The Chancellor of the Exchequerpresented at the bar copies of the Treaties signed on the 1st of March last, between this country and Austria, Russia, and Prussia; and also a copy of the Convention for the Cessation of Hostilities between England and France, signed at Paris on the 23d of April. Having moved that they should be upon the table; he observed, that nothing more would be necessary at present, than to observe, that the consideration of the Convention, and of the Subsidiary Treaties, would take place in a Committee of Supply.
§ Mr. Whitbreadenquired whether the right hon. gentleman and his colleagues had come to a determination not to submit to the House those papers relative to the negociation at Chatillon, which were prepared for it, but which, in consequence of the subsequent extraordinary events in Europe, they had deemed it proper to withhold. He did not see how it would be possible to consider the Treaties now laid before them, without the communication of those antecedent documents.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, he was not aware, that it was the intention of government to submit those papers to the House; but, at a future period, when the subsidies themselves were under their consideration, it would be competent for any member to move for their production.
§ Mr. Whitbread.—Then it is determined upon, that they shall be refused?
The Chancellor of the Exchequerreplied, that he was not prepared to signify that they would be refused.
§ Mr. Whitbreadwished to ask another question, whether any advances of money had been made to any or all of the Allied Powers, subsequent to, and in consequence of, the Treaties that were signed? He did not mean to imply, that any advances so made would have been improper; but he wished to know the fact.
The Chancellor of the Exchequeranswered, that to some of the Allied Powers advances had been given out of the provision which had been made at the conclusion of the last session, for the general purpose of assisting the Allies.
§ Mr. Whitbread. Have any advances been made subsequent to the signing to the signing of treaties at Chaumont?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer.—Some advances have been made subsequent to the signing of the treaties at Chaumont.
§
The following is a Copy of the Treaty between GREAT BRITAIN and AUSTRIA:
A Treaty of Union, Concert, and Subsidy, between his BRITANNIC MAJESTY and his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty the EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. Signed at Chaumont, the 1st of March 1814.
§ In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.—His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and his Majesty the King of Prussia, having transmitted to the French government proposals for concluding a general peace, and being desirous, should France refuse the conditions therein contained, to draw closer the ties which unite them for the vigorous prosecution of a war undertaken for the salutary purpose of putting an end to the miseries of Europe, of securing its future repose, by re-establishing a just balance of power, and being at the same time desirous, should the Almighty bless their pacific intentions, to fix the means of maintaining, against every attempt, the order of things which shall have been the happy consequence of their efforts, have agreed to sanction, by a solemn treaty, signed separately by each of the four powers with the three others, this twofold engagement.
§ In consequence, his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has named to discuss, settle, and sign the conditions of the present Treaty, with his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the right honourable Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, 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, &c. &c. &c. and his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty having named, on his part, the Sieur Clement Wenceslaus Lothaire Prince Metternich Winneburgh Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Russian Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of the First Class, Knight of the Prussian Orders of the Black and Red Eagles, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Joseph of Wurtzburgh, Knight of 624 the Order of St. Hubert of Bavaria, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburgh, and of several others, his Chamberlain, Privy Councillor, Minister of State, of Conferences, and of Foreign Affairs.—The said Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, found to be in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
§ Art. I. The High Contracting Powers above-named solemnly engage by the present Treaty, and in the event of France refusing to accede to the conditions of peace now proposed, to apply all the means of their respective states to the vigorous prosecution of the war against that power, and to employ them in perfect concert, in order to obtain for themselves and for Europe a general peace, under the protection of which the rights and liberties of all nations may be established and secured.
§ This engagement shall in no respect affect the stipulations which the several powers have already contracted relative to the number of troops to be kept against the enemy; and it is understood, that the courts of England, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, engage by the present Treaty to keep in the field, each of them, one hundred and fifty thousand effective men, exclusive of garrisons, to be employed in active service against the common enemy.
§ Art. II. The High Contracting Parties reciprocally engage not to negociate separately with the common enemy, nor to sign peace, trace, nor convention, but with common consent. They moreover engage not to lay down their arms until the object of the war, mutually understood and agreed upon, shall have been attained.
