[Sound Dues.]

Convention to be concluded with Sweden and Norway for the
Maintenance of Lighthouses.

7. His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway having, by a special Convention concluded with His Majesty the King of Denmark, contracted with His said Majesty the engagement to maintain the Lighthouses upon the coasts of Sweden and Norway, which serve to light and facilitate the Passage of the Sound and the entrance of the Kattegat; His Majesty the King of Denmark engages to make a Definitive Arrangement with His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, for ensuring for the future the maintenance and support of those Lighthouses as hitherto, without any charge on that account upon Vessels passing by the Sound and the Kattegat.

Engagements to commence on the 1st April, 1857.

ART. III. The engagements contained in the two preceding Articles shall come into operation from and after the 1st of April, 1857.

Compensation to be made to Denmark.

ART. IV. As compensation for the sacrifices which the stipulations above mentioned will impose upon His Majesty the King of Denmark, Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, His Majesty the King of the Belgians, His Majesty the Emperor of the French, His Majesty the King of Hanover, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, His Majesty the King of Prussia, His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, and the Senates of the Free Hanseatic Cities of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, engage on their part to pay to His Majesty the King of Denmark, who accepts the same, a total sum of 30,476,325 rigs-dollars, to be thus assessed:

It is fully understood that each of the High Contracting Parties shall be eventually responsible only for the share placed to its own charge.

Payments to be made by Instalments.

ART. V. The sums specified in the preceding Article may, subject to the reservations hereinafter set forth in Section 3 of Article VI, be paid in 20 years, by 40 equal half-yearly Payments, which, shall cover both Capital and the Interest accruing on Instalments not due.

Separate Engagements to be made by each Contracting Power.

ART. VI. Each of the High Contracting Powers engages to regulate and determine with His Majesty the King of Denmark, by a separate and special Convention* :

1. The mode and place of payment of the 40 above-mentioned half-yearly Instalments for the amount placed to its charge by Article IV;

2. The mode and the rate of conversion into foreign money of the amounts of Danish Currency specified in the same Article ;

3. The conditions and the mode of entire or partial Redemption which each Power expressly reserves to itself the right to effect at any time, in order to anticipate the total discharge of its share of the Indemnity hereinbefore stipulated.

Execution of Reciprocal Engagements.

ART. VII. The Execution of the Reciprocal Engagements contained in the present Treaty, is expressly declared to be subject to *See Convention between Great Britain and Denmark of the same date, page 1310.

[Sound Dues.]

the fulfilment of the formalities and rules prescribed by the constitutional laws of those of the High Contracting Parties for whom such a sanction is needful, and who engage to take measures for obtaining the same with the least possible delay.

Ratifications.*

ART. VIII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the Ratifications shall be exchanged at Copenhagen, before the 1st of April, 1857, or as soon as possible after that date.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the Seals of their Arms. Done at Copenhagen, the 14th day of March, 1857.

PROTOCOL of Conference, held at Copenhagen, 14th March,

1857.

(Translation as laid before Parliament.†)

Right of Denmark to charge Duties on Vessels of Powers that shall not have concluded separate Treaties on the 1st April. Verification of Nationality.

In case it should not be possible for the execution of the engagements contained in Articles VII and VIII of the Treaty of this date to take place before the 1st of April, 1857, it is understood that the Danish Government shall retain the right to maintain provisionally after that date, by taking security, the Dues which it has engaged to abolish; but as soon as any of the Contracting Powers shall have fulfilled the said engagements, the Danish Government shall, on its part, terminate the provisional measure of taking security, and shall direct the discharge of such

* Ratifications exchanged at Copenhagen, 31st March, 1857.
+ For French version, see "State Papers," vol. xlvii, p. 35.

[Sound Dues.]

securities with regard to the Vessels of such Power and their Cargoes. The Danish Government may, nevertheless, until all the Contracting Parties shall have definitively accomplished the engagements contained in Articles VII and VIII, require from exempted Vessels the verification of their Nationality, without, however, thereby occasioning to such Vessels any delay or detention.

Provisional Reduction of Transit Dues to commence from 1st April, 1857.

In regard to the reduction of the Transit Dues, the Danish Government, considering that it is practically impossible to apply thereto the same provisional system as to Vessels, consents to put provisionally into execution, in all respects, from and after the 1st of April, 1857, sections 5 and 6 of Article II of the General Treaty.

It is understood that such Provisional Arrangement shall assume a definitive character from the moment when the present Protocol shall cease to apply to the Sound and the Belts.

Done at Copenhagen, the 14th of March, in the year of Our Lord, 1857.

ANDREW BUCHANAN.

JAEGER.

BEAULIEU.

DOTEZAC.

HANBURY.

PROSCH.

ERDMANN.

DU BOIS.

ORIOLLA.

TEGOBORSKI.

WETTERSTEDT.

KRUGER.

BLUHME.

[Sound Dues.]

No. 279.-CONVENTION between Great Britain and Denmark, to complete the Arrangements for the Redemption of the Sound Dues." Signed at Copenhagen, 14th March, 1857.

1. Parliament to be recommended to Pay Compensation for Abolition of Sound Dues.

2. Amount to be Paid 3 Months after consent of Parliament.

3. Privileges, &c., conceded to any third Power to be extended to Great Britain.

4. Ratifications.

(English Version.†)

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of Denmark, being desirous to complete the arrangements contained in the General Treaty of this date (No. 278), to which their Majesties are Contracting Parties, for the Abolition of Tolls levied on Vessels and their Cargoes passing the Sound and the Belts, and for the reduction of the Duties on Goods passing in Transit by the various lines of communication which connect the North Sea and the Elbe with the Baltic, have resolved to conclude a Special Convention for that purpose, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Andrew Buchanan, Esquire, her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Danish Majesty;

And His Majesty the King of Denmark, the Sieur Christian Albrecht Bluhme, his Privy Councillor of Conferences, and Director of the Oresound Customs, &c.;

* Separate Treaties were also entered ir to by Denmark with Austria, Belgium, France, Hanover, Mecklenburg Schwerin, Netherlands, Oldenburg, Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Norway, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck. For French Version, see " State Papers," vol. xlvii, p. 32.