Final Act of the Ministerial Conferences held at Vienna to complete and consolidate the Organization of the Germanic Confederation

Sovereign Princes and the Free Towns of Germany, mindful of the engagement which they undertook at the time of the formation of the Germanic Confederation, to strengthen and perfect their union, by developing the fundamental Regulations of the Federal Act, convinced, moreover, that in order to fasten indissolubly the bonds which unite the whole of the States of Germany in peace and harmony, they ought no longer to delay the fulfilment of that engagement, and the satisfaction of a want generally felt, by entering upon deliberations in common, have appointed Plenipotentiaries for that purpose, namely; —

His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and of Bohemia, the Sieur Clement Venceslas Lothaire, Prince of Metternich-Winnebourg Ochsenhausen, Duke of Portella, Chamberlain, actual intimate Councillor of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, His Minister of State, of Conferences, and of Foreign Affairs, &c.;

His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Sieur Christian Günther, Count de Bernstorff, His Minister of State, of the Cabinet, and of Foreign Affairs, &c.;

The Sieur Frederic Guillaume Louis, Baron de Krusemare, Lieutenant-General of His Armies, His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

And the Sieur Jean Emanuel de Küster, His intimate Councillor of State, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Wirtemberg, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden, &c.;

His Majesty the King of Bavaria, the Sieur Frederic, Baron de Zentner, His actual intimate Councillor, and Director-General of the Ministry of the Interior, Councillor of the Empire, &c.; and the Sieur Gottlieb Edouard, Baron de Stainlein, His intimate Councillor and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Majesty the King of Saxony, the Sieur Detlev, Count de Einsiedel, His Minister and Secretary of State for the Department of the interior, Chamberlain, &c.;

The Sieur Frederic Albert, Count de Schulenbourg-Closteroda, His intimate COuncillor, Chamberlain, and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Imperial Austrian Court, &c.;

And the Sieur Jean Auguste Fürchtegott de Globig, His intimate Councillor, Chamberlain, &c.;

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, the Sieur Erneste Frederic Herbert, Count de Münster, Hereditary Grand Marshal of the Kingdom, His Minister of State and of the Cabinet, &c.;

And the Sieur Erneste Chrétien George Auguste, Count de Hardenberg, His Minister of State and of the Cabinet, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Majesty the King of Wirtemberg, the Sieur Ulrick-Lebrecht, Count de Mandelsloh, His Minister of State, and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden, the Sieur Reinhart, Baron de Berstett, His actual intimate Councillor, Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs, &c.;

And the Sieur Frederic Charles, Baron de Tettenborn, Lieutenant-General and General Aide-de-Camp of the Grand Duke, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Royal Highness the Elector of Hesse, Baron Munchausen, His intimate Councillor and Chamberlain, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse, the Sieur Charles du Bos, Baron du Thil, His actual intimate Councillor, &c.;

His Majesty the King of Denmark, Duke of Holstein and Lauenburg, the Sieur Joachim Frederic, Count de Bernstorff, His intimate Councillor of Conferences, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, &c.;

His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, the Sieur Antoine Reinhart de Falck, Minister of Public Instruction, of National Industry, and of the Colonies, &c.;

His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and their Serene Highnesses the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Hildburghausen, the Sieur Charles Guillaume, Baron de Fritsch, actual intimate Councillor of the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Minister of State, &c.;

His Serene Highness the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, the Count Munster, &c.; and the Count de Hardenburg, &c. (as above described);

His Serene Highness the Duke of Nassau, the Sieur Ernest Francis Louis Maréschal, Baron de Bieberstein, His directing Minister of State, &c.;

Their Royal Highnesses the Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz, the Sieur Leopold Hartwig, Baron de Plessen, Minister of State and of Cabinet of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, &c.;

Their Serene Highnesses the Dukes of Holstein-Oldenburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Dessau, and Anhalt-Bernburg, the Princes of Schwartzburg-Sondershausen and Rudolstadt, the Sieur Günther Henri de Berg, President of the High Court of Cassation of Oldenburg, Envoy of the Duchy of Holstein-Oldenburg, of the Dukes of Anhalt, and of the Princes of Schwartzburg, to the German Confederation;

