crest of the Alla-Dagh and the summits of the Hori and Tandourek, and, passing south of the Bayazet Valley, will proceed to rejoin the old Turco-Persian frontier to the south of the lake of Kazli-gueul.] The definitive limits of the territory annexed to Russia, [and indicated on the map hereto appended,] will be fixed by a Commission composed of Russian and Ottoman delegates. This Commission in its labours will take into account the topography of localities, as well as considerations of good administration and other conditions calculated to insure the tranquillity of the country. Indem (c.) The territories [mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b)] are Balance of ceded to Russia as an equivalent for the sum of one milliard and nity. one hundred million roubles. As for the rest of the indemnity, apart from the 10,000,000 of roubles intended to indemnify Russian interests and establishments in Turkey-namely, 300,000,000 of roubles1—the mode of payment and guarantee of that sum shall be settled by an understanding between the Imperial Government of Russia and that of His Majesty the Sultan 2. (d.) The 10,000,000 roubles claimed as indemnity for the Russian subjects and establishments in Turkey shall be paid as soon as the claims of those interested are examined by the Russian Embassy at Constantinople and handed to the Sublime Porte ". ART. XX. The Sublime Porte will take effective steps to put an Lawsuits. amicable end to the lawsuits of Russian subjects pending for several years, to indemnify the latter if need be, and to carry into effect without delay all judgments passed'. ART. XXI. The inhabitants of the districts ceded to Russia who Ceded districts. wish to take up their residence out of these territories will be free to retire on selling all their real property. For this purpose an interval of three years is granted them, counting from the date of ratification of the present Act. On the expiration of that time those of the inhabitants who shall not have sold their real property and left the country shall remain Russian subjects. Real property belonging to the State, or to religious establishments situated out of the localities aforesaid, shall be sold within the same interval of three years as shall be arranged by a special Russo-Turkish Commission. The same Commission shall be intrusted with determining how the Ottoman Government is to 1 Cf. the definitive Treaty of Peace of 8th February, 1879, infra, p. 348. Cf. Art. 9 of the definitive Treaty of Peace. Pilgrims, &c. Renewal remove its war material, munitions, supplies, and other State property actually in the forts, towns, and localities ceded to Russia, and not at present occupied by Russian troops. [ART. XXII. Russian ecclesiastics, pilgrims, and monks travelling or sojourning in Turkey in Europe or in Asia shall enjoy the same rights, advantages, and privileges as the foreign ecclesiastics of any other nationality. The right of official protection by the Imperial Embassy and Russian Consulates in Turkey is recognized, both as regards the persons above-mentioned, and their possessions, religious houses, charitable institutions, &c., in the Holy Places and elsewhere. The monks of Mount Athos, of Russian origin, shall be maintained in all their possessions and former privileges, and shall continue to enjoy in the three convents belonging to them and in the adjoining buildings the same rights and privileges as are assured to the other religious establishments and convents of Mount Athos.] ART. XXIII. All the Treaties, Conventions, and agreements of Treaties. previously concluded between the two High Contracting Parties relative to commerce, jurisdiction, and the position of Russian subjects in Turkey, and which had been abrogated by the state of war, shall come into force again, with the exception of the clauses affected by the present Act. The two Governments will be placed again in the same relation to one another, with respect to all their engagements and commercial and other relations, as they were in before the declaration of war 1. The Evacuation. ART. XXIV. The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles shall remain open in time of war as in time of peace to the merchant-vessels of neutral States arriving from or bound to Russian ports. The Sublime Porte consequently engages never henceforth to establish at the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azow, a fictitious blockade (blocus fictif), at variance with the spirit of the Declaration signed at Paris on the th April, 1856. [ART. XXV. The complete evacuation of Turkey in Europe, with the exception of Bulgaria, by the Russian army will take place within three months after the conclusion of the definitive peace between His Majesty the Emperor of Russia and His Majesty the Sultan. In order to save time, and to avoid the cost of the prolonged maintenance of the Russian troops in Turkey and Roumania, part of the Imperial army may proceed to the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora, to be there shipped in vessels belonging to the Russian Government or chartered for the occasion.] 1 Cf. Art. 10 of the definitive Treaty of Peace. The evacuation of Turkey in Asia will be effected within the space of six months, dating from the conclusion of the definitive peace, and the Russian troops will be entitled to take ship at Trebizond in order to return by the Caucasus or the Crimea. The operations of the evacuation will begin immediately after the exchange of ratifications. tion. ART. XXVI. As long as the Imperial Russian troops remain in Interim the localities which, in conformity with the present Act, will be Jurisdicrestored to the Sublime Porte, the administration and order of affairs will continue in the same state as has existed since the occupation. The Sublime Porte will not participate therein during all that time, nor until the entire departure of all the troops. The Ottoman forces shall not enter the places to be restored to the Sublime Porte, and the Sublime Porte cannot begin to exercise its authority there until notice of each fortress and province having been evacuated by the Russian troops shall have been given by the Commander of these troops to the officer appointed for this purpose by the Sublime