THE TREATY OF PEACE.

its result not only increase the prosperity of this great Commercial Country throughout In the former state of the Law relating all its various classes, (depending as they to the contents of Newspapers, we should not do on each other,) but largely tend to the have been permitted to set forth or descant advantage of the Legal Profession, for whaton the great Treaty of Peace which was an- ever promotes the wealth, and increases the nounced to both Houses of Parliament on population of a country, must enhance the Monday last, the 28th April. It must be interests of those whose clients multiply acknowledged, however, that we were libe- both in number and riches. We trust, inrally dealt with by the Government autho- deed, that "a good time is coming," which rities in the construction of the Statutes will re-instate our brethren in that prosagainst the publication of "news or obser- perity which they formerly possessed; and vations on public events." Our humble that, notwithstanding the ravages which Journal, as the first Weekly Law Periodical, have been perpetrated by hasty and illhas often been noticed in Parliament and the Courts of Law on questions relating to publications devoted chiefly to science and literature, but which sometimes animadverted on transactions of a political nature or which affected the community at large.

advised changes in the rules of Law and the regulations of professional Practice, an honourable, well-educated, energetic, and intelligent body of men must still continue to conduct the practical business of the Courts, and advise, guide, and aid the suitors in their varied, important, and often complicated affairs.

Indeed, it may be admitted that in stating and commenting upon the various measures of Law Reform (for which purpose Although the Treaty of Peace, and its the Legal Observer was chiefly established) appendant Conventions, have appeared in all we were frequently dealing with topics not the papers, we think our readers will ap limited to the Profession alone in any of its prove of its being permanently recorded in branches, but importantly affecting the these pages. Every intelligent lawyer, inpublic in general. We believe that there is deed, ought to be acquainted with the scarcely any subject in the wide range of several clauses of these remarkable State newspaper topics so interesting to the ma- documents, which we trust will long conjority of Englishmen as the due administra- tinue as a great Chapter in the International tion of Justice in all its various departments; Law of the Seven Kingdoms,-the rulers of and this general feeling proves convincingly which are parties thereto. the high sense of justice which prevails The several articles of the Treaty which throughout the kingdom. Hence we see a more particularly affect the interests of large and prominent space allotted to "Law Great Britain are the 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, Reports and Intelligence" in all our daily 16th, 17th, and 23rd. In addition to which papers. is the following Convention relating to the important subject of Maritime Law :

We consider also that this more than European Compact, which well-nigh establishes the peace of the whole world, will in No. 1,469.

VOL. LII.

"That Maritime Law, in time of war, has long been the subject of deplorable disputes;

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"That the uncertainty of the Law and of the and ports of Sebastopol, Balaklava, Kamiesch, duties in such a matter, gives rise to differences Eupatoria, Kertch, Jenikale, Kinburn, as well of opinion between neutrals and belligerents as all other territories occupied by the allied which may occasion serious difficulties, and troops. even conflicts;

"That it is consequently advantageous to establish a uniform doctrine on so important a point;

"The plenipotentiaries, being duly authorised, resolved to concert among themselves as to the means of attaining this object; and, having come to an agreement, have adopted the following solemn declaration :

"1. Privateering is, and remains, abolished; "2. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war;

"3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under enemy's flag ;

"4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy.

"The Governments of the undersigned plenipotentiaries engage to bring the present declaration to the knowledge of the States which have not taken part in the Congress of Paris, and invite them to accede to it.

"Convinced that the maxims which they now proclaim cannot but be received with gratitude by the whole world, the undersigned plenipotentiaries doubt not that the efforts of their Governments to obtain the general adoption thereof will be crowned with full success. "The present declaration is not and shall not be binding, except between those Powers who have acceded, or shall accede to it."

The following are the Articles of the Treaty :

"1. From the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, there shall be peace and friendship between her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Majesty the King of Sardinia, his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, on the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, on the other part; as well as between their heirs and successors, their respective dominions and subjects in perpetuity.

"2. Peace being happily re-established between their said Majesties, the territories conquered or occupied by their armies during the war shall be reciprocally evacuated. Special arrangements shall regulate the mode of the evacuation, which shall be as prompt as possible.

"3. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias engages to restore to his Majesty the Sultan the town and citadel of Kars, as well as the other parts of the Ottoman territory of which the Russian troops are in possession.

"4. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the King of Sardinia, and the Sultan, engage to restore to his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias the town's

"5. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the Emperor of all the Russias, the King of Sardinia, and the Sultan, grant a full and entire amnesty to those of their subjects who may have been compromised by any participation whatsoever in the events of the war in favour of the cause of the enemy. It is expressly understood that such amnesty shall extend to the subjects of each of the belligerent parties who may have continued, during the war, to be employed in the service of one of the other belligerents.

"6. Prisoners of war shall be immediately given up on either side.

