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 this 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 first day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four. FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. (Seal) (Seal) APPENDIX IV. CONCESSIONS AND DECREES OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA TO THE NICARAGUA CANAL ASSOCIATION. The President of the Republic to the Inhabitants thereof: KNOW YE That Congress has ordered as follows: The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Nicaragua do hereby DECREE. ONLY ARTICLE.-The contract for a maritime inter-oceanic canal entered into the 23d of March, ult, between Dr. Adan Cárdenas, commissioned especially by the supreme government, and Mr. A. G. Menocal, member and representative of the Nicaragua Canal Association organized in New York, is hereby ratified. This contract shall be a law of the Republic if Mr. Menocal accepts it as soon as he be notified, with the following modifications and upon the following terms: "The undersigned, Adan Cárdenas, Commissioner of the Government of the Republic, party of the first part, and Aniceto G. Menocal, representative of the Nicaragua Canal Association, party of the second part, both having sufficient powers, have entered into the following contract for the excavation of an inter-oceanic canal through the territory of Nicaragua. ARTICLE I. The Republic of Nicaragua grants to the aforesaid Nicaragua Canal Association, and Mr. A. G. Menocal, representative of the said association, accepts on its behalf, for the purposes set forth in Article VII., the exclusive privilege to excavate and operate a maritime canal across its territory, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. ARTICLE II. The canal shall be of sufficient dimensions for the free and commodious passage of vessels of the same size as the large steamers used for ocean navigation in Europe and America, provided that no locks used in said work shall be less than five hundred and fifty (550) feet in length and thirty feet in depth. ARTICLE III. The State declares this work to be one of public utility. ARTICLE IV. The duration of the present privilege shall be for ninety-nine (99) years, to be counted from the day the canal shall be opened to universal traffic. During the aforesaid period the company shall have the right to construct and operate a railway along the whole extent of the canal, or those parts of the same that may be considered convenient for the better service and operation of the said work. ARTICLE V. The State binds itself not to make any subsequent concession for the opening of a canal between the two oceans during the term of the present concession, and also to abstain from granting a concession for a railroad, such as might compete with the canal for the transportation of merchandise, during the same period; but nothing in this article shall prevent the Government of Nicaragua from constructing or permitting the construction of such railways as it may deem advisable for commerce and internal traffic. Said government also to have the right to construct or permit the construction of an inter-oceanic railway if, in course of time, it be demonstrated that the canal is not sufficient to satisfy the demands of the traffic of all nations. The grantee company shall have the right to establish such telegraph lines as it may deem necessary for the construction, management and operation of the canal. The government shall have the right to occupy these lines for the public service without any remuneration to the company. ARTICLE VI. The Government of the Republic declares during the term of this concession the ports at each extremity of the canal, and the canal itself, from sea to sea to be neutral, and that consequently the transit through the canal in case of war between two powers, or between one or more and Nicaragua, shall not be interrupted for such cause; and that merchant vessels and individuals of all nations of the world may freely enter the ports and pass through the canal without molestation or detention. In general, all vessels may pass through the canal freely, without distinction, exclusion or preference of persons or nationality, provided they pay the dues and observe the regulations established by the grantee company, for the use of the said canal and its dependencies. The transit of foreign troops and vessels of war will be subjected to the prescriptions relating to the same established by treaties between Nicaragua and other powers, or by international law. But entrance to the canal will be vigorously prohibited to vessels of war of such powers as may be at war with Nicaragua or with any other of the Central American Republics. Nicaragua will endeavour to obtain from the powers that are to guarantee the neutrality, that in the treaties that shall be made for that purpose, they shall agree also to guarantee a zone of land parallel to the canal and also a maritime zone in both oceans, the dimensions of which will be determined in such treaties. ARTICLE VII. This present agreement, with all its charges and advantages, shall be the object of a company of execution in agreement with Articles I., X., and those following thereafter. Said company shall be the grantee, and whenever said name is used, in this present contract, reference is made to it. ARTICLE VIII. The present concession is transferable only to such company of execution as shall be organized by the Nicaragua Canal Association, and in no case to governments or to foreign public powers. Nor shall the company cede to any foreign government any part of the lands granted to it by this contract; but it may make transfers to private parties under the same restriction. The Republic of Nicaragua cannot transfer its rights or shares by selling them to any government. ARTICLE IX. The people of all nations shall be invited to contribute the necessary capital to the enterprise, and it shall be sufficient for the fulfilment of this requirement to publish an advertisement for thirty (30) consecutive days in one of the principal daily papers of each of the cities, New York, London and Paris. The capital stock of the final company shall be composed of shares, bonds or obligations of any other kind, in such proportion as it may deem convenient. The issue and transfer of these obligations shall be exempt from stamp dues, and from any other imposts or taxes established or that may be hereafter established in the Republic. Of the capital with which the company shall organize, and which it proposes to distribute among the different countries interested in the enterprise, there shall be reserved at least five (5) per cent. for the Central American Governments and citizens that may desire to subscribe. As soon as the company is ready to open subscription books it shall advise the Government of Nicaragua, which will invite the other governments, and through them private parties, to subscribe. All such shares. not taken within six months following the date on which the government shall have been advised of that circumstance, shall remain subject to the free disposition of the company. ARTICLE X. The company shall be organized in the manner and under the conditions generally adopted for such companies. Its principal office shall be in New York, or where it may be deemed most convenient, and it may have branch offices in the different countries of Europe and America, where it may consider it expedient. Its name shall be the "Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua," and its Board of Directors shall be composed of persons one half at least of whom shall be chosen from the promoters who may yet preserve their quality as such. ARTICLE XI. The Government of Nicaragua in its character of shareholder in the company of execution, as hereinafter provided, shall have the perpetual right of naming one director, who shall be an integral part of the Board of Directors of the company, with all the rights, privileges and advantages |