Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/582

 544 Readings in European History Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria Theresa; Curator of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Fine Arts; Chamberlain and Active Privy Councilor of his Majesty the emperor of Austria and king of Hungary and Bohemia ; his Majesty's Minister of State and of Conferences, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs and first plenipotentiary at the Congress, — and the Sieur John Philip, baron of Wessen- berg; Grand Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Mauritius and St. Lazarus, and of the Royal Order of the Crown of Bavaria, etc.; Chamberlain and Active Privy Councilor of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and his Majesty's second plenipotentiary at the Congress. His Royal Majesty of Prussia ; the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State. 1 . . . General Provisions Article I. The sovereign princes and free towns of Germany, including their Majesties the emperor of Austria and the kings of Prussia, of Denmark, and of the Nether- lands ; to wit, the emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia, for all of their possessions formerly belonging to the German empire 2 ; the king of Denmark for Holstein ; and the king of the Netherlands for the grand duchy of Luxemburg, — unite in a perpetual union which shall be called the German Confederation. II. The aim of the same shall be the maintenance of the external and internal safety of Germany and of the independence and inviolability of the individual German states. III. All members of the union have, as such, equal rights. They all engage alike to maintain inviolate the Act of Confederation. 1 It has not been deemed necessary to give the names of all the plenipotentiaries. All the states enumerated in Article IV were repre- sented at the Congress. 2 I.e. the Holy Roman Empire.