The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-26 00:00:00

APRIL 26, 1856. THE TREATY OF PEACE. AN unauthorised and imperfect copy of the treaty has transpired during the week. Articles 5 to 9 are m i ss ing, but we apprehend the text as far as it goes is in the main correct. [Translation.] The Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their plenary powers, found to he in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles : ARTICLE 1. From the day of the exchange of ratifications of the pre sent treaty, there shall be peace and friendship between his Majesty the Emperor of the French, her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and lre land, his Majesty the King of Sardinia , his Majesty the Sultan of the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Rusiias of the other part, as well as between their heirs and successors, their respective States, and subjects in perpetuity. ARTICLE 2. Peace being happily established between their aforesaid Majesties, the territories conquered or occupied by their armies during the war shall be reciprocally evacuated. Special arrangements shall regulate the mode of evacua tion, which shall be effected as sooa as possible ((laud promple que fairs se pourra). ARTICLE 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 all the other parts of the Ottoman terri tory of which the Russian troops are in possession. ARTICLE 4. Their Majesties the Emperor of the French, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the King of Sardinia, and the Sultan engage to restore to his Majesty the Emperor of all the Rosales, the towns and ports of Sebastopol, Balaklava, Kamiesch, Eupatoria, Kertch [A vexations accident occurring at the last moment, has occasioned the loss of two or three slips of this portion of the MS.] ARTICLE 9. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, in his constant anxiety for the well-being of his subjects, having granted (octroyi) a firman, which, in ameliorating their lot with out distinction of religion or race, proves his generous in tentions towards the Christian populations of his empire, and, desiring to give a further proof of his sentiments in this regar I, has resolved to communicate to the contract ing powers the said &man, spontaneously emanating from his sovereign will. The contracting powers acknowledge (constatent) the great value of this communication. It is quite understood that the fact of this communication cannot in any case give to the said powers a right to interfere, either collec tively or separately, in the relations of his Majesty the Sultan with his subjects, or in the internal administration of his empire. ARTICLE 10. The Convention of July 13, 1811, which maintains the old regulation of the Ottoman Empire relative to the closing of the Straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, has been revised by common accord. The act concluded with this view, and conformably to that principle between the high contracting parties, is and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and value as if it had formed an integral part of it. _ _ ARTICLE 11. The Black Sea is neutralised. Open to the mercantile marine of all nations, its waters and ports are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to flags of war, whether belonging to the powers having dominion on its coasts (putssances riveraines) or to any other power, save and except the exceptions mentioned in Articles LI and 19 of the present treaty. Alt riCLE 12. Freed from all impediments (entrare), trade in the ports and waters of the Black Sea shall only be subjected to regulations of health, customs, and police, conceived in a a arit favorable to the development of commercial trans. actions. In order to give every desirable security to the commer cial and maritime interests of all nations, Russia and the Sublime Porte will admit consuls in the ports situated on the coasts (littoral) of the Black Sea conformably to the principles of international law. ARTICLE 13. The Black Sea being neutralised according to the terms of Article 11, the maintenance or establishment on its coasts of military•maritime arsenals (arsenaux militaires maritime') becomes unnecessary as without object (devient sane nicrssiti c omme sans o bj e t). I n cc . nsequ ence his Majesty the Emperor of all the Ilussias and his Imperial Majesty the Sultan engage neither to construct nor to preserve any military•maritime arsenal upon that coast. ARTICLE I 1. Their Majesties the Emperor of all the Russias and the Sultan having concluded a convention for the purpose of determining the force and number of light vessels neces• sary for the service of their coasts, which they reserve to themselves the right of keeping up in the Black Sea, this e invention is annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and value as if it had formed an integral part of it. Thi s convent i on can neither be annu ll e d nor modified without the assent of the powers parties to the present treaty. 