prise the libera practica, and the exemption from port dues which that company enjoys in the Ionian Islands, in virtue of the postal convention concluded on the 1st of December, 1853. The treaty of commerce between Austria and Greece is far from conceding the same advantages to Austrian navigation. It therefore follows, that if the vessels of the Lloyd's, in henceforward visiting Ionian ports, were to bo subjected to the regulations in force in Greece, they would sustain a real injury. Moreover, the coasting trade being reserved in Greece to national vessels, the right of the Lloyd's vessels to make, as at present, their regular voyages between Ionian ports and Greek ports, might, from the moment when Ionian ports become Greek ports, be disputed. The object of the third paragraph of Article IV. of the treaty of the 14th of November was to obviate this inconvenience. The Imperial Cabinet has the right to claim the full and entire application of the above-mentioned paragraph in favour of the vessels of the Lloyd's Company; but, nevertheless, it consents, by way of concession, that the arrangements of that paragraph shall remain in force only until the conclusion of new formal conventions or of arrangements for the purpose of regulating between the parties concerned, questions of commerce and navigation, as well as questions relating to the regular service of communication by post. The Imperial Cabinet, moreover, recognizes that the Hellenic Government possesses the right inherent in every independent state to raise or lower its tariff of customs by measures of internal legislation. The Ambassador of Austria particularly insisted, by order of his court, that the fact of the union of the Ionian Islands to Greece cannot prejudice the rights acquired by Austrian commerce and navigation in virtue of treaties actually in force, so long as fresh arrangements on the subject shall not have been concluded between the respective parties. He claimed to insist the more strongly upon this point, because his Government had the incontestable right to abide purely and simply by the stipulations of the treaty of the 14th of November last.

"The ambassador of Prussia gave his complete assent to the preceding declaration, and insisted likewise, by order of his court, that the fact of the union of the Ionian Islands to Greece

cannot prejudice the rights acquired by the commerce and navigation of Prussia and the other States of the Zollverein in virtue of treaties actually in force. The Principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty, as well as the ambassadors of France and Russia, appreciated the justice of these explanations, and expressed the intention of giving them due weight in the prosecution of the negotiations entrusted to their care."

With this view the Principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty undertook, in the name of the conference, to bring the present explanatory protocol before the Cabinet of Athens.

The protocol was signed by Count APPONYI, Count LA TOUR D'AUVERGNE, Earl RUSSELL, Count BERNSTORFF, and Count BRUNNOW. Convention between her Majesty and the King

of the Hellenes, respecting the Claims of British Subjects and others for Services in the Ionian Islands.-Signed at London, March 29, 1864.-Ratifications exchanged at London, April 25, 1864.

"HER Majesty, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, being desirous to make arrangements with regard to the claims of British subjects and other individuals, in respect of services rendered to the Government of the United States of the Ionian Islands, while those States were under the protection of her Britannic Majesty, have agreed to conclude a convention for that purpose, and have named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say :

"Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Hon. John Earl Russell, her Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs :

"And his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, the Sieur Charilaus S. Tricoupi, a member of the National Assembly of the Hellenes; who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles :

"I. Whereas pensions have been granted at various times to British subjects by the Ionian Government, or are at the present moment about to be granted, in pursuance of the esta

