in the maintenance or improvement of the same after its completion; and during the construction of the canal and its accessories, all supplies, whether personal or otherwise, except tobacco, spirits, or wines, used by those engaged in the work, shall be free of any customs or other tax, but no such supplies shall be permitted to be sold to those not actually engaged in the work, or to be smuggled into or sold in the interior.

All vessels in the service of the canal and its accessories, with their equipments and outfits, arriving at any port of Nicaragua from any point whatever, shall be free of all duties and port charges.

ARTICLE XIII. For and in consideration of the preceding articles the United States of America agree to furnish the money and to build the said canal and its accessories, including, if found advisable, the said railway and telegraph line, together with all docks, locks, machine shops, repair shops, annexes, machinery, feeders, &c., it being the intent of this agreement that the United States of America shall build and complete the canal, with everything appertaining thereto, for the safe and speedy passage of the vessels herein before described, and for through communication between ocean and ocean, and such loading and repairing as may be necessary, at their sole cost and without expense to the Government of Nicaragua.

ARTICLE XIV. The United States shall have exclusive control of the construction of the canal and railway and telegraph line if the same be built, and shall be invested with all the rights and powers necessary thereto. The management, care, and protection of the canal and its accessories, including the said railway and telegraph line if built, under the general supervision of the two Governments, shall be entrusted to a Board of Managers, which shall consist of six members, three of whom shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, should the Senate be in session; or, should the Senate not be in session the three members shall be appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate at its next session, and three by the Republic of Nicaragua. Any vacancy which may occur among the members of the Board appointed by the President of the United States shall be filled by the said President, in the manner provided in the United States for filling vacant government offices, and any vacancy which may occur among the members of the Board appointed by the President of Nicaragua shall be filled by the said President in the manner provided in Nicaragua for filling vacant government offices. This Board shall be designated as soon as the canal is ready for traffic, and shall determine all questions by a majority vote. The chairman of the Board shall be one of the members appointed by the President of the United States and designated as chairman by him, and in case of a tie the chairman shall have an additional vote. This Board shall be entrusted with the general executive management of the canal and its accessories, including said railway and telegraph line when built, and of all matters relating to the maintenance or improvement thereof; shall fix the tolls and provide rules and regulations for the management thereof; their action shall be, however, at all times, subject to a joint direction by the Presidents of the two Republics, which they shall be bound to implicitly obey. The said Board of Managers shall have the right and power to levy and collect for steamers, ships, and vessels of every class entering the canal or the ports at the canal entrances, and for passengers, merchandise, and cargo of all kinds, transit, navigation, tonnage, light, and port dues, as well as for towage, storage, anchorage, wharfage, and hospital dues and all other like fees.

The Government of Nicaragua guarantees the enforcement of the regulation so adopted by the Board of Managers as if issued by the Government of Nicaragua.

The tolls herein before provided shall be equal as to vessels of the parties hereto and of all nations, except that vessels entirely owned and commanded by citizens of either one of the parties to this convention and engaged in its coasting trade may be favored.

Nicaraguan vessels, using a portion only of the canal, shall pay proportionate tolls, and shall pay no tolls where the canal shall use any part of any existing navigable waterway.

ARTICLE XV. The books and affairs of the said Board of Managers shall be subject to such inspection or examination as the President of either Republic shall at any time direct. The Board of Managers shall, on the first days of January, April, July, and October, in each and every year, make to the President of each Republic a full and complete report of their transactions during the preceding quarter, and the President of either Republic may, at any time, call upon them for such other or further information as he may deem expedient.

The Board of Managers shall appoint and remove all officers engaged upon the canal and its accessories, including the railway and telegraph line, and may make regulations for the appointment and removal of all subordinate employés.

ARTICLE XVI. All the proceeds of the canal and its accessories, including said railway and telegraph line, shall be applied:

First. To the maintenance and improvement, if found necessary, of the works, including the salaries of the Board of Managers and all officers and others employed.

Second. The balance shall be paid to the two Governments in the following proportions, viz, to Nicaragua, one-third, and to the United States, two-thirds.

