[United Principalities. Moldavia and Wallachia.] sent year, which you accepted by your answer dated on the 20th of the same month, and by which Recognition of Rights of Turkey to Sovereignty over the United Principalities, 1. You engage, in your own name and in the name of your successors, to respect in their Integrity my Rights of Sovereignty over the United Principalities, which form an Integral Part of my Empire within the limits fixed by the stipulations of ancient Conventions and by the Treaty of Paris of 1856 (No. 264). Armed Force not to exceed 30,000 Men. 2. Not to exceed, under, any pretext whatever, without previous understanding with my Government, the number of 30,000 men, to which the Armed Force of every description of the United Principalities may be raised. Coinage. 3. Authority having been granted on our part to the United Principalities to have a special Coin bearing a mark of our Government, which shall be hereafter decided between my Sublime Porte and you, to consider that authority as of none effect so long as that decision has not been come to. Treaties and Conventions with Foreign Powers to be binding on United Principalities. Principalities not to conclude Treaties or Conventions with Foreign Powers. Principalities to be consulted on Treaties and Conventions bearing upon their Laws and Commerce. 4. To consider as binding on the Principalities all Treaties and Conventions existing between my Sublime Porte and other Powers, in so far as they do not infringe on the Rights of the United Principalities established and recognised by the Acts which concern them; also to maintain and respect the principle that no Treaties or Conventions can be directly concluded by the United Principalities with Foreign Powers. My Imperial Government will nevertheless not fail in future to consult the United Principalities on the stipulations of any Treaty or Convention which might bear upon their Laws and Commercial Regulations. *See note, page 1786. [United Principalities. Moldavia and Wallachia.] Above Restrictions not to bear upon Arrangements of an Unofficial or Non-Political Character. Arrangements of local interest between two neighbouring Administrations, and not having the form of an Official Treaty, or of a political character, shall continue to remain excluded from the above restrictions. Not to create any Order of Decoration. 5. To abstain from creating any Order of Decoration intended to be conferred in the name of the United Principalities. Rights of Sovereignty. 6. Always to respect my Rights of Sovereignty over the United Principalities, which form an integral part of my Empire, and carefully to maintain the secular bonds which unite them to Turkey. Tribute. 7. To increase the Tribute paid to my Government by the Principalities in the proportion which shall hereafter be fixed in concert with you. Disturbers of the Peace not to be allowed in the United Principalities. 8. Not to permit that the Territory of the United Provinces shall serve as a focus for Ringleaders of Disturbances, such as would endanger the tranquillity either of the other parts of my Empire or of neighbouring States. Security to Turkish Subjects trading in the Principalities. 9. To come to an understanding hereafter with my Imperial Government for the adoption of practical measures necessary to secure the assistance and protection due to those of my subjects who from other parts of my Empire shall proceed to the United Principalities with the object of entering into commercial transactions. Hereditary Title of Prince of the United Principalities. Considering the conditions enumerated above, and the engagements contained in the before-mentioned answer to the letter of my Grand Vizier, the Rank and the Prerogatives of [United Principalities. Moldavia and Wallachia.] Prince of the United Principalities are conferred upon you as a Hereditary Title for you and your heirs in a direct line, with the reservation, in case of a vacancy, that that Rank shall be conferred upon the eldest of your heirs by an Imperial Firman. Fulfilment of Engagements. You will therefore watch that no Act shall be allowed contrary to the preceding conditions and to the fundamental dispositions of the Treaties and Conventions concluded with friendly and Allied Powers of my Empire, referring to the United Principalities, and you will devote your attention in perfecting and ensuring the good administration of the United Principalities, and in developing the well-being and prosperity of their inhabitants in conformity with my Imperial wish. Given at Constantinople, the 14th Djemazi-ul-Akhir, 1283 (23rd October, 1866). [Conferences were held in Paris upon the Subject of the United Principalities, from March to June, 1866. (See page 1650.) On the 17th May it was formally announced to the Conference that the Rouman People had, by means of a Plebiscite, elected Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Hechingen as Sovereign of the United Principalities under the Title of Charles I. On the 10th May, 1866, Prince Charles, having accepted the offer of the Assembly, entered Wallachian Territory, and assumed the Government of the Principalities. The Porte at first entered a formal Protest against these Acts, but eventually (11th July, 1866,) the Sultan agreed to recognize the Election of the Prince, and on the 23rd October following a Firman of Investiture was issued to His Highness by the Sultan. These Arrangements were concurred in by the Treaty Powers, on the 29th January, 1867.] [Montenegro.] No. 400.-PROTOCOL between Turkey and Montenegro, relative to the Demarcation of the Frontiers of Montenegro. Constantinople, 26th October, 1866. (Translation.) A MEETING having been held at the yali of His Highness Aali Pasha, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at Bebek, between Safvet Pasha, President of the Dari Choura, and Server Effendi, Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce, duly authorised to that effect by the Sublime Porte, on the one part, and the Senators Ilio Plamenatz and Captain Peiovitch, appointed for the same purpose by His Highness the Prince of Montenegro, of the other part, the Protocol signed at Cettigne on the 3rd May, 1864 (No. 360), between Hafiz Bey, Commissioner of the Sublime Porte, and M. Giuro Matanovich, Commissioner of Montenegro, and containing 18 Articles, was taken into consideration. The Commission, after having discussed each of the Articles of the said Protocol, confirms it in all its details, and decides that the present Protocol shall be annexed thereto, to have the same force and effect as if it formed part thereof. Proceeding to the execution of the Protocol of the 3rd May, 1864 (No. 360), this Commission agrees that a mixed Commission shall proceed in the month of April next, at the latest, to the exchange and the settlement of the Indemnities of Private Properties, and the bases already decided upon. That Commission shall in the same manner proceed in execution of Articles XI and XII of the same Protocol. Proceeding to the examination of the Map and of the Specification drawn up by the International Commission on the 8th November, 1858 (No. 288), the Commission, after having referred them to the respective Governments, entirely admit the tracing of the Line of Demarcation of the Frontiers as shown in red on the above-mentioned Map, and which passes from Vissotchitsa (No. 67) by Srebrena-Glavitsa (No. 68) to Banova-Gomila (No. 69). It is nevertheless agreed, and the Commissioners of His Highness the Prince of Montenegro engage that no building or habitation of any kind whatever shall be erected on the SrebrenaGlavitza. [Montenegro.] It is agreed that the Turkish Koulé of Ynotchitza shall be immediately demolished. As far as regards Velje and Malo-Brdo, the space between Podgoritza and Sponge, the Commission agrees that the Montenegrins shall continue freely to enjoy all their Rights of Possession on those mountains, and that they will have to pay into the hands of the Imperial Authorities at Scutari of Albania the Tithes and the Dues to which their lands and crops are liable. Done in Duplicate at Constantinople, 26th October, 1866. SAFVET. SERVER. I. PLAMENATZ. |