"That the uncertainty of the Law and of the and ports of Sebastopol, Balaklava, Kamiesch, duties in such a matter, gives rise to differences Eupatoria, Kertch, Jenikale, Kinburn, as well of opinion between neutrals and belligerents as all other territories occupied by the allied which may occasion serious difficulties, and troops. even conflicts;

"That it is consequently advantageous to establish a uniform doctrine on so important a point;

"The plenipotentiaries, being duly authorised, resolved to concert among themselves as to the means of attaining this object; and, having come to an agreement, have adopted the following solemn declaration :

"1. Privateering is, and remains, abolished; "2. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war;

"3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under enemy's flag;

"4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy.

"The Governments of the undersigned plenipotentiaries engage to bring the present declaration to the knowledge of the States which have not taken part in the Congress of Paris, and invite them to accede to it.

"Convinced that the maxims which they now proclaim cannot but be received with gratitude by the whole world, the undersigned plenipotentiaries doubt not that the efforts of their Governments to obtain the general adoption thereof will be crowned with full success. "The present declaration is not and shall not be binding, except between those Powers who have acceded, or shall accede to it."

The following are the Articles of the Treaty :

"1. From the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, there shall be peace and friendship between her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Majesty the King of Sardinia, his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, on the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, on the other part; as well as between their heirs and successors, their respective dominions and subjects in perpetuity.

"2. Peace being happily re-established between their said Majesties, the territories conquered or occupied by their armies during the war shall be reciprocally evacuated. Special arrangements shall regulate the mode of the evacuation, which shall be as prompt as possible.

"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 the other parts of the Ottoman territory of which the Russian troops are in possession.

"4. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the King of Sardinia, and the Sultan, engage to restore to his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias the towns

"5. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, the Emperor of all the Russias, the King of Sardinia, and the Sultan, grant a full and entire amnesty to those of their subjects who may have been compromised by any participation whatsoever in the events of the war in favour of the cause of the enemy. It is expressly understood that such amnesty shall extend to the subjects of each of the belligerent parties who may have continued, during the war, to be employed in the service of one of the other belligerents.

"6. Prisoners of war shall be immediately given up on either side.

"7. Her Majesty the Queen of the United' Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, his Majesty the King of Prussia, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and his Majesty the King of Sardinia, declare the Sublime Porte admitted to participate in the advantages of the public law and system (concert) of Europe. Their Majesties engage, each on his part, to respect. the independence and the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire; guarantee in common the strict observance of that engagement; and will, in consequence, consider any act tending to its violation as a question of general interest.

"8. If there should arise between the Sublime Porte and one or more of the other signing Powers any misunderstanding which might the Sublime Porte, and each of such Powers, endanger the maintenance of their relations, before having recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other contracting parties the opportunity of preventing such an extremity by means of their mediation.

"9. His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, having. in his constant solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, issued a firman which, while ameliorating their condition without distinction of religion or of race, records his generous intentions towards the Christian population of his empire, and wishing to give a further proof of his sentiments in that respect, has resolved to communicate to the contracting parties the said firman, emanating spontaneously from his sovereign will. The contracting Powers recognise the high value of this communication. It is clearly understood that it cannot, in any case, give to the said Powers the right to interfere, either collectively or separately, in the relations of his Majesty the Sultan with his subjects, nor in the internal administration of his. empire.

66

10. The convention of the 13th of July, 1841, which maintains the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire relative to the closing of the Straits of the Bosphorus and of the Dardanelles, has been revised by common consent. The act concluded for that purpose, and in conformity with that principle, between the hih

The Treaty of Peace.

contracting parties, is and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it formed an integral part thereof."

"11. The Black Sea is neutralised. Its waters and its ports, thrown open to the mercantile marine of every nation, are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the flag of war, either of the Powers possessing its coasts, or of any other Power, with the exceptions mentioned in Articles 14 and 19 of the present treaty.

"12. Free from any impediment, the commerce in the ports and waters of the Black Sea shall be subject only to regulations of health, customs, and police, framed in a spirit favourable to the development of commercial transactions. In order to afford to the commercial and maritime interests of every nation the security which is desired, Russia and the Sublime Porte will admit consuls into their perts situated upon the coast of the Black Sea, in conformity with the principles of International Law.

"13. The Black Sea being neutralised according to the terms of Article 11, the maintenance or establishment upon its coast of military-maritime arsenals becomes alike unnecessary and purposeless; in consequence his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and his Imperial Majesty the Sultan engages not to establish or to maintain upon that coast any military-maritime arsenal.

"14. Their Majesties the Emperor of all the Russias and the Sultan having concluded a convention for the purpose of settling the force and the number of light vessels, necessary for the service of their coasts, which they reserve to themselves to maintain in the Black Sea, that convention is annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it formed an integral part thereof. It cannot be either annulled or modified without the assent of the powers signing the present treaty.

