[Navigation of Rivers.]

ART.

TABLE (continued).

23. Custom House Boats and Flags.

24. Duties on Navigation not to be farmed out.

25. No exemption or abatement of Duties admitted.

26. Neutrality in the event of War.

27. Definitive Detailed Regulations to be framed.

28. Payment of permanent Rents in Duties.

29. Pensions of Officers and Relief to Widows and Orphans. Payments by

France.

30. Pensions to Receivers of Duties.

31. Formation of Central Commission.

32. Duties of Central Commission.

Articles concerning the Navigation of the Necker, the Mayne, the Moselle, the Meuse, and the Scheldt.

1. Freedom of Navigation.

2. Storehouse and Harbour Duties on the Necker and Mayne abolished.

3. Duties on the Necker and Mayne.

4. Duties on the Moselle and Meuse. New Regulations to be framed.

5. Repair of Towing Paths.

6. Rights of Navigation on the Rhine, and on the Necker, Moselle, and

Meuse, by subjects of either State.

7. Further Regulation of the Navigation of the Scheldt.

(Translation as laid before Parliament.*)
General Arrangements.

ART. I. The Powers whose States are separated or traversed by the same navigable River, engage to regulate, by common consent, all that regards its Navigation. For this purpose they will name Commissioners, who shall assemble, at latest within six months after the termination of Congress, and who shall adopt, as the bases of their proceedings, the following principlest :

Principles.-Liberty of Navigation.

ART. II. The Navigation of the Rivers, along their whole course, referred to in the preceding Article, from the point where each of them becomes navigable, to its mouth, shall be entirely free, and shall not, in respect to Commerce, be prohibited to any one; it being, however, understood, that the Regulations established with regard to the Police of this Navigation, shall be respected; as they will be framed alike for all, and as favourable as possible to the Commerce of all Nations.

*For French version, see "State Papers," vol. ii, p. 162.
+ See Regulations of 31st March, 1831.

[Navigation of Rivers.]

Uniformity of System. Duties. Police.

ART. III. The system that shall be established, both for the collection of the Duties and for the maintenance of the Police, shall be, as nearly as possible, the same along the whole course of the River; and shall also extend, unless particular circumstances prevent it, to those of its Branches and Junctions, which, in their navigable course, separate or traverse different States.

Tariff.

ART. IV. The Duties on Navigation shall be regulated in an uniform and settled manner, and with as little reference as possible to the different quality of the merchandise, in order that a minute examination of the cargo may be rendered unnecessary, except with a view to prevent fraud and evasion. The amount of the Duties, which shall in no case exceed those now paid, shall be determined by local circumstances, which scarcely allow of a general rule in this respect. The Tariff shall, however, be prepared in such manner as to encourage Commerce by facilitating Navigation, for which purpose the Duties established upon the Rhine, and now in force on that River, may serve as an approximating rule for its construction.

The Tariff once settled, no increase shall take place therein, except by the common consent of the States bordering on the Rivers; nor shall the Navigation be burthened with any other Duties than those fixed in the Regulation.

Offices for the Collection of Duties.

ART. V. The offices for the collection of Duties, the number of which shall be reduced as much as possible, shall be settled in the above Regulation; and no change shall afterwards be made but by common consent, unless any of the States bordering on Rivers should wish to diminish the number of those which exclusively belong thereto.

Towing-paths.

ART. VI. Each State bordering on the Rivers shall be at the expense of keeping in good repair the Towing-paths which pass through its territory, and of maintaining the necessary works through the same extent in the bed of the River, in order that no obstacle may be experienced in the Navigation.

The intended Regulation shall determine the manner in which

[Navigation of Rivers-Rhine.]

the States bordering on Rivers are to participate in these latter works, where the opposite Banks belong to different Govern

ments.

Harbour Duties.

ART. VII There shall nowhere be established Storehouse, Port or Forced Harbour Duties: those already existing shall be preserved for such time only as the States bordering on the Rivers (without regard to the local interest of the place or the country where they are established) shall find them necessary or useful to Navigation and Commerce in general

Custom Houses.

ART. VIII. The Custom Houses belonging to the states bordering on Rivers shall not interfere in the Duties of Navigation. Regulations shall be established to prevent officers of the Customs, in the exercise of their functions, throwing obstacles in the way of the Navigation; but care shall be taken, by means of a strict Police, on the Bank, to preclude every attempt of the inhabitants. to smuggle goods, through the medium of boatmen.

