intituled "An Act to enable Her Majesty to carry into effect certain stipulations contained in a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Her Majesty and the Emperor of Austria ; and to enable Her Majesty to declare, by order in Council, that ports, which are the most natural and convenient shipping ports of States within whose dominions they are not situated, may, in certain cases, be considered, for all purposes of trade with Her Majesty's dominions, as the national ports of such States," it is, amongst other things, enacted, that, from and after the passing of the said Act, notwithstanding anything contained in an Act, passed in the session of Parliament of the 3rd and 4th years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the IVth, intituled "An Act for the encouragement of British shipping and navigation,” it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, from time to time, to declare by Her Order in Council, to be published in the London Gazette, "that any port or ports to be named in such Order, being the most convenient port or ports for shipping the produce of any State, to be also named in such Order, shall, although not situated within the dominions of such State, be port or ports for the use of the ships of such State in the trade of such ships with all ports of the British dominions, or with any port or ports of the same named and limited in such Order, in as full and ample manner as if such port or ports were within the dominions of such State; and, thereupon, and for so long a time as such Order shall be declared to be in force, or shall remain unrevoked, it shall be lawful to import into the British Dominions, or into such ports of the same as shall be named and limited in such Order, from such port or ports in the ships of such State, any goods which, by the laws in force at the time of such importation, might then be imported in such ships from a port of the country to which they belonged, and so to import such goods upon the like terms as the same could there be imported from the national ports of such ships :"

And whereas the ports at the mouth of the river Vistula, although not within the dominions of Austria, are, nevertheless, the most convenient ports for shipping the produce of part of the Austrian dominions:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her

See Vol. 5. Page 16.

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Privy Council, is pleased, in pursuance of the power and authority in Her vested in the hereinbefore recited Act, and of every other power or authority in anywise enabling Her in that behalf, to order and declare, and it is hereby ordered and declared, that Austrian vessels and their cargoes, consisting of such goods as by the laws in force at the time of such importation may be legally imported into the United Kingdom and the British possessions abroad, from the ports of Austria, by the said vessels, shall, when coming from any of the ports at the mouth of the Vistula, be admitted into the ports of the United Kingdom and of the British possessions abroad, in as full and ample a manner as if the ports at the mouth of the Vistula were within the dominions of Austria; and such vessels shall be permitted to import the goods above mentioned, upon the same terms on which the said goods might be imported if coming from Austrian ports:

Provided, nevertheless, that these privileges are to extend to the vessels of Austria and their cargoes, only so long as British vessels and their cargoes shall, upon their arrival at, or departure from, any of the ports at the mouth of the Vistula, continue to be placed on the same footing as the vessels of Austria and their cargoes, and so long as the cargoes which may be legally imported into the Austrian dominions through any of the ports at the mouth of the Vistula, in British vessels, shall continue to be placed in the Austrian dominions upon the same footing as the like cargoes so imported in Austrian vessels:

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.

C. C. GREVILLE,

BOLIVIA.

TREATY between Great Britain and Bolivia, for the Abolition of the Traffic in Slaves. Signed at Sucre, September 25,

1840.

In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity.

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Republic of Bolivia, being mutually animated by a sincere desire to co-operate for the utter extinction of the barbarous traffic in slaves, have resolved to proceed to the conclusion of a Treaty, for the special purpose of immediately attaining this object, and have respectively named for this purpose as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Belford Hinton Wilson, Esquire, and Chargé d'Affaires of Her Britannic Majesty at Lima ;

And the Republic of Bolivia, the Citizen José Maria Linares, Minister of State for the Departments of the Home and Foreign Affairs;

Who, having duly communicated to each other their respective full powers, and found them to be in proper form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

ART. 1. The slave trade having been constitutionally abolished throughout the Territories of the Republic of Bolivia, is hereby declared to be, henceforward, totally prohibited to all the citizens of the said Republic, in all parts of the world.

