PART III

Political Clauses for Europe

SECTION I.--_Belgium_

=ARTICLE 31.=--Germany, recognizing that the treaties of April 19, 1839, which established the status of Belgium before the war, no longer conform to the requirements of the situation, consents to the abrogation of the said treaties and undertakes immediately to recognize and to observe whatever conventions may be entered into by the principal allied and associated powers, or by any of them in concert with the Governments of Belgium and of the Netherlands, to replace the said treaties of 1839. If her formal adhesion should be required to such conventions or to any of their stipulations, Germany undertakes immediately to give it.

=ARTICLE 32.=--Germany recognizes the full sovereignty of Belgium over the whole of the contested territory of Moresnet, (called Moresnet Neutre.)

=ARTICLE 33.=--Germany renounces in favor of Belgium all rights and title over the territory of Prussian Moresnet situated on the west of the road from Liége to Aix-la-Chapelle: the road will belong to Belgium where it bounds this territory.

=ARTICLE 34.=--Germany renounces in favor of Belgium all rights and title over the territory comprising the whole of the Kreise of Eupen and of Malmédy.

During the six months after the coming into force of this treaty, registers will be opened by the Belgian authorities at Eupen and Malmédy in which the inhabitants of the above territory will be entitled to record in writing a desire to see the whole or part of it remain under German sovereignty.

The results of this public expression of opinion will be communicated by the Belgian Government to the League of Nations, and Belgium undertakes to accept the decision of the League.

=ARTICLE 35.=--A commission of seven persons, five of whom will be appointed by the principal allied and associated powers, one by Germany and one by Belgium, will be set up fifteen days after the coming into force of the present treaty to settle on the spot the new frontier line between Belgium and Germany, taking into account the economic factors and the means of communication.

Decisions will be taken by a majority and will be binding on the parties concerned.

=ARTICLE 36.=--When the transfer of the sovereignty over the territories referred to above has become definitive, German nationals habitually resident in the territories will definitively acquire Belgian nationality ipso facto, and will lose their German nationality.

Nevertheless German nationals who become resident in the territories after the 1st August, 1914, shall not obtain Belgian nationality without a permit from the Belgian Government.

=ARTICLE 37.=--Within the two years following the definitive transfer of the sovereignty over the territories assigned to Belgium under the present treaty, German nationals over 18 years of age habitually resident in those territories will be entitled to opt for German nationality.

Option by a husband will cover his wife, and option by parents will cover their children under 18 years of age.

Persons who have exercised the above right to opt must within the ensuing twelve months transfer their place of residence to Germany.

They will be entitled to retain their immovable property in the territories acquired by Belgium. They may carry with them their movable property of every description. No export or import duties may be imposed upon them in connection with the removal of such property.

=ARTICLE 38.=--The German Government will hand over without delay to the Belgian Government the archives, registers, plans, title deeds and documents of every kind concerning the civil, military, financial, judicial or other administrations in the territory transferred to Belgian sovereignty.

The German Government will likewise restore to the Belgian Government the archives and documents of every kind carried off during the war by the German authorities from the Belgian public administrations, in particular from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Brussels.

=ARTICLE 39.=--The proportion and nature of the financial liabilities of Germany and of Prussia which Belgium will have to bear on account of the territories ceded to her shall be fixed in conformity with Articles 254 and 256 of Part IX. (financial clauses) of the present treaty.

SECTION II.--_Luxemburg_

=ARTICLE 40.=--With regard to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, Germany renounces the benefit of all the provisions inserted in her favor in the treaties of Feb. 8, 1842; April 2, 1847; Oct. 20--25, 1865; Aug. 18, 1866; Feb. 21 and May 11, 1867; May 10, 1871; June 11, 1872, and Nov. 11, 1902, and in all conventions consequent upon such treaties.

Germany recognizes that the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg ceased to form part of the German Zollverein as from January 1, 1919; renounces all right to the exploitation of the railways, adheres to the termination of the régime of neutrality of the Grand Duchy, and accepts in advance all international arrangements which may be concluded by the Allied and Associated Powers relating to the Grand Duchy.

=ARTICLE 41.=--Germany undertakes to grant to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, when a demand to that effect is made to her by the principal Allied and Associated Powers, the rights and advantages stipulated in favor of such powers or their nationals in the present treaty, with regard to economic questions, to questions relative to transport and to aerial navigation.

SECTION III.--_Left Bank of the Rhine_

=ARTICLE 42.=--Germany is forbidden to maintain or construct any fortifications either on the left bank of the Rhine or on the right bank to the west of a line drawn fifty kilometers to the east of the Rhine.

=ARTICLE 43.=--In the area defined above the maintenance and the assembly of armed forces either permanently or temporarily, and military maneuvers of any kind, as well as the upkeep of all permanent works for mobilization, are in the same way forbidden.

=ARTICLE 44.=--In case Germany violates in any manner the provisions of Article 42 and 43 she shall be regarded as committing a hostile act against the powers signatory of the present treaty and as calculated to disturb the peace of the world.

