[Final Act of Vienna. Germanic Confederation.] mental Law of the Confederation, which shall have the same force and validity as the Federal Act itself, and shall serve the Diet as a rule of conduct not to be deviated from. In witness whereof all the Plenipotentiaries here assembled have signed the present Act, and sealed it with their Arms. Done at Vienna, on the 15th of May, 1820. (L.S.) FURSTEN VON METTERNICH. (L.S.) FREIHERRN VON ZENTNER. (L.S.) FREIHERRN VON STAINLEIN. (L.S.) GRAFEN VON SCHULENBURG. (L.S.) H. A. F. VON GLOBIG. (L.S.) E. F. N. GRAFEN VON MUNSTER. (L.S.) E. C. G. A. GRAFEN VON HARDENBERG. (L.S.) FREIHERRN VON BERSTETT. (L.S.) C. W. FREIHERRN VON FRITSCH. (L.S.) E. F. L. M. FREIHERRN VON BIEBERSTEIN. (L.S.) L. H. FREIHERRN VON PLESSEN. (L.S.) G. H. VON BERG. (L.S.) J. F. HACH. [The foregoing Final Act became the Fundamental Law of the Confederation by a Resolution of the General Assembly of the Germanic Diet, dated 8th June, 1820.] [Conferences of Troppau.] No. 105.-CIRCULAR of the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian Sovereigns to their respective Missions at Foreign Courts, respecting the Affairs of Spain, Portugal, and Naples. Troppau, 8th December, 1820.* (Translation.†) INFORMED of the rumours, as extravagant as they are false, which the malevolence of some and the credulity of others have conspired to spread and to credit, on the objects and the results of the Conferences of Troppau, the Allied Courts have judged it expedient to furnish their respective Missions at Foreign Courts with authentic information, to enable them to remove the errors and prejudices which may have been formed on that subject. The accompanying document is designed to fulfil that object. It is not necessary to make any formal communication of it; but there is nothing to prevent its being read confidentially. This narrative being about to be addressed to the Ministers of and of , you will take care to communicate more particularly with them as to the use you shall make of it. Receive, &c. (Inclosure.) Short Narrative of the first results of the Conferences at Troppau. The Events which occurred. on the 8th of March in Spain, on the 2nd July at Naples, and the Portuguese catastrophe, have naturally led to a feeling of great anxiety and sorrow in all persons who are under the obligation of watching over the Tranquillity of States, but at the same time revealing to them the necessity of assembling together and deliberating on the means of preventing all the evils which threatened to fall upon Europe. It was natural that these feelings should especially create a lively impression on the Powers which had recently stifled Revolution, and which saw it again raising its head. It was not less natural that those Powers, in order to battle with it for the third time, should have recourse to the same means which they had adopted with so much success in that memorable struggle which delivered Europe from the yoke which she had endured for 20 years. * See also British Circular of 19th January, 1821, respecting Conferences of Laybach. For French version, see "State Papers," vol. viii., p. 1149. [Conferences of Troppau.] Everything led to the hope, that that Alliance, founded under the most critical circumstances, crowned with the most brilliant success, affirmed by the Conventions of 1814 (No. 1), 1815 (Nos. 27, 40, & 44), and 1818 (Nos. 87 & 88), at the same time that it had prepared, established, and strengthened the Peace of the World, that it had delivered the Continent of Europe from the military tyranny of the Representative of Revolution, would also be in a position to put a curb on a force no less tyrannical and no less detestable, that of Revolution and Crime. Such were the motives and the end of the meeting at Troppau. The first are so evident that they do not require to be developed. The last is so honourable and so salutary, that the good-will of all right-minded men will no doubt follow the Allied Courts in the noble arena into which they are about to enter. The enterprise which the most sacred engagements impose upon them, is great and difficult; but a happy foresight makes them hope that they will arrive at their result, by invariably maintaining the spirit of those Treaties to which Europe owes the Peace and Union which exist amongst all its States. The Powers have exercised an undeniable right, in concerting together upon means of safety against those States in which the overthrow of a Government caused by revolution, could only be considered as a dangerous example, which could only result in an hostile attitude against constitutional and legitimate Governments. The exercise of this right became still more urgent, when those who had placed themselves in that position, sought to communicate to neighbouring States the misfortune into which they had themselves plunged, and to propagate revolution and confusion around them. There is in that attitude and that conduct an evident rupture of the pact which guarantees to all the Governments of Europe, besides the inviolability of their territory, the enjoyment of the peaceful relations which exclude all reciprocal infringement of their rights. This undeniable fact is the point from which the Allied Courts started. The Ministers who could be furnished at Troppau with positive instructions from their Courts, concerted together on the principles of the conduct which they were to follow towards those States whose form of Government had received violent shocks, and on the peaceful or coercive measures which, in cases where important effects of a salutary influence could be obtained, might recall those States within the bosom of the Alliance. The [Conferences of Troppau.] results of these deliberations were communicated to the Courts of Paris and London, in order that on their part they might take them into consideration. As the Revolution of Naples daily takes deeper root, that no other imperils the tranquillity of neighbouring States to a danger so certain and so imminent, and that it is not possible to act so immediately and so promptly upon any other, they have come to the conviction of the necessity of proceeding according to the above principles, towards the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In order to prepare measures of conciliation for that purpose, the Monarchs assembled at Troppau invited the King of the Two Sicilies to join them at Laybach, a step the object of which was solely to deliver the will of His Majesty from all external constraint, and to constitute that Monarch mediator between his erring peoples, and the States whose tranquillity they threatened. The Allied Monarchs being determined not to recognise a Government created by open revolt, could only negotiate with the person of the King. Their Ministers and Agents at Naples have consequently received the necessary instructions. France and England have been invited to take part in this movement, and it is hoped that they will not refuse to give their assent, the principle upon which that invitation is founded being in perfect harmony with the Treaties which they have previously agreed to, and offering besides a guarantee of resolutions the most pacific and equitable.* There is nothing new in the system followed by Austria, Prussia, and Russia; it rests upon the same maxims as those which served as bases of the Treaties upon which the Alliance of the European States was founded. The intimate Union between the Courts which are in the very heart of this Alliance, can thereby only gain more strength and durability. The Alliance will strengthen itself by the same means which the Powers to which it owes its origin adopted to form it, and which have thus by degrees made it to be adopted by all the others, who have become convinced of its advantages more than ever incontestible. Besides, no other proofs are necessary, than that neither the spirit of conquest, nor the pretext of infringing on the Independence of other Governments in their Internal Administration, nor the project of preventing wise alterations, freely undertaken, See British Circular of 19th January, 1821. [Conferences of Troppau.] and consistent with the true interests of the peoples, have had any part in the Resolutions of the Powers. They only wish to maintain Peace, and to deliver Europe from the curse of Revolution, and to remove or abridge, as much as in them lies, the evils which result from the violation of all principles of order and morality. To such conditions, the Allied Monarchs think they may hope, as a reward for their efforts and their care, for the unanimous approval of the world, |