traffic thereupon as are contrary to the spirit and intention of this convention, either by making unfair discriminations in favor of the commerce of one of the contracting parties over the commerce of the other, or by imposing oppressive exactions or unreasonable tolls upon passengers, vessels, goods, wares, merchandise, or other articles. Neither party, however, shall withdraw the aforesaid protection and guarantee without first giving six months' notice to the other."

ARTICLE VI. "The contracting parties in this convention engage to invite every State with which both or either have friendly intercourse to enter into stipulations with them similar to those which they have entered into with each other, to the end that all other States may share in the honor and advantage of having contributed to a work of such general interest and importance as the canal herein contemplated. And the contracting parties likewise agree that each shall enter into treaty stipulations with such of the Central American States as they may deem advisable for the purpose of more effectually carrying out the great design of this convention, namely, that of constructing and maintaining the said canal as a ship communication between the two oceans, for the benefit of mankind, on equal terms to all, and of protecting the same; and they also agree that the good offices of either shall be employed, when requested by the other, in aiding and assisting the negotiation of such treaty stipulations; and should any differences arise as to right or property over the territory through which the said canal shall pass, between the States or Governments of Central America, and such differences should in any way impede or obstruct the execution of the said canal, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain will use their good offices to settle such differences in the manner best suited to promote the interests of the said canal, and to strengthen the bonds of friendship and alliance which exist between the contracting parties."

ARTICLE VII.-"It being desirable that no time should be unnecessarily lost in commencing and constructing the said canal, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain determine to give their support and encouragement to such persons or company as may first offer to commence the same, with the necessary capital, the consent of the local authorities,

and on such principles as accord with the spirit and intention of this convention; and if any persons or company should already have, with any State through which the proposed ship-canal may pass, a contract for the construction of such a canal as that specified in this convention, to the stipulations of which contract neither of the contracting parties in this convention have any just cause to object, and the said persons or company shall moreover, have made preparations and expended time, money, and trouble on the faith of such contract, it is hereby agreed that such persons or company shall have a priority of claim over every other person, persons, or company to the protection of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain, and be allowed a year from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this convention for concluding their arrangements and producing evidence of sufficient capital subscribed to accomplish the contemplated undertaking; it being understood that if, at the expiration of the aforesaid period, such persons or company be not able to commence and carry out the proposed enterprize then the Governments of the United States and Great Britain shall be free to afford their protection to any other persons or company that shall be prepared to commence and proceed with the construction of the canal in question."

ARTICLE VIII." The Governments of the United States and Great Britain having not only desired, in entering into this convention, to accomplish a particular object, but also to establish a general principle, they hereby agree to extend their protection, by treaty stipulations, to any other praticable communications, whether by canal or railway, across the isthmus which connects North and South America, and especially to the interoceanic communications, should the same prove to be practicable, whether by canal or railway, which are now proposed to be established by the way of Tehuantepec or Panama. In granting, however, their joint protection to any such canals or railways as are by this article specified, it is always understood by the United States and Great Britain that the parties constructing or owning the same shall impose no other charges or conditions of traffic thereupon than the aforesaid Govern ments shall approve of as just and equitable; and that the same canals or railways, being open to the citizens and subjects of the United States and Great Britain on equal terms,

shall also be open on like terms to the citizens and subjects of every other State which is willing to grant thereto such protection as the United States and Great Britain engage to afford."

ARTICLE IX. "The ratifications of this convention shall be exchanged at Washington within six months from this day, or sooner if possible.

"In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this convention, and have hereunto affixed our seals. "Done at Washington the nineteenth day of April, anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

(Seal.)
(Seal.)

"JOHN M. CLAYTON."

“HENRY LYTTON BULWER.”

1853.

CONVENTION FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS, FEBRUARY 8, 1853.

