The lands which the Rivers Pepiri-guassú, San Antonio, and Iguassú, separate on the eastern side belong to Brazil, and on the western side to the Argentine Confederation; the waters of the first two rivers belonging in common throughout the whole of their course to the two nations, and those of the Iguassú only from the confluence of the San Antonio as far as to the Paraná.

II. The two High Contracting Parties declare, in order to prevent any doubt, although the designations given in Article I are now well known, that the Rivers Pepiri-guassú and San Antonio are those which were acknowledged in 1759 by the boundary surveyors of the Treaty concluded 13th January, 1750, between Portugal and Spain.

III. After the ratification of the present Treaty, the two High Contracting Parties will each appoint a Commissioner who shall proceed as soon as may be to the demarcation of the line at such parts as may be necessary in conformity with the stipulation in Article I.

IV. The Commissioners mentioned in the preceding Article shall, as soon as they have finished the demarcation of the land frontier, proceed together to lay down a plan of the islands in the River Uruguay included within the limits of the two countries, and to collect all the requisite data within their reach, so that, with the opinions and explanations of the Commissioners before them, the two Governments may be able to come to an agreement with regard to their respective dominion over the said islands in conformity with the principles of international law.

V. The exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty shall take place in the city of the Paraná within the space of 8 months, reckoned from its date, or before, if possible.

In witness whereof we, the Undersigned Plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil and of the Vice-President of the Argentine Confederation, have, in virtue of our full powers, signed the present Treaty, and have caused our seals to be affixed to it.

Done in the city of the Paraná, on the 14th day of the month of December, in the year of Our Lord, 1857.

(L.S.) JOSE MARIA DA SILVA PARANHOS. (L.S.) SANTIAGO DERQUI,

(L.S.) BERNABE LOPEZ.

PROTOCOL relating to the Treaty of Limits between the Argentine Confederation and Brazil.-Signed at Paraná, December 14, 1857.

(Translation.)

On the 14th day of the month of December, 1857, in this city of the Paraná, his Excellency Councillor José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, and their Excellencies Don Bernabé Lopez and Don Santiago Derqui, Plenipotentiaries of the Argentine Confederation, have, in each other's presence, agreed to record in this protocol, the following declarations for the elucidation, on the part of each Government, of the Treaty of Boundaries, signed this same day.

Both Governments having agreed in fixing upon the dividing line of the Rivers Pepiri-guassú and San Antonio, the Plenipotentiaries have disregarded, as useless in the arrangement under consideration, the question raised in the memorial presented by the Brazilian Plenipotentiary, as to the validity or non-validity of the stipulations formerly agreed to between Portugal and Spain, respecting the boundaries of their dominions in South America.

It is therefore understood that the reference made in Article II of the Treaty just signed between Brazil and the Confederation, to the demarcation of the Treaty of 13th January, 1750, signifies nothing in regard to recognizing the validity or invalidity of any former Treaty; the only purpose of that reference is to fix the designation of the line dividing the territory included between the Rivers Uruguay and Paraná.

The Brazilian Plenipotentiary declared that, in acceding to the wish expressed by his colleagues to add at the end of Article IV the words, "in conformity with the principles of international law," he did so on the understanding that there was no intention of prejudging by that clause the facts of possession on the part of either nation, in the islands of the River Uruguay fronting their respective territories; which, moreover, he considered to be well understood, because the law of nations also sanctions the principle of the uti possidetis as a legitimate title to territorial ownership.

The Argentine Plenipotentiaries replied, that the concluding sentence of Article IV meant that the two Governments should be guided, as they could not fail to be, by universally accepted principles, in settling the division of the dominion of the islands, and in removing any doubt that might arise in regard to that settlement; that they had no intention of prejudging the facts of possession to which the Brazilian Plenipotentiary alluded, but that their duty and loyalty required them to declare at once that their Government neither pretended to found a right to the islands on such precedents,

nor could it acknowledge any possession which was not by reason of the sovereignty which the Empire had over one of the banks and the moiety of the river.

The present protocol having been read and found correct, the three Plenipotentiaries have signed it on two originals, and have sealed it with their respective seals.

(L.S.) JOSE MARIA DA SILVA PARANHOS. (L.S.) D. BERNABE LOPEZ.

(L.S.) D. SANTIAGO DERQUI.

DECREE of the President of Mexico, relative to the Purchase of Property by Foreigners.-Mexico, February 1, 1856. (Translation.)

His Excellency the President ad interim of the Republic has been pleased to address to me the following Decree :

Ignacio Comonfort, citizen and Acting President of the Mexican Republic, to the inhabitants thereof, be it known: that in virtue of the powers granted to me by the plan proclaimed in Ayutla and reformed in Acapulco, I have thought proper to decree as follows:

ART. I. All foreigners domiciled and resident in the Republic may acquire and possess real property in town and country, including mines of all kinds of metals and of coal, whether it be by purchase, by adjudication, denouncement, or any other title of right established by common law or by the mining code.

