3. All other articles are exempted from export duties, but are subject to inland or transit dues, the present rates of which are not to be increased in future.

The rates for the following articles are:

For sugar, white, 2 salungs per picul.

For sugar, red, 1 salung per picul.

For cotton, cleaned and uncleaned, 10 per cent.

For pepper, 1 tical per picul.

For salt fish, platu, 1 tical per 10,000.

For beans and peas, one-twelfth.
For dried prawns, one-twelfth.
For teel-seed, one-twelfth.
For silk, raw, one-twelfth.
For bees'-wax, one-fifteenth.
For tallow, 1 tical per picul.
For salt, 6 ticals per koyan.

For tobacco, 1 tical 2 salungs per 1,000 bundles.

4. Foreign coins, gold and silver in bars or ingots, gold leaf, provisions, and personal effects may be imported or exported duty free.

Such Consular officers of the Contracting German States as shall be prohibited by their Governments from engaging in trade are at liberty to import, duty free, all objects of furniture, outfit, and consumption, they may require for their own private use.

5. Opium may be imported duty free, but can be sold only to the opium farmer or his agents. In like manner, guns and ammunition may only be sold to the Siamese Government, or with consent of the same.

(L.S.) CHOW PYA YOMARAT.

(L.S.) PRAYA MONTREE PRAKRALA HOME FIGHNEAR.

SPEECH of the Queen of Spain, on the Opening of the Cortes. Madrid, May 25, 1860.

(Translation.)

SENATORS AND DEPUTIES, GENTLEMEN,

I HAVE Come, animated with the liveliest satisfaction, to inaugurate the Legislature of 1860.

Upon the termination of the preceding one, the nation found itself engaged in a war which the insults offered to our flag had rendered necessary. Confident of justice on our side, we trusted the result to Divine protection, and to the invincible valour of the army.

God heard our vows, and granted victory in every combat to its devotion, its valour, and heroic endurance. The navy, always displaying the same virtues, has shared the glory of the army.

In all the provinces of the Peninsula and of the colonies, and in the most distant countries, the donations for the succour of the wounded, and for the relief of the families made orphan by the chances of war, have revealed the lively and unanimous interest which those who so generously shed their blood in defence of the national honour inspired.

A glorious peace has terminated the war, and the army, on returning triumphantly into the the bosom of its country, has received the demonstrations of enthusiasm and gratitude which have been everywhere so prodigally bestowed upon it.

My Government has not made use of the extraordinary resources voted by the Cortes, inspired by their lofty sentiments of patriotism. The advantages obtained by the Treaty of Peace, which will be presented to you, compensate as far as may be for the expenditure of the public treasury and for the sacrifices of the nation.

Our relations with other Powers continue friendly.

My Government, in the exercise of the authority which you granted it, has concluded with the Court of Rome a Convention which gives security to vested interests and tranquillity to consciences, and which will facilitate the progressive development of the public wealth. The common father of the faithful has given me in this negotiation fresh proofs of his constant solicitude for the happiness of Spain and for my own.

My Government will inform you of the Convention which has been concluded with the Republic of Mexico, in order to terminate in a satisfactory manner the differences which existed between the two nations. The bonds which unite us will cause Spain always to regard with concern the prolonged misfortunes of that country.

When as a Queen and a mother, I was blessing Divine Providence from my heart for the fresh gift bestowed upon me, and for the glorious triumphs of the army and navy, a criminal act [1862-63. LIII.] 3 C

took place to disturb the universal joy. The attempt at insurrection was stifled at its birth. The troops, whom it was wished to drag into treason by deceit, the army which, unable to share the glories of its brothers, was anxiously awaiting the moment to fight in Africa, the whole nation, gave me irrefragable proofs of their loyalty and attachment.

After the danger of the insurrection spreading had been dissipated, I was enabled to follow the impulses of my heart, and to grant a full amnesty to all persons who were guilty or had been accused of political offences since 1856.

My Government will lay before you the estimates for 1861. You will examine them with the wish to establish due harmony between the receipts of the treasury and the multiplied demands of the public service. The regular and judicious exercise of this prerogative, one of the most important which the Constitution confers on the Cortes, will contribute to the representative system taking deeper root day by day in the habits and minds of the people.

During the course of the Legislature, various political and administrative laws, which have been previously announced, will be laid before you, as well as others which are necessary for regulating the exercise of important rights, and for organizing the different branches of the public administration.

