Misplaced Pages

#445554

52-519: When the Republic of the Ionian Islands was under British patronage, part of the burden of occupation was reimbursed in the form of infrastructure projects. The Swiss engineer Charles Philippe de Bosset became the island governor in 1810 and placed emphasis on the road and bridge construction. Numerous connections were shortened with bridges over ravines. By far the biggest project, however,

104-798: A High Court of Appeal to be called the Supreme Council of Justice of the United States of the Ionian Islands, of which the president was to be known as the Chief Justice, who would rank in precedence immediately after the President of the Senate. The successive Chief Justices were: Treaty of Paris (1815) The Treaty of Paris of 1815, also known as the Second Treaty of Paris , was signed on 20 November 1815, after

156-814: A capital, bearing 3½ millions of francs in interest, be inscribed in the Grand Livre , the interest of which was to be received half yearly by joint-commissioners. A fourth convention related exclusively to the liquidation of the claims of British subjects on the government of France, in conformity with the Paris peace treaty of 1814, and the Article VIII of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1815. All British subjects who had suffered loss of property in France since 1 January 1791, by sequestration or confiscation by

208-554: A guarantee for the regular payment of these assignations, and to provide for deficiencies, France assigned, moreover, to the allies, a fund of interest, to be inscribed in the Grand Livre of her public debt, of seven millions francs on a capital of 140 millions. A liquidation was to take place every six months, when the assignations duly discharged by the French Treasury were to be received as payments to their amount, and

260-412: A meeting, De Bosset struck a sword on the table and proclaimed that if necessary he could disperse petty concerns. First, the bridge was constructed of wood, which was then replaced immediately piece by piece with a bridge of sandstone. The bridge pavement is loaded on 16 low stone arches, one of them is filled. On a small man-made island along the bridge is an obelisk monument of British patronage. During

312-411: A mixed commission of arbitration. As a guarantee for the payment of claims sanctioned under this convention, there was to be inscribed in the Grand Livre , before 1 January 1816, a capital bearing 3½ millions francs of interest, in the name of a further mixed commission of English and French officers, who were to receive such interest; without, however, disposing of the same otherwise than by placing it in

364-579: A new, less centralised constitution. On 20 March 1815, at the Congress of Vienna , the European powers (Austria, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Sweden) agreed to recognise permanently an independent, neutral Switzerland, and on 27 May Switzerland acceded to this declaration. However, during Napoleon's Hundred Days the Seventh Coalition suspended the signing of

416-761: Is to be derived". An additional article appended to the treaty addressed the issue of slavery . It reaffirmed the Declaration of the Powers, on the Abolition of the Slave Trade , of 8th of February 1815 (which also formed ACT, No. XV. of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna ) and added that the governments of the contracting parties should "without loss of time, ... [find] the most effectual measures for

468-523: The 1953 Ionian earthquake parts of the bridge collapsed. After backfilling and straightening of the pavement these damages remain visible from the side until today. In 1970, the bridge was listed as a historical monument. As the bridge ends relatively central in Argostoli , its utility has recently proven to be counterproductive to keep the traffic out of the city. The bridge was closed successively in 2009 for heavy duty traffic and then for cars. In 2005,

520-636: The Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Napoleonic Wars it failed to remain neutral, as some cantons had been annexed into other states and, under French influence, the Act of Mediation was signed, replacing the Swiss Confederation with the more centralised Helvetic Republic , allied to France. With the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the cantons of Switzerland started the process of writing

572-484: The Republic of Geneva so that it be connected to the rest of Switzerland. France was now also ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities, in five yearly instalments, and to maintain at its own expense a Coalition army of occupation of 150,000 soldiers in the eastern border territories of France, from the English Channel to the border with Switzerland, for a maximum of five years. The twofold purpose of

SECTION 10

#1732776568446

624-693: The Septinsular Republic , it covered the territory of the Ionian Islands , as well as the town of Parga on the adjacent mainland in modern Greece . It was ceded by the British to Greece as a gift to the newly enthroned King George I , apart from Parga, which had been sold to Ali Pasha of Ioannina in 1819. Before the French Revolutionary Wars , the Ionian Islands had been part of the Republic of Venice . When

676-663: The Table of allotment : A convention on the military line regulated all matters concerning the temporary occupation of the frontiers of France by a Coalition army of 150,000 men, conforming to Article V of the definitive treaty . The military line to be occupied, would extend along the frontiers which separated the departments of the Pas de Calais, of the North of the Ardennes, of the Meuse, of

