178 



Doc. No. 75. 



wards the interior. And the State further grants to the company the right 

 of alienating the lands Avhich compose said sections to settlers, or any 

 other person or persons who may wish to locate themselves upon the 

 same. Said sections of land are granted upon the following conditions: 



1st. They shall be located by the company in such a manner that they 

 shall be at least three English miles distant from each other, 



2d. That no one of them shall be located withm the distance of four 

 and a half Enghsh miles from the mouth of the St. John's river. 



3d. The State reserves to itself the right to such points as shall be ne- 

 cessary for its military fortifications and public buildings. 



4th. That the lands granted shall not be alienated to settlers until six 

 months after the commencement of the survey of the route of the said 

 canal. 



oih. The State reserves to itself the supreme dominion and sovereignty 

 over said lands and their inhabitants. 



6th. That said lands shall not be alienated by the company to anygoy- 

 ernment whatsoever. 



Art. 28. The colonies which the company may establish upon said 

 lands shall be colonies of Nicaragua, and thereupon the settlers shall be 

 subject to the laws of the State the same as the natives of the country^ 

 being, however, exempt for the term of ten years from all taxes and direct 

 contributions, and from all public service, as soon as each colony shall 

 contain at least fifty settlers. 



Art. 29. The State further agrees, that in case any event may hereafter 

 occur, as named in the preceding article 10, to suspend or prevent the 

 construction of the canal; or if the said contract shall become forfeited or 

 annulled by either or both of the parties; and also in case the said contract 

 shall continue in force for the full period of eighty-five years, mentioned 

 in the preceding article 4, the said State shall always acknowledge as pri- 

 vate property the lands which may have been alienated or ceded by the 

 company to settlers or other persons, in virtue of the legal title which the 

 company has acquired by this contract to the said lands. 



Art. 30. The company shall have the exclusive right to construct rail 

 or carriage roads and bridges, and to establish steamboats and steam ves- 

 sels on the said rivers and lakes, as necessary accessories to, and in fur- 

 therance of the execution of the canal; but the company hereby stipulates 

 and agrees, in case that the construction and completion of the said canal^ 

 or any part of it, becomes impossible by any unforeseen event or insur- 

 mountable obstacle of nature, to construct a railroad or rail and carriage 

 road and water communication between the two oceans, provided the 

 same may be practicable, within the same period as is stipulated for the 

 building of the said canal, and subject to the same terms, conditions, reg- 

 ulations, and restrictions as far as they can be made applicable to the 

 same. 



Art. 31. The State hereby binds itself not to sell or dispose of any of 

 its public lands located upon or near the river St. John's, or upon or near 

 any of the routes or points designated in article first of this contract, until 

 after the surveys shall have been made and the route determined of the 

 said canal. 



Art. 32. The State also binds itself to protect and defend the com- 

 pany in the full enjoyment of the rights and privileges granted in this 

 ^contract, and also binds itself not to contract with^ or cede to any govern- 



