Most Noble Lord Arthur, Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Wellington, Marquess of Douro, Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington, and Baron Douro of Wellesley, a Member of his said Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Field Marshal of his Armies, Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Prince of Waterloo, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and a Grandee of Spain of the First Class, Duke of Vittoria, Marquess of Torres Vedras, Count of Vimeira in Portugal, Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, of the Spanish Military Order of Saint Ferdinand, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Military Order of Maria Theresa, Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of St. George of Russia, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia, Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Royal and Military Order of the Tower and Sword, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of Sweden of the Sword, Knight Grand Cross of the Orders of the Elephant of Denmark, of William of the Low Countries, of the Annunciade of Sardinia, of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, and of several others, and Commander of the Forces of his Britannic Majesty in France, and of the Army of his Majesty the King of the Low Countries; and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Andre Prince of Rasomouffsky, a Member of his Imperial Majesty's Privy Council, a Senator, Knight of the Order of Saint Andrew, of Saint Alexander Newsky, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Wolodimir of the First Class, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary, and of the Orders of the Black Eagle and of the Red Eagle of Prussia; and the Sieur John Count Capo d'Istra, a Member of his Imperial Majesty's Privy Council, Secretary of State, Knight of the Order of Saint Anne of the First Class, Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Wolodimir of the Second Class, Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold of Austria, and of the Red Eagle of Prussia; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
ART. I. The Islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Maura, Ithaca, Cerigo, and Paxo, with their dependencies, such as they are described in the Treaty between his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and the Ottoman Porte, of the 21st of March 1800, shall form a single, free, and independent State, under the denomination of the United States of the Ionian Islands.
ART. II. This State shall be placed under the immediate and exclusive protection of his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his heirs and successors. The other Contracting Powers do consequently renounce every right or particular pretension which they might have formed in respect to them, and formally guarantee all the dispositions of the present Treaty.
ART. III. The United States of the Ionian Islands shall, with the approbation of the Protecting Power, regulate their internal organization; and, in order to give to all the parts of this organization the necessary consistency and action, his Britannic Majesty will employ a particular solicitude with regard to the legislation and the general administration of those States, his Majesty will therefore appoint a Lord High Commissioner to reside there, invested with all the necessary power and authorities for this purpose.
ART. IV. In order to carry into execution, without delay, the stipulations mentioned in the Articles preceding, and to ground the political re-organization which is actually in force, the Lord High Commissioner of the Protecting Power shall regulate the forms of convocation of a Legislative Assembly, of which he shall direct the proceedings, order to draw up a New Constitutional Charter for the States, which his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall be requested to ratify. Until such Constitutional Charter shall have been so drawn up, and duly ratified, the existing Constitutions shall remain in force in the different Islands, and no alteration shall be made in them, except by his Britannic Majesty in Council.
ART. V. In order to ensure, without restriction, to the inhabitants of the United States of the Ionian islands, the advantages resulting from the high protection under which these States are placed, as well as for the exercise of the rights inherent in the said protection, his Britannic Majesty shall have the right to occupy the fortresses and places of those States, and to maintain garrisons in the same. The military force of the said United States shall also be under the orders of the Commander in Chief of the troops of his Britannic Majesty.
ART. VI. His Britannic Majesty consents, that a particular Convention with the Government of the said United States shall regulate, according to the revenues of these States, every thing which may relate to the maintenance of the fortresses already existing, as well as to the subsistence and payment of the British garrisons, and to the number of men of which they shall be composed in time of peace. The same Convention shall likewise fix the relations which are to exist between the said armed force and the Ionian Government.
ART. VII. The trading flag of the United States of the Ionian islands shall be acknowledged by all the Contracting Parties as the Flag of a free and independent State. It shall carry with the colours and above the armorial bearings thereon displayed before the year 1807, such other as his Britannic Majesty may think proper to grant, as a mark of the protection under which the said Ionian States are placed; and for the more effectual furtherance of this protection, all the ports and harbours of the said States are hereby declared to be, with respect to honorary and military rights, within British jurisdiction. The commerce between the United Ionian States and the dominions of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty shall enjoy the same advantages and facilities as that of Great Britain with the said United States. None but commercial agents, or Consuls, charged solely with the carrying on commercial relations, and subject to the regulations to which commercial agents or consuls are subject in other Independent States, shall be accredited to the United States of the Ionian Islands.
