ARTICLE VII. It being desirable that no time should be unnecessarily lost in commencing and constructing the said canal, the governments of the United States and Great Britain determine to give their support and encouragement to such persons or company as may first offer to commence the same, with the necessary capital, the consent of the local authorities, and on such principles as accord with the spirit and intention of this convention; and if any persons or company should already have, with any state through which the proposed ship-canal may pass, a contract for the construction of such a canal as that specified in this convention, to the stipulations of which contract neither of the contracting parties in this convention have any just cause to object; and the said persons or company shall, moreover, have made preparations, and expended time, money and trouble, on the faith of such contract, it is hereby agreed, that such persons or company shall have a priority of claim, over every other person, persons or company, to the protection of the governments of the United States and Great Britain, and be allowed a year, from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, for concluding their arrangements, and presenting evidence of sufficient capital subscribed to accomplish the contemplated undertaking; it being understood that if, at the expiration of the aforesaid period, such persons or company be not able to commence and carry out the proposed enterprise, then the governments of the United States and Great Britain shall be free to afford their protection to any other persons or company that shall be prepared to commence and proceed with the construction of the canal in question. ARTICLE VIII. The governments of the United States and Great Britain having not only desired, in entering into this convention, to accomplish a particular object, but also to establish a general principle, they hereby agree to extend their protection, by treaty stipulations, to any other practicable communications, whether by canal or railway, across the isthmus which connects North and South America; and especially to the inter-oceanic communications, should the same prove to be practicable, whether by canal or railway, which are now proposed to be established by the way of Tehuantepec or Panama. In granting, however, their joint protection to any such canals or railways as are by this article specified, it is always understood by the United States and Great Britain that the parties constructing or owning the same shall impose no other charges or conditions of traffic thereupon than the aforesaid governments shall approve of, as just and equitable; and that the same canals or railways, being open to the citizens and subjects of the United States and Great Britain on equal terms, shall also be open on like terms to the citizens and subjects of every other state which is willing to grant thereto such protection as the United States and Great Britain engage to afford. ARTICLE IX. The ratifications of this convention shall be exchanged at Washington within six months from this day, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed this convention, and have hereunto affixed our seals. Done at Washington, the nineteenth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty. JOHN M. CLAYTON. [L. S.] [L. S.] PROVISIONS CONCERNING THE NEUTRALIZATION OF THE BLACK SEA AND DANUBE RIVER CONTAINED IN THE GENERAL TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRIA, FRANCE, PRUSSIA, RUSSIA, SARDINIA, AND TURKEY. Signed March 30, 1856. * ARTICLE 11. The Black Sea is neutralized: its waters and its ports, thrown open to the mercantile marine of every nation, are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the flag of war, either of the powers possessing its coasts, or of any other power, with the exceptions mentioned in articles 14 and 19 of the present treaty. ARTICLE 12. Free from any impediment, the commerce in the ports and waters of the Black Sea shall be subject only to regulations of health, customs, and police, framed in a spirit favorable to the development of commercial transactions. In order to afford to the commercial and maritime interests of every nation, the security which is desired, Russia and the Sublime Porte will admit consuls into their ports situated upon the coast of the Black Sea, in conformity with the principles of international law. ARTICLE 13. The Black Sea being neutralized according to the terms of article 11, the maintenance or establishment upon its coast of military-maritime arsenals becomes alike unnecessary and purposeless; in consequence, His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan engage not to establish or to maintain upon that coast any military-maritime arsenal. ARTICLE 14. Their majesties the Emperor of all the Russias and the Sultan having concluded a convention for the purpose of settling the force and the number of light vessels, necessary for the service of their coasts, which they reserve to themselves to maintain in the Black Sea, that convention is annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it formed an integral part thereof. It cannot be either annulled or modified without the assent of the powers signing the present treaty. ARTICLE 15. The Act of the Congress of Vienna having established the principles intended to regulate the navigation of rivers which separate or traverse different states, the contracting powers stipulate, among themselves that those principles shall in future be equally applied to the Danube and its mouths. They declare that this arrangement henceforth forms a part of the public law of Europe, and take it under their guarantee. The navigation of the Danube cannot be subjected to any impediment or charge not expressly provided for by the stipulations contained in the following articles: in consequence, there shall not be levied any toll founded solely upon the fact of the navigation of the river, nor any duty upon the goods which may be on board of vessels. The regulations of police and of quarantine to be established for the safety of the states separated or traversed by that river, shall be so framed as to facilitate, as much as possible, the passage of vessels. With the exception of such regulations, no obstacle whatever shall be opposed to free navigation. ARTICLE 16. With the view to carry out the arrangements of the preceding article, a commission, in which Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, shall each be represented by one delegate, shall be charged to designate and to cause to to be executed the works necessary below Isatcha, to clear the mouths of the Danube, as well as the neighboring parts of the sea, from the sands and other impediments which obstruct them, in order to put that part of the river and the said parts of the sea in the best possible state for navigation. In order to cover the expenses of such works, as well as of the establishments intended to secure and to facilitate the navigation at the mouths of the Danube, fixed duties, of a suitable rate, settled by the commission by a majority of votes, may be levied, on the express condition that, in this respect as in every other, the flags of all nations shall be treated on the footing of perfect equality. * ARTICLE 19. In order to insure the execution of the regulations which shall have been established by common agreement, in conformity with the principles above declared, each of the contracting powers shall have the right to station, at all times, two light vessels at the mouths of the Danube. NEUTRALIZATION OF THE IONIAN ISLANDS. Treaty between Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia and Russia, concerning the annexation of the Ionian Islands by Greece, November 14, 1863. ARTICLE 2. The Ionian Islands, after their union with the Kingdom of Greece, shall enjoy the advantages of perpetual neutrality; and in consequence no armed force, naval or military, can ever be collected or stationed on the territory or in the waters of these islands, beyond the number strictly necessary to maintain public order, and to insure the receipt of the state revenues. The high contracting parties bind themselves to respect the principle of neutrality provided for in the present article. ARTICLE 3. As a necessary consequence of the neutrality which the United States of the Ionian Islands are thus called upon to enjoy, the fortifications constructed in the Island of Corfu and in its immediate dependencies, being purposeless henceforth, shall be demolished, and their destruction shall be accomplished before the withdrawal of the troops employed by Great Britain to occupy these islands in its character of protecting power. This destruction shall be performed in the manner which Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall deem sufficient to fulfill the intentions of the high contracting parties.1 Treaty between Great Britain, France and Russia, on the one part, and Greece on the other, March 29, 1864. * ARTICLE 2. The courts of Great Britain, France and Russia, in their character of guaranteeing powers for Greece, declare, with the consent of the courts of Austria and Prussia, that the islands of Corfu and Paxo, as well as their dependencies, after their union with the Kingdom of Greece, shal! enjoy the advantages of perpetual neutrality. His majesty the king of the Greeks, binds himself on his part, to maintain this neutrality. 1 This provision was modified in the treaty finally entered into with Greece as the quotation following shows. |