to Spain of the authorized reduction in the tariff duties of the United States on Spanish sparkling wines, and in order to remove any possible ground for the exercise by my Government of the right under Article III of the Commercial Agreement signed between the two countries on August 1, 1906, to rescind any of its concessions made therein to the United States, you also informed me that the President of the United States deemed the concession made by Spain in favor of the products and manufactures of the United States as reciprocal and equivalent to the grant by the Government of the United States of the reduced duties on all articles of Spanish production and exportation enumerated in Section 3 of the Tariff Act of July 24, 1897, will issue his proclamation suspending the present duties on sparkling wines produced in or exported from Spain and substituting therefor the reduced duties authorized by Section 3 of the Dingley law. I thank Your Excellency for the proposed action which you were pleased to make known to me and I agree in every particular of the way suggested by Your Excellency for this additional part of the agreement of August 1, 1906. I avail myself of this occasion to reiterate to your Excellency the assurance of my highest consideration. R. PINA Y MILLET. Hon. ROBERT BACON, Secretary of State. 1908. ARBITRATION CONVENTION. Signed at Washington April 20, 1908; ratification advised by the Senate April 22, 1908; ratified by the President May 28, 1908; ratifications exchanged at Washington June 2, 1908; proclaimed June 3, 1908. I. Differences to be submitted. II. Special agreement. ARTICLES. III. Duration. The Government of the United States of America and the Government of His Majesty the King of Spain, signatories of the Convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes, concluded at The Hague on the 29th July, 1899; Taking into consideration that by Article XIX of that Convention the High Contracting Parties have reserved to themselves the right of concluding Agreements, with a view to referring to arbitration all questions which they shall consider possible to submit to such treatment; Have authorized the Undersigned to conclude the following Convention: ARTICLE I. Differences which may arise of a legal nature, or relating to the interpretation of treaties existing between the two Contracting Par ties, and which it may not have been possible to settle by diplomacy, shall be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration established at The Hague by the Convention of the 29th July, 1899, provided, nevertheless, that they do not affect the vital interests, the independence, or the honor of the two Contracting States, and do not concern the interests of third Parties. ARTICLE II. In each individual case the High Contracting Parties, before appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, shall conclude a special Agreement defining clearly the matter in dispute, the scope of the powers of the arbitrators, and the periods to be fixed for the formation of the Arbitral Tribunal and the several stages of the procedure. It is understood that on the part of the United States such special agreements will be made by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and on the part of Spain shall be subject to the procedure required by her laws. ARTICLE III. The present Convention is concluded for a period of five years dating from the day of the exchange of the ratifications. ARTICLE IV. The present Convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and by His Majesty the King of Spain. The ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible, and the Convention shall take effect on the date of the exchange of its ratifications. Done in duplicate in the English and Spanish languages at Washington, this twentieth day of April in the year one thousand nine hundred and eight. ELIHU ROOT SWEDEN. (SEE SWEDEN AND NORWAY, page 1742. NORWAY, page 1300.) Note from the Swedish Minister to the Secretary of State. (For. Rel., 1905, page 872.) LEGATION OF SWEDEN, Washington, November 20, 1905. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: One of the direct consequences of the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway is the cessation of the two countries' community in regard to the conventions and arrangements of every character entered into jointly by them with another power or several powers. Hence the Swedish Government deems itself released from any responsibility by reason of the obligations stipulated in the said common conventions and arrangements in which Norway is concerned. As for the treaties or other agreements concluded in the name of His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway for Norway separately, it is obvious and I hardly need point it out here that His Majesty's Government is in no wise answerable, after the separation of the two states, for the obligations incumbent upon Norway. On the other hand, the Swedish Government is of opinion that the above mentioned instruments jointly concluded by Sweden and Norway, continue in full force and effect as regards the relations between Sweden and the other contracting party or parties, without any modification whatever of the provisions that have heretofore regulated such relations being required by the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway. The Swedish Government reserves the right to make, after a more thorough examination, a further communication on the point of deciding whether and in what measure a revision of the existing treaties is necessary or expedient. In the meanwhile, the Swedish Government deems all agreements concluded by Sweden, whether separate or jointly with Norway, to be valid without modifications in regard to the relations therein considered between Sweden and the respective states. I have the honor to bring the foregoing to your excellency's knowledge in compliance with directions received by me, and to beg that you will be so good as to acknowledge the receipt of this communication. Be pleased, etc., A. GRIP. The Secretary of State acknowledged receipt of this communication in a note dated December 4, 1905. See also Note from Norwegian Minister to Secretary of State, December 7, 1905, page 1300. 1783. TREATY OF AMITY AND COMMERCE. Concluded April 3, 1783; ratified by the Continental Congress July 29, 1783; proclaimed by Congress September 25, 1783.o The King of Sweden, of the Goths and Vandals, &c., &c., &c., and the thirteen United States of North America, to wit: New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, desiring to establish, in a stable and permanent manner, the rules which ought to be observed relative to the correspondence and commerce which the two parties have judged necessary to establish between their respective countries, states, and subjects: His Majesty and the United States have thought that they could not better accomplish that end than by taking for a basis of their arrangements the mutual interest and advantage of both nations, thereby avoiding all those burthensome preferences which are usually sources of debate, embarrassment, and discontent, and by leaving each party at liberty to make, respecting navigation and commerce, those interior regulations which shall be most convenient to itself. • Federal case: Weiberg v. The St. Oloff., 2 Pet. Adm., 428. Translation from the original, which is in the French language. This treaty terminated by the limitation contained in the first separate article, post, fifteen years from the day of the ratification, but Articles II, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, and XXV, as well as the separate Articles I, II, IV, and V, were revived by Article XII of the treaty of September 4, 1816, with Sweden and Norway, post, and were again revived by Article XVII of the treaty of July 4, 1827. With this view, His Majesty the King of Sweden has nominated and appointed for his Plenipotentiary Count Gustavus Philip de Creutz, his Ambassador Extraordinary to His Most Christian Majesty, and Knight Commander of his orders; and the United States, on their part, have fully empowered Benjamin Franklin, their Minister Plenipotentiary to His Most Christian Majesty. The said Plenipotentiaries, after exchanging their full powers, and after mature diliberation in consequence thereof, have agreed upon, concluded, and signed the following articles: ARTICLE I. There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace, and a true and sincere friendship between the King of Sweden, his heirs and successors, and the United States of America, and the subjects of His Majesty, and those of the said States, and between the countries, islands, cities, and towns situated under the jurisdiction of the King and of the said United States, without any exception of persons or places; and the conditions agreed to in this present treaty shall be perpetual and permanent between the King, his heirs and successors, and the said United States, ARTICLE II. The King and the United States engage mutually not to grant hereafter any particular favour to other nations in respect to commerce and navigation which shall not immediately become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same favour freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation, if the concession was conditional. ARTICLE III. The subjects of the King of Sweden shall not pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities, and towns of the United States, or in any of them, any other nor greater duties or imposts, of what nature soever they may be, than those which the most favoured nations are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, navigation and commerce which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another of the United States, or in going to or from the same, from or to any part of the world whatever. ARTICLE IV. The subjects and inhabitants of the said United States shall not pay in the ports, havens, roads, islands, cities, and towns under the dominion of the King of Sweden, any other or greater duties or imposts, of what nature soever they may be, or by what name soever called, than those which the most favoured nations are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, navigation and commerce which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one |