Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine

Whereas, his majesty the emperor of the French, and their majesties the kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, their electoral highnesses the arch-chancellor and the elector Baden, his imperial highness the duke of Berg, and their royal highnesses the landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, the princes of Nassau Weilbourg, and Nassau Usingen, of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, and Hohenzollern Siegmaringen, Salm-Salm, and Salm Kyrburg, Isenburg Birstein, and Lichtenstein, the duke of Ahremberg, and the count of Leyden, being desirous to secure, through proper stipulations, the internal and external peace of southern Germany, which, as experience for a long period and recently has shown, can derive no kind of guarantee from the existing German constitution, have appointed to be their plenipotentiaries to this effect, namely, his majesty the emperor of the French, Ch. Maurice Talleyrand, duke of Benevento, minister of his foreign affairs; his majesty the king of Bavaria, his minister plenipotentiary, A. Von Cetto; his majesty the king of Wirtemberg, his state minister the count of Wintzingerode; the elector arch-chancellor, his ambassader extraordinary, the count of Beust; the elector of Baden, his cabinet minister the baron of Reitzenstein; his imperial highness the duke of Berg, baron Von Schele; the landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, his ambassador extraordinary, baron Von Pappenheim; the princes of Nassau Weilburg, and Usingen, baron Von Gagern; the princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Siegmaringen, major Von Fischer; the prince of Isenburg Birstein, his privy counsellor, M. Von Gretzen; the duke of Ahsemberg, and the count of Leyden, Mr. Durand St. Andre; who have agreed upon the following articles.

Article I
The states of the contracting parties, enumerated as in the preamble, shall be for ever separated from the Germanic body, and united by a particular confederation, under the designation of "The Confederated States of the Empire."

II
All the laws of the empire, by which they have been hitherto bound, shall be in future null and without force, with the exception of the statutes relative to debts determined in the recess of the deputation of 1803, and in the paragraph upon the navigation to be funded upon the shipping tolls, which statutes shall remain in full vigour and execution.

III
Each of the contracting princes renounces such of his titles as refer to his connection with the German empire, and they will on the 1st of August declare their entire separation from it.

IV
The elector arch-chancellor shall take the title of prince primate and most eminent highness, which title shall convey no prerogative derogatory to the entire sovereignty which every one of the contracting princes shall enjoy.

V
The elector of Baden, the duke of Berg, and the landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt shall take the titles of grand dukes, and enjoy the rights, honours, and prerogatives belonging to the kingly dignity. Their rank and precedence shall be in the same order as they are mentioned in article I. The chief of the houses of Nassau shall take the title of duke, and the count of Leyden that of prince.

VI
The affairs of the confederation shall be discussed in a congress of the union, whose place of sitting shall be in Frankfort, and the congress shall be divided into two colleges, the kings and the princes.

VII
The members of the league must be independent of every foreign power. They cannot in any wise enter into any other service but that of the states of the confederation and its allies. Those who have been hitherto in the service of a foreign power, and chuse to adhere to it, shall abdicate their principality in favour of one of their children.

VIII
Should any of the said princes be disposed to alienate the whole or any part of his sovereignty, he can only do it in favour of the confederates.

IX
All disputes which may arise among the members of the league shall be settled in the assembly at Frankfort.

X
In this the prince primate shall preside, and when it shall happen that the two colleges have to deliberate upon any subject, he shall then preside in the college of kings, and the duke of Nassau in that of the princes.

XI
The time when the congress of the league, or either of the colleges shall have particularly to assemble, the manner of the convocation, the subjects upon which they may have to deliberate, the manner of forming their conclusions, and putting them in execution, shall be determined in a fundamental statute, which the prince primate shall give in proposition, within a month after the notification presented at Ratisbon. This statute shall be approved of by the confederated states; this statute shall also regulate the respective rank of the members of the college of princes.

XII
The emperor shall be proclaimed protector of the confederation. On the demise of the primate he shall, in such quality, as often name the successor.

XIII
His majesty the king of Bavaria cedes to the king of Wirtemberg the lordship of Wisensteig, and renounces the rights which he might have upon Weiblingen, on account of Burgau.

XIV
His majesty the king of Wirtemberg makes over to the grand duke of Berg the county of Bondorff, Breunlingen, and Villingen, the part of the territory of the latter city which lies on the right bank of the Brignetz, and the city of Tuttlingen, with the manor of the same name belonging to it, on the right bank of the Danube.

XV
The grand duke of Baden cedes to the king of Wirtemberg the city and territory of Bieberach, with their dependencies.

XVI
The duke of Nassau cedes to the grand duke of Berg the city of Deutz and its territory.

XVII
His majesty the king of Bavaria shall unite to his states the city and territory of Nuremberg, and the Teutonic comitials of Rohr and Waldstetten.

XVIII
His majesty the king of Wirtemberg shall receive the lordship of Witsensteig, the city and territory of Bieberach, with their dependencies, the cities of Waldsee and Schettingen, the comitial lands of Karpfenburg, Laucheim, and Alschhausen, with the exception of the lordship of Hohenfeld and the abbey of Weiblingen.

