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IV. All cases of litigation respecting immovable property, and relating to the ownership or occupation of houses or lands, between a British and a Tunisian subject, shall be referred for adjudication to the competent legal tribunals, whose summons for the appearance of the British subject shall be transmitted through the British Consul-General, or, in his absence, through his deputy, in order that he or his deputy may be present at the trial. And the condemned party shall have the right to appeal to the courts constituted for that purpose, until the appeal shall have reached the Meglis Elakbar (Legislative Assembly); and whatever decision might be given by the last tribunal, the authority of the condemned party shall carry it out. But in cases where the dispute is between British subjects, it shall be optional for them, or either of them, to have their difference heard and determined by their Consul-General, or his deputy, whose decision, however, shall be governed by the laws and usages of the country, so far as they can be ascertained, and so far as the conditions expressed in the contract will permit.

V. British subjects holding immovable property shall be free to sell, dispose of, and convey their property to natives; but they shall not sell, transfer, or convey their property to foreigners, except to subjects of such friendly Governments as have, by Convention or other agreement with His Highness the Bey, acquired for their subjects the right to purchase and hold immovable property in the Regency of Tunis; and, in order to guard against any infraction of the present Article, as well as to avoid any dispute or litigation that may arise therefrom, it is agreed that in all cases of a sale or conveyance of immovable property from a British to a foreign subject, the instrument of transfer shall have affixed to it the seals of the Ecclesiastical Court, or those of the competent native authorities, to render the sale valid and lawful.

VI. If a British proprietor die, either wholly intestate or intestate as to his immovable property, the succession to his immovable property shall be governed by the same law as the succession, ab intestato, to his movable property, without any let or hindrance on the part of the Tunisian authoirties.

VII. It being established at all times that the Consul-General, or, in his absence, his deputy, do administer the estate of a British subject dying intestate in the Regency of Tunis, it is further established and agreed that the same right of administration shall extend to the lands, houses, and tenements of a British subject so dying. And it is moreover established, that upon the written declaration of Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, or, in his absence, of his deputy, given under the seal of his office, that he has sold, disposed of, or conveyed the immovable property belonging to the deceased, the courts and legal authorities shall recognize such

sale; and shall, upon the testimony of two notaries that the sale was made in due and legal form, furnish the purchaser, being a native or a foreigner coming within the provision of Article V of the present Convention, with such legal instruments or deeds as will enable the said purchaser, in case of contention, sale, conveyance, or mortgage, to prove his right over the said property.

VIII. The stipulations of the foregoing Article, and the rights therein reserved, shall also apply to, and shall be exercised by, the Consul-General, or his deputy in his absence, with regard to the immovable property of a British subject who has become involved in pecuniary difficulties, or who has declared himself insolvent in order to the payment of his debts and liabilities.

IX. The written declaration of Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, or, in his absence, of his deputy, that he has disposed of the immovable property of a British subject, for the reasons and for the purposes specified in Articles VII and VIII, shall be held to free from responsibility, the legal authorities and courts recognizing and confirming the transfer of such property; and for the satisfaction of the courts that the transaction has been made in due form, it shall be optional for them to depute their own notaries to assist at such sales and conveyances.

X. In all transactions relating to immovable property, British subjects shall pay the notarial and other fees which are fixed by law and are paid by natives.

XI. No British subject shall be forced to dispose of his immovable property, except for objects of public utility. But in all cases of expropriation, Articles XI and XII of the Municipal Law of Tunis shall be the rule for effecting the compulsory expropriation for any public purpose in a lawful manner, and for fixing the amount of the indemnity to be paid; and such indemnity shall be paid in full, and to the satisfaction of the proprietor, before the act of expropriation can be carried out.

XII. As a further protection, however, to proprietors, the Decree declaring the public object for which the expropriation has been rendered necessary shall emanate from His Highness the Bey. The Consul-General, or in his absence, his Deputy, shall have due information thereof, so that he may have it in his power to watch over the execution of the provisions of Article XI of the Municipal Law heretofore established and agreed upon with reference to the mode of ascertaining and fixing the amount of the indemnity.

XIII. With a view to prevent complaints, abuses, or a misconstruction being put upon an act of expropriation, it is agreed that, should the Bey's Decree, specifying the object of public utility for which the expropriation has been made, be not executed at the expiration of one year after its date, the owner of the immovable

property shall have the right to recover the same by reimbursing in full the amount of the indemnity.

XIV. Whenever a British subject shall desire to introduce machinery, or establish a manufactory in the Regency of Tunis, he shall be bound to apply for and obtain the permission of the Bey for that purpose, and His Highness, in according such permission, shall specify in the body of the Decree or Concession the conditions upon which it has been granted, in order that the Decree shall serve, in case of litigation or of an infraction of any of the conditions, as a rule and a guidance for the equitable adjustment of the point or points at issue.

