It is undeniable that in the majority of nations the mercantile navy progresses in an exact ratio to the productive power in all its branches, and that the object of that navy is to afford an outlet to the products of the nation, and, consequently, to increase their value. The mercantile navy can only prosper again amongst those nations which dedicate themselves to the carrying trade, as was the case with Holland in former times. Spain is not in a similar position. Her navy, like that of most of the countries of Europe and America, is sufficient for all her mercantile transactions, but there are no nations in the present day which dedicate themselves exclusively to commerce, as was the case in bygone years, monopolizing the trade of other nations, on which account their flags were recognized in every sea to the exclusion of all others.

If then navigation facilitates commerce and augments production, the coasting traffic ought to be favoured by encouraging the greatest possible number of vessels of all nations, thus promoting a rise in the price of that merchandize which we principally export, and which has to contend with considerable disadvantages by reason of the import duties payable at some of the places whither it is sent.

Spanish vessels favoured at present by the Legislation are, so to say, the only ones which carry on the commerce of the Peninsula with her ultramarine possessions. It is to be hoped that they may continue to be so by reason of the advantages they enjoy in those countries, from the nature of the merchandize which they carry, and the benefits arising from a commerce between nations professing the same religion, speaking the same language, and descended from the same mother-country. This commerce will augment gradually in proportion to, and as a necessary consequence of the increase of the riches and welfare of all classes of our nation. The Spanish mercantile marine will likewise be further stimulated to introduce from abroad the raw material which national industry requires in greater quantities by reason of the increase of our manufactures in many of their branches.

Countries of much greater mercantile importance than Spain, such as England, The United States, France, and others which are much more favourably situated in regard to their navy than we are, have not been able to exclude the vessels of other nations in their commercial relations with them, and it is undeniable that some of these nations are in comparison inferior to the Spanish, although their flags may wave over more seas.

For complete protection it would be necessary to remove all legal trammels, such as the duties imposed on everything fitted for shipbuilding, tackle, sails, and provisioning the crews, as well as other measures which the Government could not propose without serious consideration, inasmuch as it must reconcile, as far as possible, the

interests of the community, and not favour one or more classes to the injury of the rest.

As it is not the wish of your Majesty's Government that recipro city with one or more nations should be conceded for the sole pur pose of conferring a kind of privilege on them, but that the system should be extended to all who will accept it, Government will have the right of refusing to treat on the footing of the most favoured nation all that have not placed themselves in the same circumstances as that nation which has acquired the privilege in reciprocity for its own proceedings.

Such is the basis of this proposition to equalize the navigation and port dues on all vessels of the other nations which concede an equal benefit in their respective territories to our vessels. Such a system of reciprocity will be more just than to exact in Spain the same proportion as is exacted abroad, for although the latter is higher, it must be confessed that it is but a compensation for the greater expenses incurred in the construction of harbours, moles, and lighthouses, which afford greater advantages than we can provide in our country until the necessary works, to which the Government is directing its whole attention, can offer the good results we so much desire.

In consideration therefore of what is here stated, the Under signed, having taken the opinion of a Mixed Commission, consisting of members from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Works, Marine, and Finance, appointed to give information on this subject, and having also taken the opinion of the Director-General of Customs and of the Council of Ministers, has the honour to submit to your Majesty's approbation the following project of a Decree. J. BRAVO MURILLO.

ROYAL DECREE.

In accordance with the proposition of my Minister of Finance, and on the advice of the Council of Ministers, I decree as follows: ART. I. The vessels of all those nations which concede equal privileges in their respective territories to Spanish vessels shall be placed on the same footing as Spanish vessels, in the Peninsula and the adjacent islands, in regard to the levying of navigation and port dues, such as to the light-house, harbour, lading and unlading dues established in the Law of the 11th of April, and in my Royal Decree of the 16th of December last.

II. The Government will give an account of this proposition to the Cortes.

Given at the Palace on the 3rd of January, 1852.

(With the Royal Sign Manual.)

JUAN BRAVO MURILLO, Minister of Finance.

LAW of Chile, relative to Differential Duties on Foreign Vessels.-Santiago, July 16, 1850.

(Translation.)

WHEREAS the National Congress has passed the following law: ART. I. The provisions contained in Articles XV, XVI, XVII and XVIII, of the Law of Internationality of the 8th of January, 1834, are abrogated and void.

That part of Article VIII of the Law of the 7th of August, 1834, which exempts national vessels from tonnage dues, is also abrogated; and these vessels are to pay in future the same dues, as foreign vessels.

II. Merchandize, produce, and, in general, every article of commerce, imported into the republic in vessels under a foreign flag, are to pay the same international dues as if they were imported in Chilian vessels.

III. Articles of commerce which are introduced into the republic by vessels of any nation that does not recognize the bases of reciprocity established by the present law, are to be surcharged with a duty equal to that imposed on the merchandize entered at the ports of that nation by Chilian vessels.

IV. For the due fulfilment of the provision in the preceding Article, the President of the republic will fix the differential duties indicated therein.

