The Seven Weeks' War
Page 53
The treaty of peace definitively signed, was as follows:—
In the name of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity.
His Majesty the King of Prussia and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, animated by a desire of restoring the blessings of peace to their dominions, have resolved to convert the Preliminaries signed at Nikolsburg on the 26th of July, 1866, into a definitive Treaty of Peace.
To this end Their Majesties have appointed their plenipotentiaries as follows:—
His Majesty the King of Prussia:—
His Kammerherr, Effective Privy Councillor and Plenipotentiary, Charles Baron von Werther, Grand Cross of the Royal Prussian Order of the Red Eagle with Oak-leaves, and of the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold; and,
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria:—
His Effective Privy Councillor and Kammerherr, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Adolph Marie Baron von Brenner Tilsach, of the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold, and Knight of the Royal Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, First Class, &c.
Who have met in Conference at Prague, and having exchanged their powers, drawn up in good and proper form, have agreed to the following Articles:
Article 1—For the future there shall be lasting peace and friendship between His Majesty the King of Prussia and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, as well as between their heirs and descendants, their Stales and subjects.
Article 2.—That the 6th Article of the Preliminaries of Peace signed at Nikolsburg on the 26th of July of this year may be carried out; and inasmuch as His Majesty the Emperor of the French, by his authorised emissary to His Majesty the King of Prussia, officially declared at Nikolsburg on the 29th of the same month of July, qu’en ce qui concerns le Gouvernement de l’Empereur la Vénise est acquise à l’Italie pour lui être remise à la paix, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria on his part conforms to this declaration, and gives his consent to the union of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom with the Kingdom of Italy, without imposing any other condition than the liquidation of those debts which have been acknowledged charges on the territories now resigned, in conformity with the Treaty of Zurich.
Article 3.—The prisoners of war shall be at once released on both sides.
Article 4.—His Majesty the Emperor of Austria recognises the dissolution of the late German Bund, and gives his consent to a new formation of Germany, in which the Imperial State of Austria shall take no part. Moreover, His Majesty promises to recognise the closer Federal relations which His Majesty the King of Prussia is about to establish north of the line of the Maine, and also agrees that the German States to the south of this line shall form an union, the national connection of which with the Northern Confederacy is reserved for a more defined agreement between both parties, and which is to maintain an international independent existence.
Article 5.—His Majesty the Emperor of Austria transfers to His Majesty the King of Prussia all the rights he acquired under the Peace of Vienna on the 30th of October, 1864, to the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, with the understanding that the people of the northern district of Schleswig, if, by free vote they express a wish to be united to Denmark, shall be ceded to Denmark accordingly.
Article 6.—At the desire of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, His Majesty the King of Prussia declares himself willing, on the approaching changes in Germany, to allow the territory of the Kingdom of Saxony to remain within its present limits, reserving to himself the right of settling in a separate Treaty of Peace with the King of Saxony the share to be contributed by Saxony towards the expenses of the war, and the position henceforth to be held by the Kingdom of Saxony within the North German Confederation. On the other hand. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria promises to recognise the changes about to be made in North Germany by His Majesty the King of Prussia, territorial changes included.
Article 7.—In order to settle the property of the late Bund a commission shall meet at Frankfort-on-the-Maine within, at most, six creeks after the ratification of the present Treaty, at which all formal claims and demands upon the German Bund are to be made, and to be liquidated within six months. Prussia and Austria will be represented in this commission, and all the States belonging to the late Bund are allowed the same privilege.
Article 8.—Austria is at liberty to take from the forts of the late Bund all that belongs to the Empire, and from the moveable property of the Bund the proportionate share of Austria, or otherwise to dispose thereof. This provision extends to all the moveable property of the Bund.
Article 9.—The civil officers, servants and pensioners of the Bund will receive the pensions already accorded in due proportion, but the Royal Prussian Government undertakes to manage the pensions and allowances hitherto paid from the Treasury of the Bund to the officers of the late Schleswig-Holstein army and their families.
