sian merchant ships, loaded with provisions and other merchandises and productions of Russia, or of other countries not snbject to the Ottoman Empire, as well as the free disposition of their provisions, merchandises and productions, the Sublime Porte promises to oppose no obstacle nor prevention to Russian vessels, laden with wheat or other provisions, at their arrival in the canal of Constantinople, where they may re-ship their cargoes into other vessels whether Russian, or those of other foreign nations, to be transported out of the States of the Sublime Porte.

4th. The Sublime Porte accepts the good offices of the Imperial Court of Russia for the purpose of according, after former examples, the entry of the Black Sea to the vessels of l'owers friendly to the Ottoman Government, who have not yet obtained that privilege, in such a manner that the Russian commerce of importation may not, by the means of those vessels, and their exportation of Russian products, suffer any injury.

ART. 8. The present Convention, serving for the eclaircissement and completion of the treaty of Bucharest, to be ratified by His Majesty the Emperor and Padischah of all the Russias, and by His Majesty the Emperor and Padischah of the Ottomans, by means of solemn ratifications, attested by their proper signatures, according to usage, which shall be exchanged by the respective Plenipotentiaries, within the term of four weeks, or sooner if possible, counting from the day of the conclusion of the present Convention. Done at Ackerman, the 25th September, 1826.

[This Convention has heen ratified by His Majesty the Emperor.]

II.

Separate Act relative to the Prin cipalities of Moldavia and Wallachia.

In the name of Almighty God

The Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia being chosen from among the native Boyars, their election shall hereafter be made, in each of these Provinces, according to the consent and approbation of the Sublime Porte, by the General Assembly of the Divan, conformably to the ancient usages of the country.

The Boyars of the Divan of each province, as representatives of the country, and with the general accord of the inhabitants shall make choice for the office of Hospodar, or one of the Boyars, most ancient and most capable to sustain the charge, and present to the Sublime Porte, by a petition (Arz. Mahsar) the elected candidate, who, should the election be agreed to by the Sublime Porte, shall be named Hospodar, and receive his investiture. If, from grave reasons; the nomination of the elected candidate shall be found not to conform with the desires of the Sublime Porte, in that case, after those grave reasons shall have been proved by the two Courts, it shall be permitted to recommend to the Boyars to proceed to the election of another competent person.

The term of the Administration of the Hospodars shall remain for ever fixed, as formerly, at seven years, complete and entire, dating from the day of their nomination; and they cannot be deposed before the end of that term. If, during

the course of their administration, they commit any act of delinquency, the Sublime Porte shall inform the Minister of Russia, when, after verification made by both parties, it shall be established that the Hospodar has actually been guilty of any crime, his deposition shall be permitted; and in this case only.

The Hospodars who shall have served their term of seven years without having given, either to the two courts, or to the country, any legitimate or serious subject of complaint, may be named anew for seven additional years, if the demand shall be made to the Sublime Porte, by the Divans of the provinces, and if the consent of the inhabitants shall have been manifested in their favour.

If it should happen that one of the Hospodars should abdicate before the close of the period of seven years, in consequence of age, sickness, or any other reason, the Sublime Porte shall give notice to the Court of Russia, and the abdication may take place by a previous agreement of the two

courts.

All Hospodars, who shall have been deposed after having finished their term, or who shall have abdicated, shall incur the loss of their title, and may re-enter the class of Boyars, on condition of remaining peaceable and tranquil, but without power, either again to become members of the Divan, or to fill any public function, and without power to be re-elected Hospodars.

The sons of the deposed or abdicated Hospodars may reserve the quality of Boyars, may occupy the offices of the country, and be elected Hospodars.

In case of the deposition, abdi

cation, or death of a Hospodar, up to the time when a successor shall be appointed, the administration of the vacant principality may be confided to the Caïmacams, named by the Divan of the said principality.

The Hatti-Cherif of 1802, having ordained the abolition of the imposts, rents, and requisitions, introduced subsequent to the year 1198 (1783,) the respective Hospodars, shall determine and fix the imposts and the annual charges of Moldavia and Wallachia, taking for their basis the regulations which have been established in the Hatti-Cherif of 1802. The Hospodars shall, in no case, be allowed to alter the strict accomplishment of that disposition, They shall have regard to the representations of the Minister of his Imperial Majesty, and to those which the Consuls of Russia may address to them, as well upon that subject, as upon the maintenance of the privileges of the country, and specially upon the observation of the clauses and articles inserted in the present act.

The Hospodars, in concert with the respective Divans, shall fix in each province the number of Bechlis according to that which existed before the troubles of 1821: That number once fixed, may not be augmented under any pretext, short of an urgent necessity, recognized by both parties. It is, also, agreed, that the Bechlis shall continue to be formed and organized as they were before the troubles of 1801; that their Agas shall continue to be chosen and appointed according to the mode followed previous to that epoch; and, finally, that the Bechlis and heir Agas shall never be allowed

to fill any other functions than those for which they were originally instituted, without power to mix with the affairs of the country, or permission to perform any other action.

