(Inclosure 1.)-Law fixing the Bases for the Reduction of the Tariff. Mexico, le 15 Novembre, 1861.

LE citoyen, Benito Juarez, Président Constitutionnel des EtatsUnis Mexicains, à leurs habitans faisons savoir :

Que le Secrétariat du Souverain Congrès de l'Union m'a adressé le Décret suivant :

Le Congrés de l'Union a cru devoir décréter ce qui suit :

ART. I. Le Gouvernement est autorisé à dresser un nouveau tarif des Douanes maritimes et frontières en opérant, dans celui qui est en vigueur, toutes les réformes que l'expérience a démontré être indispensables pour concilier les intérêts du trésor, du commerce, de l'agriculture, et de l'industrie.

II. En agissant ainsi, il se soumettra aux bases suivantes : 1. Il dictera toutes les mesures indispensables afin que le travail ne fasse pas défaut aux agriculteurs, aux industriels, et aux artisans. 2. Il pourra réduire jusqu'à un 40 pour cent les droits d'importation que paient actuellement les articles étrangers, conformément au tarif en vigueur.

3. Il établira les droits additionnels suivants :

Le municipal, tel qu'il est aujourd'hui ;

Celui de "mejoras materiales," 30 pour cent sur les droits d'importation;

Celui d'internation, 15 pour cent sur les mêmes droits;

Celui de "contra-registro," 30 pour cent sur les mêmes droits; Celui de 2 pour cent pour le Ministère de Fomento.

III. Le tarif que dressera le Gouvernement, suivant les règles établies dans l'Article qui précède, ne pourra être modifié, en tout ou en partie, tant que le Congrès ne dictera pas de nouvelles bases, en vertu de ses facultés constitutionnelles.

Donné dans le Salon des Séances du Congrès de l'Union, à Mexico, le 15 Novembre, 1861.

MANUEL DUBLAN, Député Président.
JUAN N. GUZMAN, Député Secrétaire.
M. M. OVANDO, Député Secrétaire.

Palais du Gouvernement Fédéral à Mexico,

Le 18 Novembre, 1861.

Pourquoi j'ordonne que le présent soit imprimé, publié, mis en

circulation et dûment exécuté.

José Gonzalez Echeverria.

BENITO JUAREZ.

(Inclosure 2.)—Schedule showing the amount of Duties that would be paid under the reduced Tariff voted by Congress, by a cargo of merchandize which now pays 100,000 dollars import duties.

(Inclosure 3.)-Convention between Her Britannic Majesty and the Republic of Mexico for the Settlement of various Questions now pending between the two Governments.*—Signed at Mexico, November 21, 1861.

DESIROUS of putting an end to the present suspension of diplomatic relations between the British Legation and the Government of Mexico by an arrangement removing the cause of such suspension, and at the same time settling certain other questions in which the Government of Her Majesty and that of the Republic are mutually interested, they have resolved to conclude a Treaty for that purpose, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to

say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Sir Charles Lennox Wyke, Knight Commander of the * Rejected by Mexican Congress.

Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Mexico;

And his Excellency the President of the Republic of Mexico, Señor Don Manuel Maria de Zamacona, Minister for Foreign Affairs, &c.;

Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

ART. I. The sum still remaining due to British subjects of the moneys abstracted from the conducta at the Laguna Seca, as well as the 660,000 dollars forcibly taken from the British Legation in the month of November last, shall be repaid to the lawful owners thereof by an assignment made for that purpose by the Mexican Government corresponding to 10 per cent. of the import duties, to be taken from that portion of the additional duties commonly known under the denomination of " mejoras materiales."

II. The rate of interest due from the time when the money was taken to be paid on both these sums from the same fund shall be as follows: namely, 6 per cent. per annum on the 660,000 dollars, and 12 per cent. per annum on the remainder of the money due to British subjects from the moneys abstracted from the conducta at the Laguna Seca.

III. All Treaties, Conventions, and agreements heretofore concluded between the two High Contracting Parties shall remain binding in their totality on both parties in all affecting British and Mexican interests; and the Supreme Decrees of the 14th of October, 1850,* and the 23rd of January, 1857,† do likewise remain in full force and vigour in all that concerns the London bondholders.

IV. Such sums of money owing to the London bondholders and Convention bondholders as were in the hands of the Custom-House authorities at the time all payments were suspended by the law of the 17th of July last,‡ shall be paid to the owners thereof, together with 6 per cent. interest thereon, out of the same fund that is set apart for the Legation and Laguna Seca claims, when those shall have been liquidated.

