LONDON, Treaties and Conventions of. The following are the most important of the treaties and conventions concluded in London in modern times. The Quadruple Alliance, formed 2 Aug. 1718. On 6 July 1827, a treaty was signed between England, France and Rus sia for regulating the affairs of Turkey and Greece, which led to the establishment of the kingdom of Greece. On 22 *April 1834, a quadruple alliance was formed between Eng land, France, Spain and Portugal against the claims of Don Carlos and Don Miguel to the crowns of Spain and Portugal. On 15 July 1840, a treaty was concluded between England, Russia, Austria and Prussia to compel Mehemet Ali to restore Candia and Syria to the Porte, and on 27 November, at the conclusion of a short campaign by an Anglo-Austrian army in Syria, Mehemet Ali agreed to the terms of the treaty. A convention to close the Dardanelles against ships of war was signed on 13 July 1841; and a convention between France and England for suppression of the slave-trade, 29 May 1845. Austria, France, England, Prussia, Russia and Sweden were parties to a treaty, signed 8 May 1852, for settling the succession to the Danish crown and guaranteeing the in tegrity of its dominions in relation to the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The rights of the German Confederation were reserved and the'claims of the Duke of Augustenburg on the duchies relinquished on satisfaction. On 13 March 1871, at a conference of the great powers, the neutralization of the Black Sea, effected by the Treaty of 1856, was abrogated.. The neutralization of Luxemburg was guaran teed by the five powers at the conference of London, 11 May 1867. The Convention of Lon don, which was concluded on 27 Feb. 1884, be tween the Transvaal and Great Britain, abro gated the Pretoria Convention of 3 Aug. 1881, and instead gave the Transvaal (thenceforward to be known as the South African Republic) independence in regard to its internal affairs, but reserved to the queen the right of veto over all treaties concluded °with any state or nation other than the Orange Free State,' or many native tribe to the eastward or the west ward of the Republic.° See DECLARATION OF
LONDON.
Following on a conference of the 10 leading maritime powers convened in London on 4 Dec. 1908, a code of rules was drawn up in February 1909, under the title of the Declaration of Lon don, for the purpose of unifying international practice in the treatment of commerce on the high seas in time of war. This declaration bade fair to revolutionize the position of Great Britain, as the leading maritime power, in wars of the future. Great Britain's traditional pol icy has been to maintain the right of capturing and confiscating the goods of alien enemies found in enemy ships, and also contraband of war found in neutral vessels. Under the Dec laration of Paris, 1856, the right to capture enemy goods in neutral ships was 'given up. Under the Declaration of London a further step was taken, and .enemy property at sea was to be treated on practically the same footing as enemy property on land. Its advocates con tended that it would save England from many of the difficulties she might otherwise experi ence in time of war in securing supplies ; and its opponents contended that it would mean a virtual abrogation by England of the advan tages her sea power gave her, especially in the destruction of an enemy's commerce. The pro posed adoption of the Declaration of London gave rise to a spirited controversy in England. At the instance of the British government, the Declaration passed the House of Commons, but was refused ratification by the House of Lords. Accordingly the Declaration of London failed to secure that unanimous consent of the subscribing powers necessary to put it into op eration. At the outbreak of the Great Euro pean War in August 1914 Great Britain an nounced her intention to adhere to the terms of the Declaration of London, but this attitude was later abandoned and the constricting pres sure of her sea power on the commerce of the Central Powers was exerted with increasing vigor by the application of her traditional policy. This action led to vigorous protests from neutral powers, headed by the United States. See WAR, EUROPEAN.