shall immediately endeavor to obtain a decision from the other signatory States as to the entering into force of the present convention among themselves.

In faith of which the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention.

Done at Brussels, in one single copy, the 5th day of March, 1902.

Final protocol.

At the moment of proceeding to the signature of the convention relating to the régime of sugars entered into on this date by the Governments of Germany, Austria and Hungary, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, and Sweden, the undersigned plenipotentiaries have agreed to the following:

TO ARTICLE THIRD.

Considering that the purpose of a surtax is to protect efficaciously the internal market of producing countries the high contracting parties reserve the right, each as it affects its own interests, to propose the increase of the surtax in case that considerable quantities of sugars from one of the contracting States should enter their countries, this increase to affect only the sugars coming from that State.

This proposition shall be addressed to the permanent commission, which will decide within a short delay by a vote of the majority, upon the true foundation of the proposed measure, upon the duration of its application, and upon the rate of the increased tax, the latter not to exceed 1 franc per 100 kilograms.

The adhesion of the commission can only be given in case the invasion of the market in question should be the result of an economical condition of real inferiority and not the result of a fictitious increase of prices promoted by an understanding among producers.

TO ARTICLE ELEVENTH.

A. First. The Government of Great Britain declares that no direct or indirect bounty shall be granted to sugars from colonies of the Crown during the existence of the convention.

Second. It declares also, by exceptional measure and while still reserving, in principle, its entire free action concerning the fiscal relations between the United Kingdom and its colonies and possessions, that during the existence of the convention no preference shall be granted in the United Kingdom to colonial sugars vis-a-vis the sugars coming from the contracting States.

Third. It declares that they will submit the convention to the autonomous colonies and to the East Indies in order that the latter may have the privilege of giving their adhesion thereto.

It is understood that the Government of His Britannic Majesty shall have the right to adhere to the convention in the name of the Crown colonies.

B. The Government of The Netherlands declares that, during the existence of the convention, no bounty either direct or indirect shall be granted to sugars of the Dutch colonies, and that these sugars shall not be admitted into The Netherlands at a less rate than is applied to sugars coming from the contracting States.

The present final protocol, which shall be ratified at the same time as the convention concluded this date, shall be considered as an integral part of said convention, and shall have the same force, value, and duration.

In faith of which the undersigned plenipotentiaries have drafted the present protocol.

Done at Brussels, the 5th day of March, 1902.

Mr. Townsend to Mr. Hay.

No. 135.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Brussels, May 6, 1902.

SIR: I have the honor to inform the Department that the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium yesterday unanimously ratified the text of the recent sugar convention which was signed at Brussels on March 5, 1902. LAWRENCE TOWNSEND.

I have, etc.,

RIOTS AND STRIKES IN BELGIUM OVER QUESTION OF SUFFRAGE-BRIEF SKETCH OF ELECTORAL SYSTEM.

No. 132.]

Mr. Townsend to Mr. Hay.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED States,

Brussels, April 19, 1902.

SIR: I have the honor to inform the Department that the revision of the Belgium constitution proposed by the Liberals and Socialists (the opposition) was yesterday rejected by the House of Representatives, the final vote being 84 against revision to 64 in favor of it, the Government thus gaining a victory by a majority of 20 votes.

As the Department is aware, the agitation in favor of universal suffrage in Belgium became acute in 1893, at which time the Conservative or Catholic party, which has now been in power uninterruptedly for the past eighteen years, was strongly opposed to granting universal suffrage, but agreed to what was called a compromise, in the shape of universal suffrage based on a system of plural voting.

The following scheme was adopted:

One vote to every male citizen of 25 years of age, with the exception of idiots and criminals.

One supplementary vote, known as the property vote, to every citizen of 25 years of age in possession of real estate to the value of 2,000 francs ($400).

One supplementary vote, known as the family vote, to every married male citizen of 35 years of age, or widower with legitimate issue, who pays to the State personal taxes amounting to at least 5 francs ($1)

per annum.

One supplementary vote, known as the educational vote, to every male citizen of 25 years of age in possession of a diploma from a university, college, or high school.

Three votes being maximum allowed to any one citizen who may be included in several of the above categories.

This was the system offered by the Government in 1893 as a step toward universal suffrage; it was adopted at that time and has been in Vogue ever since.

The Liberals, Socialists, and workingmen generally, have never been satisfied with this system of plural voting, which they claim entirely favors the Conservative and Catholic party. They maintain that in the rural districts, where the people are under the influence of the priests, the opportunities for the perpetration of frauds at elections are greatly enhanced by this system.

When this plural system was practically applied it failed to yield the results claimed by its advocates, and at the last general election for Representatives the votes polled by the combined Liberals and Socialists virtually equalled those of the Clericals, yet the latter, by this plural system, actually obtained a majority of 18 votes in the House of Representatives.

The struggle between labor and capital in Belgium has become. extremely acute in the past few years. A large industrial population, confined to a small superficial area, with long hours of labor and small wages, have combined to produce a feeling of discontent among the working classes, who, perhaps unjustly, blame the existing Government for a condition of affairs which may be due to economic conditions rather than political.

This is a factor which may be largely responsible for the rapid growth of Socialism in Belgium during the past few years. Liberals and Socialists have combined to fight for universal suffrage, and have raised the cry 66 one man one vote" as a panacea for the existing ills. The Clericals maintain that the existing system of plural voting meets the present requirements of the country; that it places a premium on education, and acts as a check to the power of the ignorant, who are prone to resort to violence and disorder.