"15. The Act of the Congress of Vienna having established the principles intended to regulate the navigation of rivers which separate or traverse different states, the contracting powers stipulate amongst themselves that those principles shall in future be equally applied to the Danube and its mouths. They declare that this arrangement henceforth forms a part of the public law of Europe, and take it under their guarantee. The navigation of the Danube cannot be subjected to any impediment or charge not expressly provided for by the stipulations contained in the following articles; in consequence, there shall not be levied any tall founded solely upon the fact of the navigation of the river, nor any duty upon the goods which may be on board of vessels. The regulations of the police and of quarantine to be established for the safety of the states separated or traversed by that river, shall be so framed as to facilitate, as much as possible, the passage of vessels. With the exception of such regulations, no obstacle whatever shall be opposed to free navigation.

3

"16. With the view to carry out the arrangements of the preceding Articles, a Commission, in which Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey, shall each be represented by one delegate, shall be charged to designate and to cause to be executed the works necessary below Isatcha, to clear the mouth of the Danube, as well as the neighbouring parts of the sea, from the sands and other impediments which obstruct them, in order to put that part of the river and the said parts of the sea in the best possible state for navigation. In order to cover the expenses of such works, as well as of the establishments intended to secure and to facilitate the navigation at the mouths of the Danube, fixed duties, at a suitable rate, settled by the Commission by a majority of votes, may be levied, on the express condition that, in this respect as in every other, the flags of all nations shall be treated on the footing of perfect equality.

"17. A Commission shall be established and shall be composed of delegates of Austria, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte, and Wurtemberg (one for each of those powers), to whom shall be added Commissioners from the three Danubian Principalities, whose nomination shall have been approved by the Porte. This Commission, which shall be permanent:-1. Shall prepare regulations of navigation and river police. 2. Shall remove the impediments, of whatever nature they may be, which shall prevent the application to the Danube of the arrangements of the Treaty of Vienna. 3. Shall order and cause to be executed the necessary works throughout the whole course of the river. And 4. Shall, after the dissolution of the European Commission, see to maintaining the mouths of the Danube and the neighbouring parts of the sea in a navigable state.

18. It is understood that the European Commission shall have completed its task, and that the River Commission shall have finished the works described in the preceding articles, under Nos. 1 and 2, within the period of two years. The signing powers assembled in Conference having been informed of that fact, shall, after having placed it on record, pronounce the dissolution of the European Commission, and from that time the permanent River Commission shall enjoy the same powers as those with which the European Commission shall have until then been invested.

"19. In order to insure the execution of the regulations which shall have been established by common agreement in conformity with the principles above declared, each of the contracting powers shall have the right to station, at all times, two light vessels at the mouths of the Danube.

"20. In exchange for the towns, ports, and territories enumerated in Article 4 of the present treaty, and in order more fully to secure the freedom of the navigation of the Danube, his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias consents to the rectification of his frontier in Bessarabia. The new frontier shall begin from the Black Sea, one kilometre to the east

The Treaty of Peace.

interior, and to ensure that of the frontiers. No impediment shall be opposed to the extraordinary measures of defence which, by agreement with the Sublime Porte, they may be called upon to take in order to repel any external aggression.

of the Lake Bourna Sola, shall run perpendi- with the view to maintain the security of the cularly to the Akerman Road, shall follow that road to the Val de Trajan, pass to the south of Bolgrad, ascend the course of the River Yalpuck to the Height of Saratsika, and terminate at Katamori on the Pruth. Above that point the old frontier between the two empires shall not undergo any modification. Delegates of the contracting powers shall fix, in its details, the line of the new frontier.

"27. If the internal tranquillity of the Principalities should be menaced or compromised, the Sublime Porte shall come to an under"21. The territory ceded by Russia shall be standing with the other contracting Powers in annexed to the Principality of Moldavia under regard to the measures to be taken for mainthe suzerainty of the Sublime Porte. The in-taining or re-establishing legal order. No habitants of that territory shall enjoy the rights armed intervention can take place without preand privileges secured to the Principalities; vious agreement between those powers. and, during the space of three years, they shall be permitted to transfer their domicile elsewhere, disposing freely of their property.

"22. The Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia shall continue to enjoy under the suzerainty of the Porte, and under the guarantee of the contracting Powers, the privileges and immunities of which they are in posses sion. No exclusive protection shall be exercised over them by any of the guaranteeing Powers. There shall be no separate right of interference in their internal affairs.

"23. The Sublime Porte engages to preserve to the said Principalities an independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, of legislation, of commerce, and of navigation. The Laws and Statutes at present in force shall be revised. In order to establish a complete agreement in regard to such revision, a special commission, as to the composition of which the high contracting Powers will come to an understanding among themselves, shall assemble without delay at Bucharest, together with a Commissioner of the Sublime Porte. The business of this commission shall be to investigate the present state of the Principalities, and to propose bases for their future organisation.