Article 10.—The allowance of the pensions granted by the Imperial Austrian Government in Holstein is agreed upon. The sum of 449,500 dollars Danish in 4 per cent Danish bonds now lodged in the hands of the Imperial Austrian Government, and belonging to the Holstein Treasury, will be repaid immediately after the ratification of this Treaty. No adherent of the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, and no subject of Their Majesties the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria, is to be prosecuted, troubled, or in any way molested in his person or his property on account of his political position during recent events and the recent war.
Article 11.—In order to defray a portion of the expenses incurred by Prussia on account of the war, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria promises to pay to His Majesty the King of Prussia the sum of 40,000,000 Prussian dollars. From this sum, however, the amount of the costs of war which, by virtue of the 12th Article of the before-mentioned Treaty of Vienna of the 30th of October, 1864, His Majesty the Emperor claims from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and which are valued at 15,000,000 Prussian dollars, together with 5,000,000 Prussian dollars as an equivalent for the free maintenance of the Prussian army in the Austrian States which it occupied till the conclusion of the peace, is to be deducted, so that only 20,000,000 Prussian dollars remain to be paid. Of this sum half is to be paid on the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, the other half three weeks afterwards.
Article 12.—The evacuation of the Austrian territories now occupied by the Royal Prussian troops will be completed within three weeks after the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty. From the day of such exchange the Prussian General Governments will confine their operations to purely military matters. The details with respect to the manner in which this evacuation is to be effected are settled in a separate protocol, which forms an appendix to this Treaty.
Article 13.—All treaties and agreements made by the high contracting parties before the war are hereby revived in full force, so far as they are not invalidated by the dissolution of the German Bund. More especially the General Convention between the States of the German Confederation on the 10th of February, 1831, together with more recent resolutions thereto appertaining, will remain in full force as between Prussia and Austria. The Imperial Austrian Government declares, however, that the Coinage Treaty of the 24th of February, 1857, is deprived of its chief value for Austria by the dissolution of the German Bund, and the Royal Prussian Government declares itself ready to join with Austria and the other interested parties in the negotiations that may arise on the abolition of this Treaty. The high contracting parties likewise agree that as soon as possible they will enter into negotiations for a revision of the Commercial Treaty of the 11th of April, 1865, with a view to a further alleviation of burdens on both sides. In the meanwhile, the said Treaty is restored to its full force, with this provision, that both the high contracting parties reserve to themselves the right to cancel it after six months’ notice.
Article 14.—The ratifications of the present Treaty shall be exchanged at Prague within a week, or, if possible, within a shorter period.
In witness whereof, &c.
Werther.
Brenn
er.
Prague, August 23rd, 1866.
The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged on the 29th August at Prague.
On the 28th, Prince Frederick Charles broke up his headquarters at Prague, and the whole of the Prussian troops who had been lying in Bohemia and Moravia during the progress of the negotiations for peace between Prussia and Austria commenced their march back towards the Prussian frontier. The men were not sorry to leave Bohemia, for the cholera had been among them during their stay in that country, and many had fallen victims to it.
On the evening of the 26th, General von Lengsfeld, the commander of the artillery of the First Army, was carried off after two days’ illness—the third Prussian general who had died from cholera since the commencement of the armistice.
As a consequence of the exchange of the ratifications of peace, the Prussian troops began to vacate Austrian territory, and by the 18th of August there was not a spiked helmet or a needle-gun in Bohemia or Moravia. The Guards, the third, fifth, and sixth corps d’armée marched by road; the other corps were moved by railway. The first corps moved by Oderberg, the second by Görlitz, the fourth from Brünn by Prague, the eighth by Nürnberg and Aschaffenburg, the fourteenth division by Gera and Cassel to Hanover, the second reserve corps by Hof. The Army of the Maine held its position until peace was concluded with Hesse-Darmstadt.
