PROPOSED AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY AND THE FILIPINO COLONY * Wuereas the BIB. leases ond sells lands under the conditions that shall be mentioned below and the Filipinos wish to negotiate with the State to lease or buy the said lands; Watneas the settlement that the Filipinos wish to found will not be a mere agricultural colony that will be with- drawn after a fixed time but a permanent settlement that will increase, multiply, with time, establish towns and develop in every way externally and internally for its political and commercial needs; Waeneas for its regular development a people not only needs lands but also liberty whose routes must be foreseen and assured beforehand so that in the course of its evolu- tionary advancement there may not arise struggles and dis- turbances of fatal consequences for all; ‘Wueneas the B.N.B. as well as the Filipino Colony are until the present two entities free and independent of each other and have the firm desire to live forever in the most cordial relations in order to attain the common result de- sired by both parties, which is the cultivation of the lands of the State and the creation of a free people, independent and happy; ‘Tuererone, the representatives of the B.N-B. Company and of the Filipino Colony have agreed to sign the following agreement that shall govern the relations of the Colony with the State, an agreement sanctioned by the Govern- 1Drafted in Spanish by Rizal. y juramento322 ment of England as the protector of that State, accepted and recognized by both parties and shall be observed and recognized by their descendants and successors: I. No clause of the present agreement can be abolished, altered, or modified without the free and spontaneous con- sent of both parties after prior consultation with the com- munity. I. No new clause can be introduced without the free and spontaneous consent of both parties after prior consultation with the community. Ill. Every violation of any of the clauses shall be tried by a jury named by both communities or shall be submitted to the decision of the Government of England. IV. The lands of the Colony shall comprise all those that it may buy or may devote to farming, as well as those in which are found their towns, pastures, including rivers running through them as well as the coasts, if they are found on the seashore. V. The towns that the Colony shall found will be gov- erned and guided by their own customs and laws. They shall be administered and defended by themselves under the protectorate of the B.N.B. with the same conditions under which this State is protected by His Majesty's Gov- ernment according to the Treaty of 12 May 1882. V1. As an aid to the expenses of the State, conjointly the members of the Culony shall pay the alcohol and ‘opium taxes in accordance with the custom throughout the State, and in case-of further needs, the members of the Colony cannot be compelled to perform services greater than those required of the English subjects of the State under the same circumstances and conditions. VII. The crimes and offenses that may be committed within the lands of the Colony shall be decided by the judges and jury that it may designate.323 VII. No member of the Colony can be compelled to serve in the army nor to work gratis, except in cases when the independence of the territory is endangered. IX. The State of the BB. leases cleared and waste lands, prepares dwellings, and provides food for three months on condition that, in the second and succeeding years, it shall be given half a picul of abaca per acre or an equivalent value in sugar, tobacco, etc. X. The houses that the Company may build for the settlers shall be paid for at the end of the year. XI. In case the settlers wish to buy lands the State shall sell them for 999 years after which the property shall revert to the Company. XIL. Hereafter, if a settler wishes to buy from the Com- pany the ownership of the land he cultivates, the Company shall agree to sell it after the evaluation of the land and deducting the value of the improvements made by the settler. XIIL The members of the Colony have complete liberty to open ditches, canals, to build barricades and other works for agricultural purposes even within the lands that they lease from the Company. XIV. Every further modidication or improvement of this agreement needs the ratification of the authorities of the Colony and the directors of the Company. ‘The witnesses and representatives of both parties have signed this document in duplicate and the Government of London has ratified it.