Regulation.

ART. IX. Everything expressed in the preceding Articles shall be settled by a general arrangement, in which there shall also be comprised whatever may need any ulterior determination.

The arrangement once settled, shall not be changed, but by and with the consent of all the States bordering on Rivers, and they shall take care to provide for its execution, with due regard to circumstances and locality.

D'ALBERG.
CLANCARTY.

HUMBOLDT.

WESSENBERG.

NAVIGATION OF THE RHINE.

ARTICLES concerning the Navigation of the Rhine.

Free Navigation.

ART. I. The Navigation of the Rhine, along its whole course, from the point where it becomes navigable to the sea, either in ascending or descending, shall be entirely free, and shall not, in respect to Commerce, be prohibited to any one: due regard, however, being had to the regulations established with respect to its

[Navigation of Rivers-Rhine.]

police, which shall be framed alike for all, and as favourable as possible to the commerce of all nations.

Duties.

ART. II. The system to be adopted for the Collection of the Duties, as well as for the maintenance of the Police, shall be the same along the whole course of the River, and shall extend, as far as circumstances may permit, to those of its Branches and Junctions which, in their navigable course, separate or traverse different States.

Tariff.

ART. III. The Tariff of Duties to be levied on merchandise conveyed along the Rhine shall be so regulated that the whole amount of duty to be paid between Strasburg and the frontier of the Kngdom of the Netherlands, shall be, in passing up the River two francs, and in passing down the River one franc and 33 centimes, per hundred-weight; and that the levying of this Tariff shall be extended (increasing the amount of duty in the same proportion) to the distances between Strasburg and Basle, and between the frontier of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the mouths of that River.

The duty of reconnaissance shall remain as fixed by Article XCIV of the Convention, relative to Duties on the Navigation of the Rhine concluded at Paris the 15th of August, 1804;* with the reservation, however, of making such other alteration in the scale of duties, as that boats from 2,500 to 5,000 quintals, shall be included therein. But this duty shall also extend, in the same proportion, to the above-mentioned distances.

The abatements of the general Tariff, which established the maximum of Duties fixed by Articles CII-CV of the Convention of the 15th August 1804, shall remain in force; but the Commission to be charged with settling the new Regulations shall consider whether their distribution into different classes will not require alterations still more favourable, as well to naviga-. tion and commerce, as to agriculture and the wants of the inhabitants of the States of the Rhine.

Tariff not to be augmented except by Mutual Consent.

ART. IV. The Tariff thus settled shall not be augmented but by mutual consent, and the Governments on the Rhine, adopting * See Appendix.

[Navigation of Rivers-Rhine.]

for a principle, that their true interest consists in encouraging the Commerce of their States, and that the Duties on Navigation should chiefly be appropriated to defraying the expenses of its preservation, formally engage not to increase the same but for the most just and urgent reasons, nor to impose any other Duties whatever on navigation, in addition to those fixed by the present Regulations, under any denomination or pretext whatsoever.

Offices for Collection of Duties.

ART. V. There shall be only twelve Offices for the collection of Duties, throughout the whole extent of the Rhine between Strasburg and the frontier of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; and those which it may be expedient to establish between Strasburg and Basle shall be fixed, according to the same principles, and at proportionate distances. The Offices shall be placed in the most convenient manner for navigation, and their number shall be settled by common consent. Each State bordering on the River shall, however, be allowed to diminish the number exclusively assigned to it by the existing arrangement.

Collection and Division of Duties.

ART. VI. The Duty shall be collected, in each State bordering on the River, on its own account and by its own Collectors; the whole of the Duties being distributed in proportion to the extent of the respective possessions of the different States on the bank. The Collectors shall make oath to observe strictly, the Regulation definitively agreed upon. If the same Office is employed by two or more States, the proceeds shall be divided between them according to the extent of their respective possessions on the bank; this rule shall apply also in case the opposite banks should belong to two different States. Every thing relating to the establishment of the Offices, to the mode of collecting, and of verifying the payment of the Duties, shall be settled in an uniform manner by the definitive Regulation, and shall not be changed but by common consent.

Towing-paths, &c.

ART. VII. Each State of the Rhine shall be at the expense of keeping the Towing-paths which pass through its territory in good repair, and of maintaining the necessary works through the same extent in the channel of the River, in order that no obstacle may be experienced to the navigation.