15. The act of the Congress of Vienna having established the principles destined to regulate the navigation of the rivers which separate or traverse several States, the con tracting powers stipulate between themselves that for the future these principles shall be also applicable to the Danube and to its embouchures. They declare that this THE PRESS. disposition constitutes henceforth a part of the public law of Europe, and they take it (the disposition) under their guarantee. . . The navigation of the Danube cannot he subjected to any hindrance (entrave) or dues (redevance) which shall nut be expressly provided for by the stipulations contained in the following articles. In consequence no toll (peage) shall be taken that may be based solely upon the fact of the navigation of the river, nor any duty (drnit) upon mer chandise which may be 011 board vessels. The police and quarantine regulations to be established for the security of the States separated or traversed by this river shall be conceived in such a manner as to favour the circulation of vessels as much as possible (autant Ode faire se poursa). Save these regulations, no obstacle whatever shall be placed in the way of the free navigation. ARTICLE 16. With the object of realising the dispositions of the prece- ding article, a commission in which France, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, shall each be represented by a delegate, shall be charged to design and cause to be executed the necessary works from lsatcha downwards (depuis Isalcha), in order to clear the mouths of the Danube as well as the neighbouring parts of the sea from the sand and other obstacles which obstruct them, so as to put that part of the river and the said parts of the sea in the best Possible state of navigability. To cover the expenses of these works, as well as of the establishments having for their object to assure and facilitate the navigation of the mouths of the Danube, fixed duties at a proper (convenable) rate, to be settled by the commission by a majority of votes, may be levied, on the express conditions that in this respect, as in all others, the flags of all nations shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality. ARTICLE 17. A commission shall be appointed, composed of delegates of Austria, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte, and Wurtemburg (one for each of these powers). to which commission the commission of the three Danubian principalities, whose nomination shall have been approved of by the Porte, shall be joined. This commission, which shall be per manent, will first draw up the regulations of navigation and of fluvial police ; secondly, remove the obstacles (entrares), of whatever nature they may be, which as yet prevent the application of the dispositions of the treaty of Vienna to the Danube; thirdly, give orders for and cause to be executed the necessary works throughout the whole course of the river (aur tout le parcours du fleece) ; and fourthly, after the dissolution of the European commis sion, see to the maintenance of the navigability of the mouths of the Danube and the neighbouring parts of the sea. ARTICLE 18. It is understood that the European commission will have fulfilled its task, and that the bordering (rireraine) commission will have terminated the works designated in the preceding article tinder the Nos. 1 and 2, within the space of two years. The powers parties to this treaty, as sembled in conference and informed of these facts, will, after having taken note of them (apses en aroir pris side), pronounce the dissolution of the European commission, and thenceforth the permanent bordering (riveraine) commission shall enjoy the same powers as those with which the European commission will have been invested up to that time. ARTICLE 19. In order to assure the execution of the regulations which shall have been settled by common accord, in accordance with the principles herinbefore enunciated, each of the contracting powers shall have the right at all times to station two light vessels at the mouths of the Danube. ARTICLE 9.0. In exchange for the towns, ports, and territories enu merated in Article 4 of the present treaty, and in order the better to assure the liberty of the navigation of the Danube, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Itussias consents to the rectification of his frontier in Bessarabia. The new frontier will start from the Black Sea at one kilometre to the East of Lake Bourna Sola, will perpen dicularly rejoin the Akerman-road, follow this road as far as the valley of Trajan, pass to the south of Bolgrad, re c.scend along the river Ya!puck as far as Saratsika, and will terminate at Yakamori on the Pruth. Above this point the old frontier between the two empires will undergo no modification. Delegates of the contracting powers will settle, in its de. tails, the boundary line of the new frontier. ARTICLE 21. The territory ceded by Russia shall be annexed to the principality of Moldavia, under the suzerainty of the Sub- lime Porte. The inhabitants of this territory will enjoy the rights and privileges assured to the principalities, and during the space of three years they shall be permitted to remove their domicile elsewhere, freely disposing of their pro. perty. ARTICLE 22. The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia will con tinue to enjoy, under the suzerainty of the Porte, and under the guarantee of the contracting powers, the privi leges and immunities of which they are in possession. No exclusive protection shall be exercised over them by any-one of the guaranteeing powers. There shall be no private (particulier) right of interference with their in ter nal (lairs. ARTTCLE 23. The Sublime Porte engages to preserve to the aforesaid principalities an independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation. The laws and statutes now in force shall be revised. To establish a complete accord as to this revision, a special commission, with regard to the