Their Serene Highnesses the Princes of Hohenzöllern-Hechingen and Hohenzöllern-Sigmaringen, Lichtenstein, Reuss (both branches), Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe and Waldeck, the Baron de Bieberstein, &c. (as above described);

The Free Towns of Lubeck, Frankfort, Bremen, and Hamburg, the Sieur Jean Frederic Hach, Senator of Lubeck and Envoy;

Who, being Assembled in Conference at Vienna, after the exchange of their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, and after maturely considering and adjusting the various views, desires, and proposals of their Governments, have definitively agreed upon the following Articles: —

The Germanic Confederation is a union according to international law of the Sovereign Princes and Free Towns of Germany, for the preservation of the independence and inviolability of the States comprised in it, and for maintaining the internal and external security of Germany.

As to its internal relations, this Union consists of a community of States independent of each other, with reciprocal and equal rights and obligations stipulated by Treaties. As to its external relations, it constitutes a collective Power, bound together in political unity.

The compass and the limitations which the Confederation has assigned for its operation are laid down in the Federal Act, which is the primitive compact, and the first fundamental law of this union. While it declares the object of the Confederation, that Act determines at the same time its rights and obligations.

The right of developing and perfecting the Confederation Act, in so far as the object proposed therein renders this necessary, belongs to the whole of the Members of the Confederation. But the resolutions to be adopted for this purpose must not be in contradiction to the spirit of the Federal Act, nor depart from the primitive character of the Federation.

The Confederation is established as an indissoluble Union, and therefore none of its Members can be at liberty to secede from it.

According to its original intent, the Confederation is limited to the States which now belong to it. The admission of a new Member can only take place if all the Members of the Confederation consider it compatible with the existing relations, and accordant with the interests of the whole. Changes in the present state of the possession of the Members of the Confederation cannot alter their rights and obligations in reference to the Confederation, without the express consent of all its Members. A voluntary cession of rights of sovereignty belonging to a territory of the Confederation, cannot take place without such consent, except in favour of one of the Confederate States.

The Federative Diet, formed by the Plenipotentiaries of all the Members of the Confederation, represents the Confederation in its entirety; it is the constitutional and perpetual organ of its will and action.

The Plenipotentiaries at the Diet are individually dependent on those who delegate them, and responsible only to them for the faithful observance of their instructions, as well as for their proceedings in general.

The Federative Diet exercises its rights and fulfils its obligations only within the limits prescribed to it. Its action is determined by the provisions of the Federal Act, and by the Fundamental Laws passed or to be passed in conformity with that Act; but where these are not sufficient, by the objects of the Confederation as defined in the Fundamental Act.

The collective will of the Confederation is declared by the Resolutions of the Diet constitutionally passed; and these Resolutions are constitutionally passed which, being within the competency of the Diet, have been voted freely after discussion, either in the ordinary Council or in the General Assembly ("Plenum"), according as the one or the other is prescribed by the Fundamental legal provisions.

As a general rule, the Diet passes such Resolutions as are required for the management of the common affairs of the Confederation in the ordinary Council, and by an absolute majority of votes. This form of Resolution is adopted in all cases wherein the general principles already established are to be applied, or laws and arrangements already decided upon are to be put into execution; and in general in all matters of deliberations not positively excepted therefrom by the Federal Act or by subsequent Resolutions.

The Diet forms itself into a General Assembly ("Plenum") only in cases expressly specified by the Federal Act, and also in the event of a Declaration of War, or of the Ratification of a Treaty of Peace on the part of the Confederation, or when the question of the admission of a new Member into the Confederation is to be decided. If in particular cases the question arises whether a subject belongs to the General Assembly, the Ordinary Council has to decide thereon. No discussion or deliberation takes place in the General Assembly. It decides only whether a Resolution prepared in the Ordinary Council is to be adopted or rejected. For a valid Resolution of the General Assembly, a majority of two-thirds of the votes is necessary.

No decision by plurality of votes can take place in the following instances: —

1. In the adoption of new fundamental laws, or alteration of those already in force.

2. In organic arrangements, that is to say, in those permanent regulations which form the means of accomplishing the declared objects of the Confederation.

