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Liberty of conscience and religious toleration are expressly guaranteed to the natives as well as to allegiants and to strangers.

The free and public exercise of all forms of worship, the right to erect religious edifices and to organize missions belonging to all forms of worship shall not be subjected to any restriction or hindrance.

ARTICLE 7.

Postal regime.

The Convention of the universal postal Union revised at Paris June 1st. 1878 shall be applied to the conventional basis of the Congo.

The Powers who there exercise or shall exercise rights of sovereignty or of protectorate engage themselves to take, so soon as circumstances shall permit it, measures necessary for the execution of the preceding disposition.

ARTICLE 8.

Right of supervision attributed to the international commission of navigation of the Congo.

In all parts of the territory within the purview of the present Declaration where no Power may exercise rights of sovereignty or of protectorate, the International Commission of navigation of the Congo, instituted by virtue of Article 17, shall be charged to supervise the application of the principles proclaimed and established by this Declaration.

In all cases where difficulties relative to the application of the principles established by the present Declaration may happen to arise, the governments interested may agree to appeal to the good offices of the International Commission by deferring to it the examination of the facts which shall have given occasion to those difficulties.

CHAPTER II.

DECLARATION CONCERNING THE SLAVE TRADE.

ARTICLE 9.

Conformably to the principles of the law of nations, as they are recognized by the signatory Powers, the slave trade being interdicted, and as the operations which, by land or sea, furnish slaves to the trade ought to be equally considered as interdicted, the Powers who exercise or shall exercise rights of sovereignty or an influence in the territories forming

the conventional basin of the Congo declare that these territories shall not serve either for a market or way of transit for the trade in slaves of any race whatever. Each of these Powers engages itself to employ all the means in its power to put an end to this commerce and to punish those who are occupied in it.

CHAPTER III.

DECLARATION RELATIVE TO THE NEUTRALITY OF THE TERRITORIES COMPRISED IN THE CONVENTIONAL BASIN OF THE CONGO.

ARTICLE 10.

In order to give a new guarantee of security to commerce and to industry and to favor, by the maintenance of peace, the development of civilization in the countries mentioned in Article 1 and placed under the regime of commercial liberty, the high signatory parties of the present Act and those who shall subsequently adhere to it engage themselves to respect the neutrality of the territories or parts of territories depending on said countries, including therein the territorial waters, so long as the Powers who exercise or shall exercise rights of sovereignty or protectorate over these territories, making use of the option to proclaim themselves neutrals, shall fulfill the duties which belong to neutrality.

ARTICLE 11.

In the case where a Power exercising rights of sovereignty or of protectorate in the countries mentioned in Article 1 and placed under the regime of commercial liberty may be involved in a war, the high signatory parties of the Present Act and those who shall adhere to it subsequently engage themselves to lend their good offices to the end that the territories belonging to this Power and comprised in the conventional zone of commercial liberty may be, with the common consent of this Power and of the other party or parties belligerent, placed for the dura- · tion of the war under the regime of neutrality and considered as belonging to a non-belligerent State; the belligerent parties may renounce, thenceforth, the extension of hostilities to the territories thus neutralised, as also their use as a base for the operations of war.

ARTICLE 12.

In case a serious dissension, springing up on the subject or within the limits of the territories mentioned in Article 1 and placed under

the regime of commercial liberty should happen to arise between the signatory Powers of the present Act or the Powers which may subsequently adhere to it, these Powers engage themselves, before appealing to arms, to have recourse to the mediation of one or more friendly Powers.

In the same case the same powers reserve to themselves the optional recourse to the procedure of arbitration.

CHAPTER IV.

ACT OF NAVIGATION OF THE CONGO.

ARTICLE 13.

The navigation of the Congo, without exception of any of the branches or issues of this river, is and shall remain entirely free for merchant vessels, loaded or in ballast, of all nations, as well for the transport of merchandise as for that of travelers. It must conform itself to the dispositions of the present navigation Act and to the regulations to be established in the execution of the same Act.

