[1st Peace of Paris.]

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed and affixed to it the Seals of their Arms.

Done at Paris, the 20th July, 1814.

(L.S.) PEDRO GOMEZ LABRADOR. (L.S.) LE PRINCE DE BENEVENT.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES. France and Spain. Paris, 20th July, 1814.

Restoration of Property Sequestered.

ART. I. Properties of whatever nature possessed by Spaniards in France, or by Frenchmen in Spain, shall be respectively restored to them in the same state as that in which they were at the time of their Sequestration or Confiscation. The removal of Sequestration shall extend to all Properties of that nature, whatever may be the time of the Sequestration. Disputes respecting coins in actual circulation, or which may arise hereafter between France and Spain, whether they shall have arisen before the War or at a later date, shall be settled by a mixed Commission; and if such Disputes are within the jurisdiction of courts of justice, the respective tribunals shall be called upon, on either side, to administer a prompt and impartial justice.

A Commercial Treaty to be concluded.

ART. II. A Treaty of Commerce shall be concluded between the two Powers as soon as possible, and until such Treaty can be put into execution, the commercial relations between the two kingdoms shall be re-established on the same footing as they existed in 1792.

The present Additional Articles shall have the same force and validity as if they were inserted, word for word, in the Treaty of this day. They shall be ratified, and the Ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at the same time.

In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the Seal of their Arms. Done at Paris, the 20th July, 1814.

(L.S.) PEDRO-GOMEZ LABRADOR.

(L.S.)

LE PRINCE DE BENEVENT.

[Belgic Provinces.]

No. 4.-ACT of Acceptance of the Sovereignty of the Belgic Provinces, in the name of the King of the Netherlands. Signed at The Hague, 21st July, 1814.*

[This Act was annexed to the Treaty between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and the Netherlands of 31st May, 1815, No. 22; and which Treaty formed Annex X to the Vien Congress Treaty of 9th June, 1815, No. 27.]

3. Representation of Belgic Provinces at Assembly of States General. 4. Equality of Inhabitants of the Netherlands.

5. Commerce and Navigation in Dutch Colonies.

6. Debts to be paid by the Netherlands.

7. Expenses of Frontier Fortresses to be paid by the Netherlands. 8. Repair of Dykes.

(English Version.†)

His Excellency the Earl of Clancarty, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from His Britannic Majesty to His Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, having delivered to the Undersigned a copy of the Protocol of a Conference which took place in the month of June last, between the Ministers of the High Allied Powers, and signed by them, on the subject of the Union of Belgium with Holland; and the said Ambassador having also communicated to him the instructions he had received from his Court, to enter into an arrangement with General Baron Vincent, Governor General of Belgium, for delivering up the Provisional Government of the Belgic Provinces to the person whom His Royal Highness shall entrust with it, in the name of the Allied Powers, until the time of their definitive and formal Union; provided that the said Ambassador, previously, and in conjunction with the Ministers, or other Diplomatic Agents of Austria, Russia and Prussia, now at the Hague, should receive from His Royal Highness his formal Accession to the conditions of the Union of the Two Countries, according to the invitation made to the Prince Sovereign, in the said Protocol; the under

* This Union between Holland and Belgium was dissolved by the Treaty between the 5 Powers and Belgium of the 15th November, 1831, and the Treaties of 19th April, 1839.

+ For French version, see "State Papers," vol. ii, p, 141.

See page 40.

[Belgic Provinces.]

signed has laid before His Royal Highness the copy of the Protocol, and the Official Note of the said Ambassador, which contained the substance of his Instructions on this subject.

His Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign declares, that the Conditions of the Union, contained in the Protocol, are conformable to the following 8 Articles:

Constitution of Holland to govern both States.

ART. I. This Union shall be intimate and complete, so that the Two Countries shall form but One and the same State; governed by the Constitution already established in Holland, which shall be modified by common consent, according to existing circum

stances.

Religious Equality.

ART. II. No innovation shall be made in the Articles of this Constitution, which assure equal protection and favour to every sect, and guarantee the admission of all citizens, whatever their religious belief may be, to public employments and offices.

Representation of Belgic Provinces at Assembly of States General.

ART. III. The Belgic Provinces shall be properly represented at the Assembly of the States General, of which the Ordinary Sessions shall be held, in time of Peace, in a city in Holland and in a city of Belgium, alternately.

Equality of Inhabitants of the Netherlands.

ART. IV. Every inhabitant of the Netherlands being thus placed by the Constitution upon the same footing, the different provinces shall equally enjoy all such commercial and other advantages as are consistent with their respective situations; and no kind of impediment or restriction shall be imposed on either, to the advantage of the other.

Commerce and Navigation in Dutch Colonies.

ART. V. Immediately after the Union, the Provinces and Towns of Belgium shall participate in the Commerce and Navigation of the Colonies, upon the same footing as the Provinces and Towns of Holland.

Debts to be paid by the Netherlands.

ART. VI. As the expenses as well as the profits are to be jointly shared, the Debts contracted, up to the period of the Union

[Belgic Provinces.]

of the Dutch provinces, on the one side, and the Belgic provinces on the other, shall be at the charge of the Treasurer-General of the Netherlands.

Expenses of Frontier Fortresses to be paid by the Netherlands.

ART. VII. Upon the same principles, the expenses necessary for the establishment and preservation of the Frontier Fortresses of the new State, shall be defrayed by the Treasurer-General, as resulting from an object connected with the safety and independence of all the provinces and of the whole Nation.

Repair of Dykes.

ART. VIII. The expenses of establishing and repairing Dykes shall be defrayed by the districts more immediately interested in this part of the public convenience; the State in general, however, shall not be exempted from contributing towards the same, in case of extraordinary disaster, as it has hitherto been the custom in Holland.

And His Royal Highness having accepted these 8 Articles, as the Bases and Conditions of the Union of Belgium with Holland, under the Sovereignty of His Royal Highness;

The Undersigned, Anne William Charles Baron de Nagell, Chamberlain to His Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, and his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, is charged and authorised, in the name and on the part of His august Master, to accept the Sovereignty of the Belgic Provinces, upon the conditions contained in the 8 preceding Articles, and to guarantee, by the present Act, their acceptance. and execution.

In faith of which the Undersigned, Anne William Charles Baron de Nagell, Chamberlain to His Royal Highness the Prince Sovereign of the United Netherlands, and his Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has confirmed the present Act by his signature, and has caused to be affixed thereunto the Seal of his Arms.

Done at the Hague, the 21st of July, 1814.

(L.S.) A. W. C. DE NAGELL.

[Belgium and Holland.]

PROTOCOL of Conference between Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia. Vienna, 14th June, 1814.

[Protocol referred to in Preamble of preceding Act.]

TABLE.

Preamble.

Union of Belgium to Holland. Equilibrium of Europe. Right of Conquest. Interests of Holland and Belgium.

Provisional Government.

Prince of Orange to Sanction Provisional Government.

Separate Arrangements to be entered into with the Allies under Mediation of England.

(Translation.)

THE measures to be taken to effect the Union of Belgium to Holland, and those relative to the delivery of the Provisional Government to the Prince of Orange, are the subjects for discussion.

The principles from which the Powers start, relative to the union of Belgium and Holland, are the following:

Union of Belgium to Holland. Equilibrium of Europe. Right of Conquest.

1. That Union was decided by virtue of the political principles adopted by them for the establishment of a state of equilibrium in Europe; they put those principles into execution by virtue of their right of conquest of Belgium.

Interests of Holland and Belgium.

2. Animated by a spirit of liberality, and wishing to insure the repose of Europe by the reciprocal well being of the parties composing it, the Powers wish to consult the particular interests both of Holland and Belgium, in order to effect the most perfect amalgamation between the two Countries.

Provisional Government.

3. The Powers think they have found the means of attaining that end by adopting as a basis of the Union the points put forward by Lord Clancarty, and agreed to by the Sovereign Prince of Holland.

Prince of Orange to sanction Provisional Government.

The Powers shall in consequence invite the Prince of Orange to give his formal sanction to the conditions of the Union of the