Doc. No. 75. 



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lempted from blockade, detention , or capture by either of the beUigerents ; 

 and this provision shall extend to such a distance from the two ends of 

 the said canal as may hereafter be found expedient to establish. 



Art. 3. In order to secure the construction of the said canal, the con- 

 tracting parties engage that if any such canal shall be undertaken upon 

 fair and equitable terms by any parties having the authority of the local 

 goverrmient or govern meijts through whose territory the same may pass, 

 then the persons employed in making the said canal, and their property 

 used, or to be used, for that object, shall be protected from the commence- 

 ment of the said canal to its completion by the governments of the United 

 States and Great Britain, from unjust detention^ confiscation, seizure, or 

 any violence whatsoever. 



Akt. 4. The contracting parties will use whatever influence they re- 

 spectively exercise with any State, States, or governments, possessing 

 or claiming to possess any jurisdiction or right over the territory which 

 the said canal shall traverse, or which shall be near the waters applicable 

 thereto, in order to induce such States or governments to facilitate the 

 construction of the said canal by every means in their power. And 

 furthermore, the United States and Great Britain agree to use their good 

 offices, wherever or however it may be most expedient, in order to pro- 

 cure the establishment of two free ports, one at each end of said canal. 



Art. 5. The contracting parties further engage that, when the said 

 canal shall have been completed, they will protect it from interruption, 

 seizure or unjust confiscation, and that they will guaranty the neutrality 

 thereof, so that the said canal may forever be open and free, and the capi- 

 tal invested therein secure. Nevertheless, the governments of the United 

 States and Great Britain, in according their protection to the construction 

 of the said canal, and guarantying its neutrality and security when com- 

 pleted, always understand that this protection and guarantee are granted 

 conditionally, and may be withdrawn by both governments or either 

 government, if both governments or either government should deem that 

 the persons or company undertaking or managing th« same adopter estab- 

 lish such regulations concerning the traffic thereupon as are contrary to the 

 spirit and intention of this convention, either by making unfair discrimi- 

 nations in favor of the commerce of one of the contracting parties, or with 

 the commerce of the other, or by imposing oppressive exactions or un- 

 reasonable tolls upon passengers, vessels, goods, wares, merchandise, or 

 other articles. Neither party, however, shall withdraw the aforesaid pro- 

 tection and guarantee without first giving six months' notice to the othe?. 



Art. 6. The contracting parties in this convention engage to invite 

 every State, with which both or either have friendly intercourse, to enter 

 into stipulations with them, similar to those which they have entered into 

 witli each other, to the end that all other States may share in the honor 

 and advantage of having contributed to a work of such general interest 

 and importance as the canal herein contemplated. And the contracting 

 parties likewise agree that each shall enter into treaty stipulations witli 

 such of the Central American States as they may deem advisable^ fer the 

 purpose of more effectually carrying out the great design of this conven- 

 tion, namely, that of constructing and maintaining the said canal as a 

 ship communication between the two oceans for the benefit of mankind, 

 on equal terms to all, and of protecting the same ; and they also agree 

 that the good offices of either shall be employed, when requested by the 

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