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U.S.: Treaties

THE CLAYTON AND BULWER

CONVENTION,

OF THE 19TH APRIL, 1850,

BETWEEN THE

BRITISH AND AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS,

CONCERNING

Central America ;

WITH

THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE NEGOTIATORS, AGREEING
THAT THE CONVENTION EXCLUDES BRITISH
HONDURAS FROM ITS OPERATION;

AND ALSO,

THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE EARL OF CLARENDON
AND MR. BUCHANAN, UNITED STATES MINISTER

AT LONDON, IN RELATION TO THE TRUE
CONSTRUCTION OF THIS CONVENTION.

LONDON:

TRÜBNER AND CO., 12, PATERNOSTER ROW,

MDCCCLVI.


NOTICE.

FREQUENT demands for the Clayton and Bulwer Convention, together with the Correspondence as to its true construction, lately submitted by the President of the United States with his annual Message to Congress, have decided us in republishing it, with the Correspondence thereon between Mr. Buchanan and the Earl of Clarendon.

TRÜBNER & CO.

12, Paternoster Row, London, January, 1856.

July 2, 1919

THE

CLAYTON AND BULWER CONVENTION,

AND

CORRESPONDENCE THEREON.

Convention between the United States of America and her Britannic Majesty, for Facilitating and Protecting the Construction of a Ship-canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and for other purposes.

Concluded 19th April, 1850; ratified by the United States, 23rd May, 1850; exchanged, 4th July, 1850; and proclaimed by the United States, 5th July, 1850.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

Whereas a convention between the United States of America and her Britannic Majesty, for facilitating and protecting the construction of a shipcanal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and for other purposes, was concluded and signed at Washington on the 19th day of April last, which convention is, word for word, as follows:

Convention between the United States of America and Her Britannic Majesty.

The United States of America and her Britannic Majesty, being desirous of consolidating the relations of amity which so happily subsist between them, by setting forth and fixing in a convention their views and intentions with reference to any means of communication by ship-canal which may be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, by the way of the river San Juan de Nicaragua, and either or both of the lakes of Nicaragua or Managua, to any port or place on the Pacific ocean; the President of the United States has conferred full powers on John M. Clayton, Secretary of State of the United States; and her Britannic Majesty on the Right Honourable Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, a member of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty to the United States, for the aforesaid purpose: and the said pleni

potentiaries having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in proper form, have agreed to the following articles :

:

ARTICLE I.

The governments of the United States and Great Britain hereby declare that neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship-canal; agreeing that neither will ever erect or maintain any fortifications commanding the same, or in the vicinity thereof, or occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume or exercise any dominion over, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America; nor will either make use of any protection which either affords, or may afford, or any alliance which either has, or may have, to or with any state or people, for the purpose of erecting or maintaining any such fortifications, or of occupying, fortifying, or colonizing Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Central America, or of assuming or exercising dominion over the same; nor will the United States or Great Britain take advantage of any intimacy, or use any alliance, connexion, or influence that either may possess with any state or government through whose territory the said canal may pass, for the purpose of acquiring or holding, directly or indirectly, for the citizens or subjects of the one, any rights or advantages in regard to commerce or navigation through the said canal which shall not be offered on the same terms to the citizens or subjects of the other.

ARTICLE II.

Vessels of the United States or Great Britain traversing the said canal shall, in case of war between the contracting parties, be exempted from blockade, detention, or capture by either of the belligerents; and this provision shall extend to such a distance from the two ends of the said canal as may hereafter be found expedient to establish.

ARTICLE III.

In order to secure the construction of the said canal, the contracting parties engage that if any such canal shall be undertaken upon fair and equitable terms by any parties having the authority of the local government or governments through whose territory the same may pass, then the persons employed in making the said canal, and their property used, or to be used, for that object, shall be protected from the commencement of the said canal to its completion, by the governments of the United States and Great Britain, from unjust detention, confiscation, seizure, or any violence whatsoever.

ARTICLE IV.

The contracting parties will use whatever influence they respectively exercise with any state, states, or governments possessing, or claiming to

possess, any jurisdiction or right over the territory which the said canal shall traverse, or which shall be near the waters applicable thereto, in order to induce such states or governments to facilitate the construction of the said canal by every means in their power. And furthermore, the United States and Great Britain agree to use their good offices, wherever or however it may be most expedient, in order to procure the establishment of two free ports, one at each end of the said canal.

ARTICLE V.

The contracting parties further engage, that when the said canal shall have been completed, they will protect it from interruption, seizure, or unjust confiscation, and that they will guaranty the neutrality thereof, so that the said canal may for ever be open and free, and the capital invested therein secure. Nevertheless, the governments of the United States and Great Britain, in according their protection to the construction of the said canal, and guarantying its neutrality and security when completed, always understand that this protection and guaranty are granted conditionally, and may be withdrawn by both governments, or either government, if both governments, or either government, should deem that the persons or company undertaking or managing the same adopt or establish such regulations concerning the traffic thereupon as are contrary to the spirit and intention of this convention, either by making unfair discriminations in favour of the commerce of one of the contracting parties over the commerce of the other, or by imposing oppressive exactions or unreasonable tolls upon passengers, vessels, goods, wares, merchandise, or other articles. Neither party, however, shall withdraw the aforesaid protection and guaranty without first giving six months' notice to the other.

ARTICLE VI.

The contracting parties in this convention engage to invite every State with which both or either have friendly intercourse to enter into stipulations with them similar to those which they have entered into with each other, to the end that all other States may share in the honour and advantage of having contributed to a work of such general interest and importance as the canal herein contemplated. And the contracting parties likewise agree that each shall enter into treaty stipulations with such of the Central American States as they may deem advisable, for the purpose of more effectually carrying out the great design of this convention-namely, that of constructing and maintaining the said canal as a ship communication between the two oceans for the benefit of mankind, on equal terms to all, and of protecting the same; and they also agree, that the good offices of either shall be employed, when requested by the other, in aiding and assisting the negotiation of such treaty stipulations; and should any differences arise as to right or

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