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after the present Constitution shall have been received in the capital of the State, it shall be considered as accepted in the same manner as it has been by the other States.

Given at Rio Negro, this 8th day of May, 1863.

The President, Deputy for the Sovereign State of

Panama, JUSTO AROSEMENA. The Vice-President, Deputy for the Sovereign State of Cauca, JULIAN TRUJILLO.

[Here follow the signatures of Deputies from 62 States and Districts.]

TRANSITORY CONSTITUTIONAL ACT.-Rio Negro, May 8, 1863. (Translation.)

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION,

In the name and by the authority of the people and of the United States of Columbia which it represents, has agreed to decree the following Transitory Constitutional Act.

ART. I. The popular elections for President, Senators, and Representatives, shall take place in the present year, in order that the first Constitutional Congress may be installed on the 1st of February, 1864, before which Congress the new President shall assume office on the 1st of April.

II. The General Government shall continue its relations with friendly nations by means of those diplomatic agents who present new credentials, and it shall furnish the same to the agents of the Republic abroad, after the sanctioning of the Constitution, and with the consent of the Convention.

III. The first constitutional President of the United States of Columbia shall be elected by the Convention, and hold office until the 1st of April, 1864, when the President to be elected in conformity with Article LXXV of the Constitution, is to take office.

IV. The Supreme Federal Court, composed of the 3 judges now in office, and also the Attorney-General, shall continue in the exercise of their functions until the 1st of April next, when the new functionaries to be elected according to the Constitution take office.

V. The Convention shall exercise during the present session all the functions which, by the Constitution, appertain to the Congress and to each of the Chambers thereof.

VI. The Legislatures of the States shall vote in the present year, at their first meeting, for Judges of the Supreme Federal Court, so that the next Congress may enter into the scrutiny and declare the election. The citizens elected shall take office on the 1st of April, 1864.

VII. The territory which has hitherto served as federal district shall be governed in the manner its municipality may determine, until the Assembly of the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca shall legally incorporate it into that State. The Supreme Court shall take cognizance of all appeals which may have been granted by the judges of the federal district, until such incorporation takes place. VIII. The compact of union of the 20th of September, 1861, is hereby abrogated.

Given at Rio Negro, this 8th day of May, 1863.

The President, Deputy for the Sovereign State of

Panama, JUSTO AROSEMENA.

The Vice-President, Deputy for the Sovereign State
of Cauca, JULIAN TRUJILLO.

[Here follow the signatures of the Deputies from the various States
and Districts; and Acts of Ratification.]

TREATY of Recognition, Peace, and Friendship between the Argentine Republic and Spain.-Signed at Madrid, September 21, 1863.

(Translation)

HIS Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic, on the one part, and Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, on the other, animated by the desire of removing the difficulties which have arisen in the execution of Article VII of the Treaty of Recognition, Peace, and Friendship, concluded at Madrid on the 9th of July, 1859,* and taking into account that the re-establishment of Argentine unity, happily effected by virtue of the reincorporation of the province of Buenos Ayres, renders necessary the modification of the same Article, have named as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit: His Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic, Don Mariano Balcarce, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Courts of Paris, London, and Turin, appointed in the same character to that of Madrid, &c., and Her Catholic Majesty, Don Manuel Pando Fernandez de Pinedo, Alava y Dávila, Marquis of Miraflores, &c., Grandee of Spain of the first class, Knight of the distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles III, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour of France, and of that of Leopold of Belgium, Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX of the Pontifical States, of that of Christ of Portugal, Senator of the Kingdom, formerly Her Ambassador, President of Her Council of Ministers, and Her Principal Secretary of State, and for affairs, &c., who, after having communi* Vol. L. Page 1160.

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cated to each other their respective full powers, and having found them to be in due and proper form, have agreed that the said Treaty shall be modified, and it is modified in the following manner:

ART. I. Her Catholic Majesty recognizes the Argentine Republic, or Confederation, composed of all the provinces mentioned in its present federal Constitution, and the other territories which legitimately belong, or in the future may belong to it, as a free, sovereign, and independent nation; and exercising the powers which she possesses in accordance with the Decree of the General Cortes of the Kingdom, of the 4th of December, 1836, renounces in every form, and for ever, for herself and her successors, the sovereignty, rights, and actions which belonged to her over the territory of the said Republic.

II. By the high interposition of Her Catholic Majesty, and as a natural consequence of the present Treaty, there shall be complete oblivion of the past and full amnesty for all subjects of Her Majesty and citizens of the Argentine Republic, whatever party they may have belonged to during the dissensions happily terminated by the present stipulation.

III. The Argentine Republic and Her Catholic Majesty agree that the citizens and subjects of the respective nations shall preserve intact and free their rights to claim and obtain justice and full satisfaction for the bona fide debts contracted between them, as also that there shall be no obstacle raised by the public authorities to the rights which they may advance on account of marriage, inheritance by will, or ab intestato, or any other title of acquisition recognized by the laws of the country in which the claim may be made.

