Financial Adviser, shall collate, classify, arrange, and make full statement of all the debts of the Republic; the amounts, character, maturity, and condition thereof; and the interest accruing and the sinking fund requisite to their final discharge.

V. All sums collected and received by the General Receiver shall be applied, first, to the payment of the salaries and allowances of the General Receiver, his assistants and employés, and expenses of the Receivership, including the salary and expenses of the Financial Adviser, which salaries will be determined by previous agreement; second, to the interest and sinking fund of the public debt of the Republic of Ilaiti; and, third, to the maintenance of the constabulary referred to in Article X, and then the remainder to the Haitian Government for purposes of current expenses.

In making these applications the General Receiver will proceed to pay salaries and allowances monthly and expenses as they arise, and on the 1st of each calendar month will set aside in a separate fund the quantum of the collection and receipts of the previous month.

VI. The expenses of the Receivership, including salaries and allowances of the General Receiver, his assistants and employės, and the salary and expenses of the Financial Adviser, shall not exceed 5 per centum of the collections and receipts from customs duties, unless by agreement by the two Governments.

VII. The General Receiver shall make monthly reports of all collections, receipts, and disbursements to the appropriate officer of the Republic of Haiti and to the Department of State of the United States, which reports shall be open to inspection and verification at all times by the appropriate authorities of each of the said Governments.

VIII. The Republic of Ilaiti shall not increase its public debt except by previous agreement with the President of the United States, and shall not contract any debt or assume any financial obligation unless the ordinary revenues of the Republic available for that purpose, after defraying the expenses of the Government, shall be adequate to pay the interest and provide a sinking fund for the final discharge of such debt.

IX. The Republic of Haiti will not, without a previous agreement with the President of the United States, modify the customs duties in a manner to reduce the revenues therefrom: and in order that the revenues of the Republic may be adequate to meet the public debt and the expenses of the Government, to preserve tranquillity, and to promote material prosperity, the Republic of Haiti will co-operate with the Financial Adviser in his recommendations for improvement in the methods of collecting and disbursing the revenues, and for new sources of needed income.

X. The Haitian Government obligates itself, for the preservation of domestic peace, the security of individual rights and full observance of the provisions of this Treaty, to create without delay an efficient constabulary, urban and rural, composed of

native Haitians. This constabulary shall be organized and officered by Americans, appointed by the President of Haiti, upon nomination by the President of the United States. The Haitian Government shall clothe these officers with the proper and necessary authority and uphold them in the performance of their functions. These officers will be replaced by Haitians as they, by examination conducted under direction of a board to be selected by the senior American officer of this constabulary, and in the presence of a representative of the Haitian Government, are found to be qualified to assume such duties. The constabulary herein provided for shall, under the direction of the Haitian Government, have supervision and control of arms and ammunition, military supplies, and traffic therein throughout the country. The High Contracting Parties agree that the stipulations in this Article are necessary to prevent factional strife and disturbances.

XI. The Government of Haiti agrees not to surrender any of the territory of the Republic of Haiti by sale, lease, or otherwise, or jurisdiction over such territory, to any foreign Government or Power, nor to enter into any treaty or contract with any foreign Power or Powers that will impair, or tend to impair, the independence of Haiti.

XII. The Haitian Government agrees to execute with the United States a protocol for the settlement, by arbitration or otherwise, of all pending pecuniary claims of foreign corporations, companies, citizens, or subjects against Haiti.

XIII. The Republic of Haiti, being desirous to further the development of its natural resources, agrees to undertake and execute such measures as in the opinion of the High Contracting Parties may be necessary for the sanitation and public improvement of the Republic, under the supervision and direction of an engineer or engineers, to be appointed by the President of Haiti upon nomination by the President of the United States, and authorized for that purpose by the Government of Haiti.

XIV. The High Contracting Parties shall have authority to take such steps as may be necessary to ensure the complete attainment of any of the objects comprehended in this Treaty; and, should the necessity occur, the United States will lend an efficient aid for the preservation of Haitian independence and the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty.

XV. The present. Treaty shall be approved and ratified by the High Contracting Parties in conformity with their respective laws, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged in the city of Washington as soon as may be possible.

XVI. The present Treaty shall remain in full force and virtue. for the term of ten years, to be counted from the day of exchange of ratifications, and further for another term of ten years if, for specific reasons presented by either of the High Contracting Parties, the purpose of this Treaty has not been fully accomplished.

[1915. CIX.]

3 Q

In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention in duplicate, in the English and French languages, and have thereunto affixed their seals.