By this convention, the contracting parties agree that all claims on the part of corporations, companies, or private individuals of each State, upon the government of the other, which may have been presented since the signature of the treaty of Ghent, and which remain unsettled, etc, shall be referred to two commissioners, one to be appointed by each government. In the event of a disagreement, the commissioners are to refer the matter in dispute to an umpire chosen by them.

GREAT BRITAIN, 1854.

TREATY EXTENDING THE RIGHT OF FISHING AND REGULATING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA.

Concluded June 5, 1854. Ratifications exchanged at Washington, September 9, 1854. Proclaimed September 11, 1854.

ARTICLE I.—(British American fisheries opened to citizens of the United States.) "It is agreed by the high contracting parties that in addition to the liberty secured to the United States

Fishermen by the above-mentioned convention of October 20, 1818, of taking, curing, and drying fish on certain coasts of the British North American Colonies therein defined, the inhabitants of the United States shall have, in common with the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind, except shell-fish, on the sea-coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbors, and creeks of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and of the several islands thereunto adjacent, without being restricted to any distance from the shore, with permission to land upon the coasts and shores of those colonies and the islands thereof, and also upon the Magdalen Islands, for the purpose of drying their nets and curing their fish; provided that, in so doing, they do not interfere with the rights of private property, or with British fishermen, in the peaceable use of any part of the said coast in their occupancy for the same purpose.

It is understood that the above-mentioned liberty applies solely to the sea-fishery, and that the salmon and shad fisheries, and all fisheries in rivers and the mouths of rivers, are hereby reserved exclusively for British fishermen."

The remainder of this article provides for the appointment of commissioners to settle disputes, and for an umpire in case of the disagreement of the commissioners.

ARTICLE II. (Rights of British subjects in American fisheries.)-British subjects to have similar rights in fisheries on the eastern coast of the United States, north of the 36th degree of north latitude.

ARTICLE III.—(Reciprocal free-trade in certain articles.)—“ It is agreed that the articles enumerated in the schedule hereunto annexed, being the growth and produce of the aforesaid British colonies or of the United States, shall be admitted into each country respectively free of duty: Grain, flour, and breadstuffs, of all kinds; animals of all kinds; fresh, smoked, and salted meats; cotton-wool, seeds, and vegetables; undried fruits dried fruits, fish of all kinds; products of fish, and of all other creatures living in the water; poultry, eggs; hides, furs, skins, or tails, undressed; stone or marble, in its crude or unwrought state; slate; butter, cheese, tallow; lard, horns, manures; ores of metals, of all kinds; coal; pitch, tar, turpentine, ashes; timber and lumber of all kinds, round, hewed, and sawed, un

manufactured in whole or in part; firewood; plants, shrubs, and trees; pelts, wool; fish-oil; rice, broom-corn, and bark; gypsum, ground or unground; hewn, or wrought, or unwrought burr or grindstones; dyestuffs; flax, hemp, and tow, unmanufactured; unmanufactured tobacco, rags."

ARTICLE IV.-The citizens of the United States are to have the right to navigate the River St. Lawrence and the Canadian canals communicating with the Great Lakes; and British subjects are to have the right to navigate Lake Michigan.

Maine lumber going down the St. John River is not to be subject to export duty, if shipped to the United States.

ARTICLE. V. (Conditions on which the treaty shall take effect-Duration.)-The treaty is to go into effect when the British and Canadian parliaments and the Congress of the United States shall have passed the necessary laws.

The treaty is to remain in force for ten years, and further until the expiration of twelve months after either party shall give notice of a wish to terminate the same.

ARTICLE VI. The provisions of this treaty may be extended to the island of Newfoundland.

TREATY FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE.

Concluded at Washington April 7, 1862. Ratifications exchanged at London, May 20, 1862. Proclaimed June 7, 1862.

"THE United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, being desirous to render more effectual the means hitherto adopted for the suppression of the slave trade carried on upon the coast of Africa, have deemed it expedient to conclude a treaty for that purpose."