Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

neither Switzerland nor the Powers of Europe could consider such an arrangement as affording to the integrity and neutrality of the Swiss Confederation that security which the above-mentioned stipulations of the Treaty of Vienna are calculated to afford: and Her Majesty's Government contend that it is not competent for France and Sardinia, by any compact between them, and with out the consent of the other States of Europe, so materially to impair, as the proposed cession of Savoy would do, an element of security which a great European compact has provided for a State whose independence is an object of European concern.

Nor can it be for the well-understood interest of France herself to break down the barriers by which the neutrality of Switzerland is secured. It must surely be acknowledged that the neutrality of Belgium at the northern, and of Switzerland at the southern extremity of the eastern frontier of France, is of advantage to her, as well as to Europe. The neutrality of those two States narrows the line of frontier along which hostilities between France and Germany can take place, and, adding to the security of both, it tends to give stability to the general peace. M. Thouvenel alleges that the proposed cession of Savoy and the County of Nice to France raises no question incompatible with the best-established and most rigorous rules of public law. He points to similarity of character, of language, of habits; to the geographical configuration and to commercial intercourse, as having prepared and adapted the people of those countries for annexation

to France; and he says that the Alps ought to be the line of separation between France and Italy, and that thus the new boundary which it is proposed to establish between France and Piedmont finds its sanction in the force of things. This statement, indeed, opens a wide field for conjecture as to the future, and though it is immediately followed by the somewhat inconsistent assurance that it is not upon the ground of ideas of nationality, nor upon that of natural frontiers, that the cession of Savoy and of Nice is demanded, those arguments cannot fail to give rise to the most serious reflections. Her Majesty's Government, then, would beg to submit that no case has been made out to justify this cession on the ground of necessary defence for France, and that this cession would most unjustly, and in violation of Treaty engagements, materially weaken a defensive arrangement which united Europe has provided as a security for the neutrality and integrity of Switzerland.

Great Britain has no direct interest of her own in this matter, and it is from no unfriendly feeling towards France that her remonstrances on this subject have proceeded. Her Majesty's Government, indeed, are deeply impressed with the conviction that any territorial advantage which France might gain by the proposed annexation would be far more than counterbalanced by the distrust with which it would inspire the other States and Powers of Europe.

The calamities which overspread by turns almost every part of the Continent of Europe during the closing years of the last and

[blocks in formation]

M. le Comte,-I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of the despatch from Lord John Russell, which Earl Cowley has been instructed to communicate to me officially, and which contains the reply of the Government of Her Britannnic Majesty to the statement of the Govern ment of the Emperor, concerning the annexation of Savoy and the Arrondissement of Nice to France. I cannot but experience a very lively feeling of regret that I have not succeeded, as I desired, in modifying an opinion which was already known to me through the previous communications of the English Ambassador; but the prolongation of any discussion on this subject would have no practical result, and I prefer, rather than provoke a fresh ex

change of explanations equally painful to both countries, to confine myself to asserting that Lord John Russell's despatch has not the character of a protest. In a word, the Government of Her Britannic Majesty declares that it does not share the opinion of the Government of the Emperor: but this divergence does not constitute an opposition of a nature to affect the relations of the Cabinets of Paris and London. I am sincerely pleased at this, M. le Comte; and there are only two points in Lord John Russell's argument which I wish to examine summarily, so as to leave in the mind of Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State neither a misunderstanding nor a doubt as to our intentions. I believed that I had established that the Emperor, in making use in his Speech to the Great Bodies of the State of the word "revendication," had never had an idea of referring to any diplomatic act, or to any circumstance of other times. The explanations which I have given on this subject to His Majesty's representatives at the German Courts have been everywhere considered as satisfactory as possible, and I had requested you to transmit to Lord John Russell a copy of the despatch which contains them. I renew these explanations to day with the confidence that, on examining them closer, Her Britannic Majesty's Government will not receive them less favourably than the Powers to whom they were more especially addressed.

As for the neutrality of Switzerland, M. le Comte, which Lord John Russell considers to be menaced by the annexation of Savoy to the territory of the Em

pire, I will content myself with remarking to you that France attaches the greatest interest to preserving it from any injury. The Emperor's Government, therefore, has not hesitated, in order to prove the sincerity of its dispositions in this respect, to insert in the Treaty which it has just concluded at Turin a clause in these terms :—

"It is understood that His Majesty the King of Sardinia cannot transfer the neutralized portions of Savoy, except on the conditions upon which he himself possesses them, and that it will appertain to His Majesty the Emperor of the French to come to an understanding on this subjeet, both with the Powers represented at the Congress of Vienna and with the Swiss Confederation, and to give them the guaran. tees required by the stipulations referred to in this Article."

It appears to me that all apprehensions should disappear in face of this spontaneous engagement, and that henceforth Her Britannic Majesty's Government, certain of having the opportunity of discussing the guarantees which shall, in pursuance of an European agreement, be judged to be best fitted to realize, in their relations with the permanent neutrality of Switzerland, the object of the stipulations relative to the contingent neutralization of a part of Savoy, has no reason to fear that this interest, the importance of which we have thus recognized, will not be settled in a satisfactory manner.

You are authorized to read this despatch to Lord John Russell, and to give him a copy of it. Receive, &c. (Signed) THOUVENEL.

(ITALIAN PAPERS, PART VI.)

No. 8.-M. Thouvenel to M. Tillos. -(Communicated to Lord J, Russell by by Count Persigny, March 20.)

Paris, March 17, 1860. (Translation.)

Sir, M. Kern has forwarded to me the note, copy of which I have the honour to transmit to you herewith, and the object of which is, as you will see, to protest, in the name of his Government, against the annexation to France of the districts of Savoy subjected contingently to neutralization in virtue of the Treaties of 1815.

