[Union of Ionian Islands to Greece.] All the engagements which result from the said transactions, as well as from the regulations actually in force, shall be maintained and strictly observed as hitherto. In consequence, it is expressly understood that Foreign Vessels and Commerce in Ionian Ports, and, reciprocally, Ionian Vessels and Commerce in Foreign Ports, as well as the Navigation between Ionian Ports and the Ports of Greece, shall continue to be subject to the same treatment, and placed under the same conditions as before the Union of the Ionian Islands to Greece. Freedom of Worship and Religious Toleration. ART. V. The Union of the United States of the Ionian Islands to the Kingdom of Greece shall in no wise invalidate the principles established by the existing legislation of those Islands with regard to Freedom of Worship and Religious Toleration; accordingly the rights and immunities established in matters of Religion by Chapters 1 and 5 of the Constitutional Charter of the United States of the Ionian Islands, and specifically the recognition of the Orthodox Greek Church as the dominant Religion in those Islands; the entire Liberty of Worship granted to the Established Church of the Protecting Power; and the perfect Toleration promised to other Christian Communions, shall, after the Union, be maintained in their full force and effect. Free exercise of Roman Catholic Religion. The special Protection Guaranteed to the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the advantages of which that Church is actually in possession, shall be equally maintained; and the subjects belonging to that communion shall enjoy in the Ionian Islands the same Freedom of Worship which is recognised in their favour by the Protocol of the 3rd February, 1830 (No. 149). Civil and Political Equality between Subjects of different Creeds. The principle of entire Civil and Political Equality between subjects belonging to different creeds, established in Greece by the same Protocol, shall be likewise in force in the Ionian Islands. Treaty to be concluded between Guaranteeing Powers and Greece. ART. VI. The Courts of France, Great Britain, and Russia, in [Union of Ionian Islands to Greece.] their character of Guaranteeing Powers of the Kingdom of Greece, reserve to themselves to conclude a Treaty with the Hellenic Government with regard to the arrangements which may be rendered necessary by the Union of the Ionian Islands to Greece.* Withdrawal of British Military Forces. The Military Forces of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall be withdrawn from the Territory of the United States of the Ionian Islands in 3 months, or sooner if possible, after the Ratification of the said Treaty.† Treaty with Hellenic Government to be communicated to Austria and Prussia. ART. VII. The Courts of France, Great Britain, and Russia engage to communicate to the Courts of Austria and Prussia the Treaty which they shall have concluded with the Hellenic Government in conformity with the preceding Article. Treaty of 5th November, 1815, annulled. Renunciation by Con tracting Parties of all Rights or Pretensions over Ionian Islands. ART. VIII. The High Contracting Parties agree that from an after the coming into operation of the arrangements comprised in the present Treaty, the stipulations of the Treaty of the 5th November, 1815 (No. 39), concluded between the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, relative to the United States of the Ionian Islands, shall cease to be in force, with the exception of the clause whereby the Courts of Austria, Prussia, and Russia renounced every right or particular pretension which they might have formed in respect to all or any of those Islands or their dependencies, recognised by the Treaty of the 5th November, 1815 (No. 39), as forming a single Free and Independent State under the denomination of the United States of the Ionian Islands. By the present Treaty their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of All the Russias, renew and confirm the said Renunciation in their name for their heirs and successors. *See Treaties of 29th March, 1864. The British Forces were withdrawn from the Ionian Islands on the 2nd June, 1864. [Union of Ionian Islands to Greece.] Ratifications. ART. IX. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the Ratifications shall be exchanged at London in 6 weeks, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the Seals of their Arms. Done at London, the 14th day of November, in the year of Our Lord, 1863. (L.S.) RUSSELL. (L.S.) CADORE. (L.S.) BERNSTORFF. (L.S.) BRUNNOW. Ratifications exchanged at London, 2nd January, 1864. [Proposed Congress. Peace of Europe.] No. 356.-CORRESPONDENCE between Great Britain and France, respecting the proposed meeting of a Congress at Paris. November, 1863.* TABLE. 1. Proposal for an International Congress for the preservation of the Peace of Europe. 2. Proposal for Congress submitted to the Deliberation of Her Britannic Majesty's Confidential Advisers. 3. Necessity of specifying fixed objects to form Bases of Deliberations. 4. Invitation of French Government to its Allies to enter into Explanations, and to come to an understanding on objects of proposed Congress. 5. British reasons for declining Invitation of the Emperor of the French to attend proposed Congress. 6. Regret of French Government at decision of Great Britain not to attend proposed Congress. (Translation as laid before Parliament.) (1.) H.M. the Emperor of the French to H.M. the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Proposal for an International Congress for the preservation of the Peace of Europe. MADAM, MY SISTER, Paris, 4th November, 1863. IN face of the events which daily arise and press themselves on attention, I deem it indispensable to impart my whole thought to the Sovereigns to whom the destiny of Nations is confided. On all occasions when great convulsions have shaken the foundations and deranged the limits of States, solemn compacts have followed to reduce to order the new elements, and to recognise, while revising them, the changes that have been effected. Such was the object of the Treaty of Westphalia in the 17th century, and of the Negotiations of Vienna, in 1815. It is on this last foundation that the political edifice of Europe now rests; and, nevertheless, your Majesty is not ignorant it is crumbling to pieces on all sides. If one considers attentively the situation of the different countries, it is impossible not to admit that on almost all points the Treaties of Vienna are destroyed, modified, disregarded, or menaced. Hence there are duties without rule, rights without title, pretensions without restraint. A peril the more formidable, * See also Further Correspondence upon the same subject, in May and June, 1866, [Proposed Congress. Peace of Europe.] since the improvements produced by civilisation, which has united peoples together by an identity of material interests, would render War still more destructive. This is a matter for serious reflection. Let us not delay taking a decision until sudden and irresistible events disturb our judgment, and draw us, in spite of ourselves, in opposite directions. I now therefore propose to your Majesty to regulate the present, and secure the future, by means of a Congress. Summoned to the throne by Providence and the will of the French people, but brought up in the school of adversity, it is perhaps less allowable for me than for others to ignore the rights of Sovereigns and the legitimate aspirations of peoples. Thus I am ready, without any preconceived system, to bring to an International Council a spirit of moderation and justice, the ordinary portion of those who have undergone so many different trials. If I take the initiative in such an overture, I do not yield to an impulse of vanity; but because I am the Sovereign to whom ambitious projects have mostly been attributed. I have it at heart to prove, by this frank and loyal overture, that my sole object is to arrive, without convulsion, at the pacification of Europe. If this proposal be agreed to, I beg your Majesty to accept Paris as the place of meeting. If the Frinces, allies and friends of France, should think fit to enhance by their presence the authority of the deliberations. I shall be proud to offer them cordial hospitality. Europe will, perhaps, see some advantage in the capital whence the signal of confusion has so often arisen, becoming the seat of Conferences destined to lay the basis of a general pacification. I take, &c., NAPOLEON. (2.) H.M. the Queen of England to H.M. the Emperor of the French. Proposal for Congress submitted to deliberation of Her Majesty's Confidential Advisers. SIR, MY BROTHER, Windsor Castle, 11th November, 1863. THE letter which your Imperial Majesty addressed to me on the 4th of this month has duly reached my hands. Your Imperial Majesty may feel assured that any suggestion or proposal made by your Imperial Majesty will always command my most earnest and attentive consideration, and more especially when the general |