IV. The Argentine Confederation, considering that in thus acquiring the rights and privileges of the Crown of Spain, it likewise contracts all the duties and obligations thereof, solemnly recognizes, as consolidated debt of the Republic, as much privileged as any, according to what is spontaneously established in its laws, all debts of whatever kind they may be, contracted by the Spanish Government and its authorities in the ancient provinces of Spain, which now form, or may in future constitute, the territory of the Argentine Republic, evacuated by Spain on the 25th of May, 1810.

The entries in the books of accounts of the offices of the ancient Vice-Royalty of Buenos Ayres, or of the special ones of those provinces which may constitute or form in future the Argentine Republic, as well as original agreements, and certificates, or legally authorized copies, and all documents, of whatever date, which appear trustworthy according to the principles of justice universally admitted, provided that they be signed by Spanish authorities resident in the territory, shall be considered as proofs of the debts.

The admission of these debts shall take place on hearing the parties interested, and the amounts which are settled by this liquidation as legally payable shall be entitled to the corresponding legal interest, commencing one year after the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, although the liquidation may not be effected till later.

The amounts which the Government of Her Catholic Majesty has spent, since the complete evacuation of the Argentine territory by the Spanish authorities, shall not form part of this debt.

V. Although the struggles and misunderstandings, happily terminated, were not obstinate or disastrous in the ancient ViceRoyalty of Buenos Ayres, and it is consequently to be presumed that the sequestrations and confiscations of properties of Spanish subjects or of Argentine citizens have been insignificant, desiring to avoid all injury, the Argentine Republic and Her Catholic Majesty solemnly undertake that all property, movable and immovable, jewellery, money, or] other effects of whatever kind, which have been sequestered or confiscated, from Spanish subjects or from Argentine citizens, during the war carried on in America or since, and which are still in the power of the respective Governments, in whose name the sequestration or confiscation was made, shall be immediately returned to their former owners, or their heirs or legitimate representatives, none of whom, however, shall have a right to claim anything on account of the returns which the said properties or effects may or should have produced during the period of sequestration or confiscation.

The injuries or improvements caused in the said properties by time or chance, during the sequestration or confiscation, cannot be claimed either by one party or the other; but the former owners and their representatives shall indemnify the respective Government for all those improvements made by human art in the said properties or effects, after the sequestration or confiscation, and likewise the said Government shall indemnify the owners for all injuries which shall have arisen in the same way during the said time. And these reciprocal indemnifications shall be made in good faith and without judicial contention, by the friendly judgment of experienced persons, or of arbitrators named by the parties, and umpires chosen by the arbitrators in case of disagreement. To the creditors of which this Article treats, whose properties have been sold or disposed of in any way whatever, will be given sufficient indemnification on these terms, and at their option, either in securities of the consolidated debt of the most privileged class, the interest whereon will commence after the expiration of one year from the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, or in public lands.

If the indemnification be made in securities, the respective

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Government will give the interested party a document of credit against the State, which will bear interest from the time mentioned in the preceding paragraph, although the document may be given subsequently to it; and if it be made in public lands, after the expiration of a year from the exchange of the ratifications, to the value of the lands, which are given in indemnification of the lost property, shall be added as much land as is calculated to be equivalent to the returns of the original quantity, supposing that had been given within the year following the aforesaid exchange, so that the indemnification may be effective and complete when made.

In arranging the indemnification whether in securities or public lands, the value of the properties at the time of the sequestration or confiscation will be considered, all proceedings being conducted in good faith, and in a friendly and conciliatory manner.

Her Catholic Majesty, on her part, engages to effect a like recognition and payment, with respect to the same kind of credits belonging to Argentine citizens in Spain.

VI. Wherever those Spanish subjects or Argentine citizens may be settled, who, in virtue of the stipulations in Articles IV and V of this Treaty, have any claims to make, they must present them without fail within four years from the day on which the ratification of the present Treaty is published in the capital of the Republic, and they must be accompanied by a concise statement of the facts, supported by trustworthy vouchers proving the legality of the demands.

After the said 4 years, no new claims of this kind will be admitted under any pretext.

VII. With the object of establishing and consolidating the union which should exist between the two nations, each of the Contracting Parties agrees that, to determine the nationality of Spaniards and Argentines, the provisions contained in the Constitution and laws of each country shall be respectively observed therein.

Those Spaniards born in the present dominions of Spain, who have resided in the Argentine Republic and adopted its nationality, can recover their primitive nationality, if they think fit, for which purpose those who are present are allowed the space of one year, and those who are absent, two years.

After the expiration of those periods, it will be understood that they have definitively adopted the nationality of the Republic.

The simple insertion in the national registers which are to be established at the Legations and Consulates of both States, shall be sufficient formality to prove the respective nationality.

The principles and conditions which this Article establishes shall be equally applicable to Argentine citizens and their children in the dominions of Spain.

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