[Abolition of the Elbe Duties.] Navigation of the Elbe, which were suspended in virtue of Art. XIV of that Convention, and the Compact of the 4th of April, 1863, between Prussia, Austria, Saxony, Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen, Anhalt-Bernburg and Hamburgh, concerning the administration and imposition at Wittenberg of the Elbe Dues held in common, will cease to have force on and after 1st July, 1870. Ratifications.* ART. III. The present Agreement shall be ratified and the Ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at Vienna within 10 days. Vienna, 22nd June, 1870. (L.S.) BEUST, m.p. (L.S.) v. SCHWEINITZ, m.p. * Ratifications exchanged at Vienna, 26th June, 1870. [Neutrality of Luxemburg.] No. 421.-DECLARATIONS made by France and Prussia to respect the Neutrality of Luxemburg. 17th July, 1870. My Lord, Lord A. Loftus to Earl Granville. Berlin, 17th July, 1870. BARON THILE informed me to-day that he had received a telegram from M. Föhr, the Representative of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg at this Court, stating that the French Government had officially notified their intention to respect the Neutrality of the Grand Duchy, provided that it was likewise respected by Prussia. His Excellency, by order of Count Bismarck, immediately replied that the North German Government would also respect the Neutrality of the Grand Duchy as long as it was respected by France.* 1903. I have, &c., AUGUSTUS LOFTUS. See also Prussian Circular, of 3rd December, 1870, and Note, page [Neutrality. War. France and Prussia.] No. 422.-NOTE of the Swiss Government to Foreign Powers, declaring its Neutrality in the War between France and Prussia. Berne, 18th July, 1870. (Translation as laid before Parliament.) Berne, 18th July, 1870. THE Treaties of 1815 Guarantee to Switzerland her perpetual Neutrality and the Inviolability of her Territory (No. 43). They also Guarantee the same Neutrality to certain Countries which formerly formed an integral part of the Kingdom of Sardinia (No. 40), but at present are in the possession of France in consequence of the Treaty of Turin of 24th March, 1860 (No. 313). The hope having vanished of a pacific solution of the quarrel which has taken place between France and Prussia with respect to the Spanish Throne, and these two States having appealed to Arms, the Swiss Confederation has considered it their duty to explain at once and with the greatest freedom the position they intend taking to provide for certain eventualities. The Federal Council declares, consequently, by virtue of a special power unanimously conferred by the Federal Assembly, that Switzerland will maintain and defend, during the War which is preparing, her Neutrality and the Integrity of her Territory by all the means in her power. She will loyally maintain towards all this position, which is dictated to her by European Treaties, and which agrees as well with her present condition as with her own requirements; but if, contrary to every expectation, violence was offered to that Neutrality, she would energetically repulse every aggression, convinced as she would be of the justice of her cause. With reference to the parts of Savoy which, according to the terms of the Declaration of the Great Powers of 29th March 1815 (No. 10), of the Final Act of Vienna, 9th June, 1815 (No. 27), of the Treaty of Paris, 20th November, 1815 (No. 40), Article III, and of the Act recognising and guaranteeing Swiss Neutrality, bearing the same date (No. 43), are to enjoy a Neutrality similar to that of Switzerland, an arrangement which France and Sardinia have confirmed by Article II of the Treaty of Turin, cited above, of the 24th March, 1860 (No. 313), the [Neutrality. War. France and Prussia.] Federal Council thinks fit to recall to mind that Switzerland has the right to occupy that Territory. The Federal Council would employ that right if circumstances seemed to require its exercise for the defence of Swiss Neutrality and of the Integrity of the Territory of the Confederation; in every case it will scrupulously respect the restrictions which Treaties lay on the exercise of the right in question, and will come to an arrangement to that effect with the French Imperial Government. The Federal Council expresses the hope that these frank explanations of the position which Switzerland will take in presence of the events which are preparing will be received with goodwill, both by the Belligerent States and by the other Great Powers, which guaranteed the Treaties of Vienna; and that they will convince them that Switzerland, in the dispositions she will take, intends placing herself in the position which the existing Treaties assign her. With this hope he takes, &c., In the name of the Swiss Federal Council, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATION, [On the 29th July, 1870, Mr. Bonar, Her Majesty's Minister at Berne, reported that the Duc de Gramont, in his reply to this communication, "had not rejected nor even contested the right so claimed by Switzerland, but had confined himself to declaring that, under the eventualities referred to, it would have to be made the subject of special arrangement between the two Governments."] [War. France and Prussia.] No. 423.-FRENCH ANNOUNCEMENT to the Prussian Government of the Causes of War with Prussia. Paris, 19th July, 1870. (Translation as laid before Parliament.) Berlin, 19th July, 1870. THE Undersigned, French Chargé d'Affaires, in pursuance of instructions received from his Government, has the honour to make to his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Prussia the following communication: The Government of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, being unable to consider the proposal to raise a Prussian Prince to the Throne of Spain* otherwise than as an attempt against the Territorial security of France, was compelled to ask the King of Prussia for an assurance that such an arrangement could not be carried out with his consent. His Majesty the King of Prussia having refused to give this assurance, and having, on the contrary, given the Ambassador of His Majesty the Emperor of the French to understand that he intended to reserve for this eventuality, and for every other, the power of acting according to circumstances, the Imperial Government could not but see in the King's declaration a reservation threatening to France and to the general Balance of Power in Europe. This Declaration was further aggravated by the notification made to the Cabinets of the refusal to receive the Emperor's Ambassador and to enter into any new explanation with him. The Government of His Imperial Majesty has consequently thought itself obliged to provide immediately for the defence of its honour and its compromised interests; and being resolved to take for this purpose all the measures enjoined by the position in which it has been placed, considers itself from henceforth in a state of War with Prussia. The Undersigned, &c. Count Bismarck. LE SOURD. * Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. |