It may hereafter be applied to immigration to other Colonies in which British Consular Agents shall be established.

XXV. The provisions of the present Convention relative to the Indian subjects of Her Britannic Majesty shall apply to the natives of every Indian State which is under the protection or political control of Her said Majesty, or of which the Government shall have acknowledged the supremacy of the British Crown.

XXVI. The present Convention shall begin to take effect on the 1st of July, 1862; its duration is fixed at 3 years. It shall remain in full force, if notice for its termination be not given in the course of the month of July of the 3rd year; and then notice can be given only in the course of the month of July of each succeeding year.

In case of such notice being given, it shall cease 18 months afterwards.

Nevertheless the Governor-General of British India in Council shall, in conformity with the Act of the 19th of September, 1856, relative to immigration to British Colonies, have the power to suspend at any time emigration to any one or more of the French Colonies, in the event of his having reason to believe that in any such Colony proper measures have not been taken for the protection of the emigrants immediately upon their arrival or during their residence therein, or for their safe return to India, or to provide a return-passage to India for any such emigrants at or about the time at which they are entitled to such return-passage.

In case, however, the power thus reserved to the GovernorGeneral of British India should at any time be exercised, the French Government shall have the right immediately to terminate the whole Convention, if they should think proper to do so.

But in the event of the determination of the present Convention, from whatever cause, the stipulations relative to Indian subjects of Her Britannic Majesty introduced into the French Colonies shall be maintained in force in favour of the said Indian subjects, until they shall either have been sent back to their own country, or have renounced their right to a return-passage to India.

XXVII. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris in 4 weeks, or sooner if possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at Paris, the 1st day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1861. (L.S.) COWLEY.

(L.S.) E. A. THOUVENEL.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE. Paris, July 1, 1861.

HIS MAJESTY the Emperor of the French having stated that, in consequence of the order which he gave long ago that no more African emigrants should be introduced into the Island of Réunion, that Colony has, since last year, had to obtain labourers from India and China; and Her Britannic Majesty having, by a Convention signed on the 25th of July, 1860,* between Her Majesty and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, authorised the Colony of Réunion to recruit 6,000 labourers in her Indian possessions, it is agreed that the Convention of this date shall take effect forthwith, with regard to the said Colony of Réunion.

The present Additional Article shall have the same force and validity as if it were inserted, word for word, in the Convention signed this day. It shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at the same time as those of the Convention.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at Paris, the 1st of July, 1861. (L.S.) COWLEY.

(L.S.) E. A. THOUVENEL.

(ANNEX.)-Declaration of the Emperor of the French. July 1,

1861.

(1.) M. Thouvenel to Earl Cowley.

M. l'Ambassadeur, Paris, le 1 Juillet, 1861. L'EMPEREUR a, comme vous le savez, par une Déclaration ou date de ce jour, fait connaître sa volonté de mettre fin au recrutement de travailleurs noirs sur la côte d'Afrique par voie de rachat. J'ai pensé que votre Excellence désirerait pouvoir envoyer à son Gouvernement le texte même de le lettre écrite à ce sujet par Sa Majesté Impériale à M. le Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, et j'ai en conséquence l'honneur de vous en communiquer ci-jointe une copie. Agréez, &c.,

S. E. Le Comte Cowley.

E. A. THOUVENEL.

(2.) The Emperor of the French to the Minister of Marine and of the Colonies.

M. le Ministre,

Fontainebleau, le 1 Juillet, 1861. DEPUIS l'émancipation des esclaves, nos colonies ont cherché à se procurer des travailleurs sur les côtes d'Afrique, par voie de rachat et au moyen de contrats d'engagement qui assurent aux nègres un salaire pour le travail qu'ils exécutent. Ces engagements

VOL. XI.

* See Page 178.

sont faits pour 5 ou 7 années, après lesquelles les travailleurs sont gratuitement rapatriés, à moins qu'ils ne préfèrent se fixer dans la colonie, et, en ce cas, ils sont admis à y résider au même titre que les autres habitants.

Ce mode de recrutement, il faut le reconnaître, diffère complètement de la Traité; en effet, tandis que celle-ci avait pour origine et pour but l'esclavage, celui-là, au contraire, conduit à la liberté. Le nègre esclave, une fois engagé comme travailleur, est libre, et n'est tenu à d'autres obligations que celles qui résultent de son contrat.

Toutefois, des doutes se sont élevés quant aux conséquences que ces engagements peuvent avoir sur les populations Africaines. On s'est demandé si le prix de rachat ne constituait pas une prime à l'esclavage.

Déjà, en 1859, j'ai ordonné de faire cesser tout recrutement sur la côte Orientale d'Afrique, où il avait présenté des inconvénients; puis, j'ai prescrit de restreindre ces sortes d'opérations sur la côte Occidentale. Enfin, j'ai voulu qu'on examinât avec le plus grand soin toutes les questions que soulève l'émigration Africaine.