ART. VIII. All the Powers which signed the Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 1814, and the Act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th of June 1815; and also his Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies, and the Ottoman Porte, shall be invited to accede to the present Convention.
ART. IX. The present Act shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged in two months, or sooner, if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms.—Done at Paris the 5th day of November, 1815.
(Signed)
(L. S.) Castlereagh.
(L. S.) Wellington. (Signed)
(L. S.) Le Prince de Rasoumoffsky.
(L. S.) Le Comte Capo D'Istria.
NOTE.—Similar Treaties were signed on the same day by the Plenipotentiaries of his Majesty, with those of the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Prussia, respectively.
No. XV.—NOTE delivered in by Viscount Castlereagh to the Allied Ministers, and placed upon their Protocol, respecting the Restitution of the Works of Art.—Paris, September 11th, 1815.
Representations having been laid before the Ministers of the Allied Powers from the Pope, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the King of the Netherlands, and other Sovereigns, claiming, through the intervention of the High Allied Powers, the restoration of the Statues, Pictures, and other Works of Art, of which their respective States have been successively and systematically stripped by the late Revolutionary Government of France, contrary to every principle of justice, and to the usages of modern warfare, and the same having been referred for the consideration of his Court, the undersigned has received the commands of the Prince Regent to submit, for the consideration of his Allies, the following remarks upon this interesting subject:
It is now the second time, that the Powers of Europe have been compelled, in vindication of their own liberties, and for the settlement of the world, to invade France, and twice their armies have possessed themselves of the Capital of the State, in which these, the spoils of the greater part of Europe, are accumulated.
The legitimate Sovereign of France has, as often, under the protection of those armies, been enabled to resume his Throne, and to mediate for his people a peace with the Allies, to the marked indulgencies of which neither their conduct to their own Monarch, nor towards other States, had given them just pretensions to aspire.
That the purest sentiments of regard for Lewis XVIII. deference for his ancient and illustrious House, and respect for his misfortunes, have guided invariably the Allied Councils, has been proved beyond a question by their having, last year, framed the Treaty of Paris expressly on the basis of preserving to France its complete integrity, and still more, after their late disappointment, by the endeavours they are again making, ultimately to combine the substantial integrity of France, with such an adequate system of temporary precaution as may satisfy what they owe to the security of their own subjects.
But it would be the height of weakness, as well as of injustice, and in its effects much more likely to mislead than to bring back the people of France to moral and peaceful habits, if the Allied Sovereigns, to whom the world is anxiously looking up for protection and repose, were to deny that principle of integrity in its just and liberal application to other nations, their Allies (more especially to the feeble and to the helpless), which they are about, for the second time, to concede to a nation against whom they have had occasion so long to contend in war.
Upon what principle can France, at the close of such a war, expect to sit down with the same extent of possessions which she held before the Revolution, and desire, at the same time, to retain the ornamental spoils of all other countries? Is it, that there can exist a doubt of the issue of the contest or of the power of the Allies to effectuate what justice and policy require? if not, upon what principle deprive France of her late territorial acquisitions, and preserve to her the spoliations appertaining to those territories, which all modern conquerors have invariably respected, as inseparable from the country to which they belonged?
The Allied Sovereigns have perhaps some- thing to atone for to Europe, in consequence of the course pursued by them, when at Paris, during the last year. It is true, they never did so far make themselves parties in the criminality of this mass of plunder, as to sanction it by any stipulation in their Treaties; such a recognition has been on their part uniformly refused; but they certainly did use their influence to repress at that moment, any agitation of their claims, in the hope that France, not less subdued by their generosity than by their arms, might be disposed to preserve inviolate a peace which had been studiously framed to serve as a bond of reconciliation, between the Nation and the king. They had also reason to expect that his Majesty would be advised voluntarily to restore, a considerable proportion at least of these spoils, to their lawful owners.
