ARTICLE VII.

The State of Nicaragua may, of course, exercise her right of erecting and establishing anywhere on the routes or margins, or at the points of termination of said works, custom-houses and warehouses, and to collect duties, according to her own laws, upon the goods, wares, and merchandise imported for sale or consumption into her territories by means of said works, and the State of Nicaragua may adopt and enforce all needful rules and regulations to prevent smuggling or the introduction of contraband goods in her territories; but it is expressly agreed that the State of Nicaragua shall not impose, enforce, or collect any taxes, charges, or duties of any kind or amount on the persons (for passports), or property, or on goods, wares, or merchandise of any class or kind on their travel or transit over, or for passing through her territories by means of said canals, roads, &c., provided the said property, goods, wares, and merchandise shall be not sold or not introduced for sale or consumption into the said State, but be exported to other states or countries.

ARTICLE VIII.

The ports at the points of termination of said works shall be free to both the contracting parties and their citizens, respectively; and their public and private vessels of all kinds shall enter and remain therein and depart therefrom and not be subjected to the payment of any port charges, tonnage, duties, or other imposition whatever.

ARTICLE IX.

The persons employed in the location and construction of said works, the owners thereof, and all their agents, and officers, and employés of every sort, shall be under the special protection of the governments of both the contracting parties, and they shall not be subject to any kind of taxation on their persons or property, nor shall they be required to pay any contributions or to perform any civil or military duty or service whatever for either of the two governments during their employment about the said works; and all provisions, including wines and liquors, and all merchandise imported into Nicaragua for their clothing and subsistence shall be free and exempt from all duties and taxes, direct or indirect; and all such articles, property, stores, tools, implements, and machines, &c., &c., as may be required for surveys and explorations, and for locating and constructing said works, shall be imported into the State of Nicaragua free from all taxes and duties whatever thereon, and the vessels employed in the importation of the said subsistence, clothing, tools, implements, &c., &c., shall also be free and exempt from all port charges and tonnage duties in all the ports, rivers, lakes, or harbors on the coasts or within the limits of the State of Nicaragua; and entire liberty is to be enjoyed by the said company to make full and complete surveys and explorations of the ports, bays, seas, lakes, rivers, and territories of Nicaragua, in order to the location of said works and for the procurement of lands and materials necessary for the same, in which explorations and surveys Nicaragua, at her own expense, may participate, if she thinks proper.

ARTICLE X.

The State of Nicaragua grants and cedes to the United States or to a company to be chartered as herein provided, as the case may be, all the

land within two leagues square belonging to the said State, and which may be unappropriated at the date of this treaty, at each point of the terminations of said works at the seas on each side, that is to say, three miles square on each side of both ends of said works, to serve for the sites of two free cities which it is anticipated will hereafter be established at said points, the inhabitants of which free cities shall enjoy the following rights and immunities:

1st. They shall govern themselves by means of their own municipal government, to be administered by officers, legislative, executive, and judicial, chosen and elected by themselves according to their own regu lations.

2d. They shall have the right of trial by jury in their own city courts. 3d. They shall have the most perfect freedom of religious belief and of religious worship, public and private.

4th. They shall not be required to pay any tax upon their real estate or other property except such as may be imposed by the municipality and collected for the city treasury, and to be used and applied for the benefit of said cities.

5th. They shall not be required to perform any military service, except for the defense of the said cities in which they may reside.

6th. The said cities will of course be under the qualified dominion and government of the State of Nicaragua, not to be exercised in any manner, however, in violation of their rights and immunities as herein specified; and said free cities shall be under the protection of the gov ernments of both the contracting parties.

ARTICLE XI.

