newspaper, without bringing down on the heads of its authors the vexation and annoyance of a State prosecution.

In a moral point of view, and having regard to the relations between the two countries, the conduct of the Prussian Government in this matter appears to Her Majesty's Government to have been in a high degree unfriendly.

Prussian law was enforced with extreme and unnecessary harshness, and in a manner not required for the purpose of justice. To throw a person of the rank and station of Captain Macdonald into prison on such a charge, and to refuse his liberation on bail, was an act which in England we should ascribe to a malignant spirit, violating the limits of a temperate administration of justice.

The rude refusal of the Prussian official, when informed of the rank held by Captain Macdonald in the Body Guard of his Sovereign, was not consistent with ordinary international courtesy, and is a fit subject to be observed upon, because it has not been disavowed by the Prussian Government. Her Majesty's Government feel confident that no Prussian officer or gentleman of the rank of Captain Macdonald would have been treated in a similar manner in England under similar circumstances.

Her Majesty's Government must also observe on the spirit which dictated a prosecution for a publication alleged to be a libel upon a Prussian official, when the very act which that alleged libel condemned had been censured by the Government of that officer; and it is further to be observed, that that prosecution was instituted whilst Captain Macdonald's case was still pending between the two Governments.

The Prussian Government has not thought fit to temper its justification of these extreme acts by any expression of regret, and Her Majesty's Government cannot but regard its conduct as too clearly evincing a disregard of international goodwill.

I am, &c.

I have to instruct to you to read this despatch to Baron Schleinitz, and to give him a copy of it. W. Lowther, Esq.

J. RUSSELL.

No. 55.-Count Gruner to Count Bernstorff-(Communicated to Lord J. Russell by Count Bernstorff, March 4.)

(Translation.) Berlin, February 27, 1861. AFTER the detailed communications which I made to Lord Bloomfield relative to the affair of Captain Macdonald on the 30th of November, aud to your Excellency on the 8th of December last, I thought I might hope that the British Government would be convinced that the Prussian Government and its authorities had impartially treated this unfortunate occurrence in strict accordance with the laws, and that this much-discussed affair would now remain

at rest. This hope has not been realized; but, as your Excellency will see by the inclosed copy, Lord Augustus Loftus has been commissioned by his Government to present a further despatch, and to communicate to me a copy thereof.

First of all, I can only regret that, in this paper, although it was intended to be communicated to a friendly Government, a style of expression has been used which is by no means in harmony with those considerations which friendly Governments usually think themselves bound to observe. Such style of expression in the present case seems the less justified, inasmuch as the views and the assertions put forth in this despatch are almost wholly in opposition to the real state of the case, as it was communicated by me to the British Government from the documents. Hereupon I will confine myself to a proof of this, in a brief examination of the 4 points brought forward in the despatch:

1. By the testimony of Parow and his wife, and of Buchholtz, it is shown that, from the first, the entrance of those travellers was opposed by Captain Macdonald, partly by a threat of force, and partly by the actual employment of force. Nevertheless, the railway inspector, on being called, left no means untried to remove the cause of dispute by polite intervention. He offered Captain Macdonald and his party admission to another coupé. While he, with this view, tried to prevent M. Kuhe from getting in, Captain Macdonald used force, pulling his brother-in-law into the carriage, and thrusting his fist against the inspector's breast. After such conduct nothing was left to do but to order Captain Macdonald's removal from the carriage. Such an order towards a traveller who has replied to the summons of an official person by a forcible personal attack, can only be looked upon as the indispensable restoration of seriously violated order.

2. The assumption that Captain Macdonald at any time offered security to obtain his liberty rests simply upon an error. To the demand made at the station to deposit a security of 10 thalers, Captain Macdonald replied by silence only, while his sister-in-law, Kuhe, opposed the accusation that it was extortion. When once Captain Macdonald was arrested and conducted to prison, no further proposition was made by him or his defender to let him out of custody on security.

3. The assertion of Staats-Procurator Möller in reference to the conduct of individual (not almost all) English travellers, is admitted by the Prussian Government itself as unbecoming. A disciplinary inquiry was instituted by the constituted authorities, with full observance of the existing law, and the legal penalty awarded. In reference to this episodical occurrence, the requisite satisfaction has therefore resulted, and consequently the matter is completely settled.

4. The English residents in Bonn are sufficiently acquainted with the Prussian laws and regulations to be aware that it is indeed permitted to every man to make known his supposed grievances in the newspapers, but that public offences ("Beleidigungen") committed through articles in newspapers bring after them a legal penalty. Those Englishmen, therefore, only suffered the necessary consequences of their excited feelings, when they, without due consideration, published in the newspapers accusations against an official person. In this matter also the Prussian Government has simply put the law in force ("walten lassen"). This was purely a matter for the tribunal, with whose functions the Government, as such, is not competent to interfere.

The facts of this case being so notorious, there can be no question of any harshness with which, as Lord John Russell expresses himself, the law has been carried out. No knowledge whatever existed of the personal quality of Captain Macdonald when his own conduct rendered his arrest necessary. His violent behaviour was not calculated to make him known as a person of high rank and distinction. Even the demand to deposit a security of 10 thalers was not assented to. When once he was given over to justice, it was no longer possible for the Prussian Government to interfere with the course of it. It has deeply regretted this, and especially because of its close and friendly relations with England; it gave expression to this regret, not only in the note of the 30th of November last to Lord Bloomfield, but also in its endeavour to alleviate the position of Captain Macdonald by hastening his examination.

