The Commissions of the Danube River were authorized by the Treaty of Paris (1856) after the close of the Crimean War. One of these international commissions, the most successful, was the European Commission of the Danube, or, in French, Commission Européenne du Danube, the CED, which had authority over the three mouths of the river — the Chilia in the north, the Sulina in the middle, and the St. George in the south and which was originally designed to last for only two years. Instead, it lasted eighty-two years. A separate commission, the International Danube Commission, or IDC, was authorized to control commerce and improvements upriver beyond the Danube Delta and was supposed to be permanent, but it was not formally organized until after 1918.
International stature
The European Commission of the Danube was the first — and for a long time the only — international body to have serious police and juridical powers over private vessels and individual people, and it was seen in 1930, for example, by history professor Glen A. Blackburn of the United States as a "unique" organization.
Without territorial possessions, it is nevertheless a distinct international entity, possessing sovereignty over the broad waters of the Danube. . . . These entirely discretionary functions need the sanction of no group of nations, and there is no appeal from the edicts of the Commission.Glen A. Blackburn, "International Control of the River Danube", Current History, XXXXII (September 1930)
The lower section of the Danube, he continued, was "more than an internationalized river" because the CED wielded independent administrative powers. He concluded that the commission: falls short of being a bona fide member of the family of nations because its existence is largely de facto and not de jure. . . . It is safe to predict that the need for protecting the integrity of the commission will some day lift it out of the twilight of statehood and accord it full membership in the League of Nations.
To the contrary, Joseph L. Kunz, a professor of international law at the University of Toledo in Ohio, wrote in 1945 that international river commissions were organized on the collegiate principle, composed of "persons appointed by the contracting states, representing them and having to act in conformity with the instructions of their states." They were, he concluded, objects, not subjects, of international law."Experience and Techniques in International Administration", Iowa Law Review, XXXI (November 1945), p. 50.
Stanford University history professor Edward Krehbiel suggested in 1918 that other "international administrative agents" like the Danube Commission would eventually be created to handle specific problems. Their activities would "develop a whole body of rules which will in effect be the foundation of the super-state itself."Edward Krehbiel, "The European Commission of the Danube: An Experiment in International Administration", Political Science Quarterly, XXXIII (March 1918) The commission, he said: offers an organ through which nations can approach one another on the basis of common or united action, instead of as rivals, as is the case in an ambassadorial conference.
In regard to the CED, he noted that the tariffs were to be settled by a majority vote of the commissioners and that "Majority rule results in making law for the minority, and . . . it therefore represents a truly profound abasement of national sovereignty."
The establishments of the CED were guaranteed to be neutral (promulgated in 1865) and free of the restraints of the territorial authorities. It owned and operated a hospital for seamen of all countries, and it flew a flag ("composed of five parallel strips . . . arranged in the following order of colour: — red, white, blue, white, and red, the blue strip having a height double that of each of the other strips, and bearing in white the letters 'C.E.D.' ")Treaty of Galatz, 1881, Article VIII
Joanne Yao argues that the Danube Commission sought to connect Europe to the east, and more specifically Russia. By increasing commerce, the Danube would promote industrialization in Eastern Europe, and with it civilization. These ideals were problematized by traders coming in the opposite direction, which opened Europe to "uncivilized" outsiders.Joanne Yao, The Ideal River: How Control of Nature Shaped the International Order (2022)
Organizing
The CED began its work by fixing the seat of the commission in the port of Galatz and ordering temporary improvements of the Sulina branch. Under the chairmanship of Sir John Stokes,See his biography. Crimean War veteran of the British Royal Engineers, the commission hastened to get the job done within the two years originally allotted by the treaty. It was under a mandate to: designate and to cause to be executed the Works necessary below Isatcha, to clear the mouths of the Danube, as well as the neighbouring parts of the Sea, from the sands and other impediments which obstruct them, in order to put that part of the River and the said parts of the Sea in the best possible state for Navigation....Treaty of Paris, 1856, Article XVI It is understood that the European Commission shall have completed its task . . . within the period of two years.Treaty of Paris, 1856, Article XVIII
At the end of the two years, the powers that signed the treaty were to "pronounce the dissolution of the European Commission", and the so-called "permanent", upstream, IDC was then to extend its supervision to the Lower Danube. The latter commission was supposed to consist of Austria-Hungary, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte (Turkey), Württemberg and the two Danubian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia). The IDC did draw up an Upper Danubian Navigation Act in November 1857, but it was not accepted multilaterally because of opposition of all the powers except Austria.De Somogyi, Joseph, "The Historical Development of the Danubian Problem to the Present", Journal of Central European Affairs, VIII (April 1948)A Times of London correspondent reported on this contretemps at "The Navigation of the Danube," February 2, 1858, page 7. It was, however, applied to parts of the river by conventions between Austria, Bavaria, and Württemberg. The river-bordering states, Krehbiel stressed in his 1918 article, "were eager to get control of the river into their own hands", but the non-riparian states were "loath to lose control." As a result, the CED was constantly strengthened, and the IDC never came into power, but "was presently abandoned."Krehbiel, p. 44. See a similar statement in The Annual Register for 1871, p. 283.