The State of Nicaragua agrees that the United States shall have, possess, and enjoy forever the following rights and privileges; that is to say, the right and privilege to pass, convey, transport, and send through all or any part of the territories and dominions of the State of Nicaragua, on land or water, from ocean to ocean, by means of her ports, bays, rivers, lakes, and roaus, troops, infantry or cavalry, all kinds of arms, artillery, and munitions of war of all kinds, her public property of every description, public officers, civil and military, consuls, ministers, dispatch agents, her public mail and mail agents, and all other employés of the Government of the United States of America; and the same shall all and each be permitted to pass, be sent, and be conveyed through said state, in any manner, as aforesaid, in the public armed vessels of the United States, and in all such other vessels or vehicles, public or private, which may be in the temporary or permanent employment of the Government of the United States for any of the purposes aforesaid, or in any other way, free from all cost and exempt from all taxes, duties, imposts, charges, or exactions of any kind whatever, either on the persons, property, vehicles, or vessels aforesaid; and all the aforesaid privileges and the said free rights of way and of transit shall be held, used, and enjoyed by the United States of America (but not by any other nation, state, or government, except Nicaragua) without cost or charge, and freely, whether the same be made through the dominions and territories of Nicaragua as they now exist, or whether the said troops, munitions of war, public officers, agents, employés, mails, public property, vehicles, and vessels, &c., shall be sent, transported, or conveyed by means of improved navigable rivers, canals, or turnpikes, or railroads, or any other public improvements which may be hereafter made in the

State of Nicaragua, either by the governments or citizens of the contracting parties, or by the governments, citizens, or people of any other nation, kingdom, or country; and the citizens of the United States shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of travel, passage, transit, and conveyance for themselves and their property and vessels of all kinds through the territories and dominions of the State of Nicaragua as they now exist or through such canals or roads, railways or turnpikes, or other improvements as may be hereafter made in said state, upon terms and conditions in every particular as favorable as those enjoyed by the citizens of Nicaragua, or by the citizens of any other nation, kingdom, or country.

ARTICLE XII.

In consideration of the premises as set forth in the foregoing eleven articles, the United States of America doth sole:nnly agree and undertake to protect and defend the State of Nicaragua in the possession and exercise of the sovereignty and dominion of all the country, coasts, ports, lakes, rivers, and territories that may be rightfully under the jurisdic tion and within the just and true limits and boundaries of the said state; and when the circumstances and condition of the country may require it the United States shall employ their naval and military force to preserve the peace and maintain the neutrality of the said coasts, ports, lakes, rivers, and territories, and to hold and keep the same under the dominion and sovereignty of the Government of the State of Nicaragua or of the government of such state or political community of which Nicaragua may voluntarily become a member, or with which, of her own accord, she may hereafter be identified: Provided, however, that the said Sovereignty and dominion of the State of Nicaragua, so guaranteed as above, shall not be held, maintained, or exercised by said state in any such manner as to conflict or to be inconsistent with the rights and privileges herein secured to the United States and her citizens; and to prevent all misunderstanding, it is expressly stipulated that the United States are not bound, nor do they undertake, to aid, assist, or support Nicaragua in offensive wars or wars of aggression waged and carried on by said state with foreign powers or with the neighboring states, outside of her just limits, and beyond the territories rightfully within her jurisdiction; but the contracting parties agree and undertake that, if necessary, the naval and military forces and the entire means and resources of both the contracting parties shall be employed to put down all wars and bloodshed arising therefrom, and to suppress all violations of the peace and interruptions of the neutrality of the said State of Nicaragua; and for further explanation it is understood that if the State of Nicaragua should become involved in a war with any foreign power or neighboring state within her own borders, to defend the territories rightfully belonging to her, or to recover such territories wrongfully wrested from her, the United States engages to defend Nicaragua in carrying on such war within her own rightful limits, provided, however, that such war is just, and provided, moreover, that if peace is prevailing in the State of Nicaragua, no wars or hostilities shall be first Commenced in said state by either of the contracting parties without previous friendly consultations, and unless with the consent of both their governments, given according to their laws and constitutions, respectively.

4909 CONG -13

ARTICLE XIII.

The contracting parties, in negotiating this treaty, have had in view the contract entered into between the State of Nicaragua, through their commissioner, José Trinidad Muños, and a certain company styled "Compania de transito de Nicaragua," composed of certain persons named Willard Parker, Simeon H. Ackerman, Asher Kursheedt, and David J. Brown, through the said David J. Brown as their agent, which contract was executed and signed by said commissioner and agent on March 14, 1849, and ratified by the legislative power of the State of Nicaragua on March 16, 1849, and approved by the executive power of said State on the 17th of March, 1849. Now, in view of this contract, it is further agreed as follows:

1st. If the above-named company shall accede to this treaty in all its parts, or if they shall voluntarily abandon their contract, or if they shall forfeit their rights under said contract by failing to perform and execute the terms and conditions thereof in due time, then this treaty shall remain and be valid in all its parts.