728-587: The Treaty between Great Britain and [Austria, Prussia and] Russia, respecting the Ionian Islands ( signed in Paris on 5 November 1815 ), as one of the treaties signed during the Peace of Paris (1815) , Britain obtained a protectorate over the Ionian Islands, and under Article VIII of the treaty the Austrian Empire was granted the same trading privileges with the Islands as Britain. During this period,

780-547: The Venetian Republic . The only island in which Italian ( Venetian ) had a wider spread was Cephalonia , where a great number of people had adopted Venetian Italian as their first language. The United States of the Ionian Islands was a federation. It included seven island states, each of which was allocated a number of seats in the parliament, the Ionian Senate : The British organised administration under

832-525: The laws of war and the prohibitory decrees. All claims of the above, or any other description, were to be given in, within three months after the date of the signing fourth convention (20 November 1815) from Europe, six months from the western colonies, and twelve months from the East Indies, &c. The claims were to be examined and decided on by a mixed commission of liquidation: and, if their votes were equal, an arbitrator would be chosen by lot from

884-883: The 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio dissolved the Republic of Venice, they were annexed to the French Republic . Between 1798 and 1799, the French were driven out by a joint Russo - Ottoman force. After the War of the Fourth Coalition , the Ionian Islands were occupied by the French Empire as stipulated in the Treaty of Tilsit . In 1809, Britain defeated the French fleet off Zakynthos island on 2 October, and captured Kefalonia , Kythira , and Zakynthos. The British proceeded to capture Lefkada in 1810. Under

936-420: The 700 million francs of the indemnity. Estimating the value of the soldier's portion and allowances at 1½ francs, and the cavalry ration at 2 francs, the annual cost of the deliveries in kind for 200,000 portions and 50,000 rations would have been 146 million in francs, which, with the addition of 50 million franc of money per annum, formed a total of 196 million francs per year, equal to 22,370 sterling per day at

988-467: The Act of Acknowledgement and Guarantee of the perpetual Neutrality of Switzerland until after Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated; this allowed Coalition forces to pass through Swiss territory. So with Article 84 of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna dated 20 November 1815, the four major Coalition powers (Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia) and France gave their formal and authentic acknowledgement of

1040-640: The British brought thousands of Maltese labourers to the Ionian Islands to work as builders and artisans, forming the basis of the Corfiot Maltese community. A few years later Greek nationalist groups started to form. Although their energy in the early years was directed to supporting their fellow Greek revolutionaries in the revolution against the Ottoman Empire , they switched their focus to enosis with Greece following their independence. The Party of Radicals (Greek: Κόμμα των Ριζοσπαστών)

1092-621: The East, rivalry among the powers and the general desire to secure the Bourbon Restoration made the peace settlement less onerous than it might have been. The treaty was signed for Great Britain by Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington and by the duc de Richelieu for France; parallel treaties with France were signed by Austria , Russia , and Prussia, forming in effect the first confederation of Europe . The Quadruple Alliance

SECTION 20

#1732776568446

1144-412: The French government, were to be indemnified. The amount of permanent stock lost was to be inscribed in the Grand Livre , and to bear interest from 22 March 1816; excepting, however, such holders as had, since 1797, voluntarily submitted to receive their dividends at a third. The same was to be the case in regard to former life annuities from the French government. Indemnification was further granted for

1196-731: The Ionian Islands ^ The Senate is listed in the Constitution as the Executive branch of government. It shared legislative power with the Legislative Assembly, and in some British sources it appears as the Executive Council . The United States of the Ionian Islands was a Greek state and amical protectorate of the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1864. The successor state of

1248-707: The Moselle, of the Lower Rhine, and of the Upper Rhine, from the interior of France. It was also agreed that neither the Coalition nor the French troops would occupy (unless for particular reasons and by mutual agreement), the following territories and districts: Within the line occupied by the Coalition army, 26 fortresses were allowed to have garrisons (see the table on the right), but without any materiel or equipment of artillery and engineer stores. France

1300-532: The allies, however, were content with only 30 million, on account, for the first year. The territories and fortresses definitively ceded by France, as well as the fortresses to be provisionally occupied by the Coalition troops for five years, were to be given up to them within ten days from the signature of the principal treaty, and all the Coalition forces, except 150,000 which were to remain, were to evacuate France within 21 days from that date. The direct expense entailed upon France by this convention greatly exceeded

1352-538: The defeat and the second abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on Elba , entered Paris on 20 March and began the Hundred Days of his restored rule. After France's defeat at the hands of the Seventh Coalition at the Battle of Waterloo , Napoleon was persuaded to abdicate again, on 22 June. King Louis XVIII , who had fled the country when Napoleon arrived in Paris, took