66

24. His Majesty the Sultan promises to convoke immediately in each of the two provinces a Divan ad hoc, composed in such a manner as to represent most closely the interests of all classes of society. These Divans shall be called upon to express the wishes of the people in regard to the definitive organisation of the principalities. An instruction from the congress shall regulate the relations between the commission and these Divans.

"25. Taking into consideration the opinion expressed by the two Divans, the commission shall transmit, without delay, to the present seat of the conferences, the result of its own labours. The final agreement with the Suzerain power shall be recorded in a convention to be concluded at Paris between the high contracting parties; and a hatti-sherif, in conformity with the stipulations of the convention, shall constitute definitively the organisation of those provinces, placed thenceforward under the collective guarantee of all the signing Powers.

"26. It is agreed that there shall be in the Principalities a national armed force, organised

"28. The Principality of Servia shall continue to hold of the Sublime Porte, in conformity with the Imperial Hats which fix and determine its rights and immunities, placed henceforward under the collective guarantee of the contracting Powers. In consequence, the said Principality shall preserve its independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, of legislation, of commerce, and of navigation.

"29. The right of garrison of the Sublime Porte, as stipulated by anterior regulations, is maintained. No armed intervention can take place in Servia without previous agreement between the high contracting Powers.

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30. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and his Majesty the Sultan maintain, in its integrity, the state of their possessions in Asia, such as it legally existed before the rupture. In order to prevent all local dispute the line of frontier shall be verified, and, if necessary, rectified, without any prejudice as regards territory being sustained by either party. For this purpose a mixed Commission, composed of two Russian Commissioners, two Ottoman Commissioners, one English Commissioner, and one French Commissioner, shall be sent to the spot immediately after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Court of Russia and the Sublime Porte. Its labours shall be completed within the period of eight months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.

"31. The territories occupied during the war by the troops of their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, and the King of Sardinia, ac cording to the terms of the conventions signed at Constantinople on the 12th of March, 1854, between Great Britain, France, and the Sublime Porte; on the 14th of June of the same year between Austria and the Sublime Porte; and on the 15th of March, 1855, between Sardinia and the Sublime Porte; shall be evacuated as soon as possible after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. The periods and the means of execution shall form the object of an arrangement between the Sublime Porte and the Powers whose troops have occupied its territory.

32. Until the treaties or conventions which existed before the war between the belligerent

New Statutes.-Third Report of the Chancery Commissioners.

Inclosure.

County.

Date of Provisional Order.

Powers have been either renewed or replaced | SCHEDULE TO WHICH THIS ACT REFERS by new acts, commerce of importation or of exportation shall take place reciprocally on the footing of the regulations in force before the war; and in all other matters their subjects shall be respectively treated upon the footing of the most favoured nation.

Southwick

Birchanger
Highweek
Marrick.
Wiggenhall Mead &
Middle Moor Mead

"33. The convention concluded this day Steep between their Majesties the Queen of the Edlesborough United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, on the one part, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, on the other part, respecting the Aland Islands, is and remains annexed to the present treaty, and shall have the same force and validity as if it formed a part thereof.

"34. The present treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris in the space of four weeks, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. Done at Paris the 30th day of the month of March, in the year 1856."

NEW STATUTES EFFECTING AL-
TERATIONS IN THE LAW.

Romsley
Church Coniston
Ingoldsthorpe.
Capel Rigg Intack
Rettendon
Alderholt

West Chiltington
Conisbrough
Lockhill Wood
Coventry
Mappledurwell
Meonstoke

Llanteague Common

Penherget

Langley.

Talyvan

Woolscott

Hunderthwaite

5

Sussex.

May 26, 1854

Southampton

May 17, 1855

Bucks.

May 31, 1855

Essex

June 28, 1855

York

Hertford

Oct. 25, 1855 Aug. 18, 1855 June 25, 1855

Southampton Dec. 20, 1855

July 5, 1855

Southampton

Jan. 4, 1856

Pembroke

Jan. 17, 1856

Among others it has been proposed that England and Wales bave, in pursuance of the registrars should be relieved from the "The Acts for the Inclosure, Exchange, and duty of attending to countersign the AcImprovement, of Land," issued their provisional orders for and concerning the proposed countant-general's cheques. This duty was inclosures mentioned in the Schedule to this formerly performed by the registrars only, Act, and have in their Eleventh Annual General Report certified their opinion that such inclosures would be expedient; but the same cannot be proceeded with without the previous authority of Parliament: Be it enacted, as follows:

1. That the said several proposed Inclosures mentioned in the Schedule to this Act be proceeded with.

2. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament and in legal instruments it shall be sufficient to use either the expression "The Annual Inclosure Act, 1856," or "The Acts for the Inclosure, Exchange, and Improvement of Land."

