de Mai, 1826, S. M. Sicilienne a pris en considération, que, d'une part, il se peut que, d'ici à ce terme, la force numérique de l'Armée Sicilienne et l'état auquel sa réorganisation pourra être portée, rendront encore nécessaires au Royaume la présence et l'appui de Troupes à l'expiration de la Transaction du 31 Août, 1824; et que, d'autre part, il est également hors de doute, que la tranquillité publique dans le Royaume des Deux-Siciles se trouve déjà tellement affermie, que l'on peut, dès ce moment, s'occuper de la diminution du Corps Auxiliaire; et S. M. l'Empereur d'Autriche n'ayant de son côté rien de plus à cœur, que d'entrer de commun accord avec Ses Alliés, dans tout arrangement propre à accélérer le terme du rappel entier de Ses Troupes du Royaume des Deux-Siciles; Leurs dites Majestés, dans cet état de choses, ont jugé convenable de nommer des Plénipotentiaires pour discuter, arrêter et signer des Articles Additionnels à la Transaction du 31e. Août, 1824, savoir:

S. M. l'Empereur d'Autriche, le Sieur Charles-Louis Comte de Fiquelmont, Son Chambellan et Conseiller intime actuel, Son Envoyé Extraordinaire et Ministre Plénipotentiaire près S. M. Sicilienne, etc.;

Et S. M. le Roi des Deux-Siciles, le Chevalier Don Louis de Medici d'Otajano, Duc de Sarno, Gentilhomme de la Chambre, Grandmaître Semainier de S. M., Conseiller Ministre d'Etat, Ministre Secrétaire d'Etat des Finances, Président par intérim du Conseil des Ministres, chargé par intérim du Portefeuille des Affaires Etrangères, etc.;

Lesquels, après avoir fait constater de leurs Pouvoirs, sont convenus des Articles suivans:

Art. I. L'Armée Auxiliaire Autrichienne continuera à rester à la disposition de S. M. Sicilienne jusqu'à la fin du mois de Mars de l'Année 1827, aux conditions fixées par la Convention conclue à Naples le 18 Octobre, 1821, et selon les modifications stipulées par les Articles Additionnels signés à Naples le 24 Avril, 1823, et par ceux également signés à Naples le 31 Août, 1824, auxquels sont ajoutés les Articles suivans:

II. L'état des Finances de S. M. Sicilienne ne permettant pas une plus grande dépense, que celle qui a été préalablement fixée pour l'occupation, telle qu'elle devait avoir lieu aux termes des derniers Articles Additionnels du 31 Août, 1824, jusqu'au mois de Mai, 1826; nulle charge pour les finances de l'Autriche ne devant, d'un autre côté, résulter de la prolongation du terme de l'occupation, le nombre des Troupes Autrichiennes sera diminué proportionnellement, dans les deux parties du Royaume en-deçà et au-delà du Phare, de manière à produire des économies telles à pouvoir prolonger l'occupation jusqu'au terme fixé par l'Article précédent, sans dépasser les dépenses fixées par les Articles Additionnels du 31 Août, 1824, et en arrêtant le minimum de la réduction au nombre de 15,000 hommes.

III. Si cependant l'état militaire de S. M. Sicilienne avait acquis un degré de force numérique, assez élevé pour que S. M. Sicilienne jugeât convenable de réduire davantage ce nombre, sans compromettre la sûreté du Royaume, ce minimum serait alors, à sa demande, réduit au nombre de 12,000 hommes, l'économie provenant de la réduction de 15 à 12,000 hommes, se faisant au soulagement des finances de S. M. Sicilienne.

IV. Les présens Articles Additionnels réclamant un mode d'exécution dans les limites précisées par l'Article 2, ce mode formera l'objet d'un arrangement entre le Gouvernement de S. M. Sicilienne, et le Géneral en Chef de l'Armée d'Occupation.

V. Les Articles des Conventions du 18 Octobre, 1821, du 24 Avril, 1823, et du 31 Août, 1824, qui ne subissent ni changement ni modification par les présens Articles Additionels, demeurent en pleine vigueur.

En foi de quoi, les Plénipotentiaires respectifs ont signé les présens Articles Additionnels, et y ont apposé le Cachet de leurs Armes. Fait en double à Milan, le 28 Mai, l'An de Grâce 1825.

LE COMTE DE FIQUELMONT.

LE CHEVALIER DE MEDICI.

CORRESPONDENCE between France and Colombia, relative to the proceedings of Colombian Privateers.

M. Angeluci to Don Pedro Gual.—(Translation.)

EXCELLENCY, Havannah, January 15, 1825. BEING appointed by H. M. the King of France, Consul-General and Inspector-General of the French Commerce in the Islands of Cuba, Porto Rico, &c., with powers to extend my charge, and, if there be occasion, my protection, to the navigation and property of my Countrymen in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Coasts of Terra Firma; it is not without regret and extreme surprise that I find myself under the necessity of commencing my functions by the most serious complaints against your Government.

From the commencement of the unfortunate dissensions which divide the Spanish Colonies from their Mother Country, the Privateers of the Republic of Colombia had respected the French Flag, and the French Government, from a noble and generous disposition, was inclined to consider the Subjects of the Republic only as sons of the ancient and loyal Spaniards, whose political discussions with their brethren in Europe should be left to prudent reflection, and, above all, to time, which alone calms passions, enlightens men's minds respecting the real interests of Nations, and gradually conducts them to pros perity.

At present, however, without any cause or provocation, the Privateers of the Republic detain our Vessels, make prizes of them, or keep them in a state of blockade, by fear and terror, in the different Ports of the Island of Cuba.

I have received complaints on this subject from all quarters, and without going into a detail of similar outrages, a single one, and it is not the last, the Capture of the Uranie from Bordeaux, would be sufficient to cast odium on the principles of any Nation that should not disapprove of them.

I hope, trusting to the rectitude of the President of the Republic, to receive his entire disapprobation of these proceedings; in fact, I hope to receive it from Y. E., accompanied, as it ought to be, by the reparation which the outrage requires, and by a positive promise of indemnification to the Parties concerned.

In the contrary case, I shall be obliged to call the French Naval Forces stationed in the Antilles, to the Coasts of Colombia, till I receive further orders from my Government.

I hope to have no occasion to resort to this measure.

I am, with high consideration, &c.

J. M. ANGELUCI,

Consul-General and Inspector-General of French Commerce, in the Islands of Cuba, Porto Rico, and their Dependencies.

P. S. I commission the Marquis de Magnan, who commands under me, to deliver this Despatch to Y. E. himself, and to bring me your answer. His Majesty's Frigate the Constance, which takes him to Carthagena, will cruize on the Coasts of Colombia, until his return from Santa Fé de Bogotá. But the Comte de St. Simon, her Commander, will refrain from every hostile act against the armed Ships or the Commerce of the Republic, should not similar outrages urgently call for prompt and just reprisals.

His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the

SIR,

Republic of Colombia, at Santa Fé de Bogotá.

Don Pedro Gual to M. Angeluci.-(Translation.)

Bogotá, April 28, 1825. THE Marquis de Magnan had the goodness to put into my hands, on the 22nd inst., your Letter dated Havannah, 15th January last, in which you complain, in general and indefinite terms, of a variety of excesses committed by the armed Vessels of the Republic of Colombia on the Coasts of the Island of Cuba, and especially of the capture of the Uranie, and for which you demand a complete reparation on the part of my Government, and intimate that, in the contrary case, you are resolved to call the French Naval Forces stationed in the Antilles

to the Coast of Colombia, until the further determination of His Most Christian Majesty should be known.

The Executive, to whom I have communicated the contents of your Letter, was already informed of the complaint relative to the detention of the Uranie, as you will find by my answer to H. E. RearAdmiral Jurien. But this is the first time that an account has been received here of armed Ships of Colombia having been wanting in their duties, or have misconducted themselves by such disgraceful outrages, respecting which my Government could have wished that you had entered into further particulars; with a view to the punishing of them, if they were really such as they are represented to have been. During the fifteen years, however, of the present painful and complicated war, owing to the obstinacy of Spain, the Government of the Colombian Republic, whenever it has received any Complaint founded on positive facts, has proved to the World that it possesses sufficient energy to apply the severity of the Laws to those who may have violated them.

If, in the Island in which you reside, Pirates are permitted to shelter themselves with impunity, of whose practices complaint is justly made by the Merchants and Mariners who trade in that Quarter, the case is not the same in Colombia, where the rigorous administration of justice would speedily have put a stop to such scandalous depredations. The position, therefore, of that Island, in regard to the Maritime Commerce of the World, leads me to suspect, that some of its Inhabitants, confounding the Vessels of Colombia with others fitted out there, under fictitious, or without any, Flags, have conveyed false information to you, from motives as sinister as they are opposed to peace. Fortunately the Pirates, generally belonging to the Island of Cuba, are already so well known to all Maritime Powers, that I flatter myself, before you have resided much longer in that Colony, you will learn who are the authors of the severe calamities which on various coasts are inflicted on mankind.

You instance the detention of the Uranie, as a proof that such outrages have been committed. I am under the necessity of differing from you, materially, with respect to that part of your letter. The name of outrage may, indeed, be given to every act violently committed against the Laws of a Country or against those of Nations. The conduct of the Captor of the Spanish property found on board the French Vessel Uranie, certainly does not fall under this description. He did no more, in that case, than comply with the 14th Article of our Ordinance for the regulation of Privateering, as you, Sir, will perceive by the inclosed Copy of the Sentence of Condemnation.

Let us consider then, whether the Government of Colombia can at present legally act upon the principle that neutral ships do not protect enemy's property. The manner of applying this doctrine has indeed [1824-25.]

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been the origin of disagreeable disputes between Neutrals and Belligerents, but it does not cease on that account to be the less conformable to the Law of Nations, acknowledged almost from the days of the Romans to these times. In the diplomatic history of Europe, and particularly in that of France, we find it perfectly and uniformly established. The greater part of the Powers which adhered to the System called the "Armed Neutrality," acted in a different manner, with the manifest view of establishing principles opposed to those which were originally introduced by the Roman Laws; and, successively, by the Chambers of Commerce, and by the Belgic Councils; and Public Writers, of equal respectability with Vattel, laboured to bring about a contrary view of the question, with as much zeal as they had before displayed in advocating the constitutive principles of that Armed Neutrality.

To this must be added the very powerful consideration, that Spain, being still unhappily engaged in War with the Republic of Colombia, that Republic cannot refrain from adopting the same legal measures as those employed by her Enemy. Spain in all her Ordinances on Privateering, has declared the principle that free flags do not make free merchandize. And why may not the Republic of Colombia do the same?

Hence it may be asserted that, as the Spanish property alone, found in the Uranie, has been confiscated, the Captor did not commit any aggression. If you have been of this opinion, I have no doubt but that, after you have read the Sentence, you will be convinced of the contrary. On the other hand, if the Government of H. M. C. Majesty consider that the maxims adopted by this Country are injurious to the interests of French Subjects, the consequence which appears to result, is, that Colombia and France should come to some friendly Arrangement, to settle their reciprocal interests in an amicable and satisfactory manner. To accomplish this object the Colombian Government has not only made every favourable advance, but actually keeps an Agent in Paris for that purpose, and will now name a Minister Plenipotentiary to effect it, should it be considered necessary.

I have spoken very frankly, upon this subject, to the Marquis de Magnan, from whose excellent character and goodness, I flatter myself you will receive correct information. Should you think proper, after these explanations, to act hostilely, my Government will have the satisfaction of not having provoked the warfare, and will meet it by its own honour, that of the Colombian Nation, and the justice of its Friends and Allies.

In the mean time, I hope, Sir, that you will see in this Reply an additional proof of the pacific sentiments of my Government. It might, with every propriety, have refused to have entered upon any explana tions with you, whose Consular functions do not strictly extend to