Sold – An Auxiliary Agreement to the Congress of Vienna Treaty, Signed by George IV

In it, Great Britain permitted Spain to join the concord of Europe.

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By 1792 the French Revolution was in the hands of its radicals and the other governments in Europe were convinced they had to intervene to prevent its spread. They invaded France, thus commencing a war that would not end for well over two decades. By its close, France, led by Napoleon, had...

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Sold – An Auxiliary Agreement to the Congress of Vienna Treaty, Signed by George IV

In it, Great Britain permitted Spain to join the concord of Europe.

By 1792 the French Revolution was in the hands of its radicals and the other governments in Europe were convinced they had to intervene to prevent its spread. They invaded France, thus commencing a war that would not end for well over two decades. By its close, France, led by Napoleon, had conquered (at one time or another) much of the continent, and spread its influence pervasively throughout. Virtually no aspect of life in Europe was unaffected by what came to be called the Napoleonic Wars. Finally, on March 31, 1814, the allied forces entered Paris, compelling Napoleon to abdicate.

The hostilities were suspended by a convention signed on April 23, and on May 30 the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the state of war. But this was just the start. The victorious European powers determined to reestablish, as far as possible, the order and borders in force in 1792, and to resolve the many other problems that had arisen during revolution and war. They called the Congress of Vienna, which started on September 27, 1814 and concluded with the Treaty of Vienna being signed on June 9, 1815.

The Congress proved to be the most important international conference in European history, and its discussions continued despite Napoleon’s return from exile and resumption of power in France in March 1815. Just nine days after completion of the Congress’s work, it was in a sense validated when Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo.

The Treaty was then ratified by the powers concerned. The principal figures at Vienna included some of the most remarkable ever brought together under one roof. There was Tsar Alexander I of Russia with his chief minister Count Nesselrode, the Austrian Emperor Francis I and his enigmatic Prime Minister von Metternich, the cool foreign minister Viscount Castlereagh aided for a time by the Duke of Wellington representing Britain, the Prussian King Frederick William III with his chancellor von Hardenberg, the Italians Count Capo d’Istria and Pozzo di Borgo, and the wiley representative of the “new” France, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, who, by skillfully exploiting differences among the allies, soon obtained an equal voice with the great victorious powers. All other European states, large and petty, that had legally existed before the Napoleonic upheaval were represented by an army of delegates and agents.

The men involved in the Congress of Vienna had a monumental task in front of them: that of piecing Europe together once more and of seeking to establish conditions which would give this work of reconstruction a reasonable chance of survival. Although these representatives wanted what was best for their own countries, they followed one fundamental principle: in order to prevent another major war, they wished to create a European ‘balance of power’ which would prevent any one nation from being able to again dominate the continent. The settlement that resulted accomplished this crucial goal. The Congress also restored the hegemony of Europe’s conservative monarchies – confirming Louis XVIII in France and Ferdinand VII in Spain.

Although its members generally sought a return to the pre-war frontiers of 1792, there were nonetheless numerous territorial changes. As regards France, a final post-Napoleon peace settlement was reached on Nov. 20, 1815. The territorial changes brought about by the Congress of Vienna represented a practical if not always equitable solution and an attempt at dealing with Europe as an organic whole.

The Quadruple and Holy Alliances, designed to uphold the decisions of Vienna and to settle disputes and problems by means of conferences, were an important step toward European cooperation. Moreover, the Treaty of Vienna was very effective: it kept the peace for the next forty years and prevented a major conflict in Europe for a century. As another way to look at its accomplishments, unlike the Versailles Treaty of 1919, it contained in none of its provisions the seeds of a future war between the major powers. A further contribution of the Congress was adoption of standard rules of diplomacy.

The Treaty of Vienna was so far-reaching that several additional treaties, conventions and agreements were required both to make the settlement effective and to complete the complement of nations signatory. We offer the document required to implement perhaps one of the most important of those collateral agreements.

During the wars, Portugal had lost its province of Olivenza to Spain and, at the Congress of Vienna, wanted it back. Portugal was historically a friend of Great Britain, and with its support succeeded in having their right to the re-incorporation of Olivenza decreed in Article 105 of the Treaty, which stated that the Congress "understood the occupation of Olivenza to be illegal and recognized Portugal’s rights". Portugal ratified the Treaty in 1815 but the Spanish would not sign. Thus Spain became the most important hold-out against the Congress of Vienna. Deciding in the end that it was better to become part of Europe than stand aside alone, Spain finally accepted the Treaty on May 7, 1817.

However, the other main signatories had to agree to Spain’s acceptance for it to become effective. Chief among those whose consent was needed was Great Britain, ally of Portugal, which in June 1817 concluded an agreement with His Catholic Majesty (the title assumed by Spanish monarchs), permitting the accession.

Document Signed by King George IV as Prince Regent for his insane father, George III, 9 pages folio bound with ribbon, Palace of Carlton, London, July 5, 1817, entitled “Warrant for affixing the Great Seal to the Ratification of an Act of Acceptance of the Accession of His Catholic Majesty to the General Treaty signed in Congress at Vienna, June 9, 1815, and to the acts thereunto annexed.”

Seven pages of the document constitute a clerical copy of the royal proclamation agreeing to Spain’s accession to the Treaty. The first of these pages contains the Preamble: “Whereas an Act of Acceptance of the Accession of his Catholic Majesty to the General Treaty signed in Congress at Vienna on the 9th of June, 1815, between His Britannic Majesty, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria…His Majesty the King of France…, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent…of Portugal…, His Majesty the King of Prussia, His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias…as well as to the treaties, conventions, declarations, regulations, and other acts…was concluded and signed at Paris on the 7th day of June [1817] by the Plenipotentiary of His said Britannic Majesty…, which Act of Acceptance is, word for word, as follows.”

The next 6 pages repeating the actual agreement are in French, then the language of diplomacy, and are entitled: “Act of Acceptance of the accession of his Catholic Majesty to the complementary Treaty…concluded and signed at Vienna on June 9, 1815.” This portion reveals the details of the signed agreement referenced above; its content restates the facts of the Treaty and the execution of an accession by the Spanish.

The last page of the document recites, in English, the proclamation signed by George giving Britain’s approval, which read in part: “We having seen and considered the Act of Acceptance aforesaid, have…approved, ratified, accepted and confirmed the same…engaging and promising upon our word that…we will sincerely and faithfully perform and observe all…the things which are contained and expressed in the aforesaid instrument…” However, to make the acceptance official, and in a sense permit Spain to rejoin European society, the Prince Regent had to order that the Seal of State be affixed to the proclamation, and this document, on page one, does just that. The future king has boldly signed the document at the top and sealed it with his seal. On the second page, Castlereagh himself has signed and the document is dated. The Congress of Vienna was the crowning moment in diplomatic history and established a European order that lasted a century. This document may have been the last important link in the chain of agreements that created that order.

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