Aujourd'hui, je signe un Traité avec la Reine de la Grande Bretagne, par lequel Sa Majesté Britannique consent à autoriser dans les provinces de l'Inde soumises à sa couronne l'engagement de travailleurs pour nos colonies, aux mêmes conditions que celles observées pour les colonies Anglaises.

Nous devons donc trouver dans l'Inde, dans les possessions Françaises de l'Afrique, et dans les contrées où l'esclavage est proscrit, tous les travailleurs libres dont nous avons besoin. Dans de pareilles circonstances, je désire que le recrutement Africain, par voie de rachat, soit complètement abandonné par le commerce Français à partir du jour où le Traité conclu avec Sa Majesté Britannique commencera à recevoir son exécution, et pendant tout le temps de sa durée. Si ce Traité venait à cesser d'exister, ce ne serait qu'en vertu d'une autorisation expresse que ce recrutement, s'il était reconnu indispensable et sans inconvénient, pourrait être repris.

Vous voudrez donc bien prendre les mesures nécessaires pour que cette décision reçoive son effet à partir du 1er Juillet, 1862, et que l'introduction des nègres recrutés postérieurement à cette époque sur la côte d'Afrique soit interdite dans nos colonies.

Sur ce, &c.,

Le Ministre Secrétaire d'Etat au Département

des Affaires Etrangères,
THOUVENEL.

NAPOLEON.

CONVENTION between Great Britain and France, additional to the Convention of September, 1856, relative to Communication by Post. Signed, in English and French, at London, July 2, 1861.*

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, being desirous to facilitate the exchange of patterns of merchandize and of legal documents between the 2 countries, by means of the posts of their respective dominions, have agreed to regulate this matter by a special Convention, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries for that purpose, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, a Member of Her Britannic Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and the Right Honourable Edward John Lord Stanley of Alderley, a Peer of the United Kingdom, a Member of Her Britannic Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Her Britannic Majesty's Postmaster-General ;

And His Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Excellency the Count de Flahault de la Billarderie, General of Division, a Senator, Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour, &c., His Imperial Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary to Her Britannic Majesty ;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles :

ART. I. Patterns of no intrinsic value, photographs, commercial and legal documents, printed, engraved, or lithographed works, bearing either corrections or manual notes, and all other papers in manuscript, which shall be forwarded, as well from France and Algeria to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and to the Island of Malta, as from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and from the Island of Malta to France and Algeria, shall enjoy, under the conditions mentioned in Article II following, the reductions of postage granted by Article XIX of the Convention of the 24th of September, 1856,† to printed papers bearing no manual mark.

II. In order to enjoy the benefit of the stipulations of the preceding Article, the articles referred to in the said Article must be prepaid to destination; must be under bands, or made up in such a manner that they may be easily examined in the Post-Offices through which they shall be forwarded; and must not contain any letter, or note of the nature of a letter, or which could serve as such.

* Ratifications exchanged at London, August 2, 1861. † See Vol. 10, Page 108.

Such of the articles as do not fulfil the conditions fixed above shall be considered as letters, and treated accordingly.

III. The present Convention, which shall be considered as additional to the Convention of the 24th of September, 1856, shall be ratified; the ratifications shall be exchanged as soon as possible; and it shall be carried into execution from the day on which the respective General Post-Offices of the Contracting Parties shall agree, by mutual consent, that the stipulations thereof shall take effect.

In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, and have affixed thereto the seal of their

arms.

Done in duplicate at London, the 2nd day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1861.

(L.S.) J. RUSSELL.

(L.S.) STANLEY OF ALDErley.

(L.S.) FLAHAULT.

BRITISH TREASURY WARRANT, fixing the Rates of Postage on Packets, &c., transmitted to and from Malta and France and Algeria, and on Newspapers from British Colonies to Germany, the Ionian Islands, and Turkey, via France and Austria, and on Letters from Yorkshire to places on the Continent of Europe. December 26, 1861.*

WHEREAS by an Act of Parliament, passed in the 4th year of the reign of Her Majesty, cap. 96, for the regulation of the duties of Postage, power is given to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury from time to time, by Warrant under their hands, to alter and fix any of the rates of British postage payable by law on the transmission by the post of Foreign or Colonial letters or newspapers, or of any other printed papers, and to subject the same to rates of postage according to the weight thereof, and a scale of weight to be contained in such Warrant.

And whereas, further powers are given to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury by another Act passed in the 11th year of the reign of Her Majesty, cap. 85,‡ for giving further facilities for the transmission of letters by post, and for the regulating the duties of postage thereon, and for other purposes relating to the Post-Office.

And whereas certain powers are also given to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury by another Act passed in the 18th year of the reign of Her Majesty, cap. 27,§ for amending the laws relating to the stamp duties on newspapers, and for providing for the transmission by post of printed periodical pub

lications.

* Amended by Post Office Order, October 30, 1862. See Vol. 8, Page 247.

† See Vol. 5, Page 248.

§ See Vol. 10, Page 320.