SECTION IV.--_Sarre Basin_

=ARTICLE 45.=--As compensation for the destruction of the coal mines in the North of France and as part payment toward the total reparation due from Germany for the damage resulting from the war, Germany cedes to France in full and absolute possession, with exclusive rights of exploitation, unincumbered and free from all debts and charges of any kind, the coal mines situated in the Sarre Basin as defined in Article 48.

=ARTICLE 46.=--In order to assure the rights and welfare of the population and to guarantee to France complete freedom in working the mines, Germany agrees to the provisions of Chapters 1 and 2 of the annex hereto.

=ARTICLE 47.=--In order to make in due time permanent provision for the government of the Sarre Basin in accordance with the wishes of the population, France and Germany agree to the provisions of Chapter 3 of the annex hereto.

=ARTICLE 48.=--The boundaries of the territory of the Sarre Basin, as dealt with in the present stipulations, will be fixed as follows:

On the south and southwest: By the frontier of France as fixed by the present treaty.

On the northwest and north: By a line following the northern administrative boundary of the Kreise of Merzig from the point where it leaves the French frontier to the point where it meets the administrative boundary, separating the commune of Saarhölzbach from the commune of Britten; following this communal boundary southward and reaching the administrative boundary of the Canton of Merzig so as to include in the territory of the Sarre Basin the Canton of Mettlach, with the exception of the commune of Britten: following successively the northern administrative limits of the Cantons of Merzig and Haustadt, which are incorporated in the aforesaid Sarre Basin, then successively the administrative boundaries separating the Kreise of Saare Louis, Ottweiler, and Saint-wendel from the Kreise of Merzig, Treves, (Trier.) and the principality of Birkenfeld as far as a point situated about 500 meters north of the village of Furschweiler, (viz.: The highest point of the Metzelberg.)

On the northeast and east: From the last point defined above to a point about 3½ kilometers east-northeast of Saint Wendel:

A line to be fixed on the ground passing east of Furschweiler, west of Roschberg, east of points 418, 329, (south of Roschberg,) west of Leitersweiler, northeast of point 46'4, and following the line of the crest southward to its junction with the administrative boundary of the Kreis of Kusel;

Thence in a southerly direction the boundary of the Kreis of Kusel, then the boundary of the Kreis of Homburg toward the south-southeast to a point situated about 1,000 meters west of Dunzweiler;

Thence to a point about one kilometer south of Hornbach: a line to be fixed on the ground passing through point 424, (about 1,000 meters southeast of Dunzweiler,) point 363, (Fuchsberg,) point 322, (southwest of Waldmohr,) then east of Jagersburg and Erbach, then encircling Homburg, passing through the points 361, (about 2½ kilometers northeast by east of that town,) 342, (about 2 kilometers southeast of that town,) 347, (Schreinersberg,) 356, 350, (about 1½ kilometers southeast of Schwarzenbach,) then passing east of Einöd, southeast of points 322 and 333, about 2 kilometers east of Webenheim, about 2 kilometers east of Mimbach, passing east of the plateau which is traversed by the road from Mimbach to Böckweiler, (so as to include this road in the territory of the Sarre Basin,) passing immediately north of the junction of the roads from Böckweiler and Altheim, situated about 2 kilometers north of Altheim, then passing south of Ringweilderhof and north of point 322, rejoining the frontier of France at the angle which it makes about 1 kilometer south of Hornbach, (see Map No. 2, scale 1-100,000, annexed to the present treaty.)

A commission composed of five members, one appointed by France, one by Germany, and three by the Council of the League of Nations, which will select nationals of other powers, will be constituted within fifteen days from the coming into force of the present treaty, to trace on the spot the frontier line described above. In those parts of the preceding line which do not coincide with administration boundaries, the commission will endeavor to keep to the line indicated, while taking into consideration, so far as is possible local economic interests and existing communal boundaries.

The decisions of this commission will be taken by a majority and will be binding on the parties concerned.

=ARTICLE 49.=--Germany renounces in favor of the League of Nations, in the capacity of trustee, the government of the territory defined above.

At the end of fifteen years from the coming into force of the present treaty the inhabitants of the said territory shall be called upon to indicate the sovereignty under which they desire to be placed.

=ARTICLE 50.=--The stipulations under which the cession of the mines in the Sarre Basin shall be carried out, together with the measures intended to guarantee the rights and the well-being of the inhabitants and the government of the territory, as well as the conditions in accordance with which the plebiscite hereinbefore provided for is to be made, are laid down in the annex hereto. This annex shall be considered as an integral part of the present treaty, and Germany declares her adherence to it.

ANNEX

In accordance with the provisions of Articles 45 to 50 of the present treaty, the stipulations under which the cession by Germany to France of the mines of the Sarre Basin will be effected, as well as the measures intended to insure respect for the rights and well-being of the population and the government of the territory, and the conditions in which the inhabitants will be called upon to indicate the sovereignty under which they may wish to be placed, have been laid down as follows: