chandize the produce or manufacture of the most favoured nation.

All rights, privileges, or immunities which are now or may hereafter be granted to, or suffered to be enjoyed by, the subjects, ships, commerce, or navigation of any foreign Power in the British dominions or possessions, shall be equally granted to, and exercised and enjoyed by, the subjects, ships, commerce, and navigation of the Ottoman Porte.

XX. The present Treaty, when ratified, shall be substituted for the Convention concluded between the two High Contracting Parties on the 16th of August, 1838, and shall remain in force for 28 years from the day of the exchange of the ratifications; each of the High Contracting Parties being, however, at liberty to give to the other, at the end of 14 years (that time being fixed, as the provisions of this Treaty will then have come into full force), notice for its revision, or for its determination at the expiration of a year from the date of that notice, and so again at the end of 21 years.

The present Treaty shall receive its execution in all and every one of the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, that is to say, in all the possessions of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan situated in Europe or in Asia, in Egypt and in the other parts of Africa belonging to the Sublime Porte, in Servia, and in the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia.

The Sublime Porte declares that she is ready to grant to other foreign Powers who may seek to obtain them, the com

mercial advantages contained in the stipulations of the present Treaty.

XXI. It is always understood that Her Britannic Majesty does not pretend, by any Article in the present Treaty, to stipulate for more than the plain and fair construction of the terms employed, nor to preclude in any manner the Ottoman Government from the exercise of its rights of internal administration, where the exercise of those rights does not evidently infringe upon the privileges accorded by ancient Treaties, or by the present Treaty, to British subjects or British merchandize.

XXII. The High Contracting Parties have agreed to appoint, jointly, Commissioners for the settlement of a Tariff of Customhouse duties, to be levied in conformity with the stipulations of the present Treaty, as well upon merchandize of every description being the produce or manufacture of the British dominions and possessions imported into the Sultan's dominions and possessions, as upon articles of every description the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of the Sultan, which British subjects or their agents are free to purchase in any part of the Ottoman dominions and possessions, for exportation to Great Britain or to any other country.

The new Tariff to be so concluded shall remain in force during seven years, dating from the 1st of October, 1861.

Each of the Contracting Parties shall have the right, a year before the expiration of that term, to demand the revision of the Tariff. But if, during the

seventh year, neither the one nor the other of the Contracting Parties shall avail itself of this right, the Tariff then existing shall continue to have the force of law for seven more years, dating from the day of the expiration of the seven preceding years; and the same shall be the case with respect to every successive period of seven years.

XXIII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Constantinople in two calendar months, or sooner, if possible, and shall be carried into execution from the 1st of October, 1861.

Done at Kanlidja on the twenty-ninth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.

(L.S.) HENRY L. BULWER. (L.S.) AALI.

Convention between Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, and the Emperor of the French, relative Emperor of the French, relative to Combined Operations against Mexico. Signed at London, October 31, 1861. [Ratifica tions exchanged at London, November 15, 1861.]

(Translation.)

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, feeling themselves compelled by the arbitrary and vexatious conduct of the authorities of the Republic of Mexico to demand from those authorities more efficacious protection for the persons and properties of their subjects, as well as a fulfil

ment of the obligations contracted towards their Majesties by the Republic of Mexico, have agreed to conclude a Convention, with a view to combine their common action, and, for this purpose, 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, &c.;

Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, Don Xavier de Isturiz y Montero, &c.;

And His Majesty the Emperor of the French, His Excellency the Count de Flahault de la Billarderie, &c. ;

Who, after having reciprocally communicated their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles :

I. Her Majesty the Queen of Britain and Ireland, Her Mathe United Kingdom of Great jesty the Queen of Spain, and His Majesty the Emperor of the French, engage to make, immediately after the signature of the

present Convention, the necessary arrangements for dispatching to the coasts of Mexico, combined naval and military forces, the strength of which shall be determined by a further interchange of communications between their Governments, but of which the total shall be sufficient to seize and occupy the several fortresses and military positions on the Mexican coast.

The commanders of the allied forces shall be, moreover, authorized to execute the other operations which may be considered, on the spot, most suitable

to effect the object specified in the preamble of the present Convention, and specifically to ensure the security of foreign residents.

All the measures contemplated in this Article shall be taken in the name and on account of the High Contracting Parties, without reference to the particular nationality of the forces employed to execute them.

II. The High Contracting Parties engage not to seek for themselves, in the employment of the coercive measures contemplated by the present Convention, any acquisition of territory nor any special advantage, and not to exercise in the internal affairs of Mexico any influence of a nature to prejudice the right of the Mexican nation to choose and to constitute freely the form of its Government.

III. A Commission composed of three Commissioners, one to be named by each of the Contracting Powers, shall be established with full authority to determine all questions that may arise as to the application or distribution of the sums of money which may be recovered from Mexico, having regard to the respective rights of the three Contracting Parties.