V. Nothing contained in this Convention shall in any way interfere with the stipulations of other agreements or Conventions by which the goods imported in French vessels are exempt from contributing to British assignments until the French Convention shall have been wholly paid off, as well as the arrears due on other claims, as arranged with Admiral Penaud, have also been liquidated, when the quota belonging to the British Convention bondholders shall be augmented, as agreed on, by two per cent. additional.

VI. The Brnish Consular Agents and agents of bondholders at + Vol. L. Page 1124. + Page 294.

Vol. L. Page 1123.

the different ports of the Republic shall be entitled to exact the production of all Custom-House books and papers as may have reference to their clients' interests, and to call for ships' manifests, bills of lading, and all other documents which for the above-named purpose they may consider it necessary to examine.

Every month a statement of the duties incurred, and of the liquidation of the assignments due to the London bondholders and the Convention bondholders at each of the Custom-Houses, shall be delivered to the British Consul resident at the port, and in those places where there is no British Consul, such statements shall be given to the agents of the respective funds, provided there be any such on the spot.

VII. In order to ensure with every certainty the fulfilment of the conditions contained in the preceding Articles, the assignments made over to the British creditors shall henceforth be represented by certificates to be issued by the Ministry of Finance, according to the regulations which shall be framed by said Ministry, and no importer will be permitted in future to pay the duties on his cargo without at the same time paying said assignments, which shall not be paid in cash or in any other form except in the said certificates, under the penalty of a second payment of double the amount, one half in certificates, and the other in cash, which latter half shall be given to the informer of the fraud.

The Minister of Finance shall deliver a sufficient quantity of said certificates to the representatives of both classes of bondholders in Mexico, who shall be required to keep enough of them on hand, both in this city and the ports, to enable the importers to obtain them with the facility required.

For greater security these certificates must be signed by the representatives of the aforesaid bondholders, as well as by the aforesaid agents, and after liquidation they shall be remitted by the collectors of the maritime and frontier Custom-Houses directly to the Minister of Finance, for the purpose of enabling the Government to take due note thereof in forming the account current of the respective debts.

VIII. The assignment of 10 per cent. of the duties alluded to in Article I for the purposes above specified shall commence from the date of the signature of this Convention; and the assignments belonging to the London bondholders and to the Convention bondholders, secured to them by Article III, shall begin from the first day of January, 1862.

IX. It is understood that the Mexican Government shall be free from the responsibility of a debtor to a creditor in so far as concerns any such sums as shall have been paid by them at the end of each month to the agents of the respective bondholders, when

a liquidation of the sums so paid and received is duly made out and signed by the authorities of the Custom-Houses and the agents at the ports.

X. In settling with the other foreign creditors of the Republic the difficulties to which the law of the 17th of July last has given rise, no advantage shall be accorded to them, with regard to the time at which the payment of the assignments shall be renewed, nor as regards the control that they may have in the CustomHouses, which shall not by the same act be conceded to the British creditors.

XI. The present Convention shall be ratified by Her Britannic Majesty and by the Congress of the Mexican Republic, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London as soon as possible within the space of 6 months.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their respective seals. Done at Mexico this 21st day of November, in the year Lord, 1861.

SIR,

(L.S.) C. LENNOX WYKE.

of our

(L.S.) MANUEL MA. DE ZAMACONA.

(Inclosure 4.)-Sir C. Wyke to Señor Zamacona.

Mexico, November 20, 1861. THE result of the various conferences I have had with your Excellency appears to be that no real difficulty now exists to prevent our coming to a perfect understanding on the subject which gave rise to those conferences, in a manner alike satisfactory to the Governments we have the honour respectively to represent.

In order to attain so desirable an end, and to remove the evils caused by the law of the 17th of July last, as well also as to prevent any future disagreement arising from the consequences thereof, it becomes necessary now to put in writing what we have already verbally agreed on, and to settle by a formal instrument the due execution of the following conditions:

1. Delivery by your Government of the money robbed from the British Legation in the month of November last, amounting to the sum of 660,000 dollars, as well also of what was abstracted from the Laguna Seca conducta, which originally amounted to 400,000 dollars, but part of which has since been restored to its rightful

owners.

2. That all arrears due to the bondholders arising from the suspension of payments of Custom-House duties formally consigned to them by the Dunlop and Aldham compacts, as well as the British Convention, shall be refunded, of course including the payments already deposited in the hands of the Custom-House au