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authorised despotism; although, unfortunately, from time to time, as happens every where else, and in every thing human, there may bave been abuses of power which no possible Constitution can wholly guard against; nor were they the faults of the Constitution which the nation had, but of individuals, and the effects of unpleasant but very rare circumstances, which gave occasion to them. However, in order to avert them, as effectually as human foresight will allow, namely, by preserving the honour of the royal dignity, and its rights, since those appertaining to it and to the people are equally inviolable, I will treat with the procurators of Spain and of the Indies; and order being restored, together with the good usages under which the nation has lived, and which the Kings my predecessors established with its consent, every thing that relates to the good of my kingdoms shall be solidly and legitimately enacted, in Cortes legitimately assembled, as soon as it may be possible to do so, in order that my subjects may live prosperous and happy, in one religion, and under one government, strictly united by indissoluble ties. In this, and in this alone, consists the temporal felicity of a King and a kingdom, which enjoy the title of Catholic, by way of eminence; and immediately preparations shall be made for what may appear best towards the assembling of such a Cortes; in which, I trust, the bases of the prosperity of my subjects, in both hemispheres, may be confirmed. The liberty and security of persons and property shall be firmly secured by means of laws, which

guaranteeing public liberty and order, shall leave to all that salutary liberty whose undisturbed enjoyment distinguishes a moderate from an arbitrary and despotic government, and in which the citizens subject to the former ought to live. This just liberty all likewise shall enjoy, in order to communicate through the press their ideas and thoughts, within those limits, however, which sound reason imperiously prescribes to all, that it may not degenerate into licentiousness; for the respect which is due to religion and the government, and that which men mutually owe towards each other, can under no civilised government be reasonably permitted to be violated and trampled upon with impunity.

All suspicion, likwise, of any dissipation of the revenues of the S.ate shall cease: those which are assigned for the expenses required by the honour of my royal person and family, and that of the nation whom I have the glory to govern, being separated from the revenues which, by the consent of the kingdom, may be imposed and assigned for the maintenance of the State in all branches of the administration. The laws, which shall in future serve as a rule of action to my subjects, shall also be enacted in concert with the Cortes, inasmuch as these bases may serve as an authentic declaration of my royal intentions in the Government with which I am about to be vested, and will represent to all neither a despot nor a tyrant, but a King, and a father of his subjects.

Having in like manner heard from the unanimous declaration of persons respectable for their

zeal

zeal and knowledge, and from representations made to me from various parts of the kingdom, in which are expressed the repugnance and disgust with which both the Constitution formed by the General and Extraordinary Cortes, as well as the other political establishments recently introduced, are regarded in the provinces; considering also the mischiefs which bave sprung therefrom, and would increase, should I assent to and swear to the said Constitution; acting in conformity to such general and decided demonstrations of the wishes of my people, and also because they are just and well founded; I DECLARE, that my royal intention is, not only not to swear nor accede to the said constitution, nor to any decree of the General and Extraordinary Cortes, and of the Ordinary at present sitting, those, to wit, which derogate from the rights and prerogatives of my sovereignty, established by the constitution and the laws under which the nation has lived in times past, but to pronounce that constitution, and such decrees null and of no effect, now, or at any other time, as if such acts had never passed, and that they are entirely abrogated, and without any obligation on my people and subjects, of whatever class and condition, to fulfil or observe them. And as he who should attempt to support them, and shall thus contradict my royal proclamation, adopted with the above agreement and assent, will attack the prerogatives of my sovereignty, and the happiness of the nation, and will cause discontent and disturbance in my kingdoms, I declare, whoeyer shall dare to attempt the same

will be guilty of HIGH TREASON, and as such subject to capital punishment, whether he perform the same by deed, by writing, or by words, moving and exciting, or in any other way exhorting and persuading that the said Constitution and Decrees be kept and observed.

