pire, son Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire près Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français;

Le Conseil Fédéral de la Confédération Suisse, M. le Docteur Jean Conrad Kern, Membre du Conseil des Etats Suisses, Ministre Plénipotentiaire et Envoyé Extraordinaire chargé d'une mission spéciale;

Lesquels, après s'être communiqué leurs pleins pouvoirs respectifs, trouvés en bonne et due forme, sont convenus des Articles suivants :

ART. I. Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse consent à renoncer à perpétuité, pour lui, ses héritiers et successeurs, aux droits souverains que l'Article XXIII du Traité conclu à Vienne le 9 Juin, 1815,* lui attribue sur la Principauté de Neuchâtel et le Comté de Valengin.

II. L'Etat de Neuchâtel, relevant désormais de lui-même, continuera à faire partie de la Confédération Suisse au même titre que les autres Cantons, et conformément à l'Article LXXV du Traité précité.

III. La Confédération Suisse garde à sa charge tous les frais résultant des événements de Septembre 1856. Le Canton de Neuchâtel ne pourra être appelé à contribuer à ces charges que comme tout autre Canton, et au prorata de son contingent d'argent.

IV. Les dépenses qui demeurent à la charge du Canton de Neuchâtel seront réparties entre tous les habitants d'après le principe d'une exacte proportionnalité, sans que par la voie d'un impôt exceptionnel, ou de toute autre manière, elles puissent être mises exclusivement ou principalement à la charge d'une classe ou catégorie de familles ou d'individus.

V. Une amnistie pleine et entière sera prononcée pour tous les délits ou contraventions politiques ou militaires en rapport avec les derniers événements, et en faveur de tous les Neuchâtelois, Suisses ou étrangers, et notamment en faveur des hommes de la milice qui se sont soustraits, en passant à l'étranger, à l'obligation de prendre les armes.

Aucune action, soit criminelle, soit correctionnelle en dommages et intérêts, ne pourra être dirigée, ni par le Canton de Neuchâtel, ni par aucune autre corporation ou personne quelconque, contre ceux qui ont pris part, directement ou indirectement, aux événements de Septembre.

L'amnistie devra s'étendre également à tous les délits politiques ou de presse antérieurs aux événements de Septembre.

VI. Les revenus des biens de l'Eglise qui ont été réunis en 1818 au domaine de l'Etat, ne pourront pas être détournés de leur destination primitive.

*Vol. II. Page 6.

VII. Les capitaux et les revenus des fondations pieuses, des institutions privées, d'utilité publique, ainsi que la fortune léguée par le Baron de Pury à la bourgeoisie de Neuchâtel, seront religieusement respectés: ils seront maintenus conformément aux intentions des fondateurs et aux actes qui ont institué ces fondations, et ne pourront jamais être détournés de leur but.

VIII. Le présent Traité sera ratifié, et les ratifications en seront échangées dans le délai de 21 jours, ou plus tôt si faire se peut. L'échange aura lieu à Paris.

En foi de quoi, les Plénipotentiaires respectifs l'ont signé, et y ont apposé le cachet de leurs armes.

Fait à Paris, le 26 Mai, 1857.

(L.S.) COWLEY.

(L.S.) HUBNER.

(L.S.) A. WALEWSKI.
(L.S.) C. M. D'HATZFELDT.
(L.S.) CTE. KISSELEFF.
(L.S.) KERN.

TREATY of Peace between Great Britain and Persia.-Signed at Paris, March 4, 1857.*

[Ratifications exchanged at Bagdad, May 2, 1857.]

In the name of God the Almighty, the All-Merciful. HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty, whose standard is the Sun, the Sacred, the August, the Great Monarch, the absolute King of Kings of all the States of Persia, being both equally and sincerely animated by a desire to put a stop to the evils of a war which is contrary to their friendly wishes and dispositions, and to re-establish on a solid basis the relations of amity which had so long existed between the 2 exalted States, by means of a Peace calculated for their mutual advantage and benefit, have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, for carrying into effect this desired object, the following, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Henry Richard Charles, Baron Cowley, a Peer of the United Kingdom, a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight Grand Cross of * Signed in the English and Persian languages.

the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of the French, &c.;

And His Majesty the Shah of Persia, His Excellency the Abode of Greatness, the Favourite of the King, Ferokh Khan, Ameen Oolmoolk, the Great Ambassador of the Mighty State of Persia, the Possessor of the Royal Portrait, and of the Blue Cordon, the Bearer of the Diamond-studded Girdle, &c. ;

Who, having exhibited and exchanged their full powers, and found them to be in due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

ART. I. From the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, there shall be perpetual peace and friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on the one part, and His Majesty the Shah of Persia, on the other, as likewise between their respective successors, dominions, and subjects.

II. Peace being happily concluded between Their said Majesties, it is hereby agreed that the forces of Her Majesty the Queen shall evacuate the Persian territory, subject to conditions and stipulations hereafter specified.

III. The High Contracting Parties stipulate that all prisoners taken during the war by either belligerent shall be immediately liberated.

