drawbacks, which the legislation of the two countries has established, or may hereafter establish, the two high contracting parties reciprocally insure to each other national treatment.

Art. X. Articles of every kind arriving from Great Britain, or forwarded to that country, and crossing Belgium by the railroads of the State, shall be exempt from all transit duty; and the prohibition which in Belgium still applies to the transit of some of those articles is removed.

The only exceptions to this general rule are in regard to gunpowder and iron; and in regard to the transmission to France of linen threads and tissues, and of coal.

It is understood that the senders will have to conform, generally, and without distinction of nationality, to the regulations which are or may be prescribed by the Belgian Administration for the prevention of fraud upon the excise.

Belgian commerce shall enjoy in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with regard to transit, the treatment of the most favoured nation.

Art. XI. It is expressly understood, that the preceding Articles are not applicable to the coasting trade, which each contracting party reserves to itself, and will regulate according to its own laws.

Neither are they applicable to the exemptions from duty, nor to the bounties which may be granted in the dominions of the high contracting parties to national fishery, carried on according to the regulations of each country. With this exception, the two flags shall be assimilated in regard to the importation of fish of all kinds.

Art. XII. No duties of tonnage,

harbour, lighthouse, pilotage, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding duties, of whatever nature or under whatever denomination, levied for the profit or in the name of the Government, public functionaries, communes, corporations, or establishments of whatever kind, shall be imposed in the ports of either country, upon the vessels of the other country, from whatever port or place arriving, which shall not be equally imposed in the like cases on national vessels.

Art. XIII. All vessels which according to the laws of Great Britain are to be deemed British vessels, and all vessels which according to the laws of Belgium are to be deemed Belgian vessels, shall, for the purposes of this Treaty, be deemed British vessels and Belgian vessels respectively.

Art. XIV. In all that regards the stationing, the loading, and unloading of vessels in the ports, basins, docks, roadsteads, harbours, or rivers of the two countries, no privilege shall be granted to national vessels, which shall not be equally granted to vessels of the other country; the intention of the contracting parties being, that in this respect also, the respective vessels shall be treated on the footing of perfect reciprocity.

Art. XV. The vessels of each of the two countries shall be at liberty either to discharge the whole of their cargo at one of the ports of the dominions of the other contracting party, or to discharge part of their cargo at one port, and then to proceed with the remainder to other ports of the said dominions, according as the captain, proprietor, or other person duly authorized to act in the port as agent for the vessel and cargo, shall consider advisable.

Art. XVI. If any vessel of war or merchant vessel of either of the two countries should be wrecked upon the coasts of the other, such vessel, or any parts thereof, and all furniture and appurtenances belonging thereunto, as well as goods and merchandize which shall be saved therefrom, or the proceeds thereof, if sold, shall be faithfully restored to the proprietors or to their agents, on being claimed by them. In case there should be no such proprietors or agents upon the spot, the said articles and goods, or the proceeds thereof, as well as all the papers found on board of any such vessel, shall be delivered to the British or Belgian consul in whose district the wreck shall have taken place; and such consul, proprietors, or agents, shall not be called upon to pay any charge but the expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, and the rate of salvage which would be equally payable in the like case of a wreck of a national vessel. The goods and merchandize saved from the wreck shall not be subject to the established duties, unless cleared for consumption.

Art. XVII. Each of the high contracting parties shall have the right to name consuls for the protection of trade in the dominions and territories of the other party; and the consuls who may be so appointed shall enjoy, within the territories of each party, all the privileges, exemptions, and immunities which are or may be granted in those territories to agents of the same rank and character appointed by or authorized to act for the Government of the most favoured nation.

Before any consul can act as such, he must, however, in the

usual form, be approved and admitted by the Government of the country to which he is sent; and each of the two high contracting parties shall have the right to except from the residence of consuls any particular places which either of them may judge to be excepted.

Art. XVIII. The subjects of either of the two high contracting parties residing in the dominions of the other, shall have the same liberty as natives to manage their own affairs themselves, or to commit them to the management of any other persons, as brokers, factors, agents, or interpreters; they shall not be restrained in their choice, and shall not be obliged to pay any salary or remuneration to any person whom they shall not choose to employ in those capacities: buyers and sellers being at perfect liberty to bargain together, and to fix the price of any goods or merchandize imported or destined for exportation, on condition of observing the regulations and the customs' laws of the country.