XV. The building and appurtenances of manufactories being immovable property, are subject to the conditions and stipulations relating to such property in general. But as a further security to the local Government and to the public revenue, it is moreover established and agreed that, upon the written requisition of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, or of the President of the Municipal Council, to the Consul-General, or, in his absence, to his deputy, the fiscal officers shall have the right to ascertain, by personal inspection, that the manufactory has not been diverted from the purpose for which permission was given, and that the internal taxes and imposts levied upon raw materials, either previously to or after their being manufactured, are duly paid.

XVI. British subjects holding, or hereafter becoming possessed of property called anzal (leasehold), shall continue to enjoy the conditions which constitute and are attached to that description of property, and which conditions are hereby established and confirmed.

XVII. British subjects holding immovable property in the Regency of Tunis shall, in conforming to the local laws and regulatious, exercise and enjoy the same immunities, privileges, and rights that are accorded to Tunisian proprietors; and for that purpose the right of British subjects to hold immovable property being derived from the enactments founded upon the organic laws (Aad-el-Aman) the said enactments are hereby confirmed; and their observance being considered necessary for the more efficient protection of the immovable property held as aforestated, it has been further agreed that they shall be maintained, as a greater security for the due performance of the conditions of the present Convention. And they shall be furthermore entitled to all the immunities, privileges, and exemptions accorded, or to be hereafter accorded, to the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation.

This Convention has been written in triplicate, consisting in 17 Articles, besides the introduction, and contained in the preceding 19 pages, to be signed by both parties, and to be executed in the [1862-63. LIII.]

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manner explained and clearly set forth in its several provisions, having for object the duration, confirmation, and maintenance of amity between them.

Dated on Saturday, the 26th day of Rabi-el-Thany, 1280 of the Hedjira, corresponding to the 10th of October, in the year of our Lord 1863, at the Palace of the Goletta.

(L.S.) RICHARD WOOD.

(Signed in Arabic)

(L.S.) MOHAMED ESSADOK BEY.

(Countersigned by the Bey's Prime Minister.)

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE to the Treaty between Great Britain and the United States of April 7, 1862,* for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade.-Signed at Washington, February 17, 1863.

[Ratifications exchanged at London, April 1, 1863.]

WHEREAS by Article I of the Treaty between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and The United States of America, for the suppression of the African Slave Trade, signed at Washington on the 7th of April, 1862, it was stipulated and agreed that those ships of the respective navies of the two High Contracting Parties which shall be provided with special instructions for that purpose, as thereinafter mentioned, may visit such merchant-vessels of the two nations as may, upon reasonable grounds, be suspected of being engaged in the African Slave Trade, or of having been fitted out for that purpose, or of having, during the voyage on which they are met by the said cruizers, being engaged in the African Slave Trade contrary to the provisions of the said Treaty; and that such cruizers may detain and send or carry away such vessels in order that they may be brought to trial in the manner thereinafter agreed upon: And whereas it was by the said Article further stipulated and agreed, that the reciprocal right of search and detention should be exercised only within the distance of 200 miles from the Coast of Africa, and · to the southward of the 32nd parallel of north latitude, and within 30 leagues from the coast of the Island of Cuba: And whereas the two High Contracting Parties are desirous of rendering the said Treaty still more efficacious for its purpose; the Plenipotentiaries who signed the said Treaty have, in virtue of their full powers, agreed that the reciprocal right of visit and detention, as defined in * Vol. LII. Page 50.

the Article aforesaid, may be exercised also within 30 leagues of the island of Madagascar, within 30 leagues of the island of Puerto Rico, and within 30 leagues of the island of San Domingo.

The present Additional Article shall have the same force and validity as if it had been inserted word for word in the Treaty concluded between the two High Contracting Parties on the 7th of April, 1862, and shall have the same duration as that Treaty. It shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London in 6 months from this date, or sooner if possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have thereunto affixed the seal of their arms.

Done at Washington, the 17th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1863.

(L.S.) LYONS.

(L.S.). WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

CORRESPONDENCE relative to the relations between Great Britain and Abyssinia, and the Appointment of a British Consul (Captain Cameron).*—1861-1863.

SIR,

No. 1.-Earl Russell to Consul Cameron.

Foreign Office, February 2, 1861. YOUR first duty in arriving in Massowah, which you will consider as the head-quarters of your Consulate, will be to make yourself acquainted with the general state of political affairs in Abyssinia.

Her Majesty's Government are so imperfectly informed in regard to what may have happened in that country since the death of your predecessor, that I am unable to lay down any very preciso rules for the guidance of your conduct.

The civil war which prevailed at that time may have been brought to a conclusion decidedly favourable to one or other of the contending parties, or it may still prevail with the alternate success of either.

It seems to Her Majesty's Government undesirable that you should avow yourself the partizan of either of the contending parties if the contest is still going on. Whatever interest Her Majesty's Government may have in Abyssinia can best be advanced by the tranquillity of the country; but if the British Agent becomes the partizan of one side, the rivalry of European interests, which, however disavowed by the Governments of Europe, is almost invariably Laid before Parliament, 1835, 1866.

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