| After the fatal battle of Austerlitz, an armistice
was concluded between Napoleon and the Emperor of Austria, which led to
a peace between these two powers, the principal articles were :- The Emperor
of Germany and Austria acknowledged the Emperor of the French as king of
Italy; but it was agreed, that in conformity with the declaration of Napoleon
when he took the crown of Italy, that as soon as the parties named in that
declaration had fulfilled the conditions therein expressed, the imperial
and regal crowns of France and Italy should be for ever separated, and,
in no case, united on the same head. On this condition, the Emperor of Germany
and Austria bound himself to acknowledge, on the separation, the successor
which the Emperor of France should appoint as king of Italy. |
| The Emperor of Austria also ceded to the Emperor of
France and king of Italy, the city of Venice, and all the Venetian territory
in Istria and Dalmatia, with the islands in the Adriatic, &c. to be
united in perpetuity to the Italian kingdom. He also acknowledged the electors
of Wirtemberg and Bavaria, as kings of Wirtemberg and Bavaria, titles which
they had assumed under the sanction and protection of the Emperor of France,
and ceded to them and to the elector of Baden, in full and perpetual sovereignty,
certain principalities, domains, and territories, specified in the treaty.
On these conditions, the Emperor of the French guaranteed the integrity
of the Austrian Empire in the state in which it was to be placed in consequence
of the treaty of peace. The high contracting powers also acknowledged the
independence of the Batavian and Helvetic Republics. These articles were
adjusted at an interview which the Archduke Charles of Austria had with
the French Emperor. The treaty was signed at Presburg, the capital of Hungary,
by M. Talleyrand on the part of France, and Prince John of Lichtenstein
on the part of Austria, December 26th, 1805, and was ratified on the following
day, at the imperial palace of Schoenbrunn. Thus, the finishing blow was
given to Austrian greatness: and Germany was laid at the feet of France. |