3. In the admission of new Members into the Confederation.

4. In Religious affairs.

There can, however, be no definitive decision on matters of this nature until after due examination and discussion of the reasons which separate Members of the Confederation have to give in opposition, and the explanation of those reasons can in no case be refused.

With reference particularly to the organic institutions, not only must the preliminary question whether they are necessary under the existing circumstances, but also the scheme and design thereof in their general outlines and essential arrangements, be decided on by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly ("Plenum").

If the decision is favourable to the proposed institution all further proceedings in regard to the details belong to the Ordinary Assembly, which decides by a majority of votes upon other questions still arising thereon, and, if necessary, appoints a Commission from amongst its Members, in order to adjust the different opinions and propositions with the greatest possible indulgence and respect to the relations and wishes of each.

In cases where the Members of the Confederation appear, not in their pacted unity but as individual, self-existent, and independent States, and consequently jura singulorum prevail or where there is required from individual Members of the Confederation a special performance or allowance towards the Confederation, that is not included in the common obligations of all, no resolution that is binding on them can be passed without the free consent of all that are interested.

Whenever the possessions of a Sovereign German House pass by succession to another, it depends upon the whole Confederation whether and to what extent the votes attached to the said possessions in the General Assembly ("Plenum") shall be given to the new possessor, considering that no Member of the Confederation can have more than one vote in the ordinary Assembly.

For the maintenance of the real meaning of the Federal Act, the Diet is called upon to explain the provisions contained therein in conformity with the object of the Confederation, should any doubt arise as to their interpretation, and to secure in all cases that occur the proper application of the directions of this document.

As concord and peace are to be maintained undisturbed among the Members of the Confederation, if the internal tranquillity and security of the Confederation be in any way threatened or disturbed, the Diet has to take counsel upon the means of preserving or re-establishing them, and to pass the resolutions adopted thereto, under the guidance of the provisions contained in the following Articles.

If acts of violence are to be feared or have actually occurred between Members of the Confederation, the Diet is called upon to take preliminary measures whereby all self-help may be prevented or stopped if already undertaken. For this purpose the Diet has above all to take care that the state of possession is maintained.

If the help of the Diet be claimed by a Member of the Confederation for the protection of the state of possession, and the most recent state of possession is disputed, for this special case the Diet shall be authorized to invite a Member of the Confederation in the vicinity of the territory to be protected, and not interested in the matter, to have the case of the most recent possession and the intended disturbance thereof summarily examined without delay before its Supreme Court of Justice, and a legal sentence passed thereon, the execution of which is to be accomplished by the Diet with the means assigned to it for the purpose, if the Confederate State against which it is directed does not on previous invitation voluntarily comply with it.

In all differences between the Members of the Confederation submitted to the Diet by virtue of the Federal Act, the Diet shall first try the way of conciliation by means of a Committee. If the differences cannot be settled in this way the Diet has to procure the decision of it by an Arbitration Court (Austrägal-Instanz), observing therein, so long as no other convention shall have been made among the Members of the Confederation respecting arbitration tribunals, the regulations contained in the resolutions of the Diet of 16th June, 1817, as well as the special resolution to be passed in consequence of simultaneous instructions issued to the Envoys of the Diet.

If, according to the above-mentioned Resolution of the Diet, the Supreme Court of a Confederate State has been chosen as an Arbitration (Austrägal-Instanz) Court, to it alone belongs the direction of the proceedings and the decision of the affair in all its principal and accessory points unrestrictedly and without any further interference, either of the Diet or the Government of the country therein. Nevertheless, the latter, upon the motion of the Diet, or of the litigating parties, in case of delay on the part of the Court of Justice, will issue the necessary directions to accelerate the decision.

Where there are no special rules for deciding, the Arbitration (Austregal) Tribunal is to have recourse to those legal sources subsidiarily observed by the tribunals of the Empire in legal cases of the same kind, in so far as they are still applicable to the actual relations of the Members of the Confederation.

The Members of the Confederation are free, moreover, to come to an agreement both with regard to individual disputes and to all future cases, by special arbitration or compromise, inasmuch as previously existing arbitration authorities settled by family compact, or by Treaty, are not abolished or altered by the institution of the Arbitration Court of the Confederation.

