to carry out works at the Iron Gates, is abrogated. The Commission entrusted with the administration of this part of the river shall lay down provisions for the settlement of accounts subject to the financial provisions of the present Treaty. Charges which may be necessary shall in no case be levied by Hungary. Note to XII, 350 The treaty of Berlin modifying the preliminaries of peace of San Stefano between Russia and Turkey, signed on March 3, 1878, was concluded between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and Turkey. It is printed at 69 British and Foreign State Papers, p. 749. ARTICLE 351. Should the Czecho-Slovak State, the Serb-Croat-Slovene State or Roumania, with the authorisation of or under mandate from the International Commission, undertake maintenance, improvement, weir, or other works on a part of the river system which forms a frontier, these States shall enjoy on the opposite bank, and also on the part of the bed which is outside their territory, all necessary facilities for the survey, execution and maintenance of such works. ARTICLE 352. Germany shall be obliged to make to the European Commission of the Danube all restitutions, reparations and indemnities for damages inflicted on the Commission during the war. Note to XII, 352 The Reparation Commission on February 4, 1921 decided that it would take up claims of the European Commission of the Danube under this article and article 307 of the treaty of peace with Austria at the request of the Conference of Ambassadors, if Germany and Austria had no objections. Germany, however, did not consent to this procedure and on May 23, 1921 the Reparation Commission notified the Kriegslastenkommission that it would not occupy itself with claims under article 352 nor those of the European Commission of the Danube. The matter was settled directly between Germany and the commission, and article 9 of the Finance Ministers' Agreement of January 14, 1925 stipulated the payment of 266,800 gold francs to the European Commission of the Danube out of the annuities of the Experts' (Dawes) Plan. ARTICLE 353. Should a deep-draught Rhine-Danube navigable waterway be constructed, Germany undertakes to apply thereto the régime prescribed in Articles 332 to 338. Text of May 7: In the event of all the Allied and Associated Powers represented on the Central Commission for the Rhine and on the International Commission charged with the administration of the Upper Danube respectively_deciding within 25 years from the coming into force of the present Treaty upon the creation of a deep-draught Rhine-Danube navigable waterway, Germany shall be bound to construct such waterway in accordance with plans to be communicated to her by the said Powers. For this purpose the Central Commission for the Rhine shall have the right to undertake all necessary surveys. Should Germany fail to carry out all or part of the works, the Central Commission for the Rhine shall be entitled to carry them out instead. For this purpose the Commission shall be qualified to decide upon and fix the limits of the necessary sites and to occupy the ground after a period of 2 months after notification, subject to the payment of indemnities to be fixed by the Commission and paid by Germany. This navigable waterway shall be placed under the same administrative régime as the Rhine itself, and the distribution of the initial cost of construction, including the above indemnities, among the States concerned, shall be made by a tribunal to be appointed by the Council of the League of Nations. Note to XII, 353 For some notice of the waterway project, see article 31, note on Belgo-Netherlands relations. CHAPTER IV.-CLAUSES RELATING TO THE RHINE AND ARTICLE 354. As from the coming into force of the present Treaty, the Convention of Mannheim of October 17, 1868, together with the Final Protocol thereof, shall continue to govern navigation on the Rhine, subject to the conditions hereinafter laid down. In the event of any provisions of the said Convention being in conflict with those laid down by the General Convention referred to in Article 338 (which shall apply to the Rhine) the provisions of the General Convention shall prevail. Within a maximum period of six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, the Central Commission referred to in Article 355 shall meet to draw up a project of revision of the Convention of Mannheim. This project shall be drawn up in harmony with the provisions of the General Convention referred to above, should this have been concluded by that time, and shall be submitted to the Powers represented on the Central Commission. Germany hereby agrees to adhere to the project so drawn up. Further, the modifications set out in the following Articles shall immediately be made in the Convention of Mannheim. The Allied and Associated Powers reserve to themselves the right to arrive at an understanding in this connection with Holland, and Germany hereby agrees to accede if required to any such understanding. Note to XII, 354 The Mannheim convention concerning the navigation of the Rhine was concluded between Baden, Bavaria, France, HesseDarmstadt, Netherlands, and Prussia (59 British and Foreign State Papers, p. 470). After 1871 the interests of the four German states were looked after by the German Empire. The Rhine, since the first steps toward its internationalization by the final report of the commission of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss), February 25, 1803, was the subject of numerous arrangements which were consolidated in the Mannheim convention of 1868. From then on to the definition of the regime by the provisions of this treaty (arts. 354-62) the administration of the Central Commission developed a great mass of supplementary agreements and regulations. These are compiled in Rijndocumenten (Documents cor cernant la