IV. The High Contracting Parties desiring, moreover, that the measures which they intend to adopt should not bear an exclusive character, and being aware that the Government of the United States on its part has, like them, claims to enforce upon the Mexican Republic, agree that, immediately after the signature of the present Convention, a copy thereof shall be communicated to

the Government of the United States; that that Government shall be invited to accede to it; and that, in anticipation of that accession, their respective Ministers at Washington shall be at once furnished with full powers for the purpose of concluding and signing, collectively or separately, with the Plenipotentiary designated by the President of the United States, a Convention identic, save the suppression of the present Article, with that which they sign this day. But as, by delaying to put into execution Articles I. and II. of the present Convention, the High Contracting Parties would incur a risk of failing in the object which they desire to attain, they have agreed not to defer, with the view of obtaining the accession of the Government of the United States, the commencement of the above-mentioned operations beyond the time at which their combined forces can be assembled in the neighbourhood of Vera Cruz.

V. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at London within fifteen days.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.

Done in London, in triplicate, the thirty-first day of the month of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.

(L.S.) RUSSELL.

(L.S.) XAVIER DE ISTURIZ. (L.S.) FLAHAULT.

Convention between Her Majesty and the Emperor of Morocco, relative to a Loan to be raised in London by the Emperor. Signed, in the English and Arabic Languages, at Tangier, October 24, 1861. [Ratifications exchanged at Tangier, December 20, 1861.]

His Majesty the Emperor of Morocco being desirous of raising a loan of 426,000l. sterling in London, to enable him to meet his

engagements with Her Catholic Majesty, and having requested the good offices of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a view to facilitate that object; and Her Britannic Majesty having agreed to the request of His Imperial Majesty, their Majesties have resolved to conclude a Convention on the subject, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, John Hay Drummond Hay, Esquire, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Minister Resident at the Court of His Majesty, the Sultan of Morocco; And His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco, his Officer, the learned Fakee Seed Hadj Abderrahman el Ajee;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

I. His Majesty the Emperor of Morocco engages that from and after the ratification of the present Convention there shall be paid over to a Commissioner, named by her Britannic Majesty, 50 per cent.

of the Custom duties at all the ports of the Empire of Morocco.

Her Britannic Majesty, on her part, engages that six weeks before the period at which the halfyearly charges on the loan of 426,000l. sterling, which the Emperor of Morocco is about to raise, shall become due, she will transfer to the agent or agents of the Contractors for that loan, the sums so to be received by the Commissioner of Her Majesty, or so much thereof as may be sufficient to pay the interest and sinking fund on the said loan, the amount of such sums not exceeding, in the aggregate, 15 per cent. on the above-mentioned sum of 426,000l. sterling. But Her Britannic Majesty shall not be liable for the payment of more than she receives.

In case the sums received should be more than sufficient for such half-yearly payments, the surplus shall be repaid by the British Commissioner to the officers of the Emperor of Morocco duly authorized to receive the same.

II. When, by means of the payments provided for in the preceding Article, the whole of the loan of 426,000l. sterling shall have been repaid, together with the interest due thereon, the Commissioner of Her Britannic Majesty shall cease to receive the 50 per cent. of the Custom duties at the ports above mentioned, and shall repay to the said officers of the Emperor of Morocco any balance that may be remaining in his hands.

III. The present Convention shall be ratified by Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and by His Majesty the Emperor of Morocco, and

the ratifications shall be exchanged at Tangier as soon as possible within 40 days from the date hereof.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, and have affixed thereto their respective seals.

Done at Tangier, the twentyfourth day of October, in the year

one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, corresponding to the Moorish date of the eighteenth day of the month of Rabbea, the second in the year one thousand two hundred and seventy-eight. (L.S.) J. H. DRUMMOND HAY. (Arabic signature of) (L.S.) HADJ ABDERRAHMAN EL

AJEE.

The Queen, being desirous of affording to the princes, chiefs, and people of the Indian Empire a public and signal testimony of her regard by the institution of an Order of Knighthood, whereby her resolution to take upon herself the Government of the territories in India may be commemorated, and by which Her Majesty may be enabled to reward conspicuous merit and loyalty, has been graciously pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to institute, erect, constitute, and create an Order of Knighthood, to be known by, and have for ever hereafter, the name, style, and designation of "The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India ;"

India-Office, June 25.

And to ordain, direct, and appoint that the said Order shall consist of the Sovereign, a Grand Master, and 25 Knights, together with such extra and honorary Knights as Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, shall from time to time appoint;

And to ordain, direct, and appoint that Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, Kings and Queens Regnant of the said United Kingdom, shall be Sovereigns of the said Most Exalted Order;

And that the Viceroy and Governor-General of India for the time being shall be Grand Master of the said Order, and that he shall, in virtue thereof, be the first and principal Knight of the Order;

And that the said Most Exalted Order shall be governed by sta