2d. But if the said company shall not accede to this treaty in all its parts, and if they shall not abandon or forfeit their said contract, but if they shall execute the same and comply with its terms, and build the said works all in the time required, then, in such case, this treaty in all its parts, wherein the State of Nicaragua grants to the United States, or to a company to be chartered by the President or Congress thereof, the exclusive privilege to be the constructors and owners of said works, shall be void, and of no force or effect.

3d. Nevertheless, in such case as is set forth in the second section next preceding, if said company shall accede to the fifth (5th), the sixth (6th), the eighth (8th), and the eleventh (11th) articles of this treaty, and shall consent and agree that the United States of America, and the citizens thereof, shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges therein granted to them, and as defined also in the tenth (10th) section of the third (3rd) article, then in such case the above-named fifth (5th), sixth (6th), eighth (8th), and eleventh (11th) articles of this treaty, as also the twelfth (12th) article thereof, shall be valid and obligatory between the contracting parties.

4th. But if in such case existing as is set forth in the second section above the said company shall refuse to accede or agree to the said fifth (5th), sixth (6th), eighth (8th), and eleventh (11th) articles hereof, as specified in the preceding third section, then this treaty shall be altogether void and of no force or effect whatever.

But the contracting parties, anticipating that said company, being satisfied that the great enterprise in view cannot succeed unless under the protection and patronage of the two governments, will concur and co-operate with them in the promotion thereof, they are assured that this treaty will meet their cordial approbation, and that it will be fully acceded to by them.

The present special convention between the United States of America and the State of Nicaragua shall be approved and ratified by the Presi dent of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the Director of the State of Nica. ragua, with the consent of the Legislative Chambers thereof, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Washington, Santiago de Managua or Leon, within the term of two years counting from this date. In faith whereof, we, the plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and of the State of Nicaragua, have signed and sealed these

presents in the city of Guatemala, on the twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the seventy-third year of the independence of the United States of America, and in the twenty-eighth year of the independence of the State of Nicaragua.

[SEAL.] [SEAL.]

ELIJAH HISE.
BUENAVA SELVA.

DOCUMENT No. 28.

14.-Contract between Nicaragua and the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company, signed at Leon, August 27, 1849, containing the grant which was subsequently accepted under Article VII of the ClaytonBulwer Treaty.

The Supreme Director of the State of Nicaragua, and "The American Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Canal Company," composed of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Joseph L. White, Nathaniel H. Wolfe, and their associates, being always citizens of The United States, desiring to settle the terms of a contract for facilitating the transit across the Isthmus of Nicaragua from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, by means of a ship canal or railroad, have appointed as Commissioners on the part of the Supreme Director of the State of Nicaragua, Messrs. Hermenegilda Zepeda and Gregorio Juares, and on the part of the said company Mr. David L. White, with full powers to arrange and conclude a contract for the abovenamed purposes; which Commissioners having exchanged their respective powers, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles: ART. I. The State of Nicaragua grants to the said Company the exclusive right and privilege of constructing a ship-canal across its territory, by a single route, and at its own expense, from the port of St. John's of Nicaragua, or any other more feasible point on the Atlantic, to the port of Realejo, Gulf of Amapala, or Fonseca, Tamorinda, St. John's of the South, or any other point on the Pacific Ocean which the engineers of the Company may decide upon, by means of the St. John's river, Lake Nicaragua, River Tipitapa, Lake of Leon, or any other rivers, lakes, waters, and lands situated within its territory, with the object of connecting the two oceans, and to make use of, for its construction and navigation, said rivers, lakes, waters, and lands, both public and private. And the State also grants to the Company the exclusive right to the administration, management, and control of the said canal, according to the following Articles:

II. The dimensions of the canal shall be such as may be necessary for the passage of vessels of all sizes, and the point at which it shall ter minate on the Pacific, in the event that the engineers of the Company shall decide upon two or more points as equally practicable, shall be that one most consistent with the mutual interests both of the State and the Company.

III. The Company binds itself to construct, at its own expense, in the harbors at the extremities of the route of said canal, custom-house buildings of the necessary capacity for the use of the State and Com

pany.

IV. The exclusive rights aud privileges herein granted to the said Company by the said State, shall be enjoyed by the same for the fixed