but by an order of Lord St. Leonards, made on 27th July, 1852, the duty was directed to be performed by the Master of the Reports and Entries on three days of the week, one of the registrars being in attendance on the other three days. It is stated in the Report, that—

"When the Accountant-General draws any cheque upon the Bank except for dividends. the sum for which the draft is drawn is marked in figures in the margin of the order directing the payment, and the AccountantGeneral puts his initials opposite these figures. It is the duty of the registrar before he countersigns the cheque to see that the cheque is drawn in favour of the person to whom it is

6

Third Report of the Chancery Commssioners.

hereafter

ordered to be paid, and that the amount of it | year, so that an increase in the number of recorresponds with the sum specified in the gistrars does not appear necessary on the order, and he writes his initials in the margin ground of the constant sitting of six Courts. of the order opposite the amount specified. It will be seen that in a subsequent part of This signature operates as a guard against two this our report we recommend that assistance cheques being produced to the registrar suc- should be given to the registrars in the discessively for the same payment. The same charge of their duties out of Court. Should course is pursued on the first payment of di- this recommendation be carried into effect, the vidends under an order, but after the first registrars will be greatly relieved in respect of payment the order is not produced to the re- this portion of their business. We think it gistrar, so that he simply countersigns the right, however, to observe that, though we do Accountant-General's cheque on its being pro- not recommend the appointment of an adduced to him. It is the practice in the Ac-ditional registrar at present, we think it procountant-General's office for the Accountant-bable that such an appointment may General to sign the cheques upon his being be required, especially having regard to the satisfied that the cheque is drawn in favour of progressive increase in the number of orders, power should the proper person and for the proper amount. and we consider it desirable that The cheques being so drawn are intrusted to be given to the Lord Chancellor to increase the the clerks, to be by them given out to the per- number of registrars to 12, if, after the alterasons entitled, on their signing a receipt in the tions which it is proposed to make shall have Accountant-General's books. These cheques, been made, such an appointment should be especially cheques drawn for dividends, may found necessary. The recent abolition of the remain some time in the office before applica- office of the Master of the Reports and Entries tion is made for them. furnishes, in our opinion, an additional reason for giving such a power to the Lord Chancellor, because the whole duty of countersigning the Accountant-General's cheques, half of which is now performed by the gentleman who lately held the office of Master of the Reports, will, upon his death, devolve on the registrars."

It has been further suggested that the orders should be drawn by the solicitors and submitted to the registrars for their sanction. The Commissioners do not, however, approve of this suggestion.

"If the practice of countersigning the cheques were abolished, the consequence would be that if a cheque were abstracted from the office, any person might obtain payment for it at the bank at once, and without application elsewhere. According to the present system this could not be done, but the cheque, after it has been received from the clerk, must be presented to the registrar or the Master of the Reports, and except when drawn for dividends the order must also be presented to one of these officers. We regard this course of proceeding as a protection against fraud, and we "We think that the orders of the Court are not prepared to recommend the abolition should be drawn up by officers of the Court of such protection, more especially as we find trained for the purpose, and we apprehend that the Accountant-General is strongly op- that orders drawn up by agents of the parties posed to its removal, and indeed is of opinion would often be made more favourable to the that an opportunity should be afforded for party drawing them up than the judgment of performing this duty more carefully than it the Court warranted, and that consequently can be at present done, by the countersigning disputes and differences would arise more freofficer being relieved from all other business quently, leading to great expense and frequent during his attendance at the Accountant- applications to the Court. We apprehend, General's office. We think it is of importance moreover, that uniformity in the mode of drawthat this duty of countersigning the cheques ing up orders would gradually cease, and that should still be performed, and we are of opinion that a duty of this nature is better intrusted to a body of responsible and experienced officers like the registrars, acting in rotatio, than to a single officer to be appointed for the purpose."

It has been also suggested that the number of registrars should be increased to 12, thus giving two registrars to each Court; but the Commissioners are not satisfied that an increase in the number of registrars is necessary. They observe that- ·

"The Lord Chancellor and the Lords

much confusion and uncertainty would consequently be introduced into the practice of the Court. A serious additional expense would also be thrown upon the suitors by such a change in the practice, for practically the orders would in most cases be drawn by counsel, and since it would often be impracticable for coundelay would also, in our opinion, be increased, sel, consistently with their other engagements, to frame the order immediately after it was pronounced. We have arrived at the conclusion that the orders should continue to be drawn up by the registrars."

The Commissioners think, however, that Justices are not sitting in separate Courts the practice of the registrar's office, by every day in the week, except perhaps during which the minutes of decretal orders are Michaelmas and Hilary Terms and the inter- drawn up by the registrars, and the minutes mediate sittings, at which time there is less of orders on petitions and motions by the press of business than at other periods of the clerks, should be altered as follows: