Agreement of Dissolution of the Free State of Haifa
| Type | Instrument of dissolution and territorial partition |
|---|---|
| Signed | 1620 AN |
| Effective | On signature by all parties |
| Condition | Signature of the last surviving citizens of the republic |
| Signatories | Joseph Fauxan Benjamin Meir Erlo Sinders |
| Parties | Free State of Haifa |
| Purpose | To dissolve the Free State of Haifa, name its successor state, and partition its remaining territory |
| Notes | Executed on the map by a joint claim submitted under Article IV |
The Agreement of Dissolution of the Free State of Haifa was the instrument by which the Free State of Haifa wound itself up in 1620 AN, ending eighteen years of independence on Lake Morovia. It was drafted by the last three citizens holding office in the republic, amended once, signed by all three, and given effect by a joint territorial claim submitted under its final article.
The agreement dissolved the republic and voided its constitution, named the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre as its successor state, and divided what Haifa still held into three parts. Haifa proper passed to the Commonwealth of Hamland to be organized as a region with its capital at Abeis; the annexed territory of North Antarctica passed to Passio-Corum; and Port St. Andre was granted full sovereignty under a transitional government headed by the republic's last Prime Minister, Benjamin Meir. The declaration of independence issued by the Wallis Islands three years earlier was recognized rather than reversed.
The clause ceding the mainland to the Commonwealth is the origin of the Hammish territory and, through it, of the Caputian state. The clause transferring the Treaty of Abeis obligation to St. Andre carried a mutual-defense guarantee out of a state that had ceased to exist and into one that had just been created.
Background
The republic had been losing its holdings for four years by the time the agreement was drafted. The principality of Walstadt had gone to Natopia under the Treaty of St. Andre in 1616 AN, and in the same year Meir resigned both the premiership and his citizenship. No successor was chosen and the office of Prime Minister stood vacant thereafter. The Wallis Islands declared independence in 1617 AN on the signature of their governor, Erlo Sinders, alone.
What remained was a state with territory, a currency, treaty obligations, and almost no citizens. Three men remained as its principals and its last citizens. Meir had resigned the premiership and his citizenship in 1616 AN and returned to settle the question. Joseph Fauxan, the Governor-General and Governor of Abeis, who had administered the republic's last election, was the only one of the three still holding office. Sinders had taken the premiership on an interim basis after Sarraj's resignation, had governed the Wallis Islands and served as Minister of the Interior, and by then held office in Passio-Corum as well.
Negotiation
Meir opened the discussion in 1619 AN, proposing that the parties begin with an instrument naming Haifa's successor state and settling what would become of the territories. Fauxan answered by inventorying what the republic still claimed: Haifa proper, the Wallis Islands, North Antarctica, and Port St. Andre. Sinders proposed a distribution of each and stated that he was willing to develop Haifa proper as a region of the Commonwealth, that the Wallis Islands had been maintained by Passio-Corum for some time, and that Port St. Andre was Meir's to dispose of. Meir replied that he intended to make St. Andre an independent nation rather than merge it with the Empire of the Alexandrians, and raised no objection to the rest.
The draft was amended once before signature. Fauxan observed that North Antarctica had not been known by the name used in the draft for some years, and the clause was reworded to name the territory North Antarctica. Sinders, signing, suggested that the instrument might state that the Wallis Islands would pass directly to Passio-Corum. Fauxan answered that the declaration of independence was already recognized in the text and that the territory was accordingly free to dispose of itself, and Sinders accepted the point without pressing it. The instrument went out as drafted on that clause.
Fauxan signed as Governor-General and Governor of Abeis, Sinders as Father of the Wallis Islands and Grandfather of the Realm of Passio-Corum, and Meir last.
Terms
The agreement runs to four articles.
Article I dissolved the republic and its government, declared its constitution null and void from the moment of dissolution, named the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre the successor state with liberty to choose which Haifan laws, agreements, and treaties it would inherit, and extended automatic citizenship and protection under St. Andre to every Haifan citizen living at the dissolution.
Article II granted Port St. Andre full sovereignty as the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre, established its transitional government at the city of Port St. Andre under Meir as Transitional President, left that government free of foreign interference in framing its own laws and constitution, made it Haifa's successor in the Treaty of Abeis with the Empire of the Alexandrians, and transferred Haifan military facilities and personnel in the territory to its Department of Defense.
Article III divided the remainder. It recognized the Wallis Islands declaration of independence in full; ceded North Antarctica to the Republic of Mercury and the Realm of Passio-Corum to partition between themselves; ceded all remaining Haifan territory to the Commonwealth of Hamland to be organized as the Region of Haifa with its capital at Abeis; and transferred Haifan military facilities and personnel in that remaining territory to the Commonwealth.