blished rules in force in the Ionian Islands on the subject of pensions; and whereas the amount of such pensions is 7,4037. 8s. 4d. sterling a year, his Majesty the King of the Hellenes agrees that, after provision shall have been made for the sum of 10,000l. sterling a year, mentioned in Article V. of the Treaty signed on this day between their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, and the Emperor of all the Russias on the one part, and his Majesty the King of the Hellenes on the other part, the said amount shall form the next charge upon the customs' revenue of Corfu and of the other Ionian Islands, and shall be paid by half-yearly instalments to her Britannic Majesty's consul at Corfu, for the purpose of being paid in detail to the several persons entitled to the said pensions: and whereas it has become necessary to grant compensation allowances to certain other persons now in the service of the Ionian Government, who will lose their respective employments in consequence of the union of the Ionian Islands with Greece; and whereas such allowances amount to 3,2727. 12s. sterling a year; his Majesty the King of the Hellenes agrees that the said amount shall form a charge upon the revenues of the kingdom of Greece, and shall be paid by half-yearly instalments to her Britannic Majesty's Minister at Athens, for the purpose of being paid in detail to the several persons entitled to the said compensation allowances. These several pensions and allowances shall become chargeable to and payable by the Government of Greece from and after the cessation of British authority in the Ionian Islands; and accordingly the first payments shall be made to her Britannic Majesty's consul at Corfu, and to her Britannic Majesty's minister at Athens, ten days before the 31st of March, 30th of June, 30th of September, or 31st of December, which may next follow the day of the cessation of British authority in the Ionian Islands; and afterwards the payments shall be made ten days before the expiration of every subsequent half-year and whereas certain Ionian subjects are in the enjoyment of pensions granted to them for services under the Ionian Government, his Majesty the King of the Hellenes undertakes that their rights to such pensions shall be respected, and that they

:

shall duly continue to receive the same. The British minister at Athens, after receiving a list of such pensions from the Lord High Commissioner of her Britannic Majesty, shall deliver the same to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, and no Ionian subject shall have a claim upon his Hellenic Majesty on account of being at present in the enjoyment of any pension, unless the same be included in such list.

"II. In the month of January of every year, the Minister of her Britannic Majesty at Athens shall deliver to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, a list of the persons entitled to pension and compensations in virtue of the preceding Article. In preparing such list there shall be withdrawn from the list of the preceding year, the names of such persons as shall have died, and also the names of such persons as shall have accepted offices from the Crown of Great Britain to the full amount of the pension or compensation to which they are entitled; and deduction shall moreover be made from the amount of pension or compensation to be paid to other persons left on the list, of the amount of salary due to them in respect of any offices to which they may have been appointed, which yield an income less than the full amount of the allowances due to them.

"III. The present convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London, at the same time as the ratifications of the treaty of this day. In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at London, the 29th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1864.

Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland made known to the Legislative Assembly of the United States of the Ionian Islands that, with a view to the eventual union of those islands to the kingdom of Greece, she was prepared, if the Ionian Parliament should express a wish to that effect, to abandon the protectorate of those islands, confided to her Majesty by the Treaty concluded at Paris on the 5th of November, 1815, between the courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Such wish having been expressed by a vote of the said Legislative Assembly, passed unanimously on theth October, 1863, her Britannic Majesty consented, by Article I. of the treaty concluded on the 14th of November, 1863, between her Majesty, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of all the Russias, to renounce the said protectorate under certain conditions specified in that treaty, and since defined by subsequent protocols.

"On their part, their Majesties the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of all the Russias, consented by the same article, and under the same conditions, to accept such renunciation, and to recognize in conjunction with her Britannic Majesty, the union of those islands to the kingdom of Greece.

"In virtue of Article V. of the Treaty signed at London on the 13th of July, 1863, it was moreover agreed by common consent between her Britannic Majesty, and their Majesties the Emperor of the French, and the Emperor of all the Russias, that the Ionian Islands, when their union to the kingdom of Greece should have been effected, as contemplated by Article IV. of the same treaty, should be comprised in the guarantee stipulated in favour of Greece by the courts of Great Britain, France, and Russia, in virtue of the convention signed at London on the 7th of May, 1832. In consequence, and in accordance with the stipulations of the treaty of the 13th of July, 1863, and with the terms of Article VI. of the Treaty of the 14th of November, 1863, whereby the courts of Great Britain, France, and Russia, in their character of guaranteeing powers of the kingdom of Greece, reserved to themselves to conclude a treaty with the Hellenic Government as to the arrangements which might become necessary in

consequence of the union of the Ionian Islands to Greece, their said Majesties have resolved to proceed to negotiate with his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, a treaty for the purpose of carrying into execution the stipulations above mentioned.