The usurpations committed up on the territories of Moldavia and Wallachia, on the coast of Ibrail, Ghierghiova, and Coule, and be yond the Olta, shall be restored to the proprietors; and there shall be fixed for the said restitution a term in the firmans relative thereto, which shall be addressed to those whom it may concern.

Those of the Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, who, solely in consequence of the late troubles, were forced to quit their country, are permitted freely to return, without being in any manner inquieted, and to enter into the full and entire enjoyment of their rights, prerogatives, goods, and properties, as formerly.

The Sublime Porte, in regard to the evils which have weighed upon Moldavia and Wallachia, in consequence of the late troubles, grants to them an exemption for two years, from the tributes and rents due to the Government. At the expiration of the term of the above mentioned exemption, the said tributes and rents shall be ac-. quitted by a tax fixed by the Hatri-Cherif of 1802, and which cannot he augmented in any case whatever. The Sublime Porte accords equally to the inhabitants of the two principalities, the liberty of commerce in all the productions of their soil and of their industry, of which they may dispose in such manner as may appear good to themselves, save the restrictions exacted on one part by the remit tances due annually to the Sublime

Porte, of which these provinces are the granaries; and on the other by the supply, of the country. All the dispositions of the Hatti-Cherif of 1802, relative to these remittances, to their regular acquittance at the current price according to which they shall be paid, and the fixation of which shall appertain to the respective Divans-shall be reinstated in full force, and observed for the future with scrupulous

exactness.

The Boyars shall be bound to execute the orders of the Hospodars, and to act toward them within the bounds of perfect submission. On their part, the Hospodars are not permitted to act in an arbitrary manner towards the Boyars, nor to subject them to unmerited punishments, or unless they have committed some fault which shall have been proved. And, in the latter case, they shall not be subjected to the penalties until after having been judged conformably to the laws and usages of the country.

The troubles which have taken place in late years in Moldavia and Wallachia, having been productive of the most grave injury to order, in the divers branches of the internal administration, the Hospodars are enjoined to occupy themselves without the least delay, with their respective Divans, in taking measures necessary to ameliorate the situation of the principalities confided to their care; and these measures shall have for their object a general regulation for each province, which shall be put in immediate execution.

All other rights and privileges of the principalities of Moldavis and Wallachia, and all the HattiCherifs, which concern them, shall

be maintained and observed, so far as they are not modified by the present act.

To this effect, we the undersigned, Plenipotentiaries of his Majesty the Emperor and Padiscah of all the Russias, invested with full and sovereign power, in concert with the Plenipotentiaries of the Sublime Ottoman Porte, have decreed and regulated the points above enumerated, which are the consequences of the third article, of the Treaty of Bucharest, concluded in eight articles, in the conferences at Ackerman, between us and the Ottoman Plenipotentiaries.

In consequence, the present separate Act has been revised, at tested by our seals and signatures, and delivered into the hands of the Plenipotentiaries of the Sublime

Porte.

Done at Ackerman, on the 25th Sept. 1826.

COUNT M. WORONZOW, (L. s.) RIBEAUPIERRE. (L. S.)

III.

Separate Act relative to Servia. In the name of Almighty God. The Sublime Porte, with the sole intention to fulfil faithfully the stipulations of the eighth article of the Treaty of Bucharest, having heretofore permitted the Servian Deputies at Constantinople to present to it the demands of their nation, upon the most expedient measures for the establishment of the safety and well-being of their country, those deputies having expressed in their petitions the views of the People relative to several of those objects, such as the liberty of worship, the choice of their chiefs, the re-union of the districts detached from Servia, the change

of various imposts into one only, the abandonment to the Servians of the administration over property belonging to Mussulmen, the payment of the revenue, together with the tribute, the liberty of commerce, the permission to Servian merchants to trade in the Ottoman States, with their proper passports, the establishment of hospitals, schools, and printing-offices, and finally, the prohibition to Mussulmen, other than those appertaining to the garrisons, to es tablish themselves in Servia: In the meanwhile, although occupied in verifying and regulating the articles above mentioned, certain difficulties have occurred to produce their adjournment; but the Sublime Porte, persisting at the present time, in the firm resolution to grant to the Servian nation the advantages stipulated in the eighth article of the Treaty of Bucharest, will regulate in concert with the Servian Deputies at Constantinople, the demands above mentioned, of that faithful and submissive nation, as well as all others which it may present through the Servian deputies, and which shall not be contrary to the qualities of subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

The Sublime Porte will inform the Imperial Court of Russia of the execution of the eighth article of the Treaty of Bucharest, and also communicate the firman, accompanied by the Hatti-Cherif, by which the above mentioned advantages shall be accorded.

We the undersigned, Plenipotentiaries of his Majesty the Emperor and Padischah of all the Russias, invested with full and sovereign powers, in concert with the Plenipotentiaries of the Sublime Ottoman Porte, have de