[Union of Ionian Islands to Greece.] Ratifications. ART. IX. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the Ratifcations shall be exchanged at London in 6 weeks, or sooneT 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.) 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 Princes, 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 [Proposed Congress. Peace of Europe,] welfare of nations is concerned. I have accordingly directed my confidential advisers to submit to me the opinion which, after due deliberation, they may arrive at in regard to the important measure which your Imperial Majesty recommends for adoption by your allies; and my Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs will, with as little delay as possible, authorise my Ambassador at Paris to make known to your Government the conclusion which, after weighing that opinion, I may feel it my duty to adopt. I avail, &c., VICTORIA R. (3) Earl Russell to Earl Cowley. Necessity for specifying fixed Basis of Deliberations of proposed MY LORD, Congress. Foreign Office, 12th November, 1863. HER Majesty the Queen having been pleased to refer to her confidential servants a letter of the Emperor Napoleon addressed to Her Majesty, on the subject of a Congress, I proceed to inform you of the view which Her Majesty's Government take of the proposal contained in it. The letter invites Her Majesty to take part in a Congress to be held in Paris, on the Affairs of Europe. I am commanded, in the first place, to inform your Excellency that Her Majesty's Government see in this step a proof of the interest taken by His Imperial Majesty in the welfare of Europe. I will now proceed to remark on the ground stated for this proposal, and then examine the proposal itself. His Imperial Majesty observes, that on all occasions when great convulsions have shaken the foundations and deranged the limits of States, solemn compacts have been entered into, having for their object 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. On this last foundation the political edifice of Europe now rests, and nevertheless, His Imperial Majesty observes, it is crumbling to pieces on all sides. The Emperor goes on to state that, if the situation of the different countries is attentively considered, it is impossible not [Proposed Congress. Peace of Europe.] to admit that in almost all points the Treaties of Vienna are destroyed, modified, disregarded, or menaced. When so important a proposal as that which the Emperor has put forth is made to rest on certain grounds, it is our duty to examine carefully the grounds themselves. Nearly half a century has elapsed since the Treaties of 1815 were signed. The work was somewhat hurried by the necessity of giving repose to Europe after so many convulsions. Yet the changes made in this period of 50 years have not been more than might have been expected from the lapse of time, the progress of opinion, the shifting policy of Governments, and the varying exigencies of nations. If we take half a century from the Peace of Westphalia to 1700, or a similar period from the Peace of Utrecht to 1763, we shall find those periods marked by extensive changes, as well as the period which has elapsed between 1815 and 1863. Yet it was not thought necessary, at the epochs mentioned, to proceed to a general revision either of the Treaty of Westphalia or of the Treaty of Utrecht. It is the conviction of Her Majesty's Government that the main provisions of the Treaty of 1815 (No. 27) are in full force; that the greater number of those provisions have not been in any way disturbed; and that on those foundations rests the Balance of Power in Europe. If, instead of saying that the Treaty of Vienna has ceased to exist, or that it is destroyed, we inquire whether certain portions of it have been modified, disregarded, or menaced, other questions occur. Some of the modifications which have taken place have received the sanction of all the Great Powers, and now form part of the Public Law of Europe (Nos. 153, 183-186, 230, 281). Is it proposed to give those changes a more general and solemn sanction? Is such a work necessary? Will it contribute to the Peace of Europe? Other portions of the Treaty of Vienna have been disregarded or set aside, and the changes thus made de facto have not been recognised de jure by all the Powers of Europe (Nos. 155, 160, 201-204, 301-303). Is it proposed to obtain from Powers which have not hitherto joined in that recognition a sanction to those changes? Lastly come those parts of the Treaty of Vienna which are menaced, and upon those portions the most important questions |