# Treaty of Paris (1815)/Convention on the military line

Convention between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity to the Vth Article of the Principal Treaty, relative to the Occupation of a Military Line in France, by an Allied Army.
ART. I. The composition of the Army of 150,000 Men, which, in virtue of the Vth Article of the Treaty of this day, is to occupy a Military Line along the Frontiers of France; the force and nature of the Contingents to be furnished by each Power, as well as the choice of the Generals who are to command those troops, shall be determined by the Allied Sovereigns.
ART. II. This army shall be maintained by the French Government in the manner following:
The lodging, the fuel and lighting, the provisions and forage, are to be furnished in kind.
It is agreed that the total amount of daily rations shall never exceed 200,000 for Men, and 50,000 for horses, and that they shall be issued according to the Tarif annexed to the present Convention.
With respect to the pay, the equipment, the clothing, and other incidental matters, the French government will provide for such expense by the payment of a sum of 50,000,000 of francs per annum, payable in specie from month to month, from the 1st of December 1815, into the hands of the Allied Commissioners.
But the Allied Powers, in order to concur as much as possible in every thing which can satisfy His Majesty the King of France, and relieve his Subjects, consent that only 30,000,000 of francs, on account of pay, shall, be paid in the first year; on condition of the difference being made up in the subsequent years of the Occupation.
ART. III. France engages equally to provide for the keeping up of the Fortifications and of the buildings of the Military and Civil Administrations, as well as for the arming and provisioning the Fortresses which, in virtue of the Vth Article of the Treaty of this day, are to remain as a Deposit in the hands of the Allied troops.
These respective services, which are to be regulated upon the principles adopted by the French Administration of the War Department, shall be executed upon demand, addressed to the French Government by the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Troops, with whom some plan shall be agreed upon for ascertaining what may be needful, and concerting the measures necessary to remove all difficulties which may arise, and for accomplishing the object of this Stipulation in a manner equally satisfactory to the interests of the respective Parties.
The French Government will take such measures as it shall judge to be the most effectual, for securing the accomplishment of the different services stated in this and in the preceding Article; and will concert to that effect with the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Troops.
ART. IV. In conformity to the Vth Article of the Principal Treaty, the Military Line to be occupied by the Allied Troops, shall extend along the Frontiers which separate the Departments of the Pas de Calais, of the North of the Ardennes, of the Meuse, of the Moselle, of the Lower Rhine, and of the Upper Rhine, from the interior of France.
It is further agreed, that neither the Allied Troops nor the French Troops, shall occupy (except it be for particular reasons, and by common consent) the Territories and Districts hereafter named, id est;
In the Department of the Somme, all the Country North of that River, from Ham, to where it falls into the Sea;
In the Department of the Aisne, the Districts of St. Quentin, Vervins and Laon;
In the Department of the Marne, those of Rheims, St. Ménéhould, and Vitry;
In the Department of the Upper Marne, those of St. Dizier and Joinville;
In the Department of the Meurthe, those of Toul, Dieuze, Sarrebourg and Blamont;
In the Department of the Vosges, those of St. Diez, Brugères and Remiremont;
The District of Lure, in the Department of the Upper Saône ; and that of St. Hyppolite in the Department of the Doubs.
Notwithstanding the occupation, by the Allies, of the portion of territory fixed by the Principal Treaty, and by the present Convention, His Most Christian Majesty may, in the Towns situated within the territory occupied, maintain garrisons, the number of which, however, shall not exceed what is laid down in the following enumeration :
| Location | Men |
| Calais | 1,000 |
| Gravelines | 500 |
| Bergues | 500 |
| St. Omer | 1,500 |
| Béthune | 500 |
| Montreuil | 500 |
| Hesdin | 250 |
| Ardres | 150 |
| Aire | 500 |
| Arras | 1,000 |
| Boulogne | 300 |
| St. Venant | 300 |
| Lille | 3,000 |
| Dunkirk and its Forts | 1,000 |
| Douay and Fort de Scarpe | 1,000 |
| Verdun | 500 |
| Metz | 3,000 |
| Lauterbourg | 800 |
| Weissenberg | 150 |
| Lichtenberg | 150 |
| Petite Pierre | 100 |
| Phalsburg | 600 |
| Strasburg | 3,000 |
| Schlestadt | 1,000 |
| Neuf Brisach and Fort Mortier | 1,000 |
| Befort | 1,000 |
