[Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] of Germany or Switzerland, not being subjected, in either case, to the payment of any Impost, or Port or Transit Duty whatever, except the payment at the time of the Duties of Storage, Quayage, &c., generally established in those Free Ports, but which shall not, under any circumstances, exceed those fixed by Article LXIX of the present Regulations. Duties on Vessels and Merchandise passing through Riverain States by other Roads than the Rhine and its Tributary Rivers. It is, nevertheless, understood that the Merchandise which, in the cases above provided for, shall leave the course of the Rhine, mentioned in Article III, or the Tributary Rivers subjected to the same Regulations as those established on the said River, in order to pass through the Riverain States by other navigable roads, shall be subjected to the formalities prescribed by the legislation in force in the said States for the control and superintendence of Customs Dues, as well as for the payment of Barrier, Bridge, and other Duties of the same nature, but the Vessels of the Netherlands, or the merchandise coming therefrom or going thereto, shall not be treated in a more unfavourable manner than the Vessels or merchandise of the Riverain States through which they pass. Privileges of Riverain States of the Main, the Neckar, &c. ART. XI. The Governments of the Riverain States of the Main, the Neckar, and other Rivers flowing into the Rhine, shall be admitted, for their merchandise, to the enjoyment of the same immunities in the Free Ports of the Netherlands and in those to be established on the Rhine, as those granted by the preceding Articles, so soon as they shall have established in their respective Countries and on the Banks of the said Rivers similar Free Ports under the stipulations mentioned in the preceding Article. Declaration of French Commissioner. [The Government of France not being able purely and simply to adhere to the 3 preceding Articles, refers as to their execution in her Territory, to the Declaration inserted on the subject in the Protocol annexed to the present Regulations, which shall have the same force and value as if it were inserted word for word therein.*] (Articles XII, XIII.)-General Arrangements, &c. TITLE II. (Articles XIV to XXXV.)-Duties of Navigation and the means of ensuring their Collection. See Protocol, page 853. [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] TITLE III. (Articles XXXVI to XLI.)-Application of Customs Laws of Riverain States to the Navigation of the Rhine. TITLE IV. (Articles XLII to XLVII.)-Right of Navigation on the Rhine. TITLE V. (Articles XLVIII to LII.)-Freightage and Registration. TITLE VI. (Articles LIII to LXX.)-Police Regulations for the Safety of Navigation and Commerce. TITLE VII. (Articles LXXI to LXXX.)-Fraud on Navigation. Duties of TITLE VIII. (Articles LXXXI to LXXXVIII.)-Trial of Causes relating to the Navigation of the Rhine. TITLE IX. (Articles LXXXIX to CVIII.)-Powers and Duties of the Central Commission, of the Chief Inspector, and of the other Officers of the Customs Navigation, and their Salaries. TITLE X. (Article CIX.)-Execution of the preceding Regulations. A. Table of Articles of Commerce, which shall pay, on their Passage through the Territory of the Netherlands, from Krimpen or Gorcum to the Open Sea, a Higher or Lower Fixed Duty than that established by Article IV of the Convention. B. Tariff of Duties of Verification, payable at each Collecting Office, in Proportion of the Burthen of the Vessels navigating on the Rhine. C. Tariff of Navigation Dues on the Rhine. D. Manifests. (Annex.) PROTOCOL annexed to the Convention and Regulations rela tive to the Navigation of the Rhine, of the 31st March, 1831, relative to the Second Paragraph of Article XI of the said Treaty. Declaration of French Commissioner. France. The French Commissioner has the honour to present the Declaration referred to in the Additional Paragraph to Article XI of the Project of Regulations. The French Government being unable, without compromising the general interests of the National Commerce, to adhere purely and simply to Articles IX, X, and XI of the annexed Regulations, and wishing nevertheless to prove to the Government of the Netherlands, as well as to the other Riverain States of the Rhine, [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] its sincere wish to contribute with them in reviving the Navigation and the Commerce of that River, agrees to modify its actual Customs' administration by the following arrangements, which shall have the same force and vigour as if they were inserted in the Regulations. 1. The Merchandise or Provisions included in the annexed List shall be received at the Harbour of Strasburg, under the conditions of Article XXV of the Law of the 8th Floreal of the year XI, of Article XIV of the Law of 17th May, 1826, and of the previous Regulations which created the said Harbour. 