But the question is a very different one now, and to pursue the same course under circumstances so essentially altered, would be, in the judgment of the Prince Regent, equally unwise towards France, and unjust towards our Allies, who have a direct interest in this question.
His Royal Highness, in stating this opinion, feels it necessary to guard against the possibility of misrepresentation.
Whilst he deems it to be the duty of the Allied Sovereigns not only not to obstruct, but to facilitate, upon the present occasion, the return of these objects to the places from whence they were torn, it seems not less consistent with their delicacy, not to suffer the position of their armies in France, or the removal of these works from the Louvre, to become the means, either directly or indirectly, of bringing within their own dominions a single article which did not of right, at the period of their conquest, belong either to their respective family collections, or to the countries over which they now actually reign.
Whatever value the Prince Regent might attach to such exquisite specimens of the fine arts, if otherwise acquired, he has no wish to become possessed of them at the expense of France or rather of the countries to which they of right belong, more especially by following up a principle in war which he considers as a reproach to the nation by which it has been adopted, and so far from wishing to take advantage of the occasion to purchase from the rightful owners any articles they might, from pecuniary considerations, be disposed to part with, his Royal Highness would on the contrary be disposed rather to afford the means of replacing them in those very temples and galleries, of which they were so long the ornaments.
Were it possible that his Royal Highness's sentiments towards the person and cause of Louis XVIII. could be brought into doubt, or that the position of his Most. Christian Majesty was likely to be injured in the eyes of own people, the Prince Regent would not come to this conclusion without the most painful reluctance; but, on the contrary, his Royal Highness believes that his Majesty will rise in the love and respect of his own subjects, in proportion as he separates himself from these remembrances of revolutionary warfare. These spoils, which impede a moral reconciliation between France and the countries she has invaded, are not necessary to record the exploits of her armies, which, notwithstanding the cause in which they were achieved, must ever make the arms of the nation respected abroad. But whilst these objects remain at Paris, constituting as it were, the title deeds of the countries which have been given up, the sentiments of reuniting these countries again to France, will never be altogether extinct; nor will the genius of the French people ever completely associate itself with the more limited existence assigned to the nation under the Bourbons.
Neither is this opinion given with any disposition on the part of the Prince Regent to humiliate the French nation. His Royal Highness's general policy, the demeanour of his troops in France, his having seized the first moment of Buonaparté's surrender to restore to France the freedom of her commerce, and, above all, the desire he has recently evinced to preserve ultimataly to France her territorial integrity, with certain modifications essential to the security of neighbouring states are the best proofs that, consideration Of justice to others, a desire to heal the wounds inflicted by the Revolution, and not any illiberal sentiment towards France, has alone dictated this decision.
The whole question resolves itself into this:—Are the Powers of Europe now forming in sincerity a permanent settlement with the King? And if so, upon what principles shall it be concluded? Shall it be upon the conservation or the abandonment of Revolutionary Spoliations?
Can the King feel his own dignity exalted, or his title improved, in being surrounded by monuments of art, which record not less the sufferings of his own Illustrious House, than of the several nations of Europe? If the French people be desirous of treading back their steps, can they rationally desire to preserve this source of animosity between them and all other nations; and, if they are not, is it politic to Hatter their vanity, and to keep alive the hopes which the contemplation of these trophies are calculated to excite? Can even the Army reasonably desire it? The recollection of their campaigns can never perish. They are recorded in the Military annals of Europe. They are emblazoned on the public monuments of their own country; why is it necessary to associate their glory in the field with a system of plunder, by the adoption of which, in contravention of the laws of modern, war, the Chief that led them to battle, in fact, tarnished the lustre of their arms?
If we are really to return to peace and to ancient maxims, it cannot be wise to preserve just so much of the abuses of the past; nor can the King desire, out of the wrecks of the Revolution, of which his Family has been one of the chief victims, to perpetuate in his House this odious monopoly of the arts. The splendid collection which France possessed previous to the Revolution, augmented by the Borghese collection, which has since been purchased (one of the finest in the world), will afford to the King ample means of ornamenting, in its fair proportion, the capital of his empire: and his Majesty may divest himself of this tainted source of distinction, without prejudice to the due cultivation of the arts in France.