Liquidation of the accounts of the Board of Managers and payment of the balances herein prescribed shall be effected quarterly, on the first days of January, April, July, and October in each and every year.

ARTICLE XVII. The Government of Nicaragua grants to the United States during the construction of the canal and its accessories, and to the Board of Managers thereafter, the right to use any of the ports of the Republic open to commerce as places of refuge for the vessels in the service of the canal and its accessories, or for any other vessels whatever having the right to pass the canal and wishing to anchor in said ports, and these vessels shall be free of all dues or charges of any kind on the part of the Republic of Nicaragua.

ARTICLE XVIII. The United States frankly disavow any intention to in any way seek to impair the independent sovereignty of Nicaragua, or to aggrandize themselves at the expense of that State or of any of her sister republics in Central America; but, on the contrary, desire to strengthen the power of free republics on this continent, and to promote and develop their prosperity and independence. Pursuant to this wish they have united with Nicaragua in the construction of this work, which will be of advantage not only to the two nations most intimately concerned, but to all those with whom they are on terms of friendship.

ARTICLE XIX. If, in virtue of any existing treaty between the Republic of Nicaragua and a third power, privileges or rights are stipulated in favor of such third power in respect of an interoceanic transitway, which may not be compatible with the terms of the present convention, the Republic of Nicaragua engages to terminate such treaty in due

form by giving to the said third power the stipulated notification within two months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications hereof; and if such treaty between Nicaragua and any third power contain no termination clause, the Republic of Nicaragua engages to procure its abrogation or modification so as not to conflict with the present compact, and the United States will use their good offices, if need be, to the end of effecting such abrogation or modification.

ARTICLE XX. The United States of America engage to begin effective work on the canal within two years from the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, and to complete the canal within ten years after beginning it, in default of which this treaty shall become inoperative: Provided, however, That should there arise insuperable obstacles to retard the work during this term it shall be prolonged in proportion to the time lost by reason of such obstacles. And further, if at the expiration of the said ten years the canal shall not be open to commerce between the two oceans, then, in consideration of the large capital invested in the work and of the good faith and ability shown, as well as of the difficulties encountered, the Republic of Nicaragua binds itself to extend this period so far as it is just and necessary.

ARTICLE XXI. Any difficulties between the parties hereto shall be submitted to the arbitration of a friendly power, if one can be agreed upon; or, failing such agreement, each party shall request a friendly nation to name an arbitrator, and the arbitrators thus named shall select a third. The decision of the arbitrating power, or a majority of the Board of Arbitrators, as the case may be, shall be final and conclusive.

ARTICLE XXII. The United States will aid by their good offices, if desired, in securing the union of the five Central American Republics under one representative government, and the reorganization of the said Republics in one nationality being accomplished, the Central American Republics shall have the same rights and bear the same obligations as Nicaragua has and bears by virtue of this treaty.

ARTICLE XXIII. It appearing that the financial condition of Nicaragua is prosperous, that the Republic is without incumbrance of debt, and that the Government finds it necessary to finish as soon as possible certain railways within the Republic, to extend its telegraph line, and to improve the navigation of the river San Juan, which enterprises will be of aid to the canal and favorable to its speedy construction and successful operation, the Government of the United States agrees to loan to the Government of Nicaragua the sum of four millions of dollars to be applied to the above enumerated projects. Of this amount one million dollars shall be paid in the city of Washington within ninety days after the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, and the remaining three millions in installments of five hundred thousand dollars each every six months thereafter until the whole amount shall have been paid; but a failure to pay any of these sums from accident or non action of Congress at the exact dates herein specified, such payments being made thereafter in good faith, shall not be held as affecting in any way the other engagements of this convention.

The Government of Nicaragua agrees that the Government of the United States shall be credited with and receive the share of Nicaragua in the net revenues of the canal to be applied to the payment of this loan until it shall have been entirely extinguished with the interest thereon at three per centum per annum from the dates when the several sums shall be received by Nicaragua, and the Republic of Nicaragua may vote yearly through its Congress an additional sum from the gen

eral revenues of the Republic to be applied to the payment of this loan and to aid in its speedy extinguishment.