1404-546: The deficiency arising from assignations not honoured would be made good, with interest, at five percent from the fund of interest inscribed in the Grand Livre , in a manner specified in this convention. The distribution of the sum among the Coalition Powers, agreed to be paid by France in this convention, was regulated by a separate convention, the Protocol for the pecuniary indemnity to be furnished by France and

1456-429: The direction of a Lord High Commissioner , appointed by the British government. In total, ten men served in this capacity, including William Gladstone as a Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary (in office 1858–1859). The Ionian Islands had a bicameral legislature, titled the "Parliament of the United States of the Ionian Islands" and composed of a Legislative Assembly and Senate. The 1818 constitution also established

1508-432: The entire and definitive abolition of a Commerce so odious, and so strongly condemned by the laws of religion and of nature". A convention on pecuniary indemnity regulated the mode of liquidating the indemnity of 700 millions francs to be paid by France, in conformity to the fourth article of the treaty. The sum was to be paid, day by day, in equal portions, in the space of five years, from 1 December 1815. Thus, France

1560-477: The exchange rate of the time. A convention on private claims upon France assured the payment of money due by France to the subjects of the Coalition powers, in conformity with the treaty of 1814 and to the Article VIII of the 1815 peace treaty . There were twenty-six articles in the convention, which provided for the following: All these claims were to be sent in within a year after the ratification of

1612-479: The first of which was payable on 31 March 1816, the second on 21 July 1816, and so on, every fourth month. In the month preceding the commencement of each of these four monthly periods, France was to redeem successively one of these bonds for 46⅔ millions, by exchanging it against the first-mentioned daily assignations payable to bearer, which assignations, for the purpose of convenience and negotiability, were again subdivided into coupures , or sets of smaller sums. As

De Bosset Bridge - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-626: The loss of immovable property by sequestration, confiscation, or sale; and particular regulations were laid down for ascertaining its value in the fairest possible manner. A separate account was to be kept of arrears that had accrued for all types of property, for which arrears were to be calculated at an interest of four percent per annum. Movable properly, lost through the above causes, was also to be paid for by inscriptions according to its value, with interest calculated on it at three percent per annum. From this indemnity, however, were excluded ships, cargoes, and other movable property seized in conformity to

1716-506: The military occupation was rendered self-evident by the convention annexed to the treaty outlining the incremental terms by which France would issue negotiable bonds covering the indemnity: in addition to safeguarding the neighboring states from a revival of revolution in France, it guaranteed fulfilment of the treaty's financial clauses. Although some of the Allies, notably Prussia , initially demanded that France cede significant territory in

1768-656: The nation was reduced to its 1790 boundaries (plus the enclaves of the Comtat Venaissin , the County of Montbéliard and the Stadtrepublik Mülhausen , which France was allowed to keep, but minus a few patches of territory along the northern border, including Landau and the Saarlouis exclave, which had been French since 1697, as well as six French communes bordering Lake Geneva which were ceded to

1820-467: The neutrality of Switzerland, signed on the same day. The 1815 peace treaties were drawn up entirely in French , the lingua franca of contemporary diplomacy. There were four treaties, between France and each of the four major Seventh Coalition powers: Austria, Great Britain, Prussia and Russia. All four treaties were signed on the same day (20 November 1815), had verbatim stipulations, and were styled

1872-511: The party split into two factions, the "United Radical Party" and the "Real Radical Party". During this period of British rule, William Ewart Gladstone visited the islands and recommended their reunion with Greece, to the chagrin of the British government. On 29 March 1864, representatives of the United Kingdom, Greece, France, and Russia signed the Treaty of London , pledging the transfer of sovereignty to Greece upon ratification; this

1924-399: The perpetual neutrality of Switzerland. Much art had been looted from across Europe by the French armies since 1793. The First Treaty of Paris had made no demands in this respect, but the second treaty required that stolen artworks be returned to their countries of origin. The process was haphazard, as some states had ceased to exist, but the treaty was one of the first in history to require

1976-417: The public funds, at accumulating interest for the benefit of the creditors. As soon as the inscription had been effected, Britain would restore the French colonies as agreed in the treaty of 1814, including the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe , which had been provisionally re-occupied by the British troops. The Swiss Confederation had been internationally recognised as an independent neutral state at

2028-598: The same day, in a separate document, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia renewed the Quadruple Alliance . The princes and free towns, who were not signatories, were invited to accede to its terms, whereby the treaty became a part of the public law by which Europe, with the exclusion of the Ottoman Empire , established "relations from which a system of real and permanent balance of power in Europe

2080-496: The same way (for example the "Definitive Treaty between Great Britain and France"). The treaty was harsher towards France than the Treaty of 1814 , which had been negotiated through the manoeuvre of Talleyrand , because of reservations raised by the recent widespread support for Napoleon in France. France lost the territorial gains of the Revolutionary armies in 1790–92, which the previous treaty had allowed France to keep;

