Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/332

 GREAT BRITAIN, 1850. 325 by canal or railway, which are now proposed to be established by the way ot Tehuantepec or Panama. In granting, however, their joint protection to any such canals or railways as are by this article specified, it IS always understood by the United States and Great Britain that the parties constructing or owning the same hall impose no other charges or conditions of traiilc thereupon than the aforesaid Governments shall approve of as just and equitable; and that the same canals or railways, P ri vilegee to being open to the citizens and subjects of the United States and Great ¤m?•¤¤¤ ¤f ¤*>h¤¤ Britain on equal terms, shall also be open on like terms to the citizens ““°‘°“‘ and subjects of every other State which is willing to grant thereto such protection as the United States and Great Britain engage to afford. Ancrronn IX. The ratifications of this convention shall be exchanged at Washing- Ratiiications. ton within six months from this day, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this Sig¤¤·¢¤r¤¤· convention, and have hereunto atlixed our seals. Done at Washiiigton the nineteenth day of April, anno Domini one new thousand eight hundred and fifty. JOHN M. CLAYTON. L. s. HENRY LYTTON BULWER. [L. si GREAT BRITAIN, 1850. PROTOCOL OF A CONFERENCE  ATOTHE FOREIGN OFFICE, DECEM- D,,c_9, 1g5g_ , UD. —— — ——————- Abbott Lawrence, Esquire, the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister P,,,t,,c,,1_ Pleuipotentiary of the United States of America at the court of Her Britannic Majesty, and Viscount Palmerston, Her Britannic Ma,jesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Aiiairs, having met together at the foreign office: Mr. Lawrence stated that he was instructed by his Government to ge,,,,,,,,,,,; H0", call the attention of the British Government to the dangers to which shoe Reef to the `the important commerce of the great Lakes of the interior of America, U”*'*°d S*°*·°°· and more particularly that concentrating at the town of Buffalo, near the entrance of the Niagara River from Lake Erie, and that passing through the Welland Canal, i exposed from the want of a light-house near the outlet of Lake Erie. Mr. Lawrence stated that the current of the Niagara River is at that spot very strong, and increases in rapidity as the river approaches the falls ; and as that part of the river is necessarily used for the purpose of a harbor, the Congress of the United States, in order to guard against the danger arising from the rapidity of the current, and from other local causes, made an appropriation for the construction of a light-house at the outlet of the lake, but, on a local survey being made, it was found that the most eligible site for the erection of the lighthouse was a reef known by the name the “Horseshoe Reef," which is within the dominions of Her Britannic Majesty; and Mr. Lawrence was therefore instructed by the Government of the United States to ask whether the Government of Her Britannic Majesty will cede to the United States the Horseshoe Reef, or such part thereof as may be necessary for the purpose of erecting a light-house, and, if not, whether the British Government will itself erect and maintain a lighthouse on the said reef. Viscount Palmerston stated to Mr. Lawrence in reply that Her Majesty’s Government concurs in opinion with the Government of the United States, that the proposed light-house would .be of great advantage to all vessels navigating the Lakes; and that Her Majesty’s Government is prepared to advise Her Majesty to cede to the United States