The maintenance of internal tranquillity and order in the Confederate States belongs to the respective Governments only. As an exception, however, with regard to the internal security of the whole Confederation, and in consequence of the obligation of its Members mutually to assist each other, the whole may co-operate for the preservation or restoration of tranquillity, in case of the resistance of subjects against their Government, in that of an open revolt, or dangerous movements in several States of the Confederation.

When the internal tranquillity of a Confederate State is immediately endangered by the resistance of subjects to the authorities, and the spreading of the seditious movements is to be feared, or when an actual revolt has broken out, and the Government of the country, after having exhausted all constitutional and legal means, calls for the assistance of the Confederation, the Diet is bound to cause the most prompt assistance to be given for the re-establishment of order. If, in the latter case, the Government of the country is notoriously unable to repress the revolt by its own forces, and is at the same time prevented by circumstances from claiming the assistance of the Confederation, the Diet is nevertheless bound, even without being called upon, to proceed to the restoration of order and security. In any case, however, the measures adopted must not continue any longer than the Government to which the aid of the Confederation has been afforded considers necessary.

The Government which has received such assistance is bound to inform the Diet of the cause of the disturbances which have arisen, and to send in a satisfactory account of the measures taken for securing the re-established legal order.

If public tranquillity and legal order are threatened in several of the Confederated States by dangerous Associations and designs, and against which sufficient measures can only be taken by the co-operation of the whole, then the Diet is authorized and called upon to deliberate upon and to pass such measures, after having communicated with the Governments most immediately in danger.

In the case of a denial of justice occur in one of the States of the Confederation, and effective aid cannot be obtained in a legal manner, the Diet is bound to entertain, when proved, the complaints of the denial or stoppage of justice, which must be judged according to the Constitution and the laws of each country, and thereupon to cause the Federal Government which has given cause for the complaints, to give the legal aid required.

If claims made by private persons cannot be adjusted on account of the obligation to satisfy them being doubtful or contested between several Members of the Confederation, the Diet, at the request of those interested, is first of all to try to effect an arrangement in a friendly way; if, however, that endeavour does not succeed, and the Members of the Confederation concerned do not agree to a compromise within a period to be fixed, it shall cause the preliminary question in dispute to be legally decided by an Arbitration Court.

The Diet has the right and is bound to watch over the execution of the Federal Act, and the other Fundamental Laws of the Confederation, the resolutions adopted in accordance with its competence, the awards pronounced by Arbitration Courts, the compromises guaranteed by the Confederation, and the arrangements effected by the mediation of the Diet, as well as the maintenance of the special guarantees undertaken by the Confederation; and for this purpose, after exhausting all other Federal Constitutional means, to have recourse to the requisite executionary measures, strictly observing the provisions and rules established for this purpose in the special execution regulations.

Each Government of the Confederation being obliged to see to the execution of the Federal Resolutions, and the Diet not being authorized to interfere directly in the internal administration of the Confederated States, measures of execution can only as a rule be taken against the Government itself. Exceptions to this rule occur, however, when a Government, in default of insufficient means of its own, claims the assistance of the Confederation, or when the Diet, under the circumstances mentioned in Article XXVI, is obliged, without being called upon, to take measures for the re-establishment of order and general security. In the first case, however, it must always proceed according to the propositions of the Government to which the assistance is given; and in the second case also, so soon as the Government has recovered its authority.

Measures of execution are decided on and accomplished in the name of the Confederation. For that purpose the Diet, in consideration of local circumstances and of particular relations, charges one or more Governments not interested in the matter with the execution of the measures decided on, and determines at the same time the strength of the troops to be employed, and the duration of their employment, which are to be regulated in accordance with the object of the execution in each case.

The Government on which the charge is laid, and which it is bound to undertake as a Federal duty, appoints a Civil Commissioner for the purpose, who has the immediate conduct of the execution proceedings, in conformity with the special instructions drawn up according to the directions of the Diet by the Government which has to carry them out. If the charge has been entrusted to several Governments, the Diet decides which of them is to appoint the Civil Commissioner. The Government charged with the execution shall, during the proceedings, keep the Diet informed of their progress, and shall acquaint it with the termination of the business so soon as the object shall have been fully accomplished.

