Art. V. In conformity with the wish expressed by His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, His Majesty the King of Prussia declares his willingness to let the territorial state of the kingdom of Saxony continue in its present extent, when the modifications are made which are to take place in Germany; reserving to himself, however, to regulate in detail, by a special peace with His Majesty the King of Saxony, the questions as to Saxony’s part in the expenses of the war, as well as the future position of the kingdom of Saxony in the North German Confederation.
On the other hand, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria promises to recognise the new organization which the King of Prussia will establish in the north of Germany, including the territorial modifications consequent thereon.
Art. VI. His Majesty the King of Prussia undertakes to prevail upon His Majesty the King of Italy, his ally, to give his approval to the preliminaries of peace and to the armistice based on those preliminaries, so soon as the Venetian kingdom shall have been put at the disposal of His Majesty the King of Italy by a declaration of His Majesty the Emperor of the French.
Art. VII. The ratifications of the present convention shall be exchanged at Nikolsburg in the space of two days at the latest.
Art. VIII. Immediately after the ratification of the present convention shall have been effected and exchanged, their Majesties the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia will appoint plenipotentiaries, who will meet at a place to be hereafter named, to conclude the peace upon the basis of the present preliminary treaty, and to agree upon the details of the conditions.
Art. IX. For that purpose the contracting states, after having decided upon these preliminaries, will conclude an armistice for the Austrian and Saxon armies on the one part, and for the Prussian army on the other part, of which the detailed conditions, from the military point of view, are to be immediately determined. That armistice shall date from the 2d of August, the day to which the present suspension of arms shall be prolonged.
The armistice shall, at the same time, be concluded with Bavaria, and General the Baron von Manteuffel will be instructed to conclude with the kingdom of Wurtemberg and the grand duchies of Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, as soon as those states shall propose it, an armistice beginning on the 2d August, and founded on the state of military possession at the time.
[Nikolsburg, July 26, 1866 Karolyi, Brenner, von Bismarck.]
Source of English translation: Edward Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty, 4 vols. London: Butterworths, 1875-91, vol. III, pp. 1698-1701, reprinted in Theodore S. Hamerow, ed., The Age of Bismarck: Documents and Interpretations. New York: Harper & Row, 1973, pp. 68-70.
Source of original German text: Das Staatsarchiv [The State Archive] 11, no. 2364 (1866): pp. 166ff, reprinted in Ernst Rudolf Huber, ed., Dokumente zur Deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte [Documents on German Constitutional History], 3rd rev. ed., vol. 2, 1851-1900. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1986, pp. 247-49.
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