tion. Any attempt to pass goods in excess of the quantity specified in the certificate will render all the goods of the same denomination named in the certificate liable to confiscation. Permission to export produce which cannot be proved to have paid its transit dues will be refused by the Customs until the transit dues shall have been paid. RULE 8.-Trade with the Capital. It is agreed that no citizen of The United States shall have the privilege of entering the capital city of Peking for the purposes of trade. RULE 9.-Abolition of the Meltage Fee. It is agreed that the per centage of one tael two mace, hitherto charged, in excess of duty payments, to defray the expenses of melting by the Chinese Government, shall no longer be levied on citizens of The United States. RULE 10.-Collection of Duties under one System at all Ports. It being, by Treaty, at the option of the Chinese Government to adopt what means appear to it best suited to protect its revenue accruing on American trade, it is agreed that one uniform system shall be enforced at every port. The high officer appointed by the Chinese Government to superintend foreign trade will accordingly, from time to time, either himself visit, or will send a deputy to visit, the different ports. The said high officer will be at liberty of his own choice, independently of the suggestion or nomination of any American authority, to select any citizen of The United States he may see fit to aid him in the administration of the Customs revenue, in the prevention of smuggling, in the definition of port boundaries, or in discharging the duties of harbour-master; also, in the distribution of lights, buoys, beacons, and the like, the maintenance of which shall be provided for out of the tonnage dues. The Chinese Government will adopt what measures it shall find requisite to prevent smuggling up the Yang-tsz-Kiang, when that river shall be open to trade. (L.S.) WILLIAM B. REED. CONVENTION between The United States and China, for the Adjustment of Claims.-Signed at Shanghai, November 8, 1858. In order to carry into effect the Convention made at Tien-tsin by the High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries respectively representing the United States of America and the Ta-Tsing Empire, for the satisfaction of claims of American citizens, by which it was agreed that one-fifth of all tonnage, import, and export duties payable on American ships and goods shipped in American vessels at the ports of Canton, Shanghai, and Fuh-chau, to an amount not exceeding 600,000 taels, should be applied to that end; and the Plenipotentiary of The United States, actuated by a friendly feeling towards China, is willing, on behalf of The United States, to reduce the amount needed for such claims to an aggregate of 500,000 taels, it is now expressly agreed by the High Contracting Parties in the form of a supplementary Convention, as follows: ART. I. That on the first day of the next Chinese year the collectors of Customs at the said three ports shall issue debentures to the amount of 500,000 taels, to be delivered to such persons as may be named by the Minister or chief diplomatic officer of The United States in China, and it is agreed that the amount shall be distributed as follows: 300,000 taels at Canton, 100,000 taels at Shanghai, and 100,000 taels at Fuh-chau, which shall be received in payment of one-fifth of the tonnage, export, and import duties on American ships, or goods in American ships at the said ports, and it is agreed that this amount shall be in full liquidation of all claims of American citizens at the various ports to this date. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and of the Ta-Tsing Empire; that is to say, on the part of The United States, William B. Reed, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, and on the part of the Ta-Tsing Empire: Kweiliang, a member of the Privy Council, Captain-General of the Plain White Banner Division of the Manchu Bannermen, and Superintendent of the Board of Punishments, and Hwashana, Classical Reader at Banquets, President of the Board of Civil Office, Captain-General of the Bordered Blue Banner Division of the Chinese Bannermen, both of them Plenipotentiaries, with Ho-Kweitsing, Governor-General of the two Kiang Provinces, President of the Board of War, and Guardian of the Heir-Apparent; Ming-shen, President of the Ordnance Office of the Imperial Household, with the Insignia of the Second Grade, and Twan, a titular President of the Fifth Grade, member of the Establishment of the General Council, and one of the Junior Under Secretaries of the Board of Punishments, all of them Special Imperial Commissioners deputed for the purpose, have signed and sealed these presents. Done at Shanghai this 8th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1858, and of the Independence of The United States the 83rd, and in the 8th year of Hienfung, the 10th month and 3rd day. (L.S.) WILLIAM B. REED. (L.S.) KWEILIANG. CORRESPONDENCE between Great Britain and The United States, respecting Central America.-1858. (Extract.) [Continued from Vol. XLVII. Page 661.]* No. 46.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Napier. Foreign Office, January 22, 1858. WE are decidedly of opinion that it would neither be consistent with our dignity or our interest to make any proposal to The United States' Government until we have received a formal answer to our formal offer of arbitration. In the event of the offer being refused, it will be a great and hardly justifiable proof of the spirit of conciliation by which we are animated, if we then show ourselves disposed to abrogate the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty; but we must not be in too great haste. Lord Napier. CLARENDON. No. 47.