times the amount necessary to provide for the interest and sinking fund charges upon its public debt.

5. The accounts of the General Receiver shall be rendered monthly to the Ministry of Finance and Commerce of the Dominican Republic and to the State Department of the United States and shall be subject to examination and verification by the appropriate officers of the Dominican and the United States Governments.

6. The determination of any controversy which may arise between the Contracting Parties in the carrying out of the provisions of this Convention shall, should the two Governments be unable to come to an agreement through diplomatic channels, be by arbitration. In the carrying out of this agreement in each individual case, the Contracting Parties, once the necessity of arbitration is determined, shall conclude a special agreement defining clearly the scope of the dispute, the scope of the powers of the arbitrators, and the periods to be fixed for the formation of the arbitral tribunal and the several stages of the procedure. The special agreement providing for arbitration shall, in all cases, be signed within a period of three months from the date upon which either one of the Contracting Parties shall notify the other Contracting Party of its desire to resort to arbitration. It is understood that on the part of the United States, such special agreements will be made by the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereto, and on the part of the Dominican Republic, shall be subject to the procedure required by the Constitution and laws thereof.

7. This agreement shall take effect after its approval by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their respective Constitutional methods. Upon the exchange of ratifications of this convention, which shall take place at Washington as soon as possible, the Convention between the United States of America and the Dominican Republic providing for the assistance of the United States in the collection and application of the customs revenues, concluded and signed at the City of Santo Domingo on the 8th day of February, 1907, shall be deemed to be abrogated.

Done in duplicate in the English and Spanish languages at the City of Washington this 27th day of December, 1924. CHARLES EVANS HUGHES. (Seal) J. C. ARIZA.

(Seal)

THE CONSTITUTION of the Republic of Esthonia.June 15, 1920.

(Translation.)

THE Esthonian people, with unshaken faith and the resolute will to create a State based on justice, law and liberty, for the defence of internal and external peace, and as a pledge for the social progress and general welfare of present and future generations, has drawn up and accepted through the Constituent Assembly the Constitution as follows:

I.-General Dispositions.

1. Esthonia is an independent autonomous republic, in which the power of the State is in the hands of the people. 2. To the territory of Esthonia belong Harjumaa, Läänemaa, Järvamaa, Virumaa, with the town of Narva and district, Tartumaa, Viljandimaa, Pärnumaa, the town of Walk, Wörumaa, Petsirimaa and other border regions inhabited by Esthonians, the islands of Saaremaa (Oesel), Muhumaa (Moon) and Hiiumaa (Dago), and other islands and reefs situated in Esthonian waters.

The delimitation of the Esthonian frontiers will be determined by international treaties.

3. The Esthonian State power cannot be exercised by anybody otherwise than on the basis of the Constitution and the laws passed in accordance with the Constitution.

4. The laws in force in Esthonia are those passed or recognised by her own institutions. The generally accepted precepts of international law are valid in Esthonia as an inseparable part of her juridical order.

Ignorance of the law can in no case be pleaded as an

excuse.

5. The State language of the Esthonian Republic is Esthonian.

II. On the Fundamental Rights of Esthonian Citizens.

6. All Esthonian citizens are equal in the eyes of law. There cannot be any public privileges or prejudices derived from birth, religion, sex, rank or nationality. In Esthonia there are no legal class divisions or titles.

7. The Esthonian Republic confers no decorations or marks of distinction on its citizens, excepting members of the defence forces in time of war. Esthonian citizens have likewise no right to accept orders or distinctions from foreign States.

8. Personal inviolability is guaranteed in Esthonia. No one can be prosecuted, except in cases and ways provided by the law. Unless caught in flagrante delicto no person can be

arrested or his personal liberty be restricted otherwise than by decision of the judicial authorities; and this decision, with Îl reasons, must be communicated to the person arrested at the latest three days after arrest. Any citizen has the right to demand the communication of the above decision to the imprisoned person, if this has not been done in the period mentioned.

It is unlawful to transfer any citizen against his will for trial by any other court than the one designated by the law. 9. No punishment can be inflicted on anybody for a deed not acknowledged by the law as punishable before the crime was committed.

10. The homestead is inviolable. No forcible entrance of the home or search there is allowed, except in cases and in execution of the requirements indicated by law.

11. In Esthonia there is freedom of religion and conscience. Nobody is obliged to perform ritualistic acts or to be a member of a religious body or undertake public obligations in the interests of same.

The practice of religious acts is not hindered, provided it does not interfere with public order or morals.

Creed and views cannot be made the excuse for any offence or for the evasion of the duties of a citizen.

There is no State religion in Esthonia.

