The Senate and Chamber of Representatives of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay, united in General Assembly, have resolved on the following
The Senate and Chamber of Representatives of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay, united in General Assembly, have resolved on the following
Art. 1.—It is granted to Mr. John Halton Buggeln to hold the exclusive privilege of navigating with ships propelled by steam or other mechanical power, in the ports and on the rivers of the Republic, during the period of twelve years from the time of the arrival of those ships at the port of Monte Video, under the conditions and restrictions to be expressed in the following articles; reckoning the arrival of the first steam-vessel at twenty months after the sanction of this project, save in case of unforeseen impediment, and the contractor obliging himself to prove his inculpableness by publishing the privilege in England and soliciting the advance of the requisite capital; if in thirty months from the date mentioned in the sanction of theproject, he shall not have verified that justification before the Executive, Mr. Halton Buggeln shall incur the penalty of a fine of 10,000 dollars to the public treasury, the same to be guaranteed by his person and goods.
Art. 2.—Vessels of the said description of less than fifty tons burthen, are not comprehended in the exclusion of this privilege.
Art. 3.—The undertaking shall be commenced by two vessels of three hundred or more tons, and one hundred horse power. The latest discoveries that shall have been made both for the acceleration of speed and for the prevention of accidents of explosion or others, are to be applied to their construction and machinery.
Art. 4.—The vessels of this undertaking shall convey, free of all charge, the mails of the Republic to and from all the ports of their transit; the captains or masters being responsible for their safety, unless the Government shall appoint a person for this object.
Art. 5.—Each vessel shall maintain on board two young Oriental citizens as apprentices to instruct them as engineers and pilots.
Art. 6.—The vessels of this undertaking shall navigate free of all tonnage dues, under the British flag, having liberty to deposit on shore or on board of hulks, such coals, machinery or other matters intended for use and consumption on board, not including provisions, the Executive to determine the measures necessary to prevent the abuse of this liberty, and it being understood that the said deposits shall not be entitled to any other guarantee than such as belong to foreign property on shore.
Art. 7—Whatever may be the state of the relations of this Republic with Great Britain, this undertaking, its funds and property, and the men employed in it, shall never under any pretext be an object of sequestration, indemnification, nor guarantee of any kind of reclamations or reprisals, which may occur between the two nations, but rather during the whole term of the contract until its dissolution, it shall be under the protection of the laws as if such misunderstandings did not exist; but the navigation may be temporally suspended and with it the term of the privilege, if the defence of the Republic or other similar interests should so require.
Art. 8.—If there should be national contractors or shareholders the undertaking shall admit them to the number of one third of the shares.
Act. 9—This privilege shall become of no effect by the voluntary interruption of its exercise, by the contractor, during a period of six months continuously.
Art. 10.—Let it be communicated, &c.
And in making this known to the Executive Power, theundersigned President takes the opportunity of saluting the Executive with his most distinguished consideration.
Dr. PEDRO PABLO VIDAL,Juan Manuel de la Sota,Secretary.
Monte Video, February 7th, 1844.
To H. E. the Vice-President of the Republic, Don Joaquin Suarez.
Monte Video, February 8th, 1844.
Be it fulfilled, the receipt thereof acknowledged, let be communicated to whom it may concern, published and inserted in the National Register.
SUAREZ.Santiago Vazquez.
1. Footnotes have been moved from the middle of the text to just before appendix.
2. Other than the corrections listed below, printer's inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and ligature usage have been retained:
"the the" corrected to "the" (page 6)"it" corrected to "its" (page 13)"on" corrected to "of" (page 28)"notwithsanding" corrected to "notwithstanding" (page 32)