convention have any just cause to object, and the said persons or company shall have made preparations, and expended time, money, and trouble, on the faith of such contract, it is hereby agreed that such persons shall have a priority of claim over every other person or company to the protection 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 undertaking; it being understood that if, at the expiration of the aforesaid period such persons or company shall not be able to commence and carry on the projected enterprise, then the Governments of the United States and Great Britain shall be free to afford their protection to any persons or company that shall be prepared to commence and proceed with the construction of the canal in question.

Art. 8. 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 stipulation 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 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 said 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.

Art. 9. The ratification 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 19th day of April, Anno Domini, 1850.

JOHN M. CLAYTON

(L.S.)

HENRY LYTTON BULWER (L.s.)

THE TEHUANTEPEC TREATY.

No. 3.

CONVENTION BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The Republic of Mexico and the United States of America, being convinced of the benefits which would accrue to both nations from the construction by a company of a transit way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with the view of facilitating communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, have thought proper to encourage such communication, and to that end the Most Excellent Senor President of the Republic of Mexico has fully authorised Senor D. Manuel Gomez Pedraza, and the President of the United States of America has conferred plenary powers on the Hon. Robert Letcher, accredited as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of the North, near the Mexican Government, and the said Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their credentials, which were found to be in good and proper form, have agreed to the following articles :

Article 1. The person to whom the Government of Mexico may have conceded, or hereafter may concede, the privilege of constructing a railway or canal, which, crossing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, may connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and persons employed in the works of construction, shall be protected in their persons and property, from the commencement to the completion of the work, and during the time through which the privilege extends.

Art. 2. In case the Government of Mexico may not be able by itself to give the stipulated protection, the United States of the North shall furnish it effectively with

land and naval forces; and the object of this treaty is to form an alliance between both nations in order to guarantee the protection of the work.

Art. 3. Either of the contracting parties, in order to furnish the said protection, may employ, with the restrictions and modifications hereinafter expressed, the military or naval force which may be judged necessary; and if the forces be those of the United States of the North, they shall be hospitably received in the ports of the Isthmus, and shall be permitted to occupy the line of the work or any part of it that may be thought proper.

Art. 4. The United States of the North shall furnish this assistance only in the event of its being required by the Mexican Government, expressed through the Minister of Relations of Mexico, or in the event of communications between the two Governments being interrupted on the requisition of the Minister Plenipotentiary of Mexico, near the Government of the United States of the North, or on that of its commissioner specially authorised, and residing on the line of the proposed road. The aid shall be rendered in the manner and terms, and only for the time, which the person making the requisition shall specify. In no case shall this auxiliary force be employed against the Mexican functionaries, as these will be compelled by their own Government to fulfil their obligations.

Art. 5. In case any difference arise between the Mexican Government and the present or future grantees (empresarios, which may occasion the loss of the privilege, the complaining party shall make a statement of it purposes and motives, and the other party shall make a similar statement, and both shall be submitted to two arbitrators, who have neither interest in the road nor official connexion with either Government, and who shall reside in Mexican territory. One of these parties shall be named by the holders of the privilege and the other by the Mexi

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can Government, and these two, in case of disagreement, shall name a third having the required qualifications, and there shall be no appeal from the decision of the arbitrators. The Mexican tribunals shall take cognizance of any other questions.

Art. 6. If a loss of the privilege result from the decision of the arbitrators, it (the privilege) shall be sold at public auction under the conditions which the Mexican Government may impose, three months' notice of the sale being given to the public in two of the principal journals of Washington and Mexico. The sale shall be made by a commissioner named by the arbitrators. The product of the sale shall be delivered to the losers of the privilege, deducting for the Mexican Government all the expenses of judgment and sale. The legal excise (alcabala) shall be paid in Mexico. The commissioner shall give security for the management of his trust.

Art. 7. No Government or foreign corporations can acquire the privilege which only private individuals can purchase. The purchasers shall be obliged to prosecute the work to its completion, and to comply with the conditions imposed by the Government of Mexico on the original grantees (concesionarios) or any other conditions which the said Government may legally impose.

Art. 8. The contributions of tolls imposed on the citizens, officers, and property of the United States of the North, shall be the same and no higher than those imposed on the officers, citizens, and property of the United States of Mexico. But all the products of the soil or industry of Mexico shall pass at rates one-fifth less than those imposed on the same class of productions of the United States of the North.

Art. 9. It is agreed that the Government of Mexico shall have full power to concede the same, but not greater privileges than those which are here stipulated in its fa