Our friend Mons. Ferdinand de Lesseps, having called our attention to the advantages which would result to Egypt from the junction of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, by a navigable passage for large vessels, and having given us to understand the possibility of forming a company for this purpose composed of capitalists of all nations; we have accepted the arrangements which he has submitted to us, and by these presents grant him exclusive power for the establishment and direction of a Universal Company, for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, and the construction of a canal between the two Seas, with authority to undertake or cause to be undertaken all the necessary works and erections, on condition that the Company shall previously indemnify all private persons in case of dispossession for the public benefit. And all within the limits, upon the conditions and under the responsibilities, settled in the following Articles. ARTICLE I. Mons. Ferdinand de Lesseps shall form a company, the direction of which we confide to him, under the name of the UNIVERSAL SUEZ MARITIME CANAL COMPANY, for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, the construction of a passage suitable for extensive navigation, the foundation or appropriation of two sufficient entrances, one from the Mediterranean and the other from the Red Sea, and the establishment of one or two ports. ARTICLE II. The Director of the Company shall be always appointed by the Egyptian Government, and selected, as far as practicable, from the shareholders most interested in the undertaking. ARTICLE III. The term of the grant is ninety-nine years, commencing from the day of the opening of the Canal of the two Seas. ARTICLE IV. The works shall be executed at the sole cost of the Company, and all the necessary land not belonging to private persons shall be granted to it free of cost. The fortifications which the Government shall think proper to establish shall not be at the cost of the Company. ARTICLE V. The Egyptian Government shall receive from the Company annually fifteen per cent. of the net profits shown by the balance sheet, without prejudice to the interest and dividends accruing from the shares which the Government reserves the right of taking upon its own account at their issue, and without any guarantee on its part either for the execution of the works or for the operations of the Company; the remainder of the net profits shall be divided as follows:—Seventy-five per cent. to the benefit of the Company, ten per cent. to the benefit of the members instrumental to its foundation. ARTICLE VI. The tariffs of dues for the passage of the Canal of Suez, to be agreed upon between the Company and the Viceroy of Egypt, and collected by the Company’s agents, shall be always equal for all nations; no particular advantage can ever be stipulated for the exclusive benefit of any one country. ARTICLE VII.