A Prussian garrison had already occupied Mayence, the keys of the fortress having been handed over by the Bavarians, who were in garrison there, as soon as peace was concluded between Prussia and Bavaria. (See chapter 4).
What right Bavaria had to deliver up the fortress, which her troops avowedly only held as representatives of the forces of the Bund, no one can tell; but as no German Power was in a position to remonstrate, and as France, who was more concerned than any other European Power in the fate of Mayence, appeared to consent, though not quite tacitly, to the arrangement, the Prussian colours waved without molestation over the fortifications which guard the mouth of the valley of the Maine. (On the 6th August, France demanded Mayence from Prussia, but afterwards withdrew the demand).
On the 27th the unwounded prisoners who had been captured during the campaign were exchanged at Oderberg. The Prussians liberated 523 Austrian officers and 35,036 non-commissioned officers and men; but this was not the total muster-roll of the Austrian prisoners who fell into the hands of the enemy, for 13,000 wounded who could not yet be removed still remained in Prussian hospitals. Austria gave back about 450 Prussian unwounded non-commissioned officers and men, and about 120 wounded were unable to be moved. There were also seven Prussian officers liberated. On the same day about 5,000 prisoners, who had been taken from the Bavarian and Hesse-Cassel troops, were released.
Count Bismark, who was formerly a major of cuirassiers was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; but this promotion was not his reward for the part he has taken in late events; it occurred only in the natural order of things. The headquarters of Prince Frederick Charles moved by rail to the Prussian capital.
Berlin was very empty: the usual garrison and the crowds of officers who generally fill the streets were all away with the army. Over many doors were painted up the red crosses which marked that within subscriptions were received for the military hospitals and wounded. At the doors of the public offices, and at those of several shops and hotels, little padlock-boxes painted with the black and white stripes of the Prussian colours, and labelled “Für die Verwundete,” invited the alms of those who loitered or who passed by. Here and there a convalescent soldier was seen, with his hand bandaged up or his arm in a sling.
Preparations were, however, being made for the triumphal entry of the army, when the lamentations of the maimed and the wailings of widows and orphan children were to be drowned in the clash of military bands, and the applause of the crowd. Would not the money that this festival cost have been better expended on the families of those who died, and on the men who had been rendered unable to work for their livelihood, in fighting the battles which had given so much glory and so many broad miles to Prussia? Military pensions were very low. Widows with helpless children and disabled men who could labour no longer for bread could hardly regard one day’s acclamations from an excited populace as a compensation for a life-long misery.
In the first sitting of the Special Committee of the Prussian House of Deputies on the loan demanded, which was held on the 29th August) the total cost of the war was stated by government to amount to 88,000,000 thalers. The single items were as follows:—
1. Mobilisation of eleven corps d’armée at 42,000 men each, 25,500,000 thalers.
2. Current expenditure of the war till the end of August, 33,800,000 thalers.
3. Demobilisation of the troops, 1,700,000 thalers.
4. Resupplying the depôts of arms and clothing after the war, 27,000,000 thalers. To the total of 88,000,000 resulting from the above must be added 20,000,000 to defray the cost of keeping the army on a war footing till January 1, 1867. The liabilities incurred mostly remained to be liquidated, having hitherto been met only by 20,000,000 of cash taken from the reserve fund, 4,343,000 thalers obtained by the sale of railway stock, and some 12,000 thalers of surplus moneys from the finance administration of 1865. Large quantities of victuals and other stores were furnished by Prussian and foreign subjects, but the former, though legally obliged to contribute gratis horses, corn, &c. while the war lasted, had to be paid within a year of its close. The amount of this and other debts contracted by the Government for railway transport, &c was not specially mentioned in the reports published.
About one-half of the costs were covered by the sums exacted from the defeated States, estimated at a total of 45,143,000 thalers. Surely the Prussian successes have been cheaply acquired, if about 43,000,000 thalers, with 20,000,000 more to insure the maintenance of peace during the next three months, were all that had to be actually invested. To pay off debts and replenish the Exchequer, a loan of 60,000,000 thalers was demanded by the government.