In applying a remedy to this offensive evil, it does not appear that any middle line can be adopted, which does not go to recognize a variety of spoliations, under the cover of Treaties, if possible more flagrant in their character than the acts of undisguised rapine, by which these remains were in general brought together.
The principle of property regulated by the claims of the territories from whence these works were taken, is the surest and only guide to justice; and perhaps there is nothing which would more tend to settle the public mind of Europe at this day, than such an homage, on the part of the King of France, to a principle of virtue, conciliation, and peace.
(Signed) Castlereagh.
No. XVI.—DISPATCH from the Duke of Wellington to Viscount Castlereagh, respecting the Restitution of the Works of Art; dated Paris, September 23, 1815.
My Dear Lord; There has been a good deal of discussion here lately respecting the measures which have been under the necessity of adopting, in order to get for the King of the Netherlands his Pictures, &c. from the Museums; and lest these reports should reach the Prince Regent, I wish to trouble you, for his Royal Highness's information, with the following statement of what has passed.
Shortly after the arrival of the Sovereigns at Paris, the minister of the King of the Netherlands claimed the Pictures, &c. belonging to his Sovereign, equally with those of other Powers; and, as far as I could learn, never could get any satisfactory reply from the French government. After several conversations with me, he addressed your Lordship an official Note, which was laid before the ministers of the Allied Sovereigns assembled in conference; and the subject was taken into consideration repeatedly, with a view to discover a mode of doing justice to the claimants of the specimens of the arts in the Museums, without injuring the feelings of the King of France. In the mean time, the Prussians had obtained from his Majesty not only all the really Prussian Pictures, but those belonging to the Prussian territories on the left of the Rhine, and the Pictures, &c, belonging to all the Allies of his Prussian Majesty; and the subject pressed for an early decision; and your Lordship wrote your. Note of the 11th inst. in which it was fully discussed.
The Ministers of the King of the Netherlands, still having no satisfactory answer from the French government, appealed to me as the General in Chief of the Army of the King of the Netherlands, to know whether I had any objection to employ his Majesty's troops to obtain possession of what was his undoubted property. I referred this application again to the ministers of the Allied Courts, and no objection having been stated, I considered it my duty to take the necessary measures to obtain what was his right.
I accordingly spoke to the Prince de Talley-rand upon the subject; explained to him what had passed in conference, and the grounds I had for thinking that the King of the Netherlands had a right to the pictures; and begged him to state the case to the King, and to ask his Majesty to do me the favour to point out the mode of effecting the object of the King of the Netherlands which should be least offensive to his Majesty. The prince de Talleyrand promised me an answer on the following evening; which not having received, I called upon him at night, and had another discussion with him upon the subject, in which he informed me that the King could give no order upon it: that I might act as I thought proper; and that I might communicate with Monsieur Denon.
I sent my Aid-de-Camp, Lieut.-Col. Freemantle, to Monsieur Denon in the morning, who informed him that he had no orders to give any Pictures out of the Gallery, and that he could give none without the use of force.
I then sent Colonel Freemantle to the Prince de Talleyrand to inform him of this answer, and to acquaint him that the troops would go the next morning, at twelve o'clock, to take possession of the King of the Nether-land's Pictures; and to point out, that if any disturbance resulted from this measure, the King's Ministers, and not I, were responsible. Colonel Freemantle likewise informed Monsieur Denon that the same measure would be adopted.
It was not necessary, however, to send the troops, as a Prussian guard had always remained in possession of the gallery, and the pictures were taken without the necessity of calling for those of the army under my command, excepting as a working party, to assist in taking them down and packing them.
It has been stated, that in being the instrument of removing the pictures belonging to the King of the Netherlands, from the gallery of the Thuilleries, I had been guilty of a breach of a Treaty which I had myself made, and as there is no mention of the Museum in the Treaty of the 25th of March, and it now appears that the Treaty meant is the Military Convention of Paris, it is necessary to show how that Convention affects the Museum.
It is not now necessary to discuss the question, whether the Allies were or not at war with France; there is no doubt whatever that their armies entered Paris under a Military Convention concluded with an officer of the Government, the Prefect of the Department of the Seine, and an officer of the Army, being a representation of each of the authorities existing at Paris at the moment, and authorized by those authorities to treat and conclude for them.