composition of which the high contracting parties will come to an under 389 standing, will assemble without delay at Bucharest, toge• ther with a commission of the Sublime Porte. The task of this commission will be to inquire into the actual state and condition of the principalities, and to pro pose the bases of their future organisation. ARTICLE 24. His Majesty the Sultan promises to convoke imme diately, in each of the two provinces, a divan ad hoc, com posed in such a manner as to constitute the most exact representation of the interests of all classes of society. These divans are to give expression to the wishes of the populations relative to the definitive organisation of the principalities. An instruction of the Congress will regu late the relations of the commission with these divans. ARTICLE 25. Taking into consideration the opinion expressed by the two divans, the commission will, without delay, transmit the result of its own labours to the present seat the Conferences. The final understanding with the suzerain power will be recorded (consacrie) in a convention con cluded at Paris between the high contracting parties, and a Hatti•Scheriff conformable to the stipulations of the con vention will definitively constitute the organisation of these provinces—placed henceforth under the collective guarantee of all the powers parties to the treaty. ARTICLE 26. It is agreed that there shall be in the principalities an armed national force organised with the object of main taining the security of the interior, and assuring that of the frontiers. No impediment (entrave) is to be placed in the way of such extraordinary measures of defence, as, in accordance with the Sublime Porte, the principalities may be under the necessity of taking (seraient appeles d prendre) to repulse any foreign aggression. ARTICLE 27. If the internal tranquilhty of the principalities should be menaced or compromised, the Sublime Porte will come to an understanding with the other contracting powers, as to the measures to be taken to maintain or re-establish legal order. No armed intervention can take place without a previous accord with these powers. ARTICLL 28. The principality of Servia will continue to be dependent upon (a relever de) the Sublime Porte conformably to the Imperial Harts, which fix and determine its rights and immunities placed henceforth under the collective guaran tee of the contracting powers. In consequen3e the said principality will preserve its independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation. ARTICLE 29. The right of garrison of the Sublime Porte, such as is stipulated for by anterior regulations, is maintained. No armed intervention is to take place in Servis without a previous accord between all the contracting powers. AILTICLE 30. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Pansies and his Majesty the Sultan keep in its integrity the state of their possessions in Asia, such as it existed legally before the rupture. In order to prevent any local contest, the boundary of the frontier will be verified, and if need be rectified, but so as that no territorial prejudice shall result to either of the two parties from any such rectification. With this view a mixed commission composed of two Russian commissioners, two Ottoman commissioners, one French commissioner, and one English commissioner, shall be sent to the locality cur lee lima-) immediately after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Court of Russia and the Sublime Porte. The labours of this commission are to be terminated within the space of eight months, dating from the exchange of ratifications of the present treaty. ARTICLE 31. The territories occupied during the war by the troops of their Majesties the Emperor of the French, the Emperor of Austria, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the King of Sardinia, under the terms of the Conventions signed at Constantinople on March 12, 1854, between France, Great Britain, and the Sublime Porte, the 14th of June of the same year between Austria and the Sublime Porte, and the 15th of March, 18.55, between Sardinia and the Sublime Porte, shall be evacuated as soon as possible (auuilot gee faire se puurra) after the ratifications of the present treaty. The time within which the evacuation is to be effected (lea details) and the means of execution will be the subject of a con vention between the Sublime Porte and the powers whose troops occupy the territories. ARTICLE 32. Until the treaties or conventions which existed before the war between the belligerent powers shall have been renewed or replaced by new acts, the commerce of impor tation and exportation shall go on reciprocally upon the footing of the rules in force before the war, and their sub jects shall in all other respects (en Mute mare maniere) be respectively treated upon the footing of the most favored nation. ARTICLE 33. The Convention concluded this day between their Mijeaties the Emperor of the French, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland of the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russian of the other part, relative to the Aland Isles, is and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and value as if it had made part of it. ARTICLE 84. The present treaty shall he ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris within the space of four weeks, or sooner, if possible. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it and have hereto affixed the seal of their arms.