In the exercise of this navigation the subjects and the flags of all the nations shall be treated, in all respects, upon the footing of a perfect equality, as well for the direct navigation from the open sea toward the interior ports of the Congo, and vice versa, as for the great and small coastwise navigation and also for the small-boat transportation throughout the extent of this river.

Consequently, throughout the extent and at the mouths of the Congo, no distinction shall be made between the subjects of varian and nonriparian States, and no exclusive privilege of navigation shall be conceded, either to societies or corporations of any kind or to private persons. These dispositions are recognized by the signatory powers as forming henceforth a part of public international law.

ARTICLE 14.

The navigation of the Congo cannot be subjected to any hindrance or charge which may not be expressly stipulated in the present Act. It shall not be burdened with any obligation of scaled voyages, ports of stoppage, of depot, of breaking bulk, or of compulsory interruption.

In all the extent of the Congo, ships and merchandise passing along the river shall not be subjected to any transit dues, whatever may be their origin or their destination.

There shall not be established any maritime or river transit tax based upon the simple fact of navigation, nor any dues upon the merchandise which is found on board the ships. Only taxes or dues can be collected which shall have the character of compensation for services rendered to navigation itself, namely:

1st. Port taxes for the actual use of certain local establishments such as quays, storehouses, etc. etc.

The tariff of these taxes shall be calculated upon the expenses of construction and maintenance of said local establishments, and its application shall be made without regard to the origin of ships or to their cargo.

2nd. Certain dues of pilotage upon the sections of the river where it may appear necessary to create stations of commissioned pilots. The tariff of these dues shall be fixed and proportioned to the service rendered.

3rd. Certain dues designed to cover the technical and administrative expenses, made in the general interest of navigation, including therein dues for lighthouses, lights and buoys.

Dues of this last category shall be based upon the tonnage of vessels, as it appears from the papers on board, and conformably to the rules adopted upon the lower Danube. The tariffs according to which the taxes and dues, enumerated in the three preceding paragraphs, shall be collected, shall carry with them no differential treatment and must be officially published in each port.

The Powers reserve to themselves to examine, at the end of a period of five years, whether there is occasion to revise, by common accord, the tariffs above mentioned.

ARTICLE 15.

The affluents of the Congo shall in all respects be submitted to the same regime as the river of which they are tributaries.

The same regime shall be applied to the rivers and streams as also to the lakes and canals of the territories defined by Article 1, paragraphs 2 and 3.

The attributions of the International Commission of the Congo however shall not extend over the said rivers, streams, lakes and canals, except with the assent of the States under the sovereignty of which they are placed. It is well understood also that for the territories mentioned in Article 1, paragraph 3, the consent of the sovereign States on which these territories depend, remain reserved.

ARTICLE 16.

The routes, railroads or lateral canals which may be established for the special object of supplementing the innavigability of imperfections of the river way over certain sections of the course of the Congo, of its affluents and of the other water courses which are assimilated to them by Article 15 shall be considered, in their quality of means of communication, as dependencies of this river and shall be equally open to the traffic of all nations.

In like manner as upon the river, upon these routes, railroads and canals transit taxes can only be collected which are calculated upon the expenses of construction, of maintenance and of administration, and upon the profits due to the constructors.

As to the rates of these transit taxes strangers and allegiants of the respective territories shall be treated upon the footing of perfect equality.

ARTICLE 17.

There is instituted an International Commission charged to assure the execution of the dispositions of the present navigation Act.

The signatory Powers of this Act, as well as those who shall adhere to it hereafter, can, at all times, have themselves represented in the said Commission, each by one delegate. No delegate can dispose of more than one vote even in the case where he may represent several govern

ments.

This delegate shall be directly compensated by his government.

The pay and allowances of the agents and employés of the International Commission shall be charged upon the product of the dues collected conformably to Article 14, paragraphs 2 and 3.

The figures of the said pay and allowances as well as the number, the grade and the attributions of the agents and employés, shall be inscribed in the report which shall be addressed each year to the governments represented in the International Commission.

ARTICLE 18.

The members of the International Commission as well as the agents named by it, are invested with the privilege of inviolability in the exercise of their functions. The same guarantee shall extend to the offices, bureaus and archives of the Commission.

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