Article IV bound every party to submit a single joint claim reflecting these terms for cartographic ratification, and reproduced the claim map in the text.
Text
AGREEMENT OF DISSOLUTION OF THE FREE STATE OF HAIFA
WE, the last surviving citizens of the Free State of Haifa, desiring freely, out of our own desire and free from any foreign influence, and unanimously to fully dissolve the Free State of Haifa and its Government, ordain and establish this Agreement of Dissolution, and resolves to name the signatories of this Agreement as the executors and enforcers of these terms:
ARTICLE I. Dissolution of the Free State of Haifa, Successor State.
- a.) The Free State of Haifa and its Government (hereafter referred to as 'Haifa') are fully dissolved, and declare the Constitution of said Government to be completely null and void upon the final dissolution of Haifa and its distribution of sovereignty, lands and possessions, assets and resources.
- b.) The successor state of Haifa will be the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre, with said nation being granted the power to choose whether it wishes to inherit laws, agreements, treaties and other regulations from Haifa.
- c.) All Haifan citizens at of time of dissolution will be extended automatic citizenship and protection status by the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre.
ARTICLE II. Recognition of Independence of Port St. Andre, Transition to Independence.
- a.) The territory of Port St. Andre is granted full sovereignty and independence as the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre.
- b.) The Transitional Government of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre is hereby established at the city of Port St. Andre, under the Transitional Presidency of former Haifan Prime Minister Benjamin Meir.
- c.) The Transitional Government of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre will provide for its own rules, laws and organization, with no foreign interference. It will also provide for the drafting of a Constitution, and its own transition to it and elections.
- d.) The Transitional Government of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre will be the successor state of Haifa in the Treaty of Abeis with the Empire of the Alexandrians, assuming its rights, responsibilities and terms by decree of the Transitional Government.
- e.) Haifan military facilities, equipment, resources and personnel in the territory of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre will now belong to the Department of Defense of the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre.
ARTICLE III. Division of remaining Haifan lands and possessions.
- a.) The declaration of independence issued by the Wallis Islands in 1617 AN is hereby fully recognized.
- b.) The territory of North Antarctica (NAPI) will be ceded to the Republic of Mercury and the Realm of Passio-Corum to partition lands, territories and Haifan military facilities, equipment, resources and personnel in the territory; among themselves through their own methods of agreement and execution.
- c.) The remaining territory belonging to Haifa shall be fully ceded to the Commonwealth of Hamland, to be organized as the Region of Haifa, with its capital at the city of Abeis.
- d.) Haifan military facilities, equipment, resources and personnel in the remaining Haifan territory will now belong to the Commonwealth of Hamland.
ARTICLE IV. Cartographic claim.
- a.) All parties to this treaty agree to jointly submitting the following claim to the cartographic authority reflecting the terms established above.
Joseph Fauxan, Governor-General and Governor of Abeis Erlo Sinders, Father of the Wallis Islands, Grandfather of the Realm of Passio-Corum
Benjamin Meir
Execution
The joint claim provided for by Article IV was submitted by Fauxan and approved, and the partition took effect on the map as the agreement described it. Haifa proper became a territory of the Commonwealth of Hamland administered from Abeis. North Antarctica, allocated jointly for partition, passed entire to Passio-Corum. The Wallis Islands, whose independence the agreement had recognized rather than assigned, were annexed by Passio-Corum. Port St. Andre became the Most Serene Republic of St. Andre and Meir took office as its Transitional President. On the transfer of the mainland the Commonwealth allocated the whole of its own currency reserve, 16,762.85 obols, to Haifa for immediate investment in the new region.
Article I(b) made succession elective rather than automatic. St. Andre was free to take up as much or as little of the Haifan legal inheritance as it chose, and Article II(d) made only one item mandatory: the Treaty of Abeis, whose mutual-defense guarantee bound each party to treat an armed attack on the other as an attack on itself.
Legacy
The territorial settlement of 1620 AN held in its essentials for the rest of Haifan history. The mainland stayed under the administration the agreement gave it for a generation and then passed with the Commonwealth into the Kingdom of the Union of Caputia in 1653 AN, where Haifa became the third-largest state by population. Every later administration of the region traces its title to Article III(c).
St. Andre took the other road. Independent from 1620 AN, it came under Natopian protection and was annexed by Natopia in 1652 AN. Meir himself had gone to Natopia in 1617 AN, three years before the dissolution, and served twice as Chancellor of Natopia. The demesne is held by his eldest daughter Maria Meir as Princess of Saint Andre.