§ Art. III. In order to contribute in the most prompt and decisive manner to fulfil this great object, his Britannic Majesty engages to furnish a subsidy of five millions sterling for the service of the year 1814, to be divided in equal proportions amongst the three powers: and his said Majesty promises moreover to arrange, before the 1st of January in each year, with their Imperial and Royal Majesties, the further succours to be furnished during the subsequent year, if (which God forbid!) the war should so long continue. The subsidy above stipulated, of five millions sterling, shall be paid in London, by monthly instalments, and in equal proportions, to the ministers of the respective powers duly authorised to receive the 625 same. In case peace should be signed between the Allied Powers and France before the expiration of the year, the subsidy, calculated upon the scale of five millions sterling, shall be paid up to the end of the month in which the definitive treaty shall have been signed; and his Britannic Majesty promises, in addition, to pay to Austria and to Prussia two months, and to Russia four months, over and above the stipulated subsidy, to cover the expences of the return of their troops within their own frontiers.
§ Art. IV. The High Contracting Parties will be entitled respectively to accredit to the generals commanding their armies, officers, who will be allowed to correspond with their governments, for the purpose of informing them of the military events, and of every thing which relates to the operations of the armies.
§ Art. V. The High Contracting Powers reserving to themselves to concert together, on the conclusion of a peace with France, as to the means best adapted to guarantee to Europe and to themselves reciprocally the continuance of the peace, have also determined to enter, without delay, into defensive engagements for the protection of their respective states in Europe against every attempt which France might make to infringe the order of things resulting from such pacification.
§ Art, VI To effect this they agree, that in the event of one of the High Contracting Parties being threatened with an attack on the part of France, the others shall employ their most strenuous efforts to prevent it, by friendly interposition.
§ Art. VII. In the case of these endeavours proving ineffectual, the High Contracting Parties promise to come to the immediate assistance of the power attacked, each with a body of sixty thousand men.
§ Art. VIII. Such auxiliary corps shall respectively consist of fifty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry, with a train of artillery, and ammunition in proportion to the number of troops: the auxiliary corps shall be ready to take the field in the most effective manner, for the safety of the power attacked or threatened, within two months at latest after the requisition shall have been made.
§ Art. IX. As the situation of the seat of war, or other circumstances, might render it difficult for Great Britain to furnish the stipulated succours in English troops within the term prescribed, and to main- 626 tain the same on a war establishment, his Britannic Majesty reserves the right of furnishing his contingent to the requiring power in foreign troops in his pay, or to pay annually to that power a sum of money, at the rate of twenty pounds sterling per each man for infantry, and of thirty pounds sterling for cavalry, until the stipulated succour shall be complete.
§ The mode of furnishing this succour by Great Britain shall be settled amicably, in each particular case, between his Britannic Majesty and the power threatened, or attacked, as soon as the requisition, shall be made; the same principle shall be adopted with regard to the forces which his Britannic Majesty engages to furnish by the first article of the present Treaty.
§ Art. X. The auxiliary army shall be under the orders of the commander in chief of the army of the requiring power; it shall be commanded by its own general, and employed in all military operations according to the rules of war. The pay of the auxiliary army shall be defrayed by the requiring power; the rations and portions of provisions and forage, &c. as well as quarters, shall be furnished by the requiring power as soon as the auxiliary army shall have passed its own frontier; and that upon the same footing as the said power maintains, or shall maintain, its own troops in the field or in quarters.
§ Art, XI. The discipline and administration of the troops shall solely depend upon their own commander; they shall not be separated. The trophies and booty taken from the enemy shall belong to the troops who take them.
§ Art. XII. Whenever the amount of the stipulated succours shall be found inadequate to the exigency of the case, the High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves to make, without loss of time, an ulterior arrangement as to the additional succours which it may be deemed necessary to furnish.
§ Art. XIII. The High Contracting Parties mutually promise, that in case they shall be reciprocally engaged in hostilities, in consequence of furnishing the stipulated succours, the party requiring and the parties called upon, and acting as auxiliaries in the war, shall not make peace but by common consent.
