ART. I. The High Contracting Parties guarantee, jointly and severally, the independence and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, recorded in the Treaty concluded at Paris on the thirtieth of March, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six 1. ART. II. Any infraction of the stipulations of the said Treaty will be considered by the Powers signing the present Treaty as a casus belli. They will come to an understanding with the Sublime Porte as to the measures which have become necessary, and will without delay determine among themselves as to the employment of their military and naval forces. ART. III. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in a fortnight, or sooner if possible 2. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. Done at Paris, the fifteenth day of the month of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty six. CLARENDON. COWLEY. BUOL-SCHAUENSTEIN. HÜBNER. A. WALEWSKI. BOURQUENEY. No. III. 1857, Treaty between Great Britain, Austria, France, June 19th. Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, relative to the Frontier in Bessarabia, the Isle of Serpents, and the Delta of the Danube. Signed at Paris, June 19, 18573. THEIR Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Em 1 Cf. Art. 7 of the Treaty of Paris. 2 Ratifications were exchanged on 29th April, 1856. 3 Parl. Papers, 1858; N. R. G. xvi. 2, p. 11. peror of the French, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of all the Russias, the King of Sardinia, and the Emperor of the Ottomans, considering that the Boundary Commission charged with the execution of Article XX of the Treaty of Paris, of the 30th March, 1856, has terminated its labours, and desiring to act in conformity with the arrangements of the Protocol of the 6th of January last, by recording in a Treaty the modifications made by common consent in that Article, as well as the resolutions adopted with regard to the Isle of Serpents and the Delta of the Danube, and contained in the same Protocol, 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 Henry Richard Charles, Earl Cowley, &c., Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of the French; His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, M. Joseph Alexander Baron de Hübner, &c., His Ambassador to His Majesty the Emperor of the French; His Majesty the Emperor of the French, M. Alexandre Count Colonna Walewski, &c., His Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; His Majesty the King of Prussia, M. Maximilian Frederick Charles Francis Count of Hatzfeldt Wildenburg-Schoenstein, &c., His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of the French; His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Count Paul Kisseleff, &c., His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of the French; His Majesty the King of Sardinia, M. Salvator Marquis de Villamarina, &c., His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of the French; And His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, Mehemmed Djemil Bey, &c., His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of the French ; 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. The line of frontier of Russia and of Turkey in Bessarabia is, and remains determined in conformity with the topographic map prepared by the Boundary Commissioners at Kichenew on the 30th of March, 1857; which map is annexed to the present Treaty, after having been initialled. ART. II. The Contracting Powers agree that the islands included between the different branches of the Danube at its mouth, and forming the Delta of that river, as shown by the plan annexed to the Protocol of the 6th of January, 1857, shall, instead of being annexed to the Principality of Moldavia, as implied in the stipulations of Article XXI of the Treaty of Paris, be replaced under the immediate sovereignty of the Sublime Porte, of which they formerly held1. ART. III. The Treaty of the 30th of March, 1856, having, like the Treaties previously concluded between Russia and Turkey, been silent with regard to the Isle of Serpents, and the High Contracting Parties having agreed that it was proper to consider that island as a dependency of the Delta of the Danube, its destination is fixed according to the arrangements of the preceding Article. ART. IV. In the general interest of maritime commerce, the Sublime Porte engages to maintain on the Isle of Serpents a lighthouse destined to afford security to the navigation of vessels proceeding to the Danube and to the port of Odessa. The Riverain Commission established by Article XVII of the Treaty of the 30th of March, 1856, for the purpose of maintaining the mouths of that river and the neighbouring parts of the sea in a navigable state, will see to the regular performance of the service of such lighthouse 2. ART. V. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in four weeks, or sooner if possible3. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. 1 See now Art. 46 of the Treaty of Berlin, the Additional Act, Texts, No. VII, and the Treaty of 1883, Texts, No. VIII. 2 Cf. Art. 56 of the Treaty of Berlin, and Art. 5 of the Additional Act, Texts, No. VII. 3 The ratifications were exchanged on 31st December, 1857. Done at Paris, the nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven. COWLEY. A. WALEWSKI. C. M. D'HATZFELDT. MEHEMMED DJEMIL. No. IV. Public Act relative to the Navigation of the Mouths of 1865, the Danube. Signed at Galatz, November 2, 1865'. AN European Commission having been instituted by Article XVI of the Treaty of Paris of 30th March, 1856, in order to put the part of the Danube lying below Isaktcha 2, its mouths, and the neighbouring part of the sea, in the best possible conditions of navigability : effected. And the said Commission acting in virtue of this mandate, Improvehaving succeeded, after nine years' work, in realizing im- ments portant improvements in the system of navigation—notably, by the construction of two piers at the mouth of the Sulina branch, which have had the effect of admitting into its embouchure vessels of a large draught of water-by the execution of works of correction and cleansing in the course of the same branch-by raising wrecks, and establishing a system of buoys-by the erection of a lighthouse at the mouth of the St. George-by the institution of a regular lifeboat service, and by the creation of a seaman's hospital at Sulina-lastly, by the provisional regulation of the different services connected with the navigation between Isaktcha and the sea: The Powers who signed the said Treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th March, 1856, desiring to make known that, in thus accomplishing an essential part of its task, the European 1 This Act was ratified at the sitting of the Conference at Paris on the 28th March, 1866. Cf. supra, p. 231. * See Art. 53 of the Treaty of Berlin, and Art. 1 of the Treaty of 1883. The works placed under of Inter Commission has acted in conformity with their intentions, and wishing to determine by a public Act, the rights and obligations which the new state of things established on the Lower Danube has created for the different parties interested, and particularly for all the flags navigating the river, have named for their Plenipotentiaries: that is to say:— [Here follow the names and titles of the Plenipotentiaries.] Who, after having shown their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following provisions: PART I. Provisions relating to the Material Conditions of the ART. I. All the works and establishments created in execution of Article XVI of the Treaty of Paris of 30th March, protection 1856, with all belonging to or depending from them, shall continue to be devoted exclusively to the use of the navigation of the Danube, and can never be turned aside from this object for any motive whatever; to this end they are placed under the guarantee and protection of international law. national law. The European Commission of the Danube, or the authority which shall of right take its place, shall continue charged, to the exclusion of all interference whatever, to administer these works and establishments for the advantage of the navigation, to watch over their maintenance and preservation, and to give to them all the development that the requirements of the navigation may demand. ART. II. There shall be specially reserved to the said European Commission, or to the authority that shall succeed it, the power to design and cause to be carried out all the works that may be deemed necessary, in the event of its being wished to render permanent the improvements, until now of a temporary character, in the branch and at the mouth of the Sulina, and to prolong the piers at this mouth according as the state of the Bar Channel may require it. ART. III. There will remain reserved to the said European Commission to undertake the improvement of the mouth and branch of the St. George, resolved on by common agreement, and simply postponed for the present. |