And whereas, having heard the Council of State, I have thought fit to approve and to sanction this law: therefore, I order that it be promulgated and carried out, in all its parts, as a law of the republic.

Santiago, July 16, 1850. JERONIMO URMENETA.

MANUEL BULNES.

DECREE of the President of New Granada, approving the Contract, granting a Privilege for the Construction of an Iron Railroad across the Isthmus of Panama.-Bogotá, June 8, 1847.

THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

(Translation.)

OF NEW GRANADA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, HAVING considered the contract respecting a privilege for the construction of a railroad from one ocean to the other, across the Isthmus of Panama, which was signed in this capital on the 10th day of May last, between Juan de Francisco Martin and Mateo Klein; by the first in virtue of appointment and special authorization from the Executive, and by the second as the agent and attorney of the association entitled "The Panama Company;" and having also con

sidered the document specifying the duties and obligations of the said parties, signed by them on the same day, which papers are to the following effect:

The undersigned, Juan de Francisco Martin, in the name and under the commission of the Executive power of the Republic of New Granada, and Matthew Klein, as agent and attorney of Messrs. Jean Louis Marie Eugene Durien, chief of a section in the department of the interior at Paris; Viscount François Ernest Chabrol de Chameane, proprietor; Jean Edouard Caillard, administrator of the General Messageries; Alexandre de Bellegarde, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Staff; Jaques Courtines, civil engineer; Chevalier François Thierry, proprietor; Charles Veyret, merchant; Eloi Dumon, proprietor; Silvaine Jaques Joseph Joly Blazon de Sabla, merchant proprietor; Augustin Jean Salomon, merchant proprietor; the Baron Jean Henri Joseph de Lagos; William Henry Bainbridge, banker; and Sir John Campbell, Vice-President of the Oriental Steam Company,-as appears by the power granted at Paris on the 26th of November, 1845, before M. Guillaume Bouclier and his colleague, the above named persons having associated themselves under the title of the Panama Company, with the object of constructing a railroad from one ocean to the other, across the Isthmus of Panama; we, the said Juan de Francisco Martin and Matthew Klein, have agreed, in order to carry the said object into effect, upon the following contract:

TITLE I.

ART. I. The exclusive privilege of establishing a railroad between the 2 oceans, across the Isthmus of Panama, is conceded to the Company styled "The Panama Company."

II. The privilege of establishing a railroad, conceded to the Company by the preceding Article, shall continue for 99 years, reckoned from the day of the completion of the road and its being opened for public use.

III. The road shall be completed within 6 years, reckoned from the expiration of 4 months after the present Deed of Concession shall have been approved by the Congress of the Republic; and the fact of its completion shall be verified before the Governor of Panama, at the request of the Company, by a joint statement drawn up after consultation with the agent or agents of the Executive power commissioned to that effect.

IV. During the 99 years of exclusive privilege thus conceded to the Company for the establishment of a railroad from one ocean to the other, the Government of the Republic engages neither to undertake on its own account, nor to grant to any other company whatever, under any title, the power to establish another rai.rosi

1

or ordinary carriage-road, serving as means of communication between the 2 oceans, across the Isthmus of Panama; neither shall the Government of the Republic undertake itself, nor grant to any other person or persons the right to open a maritime canal across the isthmus, to connect the 2 seas, during the period of the continuance of the privilege granted to the Panama Company, without the consent of that Company.

V. The exclusive privilege is also granted to the Company for 99 years:

1. To make use of the ports situated at the 2 extremities of the railroad, required for the anchorage of vessels, and for the landing. and shipping of the goods which are to pass along the said road.

2. To make use of the places and stations necessary and specially designed for warehouses, and for the free deposit of all effects and merchandize admitted for transit across the isthmus, by means of the railroad established by the Panama Company. In virtue of the said privilege the Company may levy such transit dues, warehouse dues, and tolls as it may deem proper to establish, in compensation for the use of the lines of communication, the means of conveyance, the ports, passages, warehouses, and establishments of all kinds belonging to it.

VI. The Executive shall determine the forms to be observed in the landing of goods from either ocean, and the intervention on the part of the Custom-House officers, with the object of preventing goods destined for transit from one sea to the other, from being left on the way, or fraudulently introduced for consumption in the country. The said precautions shall be such as may tend to prevent all frauds to the injury of the public revenues, without delaying or embarrassing the rapid dispatch and transit of the goods, baggage, and passengers.

VII. During the progress of the railroad towards completion, the Company may open to public use such portion thereof as may be passable, and as it may judge proper to bring into service, so soon as such portion may be completed. The Company may also then enter upon the enjoyment of the concessions, privileges, and advantages applying thereto, as set forth in the present grant, conformably with the provisions of the annexed document specifying the duties and obligations.

VIII. The completion of one-half of the railroad shall secure to the said Company the definitive possession of all that is connected with the present privilege, and of the rights contained in it and annexed to it; the Company, however, remaining bound to complete the railroad entirely within the 6 years agreed upon in Article III, or within 8 years in case the period for such completion of the road should be thus far prolonged; in default of which it will be subject