And in order that, until public order be restored, together with the system observed in the kingdom prior to the introduction of these novelties, for the attainment of which suitable measures shall be taken without delay, the administration of justice may not be interrupted, it is my will that in the mean time the ordinary Magistracies of towns shall be continued as now established, the Courts of Law where there are such, and the audiencias, intendants, and other judicial tribunals; and in the political and administrative branches, the common councils of towns, according to their present constitution, until the Cortes, who shall be summoned, being heard, the stable order of this part of the Government of the kingdom be assented to. And from the day on which this my decree shall be published and communicated to the President for the time being of the Cortes at present met, the said Cortes shall cease their sittings; and their acts with those of the preceding Cortes, together with whatever documents or dispatches shall be in their office of archives and secretaryship, or in the possession of any other individual whatever, shall be collected by the person charged with the execution of this my Royal Decree and shall be deposited for the present in the Guildhall of the city of Madrid, the room in which they are

placed

placed being locked and sealed up: the books of their library shall be conveyed to the royal library; and whosoever shall endeavour to obstruct the execution of this part of my Royal Decree, in any way whatever; I also declare him guilty of High Treason, and that as such the punishment of death shall be inflicted upon him. And from this day shall cease in every tribunal of the kingdom all proceedings in any cause, now pending for any infraction of the Constitution, and those who, for such causes, have been imprisoned or arrested, shall be immediately set at liberty. Such then is my will, because the welfare and happiness of the nation require it. Given at Valencia, the 4th of May, 1814.

I. THE KING. Pedro de Macanaz, Secretary of Decrees.

As Captain General of New Castile, Political and Military Governor of the whole Province, and by order of his Majesty Don Ferdinand VII. whom God preserve, I cause it to be published.

FRANCISCO RAMON DE EGUIA Y. LETONA. Madrid, May 11, 1814.

Treaty of Peace between the Allied

Powers and France. In the name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity.

His Majesty the King of France and Navarre, on the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and his Allies, on the other, being animated by an equal wish to put an end to the long agita tions of Europe, and to the cala.

mities of nations, by a solid peace, founded on a just distribution of force between the Powers, and containing in its pulations the guarantee of its duration; and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and his Allies, no longer wishing to exact from France, at the present moment, when being replaced under the paternal government of her Kings, she thus offers to Europe a pledge of security and stability, conditions and guarantees which they had to demand with regret under her late government; their said Majesties have appointed Plenipotentiaries to discuss, conclude, and sign a treaty of peace and friendship; that is to say:

His Majesty the King of France and Navarre, M. Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince of Benevento, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold of Austria, Knight of the Order of St. Andrew of Russia, of the Orders of the Black and Red Eagle of Prussia, &c. his Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, M. M. Prince Clement Wenceslas Lothaire of Metternich-Winneburg-Ochsenhausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Russian Orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Neusky, and St. Anne, of the 1st class, Knight Grand Cross of the Prussian Orders of the Black and Red Eagle, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Joseph of Wurtzburg, Knight of the Order of St. Hubert

of

of Bavaria, of that of the Gold Eagle of Wurtemberg, and many others; Chamberlain, actual Privy Councillor, Minister of State, of Conferences, and for Foreign Affairs, of his Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic Majesty; and Count John Philip de Stadion Thannhausen and Warthausen, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, Knight of the Russian Orders of St. Andrew, St. Alex. Neusky, and St. Anne of the 1st Class, Grand Cross of the Prussian Orders of the Black and Red Eagle, Chamberlain, Privy Counsellor, Minister of State and Conferences to his Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic Majesty; who after exchanging their full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles :

Article I. There shall be, reckoning from this date, peace and friendship between his Majesty the King of France and Navarre, on the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and his Allies, on the other part, their heirs and successors, their respective states and subjects in perpetuity.

The high contracting parties shall apply all their cares to maintain, not only between themselves, but also as far as depends on them between all the States of Europe, the good agreement and understanding so necessary to its repose.