It is, however, well understood, that the Materiel belonging to the Engineer and Artillery Departments, as well as such Articles of Military Equipment as do not properly belong to those Fortresses, shall be withdrawn from them, and shall be transported to such places as the French government shall think fit, provided those places are situated without the line occupied by the Allied Troops, and without the Districts in which it is agreed not to leave any troops either Allied or French.
If any infraction of the above Stipulations should come to the knowledge of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, he shall make his representations on the subject to the French government, which engages to do what is right thereupon.
The Fortresses abovementioned being, at this moment, unprovided with Garrisons, the French Government may place therein, as soon as it shall think fit, the number of troops fixed as above, apprizing always before-hand the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Troops, in order to avoid any difficulty and delay which the French troops might experience in their march.
ART. V. The Military Command in the whole extent of the Departments which shall remain occupied by the Allied Troops, shall belong to the General in Chief of those Troops: it is, however, distinctly understood, that it shall not extend to the Fortresses which the French Troops are to occupy, in virtue of the IV Article of the present Convention, nor to a rayon of a Thousand Toises around each of those places.
ART. VI. The Civil Administration, the Administration of Justice, and the collection of Taxes and Contributions of all sorts, shall remain in the hands of the agents of His Majesty the King of France.
The same shall be the case with respect to the Customs. They shall remain in their present state, and the Commanders of the Allied Troops shall throw no obstacle in the way of the measures to be taken by the officers employed in that service, to prevent frauds: they shall even give them, in case of need, succour and assistance.
ART. VII. To prevent all abuses which might affect the Regulations of the Customs, the Clothing and Equipment, and other necessary Articles destined for the Allied Troops, shall not be allowed to enter, except they be furnished with a Certificate of Origin, and in pursuance of a communication to be made by the Commanding Officers of the different corps to the General-in-Chief of the Allied Army, who will, on his part, cause information to be given there of to the French government, who will, in consequence thereof, issue the proper orders to their Officers employed in the administration of the Customs.
ART. VIII. The service of the Gendarmerie being acknowledged as necessary to the maintenance of order and public tranquillity, shall continue, as hitherto, in the Countries occupied by the Allied Troops.
ART. IX The Allied Troops, with the exception of those that are to form the Army of Occupation, shall evacuate the territory of France in 21 days after the signature of the Principal Treaty.
The Territories which, according to that Treaty, are to be ceded to the Allies, as well as the Fortresses of Landau and Sarre-Louis, shall be delivered up by the French Authorities and Troops, in 10 days from the date of the signature of the Treaty.
Those Places shall be given up in the state in which they were on the 20th of September last.
Commissioners shall be named on both sides, to ascertain and declare that state; and to deliver and receive respectively the Artillery, the Military Stores, Plans, Models, and Archives belonging as well to the said Places, as to the different Districts ceded by France accordingly to the Treaty of this day.
Commissioners shall also be named to examine and ascertain the state of those Places still occupied by the French Troops, and which, according to the Vth Article of the Principal Treaty, are to be held in deposit, for a certain time, by the Allies.
These places shall also be delivered up to the Allied Troops in 10 days from the date of the signature of the Treaty.
Commissioners shall also be named by the French Government, on one part, and by the General Commanding-in-Chief, the Allied Troops destined to remain in France, on the other; also by the General commanding the Allied Troops which are at present in possession of the Fortresses of Avesnes, Landrecy, Maubeuge, Rocroy, Givet, Montmedy, Longwy, Mezières, and Sedan, to ascertain and declare the state of those places, and of the Military Stores, Maps, Plans, Models, &c. which they shall contain at the moment which shall be considered as that of the occupation, in virtue of the Treaty.
The Allied Powers engage to restore, at the expiration of the Temporary Occupation, all the places named in the Vth Article of the Principal Treaty, in the state in which they shall have been found at the time of that occupation, save and except the damages which may have been caused, by time, and which the French Government should not have provided against by the necessary repairs.
Done at Paris, this 20th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1815.
| (L. S. Castlereagh. | (L. S.) Richelieu |
| Wellington | |