This step could not fail to cause profound surprise to the Government of the Emperor. His Majesty has, on several occasions, given to Switzerland proofs of interest and friendship which ought to have determined the Federal Council to place its confidence in the justice of France. It has preferred to protest; I cannot, therefore, dispense with the necessity of replying to the communication which it has forwarded to us. Is its protest founded on right, or on fact? Such are the questions which it behoves us to examine and resolve in order to appreciate the character and the value of the resolution taken by the Swiss Government.

In principle, sovereignty implies essentially the right of alienation: a Sovereign may, whatever may be the motives which influence him to do so, cede all, part of, his States, and no one would be authorized in opposing it unless there were to result from it a disturbance of the balance

or

and distribution of power in Europe. His Majesty the King of Sardinia is, therefore, free, within the bounds of his prerogatives, to renounce the possession of Savoy in favour of France. This primary point could not be contested, and is not capable, in strict right, of being the object of any doubt, or of raising any legal difficulty.

In point of fact, however, the exercise of the sovereign right, in the matter of cession, may be subjected, by international stipulations, to conventional restrictions, and it is thus that the Federal Council thinks that it may rely upon a Convention of 1564, and the Treaties of 1815, in pretending that Sardinia cannot dispossess herself of Savoy without disregarding her engagements.

The discussion is consequently reduced to ascertaining in what degree the Sardinian Government is bound by the documents to which I have just alluded.

The Convention of 1564, exclusively concluded between the Seigneurs of Berne and the Duke of Savoy, had for its object a partition and delimitations which more recent events have several times modified without complaint on the part of Switzerland: it referred to a situation and contingencies which have no analogy with the present state of possession; it became, therefore, extinct from the very force of things: and so true is this that no mention was made of it in the Acts of 1813, in which, however, care was taken to refer to the previous Conventions remaining or maintained in force, especially to that of 1754. There remain, therefore, the Treaties of Vienna. What do they stipulate,

and how did the Plenipotentiaries come to an agreement upon the clauses which concern the contingent neutralization of a part of Savoy? It behoves us, in order to define the character and bearing of these clauses, to refer here to the negotiations to which they gave rise. Switzerland solicited, at the Congress of Vienna, as necessary for the defence of the southern frontier, the cession of various territories which were likewise claimed by the Envoys of the King of Sardinia. The Sardinian Plenipotentiaries, after long discussions, consented to the demand of the Swiss Confederation, making, however, their consent dependent on a combination conceived in the interest of Piedmont, and which they initiated; this combination is precisely that one, the effect of which was to extend, in certain cases, the guarantees of the neutrality to the northern part of Savoy, "The Undersigned," declared M. de St. Marsan, in his Memorandum of March 26, "is authorized to consent, in favour of the Canton of Geneva, to the cession of the territory on the following conditions:-that the Provinces of Chablais and Faucigny be comprised in the neutrality of Switzerland; that the Sardinian troops may be able to retire by the route of the Valais; that no armed troops of any Power may stay in or pass through these provinces, with the exception of those which the Swiss Confederation may consider it advisable to place there."

This arrangement thus had for its object to cover a portion of Savoy, and Switzerland, by her acquiescence, took on herself the obligation of ensuring the execution of it, by engaging on the

one hand, to give passage to the Sardinian forces to re-enter Piedmont; on the other, to place at need Federal troops in the neutralized country. The engage ment accepted by the Confederation was the price of a territorial cession made to the Canton of Geneva; the contingent neutralization of Chablais and Faucigny, a guarantee stipulated for to the profit of Sardinia, and the compensation for a sacrifice. This neutralization, therefore, was not originally designed with the view of protecting the Swiss frontier, which an impassable barrier sufficiently protected, namely, the neutrality proclaimed by the common agreement of the Powers; it was, on the contrary, imposed as a charge upon Switzerland, which she accepted as a burden. How, then, could the Swiss Confederation be justified in invoking the Acts of 1815, that they might resist the cession of Savoy to France? The Federal Council might pretend that, as this cession modified the terms of the contract, it was open to it to consider itself exonerated, as regards Sardinia, from the obligation of watching over the maintenance of the neutrality of Chablais and Faucigny; but it would be unintelligible that it could take advantage of it to contest the right of Piedmont to dispose of this province, and to affirm that the securities guaranteed to the Confederation are affected by it.

Does not the position of Switzerland, such as it appears to be from the narrative of the negotiations, establish that the Federal Council is interfering, without legitimate reasons, in the arrangements which the Government of the Emperor and that of King

Victor Emanuel propose to conclude?

I admit, Sir, however, that it may be well to examine how the stipulations of 1815, on this special point, are connected with the general combinations arranged by common agreement, at that time, between the Powers who signed the Treaty of Vienna, with the view of ensuring the neutrality of the Swiss Confederation. But this is a question on which the Government of the Emperor must treat with these same Powers; and I do not hesitate to say that we are disposed to adopt the measures suggested either by the general interest, or specially by the interest of Switzerland.

You will, Sir, be good enough to read this despatch to the President of the Federal Council, and to give him a copy of it. Receive, &c., (Signed) THOUVENEL.

No. 17.-M. Thouvenel to Count Persigny. (Communicated to Lord J. Russell by Count Persigny, March 22.) (Translation.)

Paris, March 19, 1860.

M. le Comte,-In the despatch No. 28 which you have done me the honour to address to me, you inform me that you have forwarded to Lord J. Russell the communication from the Government of the Emperor, dated the 13th instant, relative to Savoy and the County of Nice; and you add that Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State has reserved to himself to take the opinion of the Cabinet before communicating to us the reply of the English Govern

« EdellinenJatka »