Doc. No. 7.5. 



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duties or charges of any kind whatsoever, as, for example, anchorage, 

 tonnage J &c. 



Art. 21. The State hereby stipulates that all vessels and steamers of 

 the company, and also all goods, merchandise, manufactured articles, or 

 any other property which may be conveyed therein, passing through the 

 said canal from one sea to the other in either direction to any foreign coun- 

 try, shall be free and exempt from all kinds of government duties or taxes 

 whatsoever, and shall also be secure and protected from all interruption 

 or detention in their course on the part of the State. 



Art. 22. The com^pany shall furnish to the State annually a list of all 

 its vessels employed in the navigation of the route, containing the names 

 and description of each of such vessels, which shall be registered in the 

 archives of the State; and thereupon the Slate shall give to the company 

 a separate certificate of the register of each one of said vessels, signed by 

 the proper officer of the government, which certificate shall serve always 

 as a passport for said vessels through all the harbors of the State, upon 

 presenting the same to the custom-house or harbor officer. 



Art. 23. The exclusive right whicli the company has acquired by this 

 contract of navigating the said lakes, rivers, and waters of the said State 

 by means of steam-vessels from one sea to the other, is understood as not 

 to exclude the natives of the country from free interior navigation by 

 means of sailing or any other vessels, excepting steam-vessels. 



Art. 24. The company binds itself to transport by the said canal, on 

 board of any of its vessels, all the principal officers of the government and 

 its subalterns, in case of government necessity, from one point of the said 

 route to any other one at which said vessels may stop, witiiout any charge 

 to the State therefor. 



- Art. 25. The company is to convey by any of its steamers or vessels, 

 free of cost or charge, over the route of the said canal, all the official cor- 

 respondence of the State; in consideration of which, the said State agrees 

 not to collect or recover any postage or duties of any kind upon any of the 

 correspondence of the said company. 



Art. 26. The company binds itself to construct at its own expense 

 bridges upon that part of the canal that may be made between the lakes 

 and the Pacific, upon such principal highways as may be agreed upon 

 between the State and tho company. The said State, with the consent 

 of the company, shall establish rates of toll or charges upon such persons 

 or things as may pass over said bridges, the profits from which shall be 

 appropriated to redeem the capital invested in their construction, and the 

 interest thereon at the rate of seven per cent, per annum; and when such 

 capital and interest shall have been reimbursed to the company, then the 

 profits shall be divided equally between the State and the company for 

 the remaining period of this contract; but such bridges shall continue 

 under the control and management of said company. 



Art. 27. The State of Nicaragua, with the object of facilitating the 

 colonization of the lands contiguous to the river St. John's and the ad- 

 jacent rivers, and of the canal which in or along it may be constructed,, 

 makes a free donation to the company of eight stations or sections of land, 

 to be located at such points upon either one or both of the banks of the 

 said river or canal as the company may elect; each one of which sections 

 shall be of six English miles in length, fronting upon the river or canal, 

 and six miles in width, measured from the bank of th^ canal or riv^r to- 

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