Porte. ART. XXVII. The Sublime Porte undertakes not to punish in Amnesty. any manner, or allow to be punished, those Ottoman subjects who may have been compromised by their relations with the Russian army during the war. In the event of any persons wishing to withdraw with their families when the Russian troops leave, the Ottoman authorities shall not oppose their departure'. ART. XXVIII. Immediately upon the ratification of the Prelimi- Prisoners. naries of Peace, the prisoners of war shall be reciprocally restored under the care of special Commissioners appointed on both sides, who for this purpose shall go to Odessa and Sebastopol. The Ottoman Government will pay all the expenses of the maintenance of the prisoners that are returned to them, in eighteen equal instalments in the space of six years, in accordance with the accounts that will be drawn up by the above-mentioned Commissioners 2. The exchange of prisoners between the Ottoman Government and the Governments of Roumania, Servia, and Montenegro will be made on the same basis, deducting, however, in the account, the number of prisoners restored by the Ottoman Government from the number of prisoners that will have to be restored to that Government. ART. XXIX. The present Act shall be ratified by their Imperial RatificaMajesties the Emperor of Russia and the Emperor of the Ottomans, 1 Cf. Arts. 8 and 9 of the definitive Treaty of Peace. tions. and the ratifications shall be exchanged in fifteen days, or sooner if possible, at St. Petersburgh, where likewise an agreement shall be come to as to the place and the time at which the stipulations of the present Act shall be invested with all the solemn forms usually observed in Treaties of Peace. It is, however, well understood that the High Contracting Parties consider themselves as formally bound by the present Act from the moment of its ratification. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have appended their signatures and seals to the present Act. Done at San Stefano, the nineteenth February one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. third March " [Final paragraph of Article XI of the Act of the Preliminaries of Peace signed this day, February 19, 1878, which was omitted, and which should form an integral part of the said Article :— March 3 The inhabitants of the Principality of Bulgaria when travelling or sojourning in the other parts of the Ottoman Empire shall be subject to the Ottoman laws and authorities.] [The same signatures.] San Stefano, March 3 February 19 1878. (2) The Definitive Treaty of Peace between Russia and the Porte, signed at Constantinople, on 8th February, 18791. Au nom de Dieu tout-puissant. S. M. L'Empereur de toutes les Russies et S. M. l'Empereur des Ottomans, désirant consacrer le rétablissement de la paix entre les deux Empires, et régler définitivement, par un traité, les clauses du traité préliminaire de San Stefano qui doivent faire l'objet d'une entente directe entre les deux États, ont nommé pour leurs plénipotentiaires: S. M. l'Empereur de toutes les Russies, d'une part, le Prince Alexis Lobanow-Rostovsky, &c.; et S. M. l'Empereur des Ottomans, de l'autre, Al. Carathéodory Pacha, &c., et Ali Pacha, &c.; Lesquels, après avoir échangé leurs pleins-pouvoirs, &c., sont tombés d'accord sur les articles suivants : ART. I. Il y aura désormais paix et amitié entre les deux Empires. ART. II. Les deux Puissances sont d'accord pour déclarer que les stipulations du Traité de Berlin, intervenu entre les sept Puis1 N. R. G. 2me Série, iii, 468. sances, ont remplacé les articles des préliminaires de paix de San Stéfano, qui ont été abrogés ou modifiés par le Congrès. ART. III. Les stipulations du Traité de San Stéfano qui n'ont été abrogées ou modifiées par le Traité de Berlin sont réglées définitivement par les articles suivants du présent Traité. pas ART. IV. Défalcation faite de la valeur des territoires cédés par la Turquie à la Russie en conformité du Traité de Berlin, l'indemnité de guerre reste fixée à la somme de huit cent deux millions cinq cent mille francs. Le mode de paiement de cette somme et la garantie à y affecter, sauf les déclarations contenues dans le Protocole II du Congrès de Berlin, relativement à la question territoriale et aux droits des créanciers, seront réglées par une entente entre le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté l'Empereur de toutes les Russies, et celui de Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Ottomans. ART. V. Les réclamations des sujets et institutions Russes en Turquie, à titre d'indemnité pour les dommages subis pendant la guerre, seront payées à mesure qu'elles seront examinées par l'ambassade de Russie à Constantinople, et transmises à la Sublime Porte. La totalité de ces réclamations ne pourra en aucun cas dépasser le chiffre de vingt-six millions sept cent cinquante mille francs. Le terme d'une année après l'échange des ratifications est fixé comme date à partir de laquelle les réclamations pourront être présentées à la Sublime Porte, et celui de deux ans comme date après laquelle les réclamations ne seront plus admises. ART. VI. Des commissaires spéciaux seront nommés par le Gouvernement Impérial de Russie, et la Sublime Porte afin d'établir les comptes des frais résultant de l'entretien des prisonniers de guerre Ottomans. Ces comptes seront arrêtés à la date de la signature du Traité de Berlin. On déduira les frais effectués par le Gouvernement Ottoman pour l'entretien des prisonniers Russes, et la somme qui en résultera, une fois établie, sera payée par la Sublime Porte en vingt-et-un termes égaux, dans l'espace de sept années. ART. VII. Les habitants des localités cédées à la Russie qui voudraient fixer leur résidence hors de ces territoires seront libres de se retirer, en vendant leurs propriétés immobilières. Un délai de trois ans leur sera accordé à cet effet à partir de la ratification du présent acte. Passé ce délai, les habitants qui n'auraient pas quitté le pays et vendu leurs immeubles resteront sujets Russes. ART. VIII. Les deux parties prennent mutuellement l'engagement de ne sévir ni de laisser sévir d'aucune manière contre les sujets Russes ou Ottomans qui auraient été compromis par leurs relations avec les armées des deux Empires pendant la guerre, |