§ Art. XIV. The engagements contracted by the present Treaty, shall not prejudice those which the High Contracting Parties may have entered into with other powers, 627 not prevent them from forming new engagements, with other states, with a view of obtaining the same salutary result.
§ Art. XV. In order to render more effectual the defensive engagements above stipulated, by uniting for their common defence the powers the most exposed to a French invasion, the High Contracting parties engage to invite those powers to accede to the present Treaty of defensive alliance.
§ Art. XVI. The present Treaty of defensive alliance having for its object to maintain the equilibrium of Europe, to secure the repose and independence of its states, and to prevent the invasions which during so many years have desolated the world, the High Contracting Parties have agreed to extend the duration of it to twenty years, to take date from the day of its signature; and they reserve to themselves, to concert upon its ulterior prolongation, three years before its expiration, should circumstances require it.
§ Art. XVII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratification exchanged within two months or sooner if possible.
§ In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and affixed thereto the seal of their arms.
§ Done at Chaumont this first day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
§ CASTLEREAGH.
§ CLEMENT WENCESLAUS LOTHAIRE, Prince of Metternich.
§ [The Treaties between Great Britain and Russia and Prussia are couched in exactly the same terms as the above. They are therefore not inserted.]
§ CONVENTION for a Suspension of Hostilities with FRANCE.—Signed at Paris the 23d of April 1814.
§ In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.—The Allied Powers, anxious to terminate the misfortunes of Europe, and to lay the foundation of its repose on a just division of power between the states of which it is composed; desirous of affording to France, (now that she is reinstated under a government whose principles offer the necessary guarantees for the maintenance of peace), proofs of their disposition to place themselves in the relations of friendship with her; and wishing at the same time that France should enjoy the blessings of peace as much as possible, even before the whole of their 628 arrangements can be completed, have resolved to proceed, conjointly with his Royal Highness Monsieur, Son of France, Brother of the King, Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of France, to a suspension of hostilities between their respective forces, and to the re-establishment of the relations of friendship which formerly subsisted between them.
§ His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for himself and his Allies on the one part, and his Royal Highness Monsieur, brother of the Most Christian King, Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom of France, on the other part, have, in consequence, named plenipotentiaries to agree to an act, which, without prejudging the terms of Peace, contains stipulations for a suspension of hostilities, and which shall be succeeded, as soon as may be, by a Treaty of Peace; to wit:—His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the right hon. Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh, one of his 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; and his Royal Highness Monsieur, Brother of the King, Lieutenant General of the kingdom of France, Le Sieur Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Perigord, Prince of Benevento, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, of the Orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne of Russia, of the Orders of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle of Prussia, Senator and President of the Provisional Government; who, after the exchange of their full powers, have agreed to the following Articles:
§ Article I. All hostilities by land and sea are, and shall remain, suspended between the Allied Powers and France, that is to say:—for the land forces, as soon as the commanding officers of the French armies and fortified places shall have signified to the allied troops opposed to them, that they have recognized the authority of the Lieutenant General of the kingdom of France; and in like manner upon the sea, as far as regards maritime places and stations, as soon as the shipping and ports of the kingdom of France, or those occupied by French forces shall have manifested the same submission.
§ Article II. For the purpose of effecting the re-establishment of the relations of 629 friendship between the Allied Powers and France, and to afford to the latter beforehand, as much as possible, the enjoyment of the blessings of peace, the Allied Powers will cause their armies to evacuate the French territory, as it existed on the 1st of January 1792, upon condition that the places still in the possession of the French armies beyond those limits, shall be evacuated and delivered up to the Allies.
§ Art. III. The Lieutenant-General of the kingdom of France will accordingly instruct the commandants of those places to deliver them up in the following manner, viz. The places situated upon the Rhine, not comprehended within the limits of France on the 1st of January, 1792, and those between the Rhine and the said limits, in the space of ten days, to be calculated from the day of the signature of the present act; the places in Piedmont and in other parts of Italy which belonged to France, in fifteen days; those in Spain in twenty days; and all other places occupied by French troops, without exception, in such manner, as that they shall be entirely delivered up by the 1st of June next. The garrisons of such places shall depart with their arms and baggage, and with the private property of the military, and of the civil agents of every description. They shall be allowed to take with them field artillery in the proportion of three pieces to each one thousand men, the sick and wounded therein comprised.
