[Greece and Turkey. Crete, &c.]

"State Papers," vol. lix, page

Protocol

No. 6. Territorial question raised by Greek Government. Conference declares its incompetency. Determination of Greece not to join in Conferences, except on terms of equality; but will observe status quo. Adhesion of Turkey to proposed Declaration. Ultimatum not to be carried out if Greece adheres. Signature of Declaration. Paris, 20th January, 1869 Annex. Note from President of Conference to Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs calling upon Greece to adhere to Declaration ......... Paris, 20th January, 1869 No. 7. Adhesion of Greece to Declaration. Re-establishment of Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Greece. Security to Candiot Families returning to Crete. Closing of Conferences..... ...... Paris, 18th February, 1869 Annex. Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs to the President of the Conferences.... Athens, 6th February, 1869

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[Private Property of King George of Hanover.]

No. 418.-PROTEST of King George of Hanover against the Prussian Decree relating to his Private Property. Vienna, 30th March, 1869.

(Translation.)

YOUR Majesty, on the Mediation of the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of England, entered into negotiations with me at the commencement of the year 1867, with the object of concluding an Agreement respecting the Property of my House.

Before I consented to this proposal of the English Government, I made a declaration that I would only negotiate respecting the Property of my House, not respecting my Political Right.

Notwithstanding this, however, your Majesty propounded a project which required at its outset an acknowledgment of the Incorporation of my Kingdom with Prussia.

This proposal I declined, and your Majesty thereupon withdrew the demand for the Renunciation of my Crown.

The Ultimatum of your Majesty in the matter of the Property then followed in the beginning of September, 1867.

I accepted the same.

But after the acceptance on my part your Majesty receded from the Ultimatum, and proposed new conditions to me under the pretext of securing the Family Entail of the Joint Houses of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

I consented also to these new conditions, so far that the Agreement was concluded on the 29th September, 1867.

The Agreement is concluded between your Majesty and myself. Neither in the Agreement itself, nor in the preliminary negotiations, is there any word or intimation that the Agreement is dependent on the consent of others. Only from your Majesty and from the Prussian Crown have I to require and demand that your Majesty will be just to the signature of your Name under the Agreement.

I, upon my side, immediately fulfilled this Property Agreement of the 29th September, 1867. Securities to the amount of nearly 19,000,000 thalers, which, on the invasion of my Kingdom by

[Private Property of King George of Hanover.]

your Majesty's troops, I saved by sending them to England, I got back and had them delivered over to your Majesty's Agent in November, 1867.

Your Majesty, on the other hand, has not fulfilled the Agreement hitherto, but taken another course.

Your Majesty first, at the commencement of the year 1868, laid the Agreement, concluded without reservation between your Majesty and myself, before the Prussian Landtag.

Your Majesty then yourself declared to the Landtag that your Majesty was not bound to obtain its consent to the Agreement. In spite of this your Majesty sought this assent, and received the same, with a condition very difficult for your Majesty to execute.

The acceptance or refusal of the Agreement by the Prussian Landtag is a matter which as regards me does not alter your Majesty's engagements arising from the Agreement.

Your Majesty then, after the Chambers had but just given their consent to the Agreement respecting the Property, without any alteration, at the same time with the publication of this assent, which, I repeat it, left your obligations toward me intact, issued an Ordinance on the 2nd March, 1868, which laid an embargo on the whole Property, of my House.

2nd
3rd

I entered a Protest against this Ordinance through my Agents in Hanover, but I am not aware if it came to your Majesty's knowledge.

This Ordinance against me rests upon accusations which, even if well founded, could not be brought to bear against me, because the Property Agreement of the 29th September, 1867, places no conditions upon me to which I have acted contrary by the deeds of which I am accused.

But even these accusations are without foundation, and untrue. The Hanoverians who have withdrawn themselves from the Prussian Military Service have done so without my knowledge and without my influence. They first sought shelter in Holland, and afterwards in Switzerland. In both Countries Prussian influence was able to make their residence there impossible. They then went to France, whose hospitable territory gave them the same Protection as to other Political Refugees. These Refugees the Councillors of your Majesty have designated as a "Legion." It is, however, impossible to form in time of peace, on the

[Private Property of King George of Hanover.]

territory of another Power, a "Legion" with hostile intentions against a third Power. The Advisers of your Majesty have even spoken with regard to this supposed "Legion" of the rights of defence in case of peril. But how can a number of 700 to 800 unarmed Refugees endanger the safety of a State like Prussia? It is only so far correct that I have not left these Political Refugees helpless.

The other accusation spoke of invitations on my part to hostilities against the Prussian State. This accusation referred to a speech in which I had spoken of my trust in God and my right, at an entertainment of my family in the circle of my own people and my invited guests. This no one can or shall prevent, and as that was not the first time that I had done so, so also it will not be the last.

The facts upon which the Advisers of your Majesty in the Report of the 2nd March, 1868, found their accusations against me were partly known to your Majesty before the 26th September, 1867. This knowledge did not then prevent your Majesty from concluding the Property Agreement unconditionally and perfecting it by your Ratification. They were partly known to your Majesty before the assent of the Prussian Landtag was given. This information did not deter your Majesty from asking the assent of your Landtag to the Agreement, which assent, I repeat, according to the declaration of your own Advisers, was unnecessary, as far as your Majesty was concerned, and of no account whatever as regards myself.

Nevertheless the Ordinance of the 2nd March, 1868, did not bar the way for your Majesty's recurring according to your own judgment to the fulfilment of the Agreement, which has been fulfilled on my part just as I signed it.

But your Majesty then went further.

Your Majesty has, notwithstanding that your Majesty was not at all bound by the decisions of the Prussian Landtag in the matter of this Agreement, by virtue of a resolution of the same Landtag on the Ordinance of 2nd March, 1868, not only actually closed this way, but your Majesty also wished to have it closed to you.

For the first Adviser of your Majesty spoke to the same effect as those who sought to make the raising of the embargo on my Property dependent on the decree of the Prussian Landtag. But Count Bismarck has for that purpose again appealed to the earlier Accusations, which, I repeat it, even if they were true.

[Private Property of King George of Hanover.]

could not be brought into relation with the Property Treaty. He has added fresh untrue accusations, viz., the Anti-Prussian Committee in Heitzing, consisting of 3 or 4 members, and the Committee for Enlisting Poles in Switzerland. Such a Committee has never existed, and just as little has any attempt for such Enlistment taken place.

Count Bismarck has not confined himself to bringing forward these untrue accusations. He has sought to increase their effect by affronts which have provoked the just indignation of Europe.

I will assume that your Majesty has not approved these proceedings of the Premier. But I must express my sorrow that such a disapprobation has not come to my knowledge.

Your Majesty has sanctioned this Bill of the Landtag on the seizure of my Property.

Your Majesty has thereby rendered difficult for yourself the way on which the return to the fulfilment of the engagements undertaken by your Majesty was still possible. For your Majesty has made the fulfilment of the engagements entered into by yourself without any condition, dependent on the will of others.

I therefore now raise a personal solemn Protest with your Majesty yourself, and against the Ordinance of your Majesty of 2nd March, 1868, on the seizure of my Property, as well as against the Law of 15th February, 1869, which makes the repeal of the Ordinance dependent on the consent of the Prussian Landtag.

I concluded the Agreement of 29th September, 1867, respecting the Property with your Majesty alone, with the Prussian Crown, on both sides without any other condition or proviso than is contained in the Agreement itself. From your Majesty only, from the Prussian Crown, do I require and demand the fulfilment of that Agreement, as I have fulfilled it.