"His Majesty the King of the Hellenes having given his assent to the conclusion of such treaty, their said Majesties have named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say :

"Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable John Earl Russell, her Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs:

"His Majesty the Emperor of the French, the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to her Britannic Majesty:

"His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Baron de Brunnow, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to her Britannic Majesty :

"And his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, the Sieur Charilaus S. Tricoupi, a representative in the National Assembly of the Hellenes, who, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and signed the following articles :

"I. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, desiring to realize the wish expressed by the Legislative Assembly of the United States of the Ionian Islands, that those islands should be united to Greece, has consented, on the conditions hereinafter specified, to renounce the protectorate over the islands of Corfu, Cephalonia, Zante, Santa Maura, Ithaca, Cerigo, and Paxo, with their dependencies, which, in virtue of the treaty signed at Paris on the 5th of November, 1815, by the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, were constituted a single free and independent state, under the denomination of the United States of the Ionian Islands,' placed under the immediate and exclusive protection of his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his heirs and successors. In consequence, her Britannic Majesty, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, in their character of signing parties to the convention of the 7th of May, 1832, recognize such union, and

declare that Greece, within the limits determined by the arrangement concluded at Constantinople between the courts of Great Britain, France, and Russia, and the Ottoman Porte on the 21st of July, 1832,-including the Ionian Islands, shall form a monarchical, independent, and constitutional state, under the sovereignty of his Majesty King George, and under the guarantee of the three courts.

"II. The courts of Great Britain, France, and Russia, in their character of guaranteeing powers of Greece, declare, with the assent of the courts of Austria and Prussia, that the islands of Corfu and Paxo, as well as their dependencies, shall, after their union to the Hellenic kingdom, enjoy the advantages of perpetual neutrality. His Majesty the King of the Hellenes engages, on his part, to maintain such neutrality.

"III. The union of the Ionian Islands to the Hellenic kingdom shall not involve any change as to the advantages conceded to foreign commerce and navigation in virtue of treaties and conventions concluded by foreign powers with her Britannic Majesty, in her character of protector of the Ionian Islands. All the engagements which result from the said transactions, as well as from the regulations actually in force in relation thereto, shall be maintained and strictly observed as hitherto. In consequence, it is expressly understood that foreign vessels and commerce in Ionian ports, as well as the navigation between Ionian ports and the ports of Greece, shall continue to be subject to the same treatment, and placed under the same conditions, as before the union of the Ionian Islands to Greece, until the conclusion of new formal conventions, or of arrangements destined to regulate between the parties concerned, questions of commerce and navigation, as well as questions relating to the regular service of communication by post. Such new conventions shall be concluded in fifteen years, or sooner if possible.

"IV. The union of the United States of the Ionian Islands to the kingdom of Greece shall in no wise invalidate the principles established by the existing legislation of those islands with regard to freedom of worship and religious toleration; accordingly the rights and immunities established in matters of religion by Chapters I. and V. of the Constitutional Charter

of the United States of the Ionian Islands, and specifically the recognition of the orthodox Greek Church as the dominant religion in those islands; the entire liberty of worship granted to the established church of the protecting power; and the perfect toleration promised to other Christain communions,—shall, after the union, be maintained in their full force and effect. The special protection guaranteed to the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the advantages of which that church is actually in possession, shall be equally maintained; and the subjects belonging to that communion shall enjoy in the Ionian Islands the same freedom of worship which is recognized in their favour by the protocol of the 3rd of February, 1830. The principle of entire civil and political equality between subjects belonging to different creeds, established in Greece by the same protocol, shall be likewise in force in the Ionian Islands.

"V. The Legislative Assembly of the United States of the Ionian Islands has decreed by a resolution passed on the 7th of October, 1863, that the sum of 10,000l. sterling a year shall be appropriated, in monthly payments, to the augmentation of the civil list of his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, so as to constitute the first charge upon the revenue of the Ionian Islands, unless provision be made for such payment, according to the constitutional forms, out of the revenues of the kingdom of Greece. In consequence, his Majesty the King of the Hellenes engages to carry that decree duly into execution.

