and hold, and may use, the shares aforesaid, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, her heirs and successors, on trust for public purposes.

2. All money received under the recited Agreement, or in respect of the shares aforesaid, shall be paid into the receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer, and be carried to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

3. The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall cause to be laid before both Houses of Parliament, within three months after the 31st day of March in every year, accounts, showing the sums received under the recited Agreement, or in respect of the shares aforesaid, and the charge within the year for principal of and interest on the money raised in respect of the purchase of the shares aforesaid, and the amount of the principal money still outstanding. 4. This Act may be cited as "The Suez Canal (Shares) Act, 1876."

CONVENTION between Persia and Turkey, relative to Consular Jurisdiction, Civil and Commercial Suits, TradeGuilds, Protection, Nationality, &c.-December 20, 1875. (Translation.) CONVENTION arranged and concluded on the 21st of the month of Zi-'l-Qa'da (A.H.) 1292 (20th December, 1875), between the exalted Persian Legation and the Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the condition of the continuance and observation of the execution of the stipulations of the Treaties concluded and existing between the two exalted Governments, Persian and Ottoman, as heretofore; and in like manner, with the condition of the continued observance of the stipulations of the Agreements that have been ratified and put in force.

ART. I. The subjects of the exalted Persian Government who are in the Ottoman dominions, in every matter relating to personal injuries, crimes, and misdemeanours, shall be individually subject to the Regulations and Laws of the Ottoman Empire, and directly to the police and tribunals of the said Empire.

But, since this clause must not in any manner invalidate the rights of protection of Persian officials with respect to their own subjects in the way set forth in Article IV, for this reason the investigations and punishments of acts in the nature of misdeeds that take place openly and publicly shall, as heretofore, be carried out directly by means of the police and tribunals of the Ottoman Empire; and in other than these kinds of public and witnessed offences, in order that the true circumstances of any one of the Persian subjects taken into custody and detained on an accusation

* See Turkish Vizirial Letter of January 4, 1876. Page 546.

of an act relating to personal injuries, crimes, and misdemeanours, may become known in all the preliminary investigations that take place in respect of him, whether in the abode of felicity (Constantinople), or whether in some exterior (provincial) place, the knowledge and cognizance of the Persian Agents or Vice-Agents, and their presence, will be permissible, until (or, in order that) the culpability or innocence of the (accused) person shall become apparent. And in all cases, in order to the sentencing of individuals whose crime, offence, or misdemeanour has been proved, the judicial sentence issued shall be communicated to the Persian officials in a certified copy thereof.

Suits and contestations relating to commerce and ordinary rights, as between Persian and Ottoman subjects, that may chance to arise, shall be tried and decided in the Ottoman Tribunals; and when the time comes on for these kinds of trials, it shall be permissible for an interpreter to be present on the part of the Persian Agents.

In respect of the execution of the tenours of the sentences relating to commerce or rights, by which Persian subjects may be condemned, recourse will be had to the intervention of the exalted (Persian) Legation and Agents. And if, as is conceivable, in the space of time necessary for the execution of the said sentences, nonperformance or inability of performance shall become patent and evident on the part of the exalted Legation or Agents, they shall be carried out directly by the Ottoman officials.

II. If the Persian subjects resident in the Ottoman dominions may wish, in like manner as Ottoman subjects, to enter into the character of any trade-guild, and to take up a craft and industry, they shall, just as they participate in all the regulations and laws executable in respect of the general community of the trade-guilds, therefore, so long as they shall carry on a trade, art, and industry, they shall be subject to the said regulations, customs, and laws, and by this means they will be unavoidably (liable) to the dues charged upon Ottoman tradesmen. In matters and dealings related to tradesmanship they will be individually subject to the Ottoman tribunals and officials.

III. The Agents and Vice-Agents of the exalted Persian Empire who are in the Ottoman dominions, and whose official capacity is recognized in conformity with the diplomas and commands of the Government, as also their interpreters, shall enjoy the privileges, favours, and exemptions enjoyed by the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the friendly Powers, and their interpreters.

IV. Considering that the Agents and Vice-Agents are commissioned to procure the means of safety, advantage, and protection of such subjects of the exalted Persian Government as travel to the

Ottoman dominions by land or by sea, or who reside therein, they will have to make verbal and written communications on these subjects to the Local Governments. And furthermore, whenever a complaint against the Ottoman officials and authorities shall be made on the part of Persian subjects, the Agents and Vice-Agents will proceed to make the necessary verbal or written communications. And the individuals, subjects of Persia, who will require to be sent to the Persian dominions, will be forwarded thither by the Agents and Vice-Agents. And, in case of need, they will have the right, when so sending them, to have recourse to the agency and assistance of the Local Governments; for the Local Governments, in conformity with their representations, shall put in execution the needful assistance.

In respect to the estates of deceased Persian subjects who may die in the Ottoman dominions, since it pertains to the Agents and Vice-Agents to take possession of such deceased estates and to effect the registration, &c., thereof, in case of any claim being set up against an estate by an Ottoman subject, it will be brought before the tribunals and councils charged with such business, in conformity with the regulations.

V. Persian subjects who have no official capacity, but who travel and go about in the Ottoman dominions, and thus become subject to the regulations concerning passports, travelling permits, (and) quarantine, which are submitted to by other foreign subjects, do not thereby cause any prejudice to their quality of being foreign subjects.

