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the State of Nicaragua, it being stipulated that in such case the said Mosquito Indians shall enjoy the same rights and be liable to the same duties as the other citizens of the said State of Nicaragua. The municipal and public authority in the town of Greytown shall be held and exercised by the Government of Nicaragua; but said Government shall levy no duties of tonnage nor any duties of import on goods imported into Greytown, intended for transit across the isthmus, or for consumption in any other State than that of Nicaragua, except such tonnage-duty as may be necessary for the preservation of the port and harbour, and the erection and maintenance of necessary light-houses and beacons; and no duty for this or similar purposes shall exceed, say 12 cents per ton on each vessel.

III. The boundary between the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica shall begin on the south bank of the Colorado at its confluence with the sea at high-water mark on said river; thence along said south bank, also at high-water mark, to the confluence of the Colorado with the River San Juan; thence, at high-water mark, along the south bank of the San Juan to its source on Lake Nicaragua; thence, at high-water mark, along the south and west shore of that lake to the point nearest the mouth of the River La Flor; thence, by a direct line drawn from that point to the mouth of the said river in the Pacific Ocean. It is understood, however, that Costa Rica retains the right, in common with Nicaragua, to navigate said rivers and lake by said vessels, barges, or vessels, towed, but not by steam; but this right is by no means to interfere with the paramount right in Nicaragua, or her granters, to appropriate the waters of said rivers and lake for a Ship-Canal from ocean to ocean, or from the Caribbean Sea to said lake. It is also understood that the said Company entitled the „American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company" shall have the privilege of locating on the south bank of the St. John River four of the eight stations or sections of land referred to in the XXVIIth Article of the Amended Charter of said Company, as rectified by the Government of Nicaragua on the 11th of April, 1850. If, however, the said Company should desire to locate more than the said four sections on the south tide of the San Juan, the Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica

will amicably agree in regard to the terms of such location.

IV. Neither the Government of Nicaragua nor the Government of Costa Rica should be at liberty to erect, or suffer to be erected, any wharf, wall, embankment, or other structure, or to do, or suffer to be done, any thing or act whatever, in the harbour of Greytown, in any part of the Colorado or San Juan rivers, or on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, which shall obstruct the free operations of the Ship-Canal or Transit Company, or hinder the passage of their boats in, along, and through, the said harbour of Greytown and Rivers Colorado or San Juan. And if, after the proper survey of a route for a Ship-Canal between the two oceans, it shall be found that it would be preferable for that Canal to pass in part along the southern bank of the River San Juan or the Colorado river, the Government of Costa Rica engages to grant any lands, and to afford any facilities which may be necessary for the construction of the said Canal.

V. Whereas it is stipulated, by Article II of the Convention between Great Britain and the United States of America, concluded at Washington on the 19th day of April, 1850, that vessels of the United States or Great Britain traversing the said Canal shall, in case of war between the Contracting Parties, be exempt from blockade, detention, or capture, by either of the belligerents, and that that provision should extend to such a distance from the two ends of the said Canal as might thereafter be found expedient to establish; now, for the purpose of establishing such distance, within which the vessels of either of said nations shall be exempt from blockade, detention, or capture by either of the belligerents, it is hereby declared that it shall extend to all waters within the distance of twenty-five nautical miles from the termination of said Canal on the Pacific and on the Atlantic coasts.

VI. Whereas by Article VII of the said Convention it was, among other things, stipulated, that if any persons or company had already made with any State through which the proposed Ship-Canal might pass, a contract for the construction of such a canal as that specified in said Convention, to the stipulations of which neither of the Contracting Parties in that Convention had

any just cause to object; and the said persons or company bad moreover made preparations, and expended time, money, and trouble, on the faith of such contract, it was thereby agreed that such persons or company should have a priority of claim over every other person, persons, or company, to the protections of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain, and should be allowed a-year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of that Convention for concluding their arrangements, and presenting evidence of sufficient capital subscribed to accomplish the contemplated untertaking; it being understood, that if at the expiration of the aforesaid period, such persons or company should not be able to commence and carry out the proposed enterprise, then the Governments of the United States and Great Britain should be free to afford their protection to any other persons or company, that should be prepared to commence and proceed with the construction of the Canal in question. And whereas, at the time of the signature of the said Convention, a company styled the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company, had with the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua a contract for constructing a Ship-Canal between the said oceans; but, for reasons deemed sufficient by the Governments of Great Britain and the United States, have not hitherto been able to comply with the stipulation which gave them a claim to the protection of the said Governments; and whereas no other company has claimed such protection on the same conditions, it is therefore agreed that the further time of one year from the exchange of the ratifications of this Convention shall be allowed to the said company, to comply with the stipulation aforesaid.

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VII. And whereas by another Charter (of April 11, 1850) to the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company, the State of Nicaragua, with a view to facilitate the construction of the Canal, has authorized the said Company to separate from their said contract of September 22, 1849, the part relating to the navigation of the waters of Nicaragua by steam, under the title of the Accessory Transit Company"; and whereas the said Accessory Transit Company has been for some time past in full and successful operation, the Governments of Great

Britain and the United States hereby engage to extend their protection to the said Accessory Transit Company, in the same manner and to the same extent as by the aforesaid Convention of April 19, 1850, and by this Convention, the said protection is extended to the Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company; but as the main object of the said Convention between Great Britain and the United States of America was to provide for an Interoceanic Ship-Canal between the Atlantic and pacific, and as that object is still deemed paramount to every other mode of Transit, the protection hereby extended to the Accessory Transit Company shall not be construed to interfere with the right to construct said canal by the Company which has undertaken to construct the same, or, in case of their failure, by any other person or company which may be authorized to construct the same; and every grant and privilege conferred upon said Accessory Transit Company shall be subject to the paramount right and privilege of any other persons or company to construct, maintain, and use such Canal.

Finally, these propositions, so far as they respect the Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, are advisory and recommendatory; and the immediate consideration of those Governments to their consideration is earnestly invoked.

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To insure a prompt decision, Mr. Wyke, Consul-General of Her Britannic Majesty, clothed with full powers for that purpose, Mr. Kerr, Chargé d'Affaires of the United States to Nicaragua, and Mr. Walsh, appointed Special Agent of the United States to the Government of Costa Rica, are authorized to communicate the arrangements proposed to those Governments respectively and, unless the aforesaid Governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica shall promptly, and without loss of time, concur in the general basis of this arrangement and adopt proper measures for carrying it into effect, then the Governments of Great Britain and the United States will immediately, as between themselves, jointly adopt such measures as they shall deem advisable to carry into full execution the Convention between those Governments of April 19, 1850; and to accomplish the design therein contemplated, of an interoceanic communication by ca

nal from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans by the way of the River San Juan and the Lake Nicaragua.

Washington, April 30, 1852.

(Signed) John F. Crampton.
Danl. Webster.

16.

Amendements de la base précédente convenus entre la Grande Bretagne et les États-Unis.

1. Amendement à l'article 1er.

Insert after the word „Nicaragua," in the last clause of the Article, the following words: „,which grants shall have been attended with residence on, or possession of, the lands granted;" and strike out, after the words „interfere with", the words "other legal grants made previously to that date by Spain, the Central American Confederation, or by Nicaragua."

2. Addition à l'article 3.

It is however understood, that nothing in this Article contained shall prevent the Republic of Costa Rica from resuming its right to navigate the said rivers and lake by steam-vessels, when the charters of the Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company, or Accessory Transit Company shall either have expired by their own limitation, or shall have been legally forfeited.

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