The Article of the Convention which it is supposed has been broken, is the 11th, which relates to public property. I positively deny that this Article referred at all to the Museums, or galleries of pictures.
The French Commissioners, in the original Projet, proposed an Article to provide for the security of this description of property. Prince Blucher would not consent to it, as he said there were pictures in the gallery which had been taken from Prussia, which his Majesty Louis XVHI. had promised to restore; but which had never been restored. I stated this circumstance to the French Commissioners, and they then offered to adopt the Article, with an exception of the Prussian pictures. To this offer, I answered, that I stood there as the Ally of all the nations in Europe, and any thing that was granted to Prussia I must claim for other nations. I added, that I had no instructions regarding the Museum, nor no grounds on which to form a judgment how the Sovereigns would act; that they certainly would insist upon the King's performing his engagements, and that I recommended that the Article should be omitted altogether, and that the question should be reserved for the decision of the Sovereigns when they should arrive.
Thus the question regarding the Museum stands under the Treaties. The Convention of Paris is silent upon it, and there was a communication upon the subject which reserved the decision for the Sovereigns.
Supposing the silence of the Treaty of Paris of May 1814, regarding the Museum, gave the French Government an undisputed claim to its contents upon all future occasions, it will not be denied that this claim was shaken by this transaction.
Those who acted for the French Government at the time, considered that the successful army had a right to and would touch the contents of the Museum; and they made an attempt to save them by an Article in the Military Convention. This Article was rejected, and the claim of the Allies to their pictures was broadly advanced by the Negotiators on their part; and this was stated as the ground for rejecting the Article. Not only then the Military Convention did not in itself guarantee the possession, but the transaction above recited, tended to weaken the claim to the possession by the French Government, which is founded upon the silence of the Treaty of Paris of May 1814. The Allies then having the contents of the Museum justly in their power, could not do otherwise than restore them to the countries from which, contrary to the practice of civilized warfare, they had been torn during the disastrous period of the French Revolution, and the tyranny of Buonaparte.
The conduct of the Allies, regarding the Museum, at the period of the Treaty of Paris, might be fairly attributed to their desire to conciliate the French army, and to consolidate the reconciliation with Europe, which the army at that period manifested a disposition to effect. But the circumstances are now entirely different. The army disappointed the reasonable expectations of the world, and seized the earliest opportunity of rebelling against their Sovereign, and of giving their services to the common enemy of mankind, with a view to the revival of the disastrous period which had passed, and of the scenes of plunder which the world had made such gigantic efforts to get rid of.
This army having been defeated by the armies of Europe, they have been disbanded by the united Council of the Sovereigns, and no reason can exist why the Powers of Europe should do injustice to their own subjects, with a view to conciliate them again. Neither has it ever appeared to me to be necessary, that the Allied Sovereigns should omit this opportunity to do justice, and to gratify their own subjects, in order to gratify the people of France. The feeling of the people of France, upon this subject, must be one of national vanity only. It must be a desire to retain these specimens of the Arts, not because Paris is the fittest depository for them, as, upon that subject, Artists, Connoisseurs, and all who have written upon it, agree that the whole ought to be removed to their ancient seat, but because they were obtained by military successes, of which they are the trophies.
The same feelings which induce the people of France to wish to retain the pictures and statues of other nations, would naturally induce other nations to wish, now that success is on their side, that the property should be returned to their rightful owners, and the Allied Sovereigns must feel a desire to gratify them.
It is, besides, on many accounts, desirable, as well for their own happiness, as for that, of the world, that the people of France, if they do not already feel that Europe is too strong for them, should be made sensible of it, and that whatever may be the extent, at any time, of their momentary and partial success against any one, or any number of individual powers in Europe, the day of retribution must come.
Not only then would it in my opinion, be unjust in the Sovereigns to gratify the people of France on this subject, at the expense of their own people, but the sacrifice they would make would be impolitic, as it would deprive them of the opportunity of giving the people of France a great moral lesson. I have, &c.
Wellington.