Art. II. The kingdom of France preserves the integrity of its limits such as they existed at the period of the 1st of January, 1792. It shall receive besides an augmentation of territory comprised within

the line of demarkation fixed by the following article:

Art. III. On the side of Belgium, Germany, and Italy, the ancient frontier, such as it existed on the 1st January, 1792, shall be re-established, the same commencing from the North Sea, between Dunkirk and Newport, even unto the Mediterranean between Cagnes and Nice, with the following rectifications:

1. In the department of Jemmappes, the cantons of Dour, Merbes-le chateau, Beaumont, and Chimay, shall remain to France; the line of demarkation, where it touches the canton of Dour, shall pass between that canton and those of Boussu and Paturage, as as well as, farther on, between that of Morbes-le-Chateau, and those of Binch and Thuin.

2. In the department of the Sambre and Meuse, the cantons of Valcourt, Florennes, Beauraing, and Godume, shall belong to France; the demarkation, upon reaching this department, shall follow the line which separates the fore-mentioned cantons, from the department of Jemmappes, and from the rest of that of the Sambre

and Meuse.

3. In the department of the Moselle, the new demarkation, where it differs from the old, shall be formed by a line to be drawn from Perle as far as Fremersdorf, or by that which separates the canton of Tholey from the rest of the department of the Moselle.

4. In the department of the Sarre, the cantons of Saarbruck and Arnwal, shall remain to France, as well as that part of the canton of Lebach which is situated to the south of a line to be drawn

along

along the confines of the villages of Herchenbach, Ueberhosen, Hilsbach, and Hall (leaving these different places without the French frontier) to the point where, taken from Querselle, (which belongs to France) the line which separates the cantons of Arnwal and Ottweiller, reaches that which separates those of Arnwal and Lebach; the frontier on this side shall be formed by the line above marked out, and then by that which separates the canton of Arnwal from that of Bliescastel.

5. The fortress of Landau having, prior to the year 1792, formed an insulated point in Germany, France retains beyond her frontiers a part of the departments of Mont Tonnerre and the Lower Rhine in order to join the fortress of Landau and its district to the rest of the kingdom. The new demarkation, proceeding from the point where, at Obersteinbach (which remains without the French frontier), the frontier enters the department of the Moselle, and that of Mont Tonnerre, joins the department of the Lower Rhine, shall follow the line which separates the cantons of Wissenburgh and Bergzabern (on the side of France) from the cantons of Pirmasens, Dahn, and Anweiler, (on the side of Germany) to the point where these limits, near the village of Wohnersheim, touch the ancient district of the fortress of Landau. Of this district, which remains as it was in 1792, the new frontier shall follow the arm of the river Queich, which in leaving this district. near Queichheim (which rests with France), passes near the villages of Merlenheim, Kniltelsheim, and Belheim (also

remaining French), to the Rhine, which thence continues the boundary between France and Germany. As to the Rhine, the Thalveg, or course of the river, shall form the boundary; the changes, however, which may occur in the course of the river, shall have no effect on the property of the isles which are found there. The possession of these isles shall be replaced under the same form as at the period of the treaty of Luneville.

6. In the Department of the Doubs, the frontier shall be drawn, so as to commence above La Ranconniere, near the Loell, and follow the crest of the Jura between Cerneaux Pequignot and the vil lage of Fontenelles, so far as that summit, of the Jura which lies about seven or eight miles to the north-west of the village of La Brevine, where it will turn back within the ancient limits of France.

7. In the department of the Leman, the frontiers between the French territory, the Pais de Vaud, and the different portions of the territory of Geneva, (which shall make a part of Swisserland,) remain as they were before the incorporation of Geneva with France, But the canton of Frangy, that of St. Julien (with exception of that part lying to the north of a line to be drawn from the point where the river of La Laire enters near Chancey into the Genevese territory, along the borders of Seseguin, Laconex, and Sesenenve, which shall remain without the limits of France), the canton of Regnier (with exception of that portion which lies eastward of a line following the borders of the Muraz,

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