The Confederation has the right, as a Collective Power, to declare war, to make peace, to contract alliances, and to conclude other Treaties. According, however, to the object of the Confederation expressed in Article II. of the Federal Act, it only exercises this right for its own defence, for the maintenance of the self-existence and external security of Germany, as well as for the independence and inviolability of the individual States of the Confederation.

As all the Members of the Confederation have engaged by Article XI. of the Federal Act to defend the whole of Germany, as well as each individual State of the Confederation, against every attack, and reciprocally to guarantee the integrity of the whole of their Possessions comprised within the Union, no individual State of the Confederation can be injured by a foreign Power, without the injury affecting at the same time, and to an equal degree, the whole of the Confederation.

On the other hand, the individual States of the Confederation are bound on their side not to give any cause for such injuries, and not to do any to foreign States. In case a foreign State should complain to the Diet of any injury inflicted on it by a Member of the Confederation, and this complaint should prove to be well founded, the Diet is bound to require the Member that has given cause for the complaint to make prompt and satisfactory reparation, and to unite with this requisition, according to the circumstances, such measures as may prevent in time any further consequences injurious to peace.

If a State of the Confederation calls for the intervention of the Confederation in a difference between that State and a foreign Power, the Diet has to examine carefully into the origin of the difference and the real state of the case. Should the result of that examination be that right is not on the side of the Confederated State, the Diet is earnestly to dissuade it from continuing the contest, to refuse the desired intervention, and, in case of necessity, to take proper measures for the maintenance of peace. Should the result be to the contrary, the Diet is bound to employ its mediation and intercession in favour of the injured State in the most effectual manner, and to extend them as far as is necessary to obtain complete security and appropriate satisfaction for that State.

When from the notification of a Member of the Confederation, or other authentic information, there is reason to believe that an individual State of the Confederation, or the whole Confederation, is threatened with a hostile attack, the Diet must immediately take into consideration the question whether there is any real danger of such an attack, and decide thereon with the least possible delay. If the danger is recognized there must be passed simultaneously with the decision to that effect, a resolution relative to the measures of defence which are immediately to be taken in such a case. Both the decision and resolution above-mentioned proceed from the ordinary Assembly, which proceeds therein according to its standing rule of the absolute majority of votes.

If the territory of the Confederation is invaded by a foreign Power, the state of war commences immediately, and in this case whatever may be the ulterior decision of the Diet, the necessary measures of defence must be adopted without delay.

If the Confederation finds itself under the necessity of formally declaring war, that declaration can only be decided on in the General Assembly, according to the established rule, by a majority of two-thirds of the votes.

The Resolution passed in the ordinary Assembly as to the reality of the danger of a hostile attack, binds all the States of the Confederation to take such measures of defence as are considered necessary by the Diet. In like manner, the Declaration of War pronounced by the General Assembly binds all the Confederated States to take an immediate part in the common war.

If the preliminary question relative to the existence of danger is decided in the negative by a majority of votes, such of the Confederated States as are convinced of the reality of the danger are nevertheless at liberty to agree among themselves upon common measures of defence.

If in any case wherein the danger and defence concern individual States of the Confederation, one of the contending parties applies for the mediation of the Confederation, the Diet will undertake the mediation, with the previous consent of the other party, in so far as it may be considered compatible with the state of things and with its own position; nevertheless there must be no hindrance therefrom in the resolutions respecting the measures of defence to be adopted for the security of the territory of the Confederation, nor any stoppage or postponement in the execution of those already decided on.

When war has broken out every State of the Confederation is at liberty to furnish, for the common defence, a larger force than its Federal contingent amounts to; but no claim can be made on the Confederation on this account.

If in a war between foreign Powers, or in other cases, circumstances arise which occasion the apprehension of an infraction of the neutrality of the Federal territory, the Diet is to decide in the ordinary Assembly without delay upon the requisite measures for the maintenance of that neutrality.

If a Confederate State having possessions beyond the limits of the Confederation enters into a war in its position as an European Power, such a war, so long as it does not affect the relations and obligations of the Confederation, remains quite foreign to it.