The more moderate Liberals in the House of Representatives expressed a willingness to accept a compromise in the shape of a total abolition of the triple vote, granting one vote at 25 years and a second vote to married men of 35 or 40 years, with legitimate issue. The Clericals, however, would not consider a compromise and opposed revision in any form.

During the past fortnight, while the debates on the subject of revision were being held in the House of Representatives, the socialists and workingmen have held nightly meetings at the Maison du Peuple, and have frequently paraded the streets shouting for universal suffrage and " one man one vote." The Liberal members, as well as some of the socialist leaders in the House, have cautioned the paraders to be calm, to avoid violence and disorder. But the ranks of the paraders have been swelled by the addition of the representatives of the very lowest and criminal classes of the population, the result being a conflict with the police followed by the breaking of windows and other damages to property. Shots were exchanged between the gendarmes and rioters, several of the latter being killed and wounded. Similar scenes were at the same time enacted in other towns in Belgium consequently the Government called out the troops.

Order has been restored, but the streets of Brussels, as well as the large towns, are lined with soldiers. A general strike has taken place in all the industrial centers of Belgium, with the avowed object of forcing the Government to grant universal suffrage, but without success. The feeling of unrest is very general all over the country, but whether the strikers return to work, now that the fight for universal suffrage has been lost in the House of Representatives, remains to be

seen.

1 give, without comment, for the information of the Department, the above sketch, embracing the salient points of both sides of the political controversy, which is at present agitating Belgium.

I have, etc.,

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Department's cablegram" of May 24.

In conformity with instructions, I at once communicated to the minister for foreign affairs the above request and am to-day in receipt of

a Printed, page 6.

a letter from the minister granting the desired permission, a copy and translation of which is herewith inclosed.

I have notified the United States consular officers in Belgium of these facts, requesting them to use their good offices in representation of the interests of Cuba and of its citizens until further notice from the Department.

I have, etc.,

LAWRENCE TOWNSEND.

[Inclosure-Translation.]

Mr. de Farereau to Mr. Townsend.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
Brussels, June 10, 1902.

MR. MINISTER: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of May 26 last, by which your excellency kindly informed me of the intention of the President of the Republic of Cuba to intrust to the consuls of the United States of America in Belgium the representation of the interests of the Republic and of its citizens until the organization of a Cuban consular representation in our country.

I hasten to inform you, Mr. Minister, that the Government of the King has taken the necessary steps to the end that no obstacles should be placed in the way of the temporary representation in question.

I avail, etc.,

DE FAVEREAU.

TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM FOR THE MUTUAL EXTRADITION OF FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE.

Signed at Washington October 26, 1901.

Ratification with amendments advised by the Senate January 30, 1902.

Ratified by the President June 13, 1902.

Ratified by Belgium January 28, 1902.

Ratifications exchanged at Washington June 14, 1902.

Proclaimed June 14, 1902.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a Convention between the United States of America and Belgium providing for the extradition of fugitives from justice was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Washington, on the 26th day of October, 1901, the original of which Convention, being in the English and French languages is, as amended by the Senate of the United States, word for word as follows:

The United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, having judged it expedient with a view to the better administration of justice and the prevention of crime within their respective territories and jurisdictions that persons charged with or convicted of the crimes and offences hereinafter enumerated, and being fugitives from justice, should, under certain circumstances, be reciprocally delivered up, have resolved to conclude a new Convention for that purpose and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States; and

His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Mr. Charles C. Wauters, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of Belgium near the Government of the United States;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

The Government of the United States and the Government of Belgium mutually agree to deliver up persons who, having been charged, as principals or accessories, with or convicted of any of the crimes and offences specified in the following article committed within the jurisdiction of one of the contracting parties, shall seek an asylum or be found within the territories of the other: Provided, that this shall only be done upon such evidence of criminality as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive or person so charged shall be found, would justify his or her apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime. had been there committed.

ARTICLE II.

Persons shall be delivered up who shall have been convicted of or be charged, according to the provisions of this convention, with any of the following crimes:

1. Murder, comprehending the crimes designated in the Belgian penal code by the terms of parricide, assassination, poisoning and infanticide.

2. The attempt to commit murder.

3. Rape, or attempt to commit rape. Bigamy. Abortion.

4. Arson.

5. Piracy, or mutiny on shipboard whenever the crew, or part thereof, shall have taken possession of the vessel by fraud or by violence against the commander.

6. Larceny; the crime of burglary, defined to be the act of breaking and entering by night into the house of another with the intent to commit felony; and the crime of robbery, defined to be the act of feloniously and forcibly taking from the person of another money or goods by violence or putting him in fear; and the corresponding crimes punished by the Belgian laws under the description of thefts committed in an inhabited house by night, and by breaking in by climbing or forcibly, and thefts committed with violence or by means of threats.

7. The crime of forgery, by which is understood the utterance of forged papers, and also the counterfeiting of public, sovereign, or governmental acts.

8. The fabrication or circulation of counterfeit money either coin or paper, or of counterfeit public bonds, coupons of the public debt, bank notes, obligations, or in general anything being a title or instrument of credit; the counterfeiting of seals and dies, impressions, stamps, and marks of State and public administrations, and the utterance thereof.

9. The embezzlement of public moneys committed within the jurisdiction of either party by public officers or depositaries.

10. Embezzlement by any person or persons hired or salaried to the detriment of their employers, when the crime is subject to punishment by the laws of the place where it was committed, and the amount of money or the value of the property embezzled is not less than two hundred dollars or one thousand francs.