navigation du Rhin); Recueil de conventions et de règlements internationaux, de dispositions légales nationales, 1803– 1918 (La Haye, Martinus Nijhoff, 1918). Adhesion of the Netherlands to the modifications introduced by this treaty in the Mannheim convention of 1868 was accomplished by a protocol signed at Paris January 21, 1921 (20 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 111) by representatives of Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands. The protocol stipulated that the provisions of the additional act of September 18, 1895 (87 British and Foreign State Papers, p. 788) and the convention of June 4, 1898 (Martens, Nouveau recueil général de traités, 2o série. Note to XII, 354—Continued XXIX, 113) should be applied to the navigation of the Rhine. The Netherlands was given a third representative on the Central Commission. With certain technical understandings, the Netherlands would adhere to articles 65, 354-56, and 358-62 of the treaty of peace after the Conference of Ambassadors had approved the protocol. A further protocol of March 29, 1923 (ibid., p. 117) provided that resolutions of the Central Commission should be adopted by majority votes and "no state shall be obliged to take steps for the execution of any resolution which it may have refused to approve". With this concession, the adhesion of the Netherlands became effective September 8, 1923. The jurisdiction of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine extended to the Waal and the Lek. Police vessels on the river system flew special flags. The French flag was composed of triangular blue, white, and red fields. The German flag was black, white, and red until May 1, 1924, when it became black, red, and golden-yellow (25 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 261). The Conference of Ambassadors on June 12, 1925 found it necessary to request the German Government to instruct the representatives of the German states on the Central Commission to observe the provisions of the Barcelona convention of April 20, 1921, pending the revision of the Mannheim convention. On July 2, 1926 Germany addressed to the Conference of Ambassadors a letter in which it argued that article 10 of the Barcelona convention would not obligate German riparian states to subject works for the upkeep of navigability undertaken by them to the decisions of the Rhine Commission. In the reply of March 16, 1927 (file 763.72119/12319, annex I) the Conference of Ambassadors characterized the German attitude "as scarcely favorable in a liberal sense to the revision of the regime of the Rhine Convention" and stated that "the particularism of the German delegates in opposition to the modern public international law is in any case contrary to Articles 354 and 356 of the treaty of peace which Germany is obliged to observe." A revision of the Mannheim convention of 1868 was eventually prepared, but not itself put into force. A modus vivendi signed at Strasbourg May 4, 1936 provided for its partial application from January 1, 1937 until the convention itself entered into force. This modus vivendi was signed on behalf of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, but the Netherlands did not sign it. Germany's repudiation of the international river Note to XII, 354—Continued regimes by the declaration of November 14, 1936 (see p. 651) was regarded by it as a denunciation of the modus vivendi, which was consequently in force without any question for the six signatories only from August 1 to November 14, 1936. The exceptions specified in the modus vivendi to the application of the convention covered customs questions (arts. 11-17, 19-21), free ports and other port questions (arts. 23-27), provisions relating to expenses, voting, the entry of the convention into force and its abrogating effect (arts. 85, 86, 89, 91-93). An exception in the modus vivendi, exemplifying Germany's hostility to multilateral methods, would have had the effect of eliminating a stipulation (art. 94, par. 2) submitting the convention to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration and publication. The undated and unsigned revised convention annexed to the modus vivendi (Martens, Nouveau recueil général de traités, 3o série, xxxvi, 769) defined the Rhine to which it applied as extending from the headwaters of the port of Basel to Krimpen (131.18 kilometers) on the one part and Gorinchem (94.5 kilometers) on the other part, the Lek and the Waal being regarded as forming part of the Rhine. Lateral canals and other navigable ways intended to duplicate, improve, or replace any sections of the waterways subject to the convention were included, but the waterways between Krimpen and Gorinchem on the one side and the open sea and Belgium on the other side remained under the Mannheim convention. The revision provided for the seat of the commission remaining at Strasbourg for 10 years, after which it might be changed to the territory of another state. The functions assigned to the commission were chiefly administrative and related largely to policing navigation, supervising the observance of conditions of navigability, the validity of papers pertaining to shipping and crews, ensuring the conformity of bridge constructions with the terms of the convention, providing means for the adjustment of disputes, and advising the governments with respect to the prosperity of navigation on the Rhine. The powers of the commission, by and large, were limited by national laws of the riverain states and Belgium, all of which were entitled to conclude agreements between themselves on the understanding that they were not inconsistent with the terms of the convention. An agreement between Belgium, France, and the Netherlands regarding certain questions connected with the regime applicable to navigation on the Rhine concluded at Brussels was signed and |