Final Act of the Congress of Vienna/Acceptance of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation

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Acceptance of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation, signed at Zurich, 27 May.^[1]
The plenipotentiaries of the high powers who signed the treaty

Acceptance of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation

Act XII

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The Treaty was drawn up in French as specified in the Article CXX of the General Treaty of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, as it was the lingua franca of diplomacy at the time. This translation was laid before the British Parliament on 2 February 1816, with some additional formatting from the French original.

4663263Acceptance of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation, signed at Zurich, 27 May.^[1] — Acceptance of the Diet of the Swiss ConfederationThe plenipotentiaries of the high powers who signed the treaty

The Diet of the Swiss Confederation, at its special sitting held at Zurich.

Having received in its sitting of the 3d of April 1815, through the mediation of the Ministers accredited to the Confederation;

Viz. M. de Schraut, Austrian Minister, in the name of his Imperial and Royal Apostolick Majesty, as also by virtue of special powers, of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal;

M. Stratford Canning, accredited on the part of his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;

The Count Augustus Talleyrand, on the part of his Most Christian Majesty the King of France, as also by virtue of special powers, of his Majesty the King of Spain and of the Indies;

The Baron Chambrier d'Olleyres, in the name of his Majesty the King of Prussia;

The Baron Krudener, Charge d'Affaires of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia;

The Declaration relative to the affairs of Switzerland, inserted in the Protocol of the Congress of Vienna the 19th, and signed the 20th of March 1815, by the Plenipotentiaries of the eight Powers who were parties to the Treaty of Paris of the 30th May 1814;

Hastened to communicate this Act to the nineteen confederated cantons, inviting them to give their sanction to the Diet's declaring, in due and proper form, the general accession of Switzerland to the arrangements contained in the said instrument.

The chief authorities of each canton, having maturely considered the object of this communication, and having successively made known to the Federal authority their final determination;

The Diet of the Swiss Confederation,

In pursuance of the acts deposited in their archives, and of the declarations inserted in their Proctocol, by which it appears that a number of cantons, exceeding that which the federal union prescribes, for the acceptance of the most important resolutions of the Helvetic body, have declared their consent thereto; which, according to the terms of the Constitution, becomes thereby that of the whole Confederation;

Have adopted the following Resolutions;

The Diet accedes, in the name of the Swiss Confederation, to the declaration of the powers assembled at the Congress of Vienna, under date of the 20th March 1815, and promises that the stipulations contained in the "Transaction" inserted in this Act, shall be faithfully and religiously observed.
The Diet expresses the eternal gratitude of the Swiss nation, towards the High Powers, who, by the above declaration, assign to them, with a boundary far more advantageous, its ancient important frontiers; unite three new cantons to the Confederation, and promise solemnly to acknowledge and guarantee the perpetual neutrality of the Helvetic Body, as being necessary to the general interest of Europe. The Diet feels the same sentiments of gratitude for the uniform kindness with which the august Sovereigns have exerted themselves in bringing about a reconciliation of the differences which had arisen between the cantons.
In pursuance of the present Act of Accession, and of the Note addressed to the Swiss Envoys at Vienna, the 20th March 1815, by Prince Metternich, President of the Conferences of the eight Powers, the Diet declares its wish that the Ministers of their Majesties, residing in Switzerland, would, in pursuance of the instructions which they have received, and of the powers with which they have been invested, give effect to the dispositions of the declarations of the 20th March, and carry into execution the engagements therein contained.

In faith of which the present Act has been signed and sealed, at Zurich, the 27th May 1815.

In the name of the Diet of the Swiss Confederation,

The Burgomaster of the Canton of Zurich, President,

(L. S) Signed. De Wyss, the Chancellor of the Confederation of Switzerland.

Signed. Mousson.

Notes

↑ Hansard (1816)

References

British Foreign Office British and Foreign State Papers. 1814—1815 Volume II. Compiled by the librarian and keeper of the papers, Foreign Office-London: James Rigway and Sons, Piccadilly, H.M.S.O., 1839. pp. 147-149. Original French. The additional formatting of this treaty from this document.
Hansard, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ..., Volume 32. 1 February to 6 March 1816, T.C. Hansard, 1816. pp. pp. 187-188. The translation is from this document.

[1] Hansard (1816)

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