Cartels, capitulations, and suspensions of arms, or truces, are sometimes involved in the classi fications of treaties, although strictly speaking they are not treaties. Transitory agreements or conventions are treaties which contemplate the immediate execution of the stipulations and which are complete when this act has been per formed. Examples are treaties of delimitation, of cession, etc. Permanent treaties are those which are continuous in effect, either perpetual ly or for a specified period. Such are treaties of amity and commerce, of neutrality, of extra dition, postal and customs conventions, etc. Cartels are agreements entered into in time of war between the commanders of opposing armies for the purpose of effecting an exchange of pris oners, and they may be transitory or for the period of the war. Capitulations are similar agreements for the surrender of a place, fleet, or army. Every general commanding is pre sumed to have authority to enter into agreements of this kind subject to any restrictions that may be imposed by the authority of his own State.
A treaty of alliance is an agreement between two or more States with a view to concerted action for a certain purpose. It may be tem porary or permanent, equal or unequal, and of fensive or defensive or both. Defensive alliances are usually formed with a view to preventing armed aggression against either party while of fensive alliances are formed for the purpose of waging war against another State or States. A good example of the first class was the treaty of 1778 between the Stags and France. while the alliances formed among various Euro pean States to curb the ambitions and aggres sions of Louis XIV. and Napoleon I. were in form examples of offensive alliances, although defensive in character. Treaties of guarantee are entered into for the purpose of securing the ob servance and execution of already existing treaties or for the maintenance of certain exist ing conditions for a limited period or in per petuity. Among the conditions which have been made the subject of guarantee may be men tioned the independence and territorial integrity of States, as, for example. Greece in 1832, and the Ottoman Empire in 1856; the neutralization of States, as in the case of Belgium and Swit zerland; the neutralization of ship canals, as in the case of the Suez and proposed Panama canals; the free navigation of rivers; and the payment of State debts.
What are known as reciprocity treaties have been the subject of frequent negotiations in re cent years, on account of the increasing impor tance of international commercial relations. Such treaties provide for reciprocal commercial advantages, usually in the form of reduced cus toms tariffs on the products of each State when imported into the other. They are usually en tered into for limited periods of time, and are sometimes subject to revision at stated periods. It is generally held that the special privileges granted by reciprocity treaties cannot he claimed by other States having treaties which entitle them to privileges allowed to the most favored nation, the latter class being regarded in the light of contract obligations. Treaties of peace
resemble ordinary treaties in form and in sub stance, hut differ from them as regards the posi tion of the contracting parties, since the element of duress is usually present in the negotiations, and hence freedom of conduct is not one of the requisites to the validity of such treaties. See WAR.
As regards the preparation of treaties, it has already been said that the ordinary method of negotiation is by a regular agent or commis sioner. During the nineteenth century, however, the preparation of a number of the most impor tant European treaties has been intrusted to general international congresses or conferences composed of ambassadors and in some cases of the sovereigns of the States concerned. Such were the Congress of Vienna of 1815 called to settle the questions growing out of the Napoleonic wars; the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in ISIS, which terminated the military occupation of France; the congress at Paris in 1856. which effected a partial settlement of the Eastern Question at the close of the Crimean War and drew up a declaration relative to the usages of maritime warfare; and the Congress of Berlin of 1878 in respect to the questions growing out of the war between Turkey and Russia.
The language employed in the preparation of treaties was formerly Latin. Toward the close of the seventeenth century it was replaced by French, which is now the general diplomatic lan guage of Europe and America. Each signatory power may insist upon the use of its own lan guage, in which case a copy is prepared for each State in its own language and is usually ar ranged in parallel columns. Two States having a common tongue naturally employ that lan guage. With regard to the form it may be said that no fixed rule prevails except that the stipu lations of the treaty are usually preceded by a recital of the names and titles of the negotiators, with a statement of the purposes which the treaty is intended to accomplish. The treaty is divided into articles and clauses, ending with the terms of ratification and the signatures of the negotiators. A copy is prepared for each contracting party and the signatures follow, usually according to the principle of the alter is, the plenipotentiary from each State signs first the copy intended for the use of his own Government. After the act of ratifica tion by each of the parties there follows the formal exchange of ratifications, when the opera tion of the treaty begins. Treaties sometimes contain provisions for the accession of third par ties. Such were the Declaration of Paris in 1856, the Geneva Convention of 1868, and the Treaty of Washington of 1871.