authorities, Her Majesty engages to give them all the assistance in her power, and to secure them from plunder, as well as to recover for and to deliver over to the owners thereof all the property which can be saved from such vessels. Her Majesty further engages to do all in her power to extend to the officers and crew, and to all other persons on board such wrecked vessels, full protection both as to their persons and as to their property.

XI. Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar agrees that in all cases where a British subject shall be accused of any crime committed in any part of her dominions, the person so accused shall be exclusively tried and adjudged by the British Consul or other officer duly appointed for that purpose by Her Britannic Majesty. But any British subject whom the British Consul or other officer shall find to have been guilty of having openly offended against the laws of Madagascar shall be liable to be banished from the country.

In all cases where disputes or differences shall arise within the dominions of the Queen of Madagascar between British subjects and the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul or other duly appointed officer, aided by an officer duly authorized by Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar, shall have power to hear and decide the same.

The Malagasy authorities shall not interfere in differences or disputes between British subjects, or between British subjects and the subjects or citizens of any third Power.

The British authorities shall not interfere in differences or disputes between Malagasy subjects and the subjects or citizens of any third Power in Madagascar.

XII. If a subject of the Queen of Madagascar should refuse or evade the payment of a debt due to a British subject, the local authorities shall afford every assistance and facility to the creditor for recovering the debt; and in like manner, the British Consul shall afford every assistance to subjects of the Queen of Madagascar to recover debts due to them by British subjects.

XIII. The local authorities of Madagascar shall have no right to interfere with British vessels of commerce, which are subject only to the British authority and to their Captains; but no British vessel shall communicate with the shore before receiving pratique from the local authorities. In the absence, however, of a British ship of war, the Malagasy authorities, if requested by the British Consul or Consular Agent, shall afford assistance in order to cause Lis authority to be respected by his own countrymen, and to reestablish and maintain discipline among the crews of British merchant-vessels.

If any British seamen should desert from their ships, the local

"

authorities shall use every effort to apprehend them, and shall deliver them up to the British Consul or to the Captain of their ship.

XIV. The Malagasy authorities shall do all in their power to deliver up property of a British subject who may die in Madagascar to his heirs or representatives, or, in their absence, to the British Consul.

The property of a subject of the Queen of Madagascar who may die in the British dominions shall be treated in the same manner as the property of a British subject.

XV. If any British merchant-vessel should be attacked or plundered in the waters of Madagascar, adjacent to any military station whatever, the local authorities, as soon as informed of the fact, shall institute active pursuit after the offenders, and shall omit no effort to discover and punish them.

The goods which may have been carried off, wherever and in whatever state they may be found, shall be delivered to the owner, or to the Consul, who will undertake to restore them.

The same course shall be followed in the case of plunder or robbery committed on the property of British subjects residing in the neighbourhood of any military station, whether on the shores or in the interior of Madagascar.

The local authorities, on proving that they have used every effort to apprehend the offenders and to recover the goods stolen, shall not be pecuniarily responsible for the loss.

The same protection shall be granted in favour of the property of subjects of the Queen of Madagascar plundered or robbed on the coasts or in the interior of the British dominions.

XVI. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar hereby engage to use every means in their power for the suppression of piracy within the seas, straits, and rivers subject to their respective control or influence; and Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar engages not to grant either asylum or protection to any persons or vessels engaged in piratical pursuits; and in no case will she permit ships, slaves, or merchandize captured by pirates to be introduced into her dominions, or to be exposed therein for sale. And Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar concedes to Her Britannic Majesty the right of investing her officers and other duly constituted authorities with the power of entering at all times, with her vessels of war, or other vessels duly empowered, the ports, rivers, and creeks within the dominions of Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar, in order to capture all vessels engaged in piracy, and to seize and to reserve for the judgment of the proper authorities all persons offending against the two Contracting Parties in this respect.

XVII. Her Britannic Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar being greatly desirous of effecting the total abolition of the Trade in Slaves, Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar engages to do all in her power to prevent all such traffic on the part of her subjects, and to prohibit all persons residing within her dominions, or subject to her, from countenancing or taking any share in such trade. No persons from beyond sea shall be landed, purchased, or sold as slaves in any part of Madagascar. And Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar consents that British cruizers shall have the right of searching any Malagasy or Arab vessels suspected of being engaged in the Slave Trade, whether under sale or at anchor in the waters of Madagascar. Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar further consents that if any such vessels shall prove to be engaged in the Slave Trade, such vessels and their crews shall be dealt with by the cruizers of Her Britannic Majesty as if such persons and their vessels had been engaged in a piratical undertaking.

XVIII. Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar engages to abolish trial by the ordeal of poison.