2. All Merchandise or Provisions coming from Countries beyond Sea, or which are the produce of Riverain Countries of the Rhine, situated below Mayence, must have been loaded in the latter Port or lower down. 3. They may be despatched in Transit from all parts, except from those described in Article XII of the Law of the 28th April, 1816, which can only be despatched by the Rhine or by the Canal in order to leave by Huninguen. 4. They shall only be subjected, either for Warehouse or Transit, to the simple Duty of 15 centimes per 100 francs value, or 25 centimes per quintal, mark weight, at the choice of the debtor. 5. Such articles of the said Merchandise as are described in Article XII of the Law of the 28th April, 1816, cannot under any circumstances, although they are received at the Strasburg Warehouse, be declared for internal sale; they must always be re-exported, as has been above stated. 6. If the Vessels mentioned in Article III as arriving at the Warehouse of Strasburg, have solid Stowage Room entirely separated from the berths and other places accessible to the crew, they shall only be subjected at the Wantzenau to the plumbing of the hatchways, the closing of which shall be ensured by the Customs by means of padlocks, seals, and any other means they may think proper to use, together for separately, as well as by a guard of overseers which they shall always be at liberty to put on board. 7. Merchandise which shall not be sent direct from Wantzenau to Huninguen in Vessels whose hatchways are shut, as above stated, shall be subjected to plumbing, either at Wantzenau, or on their departure from Strasburg. In the latter case the plumbing shall be double, if it relates to manufactured goods [Navigation of the Rhine, &c.] which are marked with a star (*) in the annexed List. Those of the manufactured goods which are marked in the annexed List with a double star (**) shall be shewn in chests in good condition. 8. All vessels belonging to the Riverain States of the Rhine, or to the Tributaries of that River, shall be assimilated to French vessels, as regards Duties and the right of Navigation on the Ill as far as Strasburg. The same favour is likewise extended to Netherland Vessels admitted to storage from Strasburg to Huninguen through the Canal of the Rhone to the Rhine. List annexed to the Declaration of the French Commissioner relative to Article XI of the Treaty of 31st March, 1831. [Between the years 1832 and 1840 various Supplementary Articles, and an additional Convention, were agreed upon between the Riverain States of the Rhine, relative to the Navigation of that River, all of which were embodied in a French Ordinance, dated 15th October, 1842; further Supplementary Articles were also agreed upon in the years 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, and 1860, but it has not been thought necessary to insert them in this Work.] [Fortresses of the Netherlands.] No.152.—PROTOCOL of Conference between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, relative to the Demolition of Dutch Fortresses. London, 17th April, 1831.*. Present: The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. (Translation as laid before Parliament.†) THE Plenipotentiaries of Austria, of Great Britain, of Prussia, and of Russia, having met, have directed their attention to the Fortresses constructed since the year 1815 in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, at the expense of the 4 Courts, and to the determinations which it would become necessary to take with respect to these Fortresses, when the separation of Belgium from Holland shall have been definitively effected. Having carefully examined this question, the Plenipotentiaries of the 4 Courts were unanimously of opinion that the new situation in which Belgium would be placed, with her Neutrality acknowledged and Guaranteed by France, ought to change the system of Military Defence which had been adopted for the Kingdom of the Netherlands; that the Fortresses in question would be too numerous not to make it difficult for the Belgians to provide for their maintenance and defence; that, moreover, the unanimously admitted inviolability of the Belgian territory offered a security which did not previously exist; finally, that a part of these Fortresses, constructed under different circumstances, might at present be razed. In consequence, the Plenipotentiaries have finally decided, that as soon as a Government shall exist in Belgium, recognised by the Powers taking part in the Conferences of London, a negotiation shall be set on foot between the 4 Powers and that Government, for the purpose of selecting such of the said Fortresses as should be demolished. ESTERHAZY. PALMERSTON. BULOW. LIEVEN. MATUSZEWIC. See Convention of 14th December, 1831. For French Version, see "State Papers," vol. xviii, p. 921. |