Final Act of the Congress of Vienna/Act VII

by The plenipotentiaries of the high powers who signed the treaty

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.

His Majesty the King of Prussia being desirous of carrying into effect the arrangements agreed upon at the Congress of Vienna, in favour of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and which his Prussian Majesty, has engaged to fulfil; and his Majesty, as well as his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, having resolved to conclude a particular Treaty for this purpose, the two sovereigns have named Plenipotentiaries to concert, agree upon, and sign, whatever relates to this subject, viz.; His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State, Knight of the Grand Orders of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and of the Iron Cross of Prussia; of the Orders of St. Andrew, of St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anneof Russia of the First Class; Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles of Spain, of St. Hubert of Bavaria, of the Supreme Order of the Annunciation of Sardinia, Knight of Elephant of Denmark, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemburg, and of several others, his First Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and the Sieur, Charles William, Baron Humboldt; his Minister of State, Chamberlain, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Knight of the Grand Order of the Red Eagle, of the Iron Cross of Prussia, and of the Order of St. Anne of Russia of the First Class; his Second Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna; and his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, the Sieur Ernest Augustus, Baron de Gersdorff, his Privy Counsellor; who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed to the following Articles:

ART. I. His Majesty the King of Prussia engages to cede to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, from the mass of his states, as they have been fixed and recognised by the stipulations of the Congress of Vienna, certain districts, containing a population of 50,000 inhabitants, either contiguous to, or bordering upon the principality of Weimar. His Prussian Majesty engages also to cede to his Royal Highness, in that part of the principality of Fulda which has been given up to him in virtue of the same stipulations, districts containing a population of 97,000 inhabitants. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Weimar shall possess the above districts in full sovereignty and property, and shall unite them, in perpetuity, to his present states.

ART. II. The districts and territories which are to be ceded to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, in virtue of the preceding Article, shall be determined by a particular Convention; and his Majesty the King of Prussia engages to conclude this Convention, and to cause the above districts and territories to be given up to his Royal Highness, within two months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty.

ART. III. In order, however, to meet the wishes of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, his Majesty the King of Prussia cedes immediately, and promises to give up to his Royal Highness, in the space of a fortnight, reckoning from the signature of the present Treaty, the following districts and territories, viz .: The lordship of Blankenhayn ; with the understanding, however, that the bailiwick of Wandersleben, belong- ing to Unter-Gleichen, shall not be comprised in this cession. The lower lordship (Niedere-Herrschaft) of Kranickfeld, the commanderies of the Teutonic Order, Zwaetzen, Lehesten, and Liebstädt, with their demesnial revenues, which, constituting part of the bailiwick of Eckartsberga, form enclaves in the territory of Saxe-Weimar, as well as all the other territories lying within the principality of Weimar, and belonging to the said bailiwick. The bailiwick of Tautenbourg, with the exception of Droizen, Görschen, Wethaburg, Wetterscheid, and Möllschütz, which shall remain to Prussia. The village of Ramssla, as well as the villages of Klein-Brembach and Berlstedt, lying within the principality of Weimar and belonging to the territory of Erfurth. The property of the villages of Bisschoffsroda and Probsteizalla, lying within the territory of Eisenach, the sovereignty of which already belongs to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke. The population of these different districts is understood to form part of that of 50,000 souls, secured to his Royal Highness the Grand Duke by the 1st Article, and shall be deducted from it.

ART. IV. All additional arrangements to be made, in virtue of the cessions stipulated in the 3d Article, relative to debts, records, public funds, and other objects of a similar nature, shall form part of the particular Convention mentioned in the 2d Article. His Royal Highness the Grand Duke specially engages, on obtaining possession of the principality of Fulda, according to the extent of the possessions which shall belong to him, to fulfil the engagements which will be required of the new possessors of the former Grand Duchy of Frankfort.

ART. V. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged in four weeks. In faith of which, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seal of their arms.

Signed

(L. S.) The Prince de Hardenberg

(L. S.) The Baron de Humboldt

(L. S.) The Baron de Gersdorff

Notes

1. Hansard (1816)

References

• British Foreign Office British and Foreign State Papers. 1814—1815 Volume II. Compiled by the librarian and keeper of the papers, Foreign Office-London: James Rigway and Sons, Piccadilly, H.M.S.O., 1839. pp. 100-102. Original French. The additional formatting of this treaty from this document.
• Hansard, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ..., Volume 32. 1 February to 6 March 1816, T.C. Hansard, 1816. pp. pp. 157-159. The translation is from this document.