of international disputes signed at The Hague the 18th October, 1907, desiring to enter into negotiations for the conclusion of an Arbitration Convention, have named as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, Milne Cheetham, Esquire, His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires ad interim; and

The President of the United States of Brazil, Senhor José Maria da Silva Paranhos do Rio-Branco, Minister of State for Foreign Relations;

Who, duly authorized, have agreed upon the following Articles :

ART. 1. Differences of whatever nature which may arise. between the High Contracting Parties and which it may not have been possible to settle by diplomacy, shall be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, to the Chief of a friendly Government or to such other Arbitrator or Tribunal as the Parties jointly select, provided, nevertheless, that they do not affect the vital interests, the independence or the honour of the two Contracting States and do not concern the interests of third Parties.

2. In each individual case, the High Contracting Parties, before appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, to other Arbitrators or to a single Arbitrator, shall conclude a special Agreement defining clearly the matter in dispute, the scope of the powers of the Arbitrator or Arbitrators, and the periods to be fixed for the formation of the Arbitral Tribunal or the selection of the Arbitrator or Arbitrators, and the several stages of the procedure.

It is understood that on the part of the United States of Brazil such special Agreements will be made by the President of the Republic, with the approval of the two Houses of the National Congress thereof, His Majesty's Government reserving the right before concluding a special Agreement in any matter affecting the interests of a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire to obtain the concurrence therein of the Government of that Dominion.

Such Agreements shall be binding only when confirmed by the two Governments by an exchange of Notes.

3. The present Convention shall be in force for a period of five years, dating from the day of the exchange of its ratifications. If not denounced six months before the conclusion of the said period, it shall be renewed for another period of five years, and so successively.

4. The present Convention shall be ratified by His Britannic Majesty; and by the President of the United States of Brazil after its approval by the National Congress thereof.

The ratifications shall be exchanged at the City of Rio de Janeiro as soon as possible.

Done in duplicate at Petropolis, in the English and Portuguese languages, this 18th day of June, in the year 1909.

(L.S.) MILNE CHEETHAM.

(L.S.) RIO-BRANCO.

BULGARIA.

BULGARIAN LAW respecting Nationality and Nationaliza

tion. 1883.

(Translation.)

CHAPTER I.-Bulgarian Nationality.

ART. 1. Bulgarian nationality gives a right to the exercise of all civil and political rights in Bulgaria, and renders obligatory all the duties legalized in the State.

Bulgarian subjects living abroad are subject to the legis lation of their native country in all things relating to their civil and personal status ("statut personnel ").

2. Are considered Bulgarian subjects all those Turkish subjects who, at the time of the declaration of the war for the liberation of Bulgaria, had their domicile, or had been born, within the limits of the Bulgarian Principality.

3. Every person living in Bulgaria is considered a Bulgarian subject until he proves the contrary.

4. Are likewise considered Bulgarian subjects all persons born abroad after the emancipation of the Bulgarian Principality, and in circumstances which, on the basis of the present Law, confer the quality of a Bulgarian subject.

5. Bulgarian nationality is acquired by birth, marriage, and naturalization.

6. When a father acquires Bulgarian nationality he acquires it simultaneously for his wife and children.

Only children who are not yet 21 years old, and who live with their father when he acquires Bulgarian nationality, become Bulgarian subjects. The same rule applies to the mother of an illegitimate child when the father is unknown.

CHAPTER II.-Nationality by Birth and Marriage.

7. Is considered a Bulgarian subject every legitimate child of a Bulgarian subject.

8. Every illegitimate child recognized as the son of a Bulgarian subject is a Bulgarian subject.

9. Every illegitimate child, unrecognized by its father but recognized by its mother, a Bulgarian subject, is considered a Bulgarian subject.

10. Articles 7, 8, and 9 are applied also to children born abroad.

11. Every person of foreign nationality, but of Bulgarian origin, may acquire Bulgarian nationality by settling in the Principality, and declaring his intention of having his domicile within the limits of Bulgaria. He acquires the quality of a Bulgarian subject, after renouncing his present nationality, according to the laws of the country of which he wishes to cease from being a subject.

12. The declaration mentioned in Article 11 is handed to the Mayor of the Commune in which the petitioner has settled. 13. Children found on Bulgarian territory without father or mother are Bulgarian subjects.

14. Every foreigner (female) who marries a Bulgarian subject acquires Bulgarian nationality. After dissolution of marriage she may renounce Bulgarian nationality by conforming to Article 25 of the present Law.