The CED gradually extended its power until it became an international entity glimmering in what Blackburn called "the twilight of statehood." It expanded its functions until it was ranked "the most successful" such agency until the League of Nations. At the start, though, it had no funds, "it had no basis for an opinion as to the best way to attack the river problem; it found river traffic paralyzed." At the end of the two years, Sir Charles Hartley, war comrade of Stokes, had been appointed chief engineer (a post he was to hold for forty-nine years) but large-draft vessels were unable to sail unimpeded up the meandering river. These meager results led the powers to extend the life of the commission for another two years, over the objection of Austria.Krehbiel, p. 45. "It is another illustration of the compelling force of an international joint agent that Austria did not exercise the right she undoubtedly possessed to withdraw from the whole affair."
Finance Funds were borrowed from Turkey to pay for improvements, but they came irregularly. Sometimes the CED had to contract short-term, high-rate loans. By 1860, though, traffic had increased enough so the commission could fix a tariff and get a good amount of money. There was no opposition from the vessels, thanks to a provision in the Treaty of Paris that each of the powers had "the right to station, at all times, Two Light Vessels at the Mouths of the Danube."Treaty of Paris, Article XIX What resulted was the establishment of the CED as "an international financial agent with considerable independence . . . the novel prerogative was that it could go into the money market and contract loans."
In 1866, the commission found itself in financial trouble because of the just-ended Austro-Prussian War. But it secured money by issuing bonds, offering the river tolls as security. "To be sure, the rate of 10 per cent was high, but the significant fact is that the joint agent of the nations was developing a real identity and personality. Its venturesomeness was rewarded with complete solvency.
Public Act of 1865
On November 2, 1865, a public act signed by Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey placed the CED, its officers, works and establishments "under the protection of international law" (Article I). Two annexes were appended — one on navigation regulations and the other on a tariff of "navigation dues to be levied at the mouth of the Danube." The new tariff, principally the work of John Stokes, established a Danubian rule or Danube rule of measurement.Robert Hamilton Veitch, "Stokes, Sir John", Dictionary of National Biography, 1901–1911, London, Oxford University Press, 1920, p. 427
The unique provision of the 1865 act was that either of the two annexes could be changed by a majority vote of the commission but the changes would be automatically binding on the member nations, without need for additional consent. Duties of the officers were spelled out, neutrality of the buildings, records, and funds was ordered, and certain portions of Turkish territory were reserved for exclusive use of the CED. Its life was extended for another five years, but Russia protested that this "should be the outside limit not to be exceeded in any case."
London Conference of 1871 In 1871 at a conference in London, Russia agreed with Austria-Hungary, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Turkey to extend the commission's term for another twelve years, which coincided with the redemption period of a large loan floated in 1865.France, at war with Germany, did not send a delegate until March 13, when the fighting had ceased. The conference also: Rejected Britain's suggestion to extend the commission's jurisdiction farther up the river.The British chairman of the CED, Sir John Stokes, had "urged the British government to secure in perpetuity [West] European control over the mouths of the Danube by means of the commission." Veitch, p. 426. Agreed to a "reassembling of the Riverain Commission" — but at no set time. Gave Austria the authority to set up a toll-collecting agency at the dangerous Iron Gates section to pay for improvements there. Extended the neutrality spelled out in the Treaty of 1865 to the staff of the CED, as well as the buildings and works.
Treaty of Berlin of 1878 In 1878, Romania, which had been an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire since 1861, was admitted to an expanded CED as a free country as a result of the Treaty of Berlin (1878). It replaced Turkey as the sovereign power on the delta and was given a seat on the CED. Turkey remained a member of the body.
Russia was the winner of the Russo-Turkish War, and she took over an old strip of Bessarabia detached from her in 1856. This placed Russia again on the banks of the Danube. The other Danubian arrangements were:
The jurisdiction of the CED was extended from Isatcha to Galatz.