FINAL PROTOCOL

The undersigned, plenipotentiaries of the governments, parties to the convention of March 14, 1884, for the protection of submarine cables, having met at Paris for the purpose of fixing, in pursuance of Article 16 of that international instrument, a date for putting the said convention into execution, have agreed upon the following:

I. The international convention of March 14, 1884, for the protection of submarine cables, shall go into operation on the 1st day of May, 1888, provided, however, that at that date those of the contracting governments that have not yet adopted the measures provided for by Article 12 of the said international instrument shall have conformed to that stipulation.

II. The measures which shall have been taken by the said states in execution of Article 12 aforesaid, shall be made known to the other contracting Powers through the French government, which is charged with the examination of the said measures.

III. The government of the French republic is likewise charged with the examination of the similar legislative and reglementary provisions which are to be adopted, in their respective countries, in pursuance of Article 12, by such states as have not taken part in the convention, and as may desire to avail themselves of the privilege of accession, for which provision is made in Article 14.

In testimony whereof, the undersigned plenipotentiaries have adopted this final protocol, which shall be considered as forming an integral part of the international convention of March 14, 1884.

Done at Paris, July 7, 1887.

[Signatures]

CHAPTER XIII

REPRESSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE AND RESTRICTION OF CERTAIN IMPORTATIONS INTO AFRICA

A general act for the repression of the African slave trade and the restriction of the importation into, and sale in, a certain defined zone of Africa of firearms, ammunition, and spirituous liquors, was signed at Brussels on July 2, 1890, by plenipotentiaries of the United States, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the Independent State of the Congo, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Norway, Turkey, and Zanzibar. The purpose was expressed as follows, as given in the translation from the French original published officially by the United States: "Being equally actuated by the firm intention of putting an end to the crimes and devastations engendered by the traffic in African slaves, of efficiently protecting the aboriginal population of Africa, and of securing for that vast continent the benefits of peace and civilization; wishing to give fresh sanction to the decisions already adopted in the same sense and at different times by the Powers, to complete the results secured by them and to draw up a body of measures guaranteeing the accomplishment of the work which is the object of their common solicitude,-[the powers named] have resolved, in pursuance of the invitation addressed to them by the government of his Majesty the King of the Belgians, in agreement with the government of her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, to convene for this purpose a conference at Brussels."

A protocol was signed at Brussels on January 2, 1892, by the plenipotentiaries of the above-named Powers, providing for the partial ratification of the general act by France. The protocol and the general act were duly ratified by the Powers named and were duly proclaimed and took effect on April 2, 1892. This general act is as follows, by the official translation of the United States from the French original, and worthily takes its place in the code of world law:

CHAPTER I. SLAVE-TRADE COUNTRIES. MEASURES TO BE TAKEN IN THE PLACES OF ORIGIN

ART. 1. The Powers declare that the most effective means of counteracting the slave trade in the interior of Africa are the following:

1. Progressive organization of the administrative, judicial, religious, and military services in the African territories placed under the sovereignty or protectorate of civilized nations.

2. The gradual establishment in the interior, by the Powers to which the territories are subject, of strongly occupied stations, in such a way as to make their protective or repressive action effectively felt in the territories devastated by slave hunting.

3. The construction of roads, and in particular of railways, connecting the advanced stations with the coast, and permitting easy access to the inland waters, and to such of the upper courses of the rivers and streams as are broken by rapids and cataracts, with a view to substituting economical and rapid means of transportation for the present system of carriage by men.

4. Establishment of steamboats on the inland navigable waters and on the lakes, supported by fortified posts established on the banks.

5. Establishment of telegraphic lines, insuring the communication of the posts and stations with the coast and with the administrative centers.

6. Organization of expeditions and flying columns, to keep up the communication of the stations with each other and with the coast, to support repressive action, and to insure the security of high roads.

7. Restriction of the importation of firearms, at least of those of modern pattern, and of ammunition throughout the entire extent of the territory in which the slave trade is carried on.

ART. 2. The stations, the inland cruisers organized by each Power in its waters, and the posts which serve as ports of register for them shall, independently of their principal task, which is to prevent the capture of slaves and intercept the routes of the slave trade, have the following subsidiary duties:

1. To support and, if necessary, to serve as a refuge for the native population, whether placed under the sovereignty or the protectorate of the state to which the station is subject, or independent, and temporarily for all other natives in case of imminent danger; to place the population of the first of these categories in a position to coöperate for their own defense; to diminish intestine wars between tribes by means of arbitration; to initiate them in agricultural labor and in the industrial arts so as to increase their welfare; to raise them to civilization and bring about the extinction of barbarous customs, such as cannibalism and human sacrifices.

2. To give aid and protection to commercial enterprises; to watch over their legality by especially controlling contracts for service with natives, and to prepare the way for the foundation of permanent centers of cultivation and of commercial settlements.

3. To protect, without distinction of creed, the missions which are already or that may hereafter be established.

4. To provide for the sanitary service and to extend hospitality and help to explorers and to all who take part in Africa in the work of repressing the slave trade.