### Additional article on deserters

The High Contracting Parties having agreed, by Article V, of the Treaty of this day, to occupy for a certain period, with an Allied Army, Military Positions in France, and being desirous of anticipating all that might hazard the order and discipline which it is so important to maintain in that Army, it is determined upon by the present Additional Article, that every Deserter, who, from either of the Corps of the said Army, should go over to the French side, shall immediately be arrested by the French Authorities, and delivered up to the nearest Commander of the Allied Troops, in like manner as all Deserters from the French Troops, who might come over towards the Allied Army, shall be immediately delivered up to the nearest French Commandant.
The tenor of this Article is to apply equally to such Deserters from either side who may have forsaken their Colours previously to the signature of the Treaty; the same to be without delay restored and delivered up to the respective Corps to which they may belong.
The present Additional Article shall have the same force and validity as if it were inserted, word for word, in the Military Convention of this day.
In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereunto the seals of their arms.
Done at Paris, the 20th November, in the year of our Lord, 1815.
| (L. S.) Castlereagh. | (L. S.) Richelieu. |
| (L. S.) Wellington. |

### Tariff on provisions, hospitals, &c.

Tarif annexed to the Convention relative to the Occupation of a Military Line in France by an Allied Army.
Art. I. Provisions, Forage, Quarters and Fuel.
* Ordinary Portion of the Soldier.
* 2 pounds (poids de marc) of meslin bread, or 1⅔ of a pound of flour, or
* 1$^1$⁄$_6$ of a pound of biscuit.
* ¼ of a pound of oatmeal or grits, or $^3$⁄$_{16}$ of a pound of rice, or ½ of a pound of fine wheaten flour, peas, or lentils, or ½ of a pound of potatoes, carrots, turnips, or other fresh vegetables.
* ½ of a pound of fresh meat, or ¼ of a pound of bacon.
* $^1$⁄$_{10}$ of a litre of spirits, or ½ of a litre of wine, or 1 litre of beer.
* $^1$⁄$_{30}$ of a pound of salt.
1. In case the troops should be quartered on the Inhabitants, they shall enjoy the use of fire and candle; in barracks, wood for the rooms and kitchens; and lights for the rooms and corridors shall be allowed, according to circumstances, in exact proportion to what is strictly necessary. The same shall be observed with respect to the Guard.
2. Substitutes for the usual articles of the ration are not to be given at the discretion of the troops, but according to circumstances.
The articles of provision shall, where practicable, be varied according to the season, giving generally a preference to farinaceous vegetables.
Bacon may be given where the Troops are willing to receive it.
3. Flour, for bread, shall not be given in lieu of bread, excepting with the consent of the Troops; and in that case, wood, and the necessary conveniences for baking, must be granted; biscuit shall be given only in case of a movement, or of necessity, or to complete the 10 days supply in reserve, with which the Troops should be provided in their flying hospitals.
This store shall be furnished in addition to the daily supply; moreover in order to ensure a regular supply, it is to be understood that, within the space of 2 months, the Magazines are to be so provisioned, that there be always a supply of provisions and forage (meat excepted) in store for a fortnight in advance, under the inspection of the French Store-keepers.
The Commissaries of the several Corps d'Armée, shall be authorized to inspect this Store in reserve when they may think proper.
4. The meat shall be delivered slaughtered, without including the head, feet, lights, liver, and other internal parts. If, with the consent of the Troops, live cattle be delivered, the weight shall be fixed by an exact computation, including the head, the fat, and whatever is eatable.
The hides shall, in this case, belong to the Troops.
5. On a march, and on other occasions where the Soldier shall be fed par étappe, the same Tarif shall be in force: the Soldier shall then receive his portion, or an adequate equivalent, prepared and divided into 2 meals, and in the morning a portion of bread and spirits.
6. Receipts shall be granted by Regiments, Companies, and Detachments, for the number of rations and portions received; which receipt shall be revised and confirmed in each Corps, by a Mixed Commission, whose official expenses shall be regulated and paid by the French Government.