Senators and Deputies: I hope that your labours will contribute to give a fresh impulse to the general prosperity. Great, indeed, is the improvement which has taken place within a few years, but to stop in the path of improvement is to compromise the fruit of painful exertions. The first desire of my heart is to see Spain rich, happy, and respected, and enjoying in the bosom of peace the benefits of the institutions of which she is so well worthy. The love which she has shown me from my infancy, and the sacrifices which she has made for me, impose on me the duty of consecrating to her every moment of my life.

The intimate union of the nation and the throne, by making the revival of fatal dissensions impossible, is a sure pledge of the future of greatness and glory which awaits Spain.

MESSAGE of the President of Costa Rica, on the Opening of the Sessions.-San José, May 1, 1862.

(Translation)
GENTLEMEN SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES,

FOR the third time I have the honour to attend at the opening of your ordinary sessions, and, in so doing, I entertain the hope

that, in the last year of my administration, various reforms and measures which the prosperity and progress of the Republic urgently call for, may, with your aid, be carried into effect.

To the laws, the discussion of which remained pending at your last union, will be now added some projects affecting mortgages and mortgage credits, bankruptcies, measures to encourage improvement, reform of the Customs Tariff in a more liberal sense, also modifications in our civil code and our code of procedure.

Your co-operation is indispensable to me in promoting the good of the country. The Executive, bound down as it is by Constitutional prescription, confined by reason of its limited powers to the scrupulous execution of the existing laws, and to the simple administration of the public business, views with regret the delay or postponement of various projects and measures of great utility and paramount importance to the nation. Let me be permitted to hope that you will co-operate with me in promoting the good of the country, thus doing away with the prejudices of certain unquiet spirits, who see in the two Powers of the State two hostile elements, instead of two bodies which, each within its sphere, but mutually supported, should give impulse to the national prosperity.

The objects which constantly and in preference to all others have occupied the Executive, are two, the preservation of order and the re-establishment and consolidation of the public credit. It is pleasing to me to communicate to you that both ends have been attained-tranquillity is perfect, and the Government possesses resources; the more onerous portion of the floating debt being already almost extinguished, as also that due at fixed dates. Let us hope that, under the auspices of peace and order, united with an economical and pure administration of the public revenues, and seasonable reforms, the country may advance safely towards a prosperous future.

It is equally satisfactory to me to inform you that our relations with other countries are maintained and improved. I shall endeavour to extend them, always provided that thereby the good of the Republic be promoted, and solid advantages be realized for our

commerce.

Gentlemen Senators and Representatives: The Constitution imposes on the Secretaries of State the duty of giving you detailed accounts of all the acts of the Executive in the several departments with which each is intrusted; this dispenses with the necessity of my treating at length in this message of the various measures which the public welfare demands, and of minutely describing to you the manner in which, during your recess, I have conducted the interests confided to me by the Costa Rican people.

It remains for me to congratulate you on your re-union, praying at the same time that Divine Providence

may direct your decisions.

San José, May 1, 1862.

JOSE MARIA MONTEALEGRE.

SPEECH of the Emperor of Brazil, on the Opening of the Chambers.-Rio de Janeiro, May 4, 1862.

(Translation.)

AUGUST AND MOST WORTHY GENTLEMEN,

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NATION,

THE meeting of the General Assembly, which awakes the most agreeable hopes of the nation, is always for me a subject of the liveliest pleasure.

I feel the greatest satisfaction in informing you that public tranquillity has not been disturbed.

This immense benefit, which we have for so many years enjoyed, signalizing the favour with which Divine Providence protects Brazil, at the same time bears witness to the good disposition of the Brazilians and their adherence to the national institutions.

Thanks to the all-powerful Ruler of the Universe, regular harvests have brought us an abundance of food, and the scarcity which in preceding years troubled some of the provinces of the Empire is at an end.

The state of the public health, in general, continues favourable; we have, however, to lament the appearance of cholera morbus in Pernambuco, and the spread of it in the provinces of Parahiba and Rio Grande do Norte.

The succours of the Government, and those which public charity in Brazil never fails to give to sufferers, have not been wanting in the districts attacked by that epidemic.

The relations of peace and friendship between Brazil and other nations have continued unaltered. The Government endeavours to maintain them upon the solid basis of right and of reciprocal interests.

A Treaty was made with Hanover, on the 22nd of June last year, for the abolition of the Stade duties, and its ratifications have been exchanged.

The necessity of improving the administrative system of the provinces, and the position of the chief functionaries, is a subject which deserves your enlightened attention.

I cannot omit also to suggest to you that it is necessary to reform the organic law of the Municipal Chambers, in order that they may better fulfil the purposes of their useful institution.