ART. 3. The Powers exercising a sovereignty or a protectorate in Africa confirm and give precision to their former declarations, and engage to proceed gradually, as circumstances may permit, either by the means above indicated or by any other means that they may consider suitable, with the repression of the slave trade, each state in its respective possessions and under its own direction. Whenever they consider it possible, they shall lend their good offices to such Powers as, with a purely humanitarian object, may be engaged in Africa in the fulfillment of a similar mission.

ART. 4. The states exercising sovereign Powers or protectorates in Africa may in all cases delegate to companies provided with charters all or a portion of the engagements which they assume in virtue of Article 3. They remain, nevertheless, directly responsible for the engagements which they contract by the present act, and guarantee the execution thereof. The Powers promise to encourage, aid, and protect such national associations and enterprises due to private initiative as may wish to coöperate in their possessions in the repression of the slave trade, subject to their receiving previous authorization, such authorization being revocable at any time, subject also to their being directed and controlled, and to the exclusion of the exercise of rights of sovereignty.

ART. 5. The contracting Powers pledge themselves, unless this has already been provided for by laws in accordance with the spirit of the present article, to enact or propose to their respective legislative bodies, in the course of one year at the latest from the date of the signing of the present general act, a law rendering applicable, on the one hand, the provisions of their penal laws concerning grave offenses against the person, to the organizers and abetters of slave hunting, to those guilty of mutilating male adults and children, and to all persons taking part in the capture of slaves by violence; and, on the other hand, the provisions relating to offenses against individual liberty, to carriers and transporters of, and into dealers in, slaves.

The accessories and accomplices of the different categories of slave captors and dealers above specified shall be punished with penalties proportionate to those incurred by the principals.

Guilty persons who may have escaped from the jurisdiction of the authorities of the country where the crimes or offenses have been committed shall be arrested either on communication of the incriminating evidence by the authorities who have ascertained the violation of the law, or on production of any other proof of guilt by the Power in whose territory they may have been discovered, and shall be kept, without other formality, at the disposal of the tribunals competent to try them. The Powers shall communicate to one another, with the least possible delay, the laws or decrees existing or promulgated in execution of the present article. ART. 6. Slaves liberated in consequence of the stoppage or dispersion of a convoy in the interior of the continent, shall be sent back, if circumstances permit, to their country of origin; if not, the local authorities shall facilitate, as much as possible, their means of living, and if they desire it, help them to settle on the spot.

ART. 7. Any fugitive slave claiming, on the continent, the protection of the signatory Powers, shall receive it, and shall be received in the camps and stations officially established by said Powers, or on board of the vessels of the state plying on the lakes and rivers. Private stations and boats are only permitted to exercise the right of asylum subject to the previous consent of the state.

ART. 8. The experience of all nations that have intercourse with Africa having shown the pernicious and preponderating part played by firearms in operations connected with the slave trade as well as in internal wars between the native tribes; and this same experience having clearly proved that the preservation of the African population, whose existence it is the express wish of the Powers to protect, is a radical impossibility if measures restricting the trade in firearms and ammunition are not adopted, the Powers decide, so far as the present state of their frontiers permits, that the importation of firearms, and especially of rifles and improved weapons, as well as of powder, ball, and cartridges, is, except in the cases and under the conditions provided for in the following article, prohibited in the territories comprised between the 20th parallel of north latitude and the 22d parallel of south latitude, and extending westward to the Atlantic Ocean and eastward to the Indian Ocean and its dependencies, including the islands adjacent to the coast within 100 nautical miles from the shore.

ART. 9. The introduction of firearms and ammunition, when there shall be occasion to authorize it in the possessions of the signatory Powers that exercise rights of sovereignty or of protectorate in Africa, shall be regulated, unless identical or stricter regulations have already been enforced, in the following manner in the zone defined in Article 8:

All imported firearms shall be deposited, at the cost, risk, and peril of the importers, in a public warehouse under the supervision of the state government. No withdrawal of firearms or imported ammunition shall take place from such warehouses without the previous authorization of the said government. This authorization shall, except in the cases hereinafter specified, be refused for the withdrawal of all arms for accurate firing, such as rifles, magazine guns, or breechloaders, whether whole or in detached pieces, their cartridges, caps, or other ammunition intended for them.

In seaports, and under conditions affording the needful guarantees, the respective governments may permit private warehouses, but only for ordinary powder and for flintlock muskets, and to the exclusion of improved arms and ammunition therefor.

Independently of the measures directly taken by governments for the arming of the public force and the organization of their defense, individual exceptions may be allowed in the case of persons furnishing sufficient guarantees that the weapon and ammunition delivered to them shall not be given, assigned, or sold to third parties, and for travelers provided with a declaration of their government stating that the weapon and ammunition are intended for their personal defense exclusively.

All arms, in the cases provided for in the preceding paragraph, shall be registered and marked by the supervising authorities, who shall deliver to the persons in question permits to bear arms, stating the name of the bearer and showing the stamp with which the weapon is marked. These permits shall be revocable in case