No. XVII.—DISPATCH from Viscount Castlereagh to the Earl of Liverpool, relative to the Abolition of the Slave Trade; Paris, July 27, 1815.
My Lord; I have the honour to enclose to you an Extract of a Protocol of the 15th Conference, held between the Ministers of the four Allied Powers. I likewise transmit to your Lordship a Note, which, in consequence of what passed at the 15th Conference, I have addressed to Prince Talleyrand on the subject of the Slave Trade. I have, &c.
(Signed) Castlereagh.
(First Inclosure in No. XVII.)—Extract of the Protocol of the 15th Conference.
Viscount Castlereagh, his Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State, &c., in reference to the communication he has made to the Conference, of the orders addressed to the Admiralty to suspend all hostilities against the coast of France, observes, that there is reason to foresee that French ship-owners might be induced to renew the Slave Trade, under the supposition of the peremptory and total abolition decreed by Napoleon Buonaparté, having ceased with his power; that, nevertheless, great and powerful considerations, arising from motives of humanity and even of regard for the King's Authority, require, that no time should be lost to maintain in France, the entire and immediate Abolition of the Traffic in Slaves; that if, at the time of the Treaty of Paris, the King's administration could wish a final but gradual stop should be put to this Trade, in the space of five years, for the purpose of affording the King the gratification of having consulted, as much as possible, the interests of the French Proprietors in the Colonies, now, that the absolute prohibition has been ordained, the question assumes entirely a different shape, for if the King were to revoke the said prohibition, he would give himself the disadvantage of authorizing, in the interior of France, the reproach which more than once has been thrown out against his former Government, of countenancing re-actions, and, at the same time, justifying, out of France, and particularly in England, the belief of a systematic opposition to liberal ideas; that accordingly the time seems to have arrived when the Allies cannot hesitate formally to give weight in France to the immediate and entire prohibition of the Slave Trade, a prohibition, the necessity of which has been acknowledged, in principle, in the transactions of the Congress at Vienna.
The other Members of the Conference entirely coincide in opinion with Viscount Castlereagh, and in order to attain this end in the manner the most advantageous to the authority and consideration of the King, it is agreed that it would be adviseable to preface, by a few observations, the verbal communication to be made to the King and to his administration, in order that his Majesty may be induced voluntarily to make the arrangement in question, and thus reap the advantage of an initiative, which will remove the idea in the interior of the kingdom of a tendency towards re-action, and will conciliate to the King, in foreign countries, the suffrages of the partisans of liberal ideas.—A confidential representation is to be made to the King accordingly.
(Second Inclosure in No. XVII.)—Note from Viscount Castlereagh to Prince Talleyrand; Paris, July 27, 1815.
Prince; The official Order to the Admiralty, which I had the honour of transmitting to your highness on the 25th, having suspended hostilities against the coast of France, and against French ships carrying the White Flag, I have been directed by my Court, without delay, to call your attention to the necessity of guarding, under these circumstances, against any possible revival of the Slave Trade.
The British government conceive that under the operation of the Law of France, as it now stands, it is strictly prohibited to French subjects to carry on a Traffic in Slaves; and that nothing but a specific ordinance could again revive that commerce: but, whether this be the true construction or not of the state of the law in a technical sense, they feel persuaded that his Most Christian Majesty will never lend his authority to revive a system of this nature which has been, de facto, abolished.
I have desired Sir Charles Stuart to communicate to your Highness what passed on this subject at Ghent; the assurance the King was at that time pleased to give to the British Ambassador entirely tranquillized the Prince Regent's Ministers on this subject; but now that his Majesty has been happily restored to his Throne, they are most anxious to be enabled at once to relieve the solicitude of the British nation, by declaring, that the King, relieved by the state in which this measure now stands from those considerations of reserve which before influenced his conduct, does not hesitate to consider that question as now for ever closed, in conformity with those benevolent principles which are at all times congenial with the natural feelings of his Majesty's breast. I have, &c.
(Signed) Castlereagh.
No. XVIII.—Dispatch from Viscount Castlereagh to the Earl of Liverpool, relative to the Abolition of the Slave Trade; Paris, July 29, 1815.