§ The property of the fortresses, and every thing which is not private property shall remain untouched, and shall be given over in full to the Allies without any thing being removed. In the property are comprised not only the depôts of artillery and ammunition, but also all other supplies of every description, as well as the archives, inventories, plans, maps, models, &c.
§ Immediately after the signature of the present Convention, commissaries on the part of the Allied Powers and of France shall be named and dispatched to the fortresses, in order to ascertain the state in which they are, and to regulate together the execution of this article.
§ The garrisons shall be regulated in their return to France according to the magazines upon the different lines which shall be agreed upon. The blockades of fortified places in France shall be raised immediately by the allied armies.
§ The French troops making a part of the 630 army of Italy, or occupying the fortified places in that country or in the Mediterranean, shall be recalled immediately by his royal highness the Lieutenant-General of the kingdom.
§ Article IV. The stipulations of the preceding article shall be equally applied to maritime fortresses, the Contracting Powers reserving, however, to themselves to regulate in the Definitive Treaty of Peace, the fate of the arsenals, vessels of war, armed and unarmed, which are in those places.
§ Article V. The fleets and ships of France shall remain in their respective situations, vessels only charged with particular missions shall be allowed to sail, but the immediate effect of the present act in respect to the French ports, shall be the raising of all blockade by land or sea, the liberty of fishing, that of the coasting trade, particularly of that which is necessary for supplying Paris with provisions; and the re-establishment of the relations of commerce conformably to the internal regulations of each country; and the immediate effect in respect to the interior shall be the free provisioning of the cities, and the free passage of all means of military or commercial transport.
§ Article VI. In order to anticipate every subject of complaint and dispute which may arise respecting the captures which might be made at sea after the signature of the present Convention, it is reciprocally agreed that vessels and effects which may be taken in the Channel, and in the North Seas, after the space of twelve days, to reckon from the exchange of the ratifications of the present act, shall be restored on both sides, that the term shall be one month within the Channel and North Seas to the Canary Islands and to the Equator, and five months in every other part of the world, without any exception or other particular distinction of time, or of place.
§ Article VII. On both sides, the prisoners, officers and soldiers, of land or sea, or of any other description whatever, and particularly hostages, shall be immediately sent back to their respective countries, without ransom and without exchange. Commissaries shall be named reciprocally in order to carry this general liberation into effect.
§ Article VIII. The administration of the departments or cities actually occupied by the forces of the co-belligerents shall be given over to the magistrates named by His Royal Highness the Lieutenant-General 631 of the kingdom of France. The Royal Authorities shall provide for the subsistence and wants of the troops to the moment when they shall evacuate the French territory, the Allied Powers wishing as an act of friendship towards France, to discontinue the military requisitions, as soon as the restoration of the legitimate authority shall have been effected. Every thing which relates to the execution of this article shall be regulated by a particular Convention.
§ Article IX. A mutual understanding shall take place respecting the terms of the second article, as to the routes which the troops of the Allied Powers shall follow in their march, in order to prepare the means of subsistance, and commissaries shall be named to regulate all matters of detail, and to accompany the troops till the moment of their quitting the French territory.
§ In testimony of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, and affixed thereto the seals of their arms.
§ Done at Paris, the 23d day of April in the year of our Lord, 1814.
§ CASTLEREAGH,
§ LE PRINCE DE BENEVENTO.
§ ADDITIONAL ARTICLE.
§ The term of ten days, agreed on in virtue of the stipulations of the Third Article of the Convention of this day for the evacuation of the fortified places upon the Rhine, and between that river and the ancient frontiers of France, is extended to the fortified places and military establishments of whatsoever description in the United Provinces of the United States.
§ The present additional article shall have the same force and validity, as if it were word for word inserted in the Convention of this day.
§ In testimony of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and affixed thereto the seals of their arms.
§ Done in Paris, the 23rd day of April in the year of our Lord, 1814.
§ CASTLEREAGH.
§ LE PRINCE DE BENEVENTO.