XIX
The grand duke of Baden shall receive the lordship of Bondorff, the cities of Vrenlingen, Villingen, and Tuttlingen, the parts of their territory which are given to him in article XIV, and along with these the comitials of Bolten and Freyburg.

XX
The grand duke of Berg shall receive the city and territory of Deutz, the city and manor of Koningswinter, and the manor of Wistick, as ceded by the duke of Nassau.

XXI
The grand duke of Darmstadt shall unite to his states the burgraviat of Friedberg, taking to himself the sovereignty only during the life-time of the present possessor, and the whole at his death.

XXII
The prince primate shall take possession of the city of Frankfort on the Maine, and its territory, as his sovereign property.

XXIII
The prince of Hohenzollern Siegmaringen shall receive, as his sovereign property, the lordships of Aschberg and Hohenfels depending on the comitial of Alschaufen, the convents of Klosterwald and Haltzthal, and the sovereignty over the imperial equestrian estates that lie in his dominions, and in the territory to the north of the Danube, wherever his sovereignty extends, namely, the lordships of Gamardingen and Hottingen.

XXIV
The members of the confederation shall exercise all the rights of sovereignty henceforward as follow:

His majesty the king of Bavaria, over the principality of Schwartzenberg, the county of Castell, the lordships of Speinfeld and Wissenheid, the dependencies of the principality of Hohenlohe, which are included in the margraviate of Anspach, and the territory of Rothenburg, namely, the great manors of Schillingsfust and Kirchberg, the county of Sternstein, the principality of Oettingen, the possessions of the prince of La Tour to the north of the principality of Neuburg, the county of Edelstetten, the possessions of the prince and of the count of Fugger, the burgraviat of Winterrieden; lastly, the lordships of Buxheim and Tannhausen, and over the entire of the highway from Memmingen to Lindau.

His majesty the king of Wirtemberg, over the possessions of the prince and count of Tronchess Waldburgh, the counties of Baindt, Egloff Guttenzell, Hechbach, Ysuy, Koenigsek, Aulendorff, Ochsenhausen, Roth, Schussenried, and Wissenau, the lordships of Mietingen and Sunningen, New Ravensburg Thanuheim, Warthausen and Weingarten, with the exception of the lordship of Hagenau; the possessions of the prince of Thurn, with the exception of those not mentioned above; the lordship of Strassberg and manor of Oztraiz, the lordships of Gundelfingen and Neussen, the parts of the county of Limburg Gaildorf, which his majesty does not possess, all the unalienated possessions of the princess of Hohenlohe, and over a part of the manor formerly belonging to Mentz, Krautheim, on the left bank of the Jaxt.

The grand duke of Baden over the principality of Feurstenberg (with the exception of the lordships of Gundelfingen and Neussen); also over Trochtelfingen, Jungenau, and the part of the manor of Moeskirch, which lies on the left bank of the Danube, over the lordship of Hagenau, county of Thuengen, Landgraviat Klettgau, manors Neidenau and Billigheim, principality of Leiningen, the possessions of Lowenstein Wertheim, upon the left bank of the Maine, except the county of Lowenstein, and the lordships of Haibach, Bronnberg, and Habitzheim; and, lastly, over the possessions of the princes of Salm-Reiferscheid-Krautheim, to the north of the Jaxt.

The grand duke of Berg, over the lordships of Limburg- Styrum, Brugg, Hardenberg, Gimhorn, and Neustadt, Wildenberg; the counties of Hontburg, Bentheim, Steinfurt, and Horstmarn, the possessions of the duke of Looz, the counties of Siegen, Dillenburg (the manors of Werheim and Burgach excepted,) over Stadamar, the lordships Westerburg, Schadeck, and Beilstein, and the property so called, part of Runkel on the right bank of the Lahn. In order to establish a communication between Cleves and the abovenamed possessions, the grand duke shall have a free passage through the states of the prince of Salm.

His highness the grand duke of Darmstadt over the lordships of Breuberg, Haibach, the manor of Habizheim, county of Erbach, lordship of Illenstadt, a part of the county of Konigsheim, which is possessed by the prince of Stollberg Gedern; over the possessions of the baron of Riedesel, that are included in, or lie contiguous to, his states, namely, the jurisdictions of Lauserbach, Stockhausen, Mort, and Trueastern, the possessions of the princes and counts of Solms, in Wetterau, exclusive of the manors of Hohen-Solms, Braussels, and Greifenstein; lastly, the counties Wittgenstein and Berleburg, and the manor of Hessen-Homburg, which is in possession of the line of that name.

His most serene eminence the prince primate over the possessions of the princes and counts of Lowenstein Wertheim, on the right bank of the Maine, and over the county of Rheineck.