2132-441: The seismic safety of the bridge was controlled, and an exchange of concrete fillings for sandstone was recommended. From 2011 to 2013, the bridge was renovated and re-opened as a pedestrian bridge. In the course of the restoration, the concrete fillings from 1953 were replaced by sandstone, the asphalt was replaced by paving and the light poles anchored in the sea were replaced by replicas of the original lanterns. Republic of

De Bosset Bridge - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-693: The signers of the Treaty also repudiated "the revolutionary system reproduced in France". The treaty is presented "in the desire to consolidate, by maintaining inviolate the Royal authority, and by restoring the operation of the Constitutional Charter , the order of things which had been happily re-established in France". The first Treaty of Paris , of 30 May 1814, and the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna , of 9 June 1815, were confirmed. On

2236-558: The terms of the treaty, parts of France were to be occupied by up to 150,000 soldiers for five years, with France covering the cost. However, the Coalition occupation under the command of the Duke of Wellington was deemed necessary for only three years; the foreign troops withdrew from France in 1818 ( Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle ). In addition to the definitive peace treaty between France and Great Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia, there were four additional conventions and an act confirming

2288-413: The throne for a second time on 8 July. The 1815 treaty had more punitive terms than the treaty of the previous year . France was ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities, and its borders were reduced to those that had existed on 1 January 1790. France was to pay additional money to cover the cost of providing additional defensive fortifications to be built by neighbouring Coalition countries. Under

2340-446: The treaty or they would be voided (Article XVI), and committees for their liquidation were to be appointed. Articles XVII–XIX related to the payment of the claims and their inscription in the Grand Livre ( general ledger ). The claims under this convention were immense, so it was impossible for the parties to have a clear idea of the necessary amount at the time of the treaty's signing. As a guarantee of payment, Article XX provided that

2392-457: Was founded in 1848 as a pro- enosis political party. In September 1848, there were skirmishes with the British garrison in Argostoli and Lixouri on Kefalonia . The island's populace did not hide their growing demands for enosis , and newspapers on the islands frequently published articles criticising British policies in the protectorate. On 15 August 1849, another rebellion broke out, which

2444-561: Was meant to bolster the reign of the newly installed King George I of the Hellenes . Thus, on 28 May, by proclamation of the Lord High Commissioner, the Ionian Islands were united with Greece. According to the second constitution of the Republic (1803), Greek was the primary official language, in contrast to the situation in the Septinsular Republic . Italian was still in use, though, mainly for official purposes since

2496-704: Was quashed by Henry George Ward , who proceeded to temporarily impose martial law . On 26 November 1850, the Radical MP John Detoratos Typaldos proposed in the Ionian parliament the resolution for the enosis of the Ionian Islands with the Kingdom of Greece which was signed by Gerasimos Livadas, Nadalis Domeneginis, George Typaldos, Frangiskos Domeneginis, Ilias Zervos Iakovatos, Iosif Momferatos, Telemachus Paizis, Ioannis Typaldos, Aggelos Sigouros-Dessyllas, Christodoulos Tofanis. In 1862,

2548-427: Was reinstated in a separate treaty also signed 20 November 1815, introducing a new concept in European diplomacy, the peacetime congress "for the maintenance of peace in Europe" on the pattern of the Congress of Vienna , which had concluded 9 June 1815. The treaty is brief. In addition to having "preserved France and Europe from the convulsions with which they were menaced by the late enterprise of Napoleon Bonaparte",

2600-505: Was required to pay on account of this convention 383,251 francs every day for five years, equal to about 16,000 pounds sterling at the exchange rate of the day. For this daily quota, the French government had to give assignations on the French treasury, payable to bearer, day by day. In the first instance, however, the Coalition Commissioners were to receive the whole of the 700 million in fifteen bonds of 46⅔ million each;

2652-523: Was the bridge over the Bay of Argostoli to Drapano, which shortened the way to Lixouri and the north of the island. It separates the Koutavos lagoon from the bay. In 1812 De Bosset presented his idea of a bridge to the island council, which had to endorse the construction. The counterargument was that the bridge could give robbers a slight escape route, since its northern end is (then as today) unpopulated. In

SECTION 50

#1732776568446

2704-399: Was to supply all the needs of the 150,000 Coalition troops who remained in the country. Lodging, fuel, light, provisions, and forage were to be furnished in kind, to an extent not exceeding 200,000 daily rations for men, and 50,000 daily rations for horses; and for pay, equipment, clothing, &c. France was to pay to the Coalition 50 million francs per annum during the five-year occupation:

#445554