ment of the 4th article of the treaty of the 20th of November, 1815), is to be liquidated and discharged by the inscription of a rente of 6,615,944 francs in the "Grand Livre" of the public debt of France, and by the immediate delivery of bills, forming a total of 165 millions of francs, real value; the said bills payable at Paris, drawn by the treasury of France, and accepted by the firms of Hope and Co. Baring, Brothers, and Co. becoming due monthly, on the 6th of each month, reckoning from the 6th of January next, to the 6th of September, inclusive.

By an arrangement which his excellency field marshal the duke of Wellington signed, in the name of the courts of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, on the 12th of last month, with the said firms of Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., the before-mentioned sum of 6,615,944 francs of rente, has been made over to those houses for the actual sum of 98,015,210 francs, payable by means of their engagements due by ninths, and at the same periods as those agreed upon for the payments to be made by the treasury of France.

His excellency the duke of Richelieu having represented to the ministers of the courts of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, that the state of circulation, and the service of the public funds at Paris, required some still greater modification of the preceding arrangements, than that which had been agreed upon in the Protocol of the 3rd of November last, and the plenipotentiaries of the five courts, after taking the said state of affairs into VOL. LXI.

consideration, have adopted the following arrangements:-1st. The bills of the treasury of France on Messrs. Hope and Co., and Baring, Brothers, and Co., which, according to Article 6 of the convention of the 9th of October, are to be delivered to the commissioners of the four courts, shall be made payable in eighteen equal instalments, beginning on the 6th of January next, till the 6th of June, 1820, inclusive. 2nd. The amount on account of interest, to which the courts of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and other participating states, may become entitled, in consequence of the extension of the periods of payment stipulated in the foregoing paragraph, shall be paid by the French government into the hands of the commissioners of the four courts at Paris.-3rd. The securities given by the firms of Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., in pursuance of the treaties they concluded with his excellency field-marshal the duke of Wellington on the 12th of last month, shall be equally payable in eighteen instalments, beginning from the 6th of January next, till the 6th of June, 1820, inclusive.4th. The interest to which the courts of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia and other participating states may become entitled, in consequence of the extension of the periods of payment stipulated in paragraph three before-mentioned, shall be paid by Messrs. Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., into the hands of the Commissioners of the said courts at Paris.-5th. The balance of the interest to be paid in K pursuance

pursuance of paragraphs two and four before-mentioned, shall be settled with the commissioners of the said powers, and the amount thereof liquidated at the end of every three months.-6th. When the French treasury-bills, or those of Messrs. Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., become due, the latter shall be at liberty to pay the bearers thereof, as much as one half of the amount of the said bills by bills of exchange, indorsed by them, upon one or more of the places hereafter mentioned, viz. Hamburgh, Amsterdam, London, Frankfort and Augsbourg; those bills of exchange to have in no case less than thirty days, nor more than three months to run, dating from the day of their delivery. The value of the franc is to be determined at each payment by the medium rate of the exchange at Paris, during the thirty days open (jours de bourse) which shall have preceded the day of payment. When two different rates shall be quoted for the same day, the medium between the two, is to be taken as the price for the day. With reference to bills of exchange which may have more than thirty days to run, and less than three months, the average must be taken between the rates quoted for the two periods. It is moreover fully understood, that the firms of Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., remain responsible for the payment of the bills of exchange delivered in virtue of the arrangement before mentioned. 7th. In order to facilitate the execution of the above paragraph 6, due notice is to be affixed on the bills delivered to

the commissioners of the four courts, of the liberty allowed to pay the said bills, partly in cash, and partly by bills of exchange, in conformity to the preceding stipulations.-8th. It is fully understood, that Messrs. Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., may at any time liquidate their engagements by anticipation, at the rate of 5 per cent discount per annum.

Previously to proceeding to the signature of the present Protocol, prince Hardenberg, the Prussian minister plenipotentiary, reproduced and demanded the insertion in the Protocol, of the accompanying observations and exceptions, similar to those consigned to that of the 3rd of November. Field-marshal the duke of Wellington undertook to conclude with Messrs. Hope and Co., Baring, Brothers, and Co., a new arrangement conformable to the contents of the present Protocol.

(Signed) METTERNICH.
RICHELIEU.

CASTLEREAGH.

WELLINGTON.

HARDENBErg.

BERNSTORff.

NESSELRODe. CAPO D'ISTRIA.

No. IV. PROTOCOL signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, on the 15th November 1818, by the Plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. The ministers of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, in pursuance of the exchange of the ratifications of the convention signed on the

9th of October, relative to the evacuation of the French territory by the foreign troops, and after having addressed to each other the notes of which copies are annexed, have assembled in conference, to take into consideration the relations which ought to be established in the actual state of affairs, between France and the co-subscribing powers of the treaty of peace of the 20th of November 1815-relations which, by assuring to France the place that belongs to her in the European system, will bind her more closely to the pacific and benevolent views in which all the sovereigns participate, and will thus consolidate the general tranquillity.