Nassau Usingen, and Nassau Wellburg over the manors of Diersdorf, Altenwied, Neursburgh, and the part of the county of Bassenburgh which belongs to the prince of Wied-Runkel, over the counties of Neuwied and Holzapfel, the lordship of Schomberg, the county of Diez and its dependencies, over that part of the village of Metzfelden, which appertains to the prince of Nassau-Pulda, the manors of Werheim and Balbuch, that part of the lordship of Runkel situate on the left bank of the Lahn, over the knightdoms of Kransberg, and lastly over the manors of Solms Braunsels, Hohen Solms, and Greifenstein.

The prince of Hohenzollern-Siegmaringen over Trochtelfingen, Jungenan, Strasbergh, manor Ostrach, and the part of the lordship of Moeskirch which lies on the left bank of the Danube.

Salm Kyrburg over the lordship of Gehmen.

Isenburg-Burstein, over the possessions of the count of Isenburg Budingen, Wechtersbach, and Mehrholz, without any pretensions on the part of the branch in the present possession being urged against him.

Ahrenberg over the county of Dulmen.

XXV
The members of the confederation shall take the sovereignty of the imperial knightdoms included within their boundaries. Such of these lands as lie between the states of two of the confederates shall be, with respect to the sovereignty, partitioned as exactly as possible between them, that no misunderstanding with respect to the sovereignty may arise.

XXVI
The rights of sovereignty consist in exercising the legislation, superior jurisdiction, administration of justice, military conscription, or recruiting, and levying taxes.

XXVII
The present reigning princes or counts shall enjoy as patrimonial or private property all the domains they at present occupy, as well as all the rights of manor and entail that do not essentially appertain to the sovereignty, namely, the right of superior and inferior administration of justice in common and criminal cases, tenths, patronage, and other rights, with the revenues therefrom accruing. Their domains and chattels, as far as relates to the taxes, shall be annexed to the prince of that house under whose sovereignty they come, or, if no prince of the house be in possession of immoveable property, in that case they shall be put upon an equality with the domains of princes of the most privileged class. Those domains cannot be sold or given to any prince out of the confederation, without being first offered to the prince under whose sovereignty they are placed.

XXVIII
In penal cases, the now reigning princes and counts, and their heirs, shall preserve their present privileges of trial. They shall be tried by their peers. Their fortune shall not, in any event, be confiscated; but the revenues may, during the life-time of the criminal, be sequestrated.

XXIX
The confederate states shall contribute to the payment of the debts of their circle as well for their old as their new possessions. The debts of the circle of Suabia shall be put to the account of the kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, the grand duke of Baden, the princes of Hohenzollern, Hechingen, and Siegmaringen, the prince of Lichtenstein, and prince of Leyen, in proportion to their respective possessions in Suabia.

XXX
The proper debts of a prince or count who falls under the sovereignty of another state, shall be defrayed by the said state conjointly with the now reigning prince, in the proportion of the revenues which the state shall require, and of the part which by the present treaty is allotted to attach to the attributes of the present sovereigns.

XXXI
The present reigning princes or counts may determine the place of their residence where they will. Where they reside in the dominions of a member or ally of the confederation, or in any of the possessions which they hold out of the territory of the confederation, they may draw their rents or capitals without paying any tax whatever on them.

XXXII
Those persons who hold places in the administration of the countries which hereby come under the sovereignty of the confederates, and who shall not be retained by the new sovereign, shall receive a pension according to the situation they have held.

XXXIII
The members of military or religious orders who shall lose their incomes, or whose common property shall be secularized, shall receive during life a yearly stipend proportioned to their former income, their dignity, and their age, and which shall be secured upon the goods of the revenues of which they were in the enjoyment.

XXXIV
The confederates renounce reciprocally, for themselves and for their posterity, all claims which they might have upon the possessions of other members of the confederation, the eventual right of succession alone excepted, and this only in the event of the family having died out, which now is in possession of the territories, and objects to which such a right might be advanced.

XXXV
Between the emperor of the French and the confederated states, federatively and individually, there shall be an alliance, by virtue of which every continental war, in which one or either parties shall be engaged, shall be common to all.

XXXVI
In the event of any foreign or neighbouring power making preparations for war, the contracting parties, in order to prevent surprise, shall, upon the requisition of the minister of one of them at the assembly of the league in Frankfort, arm also. And as the contingent of the allies is subdivided into four parts, the assembly shall decide how many of those shall be called into activity. The armament, however, shall only take place upon the summons of the emperor to each of the contracting parties.

XXXVII
His majesty the king of Bavaria binds himself to fortify Augsburg and Lindau; in the first of these places to form and maintain artillery establishments, and in the second to keep a quantity of muskets and ammunition sufficient for a reserve, as well as a baking establishment at Augsburg, sufficient to supply the armies without delay in the event of war.

XXXVIII
The contingent of each is determined as follows:

XXXIX
The contracting parties will admit of the accession of other German princes and states, in all cases where their union with the confederation may be found consistent with the general interest.

XL
The ratification of the present treaty shall be exchanged between the contracting parties, on the 25th July, at Munich.

Done at Paris, July 12, 1806.