In cases wherein such a State is threatened or attacked in its possessions situated beyond the Confederation, the liability of the Confederation only extends to common measures of defence, or to participation and assistance only in so far as the Diet, after previous deliberation, has recognized by a majority of votes in the ordinary Assembly, the existence of danger for the Federal territory. In the latter case the provisions of the preceding Articles are equally applicable.

The stipulation of the Federal Act in virtue whereof, when once war is declared by the Confederation, no Member thereof can enter by itself upon negotiations with the enemy, nor by itself agree to an armistice, or conclude peace, is equally binding upon all the Confederated States, whether they have possessions out of the territories of the Confederation or not.

When negotiations are carried on, on the part of the Confederation, for the conclusion of peace, or of an armistice, the Diet has to appoint a Committee for the special direction of them; but for the actual business of the negotiations it has to nominate its own Plenipotentiaries, and to furnish them with appropriate instructions. The acceptation and confirmation of a Treaty of Peace can only take place in the General Assembly.

With reference to foreign affairs in general, it is the duty of the Diet: —

1. To watch, as organ of the whole Confederation, over the maintenance of peaceable and friendly relations with foreign States;

2. To receive the Envoys of foreign Powers accredited to the Confederation, and to appoint Envoys, if it should be found necessary, to represent the Confederation at foreign Courts;

3. To conduct negotiations and to conclude Treaties for the whole Confederation, when occasions require;

4. To employ the intercession of the Confederation with foreign Governments for individual Federal Governments upon their requisition, and, in like manner, to intervene with individual Members of the Confederation on the requisition of foreign States.

The Diet is moreover bound t o decide upon the organic institutions relating to the military system of the Confederation, and upon the defensive arrangements required for the security of its territory.

As the attainment of the purpose and the administration of the affairs of the Confederation require pecuniary contributions from the Members, the Diet has, —

1. To fix the amount of the ordinary Constitutional expenses, so far as that can, in general, be done;

2. To determine, as occasions arise, the extraordinary expenses required for the execution of special resolutions adopted in reference to recognized purposes of the Confederation, and the necessary contributions to provide for the expenses thereof;

3. To fix the normal proportion according to which the Members of the Confederation are to contribute;

4. To arrange and superintend the collection, the application, and the accounts of the contributions.

The independence guaranteed by the Federal Act to the individual States of the Confederation certainly excludes in general all interference of the Confederation in the internal organization and administration of those States. As, however, the Members of the Confederation have, in the second part of the Federal Act, agreed upon some special provisions, bearing partly on the guarantee of secured rights, partly on the settled relations of subjects, the Diet is bound to see to the fulfilment of these contracted engagements, if it shall appear by conclusive information from those interested that such has not been the case. Nevertheless, the application in particular cases of the general Ordinances adopted in conformity with the said engagements is reserved to the Governments only.

As, according to the meaning of Article XIII. of the Federal Act, and the subsequent declarations thereon, there are to be Constitutions of national estates in all the States of the Confederation, the Diet has to take care that this stipulation does not remain without effect in any Confederate State.

It is left to the Sovereign Princes of the Confederate States to regulate this domestic affair with regard both to the heretofore legally existing rights of the estates, and the present prevailing relations.

The Constitutions of national estates now in recognized activity can only be altered again by Constitutional means.

As the Germanic Confederation, with the exception of the Free Cities, consists of Sovereign Princes, so, according to the fundamental idea thereof hereby given, the whole power of the State must remain united in the Supreme Chief of the State, and the Sovereign cannot be bound by a Constitution of national estates to admit of the co-operation of the estates, except in the exercise of determined rights.

The Sovereign Princes united in the Confederation cannot be impeded or restricted in the fulfilment of their Federal obligations by any Constitution of national estates.

Where the publicity of the proceedings of the national estates is allowed by the Constitution, care must be taken in the business regulations, that the legal limits of free expression be not overstepped either in the proceedings themselves, or in their publication by the press, in such a manner as to imperil the tranquillity of the individual State, or of the whole of Germany.

If a Member of the Confederation solicits the guarantee of the Confederation for the Constitution of the national estates established in his country, the Diet is authorized to undertake it. It thereby acquires the right, on the application of those concerned, of maintaining the Constitution, and of arranging any differences that have arisen as to its interpretation or application, by friendly mediation or compromise, if no other method and way are legally prescribed.