My Lord; I had the honour of transmitting to your Lordship, by the last courier, the note which I had addressed to Prince Talleyrand on the subject of the Slave Trade, as also the Protocol of the proceedings of the Allied Ministers on this point. I have since omitted no suitable means of following up this representation with the French government, and I lave the satisfaction of acquainting your Lordship, that Prince Talleyrand has given me reason to expect, that I shall receive, in the course of to-morrow, an answer, signifying the King's concurrence in the measure of immediate and general abolition. It is my duty to acknowledge the decided and prompt support which I have received from the Allied Sovereigns on this important question. They have, in the most honourable manner, redeemed the pledge which they gave to the world during the late Congress, on the measure of abolition. I have, &c.
(Signed) Castlereagh.
No. XIX.—DISPATCH from Viscount Castlereagh to the Earl of Liverpool, relative to the Abolition of the Slave Trade; Paris, July 31, 1815.
My Lord; it gives me great satisfaction to find myself enabled to transmit to your Lordship, to be laid before the Prince Regent, the final act of his Most Christian Majesty, declaring the Slave Trade for ever abolished throughout the dominions of France. I have, &c. (Signed) Castlereagh.
P. S.—I likewise transmit to your Lordship a copy of the answer which I have addressed to Prince Talleyrand on this subject.
(First Inclosure in No. XIX.)—NOTE from Prince Talleyrand to Viscount Castlereagh, declaring the Slave Trade for ever abolished throughout the dominions of France; Paris, July 30, 1815.
My Lord; I have the honour to acquaint your Excellency that the King, in consequence of the conversation he has had with Sir Charles Stuart, and of the letter which your Excellency did me the honour to write to me on the 27th instant, has issued directions, in order that, on the part of France, the traffic in slaves may cease from the present time, every where and for ever.
What had been done in this respect by the Usurper was in the first place null and void, as were all his decrees, and moreover had been evidently dictated to him by personal motives of interest, and by hopes, which he would never have conceived, had he been capable of appreciating the British government and people. It had not, therefore, and could not have, any weight with his Majesty.
But it was with regret, that, last year, his Majesty stipulated the continuance of the traffic for a few years. He had only done so, because, on the one hand, he was aware that on this point there existed in France prejudices, which it was at that time advisable to sooth; and that, on the other hand, it was not possible to ascertain with precision, what length of time it would require to remove them.
Since that period these prejudices have been attacked in several publications, and with such effect as to afford his Majesty, this day, the satisfaction of following, without reserve, the dictates of his inclination, the more so, since it has been proved, by inquiries made with the greatest care, that the prosperity of the French Colonies, not being compromised by the immediate abolition of the trade, the said abolition is not contrary to the interests of his subjects, interests which above all, his Majesty thought himself bound to consult. This satisfaction is increased by the idea, that his Majesty at the same time, does what is agreeable to the government and people of Great Britain. Accept, &c.
(Signed) The Prince de Talleyrand.
(Second Inclosure in No. XIX.)—NOTE from Viscount Castlereagh to Prince Talleyrand in reply; Paris, July 31, 1815.
The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; has the honour to acknowledge Prince Talleyrand's note of this date, conveying to him, the decision taken by his Most Christian Majesty finally to abolish the Slave Trade throughout the French dominions. The undersigned will lose not a moment in transmitting tihs communication to his Court, and he ventures, in the mean time, to assure his Highness, that the King could not have taken any determination more personally grateful to the Prince Regent and to the whole British nation. The undersigned, &c.
(Signed) Castlereagh.
No. XX.—A.—Act of Acknowledgment and Guarantee of the perpetual Neutrality of Switzerland, and of the inviolability of its Territory.
The Accession of Switzerland to the declaration published at Vienna the 20th March 1815, by the Powers who signed the Treaty of Paris, having been duly notified to the Ministers of the Imperial and Royal Courts, by the Act of the Helvetic Diet on the 27th of the month of May following, there remained nothing to prevent the Act of Acknowledgment and Guarantee of the perpetual Neutrality of Switzerland, from being made conformably to the above mentioned declaration. But the Powers deemed it expedient to suspend till this day, the signature of that act, in consequence of the changes which the events of the war, and the arrangements, which might result from it, might possibly occasion in the limits of Switzerland, and in respect also to the modifications resulting there from, in the arrangements relative to the federated territory, for the benefit of the Helvetic Body.
