Treaty of Alliance among the Argentine Confederation, Brazil, and UruguayXVIII. Both the High Contracting Parties will mutually
respect the fluvial regulations which shall be established for the
security of the fiscal interests on the river banks of their respec-
tive dominions ; while the free course of navigation and legiti-
mate commerce shall not be impeded in any manner, either by
the imposition of transit dues, by detentions, registrations,
embargoes, or other hindrances to the prejudice of commercial
interests.
XIX. The ports and streams thrown open or which shall be
thrown open to foreign commerce by the Government of
Paraguay, are open to all vessels, their cargoes and effects, sailing
under the Argentine flag ; Paraguayan vessels shall enjoy the
same advantage in the ports and streams of the Argentine Con-
federation, which are open or shall hereafter be opened for for-
eign commerce.
XX. The High Contracting Parties consider as Argentine or
Paraguayan vessels, those which sail under the flag of one
Republic or the other, and are registered, commanded, and
manned in conformity with their respective laws.
XXI. In the event of one of the two High Contracting Parties
being at war with any third Power, the two States accept the
principle that the neutral flag covers the merchandize, with the
exception of articles contraband of war, and of officers and sol-
diers in the service of the enemy.
For the same reason neutral property under the enemy’s flag
shall be considered as that of the enemy. This principle is not
applicable to Powers that do not recognize and observe it.
XXII. Consular Agents shall be mutually admitted for the
protection of the respective commerce, and shall enjoy in the
place of their residence the immunities allowed to those of the
same rank of the most favoured nation. The papers and archives
shall be inviolable.
XXIII. The Consuls, and those employed in the Consulate,
are exempt from all public service, and from all duties, imposts,
and contributions, excepting those which they must pay for
their commerce, trade, and property ; and for the rest they shall
be subject to the laws of the respective States.
XXIV. The definition of the boundaries between the Argen-
tine Confederation and Paraguay is deferred.
XXV. Notwithstanding the stipulation in the preceding Arti-
cle, it is declared that the island of Apipé, in the Paraná, belongs
to the Argentine Confederation, and that of Yasiretá to
Paraguay.
XXVI. The High Contracting Parties engage to establish and
maintain in their respective territories one or more monthly
over-land mails, to convey the public and official correspon-
dence from one State to the other, on such days and to such
points as may be separately agreed upon.
XXVII. Letters and correspondence, which are marked as
post-free at the place they start from, shall go free of carriage by
the mails of each country.
XXVIII. Letters and correspondence conveyed by the mails
of one and the other of the High Contracting Parties, on their
way to foreign countries or to different parts of the two States,
shall be forwarded to their destination by the same means of
conveyance as are established for the despatch of the correspon-
dence of the post-office at which they shall be received.
XXIX. If the letters or correspondence to which the preced-
ing Article refers, viz., those for foreign countries or for any
place in one of the Contracting States cannot proceed to their
destination without prepayment of postage, they shall not on
that account be detained. In this case the post-office which for-
wards them shall prepay the postage, charging the sum to the
post-office from which they came, an account being taken of
what is thus spent, the amount of which shall be liquidated
every six months, and paid in the way that the two Govern-
ments shall determine on. The amount of this payment shall
depend upon the tariff in force in the post-office which inter-
venes in the despatch of the correspondence. For this reason the
tariffs shall be mutually communicated.
XXX. The official correspondence of the respective Govern-
ments, and that of their diplomatic agents, the periodicals, offi-
cial publications of either country, pamphlets, reviews, and
other printed papers intended for circulation, shall go free of
postage by the mails of both countries.
XXXI. The present Treaty shall be duly ratified and the ratifi-
cations exchanged in the city of Paraná, the provisional capital
of the Argentine Confederation, within three months, or sooner
if possible.
XXXII. The declaration made in Article XXV of this Treaty is
definitive : all the other stipulations, with the exceptions of that
in Article XXIV shall be in force for six years from the exchange
of the ratifications.
In witness whereof we, the Plenipotentiaries of the Argentine
Confederation and of the Republic of Paraguay, in virtue of our
full powers, sign this Treaty in duplicate, and have the seals of
our respective arms affixed thereto.
Done in the city of Assumption, capital of the Republic of
Paraguay, on the 29th of July, 1856.
(L.S.) TOMAS GUIDO.
(L S.) NICOLAS VAZQUEZ.3.1167 Treaty of Alliance among the Argentine
Confederation, Brazil, and Uruguay
Alliance Members:Argentine Confederation, Brazil, and Uruguay
Signed On:January 2, 1859, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In force
until September 14, 1864, upon Brazil’s invasion of Uruguay.
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:British Foreign and State Papers,vol. 49, p. 1234.
Additional Citations:Consolidated Treaty Series,vol. 120, p. 189.SUMMARY
Despite their history of fighting over Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil
attempted to remove this particular bone of contention from their
relationship in 1859 by promising, first, not to make an attempt to
incorporate Uruguay into either country and, second, not to sign a