15. When a foreign subject is born in Bulgaria of a legitimate or illegitimate father, or of an illegitimate mother, who has also been born in Bulgaria, he is considered a Bulgarian subject if, in the course of a year after attaining his 21st birthday, he does not declare his desire to remain, as before, a foreign subject. This declaration must be made before hist Consul, but it will have no effect unless the Consul communicates it to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who must acknowledge its receipt.

CHAPTER III.-Naturalization.

16. Bulgarian nationality can only be acquired by foreign subjects of the age of 21 years, who make a demand to that effect in writing. No previous authorization is required from any foreign Government for this request.

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17. A married female foreign subject cannot be naturalized separately from her husband.

18. A foreigner wishing to be naturalized must present his request through the Mayor of the Commune in which he lives. The Mayor immediately forwards this petition to the Minister of Justice through the Prefect or Sub-Prefect. In this petition the foreigner must simultaneously declare that he wishes to settle in Bulgaria, if he does not already reside there.

19. Every foreign subject desirous of enjoying the rights granted him by the above Articles must present himself before the Mayor of the Commune in which he resides with five witnesses of Bulgarian nationality who have attained their majority, and who must be inhabitants of the same Commune. These must affirm, together with the Mayor, that the foreigner has a good character; that he has resided for at least one year in the same Commune, or that he has served in the Bulgarian army as a Volunteer, and that he fulfils at least one of the following conditions, namely: that he possesses real property in the Commune, or that he exercises as a means of livelihood an independent profession. The above will be embodied in a statement to be signed by the Mayor, by the foreigner demanding Bulgarian nationality, and by the witnesses. This statement, accompanied by the declaration, is sent to the Minister of the Interior.

20. If a foreigner who has made the above declaration continues to reside three years in the country after his petition has been forwarded, and if by his conduct he proves himself to be living an honest life, and causing no injury to the country, the Prince can, on the proposition of the Minister of Justice, with the consent of the Council of State, accord, by special Decree, Bulgarian nationality to the petitioner.

21. If Bulgarian nationality has been refused to a foreigner who has applied for it, the said foreigner cannot renew his application until after the expiration of three years, counting from the date of the statement drawn up by the Mayor.

22. The National Assembly can accord Bulgarian nationality without regard to the time of residence in Bulgaria, or to the other conditions enumerated in Article 19, to any foreign subject who may have rendered signal service to Bulgaria, who may have established some useful industry in the country, who may have introduced a useful invention, or who may have founded large commercial or industrial establishments in Bulgaria.

CHAPTER IV.-Loss of Bulgarian Nationality.

23. Any Bulgarian subject who, without previous authorization from His Highness the Prince, accepts any civil employment in a foreign State, loses his Bulgarian nationality.

24. Any Bulgarian subject who, without previous authorization from His Highness the Prince, takes service in a foreign army, or joins any foreign military body, loses his Bulgarian nationality. Moreover, he cannot return to Bulgaria without previous permission from the Bulgarian Government, which permission does not exonerate him from the responsibility before the law if he has taken arms against his country.

25. A female foreign subject who has acquired Bulgarian nationality by marriage can, after the dissolution of her marriage, and if she has no children, renounce Bulgarian nationality by a declaration made by her to the Mayor of the Commune in which she resides. Upon this declaration the Mayor draws up a procès-verbal in duplicate; one copy is handed to the party making the declaration, and the other is forwarded through the proper channel to the Minister of the Interior.

26. A female Bulgarian subject who marries a foreigner, loses, ipso facto, her Bulgarian nationality. Nevertheless, after the dissolution of the marriage, and if she resides in Bulgaria, and has no children from this marriage, she re-acquires Bulgarian nationality by the simple fact of the dissolution of the marriage.

27. Any Bulgarian subject who has, according to the Penal Code, been condemned by a Tribunal to perpetual exile from Bulgaria, loses his Bulgarian nationality by the simple fact of this sentence.

28. No Bulgarian subject residing in Bulgaria can become the subject of a foreign State without previous authority from the Bulgarian Government.

29. Every Bulgarian subject residing abroad may become a naturalized foreign subject in conformity with the law of the country in which he resides. In this event he loses his Bulgarian nationality.

30. Bulgarian nationality can only be lost through one of the reasons enumerated in this chapter. No other declaration or step whatever by means of which a Bulgarian subject endeavours to prove that he has renounced, or renounces, his nationality, is valid.