"7. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Majesty the King of Prussia, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, declare the Sublime Porte admitted to participate in the advantages of the public law and system (concert) of Europe. Their Majesties engage, each on his part, to respect. the independence and the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire; guarantee in common the strict observance of that engagement; and will, in consequence, consider any act tending to its violation as a question of general interest. 8. If there should arise between the Sublime Porte and one or more of the other signing Powers any misunderstanding which might the Sublime Porte, and each of such Powers, endanger the maintenance of their relations, before having recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other contracting parties the opportunity of preventing such an extremity by means of their mediation.

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"9. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, having, in his constant solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a firman which, while ameliorating their condition without distinction of religion or of race, records his generous intentions towards the Christian population of his empire, and wishing to give a further proof of his sentiments in that respect, has resolved to communicate to the contracting parties the said firman, emanating spontaneously from his sovereign will. The contracting Powers recognise the high value of this communication. It is clearly understood that it cannot, in any case, give to the said Powers the right to interfere, either collectively or separately, in the relations of his Majesty the Sultan with his subjects, nor in the internal administration of his empire.

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10. The convention of the 13th of July, 1841, which maintains the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire relative to the closing of the Straits of the Bosphorus and of the Dardanelles, has been revised by common consent. The act concluded for that purpose, and in conformity with that principle, between the hih

The Treaty of Peace.

contracting parties, is and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it formed an integral part thereof."

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"16. With the view to carry out the arrangements of the preceding Articles, a Commission, in which Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, shall each be re"11. The Black Sea is neutralised. Its presented by one delegate, shall be charged to waters and its ports, thrown open to the mer-designate and to cause to be executed the works cantile marine of every nation, are formally and necessary below Isatcha, to clear the mouth of in perpetuity interdicted to the flag of war, the Danube, as well as the neighbouring parts either of the Powers possessing its coasts, or of the sea, from the sands and other impediof any other Power, with the exceptions men-ments which obstruct them, in order to put tioned in Articles 14 and 19 of the present that part of the river and the said parts of the treaty. sea in the best possible state for navigation. "12. Free from any impediment, the com- In order to cover the expenses of such works, merce in the ports and waters of the Black as well as of the establishments intended to Sea shall be subject only to regulations of secure and to facilitate the navigation at the health, customs, and police, framed in a spirit mouths of the Danube, fixed duties, at a suitfavourable to the development of commercial able rate, settled by the Commission by a matransactions. In order to afford to the com-jority of votes, may be levied, on the express mercial and maritime interests of every nation condition that, in this respect as in every other, the security which is desired, Russia and the the flags of all nations shall be treated on the Sublime Porte will admit consuls into their footing of perfect equality. ports situated upon the coast of the Black Sea, in conformity with the principles of International Law.

"13. The Black Sea being neutralised according to the terms of Article 11, the maintenance or establishment upon its coast of military-maritime arsenals becomes alike unnecessary and purposeless; in consequence his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and his Imperial Majesty the Sultan engages not to establish or to maintain upon that coast any military-maritimé arsenal.

"14. Their Majesties the Emperor of all the Russias and the Sultan having concluded a convention for the purpose of settling the force and the number of light vessels, necessary for the service of their coasts, which they reserve to themselves to maintain in the Black Sea, that convention is annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it formed an integral part thereof. It cannot be either annulled or modified without the assent of the powers signing the present treaty.

"15. The Act of the Congress of Vienna having established the principles intended to regulate the navigation of rivers which separate or traverse different states, the contracting powers stipulate amongst themselves that those principles shall in future be equally applied to the Danube and its mouths. They declare that this arrangement henceforth forms a part of the public law of Europe, and take it under their guarantee. The navigation of the Danube cannot be subjected to any impediment or charge not expressly provided for by the stipulations contained in the following articles; in consequence, there shall not be levied any toll founded solely upon the fact of the navigation of the river, nor any duty upon the goods which may be on board of vessels. The regulations of the police and of quarantine to be established for the safety of the states separated or traversed by that river, shall be so framed as to facilitate, as much as possible, the passage of vessels. With the exception of such regulations, no obstacle whatever shall be opposed to free navigation.

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17. A Commission shall be established and shall be composed of delegates of Austria, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte, and Wurtemberg (one for each of those powers), to whom shall be added Commissioners from the three Danubian Principalities, whose nomination shall have been approved by the Porte. This Commission, which shall be permanent:-1. Shall prepare regulations of navigation and river police. 2. Shall remove the impediments, of whatever nature they may be, which shall prevent the application to the Danube of the arrangements of the Treaty of Vienna. 3. Shall order and cause to be executed the necessary works throughout the whole course of the river. And 4. Shall, after the dissolution of the European Commission, see to maintaining the mouths of the Danube and the neighbouring parts of the sea in a navigable state.

18. It is understood that the European Commission shall have completed its task, and that the River Commission shall have finished the works described in the preceding articles, under Nos. 1 and 2, within the period of two years. The signing powers assembled in Conference having been informed of that fact, shall, after having placed it on record, pronounce the dissolution of the European Commission, and from that time the permanent River Commission shall enjoy the same powers as those with which the European Commission shall have until then been invested.