12. Science, art and the teaching of same are free in Esthonia. Education is compulsory for children arrived at the school age, and is gratuitous in elementary schools. The minority nationalities are guaranteed education in their mother tongue. Education is carried out under the control of Government.

Autonomy is guaranteed to high schools within the limits provided by the statutes of the institutions passed in legislative manner.

13. In Esthonia there is freedom for the expression of personal ideas in words, print, letters, pictures and sculpture. This freedom can be restricted only in the defence of the State and morals.

There is no censorship in Esthonia.

14. In Esthonia the secrecy of messages and letters transmitted through the post, telegraph, telephone and by any other general means is guaranteed. Exception can only be made by the judicial authorities in cases provided by law.

15. The right to apply or address complaints to public departments is guaranteed in Esthonia. The applications or complaints must not be accompanied by coercive measures. The departments in question are bound to give the matter legal attention.

16. Previous permission need not be obtained for the arraignment of Government officials.

17. Removal and change of domicile are free in Esthonia. In this freedom nobody can be restricted or hindered otherwise than by the judicial authorities.

In the interests of public health such freedom can be restricted also by other authorities in cases and in ways provided in the corresponding laws.

18. All Esthonian citizens have the right to hold public meetings unarmed, provided that they are not disturbing to the public peace.

The forming of associations and unions is free in Esthonia. Freedom to strike is guaranteed in Esthonia.

The law can restrict these rights only in the interests of public safety.

19. Liberty in the choice of occupation, the opening of business concerns and exploitation of same, as well as in agriculture, commerce and industry as in other economic branches, is guaranteed in Esthonia. Nobody can be restricted or hindered in this freedom otherwise than on the basis and within the limits of the laws.

20. Every Esthonian citizen is free to determine his or her nationality. In cases where individual choice is impossible, it will be done in the way provided by law.

21. The members of minority nationalities within the confines of Esthonia may form corresponding autonomous institutions for the promotion of the interests of their national culture and welfare, in so far as these do not run counter to the interests of the State.

22. In those districts where the majority of the inhabitants are not Esthonian but local minority nationals, the business language in the local self-government institutions can be in the language of these minority nationals, whilst everybody has the right to use the language of the State in such institutions. The local self-government institutions in which the language of the minority is used must in their intercourse with State institutions employ the State language, as also with other local self-government institutions, where the language of this minority nationality is not used.

23. Citizens of German, Russian and Swedish nationality have the right to address themselves to the State central institutions in their own language. The use of the language of these nationals in court, as also in the institution of selfgovernment, will be decided in detail by special law.

24. The right of private property is guaranteed in Esthonia to every citizen. Without the owner's consent it can be expropriated only in the common interest in accordance with the corresponding laws and in the ways provided in the laws.

25. The organisation of the economic life in Esthonia must correspond with the principles of justice, the object of

which is the securing of conditions of living worthy of human beings by corresponding laws relating to the acquisition of land for cultivation and a home, and the obtaining of employment, as well as the necessary support for the protection of maternity, labour, youth, old age, disability and in cases of accident.

26. The rights and freedom of citizens referred to in paragraphs 6-24 do not exclude other rights emanating from the principles of this constitution or which are in agreement with it.

Extraordinary restrictions of the freedom and fundamental rights of the citizens come into force in the event of the proclamation of a State of Defence during a stated period, announced in the legal way on the basis and within the limits of the corresponding laws.

III. On the People.

27. The supreme executor of the State power in Esthonia is the people itself, through the medium of the citizens having the right to vote. Every citizen arrived at the age of 20 and of Esthonian citizenship for a consecutive period of at least one year has the right to vote.

28. Citizens are not enfranchised

(a.) Who, in a legal manner are pronounced to be idiots. or lunatics; and

(b.) The blind, deaf-mutes, and persons considered as spendthrifts when they have been placed under guardianship.

The vote will be withheld from certain categories of criminals, according to the electoral law of the State Assembly.

29. The people exercises the State power

(a.) By plebiscite;

(b.) By their initiative in legislation; and

(c.) By the election of the State Assembly.

30. Every law passed by the State Assembly remains unpromulgated for a period of two months, dating from the day of its passing, if one-third of the legal number of members of the State Assembly requires it. If, during this period, 25,000 enfranchised citizens demand that this law be submitted to a plebiscite for acceptance or rejection, the promulgation or non-promulgation of this particular law will depend on the results of this plebiscite.

31. The procedure followed in the legislative initiative of the people is that 25,000 of the enfranchised citizens have the right to require that a law shall be passed, changed, or cancelled. The respective request in the form of an elaborated draft will be submitted to the State Assembly. The State Assembly can either pass this draft as a law or