After having maturely investigated the conservative principles of the great interests which constitute the order of things established in Europe, under the auspices of Divine Providence, by the treaty of Paris of the 30th of May 1814, the recès of Vienna, and the treaty of peace of the year 1815, the courts subscribing the present act, do, accordingly, unanimously acknowledge and declare:

1. That they are firmly resolved never to depart, neither in their mutual relations, nor in those which bind them to other states, from the principle of intimate union which has hitherto presided over all their common relations and interests-a union rendered more strong and indissoluble by the bonds of Christian fraternity which the sovereigns have formed among themselves.

2. That this union, which is the more real and durable, inas

much as it depends on no separate interest or temporary combination, can only have for its object the maintenance of general peace, founded on a religious respect for the engagements contained in the treaties, and for the whole of the rights resulting therefrom.

3. That France, associated with other powers by the restoration of the legitimate monarchical and constitutional power, engages henceforth to concur in the maintenance and consolidation of a system which has given peace to Europe, and which can alone insure its duration.

4. That if, for the better attaining the above declared object, the powers which have concurred in the present act should judge it necessary to establish particular meetings, either of the sovereigns themselves, or of their respective ministers and plenipotentiaries, there to treat in common of their own interests, in so far as they have reference to the object of their present deliberations, the time and place of these meetings shall, on each occasion, be previously fixed by means of diplomatic communications; and that in the case of these meetings having for their object affairs specially connected with the interests of the other states of Europe, they shall only take place in pursuance of a formal invitation on the part of such of those states as the said affairs may concern, and under the express reservation of their right of direct participation therein, either directly or by their plenipotentiaries.

5. That the resolutions contained in the present act shall be K 2 made

No. V.-Copy of the Note addressed to the Duke of Richelieu by the Plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, on the 4th of November, 1818.

The undersigned ministers of the cabinets of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia, have received orders from their august masters to address to his excellency the duke of Richelieu the following communication:

Called by the fifth article of the treaty of the 20th of November, 1815, to examine, in concert with his majesty the king of France, whether the military occupation of a part of the French territory, stipulated by the said treaty, might cease at the end of the third year, or ought to be prolonged to the end of the fifth, their majesties the Emperor of Austria, the king of Prussia and the emperor of all the Russias, have repaired to Aix-la-Chapelle, and have charged their ministers to assemble there, in conference

with the plenipotentiaries of their majesties the king of France and the king of Great Britain, in order to proceed to the examination of this important question.

In this examination the attention of the ministers and plenipotentiaries had for its particular object the internal situation of France; it was said to be directed to the execution of the engagements contracted by the French government towards the co-subscribing powers to the treaty of the 20th of November, 1815.

The internal state of France serious deliberations in the cabihaving long been the subject of assembled at nets, and the plenipotentiaries having mutually communicated Aix-la-Chapelle the opinions which they had formed in that respect, the august sovereigns, after having weighed these opinions in their wisdom, have recognised with satisfaction, that the order of things happily established in France, by the restoration of the legitimate and constitutional monarchy, and the success which has hitherto crowned the paternal care of his most christian majesty, fully justify the hope of a progressive consolidation of that order of things so essential to the repose and prosperity of France, and so strictly connected with the great interests of Europe.

With regard to the execution of the engagements, the communications which, since the opening of the conferences, the plenipotentiary of his most christian majesty has addressed to the ministers of the other powers

have left no doubt on this question, as they prove. that the French government has fulfilled, with the most scrupulous and honourable punctuality, all the clauses of the treaties and conventions of the 20th of November, and propose with respect to those clauses the fulfilment of which was reserved for more remote periods, arrangements which are satisfactory to all the contracting parties.

Such being the results of the examination of these grave questions, their imperial and royal majesties congratulated themselves, that they have only to listen to those sentiments and those personal wishes which induced them to put an end to a measure which disastrous circumstances, and the necessity of providing for their own security and that of Europe, could alone have dictated to them.

From that moment the august sovereigns resolved to cause the military occupation of the French territory to be discontinued; and the convention of the 9th of October sanctioned this resolution. They regard this solemn act as the final completion of the gene

ral peace.

Considering now as the first of their duties, that of preserving to their people the benefits which that peace assures to them, and to maintain in their integrity the transactions which have established and consolidated it, their imperial and royal majesties flatter themselves that his most christian majesty, animated by the same sentiments, will receive with the interest which he attaches to every thing tending to

the welfare of mankind and to the glory and prosperity of his country, the proposition which their imperial and royal majesties address to him, to unite henceforth his councils and his efforts to those which they will not cease to devote to so salutary a work.

The undersigned, charged to request the duke of Richelieu to convey the wish of their august sovereigns to the knowledge of the king his master, at the same time invite his excellency to take part in their present and future deliberations, "consecrated to the maintenance of the peace, the treaties on which it is founded, the rights and mutual relations established or confirmed by these treaties and recognised by all the European powers.

In transmitting to the duke of Richelieu this solemn proof of the confidence which their august sovereigns have placed in the wisdom of the king of France and in the loyalty of the French nation, the undersigned are ordered to add the expression of the unalterable attachment which their imperial and royal majesties profess towards the person of his most christian majesty and his family, and of the sincere interest which they never cease to take in the tranquillity and happiness of his kingdom.

They have the honour, at the same time, to offer to the duke of Richelieu the assurance of their very particular consideration.

Aix-la-Chapelle, Nov. 4, 1818.
(Signed)

METTERNICH.
CASTLEREAgh.

WELL