IV. His Majesty the Shah of Persia engages, immediately on the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, to publish a full and complete amnesty, absolving all Persian subjects who may have in any way been compromised by their intercourse with the British forces during the war, from any responsibility for their conduct in that respect, so that no persons, of whatever degree, shall be exposed to vexation, persecution, or punishment, on that account.

V. His Majesty the Shah of Persia engages further to take immediate measures for withdrawing from the territory and city of Herat, and from every other part of Affghanistan, the Persian troops and authorities now stationed therein; such withdrawal to be effected within 3 months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty.

VI. His Majesty the Shah of Persia agrees to relinquish all claims to sovereignty over the territory and city of Herat and the countries of Affghanistan, and never to demand from the Chiefs of Herat, or of the countries of Affghanistan, any marks of obedience, such as the coinage, or "khotbeh," or tribute.

His Majesty further engages to abstain hereafter from all interference with the internal affairs of Affghanistan. His Majesty promises to recognize the independence of Herat, and of the whole

of Affghanistan, and never to attempt to interfere with the independence of those States.

In case of differences arising between the Government of Persia and the countries of Herat and Affghanistan, the Persian Government engages to refer them for adjustment to the friendly offices of the British Government, and not to take up arms unless those friendly offices fail of effect.

The British Government, on their part, engage at all times to exert their influence with the States of Affghanistan, to prevent any cause of umbrage being given by them, or by any of them, to the Persian Government; and the British Government, when appealed to by the Persian Government, in the event of difficulties arising, will use their best endeavours to compose such differences in a manner just and honourable to Persia.

VII. In case of any violation of the Persian frontier by any of the States referred to above, the Persian Government shall have the right, if due satisfaction is not given, to undertake military operations for the repression and punishment of the aggressors; but it is distinctly understood and agreed to, that any military force of the Shah which may cross the frontier for the above-mentioned purpose, shall retire within its own territory as soon as its object is accomplished, and that the exercise of the above-mentioned right is not to be made a pretext for the permanent occupation by Persia, or for the annexation to the Persian dominions, of any town or portion of the said States.

The Persian Government engages to set at liberty without ransom, immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, all prisoners taken during the operations of the Persian troops in Affghanistan, and all Affghans who may be detained either as hostages or as captives on political grounds in any part of the Persian dominions shall, in like manner, be set free; provided that the Affghans, on their part, set at liberty, without ransom, the Persian prisoners and captives who are in the power of the Affghans.

Commissioners on the part of the 2 Contracting Powers shall, if necessary, be named to carry out the provisions of this Article.

IX. The High Contracting Parties engage that, in the establishment and recognition of Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, each shall be placed in the dominions of the other on the footing of the most favoured nation; and that the treatment of their respective subjects, and their trade, shall also, in every respect, be placed on the footing of the treatment of the subjects and commerce of the most favoured nation.

X. Immediately after the ratifications of this Treaty have been exchanged, the British Mission shall return to Tehran, when the Persian Government agrees to receive it with the apologies and

eeremonies specified in the separate note signed this day by the Plenipotentiaries of the High Contracting Parties.

XI. The Persian Government engages, within 3 months after the return of the British Mission to Tehran, to appoint a Commissioner, who, in conjunction with a Commissioner to be appointed by the British Government, shall examine into and decide upon the pecuniary claims of all British subjects upon the Government of Persia, and shall pay such of those claims as may be pronounced just, either in 1 sum or by instalments, within a period not exceeding 1 year from the date of the award of the Commissioners. And the same Commissioners shall examine into and decide upon the claims on the Persian Government, of all Persian subjects, or the subjects of other Powers, who, up to the period of the departure of the British Mission from Tehran, were under British protection, which they have not since renounced.

XII. Saving the provisions in the latter part of the preceding Article, the British Government will renounce the right of protecting hereafter any Persian subject not actually in the employment of the British Mission, or of British Consuls-General, Consuls, ViceConsuls, or Consular Agents, provided that no such right is accorded to, or exercised by, any other forcign Powers; but in this, as in all other respects, the British Government requires, and the Persian Government engages, that the same privileges and immunities shall in Persia be conferred upon, and shall be enjoyed by, the British Government, its servants and its subjects, and that the same respect and consideration shall be shown for them, and shall be enjoyed by them, as are conferred upon and enjoyed by, and shown to, the most favoured foreign Government, its servants and its subjects.

XIII. The High Contracting Parties hereby renew the agreement entered into by them in the month of August, 1851* (Shawal 1267), for the suppression of the Slave Trade in the Persian Gulf, and engage further that the said agreement shall continue in force after the date at which it expires, that is, after the month of August, 1862, for the further space of 10 years, and for so long afterwards as neither of the High Contracting Parties shall, by a formal declaration, annul it; such declaration not to take effect until 1 year after it is made.

XIV. Immediately on the exchange of the ratifications of this Treaty, the British troops will desist from all acts of hostility against Persia; and the British Government engages, further, that, as soon as the stipulations in regard to the evacuation, by the Persian troops, of Herat and the Affghan territories, as well as in regard to the reception of the British Mission at Tehran, shall have been carried into full effect, the British troops shall, without delay, be withdrawn * Vol. XLI. Page 428.