These changes being fixed by the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris signed this day, the Powers who signed the declaration of Vienna of the 20th March declare, by this present act, their formal and authentic Ac- knowledgment of the perpetual Neutrality of Switzerland; and they guarantee to that country the integrity and inviolability of its territory in its new limits, such as they are fixed, as well by the act of the Congress of Vienna, as by the Treaty of Paris of this day, and such as they will be hereafter; conformably to the arrangement of the Protocol of the 3d November, extract of which is hereto annexed, which stipulates in favour of the Helvetic Body a new increase of territory, to be taken from Savoy, in order to disengage from Enclaves, and complete the circle of the canton of Geneva.
The Powers acknowledge likewise and guarantee the neutrality of those parts of Savoy, designated by the act of the Congress of Vienna of the 20th May 1315, and by the Treaty of Paris signed this day, the same being entitled to participate in the Neutrality of Switzerland, equally as if they belonged to that country.
The Powers who signed the declaration of the 20th March acknowledge, in the most formal manner, by the present act, that the neutrality and inviolability of Switzerland, and her independence of all foreign influence, enter into the true interests of the policy of the whole of Europe.—They declare that no consequence unfavourable to the rights of Switzerland with respect to its neutrality, and the inviolability of its territory, can or ought to be drawn from the events, which led to the passage of the Allied troops across a part of the Helvetic States. This passage, freely consented to by the cantons in the Convention of the 20th May, was the necessary result of the free adherence of Switzerland to the principles manifested by the Powers who signed the Treaty of Alliance of the 25th March.
The Powers acknowledge with satisfaction that the conduct of Switzerland, under these trying circumstances, has shown that she knew how to make great sacrifices to the general good, and to the support of a cause, which all the Powers of Europe defended, and that in line Switzerland has deserved the advantages which have been secured to her, whether by the arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, by the Treaty of Paris, of this day, or by the present act, to which all the Powers in Europe are invited to accede.
In faith of which, the present Declaration has been concluded, and signed at Paris the 20th November 1815. The signatures follow in the alphabetical order of the Courts.
AUSTRIA. The Prince de Metternich. Le Baron de Wessenberg. FRANCE. Richelieu. GREAT BRITAIN. Castlereagh. Wellington. PRUSSIA. The Prince de Hardenberg. The Baron de Humboldt. RUSSIA. The Prince de Rasoumoffski. The Count Capo D'Istria.
No. XX.—B.—Extract of the Protocol of the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, respecting the Neutrality of Switzerland; Paris, November 3, 1815.
The neutrality of Switzerland shall be extended to the territory which is to the north of a line drawn from Ugine, comprehending that town, to the south of the lake of Annecy, and thence to the lake of Bourges, as far as the Rhone, on the same principles as it has been extended to the provinces of Chablais and Faucigny, by the 92nd Article of the final Act of the Congress of Vienna.—In order to enable the King of Sardinia to partake, in a fair proportion, of the advantages which result from the present arrangements with France, it is agreed, that the part of Savoy which remained with France in virtue of the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814, shall be reunited to the dominions of his said Majesty, with the exception of the parish of Saint Julien, which shall be made over to the Canton of Geneva.—The Cabinets of the Allied Courts will use their good offices, in order to induce his Sardinian Majesty to make over to the Canton of Geneva, the parishes of Chesne, Thouex, and some others, which are necessary to disengage the Swiss territory of Jussy, in return for the retrocession, on the part of the Canton of Geneva, of the territory situated between the road of Erron, and the lake, which had been ceded by his Sardinian Majesty, in the Act signed the 29th March, 1815.—The French government having consented to withdraw its frontier line of Customhouses, from the limits of Switzerland on the side of the Jura, the Cabinets of the Allied Courts will use their good offices, in order to engage his Sardinian Majesty also to withdraw them on the side of Savoy, at least one league from the Swiss frontier, and without the "Voirons" of Salève and the hills of Sion and Waache.