II. The Republic of Bolivia hereby specially engages, that 2 months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, if the ordinary Congress shall be assembled at that time, or 2 months after the subsequent meeting of Congress, it will promulgate throughout its territories a penal Law, inflicting the punishment attached to piracy on all those citizens of Bolivia who shall, under any pretext whatsoever, take any part whatever in the traffic in slaves; and from time to time afterwards, as it

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may become needful, it will take the most effectual measures for preventing the citizens of the Republic from being concerned, and the flag of the Republic from being used, in carrying on, in any way, the trade in slaves.

III. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Republic of Bolivia, hereby mutually engage, that, by an additional Convention to the present Treaty, hereafter to be concluded between the said High Contracting Parties to the present Treaty, they will concert and settle the details of the measures, by which the law of piracy, which will become applicable to that traffic by the legislation of each of the two countries, shall be immediately and reciprocally carried into execution with respect to the vessels and subjects or citizens of each.

IV. In order more completely to carry into effect the spirit of the present Treaty, the two High Contracting Parties mutually consent, that those ships of their navies respectively, which shall be provided with special instructions for that purpose, as hereinafter mentioned, may visit such merchant vessels of the two nations, as may be suspected, upon reasonable grounds, of being engaged in the traffic in slaves, or of having been fitted out for the purposes thereof, or of having, during the voyage in which they are met by the said cruizers, been engaged in the traffic in slaves, contrary to the provisions of this Treaty; and the two High Contracting Parties likewise consent that such cruizers may detain, and send, or carry away, such vessels, in order that they may be brought to trial in the manner hereinafter agreed upon.

V. In order to regulate the mode of carrying the provisions of the preceding Article into execution, it is agreed:

1o. That all ships of the navies of the two nations, which shall be hereafter employed to prevent the traffic in slaves, shall be furnished by their respective Governments with a copy, in the English and Spanish languages, of the present Treaty ; of the Instructions for cruizers, annexed thereto, sub literâ A ; and of the Regulations for the Mixed Courts of Justice, annexed thereto, sub literâ B; which Annexes shall be considered as an integral part of the Treaty.

2o. That each of the High Contracting Parties shall from

time to time communicate to the other the names of the several ships furnished with such instructions, the force of each ship, and the names of their several commanders.

3°. That if at any time there shall be just cause to suspect that any merchant vessel, sailing under the flag of either nation, and proceeding under the convoy of any ship or ships of war of either of the Contracting Parties, is engaged, or is intended to be engaged, in the traffic in slaves, or is fitted out for the purposes thereof, or has, during the voyage on which she may be met with, been engaged in the traffic in slaves; it shall be lawful for the commander of any ship of the navy of either of the two High Contracting Parties, furnished with such instructions as aforesaid, to visit such merchant vessel; and such commander shall proceed to visit the same, in communication with the commanding officer of the convoy, who, it is hereby agreed, shall give every facility to the visit, and to the eventual detention, if necessary, of such merchant vessel; and in all things shall assist, to the utmost of his power, in the due execution of the present Treaty, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.

4°. It is further mutually agreed, that the commanders of the ships of the two navies, respectively, who shall be employed on this service, shall adhere strictly to the exact tenor of the aforesaid instructions.

VI. As the two preceding Articles are entirely reciprocal, the two High Contracting Parties engage mutually to make good any losses which their respective subjects or citizens may incur, by the arbitary and illegal detention of their vessels; it being understood that this indemnity shall invariably be borne by the Government whose cruizer shall have been guilty of such arbitrary and illegal detention; and that the visit and detention of vessels, specified in the IVth Article of this Treaty, shall only be affected by those British or Bolivian ships which may form part of the navies (royal and national) respectively, of the two High Contracting Parties to the Treaty, and by such ships only of those navies, as shall be provided with the special instructions annexed to the present Treaty, in pursuance of the provisions thereof.

The compensation for damages, of which this Article treats, shall be made within the term of one year, reckoned from the