[Boundary of Montenegro.] No. 316. PROTOCOL of CONFERENCE between the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia, respecting the closing of the Montenegrin Boundary Commission. Constantinople, 17th April, 1860.* (Translation.) THE Representatives of the 5 Powers having taken into consideration, in the presence of His Excellency Fuad Pasha, the Collective Report of the Commissioners for the Delimitation of Montenegro, dated 26th March, and the Documents annexed thereto, have acknowledged as deserving their attention, and as laid down in the Report itself, the following Questions, namely: 1st. Whether the Commissioners may be considered as having finished their labours. 2nd. How, after the dissolution of the Commission, the Questions laid down in the Protocol of 8th November, 1858 (No. 288), and in the Collective Despatch of the 6th March, 1860, can be solved, whether these Questions arise in future on the Frontier, or that they exist at the present moment, but without having been brought to the notice of the Commissioners. On the first point the above-mentioned Representatives are of opinion that the Commissioners having declared that they do not know of any present or urgent Question claiming their Intervention, and that the labour pointed out by Abdi Pasha would last at least two years, thus prolonging their Mission beyond the limit of time which their Governments had foreseen, those Gentlemen are at liberty to consider their labours as terminated. With reference to the second point the Representatives consider that the wish expressed by Prince Danilo in favour of the establishment of direct Relations between himself and the Governors of neighbouring Districts, as well as for a Mixed Local Commission formed by common consent between the Ottoman and Montenegrin Authorities (Commission which might have as a first task to decide Questions which arise on account of Pasturage) deserves the attention of the Sublime Porte. They therefore think it advisable to recommend it to the consideration of Fuad Pasha, who shows himself favourable to the measure See also Protocols of 31st August, 1862, 3rd May, 1864, and 26th October, 1866. [Boundary of Montenegro.] and promises to examine into the necessary character and form to put it into execution. The Representatives are further of opinion that in cases in which, notwithstanding the direct communications between the Governors of Districts on the Ottoman Frontier and Prince Danilo, and the labours of the Commission above mentioned, any Questions likely to trouble the Peace of the Frontier should remain undecided, it would be necessary to submit those Questions to the Consuls of the 5 Powers at Scutari who would examine them jointly with the Governor of the Town, and that in that case Prince Danilo should have the power to send to Scutari some person authorised to represent him at the Commission and to defend his interests. Finally the Representatives before separating express their favourable opinion for the Topographical Work and the Specification perfected by the Commissioners and which some of them have received. H. L. BULWER. VON PROKESCH OSTEN. A. LOBANOW. A. DE LALLEMAND. [Approved by the British Government, 9th May, 1860.] After the publication of Protocol No. 15 of the Paris Conference of 26th March, 1856 (No. 268), Prince Danilo of Montenegro addressed a Note to the European Powers (31st May, 1856), in which he claimed: 1. The Diplomatic recognition of the Independence of Montenegro. 2. The extension of her Frontiers towards the Herzegovina 3. The definitive settlement of the Boundary Line towards Prince Danilo was assassinated on the 13th August, 1860, and on the following day his nephew, Nicolas Petrovich Niegoch, son of Mirko Petrovich, was proclaimed by the Senate as his Successor. [Italian Boundaries.] No. 317.-FINAL ACT of Demarcation of the Frontier between Sardinia and the Italian Provinces of Austria, definitely fixed by the Military Commission appointed in conformity with the Treaties of Zurich of 10th November, 1859. Signed at Peschiera, 16th June, 1860. (Translation.*) Reference to Treaties of Zurich of 10th November, 1859. In consequence of the Territorial Cessions stipulated in the Treaties concluded at Zurich, on the 10th November, 1859: 1. Between His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and His Majesty the Emperor of the French (No. 301). 2. Between His Majesty the King of Sardinia and His Majesty the Emperor of the French (No. 302). 3. Between their Majesties the King of Sardinia, the Emperor of Austria, and the Emperor of the French (No. 303). Treaties, the Ratifications of which were exchanged by the Contracting Powers on the 21st of the same month; the demarcation between the States of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Italian Provinces of Austria, has been fixed in the following manner by Article III of the 3rd Treaty above mentioned. Line of Frontier. "The Frontier, starting from the Southern Boundary of the Tyrol, on the Lake of Garda, will follow the middle of the Lake as far as the height of Bardshin and Manerba, whence it will meet in a straight line the point where the circle of defence of the Fortress of Peschiera intersects the Lake of Garda. "It will follow the circumference of this circle, the radius of which, reckoned from the centre of the Fortress, is fixed at 3,500 metres, between the distance from the said centre to the glacis of the most advanced Fort. From the point of intersection of the circumference thus designated with the Mincio, the Frontier will follow the thalweg of the River as far as Le Grazie; will * For French version, see "State Papers," vol. liii, p. 943. [Italian Boundaries.] stretch from Le Grazie, in a straight line to Scorzarolo; will follow the thalweg of the Po as far as Luzaira, beyond which point no change is made in the Boundaries such as they existed before the War." The same Article III stipulates "that a Military Commission, appointed by the High Contracting Parties, will be charged with the duty of tracing the Boundary with the least possible delay." In execution of this last Convention, their Royal and Imperial Majesties have appointed as their Commissioners, namely: His Majesty the King of Sardinia; the Chevalier Raphaël Cadorna, Major-General, &c., replacing the Count Louis PettitiBagliano de Roveto, Major-General, charged with another mission; and M. François Borso, Major on the Staff Corps, &c. ; His Majesty the Emperor of Austria; the Count Folliot de Crenneville, Lieutenant-General, &c.; and the Baron François Vlasits, Major on the Staff Corps, &c. ; His Majesty the Emperor of the French; M. Auguste Adolphe Napoleon Chauchard, General of Brigade Commanding the Engineers of the French Army in Italy, &c.; and M. Jules Louis Lewal, Chief of the Squadron of the Staff Corps, &c.; Who, after having met at Peschiera, and after having exchanged their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have formed themselves into a Commission, under the Presidency of Lieutenant-General Count de Crenneville. The Chief of Squadron Lewal has been appointed to fulfil the functions of Secretary. The Commission immediately began its operations, and agreed that it would admit, as topographical documents, the Lombard Register of Lands for the planimetry and the Austrian military topographical sections, on the scale of 0. It afterwards determined to adopt the following principles as a basis of the labour of Demarcation with which it was entrusted: 1. To strive and find a limit easy to recognise and to superintend, by following, as far as possible, the natural accidents of the soil, taking into account at the same time the military and administrative exigencies. 2. To avoid as far as possible dividing the portions of Registered Lands. 3. In those parts where the Po and the Mincio form the Frontier, the thalweg or principal current shall determine the line of Demarcation between the two States; but the possession of the [Italian Boundaries.] Islands such as they shall have been fixed by the International Commission, and such as they shall be described in the 2nd and 4th sections of the present Act, shall remain unchangeable, whatever changes those currents of water may undergo. 4. This unchangeableness shall cease to hold good, in case an Island shall join the Banks. That Island shall then pass in all Sovereignty and possession, under the dominion of the Power possessing the adjoining Bank. 5. In the event of the formation of new Islands, or junction of two or more Islands, belonging to different States, the concession of Rights of Sovereignty and Possession, to either of the two States, shall be decided according to the thalweg then existing. That junction shall be considered as having taken place whenever the height of the bed of the canal which separates the Islands or the adjoining Banks, shall attain the mean height between the ordinary low and high waters. 6. In the case provided for in the preceding Articles, where there shall be a change of possession on a Territory, or the taking possession of an Island newly formed, the case shall be established, on the demand of one of the States, by an official Act, drawn upon the spot by special Commissioners. The Taxes due to the new Government shall date from the official Act above stated. The Commission has also adopted the following arrangements: 1. On the Land Frontier, the Limits shall be marked by Stakes, wherever Landmarks cannot be placed. The Stone Landmarks shall be cut in the form of a rectangular prism, 27 centimeters in width, and 1 meter 60 centimeters in height, the half of which shall be buried. 2. Austria shall undertake the making and the placing of the Landmarks, as well as all the Geodesical, Topographical, and other operations relative to the determination and the tracing of the new Frontier. 3. The expenses of Demarcation, the price of the Stones and Stakes, the transport of those materials, and the price of the days of labour and lodging of the men engaged on the Boundary Works, shall be equally shared by the two bordering States, in accordance with the accounts approved by the Commission. 4. The Landmarks or Stakes shall bear on the two sides facing the bordering States, a number the series of which shall |