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[Ionian Islands.]

1815, on the termination of the Congress (No. 27); and in order to settle and sign the said Act, the High Contracting Powers have 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, &c.

And his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Clement Winceslas Lothaire, Prince of Metternich-Winnebourg-Ochsenhausen, 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 John Philip Baron Wessenberg, Chamberlain and Privy Councillor of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, &c.; who, after having exchanged their Full Powers, found to be in good aud due form, have agreed upon the following Articles :—

Independence.

ART. I. The Islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Santa 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.

British Protection.

Guarantee of Austria, Prussia, and Russia.

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.

*See Appendix.

The

[Ionian Islands.]

other Contracting Powers do consequently renounce every right or particular pretention which they might have formed in respect to them, and formally guarantee all the dispositions of the present Treaty.

Appointment of Lord High Commissioner by Great Britain.

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.

Constitutional Charter.

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, in 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.

British Occupation of Fortresses, &c. Military Force of the States to be under Orders of Commander-in-Chief of British Troops.

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

* Ratified by Great Britain 26th August, 1817.

[Ionian Islands.]

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.

Maintenance of Fortresses. Payment of British Garrison.

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.

Trading Flag. British Jurisdiction over Honorary and Military Rights. Commerce with Austria. Consuls or Consular Agents only to be accredited.

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.

Acceding Powers to the Treaty.

ART. VIII. All the Powers which signed the Treaty of Paris

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of the 30th of May, 1814 (No. 1), and the Act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th of June, 1815 (No. 27); and also His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies* and the Ottoman Porte,† shall be invited to accede to the present Convention.

Ratifications.

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, in the year of Our Lord 1815.

(L.S.) CASTELREAGH.

(L.S.) WELLINGTON. (L.S.) METTERNICH.

(L.S.) WESSENBERG.

* The Independence of the Ionian Islands was recognized by Sicily in the Commercial Convention with Great Britain of 26th September, 1816. The Ratification of the Ottoman Porte was dated 24th April, 1819.

[2nd Peace of Paris.]

No. 40.-DEFINITIVE TREATY of Peace between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and France. Signed at Paris, 20th November, 1815.*

[See special references to this Treaty, and the Conventions annexed thereto, in the Treaty of Alliance concluded between the 4 Powers, on the same day.]

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1. Frontiers of France: as in 1790, Landau, Geneva, Savoy, Monaco, &c. 2. Fortresses, &c., to be placed at Disposal of Allied Powers.

3. Fortifications of Huninguen to be Destroyed. Extension of Neutrality of Switzerland to Part of Savoy.

4. Indemnity to be Paid by France.

5. Military Occupation by Allies along the Frontiers of France.

6. Evacuation of French Territory.

7. Period fixed for Emigration and Disposal of Property by Residents in Ceded Territories.

8. Ceded Countries. Application of Treaty of 30th May, 1814, to present

Treaty.

9. Conventions of Claims.

10. Restoration of Prisoners.

11. Maintenance of Treaty of 30th May, 1814, and Final Act of Vienna Congress of 9th June, 1815.

12. Ratifications.

[For Annexes see Nos. 41, 42, 45, and 46.]

(English Version.†)

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Treaty.

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 enterprise of Napoleon Bonaparte,‡ and by the revolutionary system reproduced in France, to promote its success; participating at present with His Most Christian Majesty in the desire to con

Spain acceded to this Treaty as well as to the Conventions annexed thereto by an Act dated 8th June, 1817, and by the Treaty of 10th June, 1817. The Stipulations of the Convention upon this subject, concluded on the same day, between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and France, were, verbatim the same as those of this Treaty.

+ For French Version, see "State Papers," vol. iii, p. 280.

Bonaparte escaped from Elba on the night of +e 25th of February, 1815, and landed in France on the 1st of March.

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