7. As several of the Troops are accustomed to Tobacco for smoking, and as the Soldier will not be able to purchase this article at the very high price that exists in France, it is stipulated, that Regiments, Companies, or Detachments, shall be entitled to demand ½ kilogramme of Tobacco, per month, for each man present, on paying 60 centimes for each ½ kilogramme of the most inferior quality sold in the shops, but fresh. In order to prevent any contraband practices arising therefrom, upon the issues to be distributed amongst the Regiments, there shall be specified the quantities of Tobacco delivered.
* Officer's Portion
* 2 pounds of white bread.
* ¼ of a pound of fine grits, or substitutes.
* 2 pounds of meat.
* A portion of liquor of good quality.
* 2 tallow candles, 8 to the pound.
To prevent inconvenience, it were to be wished, that this part of the portion should be estimated at a certain sum per diem, for all the Corps d'Armée, and should always be given in money.
Moreover, $^1$⁄$_{15}$ of a stère of hard firewood, or, according to circumstances, soft wood, coal, or turf, in the proportion established in the French Service.
This part of the portion shall be always given in kind, except during a march. The summer ration shall be one half that of the winter, and there shall be reckoned 6 months to the winter.
In those Provinces where coal is generally burnt, the commutation between wood and coal shall be made, as well for the Officer as for the Soldier, according to the Tarif of commutation of the same articles in use in the French Army.
Likewise the quarters, with beds and bedding.
The portions and the quarters shall be given to the Officers according to the following Table:
| Rank. | Number of Portions of provisions. | Number of rations of fuel. | Number of suitable apartments. | Number of places for servants | OBSERVATIONS |
| Subalterns | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 or 2 | |
| Captains of the Cavalry, of Infantry and en second | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Majors | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Commanding a Reiment, one additional rations of provisions and fule, one room, one Servant's room more. |
| Lieutenant-Colonels | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Commanding a Reiment, one additional rations of provisions and fule, one room, one Servant's room more. |
| Colonels | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Commanding a Reiment, one additional rations of provisions and fule, one room, one Servant's room more. |
| Major-Generals | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Commanding a Division or attached to the Staff, one portion more of each article. |
| Lieutenant-Generals | 9 | 5 | 5 | 7 | Commanding a Division or attached to the Staff, one portion more of each article. |
| *Generals of Cavalry, of Infantry, or commanding a Corps d' Armée | 12 | .. | .. | .. | *They shall be lodged in a suitable Holels, properly supplied with fuel. |
1. The servant shall likewise receive the portion of the Soldier, but only when borne as effective on the muster-roll, and not beyond the number allowed in each Army;
2. The civil and medical Departments shall be assimilated with the Military, in every thing, according to their respective ranks.
3. In case of necessity, more particularly on a march, a smaller number of apartments shall suffice. In barracks the quarters shall be regulated according to circumstances, and conjointly with the Commandants.
* Forage. — Light Ration.
* Oats,$^5$⁄$_8$ of a bushel.
* Hay, 10 pounds.
* Straw, 3 pounds.
* Heavy Ration.
* Oats, 1 bushel (Paris measure.)
* Hay, 10 pounds.
* Straw, 3 pounds.
1. The heavy ration shall be given for the saddle horses of Officers, for horses of regular Cavalry, light and heavy, for Artillery horses that draw the guns and caissons.
All other horses, including cossack horses, shall receive only the light ration, except by the rules of the service of each Army there should be other draft horses entitled to the heavy ration.
On a march which may continue for more than 4 days, all the horses on the march shall receive the heavy ration.
2. The forage may be varied in case of necessity, by reckoning 6 rations of barley, and, in extreme scarcity, as many of rye, for 8 rations of oats; and 5 a light ration of oats for 5 pounds of hay. The latter substitute may be demanded as a matter of right, by those Troops whose ration of hay is generally under 10 pounds, and that of oats more liberal.
3. Straw shall be furnished from the Magazines for the stables of the barracks, and the dung shall belong to the Troops who are to remove it themselves.
