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Object of the Confederation.

ART. II. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LIV.)

Equality of the Members.

ART. III. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LV.)

Federative Diet.

ART. IV. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LVI.)

Presidency of Austria at Diet.

ART. V. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LVII.)

Composition of the General Assembly.

ART. VI. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LVIII.)

Arrangements relating to the Diet.

ART. VII. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LIX.)

Order of Voting in Diet.

ART. VIII. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LX.)

Diet to assemble at Frankfort.

ART. IX. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LXI.)

The Framing of Fundamental Laws.

ART. X. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LXII.)

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

ART. XI. 1. (Embodied in Vienna Congress Treaty (No. 27) as Art. LXIII.)

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Particular Arrangements.

ART. XI. 2. 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.

Formation of Supreme Tribunals.

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 authorised 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'échevin) to whom the final sentence shall be submitted.

Separate Assemblies of States.

ART. XIII. There shall be Assemblies of the States in all the countries belonging to the Confederation.

Rights of Mediatised Princes.

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 birthright with the Sovereign Houses (Ebenbürtigkeit) as they have hitherto enjoyed.

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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.

Rights of the Ancient Nobility of the Empire.

The ancient and immediate Nobility of the Empire (l'Ancienne Noblesse immédiate de l'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

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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 reunited 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.

Guarantee by the Confederation of the Rents assigned upon the Navigation Duties of the Rhine, and of the Pensions to the Clergy or Laity.

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 Récès 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 Récès, in every country at peace with the Germanic Confederation.

Pensions to Members of the Teutonic Order.

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 Récès 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.

Fund for support of Bishops and Clergy on Left Bank of the Rhine.

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

See Appendix.

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a year, and until that time the pensions shall be paid as heretofore.

Equality of Civil and Political Rights to Christian Sects.

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.

Civil Rights of Jews.

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.

Postal Revenues to be retained by Tour and Taxis.

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 Récès 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 House, whether with regard to retaining the Post, or to a fair indemnity for the same, such as the above Récès 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 Récès of the Deputation of the Empire, unless, however, an indemnity shall have been absolutely settled by a particular Convention.

Rights of Subjects of Confederated States.

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

* See Appendix.