forward other claims arising out of the case of the Talisman, should they think fit to do so hereafter. Señor Galvez. I have, &c., DERBY. NOTE of the United States' Government, denouncing the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Belgium of July 17, 1858.* -Brussels, July 1, 1874. SIR, Mr. Jones to Count d'Aspremont-Lynden. Legation of the United States, Brussels, July 1, 1874. UNDER instructions from the Government of the United States, I have the honour to transmit to your Excellency a certified copy of a joint Resolution of the Congress of the United States, approved by the President on the 17th of June, 1874, in regard to the termination of the Treaty concluded between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Belgians on the 17th of July, 1858. I have the honour to further inform your Excellency that I am directed to notify His Majesty's Government that as it is considered to be no longer for the interest of the United States to continue the said Treaty in force, it will terminate and be of no further effect, as provided by the terms of the instrument, at the expiration of 12 months from the date of the reception by your Excellency of this I pray, &c., note. Count d'Aspremont-Lynden. J. R. JONES. Count d'Aspremont-Lynden to Mr. Jones. (Translation.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SIR, Brussels, July 7, 1874. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the letter which you were pleased to address to me, under date of the 1st instant, to give me notice of the resolution which the Government of the United States has thought fit to take to annul the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of July 17, 1858. You are of opinion, Sir, that the term of 12 months which is to follow the notification will begin from the day of the reception by my Department of the communication of July 1. The letter referred to reached me on the same day upon which it was sent. * Vol. XLVIII. Page 592. The Government of the King concurs with you, Sir, that the Treaty above mentioned will cease to have effect on July 1, 1875. I take, &c., Russell Jones, Esq. COUNT D'ASPREMONT-LYNDEN. MEXICAN DECREE, amending the Constitution of the (Translation.) SEBASTIAN LERDO DE TEJADA, Constitutional President of the United States of Mexico, to all the inhabitants thereof: Know ye that the Congress of the Union has decreed the following: The Congress of the United States of Mexico, in the exercise of the faculty conferred upon it by the 127th Article of the Constitution promulgated on the 12th of February, 1857, and with the previous approval of a majority of the Legislatures of the Republic, declares The following are additions and amendments to the said Constitution: : ART. 1. The State and the Church are mutually independent. Congress cannot pass laws establishing or prohibiting any religion. 2. Marriage is a civil contract. This and the other acts of the civil life of individuals are under the exclusive supervision of the civil officials and authorities, in the manner provided by the laws, and will have the force and validity which said laws confer upon them. 3. No religious institution can acquire real estate or capital, secured by mortgage thereupon, with the single exception provided in the 27th Article of the Constitution. 4. The simple promise to speak the truth and comply with the obligations which are undertaken shall take the place of the religious oath, with its effects and penalties. 5. No one can be compelled to give personal service without just compensation and without his full consent. The State cannot permit any contract, compact, or agreement to be executed which may have for its object the diminution, loss, or irrevocable sacrifice of personal liberty, whether by reason of labour, education, or religious vow. The law, therefore, does not recognize monastic orders, nor can it permit their establishment, under whatever name or object they may claim it to be formed. Neither can it allow any For Provisional Constitution of May 15, 1856, see Vol. XLVII. Page 1067. compact by which an individual agrees to his own proscription or banishment. Hall of the Congress of the Union, Mexico, September 25, 1873. (Signed by all the Deputies of the Congress.) Therefore I order the above to be printed, published, circulated, and duly obeyed. Given in the National Palace of Mexico, September 25, 1873. SEBASTIAN LERDO DE TEJADA. CORRESPONDENCE between Great Britain, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, respecting the proposed meeting of a Conference at Constantinople for the Solution of Questions arising out of events in Turkey. (Independence and Territorial Integrity of the Ottoman Empire; Servia; Montenegro; Bulgaria; Bosnia; Herzegovina; and Reforms.) -October, November, 1876.* MY LORD, No. 512.-The Earl of Derby to Lord A. Loftus. Foreign Office, October 5, 1876. I HAD some conversation with the Russian Ambassador this afternoon as to the fresh steps that are now being taken to procure an armistice between Turkey and Servia. Understanding from what had fallen from his Excellency in previous conversations that the Russian Government would still view with favour the plan of a Conference to consider the means of arranging a permanent settlement, I told him that Her Majesty's Government would propose, in the event of the armistice being concluded, that a Conference should immediately follow; and that Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople was authorized to make this known to the Porte. Count Schouvaloff appeared to think that this course would meet with the approval of his Government. Lord A. Loftus. I am, &c., No. 513.