I cannot understand, for the rest, how a reproach can be drawn from the circumstance that the legal prosecution against the signers of the article in the Bonn newspaper was carried out while the discussions upon the affair of Captain Macdonald were pending between the two Governments. The course of justice in Prussia is as free from all influence of the Government, and as independent, as in England. It is not in the competence of the Government to impede it; and those discussions could have no other object than to furnish the British Government with the desired explanation as to the actual state of the case. The decision was solely in the hands of the tribunal, not in those of the Government.

I must, therefore, decidedly repel the view taken, that the Prussian Government has in this affair, by its acts or its omissions, violated any of the considerations which it owes to a friendly Government like the British. That such an opinion has appeared in the English press may be explained, inasmuch as it has gathered its information only from the partial representations of Captain

Macdonald and of the English residents in Bonn, and to some extent has even refused to give insertion in its pages to impartial communications. But I can only most deeply deplore that the communications which the legal proceedings have furnished as to what really took place have not sufficed, even after hearing the Crown Jurists, to restrain the British Government from the expression of a judgment which is in decided opposition to the facts legally proved.

I beg your Excellency to be pleased to read this despatch to Lord John Russell, and to give him a copy thereof. By Order of the Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Count Bernstorff.

GRUNER.

DECRET de l'Empereur des Français, portant promulgation du Traité d'Amitié, de Commerce, et de Navigation, conclue le 9 Mars, 1861, entre la France et le Pérou.-Paris, le 26 Février, 1862.

NAPOLEON, par la grâce de Dieu et la volonté nationale, Empereur des Français, à tous présents et à venir, Salut.

Sur le rapport de notre Ministre Secrétaire d'Etat au Département des Affaires Etrangères,

Avons décrété et décrétons ce qui suit:

ART. I. Un Traité d'Amitié, de Commerce et de Navigation ayant été signé à Lima, le 9 Mars, 1861, entre la France et la République du Pérou, et les ratifications de cet acte ayant été échangées le 28 Décembre de la même année, ledit Traité, dont la teneur suit, recevra sa pleine et entière exécution.

Au nom de Dieu, auteur et Législateur de l'Univers.

Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français et Son Excellence le Président de la République du Pérou, animés du désir de resserrer les liens d'amitié, de régulariser, maintenir et étendre les relations commerciales et maritimes qui existent heureusement dès aujourd'hui entre les deux nations, ont résolu de conclure un Traité d'Amitié, de Commerce et de Navigation qui les établît d'une manière solide sur les principes de la justice et de la réciprocité; à cet effet, ont conféré leurs pleins pouvoirs, savoir:

Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français, à M. Prosper-Edmond de Lesseps, Officier de l'Ordre Impérial de la Légion d'Honneur, Commandeur de l'Ordre de Saint- Gregoire-le-Grand et des Cheva

liers de Jérusalem, Officier de l'Ordre de Léopold de Belgique, son Consul-Général et Chargé d'Affaires auprès du Gouvernement de la République du Pérou ;

Et le Président de la République du Pérou, au Ministre des Relations Extérieures, M. le Docteur Don José Fabio Melgar;

Lesquels, après avoir échangé ces pleins pouvoirs et les avoir trouvés en bonne et due forme, sont convenus des Articles suivants :

ART. I. Il y aura entre l'Empire Français, d'une part, et la République du Pérou, d'autre part, dans toute l'étendue de leurs possessions et territoires, comme entre les sujets ou citoyens de l'un ou de l'autre Etat, sans exception de personnes ni de lieux, paix perpétuelle et amitié parfaite et sincère.

II. Les Français au Pérou et les Péruviens en France pourront, réciproquement et en toute liberté, entrer avec leurs navires et cargaisons, comme les nationaux eux-mêmes, dans tous les lieux, ports et rivières qui sont actuellement ou qui seront plus tard ouverts au commerce étranger en général.

Les sujets ou citoyens des deux Etats pourront, comme les nationaux, sur les territoires respectifs, voyager, séjourner ou s'établir, commercer tant en gros qu'en détail et exercer toute profession, tout art ou industrie non contraire aux usages, aux bonnes mœurs, à la morale, à la sécurité et à la salubrité publique, se conformant aux lois municipales et aux ordonnances de police, et observant les conditions et formalités requises pour l'exercice de certaines professions scientifiques par des règlements spéciaux; ils pourront également louer et occuper les maisons, magasins et boutiques qui leur seront nécessaires, effectuer des transports de marchandises et d'argent, recevoir des consignations, tant de l'intérieur que de l'étranger, en s'assujettissant aux obligations et en payant les droits et patentes imposés par les lois du pays.

Dans tous leurs achats, ventes, transactions et contrats, ils seront parfaitement libres d'établir toutes les conditions permises par la loi, et de fixer le prix des effets, marchandises ou autres objets naturels ou manufacturés, tant ceux importés de l'étranger que ceux produits par le pays de leur résidence, soit qu'ils les vendent à l'intérieur, soit qu'ils les destinent à l'exportation, sauf à se conformer exactcment aux lois et règlements du pays.

Ils jouiront de la même liberté pour faire leurs affaires eux-mêmes, présenter en douane leurs propres déclarations ou se faire suppléer par qui bon leur semblera, fondés de pouvoirs, facteurs, agents, consignataires ou interprètes, soit dans l'achat ou la vente de leurs biens, effets ou marchandises et autres transactions ou contrats, soit dans le chargement, le déchargement ou l'expédition de leurs navires, sauf toujours à se conformer aux lois et règlements en vigueur dans le pays. Ils auront également le droit de remplir les mêmes fonc