Excepting in the case of having undertaken a special guarantee of a Constitution of national estates and of the maintenance of the stipulations respecting Article XIII. of the Federal Act here established, the Diet is not authorized to interfere in the affairs of national estates or in disputes between the Sovereigns and their estates, so long as they do not assume the character denoted in Article XXVI., in which case the provisions in this, as well as of Article XXVII., also become applicable. But Article XLVI. of the Act of the Congress of Vienna of the year 1815 (No. 27), relative to the Constitution of the Free City of Frankfort, is in no way altered hereby.

The preceding stipulations in regard to Article XIII. of the Federal Act are applicable to the Free Cities, in so far as their special Constitutions and relations admit of it.

The Diet has to attend to the exact and perfect fulfilment of the stipulations contained in Article XIV. of the Federal Act relative to the former States of the Empire now mediatized, and to the former immediate nobility of the Empire. Those Members of the Confederation in whose territories the possessions of the same are incorporated, are bound towards the Confederation to the steadfast maintenance of the relations of public right created by those stipulations. And although the disputes arising upon the application of Ordinances issued, or of Conventions concluded in conformity with Article XIV. of the Federal Act, must be submitted to the decision of the competent authorities of the States in which the possessions of the mediatized Princes, Counts, and Lords are situated, they are free, nevertheless, in case legal and Constitutional relief is denied them, or a partial legislative declaration is made injurious to the rights secured to them by the Federal Act, to have recourse to the Diet, which, in such a case, is bound to see that satisfactory redress is given, if the complaint prove well founded.

If individual Members of the Confederation propose to the Diet measures of public benefit, the accomplishment of which can only be attained by the co-operating participation of all the Confederated States, and that the Diet recognizes the expediency and feasibility of the proposed measures in general, it has then to take into careful consideration the means of carrying them out, and use its preserving endeavours to obtain the necessary voluntary agreement among all the Members of the Confederation for the purpose.

The matters submitted to the consideration of the Diet in the special stipulations of the Federal Act, Articles XVI., XVIII., and XIX. are reserved for its further deliberation, in order to effect by common consent arrangements as uniform as possible.

The present Act shall be submitted to the Diet by means of a presidential proposal, as the result of an unchangeable engagement among the Members of the Confederation, and thereafter declarations to the same effect by the Confederated Governments shall, by a formal resolution of the Diet, be enacted as a Fundamental Law of the Confederation, which shall have the same force and validity as the Federal Act itself, and shall serve the Diet as a rule of conduct not to be deviated from.

In witness whereof all the Plenipotentiaries here assembled have signed the present Act, and sealed it with their Arms.

Done at Vienna, on the 15th of May, 1820.

(L.S.)FURSTEN VON METTERNICH. (L.S.)GRAFEN VON BERNSTORFF. (L.S.)FREIHERRN VON KRUSEMARCK. (L.S.)J. E. VON KUSTER. (L.S.)FREIHERRN VON ZENTNER. (L.S.)FREIHERRN VON STAINLEIN. (L.S.)GRAFEN VON EINSEDEL. (L.S.)GRAFEN VON SCHULENBURG. (L.S.)H. A. F. VON GLOBIG. (L.S.)E. F. N. GRAFEN VON MUNSTER. (L.S.)E. C. G. A. GRAFEN VON HARDENBERG. (L.S.)U. L. GRAFEN VON MANDELSLOH. (L.S.)FREIHERRN VON BERSTETT. (L.S.)FREIHERRN VON TETTENBORN. (L.S.)FREIHERRN VON MUNCHHAUSEN. (L.S.)K. DU BOS FREIHERRN DU THIL. (L.S.)J. F. GRAFEN VON BERNSTORFF. (L.S.)A. R. FALCK. (L.S.)C. W. FREIHERRN VON FRITSCH. (L.S.)E. F. L. M. FREIHERRN VON BIEBERSTEIN. (L.S.)L. H. FREIHERRN VON PLESSEN. (L.S.)G. H. VON BERG. (L.S.)J. F. HACH.

[The foregoing Final Act became the Fundamental Law of the Confederation by a Resolution of the General Assembly of the Germanic Diet, dated 8th June, 1820.]