And further, the Government of Nicaragua, assuming the repayment of said loan, binds itself to consider it, until extinguished, together with the interest thereon as herein before provided, as a lien upon all rights of Nicaragua in the canal, its accessories and appliances, this lien to continue until the repayment of the sum so advanced with the interest; but the repayment is not to be exacted until ten years after the said canal shall have been completed and opened to commerce.

ARTICLE XXIV. Neither of the parties to this convention shall sell, assign, or otherwise alienate or suffer itself to be deprived of, its, or any part of its, interest, right, or property in or to the said canal, railway or telegraph line, should the same be built, or their or any other adjuncts or accessories or any of the works or establishments pertaining thereto without the consent of the other manifested by legislative enactment. ARTICLE XXV. This treaty is concluded subject to ratification by the proper constitutional authority of each party hereto and to the legislation by the appropriate legislative bodies of each which is necessary to carry it into effect. It shall be ratified as soon as possible, but within two years from its date, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged in the city of Washington within six months from the approval by the said legislative bodies of Nicaragua and of the United States of the present treaty.

In testimony whereof, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have hereunto affixed their hands and seals.

Done in duplicate, in the English and Spanish languages, in Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four.

FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. [SEAL.]
JOAQ'N ZAVALA.

[SEAL.]

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, between the United States of America and the Republic of Nicaragua, was concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentiaries, at the city of Managua, on the twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, which treaty, being in the English and Spanish languages, is word for word as follows:

TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA.

The United States of America and the Republic of Nicaragua desiring to maintain and to improve the good understanding and the friendly relations which now happily exist between them, to promote the commerce of their citizens, and to make some mutual arrangement with respect to a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, by the river San Juan, and either or both the lakes of Nicaragua and Managau, or by any other route through the territories of Nicaragua, have agreed for this purpose to conclude a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, and have accordingly named as their respective

plenipotentiaries, that is to say: the President of the United States, Andrew B. Dickinson, minister resident and extraordinary to Nicaragua, and his excellency the President of the Republic of Nicaragua, Señor Licenciado Don Tomas Ayon, minister of foreign relations, who, after communicating to each other their full powers, found in due and proper form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

There shall be perpetual amity between the United States and their citizens on the one part, and the government of the Republic of Nicaragua and its citizens of the other.

ARTICLE II.

There shall be between all the territories of the United States and the territories of the Republic of Nicaragua a reciprocal freedom of commerce. The subjects and citizens of the two countries, respectively, shall have full liberty freely and securely to come with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and rivers in the territories aforesaid to which other foreigners are or may be permitted to come, to enter into the same, and to remain and reside in any part thereof, respectively; also to hire and occupy houses and warehouses for the purposes of their commerce; and generally the merchants and traders of each nation, respectively, shall enjoy the most complete protection and security for their commerce, subject always to the laws and statutes of the two countries, respectively. In like manner the respective ships of war and post-office packets of the two countries shall have liberty freely and securely to come to all harbors, rivers, and places to which other foreign ships of war and packets are or may be permitted to come, to enter the same, to anchor, and to remain there and refit, subject always to the laws and statutes of the two countries, respectively.

By the right of entering places, ports, and rivers, mentioned in this article, the privilege of carrying on the coasting trade is not understood; in which trade national vessels only of the country where the trade is carried on are permitted to engage.

ARTICLE III.

It being the intention of the two high contracting parties to bind themselves by the two preceding articles to treat each other on the footing of the most favored nations, it is hereby agreed between them that any favor, privilege, or immunity whatever, in matters of commerce and navigation, which either contracting party has actually granted, or may grant hereafter, to the subjects or citizens of any other State, shall be extended to the subjects or citizens of the other contracting party gratuitously, if the concession in favor of that other nation shall have been gratuitous, or in return for a compensation, as nearly as possible of a proportionate value and effect, to be adjusted by mutual agreement, if the concession shall have been conditional.

ARTICLE IV.

No higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the territories of the United States of any article being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the republic of Nicaragua, and no higher