-Lord Napier to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Jan. 26.) MY LORD, Washington, January 11, 1858. THE course which the President of The United States has recently embraced with reference to the repression of piratical attempts against Nicaragua, and the views adopted by Her Majesty's Government in relation to the Treaty recently negotiated between the Federal Government and that Republic, appear to open a more favourable prospect of a settlement in Central America than was anticipated. Under this improved aspect of affairs, I have thought it advisable to state to General Cass that Her Majesty's Government are not disposed to recognize in the stipulations of the Convention signed with Señor Yrissari for the protection of the transit route, any violation of the provisions of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, although *Laid before Parliament, 1860. the terms of that Convention were, in your Lordship's opinion, susceptible, in some respects, of emendation. I also remarked, that in the defeat of Mr. Walker's enterprise, and in the language held by the President on the subject of these unlawful projects, I recognized great facilities for the arrangement of our controverted questions in Central America, and that I believed your Lordship would now be able to make a more definite communication of the powers entrusted to Sir William Ouseley, and of the objects of his mission, than had hitherto been the case. The Secretary of State appeared to derive satisfaction from my assurances; he stated that he had purposely refrained from making any official reply to my last letters on this subject, and that he would endeavour to avert all public discussion of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in Congress, by withholding the correspondence until Her Majesty's Government had time to mature and transmit their resolutions. I thanked General Cass for this manifestation of a conciliatory disposition; and informed him that, on my part, I should submit to Her Majesty's Government the expediency of availing themselves of the present favourable conjuncture, and making their intentions known to the American Cabinet with the least possible delay. The Earl of Clarendon. I have, &c. NAPIER. No. 48.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Napier. MY LORD, Foreign Office, January 29, 1858. In your despatch of the 11th instant, your Lordship represents yourself as having stated to General Cass that "in the defeat of Mr. Walker's enterprise, and in the language held by the President on the subject of these unlawful projects, I recognized great facilities for the arrangement of our controverted questions in Central America, and that I believed your Lordship would now be able to make a more definite communication of the powers entrusted to Sir William Ouseley, and of the objects of his mission, than had hitherto been the case;" and further on you say that, in answer to a remark made by General Cass, "that he would endeavour to avert all public discussion of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in Congress, by withholding the correspondence until Her Majesty's Government had time to mature and transmit their resolutions," you informed him, "that, on my part, I should submit to Her Majesty's Government the expediency of availing themselves of the present favourable conjuncture, and making their intentions known to the American Cabinet with the least possible delay." I do not understand on what your Lordship's communication to General Cass, as reported in this despatch, was founded. The powers entrusted to Sir William Ouseley, and the objects of his mission, had already been fully communicated by you to the Government of The United States, by your note of the 30th of November, and on that matter nothing remained behind for further communication. The intentions of Her Majesty's Government have already been made known to the Cabinet of Washington, and Her Majesty's Government are now awaiting the decision of that Cabinet on the proposal which your Lordship has submitted to it, for referring to arbitration the questions which have arisen between the two Governments as to the true interpretation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. Lord Napier. I am, &c. CLARENDON. No. 49.-Sir W. G. Ouseley to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Feb. 1.) I HAD an opportunity lately of conversing with the President. His Excellency referred to the late proceedings against Walker and his confederates, and emphatically assured me of his determination to put down all filibusters. The President added, 66 You may rest assured, that as long as I am President, filibustering shall never raise its bead. I am resolved to put it down and utterly extinguish it, as far as lies in my power; and I have the power, and know how to wield it. And, moreover, you will find that I am, as I already told you that I should be, backed by the country and the force of public opinion. The majority of respectable and thinking men in this country are on my side." I have every reason to rely on the literal truth of the President's assurances as to his own feelings respecting filibustering; and my own observation quite confirms his Excellency's opinion as to the sense of the majority of influential men in this country, including he Southern and slave-holding States, being ready to support his acts. Even in New Orleans a subscription is on foot to present a sword to Commodore Paulding, as a testimonial of high appreciation of his conduct; while the Press, with few and unimportant exceptions approve his arrest of Walker. I have, &c. The Earl of Clarendon. W. G. OUSELEY. No. 50.-Sir W. G. Ouseley to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Feb. 1.) MY LORD, Washington, January 16, 1858. ON a late occasion the President recurred, in conversation with me, to the subject of the Treaty lately signed with Nicaragua. His Excellency repeated, in the most positive and unequivocal terms, what he had previously declared; viz., that, "so far from having any |