[Servia.] under the shade of my Imperial protection in peace and safety; but they must do all in their power to fulfil their duties as faithful subjects, and to take great care not to do anything contrary to those duties. Thus you may, after having promulgated the contents of this noble Firman, in the presence of the said nation, and after having registered it in the registers of the Mekkemé of Belgrade, give it to the said Prince, that he may keep it as he is in duty bound. Issued from our Imperial Divan, the latter end of Rebi-ulAkhir, 1246. (About the end of October, 1830.) [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] No. 151.-CONVENTION between the Riverain States of the Rhine; and Regulations for the Navigation of that River. Signed at Mayence, 31st March, 1831. ABT. 1 to 8 TABLE. Preamble. Navigation of the Rhine and the Leck. Reference to Vienna } Title I. On the Navigation of the Rhine in general, and the Reciprocal Arrangements and Concessions agreed upon between the High Contracting Parties. 9. Reciprocity in favour of Netherland Vessels. Merchandise changing transport by Water for transport by Land to be subject to ordinary Legislation. 10. Free Ports on the Rhine. Power to increase number of Free Ports. Duties on vessels and Merchandise passing through Riverain States by other Roads than the Rhine and its Tributary Rivers. 11. Privileges of Riverain States of the Main, the Neckar, &c. Declaration of French Commissioner. to Duties of Navigation and the Means of ensuring their Collection. 35 Title III. 36 to Application of Customs Laws of Riverain States to the Navigation of the 41 80 } 81 1 88 Police Regulations for the Safety of Navigation and Commerce Title VII. Fraud on Duties of Navigation. Title VIII. Trial of Causes relating to the Navigation of the Rhine. *Acceded to by Baden on the 26th November, 1835. See also Note, page 855. [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] Title IX. 89 to 108 Powers and Duties of the Central Commission, of the Chief Inspector, and of the other Officers of the Customs Navigation, and their Salaries. Title X. 109. Execution of the preceding Regulations. A. Table of Articles of Commerce which shall pay, on their Passage through the Territory of the Netherlands, from Krimpen or Gorcum to the open sea, a Higher or Lower Fixed Duty than that established by Article IV of the Convention. B. Tariff of Duties of Verification payable at each Collecting Office, in Proportion to the Burthen of the Vessels navigating on the Rhine. C. Tariff of Navigation Dues on the Rhine. D. Manifests. (ANNEX.) PROTOCOL relative to the Second Paragraph of Article XI of the Treaty. Declaration of French Commissioner. (Extract.) (Translation.) Preamble. Navigation of the Rhine and the Leck. Reference to Vienna Congress Treaty of 9th June, 1815. THE Completion of the Definitive Regulation for the Navigation of the Rhine, in accordance with the Stipulations of the Act of the Congress of Vienna (No. 27), having experienced difficulties arising out of the manner in which the Riverain Governments interpreted the general principles of that Act, to the vessels coming from Germany, and crossing the Netherlands in a direct line to the Open Sea, and vice versa; considering that His Majesty the King of the Netherlands has maintained that his rights of Sovereignty extended without any restriction whatever over the Sea bathing his States, even where it mixes with the waters of the Rhine, and that, in accordance with the Conferences previous to the Act of the Congress of Vienna (No. 30), the Leck only was to be considered as the continuation of that River in the Netherlands; whilst His Majesty the King of Prussia, His Majesty the King of Bavaria, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse, have maintained that the Act of the Congress of Vienna (No. 27) had placed certain restrictions on the exercise of those rights, in so far as they might apply to vessels passing from the Rhine into the Sea, and vice versa; and that under the denomination of the Rhine the said Act included the whole course, also the branches, and all the mouths of that River in the Netherlands, For French Version, see "State Papers,” vol. xviii, p. 1076. [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] without any distinction-views in which His Majesty the King of the French, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden now equally concur; the Riverain States have thought proper to leave intact all questions mooted on the general principles of the Act of the Congress of Vienna bearing upon the Navigation of the Rhine, as well as the inferences which might be drawn therefrom, and to concert measures and Regulations which the Navigation of the Rhine can no longer dispense with, on the basis of joint proposals reciprocally made and accepted, under the express reservation nevertheless, that such understanding shall in no wise be prejudicial to the rights and principles maintained on either side. With that view the undermentioned High Contracting Parties have appointed as their Commissioners, namely: His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden, the Sieur Jean Lambert Büchler, his Councillor of Legation, &c.; His Majesty the King of Bavaria, the Sieur Bernard Sebastien de Nau, his intimate Aulic Councillor, &c. ; His Majesty the King of the French, the Sieur Hubert Engelhardt, his Commissioner; His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and on the Rhine, the Sieur George Charles August Verdier, his Councillor of Regency; His Serene Highness the Duke of Nassau, the Sieur Louis de Rössler, his intimate Councillor and Director-General of Customs, &c.; His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the Sieur Jean Bourcourd, his Councillor of State, &c.; His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Sieur Henry Delius, his President-in-Chief of Regency, &c.; Who, after having exchanged their Powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles: TITLE I. (Articles I to XIII.)-On the Navigation of the Rhine in General, and the Reciprocal Arrangements and Concessions agreed upon between the High Contracting Parties. Reciprocity in favour of Netherland Vessels.. ART. IX. As a Reciprocity for the favorable stipulations contained in the preceding Articles, the High Governments of the Riverain States engage to extend, in favour of Netherland Vessels, the general exemption from Transit Duty, already agreed [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] upon by the Act of the Congress of Vienna (No. 27) through the whole course of the Rhine, to the transport by water of merchandise which, on quitting the Rhine, shall enter the Rivers, Canals, or other Internal Navigable Communications, to cross afterwards the said Riverain States, in so far as it can be done, without changing the Transport by Water against a Transport by Land. Merchandise changing Transport by Water for Transport by Land to be subject to Ordinary Legislation. The latter case occurring, Merchandise shall be subjected to the rules of the ordinary legislation of the respective Governments. Boatmen leaving the Rhine to make use of the Internal Navigable Communications of the Riverain States, shall be subject, in all cases, to the formalities in force for the Transit, to prevent fraud, as well as for the payment of Quayage, Bridge, and other Dues enforced there and on the same footing as those paid by similar Vessels of the respective Riverain States. Free Ports on the Rhine. ART. X. The High Governments of the other Riverain States also engage on their side to declare as Free Ports for the commerce on the Rhine, all or several towns situated on the borders of the Rhine, namely; The Governments of Prussia, Cologne and Dusseldorf, in declaring themselves ready to increase hereafter the number of Prussian Free Ports if the necessity or circumstances require it. For Nassau, Bieberich and Oberlahnstein; For Hesse, Mayence; For Baden, Mannheim ; For Bavaria, Spire; For France, Strasburg (see Article XI). Power to increase number of Free Ports. Saving the power to all Governments to increase the number of Free Ports as they shall respectively find it convenient, in such manner that merchandise carried by Netherlands' vessels, or by all others belonging to subjects of Riverain States, coming from, or destined for the said kingdom, may be stored in them for a longer or shorter period, and afterwards forwarded further along the Rhine, or on the other Internal Navigable Communications mentioned in Article IX, crossing the Riverain States, to the interior |