VI. Since Persian subjects who reside in the Ottoman dominions possess the quality of foreign subjects, they are exempt, like other foreign subjects, from services and charges exclusively special to Ottoman subjects, such as military service and dues for exemption therefrom.

VII.* All kinds of suits and contestations arising between subjects of the exalted Persian Government shall be settled by the action of the Agents and Vice-Agents: that is to say, every kind of chance suit or contestation between Persian subjects, whether relating to rights, or whether relating to offences, crimes, or personal injuries, shall refer to the Persian Agencies (Agencyhouses-Consulates), there to be decided, judged, and settled† (or, the chastisement); punishment, and other actions thereto pertaining, shall rest with them.

In any case where delinquents, at the time of the occurrence of acts requiring punishment, are taken and detained by the (Ottoman)

* See Turkish Vizirial Letter of January 4, 1876. Page 546.

chastisement.

(tertib) is here, probably, a clerical error for

,(terbiyet) تربیت

police of the locality, upon communications being made on the subject of their nationality, information shall be given, in Constantinople to the Persian Legation, and elsewhere to the Agencies, and on proof of the truth of their being subjects of Persia, they shall be delivered to the Legation or Agencies. And if, in such cases, the Agents or Vice-Agents apply to the Local Governments, the requisite assistance shall be afforded to them.

VIII. In like manner as no interference shall take place on the part of Ottoman officials as to the relation of the affairs of subjects of the exalted Government of Persia to their own Agents, so also, in the matter of dues payable by such subjects to their own Agents, no kind of interference shall occur on the part of the Local Government.

IX. If any subject of the exalted Persian Government should desire to enter into Ottoman subjection, then, in conformity with the special rule observed with regard to other foreign subjects, after compliance with the special Regulations, and execution of the tenour of the explanations of the said Regulations, dated the 24th Jemazi-'l-Ula, (A.H.) 1285 (11th September, 1868), communicated to all the Embassies: i.e., the execution of the system and method observed in respect of foreign subjects desirous to abandon their original nationality and to enter into Ottoman subjection; which must be fully and carefully observed in respect of Persian subjects also, who may desire to become Ottoman subjects. And without the observance of this system, no one of the subjects of the exalted Persian Government shall be received as an Ottoman subject to the infringement of the rules and regulations.

X. As it is but natural that the rule of reciprocity be observed in respect of Ottoman subjects resident in the Persian dominions, therefore, whichever of the clauses of favour laid down in the present Convention as executory in respect of subjects of the exalted Persian Government may be refused or not executed towards Ottoman subjects residing in the guarded realms of Persia, that same favour will cease to be carried out in respect of subjects of the exalted State of Persia who may be resident in the Ottoman dominions; and in this respect also the principle of reciprocity will be acted upon by both parties.

XI. If it be desired on the part of the exalted Persian Government that Persian subjects may enjoy the rights of possessing real estate, a separate Convention shall be drawn up for the purpose; and until the time when such Convention may be arranged, the question of possessing real estate will remain on the same footing as heretofore.

XII. With respect to the procedure in cases of suits and contentions happening between subjects of the exalted Government of Persia and other foreign subjects, until such time as an understand[1875-76. LXVII.]

2 N

ing shall have been arrived at between the exalted Persian Legation and the other Embassies, the system hitherto acted upon shall remain in force.

XIII. It is a settled question that a case of bankruptcy of subjects of the exalted Persian Government shall be left exclusively to the Legation and Agencies. But, in this case, should one of the creditors be an Ottoman subject, whenever they may wish, he shall be appointed to a second syndicate (sindiqi).

XIV. In matters outside of the tenour of the 13 preceding Articles, the subjects of the exalted Government of Persia resident in the Ottoman Dominions, and Ottoman subjects who may be in the guarded realms of Persia, shall enjoy the same privileges and favours as are enjoyed by the subjects of the most favoured foreign nation.

Every one of the clauses and matters mentioned in the said Articles which may not be put in execution by the exalted Persian Government will also not be carried out on the part of the Ottoman Government.

21st Zi-'l-Qa'da, 1292 (20th December, 1875).

(No signatures indicated.)

Turkish Vizirial Letter explanatory of the Convention of December 20, 1875.-Constantinople, January 4, 1876.

(Translation.)

EXPLANATIONS on the foregoing Convention, made under date of the 8th Zi-'l-Hijja the Sacred, (A.H.) 1292 (4th January, 1876), on the part of the Sublime Porte, in a Vizirial Letter notified to all the Judges of the Ottoman Dominions, a copy thereof being officially communicated to the exalted Persian Legation residing in Constantinople.

Although 12 out of the 14 Articles contained in the said Collation* (muqābela-nāma) are of a kind clear and manifest, still, for the purpose that, in the interpretation of Articles I and VII, no manner of discrepancy shall remain, it is undertaken, as follows, to give certain explanations to this effect:

Although, in accordance with Article I, "the subjects of the exalted Persian Government who are in the Ottoman Dominions, in every matter relating to personal injuries, crimes, and misdemeanours, are individually subject to the Regulations and Laws of the Ottoman Empire, and directly to the police and tribunals of

• acli aḥlëo, mugābela-nāma, appears to be a clerical error for adgläo, mujāvela-nāma, a Convention.