Art. XIX. The present Treaty shall be in force for seven years from the 1st day of January, 1852; and further, until the end of twelve months after either of the two contracting parties shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same; each of the contracting parties reserving to itself the right of giving such notice to the other at the end of the said term of seven years, or at any subsequent time.

Art. XX. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London before the 1st day of January, 1852.

In witness whereof, the respec

tive Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at London, the twentyseventh day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. (L.S.) PALMERSTON. (L.S.) HENRY LABOUCHERE. (L.S.) SYLVAIN Van de Weyer.

Additional Article.

The Ionian Islands being under the protection of Her Britannic Majesty, the subjects and vessels of those islands shall enjoy, in the dominions of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, all the advantages which are granted to the subjects and vessels of Great Britain by the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed this day, between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, as soon as the Government of the Ionian Islands shall have agreed to grant to the subjects and vessels of His Majesty the King of the Belgians the same advantages which are granted in those islands to the subjects and vessels of Her Britannic Majesty: it being understood, that in order to prevent abuses, every Ionian vessel claiming the benefits of that Treaty shall be furnished with a patent signed by the Lord High Commissioner of Her Britannic Majesty, or by his representative.

The present Additional Article shall have the same force and effect as if it had been inserted, word for word, in the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed this day. It shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at the same time as the ratifications of the Treaty.

tive Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at London, the twentyseventh day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. (L.S.) PALMERSTON.

(L.S.) HENRY LABOUCHERE. (L.S.) SYLVAIN Van de Weyer.

Declaration made on the ex

change of the Ratifications of the preceding Treaty.

Declaration. In proceeding to the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, which was signed at London on the 27th October, 1851, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries of Her Britannic Majesty and of His Majesty the King of the Belgians have received the commands of their respective Sovereigns to declare as follows, with regard to the stipulations respecting salt, which are contained in Art. V. of the said Treaty :

1. British spring salt shall be considered as raw salt, on importation into Belgium, only in those cases in which the legislation of Belgium permits the granting of exemption from excise. Those cases, in the present state of things,

August, 1852, continue to enjoy a deduction of more than seven per cent. from the general duty of excise, British salt refined in Belgium shall, from and after the same date, enjoy a deduction from the excise, which shall not be inferior by more than seven per cent. to the deduction granted to French salt.

3. The British flag is assimilated to the French flag in regard to the transport of salt from France into Belgium.

4. There shall be annexed to the present Declaration an explanation of the conditions necessary in order that British salt may enjoy the advantages conceded to it, and of the formalities which must be complied with for the same purpose.

The undersigned further declare that the Treaty of the 27th October, 1851, shall be carried into operation on either side, from and after the 10th of April, 1852.

The ratifications of the Treaty of the 27th of October, 1851, are exchanged subject to the stipula tions of the present Declaration, which shall be considered as forming an integral part of the said Treaty.

Done at London, the seventh day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two. MALMESBURY.

J. W. HENLEY. SYLVAIN VAN DE WEYER. Explanation annexed to the Decla ration of April 7, 1852. In order that British spring salt may enjoy the advantages which are conceded to it, it must be

1. Accompanied by a certificate of origin delivered by the Belgian

Consular Agent residing in the locality of its production.

2. Declared, on its entry into Belgium, for one of those destinations which enjoy exemption from excise; and the formalities prescribed for such cases by the law of Belgium must be fulfilled. Those formalities shall be for British spring salt the same as for the raw salt of other countries destined for the same uses.

On compliance with these two conditions, British spring salt shall be admitted free of import duty if imported under the Belgian flag, and at the duty of 1.40 francs per 100 kilogrammes if imported under the British flag; and it shall, moreover, be exempted from duty of excise.

Persons shall be at liberty to warehouse British spring salt on the same conditions which are imposed on the warehousing of raw salt properly so called; and in that case, the formalities above specified shall not be required until it is taken out of bond.

British spring salt forwarded in transit by the railways of the State in Belgium, either directly, or through the bonded warehouses of the country, and whether imported by British ships or by Belgian ships, shall be free from all duty of import, excise, or transit, as well as from all process of alteration; subject, however, to the measures to be taken by the Belgian Administration for the prevention of fraud; which shall be the same for British salt as for all other salt.

MALMESBURY.

J. W. HENLEY.

SYLVAIN VAN de Weyer.