Done at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the 16th day of September, in the year of our Lord 1915.

TREATY between Honduras and the United States for the Settlement of Disputes by reference to an International Commission.-Washington, November 3, 1915.*

[Ratifications exchanged at Washington, July 27, 1916.]

THE United States of America and the Republic of Honduras, being desirous to strengthen the bonds of amity that bind them together, and also to advance the cause of general peace, have resolved to enter into a treaty for that purpose, and to that end have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States: the Honourable William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State; and

The President of Honduras: Señor Dr. Don Alberto Membreño, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Honduras to the United States;

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

ART. I. The High Contracting Parties agree that all disputes between them, of every nature whatsoever, which diplomacy shall fail to adjust, shall be submitted for investigation and report to an International Commission, to be constituted in the manner prescribed in the next succeeding Article; and they agree not to declare war or begin hostilities during such investigation and report.

II. The International Commission shall be composed of five members, to be appointed as follows: One member shall be chosen from each country by the Government thereof; one member shall be chosen by each Government from some third country; the fifth member shall be chosen by common agreement

* "United States Treaty Series," No. 625. Signed also in the Spanish language.

between the two Governments. The expenses of the Commission shall be paid by the two Governments in equal proportion.

The International Commission shall be appointed within four months after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty; and vacancies shall be filled according to the manner of the original appointment.

III. In case the High Contracting Parties shall have failed to adjust a dispute by diplomatic methods, they shall at once refer it to the International Commission for investigation and report. The International Commission may, however, act upon its own initiative, and in such case it shall notify both Governments and request their co-operation in the investigation.

The report of the International Commission shall be completed within one year after the date on which it shall declare its investigation to have begun, unless the High Contracting Parties shall extend the time by mutual agreement. The report shall be prepared in triplicate; one copy shall be presented to each Government, and the third retained by the Commission for its files.

The High Contracting Parties reserve the right to act independently on the subject-matter of the dispute after the report of the Commission shall have been submitted.

IV. The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the Congress of the Republic of Honduras; and the ratifications shall be exchanged as soon as possible. It shall take effect immediately after the exchange of ratifications, and shall continue in force for a period of five years; and it shall thereafter remain in force until twelve months after one of the High Contracting Parties shall have given notice to the other of an intention to terminate it.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present treaty and have affixed thereunto their seals. Done in Washington on the 3rd day of November, in the year of our Lord 1913.

(L.S.) WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN (L.S.) ALBERTO MEMBREÑO.

ITALIAN DECLARATION OF WAR against AustriaHungary-Vienna, May 23, 1915.

(Translation.)

In accordance with instructions received from His Majesty the King his august Sovereign, the undersigned has the honour to submit to his Excellency the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs the following declaration:

On May 4th Italy, confident in her good cause, communicated to the Imperial and Royal Government the grounds upon which she regarded as terminated the Treaty of Alliance with AustriaHungary, which had been violated by the Imperial and Royal Government, declared it to be henceforth null and void, and resumed her liberty of action.

The Government of the King are firmly decided to assure the defence of Italian rights and interests against any present and future menace by all the means at their disposal, and will not neglect their duty to take such measures as events may require to realize the national aspirations.

His Majesty the King declares that Italy considers herself in a state of war with Austria-Hungary from to-morrow.

The undersigned has the honour to inform his Excellency the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs that passports have to-day been handed to the Imperial and Royal Ambassador in Rome.

He will be grateful if provision is made for his passports to be handed to him.

Vienna, May 23, 1915.

DUCA AVARNA,

ITALIAN DECREE relative to the maintenance in force as regards States enjoying Most-favoured-nation Treatment of the provisions of the Commercial Treaty formerly existing with Austria-Hungary.-Rome, May 31, 1915.

(Translation.)

THOMAS DUKE OF GENOA,

Majesty, &c.

Lieutenant-General of His

By virtue of the authority delegated to us :

Whereas in consequence of the state of war with AustriaHungary the commercial treaty with that country has ceased to be operative:

Whereas it is convenient to exclude from the consequences of this cessation the commercial relations of the kingdom with neutral and Allied States;

In virtue of the law of the 22nd May, 1915, which confers full powers on the Government during the war;

On the proposal of our Ministers, the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs, for Finance, and for Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce;

With the knowledge of the Council of Ministers;

We have decreed and decree :

The dispositions of the commercial treaty formerly existing with Austria-Hungary will continue to be applied, until otherwise decreed, to relations with States enjoying most-favoured-nation treatment. The same treatment will be extended to goods of Austro-Hungarian origin which on the day of the publication of