070 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



citizens will be maintained. They will be permitted 

 to retain their real estate, situated in the districts 

 which have been united with Germany. No inhab- 

 itant of the ceded districts can be prosecuted, dis- 

 turbed, or indicted, in regard to his person or pos- 

 sessions, on the ground of his political or military 

 actions during the war. 



ART. III. The French Government will deliver to 

 the German Government the archives, documents, 

 and records, which refer to the civil, military, or ju- 

 dicial administration of the ceded districts. If parts 

 of these legal documents should be removed, the 

 French Government will procure them again at the 

 demand of the German Government. 



ART. IV. The French Government will, within 

 the space of six months, reckoned from the exchange 

 of the ratification of this treaty, deliver to the Gov- 

 ernment of the German Empire : 



1. The amount of the sums deposited by the de- 

 partments, communities, and public institutions of 

 the ceded districts. 



2. The amount of the enlisting and substitution 

 bounties, belonging to the native soldiers and sailors 

 of the ceded districts, who have decided for the Ger- 

 man nationality. 



3. The amount of the securities of the officers of 

 finance of the state. 



4. The amount of the sums of money paid in, in 

 the ceded districts, for judicial consignment in con- 

 sequence of measures taken by the administrative or 

 judicial authorities. 



ART. V. Both nations shall be on an equal foot- 

 ing as to navigation on the Moselle, on the Rhine- 

 Marne, Rhine-Rhone, and Saar Canals, and the 

 navigable waters forming a connection with these 

 water passages. The right to float will be re- 

 tained. 



ART. VI. Since t'.ie high, contracting powers are of 

 opinion that the diocesan boundaries of the districts 

 ceded to the German Empire must coincide with the 

 new boundary determined by the above Article I., 

 they will, immediately after the ratification of the 

 present treaty, come to an understanding in regard 

 to the measures to be taken in common for this pur- 

 pose. 



Those settled congregations, belonging to the Re- 

 formed Church or the Augsburg Confession in the 

 territories ceded from France, will cease to be de- 

 pendent on the French ecclesiastical authority. 



Those settled congregations on French territory, 

 belonging to the Church of the Augsburg Confes- 

 sion, will cease to be dependent on the High Consis- 

 tory or the Director in Strasbourg. 



The Jewish congregations in the territories east 

 of the new boundary will cease to be dependent on 

 the Jewish Central Consistory at Paris. 



ART. VII. The payment of five hundred millions 

 shall_ ensue within the thirty days following the res- 

 toration of the authority of the French Government 

 in the city of Paris. One thousand millions shall be 

 paid during the current year, and five hundred mill- 

 ions on May 1, 1872. The last three thousand mill- 

 ions remain payable on May 2, 1874, as was stipu- 

 lated by the preliminary treaty of peace. From 

 March 2d of the current year, interest will be paid 

 on these three thousand million francs every year on 

 the third day of March, at five per cent, a year. 



Every sum of the three thousand millions paid in 

 advance will cease to bear interest from the day of 

 the payment rendered. 



All payments can be made only in the prin- 

 cipal commercial cities of Germany, and will be ren- 

 dered in metal, gold or silver, in notes on the Bank 

 of England, in notes on the Bank of Prussia, in 

 notes on the Royal Bank of the Netherlands, in notes 

 on the National Bank of Belgium, in bills of ex- 

 change upon order or discountable bills of exchange 

 of the first rank. Since the German Government 

 has fixed the value of the Prussian thaler in France 

 at three francs seventy-five centimes, the French 



Government will accept the exchanging of the coin 

 (Muenzen) of both countries at the above-designated 

 rate. The French Government will apprize the 

 German Government, three months beforehand, of 

 every payment which it intends rendering to the 

 Treasury of the German Empire. 



After payment of the first five hundred millions, 

 and the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace, 

 the Departments Somme, Seine-Inferieure, and Eure, 

 will be evacuated, so far as they are still occupied by 

 German troops. The evacuation of the Depart- 

 ments Oise, Seine-et-Oise, Seine-et-Marne, and 

 Seine, as well as the forts of Paris, will take place as 

 soon as the German Government shall judsre the res- 

 toration of order, as well in France as in Paris, suf- 

 ficient to secure the execution of the obligations as- 

 sumed by France. This evacuation will take place, 

 under all circumstances, upon the payment of the 

 third five hundred millions. 



The German troops retain, for the sake of their 

 security, the disposition of the neutral territory be- 

 tween the German line of demarcation and the cir- 

 cumvallation of Paris, on the right bank of the 

 Seine. 



The stipulations of the treaty of February 2Cth, 

 relative to the occupation of French territory after 

 payment of two thousand millions, remain in force. 

 From the payment of the first five hundred millions, 

 no deductions can be made to which the French Gov- 

 ernment could be entitled. 



ART. VIII. The German troops will continue to re- 

 frain from requisitions, in natura and money, in the 

 districts occupied by them ; but this obligation on 

 their side, stands in mutual reference to the obliga- 

 tions assumed by the French Republic to maintain 

 them ; in case that, in spite of repeated demands 

 from the German Government, the French Govern- 

 ment should be backward in the execution of the 

 obligations mentioned, the German troops shall have 

 the right to obtain the necessaries for their exist- 

 ence, by the collection of taxes and requisitions 

 in the departments occupied by them; and even 

 abroad, if the latter should not be able to furnish 

 them. 



In reference to the maintenance of the German 

 troops, the regulations now in force will be retained 

 until the evacution of the forts of Paris. 



By virtue of the Treaty of Ferrieres of March 11, 

 1871, the reductions specified by this treaty shall be 

 made after evacuation of the forts. 



As soon as the effective force of the German army 

 shall have sunk below the number of 50,000 men, 

 the reductions made in the number will be brought 

 into account, in order to establish a proportionate 

 diminution of the costs of maintenance paid by the 

 French Government for the troops. 



ART. IX. The special treatment granted at pres- 

 ent to the industrial productions in the ceded dis- 

 tricts for importation into France will be maintained 

 for a period of six months, reckoned from the first 

 day of March, under the conditions agreed upon 

 with the delegates from Alsace. 



ART. X. The German Government will continue al- 

 lowing the prisoners of war to return, in conform- 

 ity with an agreement to be made with the French 

 Government. The French Government will send to 

 their respective homes those prisoners who can be 

 discharged. Those who have not vet accomplished 

 their time of service must withdraw behind the 

 Loire. It is agreed that the army of Paris and of 

 Versailles, after the restoration or the authority of 

 the French Government in Paris, and until the evacu- 

 ation of the forts on the part or the German troops, 

 shall not exceed 80,000 men. Until this evacuation, 

 the French Government can undertake no concentra- 

 tion of its troops on the right bank of the Loire ; still 

 it will station the regular garrisons in the cities situ- 

 ated in this territory, according to the ^needs for 

 the maintenance of order, and ot the public quiet. 



In proportion to the progress of the evacuation, 