If there should be war between Great Britain and Madagascar (which God forbid), any prisoners who may be taken by either party shall be kindly treated, and shall be set free, either by exchange during the war, or without exchange when peace is made; and such prisoners shall not on any account be made slaves or putto death.

XIX. The present Treaty shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty and by Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London or Antananarivo, within the space of 6 months from this date.

But if, at any future time, it shall seem desirable in the interests of the subjects of either of the two Contracting Parties to alter or to add to the present Treaty, such alterations or additions shall be effected with the consent of both parties.

Signed and sealed in duplicate originals, with a Malagasy translation to each, at Antananarivo, this 27th day of June, in the year 1865.

(L.S.) T. C. PAKENHAM,

Her Majesty's Consul
for Madagascar.

Seal of the Queen of Madagascar.]

RAINIMAHARAVO,

Chief Secretary of State,

CONVENTION between Great Britain and Persia, relative to Telegraphic Communication between Europe and India.Signed at Tehran, November 23, 1865.

[Ratifications exchanged at Tehran, May 1, 1866.]

As Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of all the Kingdoms of Persia, are desirous of regulating the telegraphic communication between Europe and India, and of placing this work on a sure and friendly basis, they have resolved that a Convention for that purpose shall be concluded; wherefore their Majesties have named as their Plenipotentiaries :

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, his Excellency Charles Alison, Esquire, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia;

And His Majesty the King of all the Kingdoms of Persia, his Excellency Mirza Saeed Khan, His Minister for Foreign Affairs, possessor of the Order of the Royal Portrait, adorned with diamonds, and of the blue cordon, and bearer of the pearled tassel and rod adorned with diamonds, possessor of the Order of First Serteeb with its special cordons, and bearer of the Order of St. Ann adorned with diamonds of the first class, and of the Order of the Medjidie of the first class, and of the First Order of the Iron Crown, and the First Order of Leopold, and the First Order of Danebrog, and the First Order of St. Maurice and Lazare, and the First Order of the Saviour of Greece, and the Order of the Polar Star of Sweden, and the Second Order of the Legion of Honour ;

And the aforesaid distinguished Representatives, after meeting in the capital of Tehran, and perusing and exchanging their letters of full power, and finding them in due order, have concluded the following Articles:

ART. I. In order to improve the telegraphic communication between Europe and India, the Persian Government agrees to attach another wire to the poles now standing from Bushire to Khanikin, and to bring it into working order as soon as possible. The wire to be used solely for international messages sent in European languages.

II. In order that the second wire may be attached in a complete and effective manner, the Persian Government also agrees that it shall be done under the direction and supervision of an English engineer officer and staff. And the Persian Government will use its best

* Signed also in the Persian language.

endeavours to collect the necessary materials, and lay down the wire with all expedition.

III. The British Government agrees to procure for the Persian Government, at a reasonable price, and with the cognizance of a Persian Commissioner, all the wire, insulators, Morse instruments, &c., that may be requisite for this work, inclusive of 200 iron posts for the marshy tract of Bushire, and to deliver them over to the Government Commissioners at any seaport or frontier town of Persia that may be suitable, receiving payment in 5 years in 5 instalments.

IV. The Persian Government, moreover, agrees that an English telegraph officer, with the necessary staff, not exceeding 50 in number, exclusive of families, shall be engaged from the opening of telegraphic communication through the new wire, for 5 years, in organizing the Persian line of telegraph and giving instruction in telegraphy. And the British Government agrees that the English officer and his staff shall, at the expiration of the prescribed period, make over the said line to the Persian Government and cease connection with the Persian telegraph.

V. The conditions under which the English officer shall exercise control over the second wire, during the prescribed period, are stated in the following rules:

1. His Royal Highness the Itizad-es-Sultaneh, Minister of Science, or any other person who by the Shah's order may be appointed in his place, is to be considered the head and absolute chief of all the Persian Government telegraphs.

2. Any order which His Royal Highness, or such other person in his place, may issue concerning the protection of the line, its working, and the Persians employed on it, shall be given through and with the approval of the English telegraph officer.

3. For the protection of the line, the whole distance from the Turkish frontier to Bushire shall be divided from station to station into 6 sections, as follows:

From the Turkish frontier to Hamadan.

From Hamadan to Tehran.

From Tehran to Kashan.

From Kashan to Ispahan.
From Ispahan to Shiraz.
From Shiraz to Bushire.

To each of these divisions the Itizad-es-Sultaneh shall appoint a Persian officer, who will be responsible to His Royal Highness for the protection of the line situated within his limits.

To enable the said Persian officer or Yaver of each division to carry out his duties efficiently, a certain number of horsemen shall be stationed under his orders along the line. The Yaver will of