-The Earl of Derby to Lord A. Loftus. DERBY. MY LORD, Foreign Office, October 5, 1876. WITH reference to my despatch of the 4th instant, I have to request your Excellency to state to the Russian Government that Her Majesty's Government consider that the armistice should be immediately followed by a Conference, and that instructions in this Laid before Parliament with other Correspondence respecting the Allains of Turkey in 1877. sense have been sent to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, for communication to the Porte. &c., Lord A. Loftus. I am, DERBY. No. 518.-The Earl of Derby to Lord Odo Russell. MY LORD, Foreign Office, October 5, 1876. I INCLOSE Copy of a despatch which I have addressed to Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburgh, stating that the Emperor of Russia had proposed to the Guaranteeing Powers that they should impose upon the Porte an armistice or truce of six weeks, and that Her Majesty's Government have replied, through Count Schouvaloff, that they will support at Constantinople the proposal for the conclusion of an armistice for not less than one month, as the next step to be taken in the event of the definitive rejection by the Porte of the terms of peace which have been proposed by Her Majesty's Government and supported by the other Powers; but that they cannot concur in the previous suggestion of Prince Gortchakow as to the occupation of Bulgaria and Bosnia, and the entry of two fleets into the Bosphorus. I have to instruct your Excellency to communicate the substance of this despatch to the German Government, and to state that Sir Henry Elliot has been directed to intimate to the Porte that if the terms of peace shall be rejected, and the armistice accepted, it is the opinion of Her Majesty's Government that a Conference should immediately assemble. Lord Odo Russell. I am, &c., DERBY. No. 528.-Sir A. Buchanan to the Earl of Derby.-(Received (Telegraphic.) October 6, 7.45 P.M.) Vienna, October 6, 1876, 5.26 P.M. I HAVE acquainted Count Andrássy with the substance of your Lordship's telegram of yesterday to Lord A. Loftus, and with your having instructed Sir H. Elliot to inform the Porte that it is intended that the armistice asked for shall be followed by a Conference. His Excellency said he cannot assent to take part in a Conference until he knows how it is to be composed and the objects which it is proposed to obtain from it, and in the present state of things he can only anticipate its leading to abortive or dangerous results. Is Turkey, he asked, to be represented in the Conference, and if she is not, is it probable that she will agree to carry out its decisions ? If, therefore, it is intended to propose an ultimatum to be submitted to the Porte, the Governments must be prepared to use force Similar despatches were addressed to Sir A. Buchanan, Lord Lyons, and Mr. Malet. to impose it, and in the present temper of the Turkish Government and the excitement of the Russian nation he fears whatever decision may be taken will inevitably lead to war. On the general question he expressed strong opinions against the expediency of asking for concessions which the Porte cannot grant, instead of being satisfied with moderate measures which could be easily carried out. It is clear, he said, that every step in advance beyond what is absolutely necessary, on the part of one of the Powers, will be followed by a further one on the part of another Power, as England's adding new administrative institutions for Bulgaria to her demands on the Porte was immediately followed by Russia proposing to occupy Bulgaria. No. 536.-Lord Lyons to the Earl of Derby.—(Received October 8.) THE Duc Decazes came back to Paris this evening, and I went to him immediately, and, in execution of your Lordship's instructions, communicated to him the answer which has been made by Her Majesty's Government to the Russian proposal that an armistice or truce of six weeks shall be imposed on both Turks and Servians. I said that Her Majesty's Government had determined to give their support to the proposal of an armistice of not less than a month, as the next step to be taken in the event of the rejection by Turkey of the terms proposed as a basis of peace. I proceeded to tell the Duc Decazes that Her Majesty's Government considered that the armistice should be followed immediately by a Conference; and that you had instructed Sir Henry Elliot to intimate this to the Porte. I added that your Lordship had informed the Russian Ambassador in London that Her Majesty's Government were unable to concur in the proposals made by Prince Gortchakow with regard to the occupation of Turkish territory, and the entrance of the united fleets into the Bosphorus. The Duc Decazes authorized me to state to your Lordship that he would immediately send instructions to the French Ambassador. at Constantinople to support energetically the demand for an armistice. I observed to the Duke that your Lordship had also directed Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General at Belgrade to join his colleagues in pressing the Servian Government in the strongest manner to accede to an armistice; and I suggested that it would be desirable to send similar instructions to the French Agent at Belgrade. The Duke readily agreed to send such instructions at once. |