"19. In order to insure the execution of the regulations which shall have been established by common agreement in conformity with the principles above declared, each of the contracting powers shall have the right to station, at all times, two light vessels at the mouths of the Danube.

"20. In exchange for the towns, ports, and territories enumerated in Article 4 of the present treaty, and in order more fully to secure the freedom of the navigation of the Danube, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias consents to the rectification of his frontier in Bessarabia. The new frontier shall begin from the Black Sea, one kilometre to the east

No impediment shall be opposed to the extraordinary measures of defence which, by agreement with the Sublime Porte, they may be called upon to take in order to repel any external aggression.

of the Lake Bourna Sola, shall run perpendi- | with the view to maintain the security of the cularly to the Akerman Road, shall follow that interior, and to ensure that of the frontiers. road to the Val de Trajan, pass to the south of Bolgrad, ascend the course of the River Yalpuck to the Height of Saratsika, and terminate at Katamori on the Pruth. Above that point the old frontier between the two empires shall not undergo any modification. Delegates of the contracting powers shall fix, in its details, the line of the new frontier.

"27. If the internal tranquillity of the Principalities should be menaced or compromised, the Sublime Porte shall come to an under"21. The territory ceded by Russia shall be standing with the other contracting Powers in annexed to the Principality of Moldavia under regard to the measures to be taken for mainthe suzerainty of the Sublime Porte. The in-taining or re-establishing legal order. No habitants of that territory shall enjoy the rights and privileges secured to the Principalities; and, during the space of three years, they shall be permitted to transfer their domicile elsewhere, disposing freely of their property.

"22. The Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia shall continue to enjoy under the suzerainty of the Porte, and under the guarantee of the contracting Powers, the privileges and immunities of which they are in posses sion. No exclusive protection shall be exercised over them by any of the guaranteeing Powers. There shall be no separate right of interference in their internal affairs.

armed intervention can take place without previous agreement between those powers.

"28. The Principality of Servia shall continue to hold of the Sublime Porte, in conformity with the Imperial Hats which fix and determine its rights and immunities, placed henceforward under the collective guarantee of the contracting Powers. In consequence, the said Principality shall preserve its independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, of legislation, of commerce, and of navigation.

"29. The right of garrison of the Sublime Porte, as stipulated by anterior regulations, is maintained. No armed intervention can take place in Servia without previous agreement between the high contracting Powers.

"23. The Sublime Porte engages to preserve to the said Principalities an independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, of legislation, of commerce, and of "30. His Majesty the Emperor of all the navigation. The Laws and Statutes at present Russias and his Majesty the Sultan maintain, in force shall be revised. In order to establish in its integrity, the state of their possessions a complete agreement in regard to such re-in Asia, such as it legally existed before the vision, a special commission, as to the compo- rupture. In order to prevent all local dispute sition of which the high contracting Powers the line of frontier shall be verified, and, if will come to an understanding among them- necessary, rectified, without any prejudice as selves, shall assemble without delay at Bucha- regards territory being sustained by either rest, together with a Commissioner of the Sublime Porte. The business of this commission shall be to investigate the present state of the Principalities, and to propose bases for their future organisation.

party. For this purpose a mixed Commission, composed of two Russian Commissioners, two Ottoman Commissioners, one English Commissioner, and one French Commissioner, shall be sent to the spot immediately after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Court of Russia and the Sublime Porte. Its labours shall be completed within the period of eight months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.

"24. His Majesty the Sultan promises to convoke immediately in each of the two provinces a Divan ad hoc, composed in such a manner as to represent most closely the interests of all classes of society. These Divans shall be called upon to express the wishes of "31. The territories occupied during the the people in regard to the definitive organisa-war by the troops of their Majesties the Queen tion of the principalities. An instruction from the congress shall regulate the relations between the commission and these Divans.

"25. Taking into consideration the opinion expressed by the two Divans, the commission shall transmit, without delay, to the present seat of the conferences, the result of its own labours. The final agreement with the Suzerain power shall be recorded in a convention to be concluded at Paris between the high contracting parties; and a hatti-sherif, in conformity with the stipulations of the convention, shall constitute definitively the organisation of those provinces, placed thenceforward under the collective guarantee of all the signing Powers.

"26. It is agreed that there shall be in the Principalities a national armed force, organised

of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, and the King of Sardinia, according to the terms of the conventions signed at Constantinople on the 12th of March, 1854, between Great Britain, France, and the Sublime Porte; on the 14th of June of the same year between Austria and the Sublime Porte; and on the 15th of March, 1855, between Sardinia and the Sublime Porte; shall be evacuated as soon as possible after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. The periods and the means of execution shall form the object of an arrangement between the Sublime Porte and the Powers whose troops have occupied its territory.

32. Until the treaties or conventions which existed before the war between the belligerent