"VI. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Majesty the Emperor of the French, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, agree to relinquish in favour of his Majesty King George I., each 4,000l. sterling a year, out of the sums which the Greek Treasury has engaged to pay annually to each of them, in virtue of the arrangement concluded at Athens by the Greek Government, with the concurrence of the Greek Chambers, in the month of June 1860. It is expressly understood that these three sums, forming a total of 12,0007. sterling annually, shall be destined to constitute a personal dotation of his Majesty King George I., in addition to the civil list fixed by the law of the State. The accession of his

Majesty to the Hellenic throne shall not otherwise involve any change in the financial engagements which Greece has contracted by Article XII. of the convention of May 7, 1832, towards the powers guarantees of the loan, nor in the execution of the engagement taken by the Hellenic Government in the month of June 1860, upon the representation of the three courts. "VII. His Majesty the King of the Hellenes engages to take upon himself all the engagements and contracts lawfully concluded by the Government of the United States of the Ionian Islands, or in their name by the protecting power of those islands, conformably to the constitution of the Ionian Islands, whether with foreign Governments, with companies and associations, or with private individuals; and promises to fulfil the said engagements and contracts fully and completely, as if they had been concluded by his Majesty or by the Hellenic Government. Under this head are specially included the public debt of the Ionian Islands, the privileges conceded to the Ionian. Bank, to the navigation company known under the name of the Austrian Lloyds, in conformity with the postal convention of the 1st of December, 1853, and to the Malta and Mediterranean Gas Company.

"VIII. His Majesty the King of the Hellenes promises to take upon himself,-1. The pensions granted to British subjects by the Ionian Government, in conformity with the rules established in the Ionian Islands respecting pensions. 2. The compensation allowances due to certain individuals actually in the service of the Ionian Government, who will lose their employments in consequence of the union of the islands to Greece. 3. The pensions which several Ionian subjects are in the enjoyment of, in remuneration of services rendered to the Ionian Government. A special convention to be concluded between her Britannic Majesty and his Majesty the King of the Hellenes shall determine the amounts of these different heads, and shall regulate the mode of their payment.

"IX. The civil authorities and the military forces of her Britannic Majesty shall be withdrawn from the territory of the United States of the Ionian Islands in three months, or sooner if possible, after the ratification of the present treaty.

"X. The present treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London in six 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 London, 29th March, in the year of our Lord 1864.”

Act containing the Accession of the Sultan to the Treaty concluded March 29, 1864, between Great Britain, France, Russia, and Greece, for the Union of the Ionian Islands to the Kingdom of Greece; and containing also the Acceptance of that Accession by the four Contracting Parties to the Treaty. Signed at Constantinople, April 8, 1865. Ratifications exchanged at Constantinople, June 15, 1865.

"In the name of Almighty God. Their Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of the French, and the Emperor of all the Russias, on the one part, and his Majesty the King of the Hellenes on the other part, having concluded between them, on the 29th of March, 1864, a treaty for the union of the Ionian Islands to the kingdom of Greece; and their said Majesties, with reference to the Act under date of the 24th of April, 1819, whereby the Sublime Ottoman Porte recognized the protectorate of Great Britain over the Ionian Islands, having proposed to his Imperial Majesty the Sultan to accede to the aforesaid treaty; and his Imperial Majesty having accepted that proposal, the plenipotentiaries of the high powers, that is to say:-On the part of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Honourable William Stuart, her Chargé d'Affaires to the Sublime Ottoman Porte:

"On the part of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, the Sieur Lionel Marquis de Moustier, ambassador of his Majesty the Emperor of the French to the Sublime Ottoman Porte:

"On the part of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Nicholas Ignatieff, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Sublime Ottoman Porte:

"On the part of his Majesty the King of the Hellenes, the Sieur Peter Delyanni, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Sublime Ottoman Porte: