and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to appoint a referee, to whom the said persons shall refer any questions on which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said article,' and that 'the decision of such referee shall be final;'

"And whereas Her Majesty's government did appoint Captain Claude Reignier Conder, R. E., and the government of the South African Republic did appoint Tielman Nieuwoudt de Villiers, esq., as such persons to proceed together to beacon off the said amended southwest boundary;

"And whereas thereafter the President of the Orange Free State, being thereunto requested, did, on the 5th day of June 1885, appoint Meluis de Villiers, one of the judges of the high court of justice of the Orange Free State, to be such referee as aforesaid;

"And whereas the before-mentioned Captain Claude Reignier Conder, R. E., and Tielman Nieuwoudt de Villiers, esq., did refer to the said referee the following question on which they disagree respecting the interpretation of Article I. of the said convention, namely, What extent of ground to the west of the roads from Lotlakana to Kunana and from Kunana to Taungs, as such roads have been accepted and agreed upon by the commissioners of the governments of Her Majesty and of the South African Republic respectively, was intended to be included in the South African Republic by the words 'skirting Kunana so as to include it and all its garden ground but no more in the Transvaal:'

"Now therefore I, the said referee, do hereby decide and declare that the said words denote the ground included between the said roads and the following boundaries, namely: A straight line from a point on the road from Lotlakana to Kunana, as accepted and agreed upon by the respective commissioners before mentioned, 1 mile southwest of the point where the road crosses the 'spruit' known as 'Tlakayeng,' to a point on the 'kopje' immediately behind Batubatu's kraal, where the line next to be mentioned reaches the summit of the 'kopje;' thence a straight line to a point 200 yards northwest of an isolated hut whereof compass observations were taken by the British commissioners in the presence of the referee and of the commissioner of the South African Republic, this straight line passing immediately behind the huts of Batubatu's kraal so as to exclude them from the South African Republic; next a straight line from the said point 200 yards from the said hut to the northwestern corner of Ramatlane's garden, of which similar observations were taken; thence a straight line skirting the western side of the garden to its southwestern corner, that point being very nearly magnetic north of the ‘kopje,' being the northernmost of three 'kopjes' forming the termination of a range of hills which is crossed by the road from Kunana to Marebogo, about 6 miles from the former place; next a straight line from the said southwestern corner of Ramatlane's garden to the summit of the said 'kopje;' thence a line along the ridge of the said range of hills to the point where the hill is crossed by the road last mentioned.

"Dated at Kunana this 5th day of August 1885.

"MELUIS DE VILLIERS."

Great Britain and Spain.-October 16, 1864, the British schooner Mermaid, laden with coal, while passing the Spanish forts of Ceuta, was

1 Br. and For. State Papers, LXXVI. 991-992.

fired into and sunk. The cause of the firing was her failure to exhibit her colors, as required by the Spanish ordinances, while she was passing through the territorial waters. The master of the schooner alleged that she exhibited her colors immediately after the first shot, which was a blank, was fired. The Spanish authorities alleged that her colors were not hoisted till after the third shot. Meanwhile the two governments entered into negotiations for the abolition of the practice of firing on merchant vessels from British and Spanish forts on the Straits of Gibraltar on account of the failure of such vessels to exhibit their colors, and a declaration for that purpose was signed March 2, 1865. March 4, 1868, an agreement was concluded for the reference of the claim of compensation for the sinking of the Mermaid to a board of four persons, two to be appointed by each government from its diplomatic and naval services. The commissioners so appointed were to meet at Cadiz or Ceuta, and, if they should be unable to agree, to choose by lot an umpire. They were empowered to determine the validity as well as the amount of the claim.2

Great Britain and Spain.-A difference growing out of a collision between the Spanish man-of-war Don Jorge Juan and the British merchant vessel Mary Mark was referred to the British consul at Madrid and a lieutenant in the Spanish navy as arbitrators. The Italian minister at Madrid accepted the post of umpire, but his services were not required, since the arbitrators, in December, 1887, arrived at an agreement and made an award. This award has not been published.

Great Britain and Venezuela.—By a convention signed September 21, 1868, these powers, "with the view of determining the amount of all pending British claims upon the Government of Venezuela," established a tribunal, with an umpire, "to sit as a mixed commission to fix the amount due to those British subjects whose claims have not yet been adjudicated upon." This commission sat in 1869 and made awards on a number of claims.3

Great Britain and Venezuela.-A treaty between these powers for the settlement by arbitration of the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela was signed at Washington, February 2, 1897. The arbitral tribunal is to consist of five jurists, four of whom are named in the treaty as follows: Baron Herschell and Sir Richard Henn Collins, a justice of the British supreme court of judieature, both nominated by the members of the judicial committee of Her Britannic Majesty's privy council; Chief Justice Fuller, of the Supreme Court of the United States, nominated by the President of Venezuela, and Mr. Justice Brewer, of the same court, nominated by the justices thereof. The fifth jurist is to be selected by the four thus nominated, or, if they should be unable to agree, by the King of Sweden and Norway. It is announced that M. de Martens, of St. Petersburg, has been selected as fifth jurist, who is also to be president of the tribunal.

The tribunal of arbitration is charged to "investigate and ascertain the extent of the territories belonging to, or that might lawfully be claimed by, the United Netherlands or by the Kingdom of Spain respectively at

1 Br. and For. State Papers, LV. 40; LVIII. 1258.

2 Br. and For. State Papers, LVIII. 2.

3 United States and Venezuelan Commission, convention of December 5, 1885, Opinions, 311; Br. and For. State Papers, LIX. 168; LXIII. 1065.

the time of the acquisition by Great Britain of the colony of British Guiana," and to "determine the boundary line between the colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela." In performing this duty, the arbitrators are to be governed by certain rules and by pertinent principles of international law not inconsistent therewith. The rules are as follows:

"(a) Adverse holding or prescription during a period of fifty years shall make a good title. The arbitrators may deem exclusive political control of a district, as well as actual settlement thereof, sufficient to constitute adverse holding or to make title by prescription.

"(b) The arbitrators may recognize and give effect to rights and claims resting on any other ground whatever valid according to international law, and on any principles of international law which the arbitrators may deem to be applicable to the case, and which are not in contravention of the foregoing rule.

"(c) In determining the boundary line, if territory of one party be found by the tribunal to have been at the date of this treaty in the occupation of the subjects or citizens of the other party, such effect shall be given to such occupation as reason, justice, the principles of international law, and the equities of the case shall, in the opinion of the tribunal, require.”

Within eight months from the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, which took place on the 14th of June 1897, each party is required to deliver in duplicate to each of the arbitrators and to the agent of the other party a printed case, accompanied by the evidence; and within four months after the delivery of the case on both sides, each party may in like manner deliver a counter case and additional evidence in reply to the case and evidence presented by the other party. It is made the duty of the agent of each party, within three months after the expiration of the time limited for the delivery of the counter cases, in like manner to submit a printed argument, which may afterward be supported by oral argument of counsel. Further argument, either written or oral, may be required by the arbitrators. It is also provided that the arbitrators may enlarge by not more than thirty days the time allowed for filing the cases, counter cases, and original arguments. The decision of the tribunal, which is to be in writing and "signed by the arbitrators who may assent to it," must, "if possible, be made within three months from the close of the argument on both sides."

Hayti and San Domingo.-In a letter to the writer of May 4, 1896, Mr. Henry M. Smyth, then minister of the United States at Port-au-Prince, mentions, among the arbitrations to which Hayti has been a party, the "long standing 'boundary dispute' between Haiti and San Domingo, now referred to His Holiness Leo XIII. for arbitration."

Italy and Brazil.-By a protocol of February 12, 1896, the President of the United States was named as arbitrator to determine the claims of Italian subjects against the Government of Brazil. The protocol, however, required the sanction of the Brazilian Congress and the approval of the Italian Government, and at the time of the writer's latest advices the matter had not been disposed of. By another protocol of the same day (February 12, 1896), it was agreed that the claims of Italian subjects against Brazil for requisitions of animals, merchandise, and valuables, in

the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina should be referred to a mixed commission.

Italy and Persia.—June 5, 1890, the governments of Italy and Persia entered into the following agreement:

"The government of His Imperial Majesty the Shah of Persia and the Government of His Majesty the King of Italy, being equally animated with the desire to settle in a friendly manner the difference which arose at Recht in November 1882 between the administration of the imperial Persian customs and M. Joseph Consonno, an Italian subject, on account of the importation by the latter of ninety-two cases of merchandise, have decided to submit the question to the judgment of an arbitrator, who has been chosen in the person of His Ex. Sir W. White, ambassador of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain at Constantinople.

"For this purpose the two high contracting parties have agreed that: "1. The documents, information, examinations, and proofs of every nature which the parties shall judge it their interest to present to the arbitrator shall be submitted to his excellency within the term of two months and a half from the date of the signature of the present protocol. After this period no production of documents or proofs shall be admitted;

"2. His Ex. Sir William White is requested to have the goodness to pronounce his opinion within the period of a month from the date of the production of the last documents by the parties;

"3. The arbitral opinion shall be without appeal and the parties pledge themselves to recognize it and execute it within the space of forty-five days from the date of its delivery.

"In faith whereof, His Highness Aminé-Sultan, Grand Vizier and Minister of the Court of His Imperial Majesty the Shah of Persia, and His Excellency Alexander, Count of Rege di Donato, Minister of His Majesty the King of Italy, at Teheran, have signed the present act, in quadruple original, in the French language, accompanied by a translation in the Persian language, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.

"Done at Teheran, the 5th day of the month of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety of the Christian era, the 16th of the month of Chawal of the year one thousand three hundred and seven of the Hegira.

"AMINÉ-SULTAN. "A. DI DONATO."

June 12, 1891, the following award was rendered: "The government of His Majesty the King of Italy and the government of His Majesty the Shah having agreed, in virtue of a protocol signed at Teheran the 5th of June 1890, to request the British ambassador at Constantinople, the very honorable Sir William White, to consent to be arbitrator in a litigation arising between M. G. Consonno, an Italian subject, of the one part, and the administration of the Persian customs on the other, and the British ambassador having accepted this mandate;

"The British ambassador, having subsequently asked the said governments to authorize him to associate with himself two assessors of his own choice, and the said governments having consented to that association, and the arbitrator having named for that purpose M. Emile de Borchgrave, min

ister and envoy of Belgium to Constantinople, and M. Egmont de Winkler, counsellor of the German embassy in the same place, equally accepting; "The said arbitrator and the assessors having received the assurance of the two above-mentioned governments that their decision would be without appeal, have considered it just, after hearing the advocates of both parties, and having sought every means of enlightening their conscience, to pronounce the following sentence:

"Whereas the Persian customs at Recht had the right to examine and stamp the merchandise contained in the ninety-two cases imported on the 28th of November 1882, by M. Consonno, and that the latter acted illegally in opposing that examination;

"Whereas the Persian Government had the right, on the refusal of M. Consonno to submit to the customs formalities at Recht, to confiscate the said goods;

Whereas, however, the Persian Government, by not using its right immediately and by leaving the dispute unsettled for nearly eight years, caused a manifest injury to M. Consonno;

"Whereas, besides, if it is just, on the one hand, to abandon to the Persian Government the said goods contained in the ninety-two above-mentioned cases, it seems equitable, on the other hand, to pay the value of them to M. Consonno according to the valuation made by him at the custom-house; "For these reasons the arbitrator and assessors decide and declare: "That the Persian Government remains and shall remain in possession of the ninety-two above-mentioned cases which it seized;

"That the Persian Government shall pay to M. Consonno the sum of seventy-eight thousand francs, representing both the value of the goods, as it was declared by M. Consonno, and all the interest on this principal sum, of which M. Consonno was deprived during nearly eight years;

"That there is no ground to admit the reservations formulated during the pleadings, and since, by the advocate of the applicant, nor any others whatsoever;

"That each of the two governments shall pay the expenses occasioned by its own procedure, and divide in common the fees of the engrossing clerk and the translation of the documents required during the course of the arbitration;

"That the payments shall be effected within the space of forty-five days from the notification of the first sentence; that the sum adjudged to M. Consonno shall be paid to the embassy of His Majesty the King of Italy at Constantinople, and the above-mentioned expenses to whom due, also in Constantinople;

"This done and decided at Therapia the twelfth (12) of June one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one.

"WILLIAM WHITE,

"The Arbitrator. "BORCHGRAVE, "WINCKLER,

"The Assessors."