Page images
PDF
EPUB

Tomo, tributary of the Guainía, at the point indicated by the coordinates 2° 1' 26.65" north latitude and 6° 28' 59.8" longitude east of Bogotá or 24° 26' 38.58" west of Rio Janeiro.

Sec. 3. The frontier shall continue toward the west by the highest part of the sinuous land that separates the waters that flow north from those that flow south, until it encounters the Caparro ridge, and leaving which it shall continue always by the highest part of the land that divides the waters that go to the river Guainía from those that flow to the river Cuiary or Iquiare, until it reaches the principal source of the river Memachi, a tributary of the river Naquieni, which in its turn is a tributary of the Guainía.

Sec. 4. Leaving the principal source of the Memachi in 2° 1′ 27.03" north latitude and 5° 51′ 15.8" longitude east of Bogotá or 25° 4′ 22.65′′ west of Rio Janeiro, the frontier line shall follow by the highest part of the land to the principal source of the tributary of the Cuiary or Iquiare that is nearest to the source of the Memachi, continuing along the course of said tributary until its confluence with the said Cuiare or Iquiare.

Sec. 5. From this confluence the frontier line shall follow down the thalweg of the said Cuiary to the place where the river Pegua, a left bank tributary, enters it, and from the confluence of the Pegua with the Cuiary the line shall follow toward the west and by the parallel of said confluence until it encounters the meridian that passes through the confluence of the Kerary with the Uaupés.

Sec. 6. On encountering the meridian of the confluence of the river Kerary or Cairary with the river Uaupés the line shall follow down said meridian to the said confluence, and thence by the thalweg of the river Uaupés to the confluence of the Capury, a right bank tributary of the said river Uaupés near the cascade of Jauarité.

Sec. 7. From the confluence of the said river Capury the line shall follow toward the west by the thalweg of the said Capury and to its source. near 69° 30′ longitude west of Greenwich, going along the meridian of such source to the Taraíra, thence following by the thalweg of said Taraíra until its confluence with the Apaporis to the latter's confluence with the Yapurá or Caquetá, where the part of the frontier established by this treaty stops; there thus being defined the line from Piedra del Cocuv to the mouth of the Apaporis, and the rest of the frontier disputed between the two countries, being subject to a later arrangement in case Colombia is victorious in its other suits with Perú and Ecuador.

ARTICLE II.

A mixed commission named by the two governments within a year from the exchange of ratifications shall proceed to the demarkation of the frontier established by this treaty.

Sec. 1. By special protocols the organization and instructions for the work of this mixed commission shall be agreed upon, and said commission shall finish its labors within eight months after it is named.

Sec. 2. It remains agreed by these presents that in connecting up and completing the line the circles parallel to the equator and the meridians. shall be followed in preference to any oblique lines wherever it is made necessary by the absence of natural landmarks.

ARTICLE III.

All doubts that may arise during the demarkation shall be amicably resolved by the High Contracting Parties, to whom said doubts shall be submitted by their respective commissioners without prejudice to the continuance of the demarkation.

If the two governments can not come to a direct agreement they declare by these presents their intention of abiding by the decision of an arbiter.

ARTICLE IV.

The two High Contracting Parties shall conclude within the space of twelve months a treaty of commerce and navigation based on the principle of the most ample liberty of terrestrial and fluvial transport and navigation for both nations, a right that they reciprocally recognize to each other in perpetuity from the moment of the approval of this treaty, in all the courses of the rivers that rise or flow within the limits of the region determined by the frontier line established by it, with the obligation of observing the fiscal and police regulations established or that may be established in the territory of each, regulations that in no event shall establish greater burdens or formalities for the boats, goods and persons of Colombians in Brazil than those which have been or may be established in Brazil for native Brazilians or in Colombia for native Colombians.

Colombian boats intended for the navigation of these rivers may communicate freely with the ocean by the Amazon. Such regulations must be as favorable as possible for navigation and commerce, and shall be as like as possible in the two countries. Nevertheless it is understood

and declared that in such navigation is not included that from port to port of the same country, or fluvial interior trade, which shall continue subject in each of the two states to their respective laws.

ARTICLE V.

This treaty after being duly and regularly approved in the Republic of Colombia and in the Republic of the United States of Brazil, shall be ratified by the two Executives and the ratifications exchanged in the city of Bogotá or in that of Rio de Janeiro within the shortest possible time.

In faith whereof we, the Plenipotentiaries of both Republics, have signed these presents and sealed them with our personal seals in Bogotá, on the twenty-fourth of April, nineteen hundred and seven.

[blocks in formation]

AGREEMENT OF MODUS VIVENDI ON THE PUTUMAYO BETWEEN COLOMBIA AND BRAZIL.

Signed at Bogotá, April 24, 1907.

The Governments of Colombia and Brazil with the purpose of developing the navigation and the commercial relations between their respective countries by the river Iça or Putumayo have agreed on the celebration of a modus vivendi with said object, and for this purpose General Alfredo Vázquez Cobo, Minister of Foreign Relations of Colombia, and D:. Enéas Martins, Brazilian Minister Resident on Special Mission, have met in the Ministry of Foreign Relations and discussed and agreed in the name of their respective Governments, being duly authorized by them. according to the full powers that they exhibit, the following:

ARTICLE I.

Colombian and Brazilian merchant ships may communicate freely with the ports that Colombia and Brazil have or may open on the river Iça or Putumayo, exempt from any charges except lighthouse or similar dues intended to be expended in aiding navigation, and said ships being subject to the fiscal and police regulations established by the competent authorities of each of the two countries for its respective territory. The Colombian ships intended for the navigation of the Putumayo may communicate freely with the ocean by the Amazon.

ARTICLE II.

As long as the present agreement lasts the custom house despatching of goods of foreign origin shipped to Colombia by the Amazon and the Iça or Putumayo may be done in the custom houses of Manaos or Belen (Pará) as ports of deposit according to Brazilian legislation.

The exportation of Colombian products may also be made by said custom houses, always provided that said products come duly accompanied by certificates of origin made at the places of production by Colombian authorities and authenticated by the authorities of the Brazilian fiscal post of the Iça.

ARTICLE III.

Brazil will permit, their number having been notified, the passage on the Amazon and Iça of Colombian men-of-war that may be going to waters of Colombian jurisdiction in the Putumayo. Reciprocally Colombia will permit the navigation of the waters of her jurisdiction in the Putumayo by Brazilian men-of-war.

Said ships shall be subject to fiscal and police regulations in case they take on board goods in the respective ports.

ARTICLE IV.

The present modus vivendi shall begin to take effect immediately, and shall last until denounced or modified by mutual agreement of the two Governments.

In faith whereof they sign and seal with their personal seals the present Convention in Bogotá the twenty-fourth day of April, nineteen hundred and seven.

(L. s.)

(L. s.)

ALFREDO VÁZQUEZ COBO.
ENÉAS MARTINS.

THE MOROCCAN QUESTION: RECOGNITION OF MULAI HAFID.

The Franco-Spanish Note to the Powers, September 14, 1908.

The decision which Sultan Abd el Aziz has just taken in renouncing the struggle against Mulai Hafid, places before the powers a situation. which requires their examination. The very attitude which they have maintained during the course of the conflict, their understanding con

cerning their common interests in Morocco and the principles upon which they have already agreed when they had to examine the Moroccan question at Algeciras, make very easy an agreement upon this situation. France and Spain, charged with ensuring the execution of the most important measures taken by the conference of Algeciras for safeguarding the foreign colonies in the shereefian empire, and especially interested in Moroccan affairs because of their character of neighboring powers, believe it their duty to submit to the Cabinets observations suggested to them by the substitution of a new de facto government for the Makhzen of Abd el Aziz.

It appears at once, and that will doubtless be the unanimous feeling of the powers, that it is desirable upon this occasion, to affirm, as regards Morocco, their unity and complete agreement, and it seems that the best method of establishing the necessary understanding is to admit the rule that the various governments will withhold official recognition of the new makhzen only until guarantees and satisfaction have been obtained common to all foreign interests.

The French and Spanish governments believe that the guarantees to be obtained from the new makhzen should bear upon the following points:

The new sultan should declare his adherence generally to all the provisions of the Act of Algeciras as well as to all the rules of application, provided for in that act, which have already been established and approved by the diplomatic corps at Tangier, to the commissions instituted in virtue of these regulations, to the shereefian decisions and measures of whatever kind, taken in regard to this subject.

It should not be forgotten, in fact, that if this act constitutes the international consecration of the independence of the shereefian empire, it assures at the same time the safety of the foreign interests in Morocco. The rights conferred upon France and Spain, with the consent of the powers, for the surveillance upon the sea of contraband arms, should be confirmed as well.

The new government should accept as a whole the other treaties and engagements concluded by the preceding sovereigns of Morocco. with the powers, the arrangements made with the diplomatic corps and contracts with individuals; it should assume also the responsibility for the debts contracted by Abd el Aziz. Debts signed for the benefit of individuals should be submitted to a verification of which the conditions will be determined later.

« PreviousContinue »