[Vienna Congress Treaty.]

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.

Germanic Confederation."

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 Luxemburg;

establish among themselves a perpetual Confederation, which shall be called "The Germanic Confederation."

Germanic Confederation. Object of the Confederation.

ART. LIV. The object of this Confederation is the maintenance of the external and internal safety of Germany, and of the Independence and Inviolability of the Confederated States.

Germanic Confederation. Equality of the Members.

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.

Germanic Confederation. Federative Diet.

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 :—

See also Protocol between 4 Powers of 3rd November, 1815, and Final Act of 15th May, 1820. In June, 1866, War ensued between Prussia and Italy on the one side, and Austria on the other. On the 23rd August, 1866, a Treaty of Peace was signed at Prague, by Art. IV of which Austria acknowledged that the Germanic Confederation was dissolved; and on the 14th June, 1867, the Constitution of the North German Confederation was promulgated. On the 19th July, 1870, War was formally declared by France against Prussia, the other States of Germany subsequently taking part in this war. On the 16th April, 1871, a new Constitution for the German Empire was promulgated.

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 definite time.

Germanic Confederation.* Composition of the General Assembly.†

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:

Austria shall have
Prussia

* See note p. 242.

1871.

Altered by subsequent Constitutions of 1th June, 1867, and 16th April,

Austria consented to be excluded from the New Organisation of Germany by her Treaty with Prussia, signed at Prague, 23rd August, 1866.

Grand Duchy of Hesse [Hesse-Darmstadt] 3

Saxe-Coburg

Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Hildburghausen
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Holstein-Oldenburg

Anhalt-Dessau

Anhalt-Bernburg||

Anhalt-Köthen¶..

..

Schwartzburg-Sondershausen

* Certain districts belonging to Bavaria were ceded to Prussia by the Treaty of 22nd August, 1866.

+ Annexed to Prussia by Decree dated 20th September, 1866. The King of Hanover protested against this annexation, on the 23rd September, 1866.

Certain districts belonging to the Grand Duchy of Hesse were ceded to Prussia by the Treaty of 3rd September, 1866.

§ In January, 1864, war broke out between Austria, Prussia, and Denmark; and by the Treaty of Peace signed at Vienna on the 30th October, 1864, certain Rights over the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig were secured to Austria. In June, 1866, war ensued between Prussia and Italy against Austria, and by the Treaty of Peace, signed at Prague on the 23rd August, 1866, the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig were annexed to Prussia, on the condition that the Populations of the northern districts of Schleswig should be ceded to Denmark, if, by free vote, they expressed a wish to be united to Denmark." By the Law of 24th December, 1866, those Duchies were united with the Prussian Monarchy.

Became extinct on the death of the Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg on the 19th August, 1863, when all the territories of Anhalt were united under one head as the Duchy of Anhalt.

Became extinct on the death of the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, 23rd November, 1847, when its territories were united to Anhalt-Dessau by Patent of 22nd May, 1853.

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.

Germanic Confederation. Arrangements relating to the Diet. 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 or change of any of the fundamental laws, upon organic institutions, upon individual rights, or upon

* The Administration of the Principalities of Waldeck and Pyrmont was transferred to Prussia by the Treaty of 18th July, 1867.

+ Annexed to Prussia by Decree of 20th September, 1866, and Patent of 3rd October, 1866.

The Constitution of the North German Confederation of 14th June, 1867, was officially published as Law by the Senate of Hamburgh, to take effect from the 1st July, 1867.

[Vienna Congress Treaty.]

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.

Germanic Confederation. Order of Voting in Diet.

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 Recès 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.

Germanic Confederation. Diet to assemble at Frankfort. ART. LXI. The Diet shall assemble at Frankfort on the Maine. Its first meeting is fixed for the 1st of September, 1815.

Germanic Confederation. The Framing of Fundamental Laws. 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.

Germanic Confederation.

Maintenance of Peace in Germany. Disputes to be settled through Mediation of the Diet, or by an Austregal Court.

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 * See Appendix.