When quartered on the Inhabitant, he shall supply straw according to the Tarif, and shall have the advantage of the dung.
4. Stabling shall be granted to Regiments and Companies for the effective number of horses, also light and accommodation for the guard, and place for the baggage and forage.
5. Forage for the horses of the Officers of different ranks shall be given to each Army, according to the regulations in force with them respectively, previous to the date of the present Tarif. It shall be delivered according to such Returns, without any deduction.
Officers shall claim stable-room for the actual number of their horses, and room for their baggage and forage, but not candlelight. For each horse there shall be allotted a space of 8 feet long and 4 feet broad.
GENERAL REMARK.
Beyond the present Tarif, the Troops shall not be entitled to claim any thing, and shall be obliged to purchase at their own expense the articles not comprehended in it, such as soap, butter, chalk, pipe-clay, &c.
With respect to guard-houses and sentry-boxes, the Towns will provide for them at their own expense.
Art II. — Hospitals.
The Administration of the Hospitals shall in general be in the hands of the French Authorities, according to the established order ; but in the subsistence of the sick, respect shall be had to the Regulation published by each Army on its entrance into France. Every thing necessary, medicines included, shall he provider! at the expense of the French Government. On the other hand,nothing shall be granted for Regimental Hospitals, beyond the usual portions and quarters, which shall be claimed by Regiments for their sick, as well as for their effective. Each Corps d'Armée shall send to the Hospital destined for its sick, the necessary medical or other assistance, to secure proper treatment. All Soldiers sent to the Hospitals shall be received, and the Hospitals shall be established at convenient distances.
Art. III. — Transport.
When the Troops are on a march, carriages shall be furnished by the French Government, on the demand of the Commander-in-Chief. The same rule shall be observed for the transport of the sick. The necessary relays for the communication between different parts of a Corps d'Armée shall also be granted; but the greatest moderation shall be observed on this subject. With respect to the conveyance of military effects to the Army from beyond the French Frontier, such conveyances shall be made by relays of the Country, only till the 1st of February, 1816, and merely for moderate quantities.
Art. IV.— Posts.
All Dispatches connected with the interior service of the different Corps, and Correspondence with the French Authorities, bearing an Official Seal, shall be received and forwarded, without payment, at the usual posts. Estafettes and private Letters of the Military shall be paid for at the usual prices. Couriers and travellers, military or otherwise, shall pay punctually for post-horses.
Art. V. — Douanes.
Articles for the clothing of the Troops shall enter free from duty, on Certificates well authenticated. Military persons joining the Armies, or leaving France, shall be exempt from payment of all duties, on whatever is for their own use, or that of the Troops.
Agreed upon, and signed at Paris, the 20th of November, in the year of our Lord, 1815.
| (L. S.) Castlereagh. | (L. S.) Richelieu. |
| (L. S.) Wellington. |

## Notes

* ↑ British and Foreign State Paper. p. 298–305
* ↑ British and Foreign State Paper. p. 298–305
* ↑ The Stipulations of the Conventions concluded on the same day, between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and France, upon this subject, were, verbatim, the same as those of this Convention. (British and Foreign State Paper. p. 298)
* ↑ Weissenberg is a FO mistranslation of the French Weissenbourg. The Hansard translation uses Weissenbourg,(The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time p. 258) and the modern French name is Wissembourg
* ↑ Phalsburg is the FO spelling (probably from the German Pfalzburg). The Hansard translation uses Phalsbourg
* ↑ Strasburg is the FO spelling (probably from the German Straßburg). The Hansard translation uses Strasbourg
* ↑ British and Foreign State Papers, p. 306
* ↑ British and Foreign State Papers, p. 307

## References

* Great Britain Foreign Office. British and Foreign State Papers, Volume 3 (1815–1816), Great Britain Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1838.
* Hansard, The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ..., Volume 32. 1 February to 6 March 1816, T.C. Hansard, 1816.