Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/243

 by Articles 11, 13, and 14 of the Treaty of Paris, and by the annexed Convention between the Emperor of Russia and the Sultan, after being repudiated by Russia in 1870, was rescinded by Article 1 of the Treaty of London, which expressly abrogates Articles 11, 13, and 14 of the Treaty of Paris, together with the annexed Convention, and by a special Convention between the Emperor of Russia and the Sultan, of even date with the Treaty of London, and afterwards communicated to the representatives of the other Powers.

VI. .—In order to understand the principles applicable to the navigation of this river it is necessary to go back to the events of 1814-15. In the former of those years the Treaty of Paris proclaimed that :—

Art. 5. The navigation of the Rhine, from the point at which it becomes navigable down to the sea, and vice versa, shall be free, so as not to be prohibited to any one, and the coming Congress shall occupy itself with the principles in accordance with which the duties to be levied by the riverain states may be regulated in the manner the most equal and most favourable to the commerce of all nations. The coming Congress shall also consider and determine in what mode, in order to facilitate communications between the peoples, and to render them ever less strangers one to another, the preceding provision can be extended equally to all the other rivers which in their navigable course separate or traverse several states.

The Congress of Vienna accordingly, in its Final Act, devotes to this subject the following articles :—

Art. 108. The Powers whose States are separated or traversed by the same navigable river, engage to regulate, by common consent, all that regards its navigation. For this purpose they will name Commissioners, who shall assemble, at latest, within six months after the termination of the Congress, and who shall adopt, as the bases of their proceedings, the principles established by the following articles:—

Art. 109. The navigation of the rivers, referred to in the preceding article, along their whole course, from the point where each of them becomes navigable to its mouth, shall