II. No foreigner can acquire real property in the frontier States or territories without previous permission from the Government, unless it be 20 leagues from the boundary.

III. All foreigners who may wish to obtain the permission mentioned in the preceding Article must address their petition to the Ministerio de Fomento, in order that, upon it and upon the report of the respective State or territorial Government, a proper decision may be come to.

IV. When, in consequence of this law, foreigners may wish to acquire household property in towns, or land for building in the vicinity thereof, the actual tenants or lessees shall enjoy the right of acquisition under equal circumstances and conditions.

V. Such foreigners as may acquire real property in virtue of this law shall remain subject, in all that concerns that property, to the laws which may have been enacted or may hereafter be enacted with regard to the transfer, use, and preservation of such property in the Republic, as well as to the payment of all kinds of taxes, and shall have no right to claim at any time the privilege of aliens with respect to these points.

VI. Accordingly, all questions which may arise with regard to such property shall be examined in the tribunals of the Republic and according to its laws, to the exclusion of all foreign intervention, whatever it may be.

VII. All foreigners who may acquire rural, household, or mining property according to this law, shall be liable to military service whenever the security of that property or the preservation of peace in the town where they reside may be at stake. With the exception of these cases such service cannot be required of them.

VIII. In order that such foreigners as have acquired real property in the Republic may become citizens thereof, it will be sufficient for them to have that circumstance certified by the political authority of the place where they reside. Upon the presentation of that certificate at the Office for Foreign Affairs, with the proper petition, letters of naturalization will be granted to them.

Wherefore I order that this be printed, published, circulated, and carried into due effect.

Done at the Palace of the National Government of Mexico, February 1st, 1856.

To the Citizen Manuel Siliceo.

IGNACIO COMONFORT.

And I communicate it to you for your information and for its fulfilment.

God and liberty.
February 1, 1856.

SILICEO.

DECREE of the President of Peru, declaring the Ports of the Equator to be in a state of Blockade.-Lima, October 26, 1858.

THE Liberator Ramon Castilla, Constitutional President of the Republic, considering:

1st. That the Government of the Equator has undertaken to alienate extensive territories belonging to Peru; has offered her serious insults; has failed to fulfil its engagements, annulling the order issued for the removal to the interior of the principal agent of the piratical enterprise of the filibusters, organized against the Republic; and has consented to and left unpunished the gratuitous insults published in an official document by the chief authority at Guayaquil against the Peruvian Government.

2nd. That having refused and eluded, under frivolous pretexts, the just and necessary satisfaction demanded by the Representative of the Republic, and when it was hoped that by means of the negotiation with which the Plenipotentiary of the Equator in this

capital was charged, a satisfactory arrangement might be agreed upon, the Cabinet of Quito has given fresh offence to the Peruvian nation by arbitrarily breaking off its communication with Don Juan C. Cavero, the resident Minister, returning unopened the communications which he had sent to it, and openly refusing to give satisfaction for such an offence, by reinstating that Agent in the exercise of his functions, as a preliminary act to the discussion of the question of his recall.

3rd. That the excessive lenity and the pacific and conciliatory measures carefully and constantly employed by the Peruvian Government to avoid a dispute which threatens a rupture of the peace between two neighbouring people, far from correcting the unjustifiable policy of the Equatorian Government, has encouraged it to assume a hostile attitude; since it has given ample opportunity for the warlike preparations commenced beforehand and without cause; it has obtained legislative authority to declare war on Peru, and to provide resources by means which may compromise its own nationality as well as that of other South American Republics; and, finally, it has ordered the recall of its Minister from Lima, treating the mission as terminated.

4th. That as it is repugnant to the fraternal sentiments of the Government of Peru to afflict the people of the Equator with the calamities of a war, provoked against their will by an inconsiderate Government, without the existence on their part of any national cause to justify it; and being bound to proceed in such a grave situation according to the spirit of the legislative declaration of the 21st instant, it is proper that, before proceeding to the last extremity, those coercive measures should be employed, which without immediate injury to the Equatorian people may vindicate the honour of the Republic and effectually secure her infringed territorial rights.

DECREE:

ART. I. All the ports, bays, creeks, and landing-places of the Republic of the Equator, situated within the line of coast comprised between 1° 50' north latitude, and 3° 30' south latitude, and the islands included therein, shall be blockaded by a sufficient force of the Peruvian navy. From the time that the blockade is made effective, the commanders of the blockading ships will adopt all the measures authorized by international law against all who may attempt to violate it.

II. The blockade of the said ports, bays, creeks, and landingplaces shall remain in force, before employing other hostile measures, for such time as, according to the judgment of the Government of Peru, may be sufficient to estimate the effect of this coercive measure in regard to the Equatorian Government,