[Slave Trade.]

sideration of the King, it is agreed that it would be advisable to preface, by a few observations, the verbal communication to be made to the King and to his administration, in order that His Majesty may be induced voluntarily to make the arrangement in question, and thus reap the advantage of an initiative, which will remove the idea in the interior of the kingdom of a tendency towards reaction, and will conciliate to the King, in Foreign Countries, the suffrages of the partisans of liberal ideas.

A confidential representation is to be made to the King accordingly.

Paris, 26th July, 1815.

CASTLEREAGH.

METTERNICH.

NESSELRODE.

HUMBOLDT.

[Dutch Proprietors. Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice.]

No. 32.-CONVENTION between Great Britain and the Netherlands, relative to Dutch Proprietors in Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. Signed at London, 12th August,

1. Trade of Dutch Proprietors in Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, with the Netherlands. Nationality of Vessels.

2. Import and Export Duties.

3. Privileges of Dutch Proprietors. Negroes. 4. Foreclosure of Mortgages, &c.

5. Privileges of Dutch Proprietors.

6. Description of Dutch Proprietors.

7. Supplies for Mortgaged Estates, &c.

8. Declaration to be made by Proprietors.

9. Double Mortgages.

10. Annual Lists of Proprietors and Estates. 11. Berbice Association.

12. Judicial Decisions, &c.

13. Fairness and Impartiality.

14. Modifications.

15. Operation of Treaty.

16. Ratification.

(English version.)*

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being equally desirous of promoting and cementing the harmony and good understanding so happily established between the two countries, by carrying into immediate execution that part of the provisions of the Ist Additional Article of the Convention of the 13th of August, 1814 (No. 5), which stipulates that the subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being Proprietors in the Colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, shall be at liberty (under certain regulations) to carry on trade between the said settlements and the territories in Europe of His said Majesty, have nominated for their Plenipotentiaries, viz.,

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Henry Earl Bathurst, a Member of His Majesty's * For Dutch Version, see "State Papers," vol. iii, p. 386.

[Dutch Proprietors. Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice.]

Most Honorable Privy Council, and one of his Principal Secretaries of State;

And his Majesty the King of the Netherlands, the Sieur Henry Baron Fagel, a Member of the Corps des Nobles of the Province of Holland, and his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty:

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective Full Powers, found in due and proper form, have agreed to the following Articles:

Trade of Dutch Proprietors with the Netherlands. Nationality of Vessels.

ART. I. It is hereby agreed for the space of 5 years from the 1st of January, 1816, the aforesaid trade may be carried on in any ships being the property of subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, wheresoever built, and without any restriction or limitation as to the mariners navigating them: but at the expiration of the said five years, or as much sooner as His Majesty the King of the Netherlands shall think proper, such trade shall be carried on only in such ships as are Dutch built, and whereof the Master and three-fourths of the crew are subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.

Import and Export Duties.

ART. II. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands reserves to himself the liberty of imposing such duties as he may think fit, upon the importation into the European dominions of his said Majesty, of the produce of the Colonies in question; and vice versâ, with regard to exportation: but the duties to be paid within the Colonies shall be applicable to the Dutch, as well as to the British trade.

Privileges of Dutch Proprietors. Negroes.

ART. III. The subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, being Proprietors in the said Colonies, shall be at perfect liberty to go to the said Colonies, and to return, without being subjected in this respect to any delay or difficulty; or to appoint persons to act for them in the management of the said intercourse, or of their properties in the said Colonies; subject, however, during their residence there, to the laws and regulations of the same.

[Dutch Proprietors. Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice.]

They shall also have full liberty to dispose of their Property in any manner in which they may think fit: but it is understood that in regard to Negroes, they are to be subject to the same restrictions as British subjects.

Foreclosure of Mortgages, &c.

ART. IV. In order to protect the Proprietors of Estates in the said Colonies from the ruinous effects of the immediate foreclosure of Mortgages due to the subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, it is further agreed, that in all cases in which the proprietor of an estate shall offer to the holder of any mortgage on the said estate, made prior to the 1st of January, 1814 (such mortgagee being a subject of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands), the security hereinafter specified, such mortgagee shall not be at liberty to proceed to the immediate or summary foreclosure of the said mortgage; it being however understood, that in all cases in which no such security shall be offered by the proprietor, the mortgagee shall retain all those rights as to foreclosure, to which he is at present entitled.

The security in question must provide that the mortgagee shall receive, at the expense of the Proprietor of the estate, a new mortgage for the whole amount of the debt now due to him, including both that part of the original debt which has not been discharged, and the interest which may have accrued upon it up to the 31st December, 1814, inclusive. That this security shall reserve to the mortgagee that priority of claim over other mortgagees and creditors to which he is entitled under his original mortgage; that it shall bear an annual interest, beginning from the 1st of January, 1815, at the same rate, and payable in the same manner, as that which was payable under the original mortgage; and that the whole amount of the new debt shall be payable by eight annual instalments, the first of which is to become payable on the 1st of January, 1820.

The new security shall also afford to the mortgagee all those means of legal redress, in the event of non-payment of the interest, or omission to discharge the principal when due, and all those other privileges and advantages to which he would be entitled under his existing mortgage, and shall place him, with respect to the debt for which the new security is given, in the same situation as he stood with respect to his original claim upon the estate, excepting only in what relates to the period at which

[Dutch Proprietors. Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice.]

the payment may be demanded, so that no later creditor shall derive, from this arrangement, any power to affect the rights of the original creditor, and that no further suspension of payment (surchéance) beyond that herein agreed upon, shall take place without the original creditor's especial consent.

It is further agreed, that in order to entitle the mortgagee to receive the security specified in this Article, he shall, as soon as the said security is duly recorded in the said Colony and delivered to the mortgagee or his agent, in the Colony (the expenses of such record being defrayed by the Proprietors), deliver up to be cancelled the mortgages or bonds originally granted to him, or exhibit legal proof that the said mortgages and bonds have been duly cancelled, and are no longer of any value.

It is further expressly agreed, that, with the exceptions of the modifications specified in this Article, the rights of mortgagees and creditors shall remain intact.

Privileges of Dutch Proprietors.

ART. V. It is agreed that all Dutch proprietors, acknowledged to be such by the present Convention, shall be entitled to supply their Estates from the Netherlands with the usual articles of supply; and in return, to export to the Netherlands the produce of the said estates. But that all other importation of goods from the Netherlands into the Colonies, or export of produce from the Colonies to the Netherlands, shall be strictly prohibited; and it is further agreed, that the exportation of all such articles as may be prohibited to be exported to those Colonies from the British dominions, shall be also prohibited to be exported from the Netherlands.

Description of Dutch Proprietors.

ART. VI. By Dutch Proprietors are to be understood:

1st. All subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands resident in his said Majesty's European dominions, who are at present Proprietors in the said Colonies.

2udly. All subjects of His said Majesty who may hereafter become possessed of Estates now belonging to Dutch Proprietors therein.

3rdly. All such Proprietors as being now resident in the above Colonies, and being natives of the Netherlands, may (by virtue of Article VIII of the present Convention) declare that they wish to continue to be considered as such; and