COLOMBIA. 



107 



portations from the beginning of the work, and the 

 custom-houses and guards which the Government 

 may judge convenient for the collection of duties on 

 merchandise destined for other portions of the re- 

 public shall be established, to prevent the practice 

 of smuggling. . . . 



ART. XL The passengers, money, precious met- 

 als, merchandise, and articles and effects of all class- 

 es transported by the canal, shall also be exempt 

 from all duties. The same exemption is extended 

 to all articles and merchandise, for interior or exte- 

 rior trade, stored according to the conditions stipu- 

 lated with the company, in their storehouses and 

 stations. 



ART. XII. The ships which wish to pass through 

 the canal shall present in the port of the terminus 

 at which they arrive their respective registers and 

 other sailing documents, prescribed by the law and 

 public treaties, in order that the vessel may navi- 

 gate without hindrance. The vessels which have 

 not said papers, or which shall refuse to present 

 them, may be detained, and proceeded against ac- 

 cording to law. . . . 



ART. XIV. As an indemnity to the grantees for 

 the cost of construction, maintenance, and opera- 

 tion, which are at their expense, they shall have 

 during all the period of this privilege the exclusive 

 right to establish, and to receive for the passage of 

 the canal and the ports dependent upon it, imposts 

 for lighthouses, anchorage, transit, navigation, re- 

 pairs, pilotage, towing, hauling, and storage under 

 the tariff which they shall establish, and which may 

 be modified at any time under the following condi- 

 tions : 



1. These imposts shall be levied without excep- 

 tion or favor upon all ships, in identical conditions. 



2. The tariff shall be published four months be- 

 fore it is put into effect, in the " Diario Official" of 

 the Government, as well as in the capitals and prin- 

 cipal commercial ports of the countries interested. 



3. The principal tolls which shall be collected on 

 vessels shall not exceed the rate of ten francs for 

 each cubic metre resulting from the multiplication 

 of the principal dimension of the submerged portion 

 of the ship in transit (length, breadth, and depth). . . . 



6. Special tolls for navigation shall be reduced in 

 proportion to the excess, when the net profits de- 

 rived from it shall exceed twelve per cent, upon the 

 capital employed in the enterprise. 



ART. XV. As a compensation for the rights and 

 exemptions which are conferred upon the granteea 

 by this contract, the Government of the Republic 

 shall enjoy a participation equal to five per cent, of 

 the gross product which shall accrue to the enter- 

 prise, according to the tariff \rhich shall be fixed 

 upon by the company. 



ART. XVI. The grantees are authorized to require 

 payment in advance of any charges which they may 

 establish. Nine tenths of these charges shall be made 

 payable in gold, and only the remaining tenth part 

 shall be payable in silver of twenty-five grammes of 

 a fineness of 900. 



ART. XVII. The ships infringing the rules estab- 

 lished by the company shall be subject to a fine 

 which said company shall embody in its statutes, 

 and of which it shall give notice to the public simul- 

 taneously with its t triff. If they refuse to pay said 

 fine, or furnish sufficient security, they may be de- 

 tained, and proceeded against according to law. The 

 same proceedings may be observed for the damages 

 they may have occasioned. 



ART. XVIII. If the opening of a canal shall be 

 deemed financially possible, the grantees are author- 

 ized to form, under the immediate protection of the 

 Colombian Government, and in the time agreed upon, 

 a universal joint-stock company, which shall under- 

 take the execution of the work, taking charge of all 

 financial arrangements which may be needed. As 

 this enterprise is essentially international and eco- 

 nomic, it is understood that it shall always be kept 



free from political influences. The company shall 

 take the name of u The Universal Interoceanic Canal 

 Company " ; its residence shall be fixed in Bogota, 

 New York, London, or Paris, at the election of the 

 grantees ; branch offices may be established wherever 

 necessary ; its contracts, shares, bonds, and the titles 

 which belong to it, shall never be subjected by the 

 Government of Colombia to any charge for registry, 

 emission, stamps, nor any analogous charge, upon 

 the sale or transfer of these shares and bonds, or on 

 any profits accruing on the same. . . . 



ART. XXI. The grantees, or those who in the fu- 

 ture shall succeed them in their rights, may trans- 

 fer those rights to other capitalists or financial com- 

 Eanies ; but it is absolutely prohibited to cede or 

 ypothecate them, by any title, to any nation or for- 

 eign government. 



ART. XXII. The grantees, or those who may rep- 

 resent them, may forfeit their acquired rights under 

 the following circumstances : 



1. If they do not deposit, within the term stipu- 

 lated, the amount required as security for the exe- 

 cution of the work. 



2. If in the first of the twelve years allowed for 

 the construction of the canal the works are not be- 

 gun. In this case the company loses the sum de- 

 posited as a guarantee, the which will remain to the 

 credit of the republic. 



3. If at the termination of the period fixed by 

 paragraph 5 of Article 1. the canal is not navigable. 



4. If the prescriptions of Article XXI. are not 

 complied with. 



5. If the service of the canal shall be interrupted 

 for more than six months, except in an extreme case. 



In cases 2, 3, 4, and 5, the Federal Supreme Court 

 shall decide whether the privilege has been forfeited 

 or not. 



ART. XXV. The enterprise of the canal shall be 

 considered of public benefit. 



ART. XXVI. This contract, which will serve as 

 a substitute for the dispositions of Law 33 of May 

 26, 1876, and the clauses of the contract celebrated 

 on the 28th of May of the same year, shall be sub- 

 mitted to the approbation of the President of the 

 Union, and the definite acceptance of the Congress 

 of the nation. 



In witness whereof they sign the present in Bogo- 

 ta on the 20th of March, 1878.. 



EUSTORGIO SALGAK. 

 LUC1EN N. B. WYSE. 



BOGOTA, March 23, 1878. 



Approved : The President of the Union, 



AQUILEO PARR A. 



The Secretary of the Interior and of Foreign Af- 

 fairs, EUSTORGIO SALGAR. 



Toward the end of 1878 the political state 

 of the country was reported as exceedingly 

 satisfactory. The September elections in Cun- 

 dinamarca had resulted in a majority in the 

 Assembly in favor of the National Govern- 

 ment ; while those in Boyaca had returned but 

 two members for the opposition. The elec- 

 tions in Santander had been acknowledged by 

 the doctrinarios to be an additional triumph 

 for the new administration. 



A law was passed by the Colombian Con- 

 gress on July 5, 1878, authorizing the appro- 

 priation of $25,000 and $5,000 respectively to 

 be applied in behalf of the development of the 

 agricultural interests of the republic, in accord- 

 ance with sentiments expressed by President 

 Trujillo in his message of May last respecting 

 the establishment of gardens for the accli- 

 matization of the quina-tree in the cities of 

 Bogota and Popayan. 



