Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance between Austria and Modena
The Baron Moncorvo further stated that the conditions
which had thus been communicated to the Junta of Oporto by
Her Most Faithful Majesty’s authority, were :
1st. A full and general Amnesty for all political offences
committed since the beginning of October last, and an
immediate recall of all persons who, since that time,
have been sent out of Portugal for political reasons.
2nd. An immediate revocation of all the Decrees which have
been issued since the beginning of October last, and
which infringe upon, or conflict with, the established
Laws and Constitution of the Kingdom.
3rd. A convocation of the Cortes so soon as the elections,
which are to take place without delay, shall have been
completed.
4th. The immediate appointment of an Administration
composed of men not belonging to the party of the
Cabrals, nor being members of the Oporto Junta.
The British Plenipotentiary confirmed the statement of
Baron de Moncorvo, and said that the British Government had
also received this morning from Colonel Wylde, despatches
reporting the failure of the mission upon which he and the
Marquis d’Espana had been employed, and the refusal of the
Junta either to put an end to the Civil War upon the terms pro-
posed to them by Her Most Faithful Majesty, or to consent even
to a temporary suspension of arms.
The Plenipotentiaries of Spain, France, and Great Britain,
having taken these matters into their serious consideration, and
bearing in mind the deep interest which their respective Gov-
ernments take in the welfare of the Kingdom of Portugal, and
the anxious desire which those Governments feel, that the Civil
War which now desolates that country should be brought to an
end, upon conditions which should, on the one hand, be
founded upon a due regard to the Dignity and Constitutional
Rights of the Crown, and should, on the other hand, afford a
just security for the Liberties of the People ; and being moreover
of opinion that the arrangements proposed by Her Most Faith-
ful Majesty were well calculated to attain those ends, agree that
a case has now presented itself, in which their respective Gov-
ernments may, in full accordance with the principles by which
they are guided, comply with the application for assistance to
them by the Queen of Portugal.
The Plenipotentiary of Portugal, after expressing the satisfac-
tion with which he received this declaration on the part of the
Plenipotentiaries of the 3 Powers, impressed upon them the
urgent necessity that immediate measures should be taken to
carry those declarations into effect, and represented that in the
present state of affairs in Portugal, delay must lead to a renewal
of bloodshed and an aggravation of the calamities by which
Portugal is now afflicted.
Adverting to these circumstances, and sensible of the
urgency of the case, the Plenipotentiaries of the 3 Powers agreed
to yield to the request of the Portuguese Plenipotentiary ; and it
was therefore determined by the Plenipotentiaries of the 4 Pow-
ers, that the assistance to be afforded to the Queen of Portugal
should be given forthwith ; and accordingly the Plenipoten-
tiaries of Spain, France, and Great Britain engage that the Naval
Forces of their respective Governments now stationed on the
coast of Portugal shall immediately co-operate with the Naval
Force of Her Most Faithful Majesty in any operation which the
commanders of those combined forces may judge necessary or
expedient for carrying into effect the objects of this Agreement ;
and the Plenipotentiary of Spain further engages that a body of
Troops, the number of which shall be agreed upon between the
Spanish and Portuguese Governments, shall enter Portugal for
the purpose of co-operating with the Troops of Her Most Faith-
ful Majesty ; and that those Troops shall withdraw from the Por-
tuguese Territory within two months after the time when they
shall enter, or as soon as the objects for which they shall have
entered shall have been accomplished.
The Plenipotentiaries of the 4 Powers undertake that orders,
in conformity with the engagements of this Protocol, shall be
sent forthwith to the Naval Officers of the respective Govern-
ments on the Coast of Portugal, and to the general officers com-
manding the Spanish troops on the Frontiers of Spain.
XAVIER DE ISTURIZ.
JARNAC.
PALMERSTON.
TORRE DE MONCORVO.3.1154 Treaty of Offensive and Defensive
Alliance between Austria and Modena
Alliance Members:Austria-Hungary and Modena
Signed On:December 24, 1847, in the city of Vienna. In force until
June 11, 1859, when Duke Francesco left Modena in the face of revo-
lution and left a regent in charge. The regent was overthrown two
days later.
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:British Foreign and State Papers,vol. 36, p. 1169.
Additional Citations:Consolidated Treaty Series,vol. 102, p. 10.SUMMARY
Increasingly worried about the maintenance of Austrian control of the
Papal States after crushing rebellions over a decade earlier, Metternich
sought a way to contain the uncooperative behavior of Pope Pius IX
and to establish a framework for dealing with security problems in
that region in the future.
Metternich thus pressed for and won the rights in 1847 for Austria to
occupy and maintain stability in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom
should it come under some external threat. Though it never resulted
in the deployment of Austrian troops for hostilities, it nonetheless
established conditions under which such a step on the path to war
may have occurred. Popular revolts in Modena marked the effective
end of the alliance in June of 1859.Alliance Text
HIS Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His Royal Highness
the Archduke Duke of Modena, animated by a common desire