The ministers also asked to be empowered to sell some 30,000,000 thalers’ worth of railway shares belonging to lines hitherto in part the property of government, but lately disposed of for the above-mentioned sum. Of the money thus realized 27,500,000 thalers were to be added to the reserve fund to raise it to the normal height of 40,000,000 thalers, while the remainder was to be employed on two iron-plated vessels, which were being constructed and already partly paid for.
Another interesting item of future expenditure occasioned by the war was formed by the contemplated purchase of one more iron-plated vessel for 2,800,000 thalers, and the strengthening of fortresses at a cost of 3,500,000 thalers. To meet these sums the Finance Minister had 4,000,000 thalers, the contribution levied on Frankfort, in hand, and hoped to realize 2,557,000 thalers more from the sale of horses on the demobilisation of the army.
On the 20th and 21st September, the Prussian fêtes, to celebrate the return of the army, took place at Berlin. All the evening of the 19th and till late in the dark hours of the morning of the 20th workmen were busy by torchlight finishing the preparations for the festival, and at sunrise on the 20th the whole of Berlin was decked in holiday garb. From every spire, steeple, and dome, from the heavy tower of the Cathedral and rounded cupola of the Royal Schloss, from every housetop and balcony, waived or fluttered a thick, rustling crowd of banners, streamers, and gonfalons. In most of the side streets lines stretched from house to house across the way supported flags, which swayed backward and forwards above the heads of the restless, ever-moving crowd which thronged the avenues leading to the Linden, while in the Linden itself every house was decorated with festoons of evergreen and laurel, and showed prominently from some balcony or window the black and white colours of Prussia, often coupled with the crimson and white of the town of Berlin, which, fluttering in the light breeze and the bright sunlight, gave an appearance of intense lightness and life to the heavy masses of building which fringe the street.
In the centre, where betwe
en the two paved carriage-roads the avenue of the lindens runs from the Brandenburg Gate to the open space in front of the Royal Palace, the captured guns were ranged in double line below the trees, with their muzzles pointed inwards towards each other, but with a wide space of some fifteen yards’ interval between them, through which the troops that were to make their triumphal entry were to pass. Round the bright yellow barrels of the brass ordnance were wreathed garlands of green leaves, which were in many cases prolonged so as to cover the spokes of the wheels or the yellow-painted trails.
In line with the guns and the intervals between them were erected trophies, some representing golden cannon grouped together in artistic confusion, others swords, bayonets, helmets, and muskets, but all bearing groups of the special flags of the different provinces of the kingdom, surmounted by a black and white banner, which carried in its centre the double eagle of Prussia. From lamppost to lamppost, themselves hidden in masses of foliage, from trophy to trophy, stretched garlands of evergreens, so that from the top of the avenue near the Brandenburg Gate to the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great, opposite the palace, one long wreath of laurel fringed the way by which the home-returning warriors were to advance to the open space in front of Blücher’s statue, where they were to march past the king. The Brandenburg Gate itself was converted into a temporary arch of triumph. On its summit stood a line of flag-staffs, from which waved long standards that floated heavily even in the brisk breeze above the head of the bronze figure of Victory which adorned the summit, while on either face heavy draperies of bright-coloured bunting hid beneath their well-arranged folds the stonework and the preparations for the evening’s illuminations.
Before daylight people began to assemble in the street, and to take up places from which the march of the troops could be advantageously seen, and by nine o’clock a double line of spectators fringed the Linden Avenue, while the pavement of the street, which, being a little higher, gave an advantageous position, was thickly crowded. Most of the windows were well filled, but the number of lookers-on was not so great as might have been expected, and neither the streets nor the houses were so thickly occupied as were those in London on the entrance of the Princess of Wales before her marriage. Still, the number of people that collected to see the entrance was very large, and large tribunes which had been erected in the Pariser Platz, just within the Brandenburg Gate, were thickly crowded with ladies.