IMPORTANT TREATIES The Treaty of Vienna, June 9, 1815.
Second Treaty of Paris, November 20, 1815, Signed by Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, France at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.
France gave up certain fortresses on the frontier but retained Alsace-Lorraine. Payment of 70o million francs was exacted from France. The greater part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw fell to Russia, Posen to Prussia, and Cracow became a republic. Prussia got back nearly all her old possessions, and there was a reconstruction of German States under a Con federation. Holland, Belgium, and Luxemburg were established as an independent kingdom under the House of Orange : Switzerland was extended and her integrity guaranteed : Sardinia obtained Genoa and other territory : Austria received an extension of territory in North Italy and on the coast of the Adri atic, and became the dominant state in the German Confederation. The Pope and the King of the Two Sicilies regained their former possessions.
[The foregoing record of wars serves to show to what a small extent this treaty secured the settlement of European territorial problems.] The Rushe-Bagot Treaty, April 1817, between Great Britain and the United States. The two powers agreed to withdraw their battleships from the Great Lakes.
It may be noted that the absence of armaments on the whole Canadian frontier cannot be said to have endangered the relations between the two countries in view of the fact that the Anglo-American peace centenary was celebrated in 1915.
The Treaty of Washington, May 8, 187r, between Great Britain and the United States. The north-western boundary was finally delimited : an attempt was made to settle the Canadian Fishery dispute, and it was agreed to refer the Alabama Claims to a tribunal of arbitration, which subsequently fixed the sum to be paid over by Great Britain as indemnity.
The Triple Alliance in 1882 was the result of Italy joining the alliance between Germany and Austria, which had grown out of the support given to Austria as against Russia at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Italy having become estranged from France after the occupation of Tunis in 1881. The Triple Alliance was renewed for five years in 1887 and in 1891, and again in 1902 it was extended for a term of twelve years.
The Berlin Act. The outcome of the Conference of Berlin, 1884-5, at which fourteen Powers were represented. The respective spheres of influence of the European Powers in Africa were delimited. The neutrality of the Congo Free State was recognized, and it was estab lished as an independent State under the sovereignty of the King of the Belgians. An area was marked out in which there should be free trade, which should be excluded from effects of disputes between the signa tory Powers, and be placed under the rule of neutrality.
The latter stipulation has, however, not been carried out.
The Suez Canal Convention signed by nine Powers at Con stantinople, October 29, 1888. Lesseps obtained the preliminary concession for the construction of the Canal in 1856. The Canal was opened in 1869. Disraeli bought four million pounds' worth of shares from the Khedive on behalf of the British Government in 1875. The Convention ensured that the Canal should always be open to vessels of commerce and war without dis tinction of flag. Great Britain signed with a reser vation, but in the Anglo-French agreement of 1904 declared her adherence to the Convention and agreed to its being put into force, The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, November 18, 19or, between Great Britain and the United States, gave the United States right of control in time of war of the Panama Canal. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of r85o, which established a joint Anglo-American protectorate over the Canal was thereby abrogated.
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Treaties signed in London January 3o, 19o2, and August 12, 1905. The integrity and independence of China was recogrilzed. If either Great Britain or Japan should be attacked and involved in a war with two Powers, they engaged mutually to assist one another. The aim of the alliance was officially defined as " the consolidation and maintenance of general peace in the regions of Eastern Asia and of India." In 19H the treaty was revised, a clause stipulating that there was no obligation to go to war with a Power with whom a treaty of arbitration was in force. This removed the danger of Great Britain being involved in a war between Japan and the United States.