Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

ries, agents, and factors, as they may judge proper, in all their affairs, and in all their trials at law, in which they may be concerned, before the tribunals of the other party; and such agents shall have free access to be present at the proceedings in such causes, and at the taking of all examinations and evidence which may be exhibited in the said trials.(1)

773. In case the subjects and inhabitants of either party, with their shipping, whether public and of war, or private and of merchants, be forced, through stress of weather, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other urgent necessity, for seeking of shelter and harbour, to retreat and enter into any of the rivers, bays, roads or ports, belonging to the other party, they shall be received and treated with all humanity, and enjoy all favour, protection, and help, and they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves, at reasonable rates, with victuals and all things needful for the subsistence of their persons, or reparation of their ships, and prosecution of their voyage; and they shall no ways be hindered from returning out of the said ports or roads, but may remove and depart when and whither they please, without any let or hinderance.(2)

774. All ships and merchandise, of what nature soever, which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates or robbers, on the high seas, shall be brought into some port of either state, and shall be delivered to the custody of the officers of that port, in order to be taken care of, and restored entire to the proprietor, as soon as due and sufficient proof shall be made concerning the property thereof.(3)

775. When any vessel of either party shall be wrecked, foundered, or otherwise damaged, on the coasts or within the dominion of the other, their respective subjects or citizens shall receive, as well for themselves as for their vessels and effects, the same assistance which would be done to the inhabitants of the country where the damage happens, and shall pay the same charges and dues only as the said inhabitants would be subject to pay in a like case and if the operations of repair should require that the whole or any part of the cargo be unladen, they shall pay no duties, charges, or fees, on the part which they shall relade and carry away.(4)

776. The citizens and subjects of each party shall have power to dispose of their personal goods, within the jurisdiction of the other, by testament, donation, or otherwise, and their representatives being subjects or citizens of the other party, shall succeed to their said personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestato, and they may take possession thereof, either by themselves or others acting for them, and dispose of the same at their will, paying such dues only as the inhabitants of the country, wherein the said goods are, shall be subject to pay in like cases.(5)

And in case of the absence of the representative, such care shall be taken of the said goods, as would be taken of the goods of a native in like case, until the lawful owner may take measures for receiving them. And if questions shall arise among several claimants to which of them the said goods belong, the same shall be decided finally by the laws and judges of the land wherein the said goods are. And where, on death of any person holding real estate within the territories of the one party, such real estate would, by the laws of the land, descend on a citizen or subject of the other, were he not disqualified by being an alien, such subject shall be allowed a reasonable time to sell the same, and to withdraw the proceeds without molestation, and

(1) Treaty of 1795, Art. 7.

(2) Ibid. Art. 8.

(3) Ibid. Art. 9.

(4) Ibid. Art. 10.
(5) Ibid. Art. 11.

228

exempt from all rights of detraction on the part of the government of the respective states.(1)

777. It is also agreed, that the inhabitants of the territories of each party shall respectfully have free access to the courts of justice of the other, and they shall be permitted to prosecute suits for the recovery of their properties, the payment of their debts, and for obtaining satisfaction for the damages which they may have sustained, whether the persons whom they may sue be subjects or citizens of the country in which they may be found, or any persons whatsoever who may have taken refuge therein; and the proceedings and sentences of the said courts shall be the same as if the contending parties had been subjects or citizens of the said country.(2)

778. The two high contracting parties, hoping that the good correspondence and friendship which happily reigns between them, will be further increased by this treaty, and that it will contribute to augment their prosperity and opulence, will, in future, give to their mutual commerce all the extension and favour which the advantages of both countries may require.(3)

779. No other or greater duty of tonnage shall be levied in the ports of the United States on vessels owned wholly by subjects of Spain, coming from a port in Spain, than shall, by the secretary of the treasury be ascertained to have been paid on American vessels in the ports of Spain previous to the twentieth October, one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.(4)

780. Vessels owned wholly by Spanish subjects, coming from any of the colonies of Spain, either directly or after touching at any other port or place, shall pay, in the ports of the United States, the same rate of duty on tonnage that shall be levied on American vessels in the Spanish colonial port from whence such Spanish vessel shall have last departed; the said amount to be ascertained by the secretary of the treasury, who is hereby authorized, from time to time, to give directions to the officers of the customs of the United States for the collection of such duties, so as to conform the said duties to any variation that may take place in the duties levied on American vessels in such Spanish ports.(5)

781. From and after the first day of March next, Spanish vessels coming from the Island of Cuba, or Porto Rico, either directly or after touching at any port or place, shall pay in the ports of the United States such further tonnage duty in addition to the tonnage duty which may be payable under any other law as shall be equivalent to the amount of discriminating duty that would have been imposed on the cargoes imported in the said vessels, respectively; if the same had been exported from the port of Havana in American bottoms :(6)

Before any such vessel shall be permitted to clear out or depart from a port of the United States with a cargo which shall be directly or indirectly destined to either of the said islands, the said vessel shall pay such further tonnage duty as shall be equivalent to the amount of discriminating duty that would be payable for the time being upon the cargo if imported into the port of Havana, in an American bottom :(7)

782. No Spanish vessel shall be allowed to clear out or depart from a port of the United States, with any goods, wares or merchandise, except upon a destination to some port or place, in the island of Cuba or Porto Rico, without giving bond with approved security in double the value of the vessel and cargo, that the said cargo or any part thereof shall not be landed in

(1) Treaty of 1795, Art. 11.

(2) Ibid. Art. 20.

(3) Ibid. Art. 22.

(4) Act July 13th, 1832, sec. 1.

(5) Ibid. sec. 2.

(6) Act 30th June, 1834, sec. 1.
(7) Ibid. sec. 2.

either of the said islands—which bond shall be cancelled on producing of certificate from an American consul that the said cargo has been landed elsewhere, bona fide and without intention to reship it for a port in one of the said islands :(1)

783. The secretary of the treasury is hereby authorized from time to time to estimate the said additional tonnage duty, and to give directions to the officers of the customs of the United States for the collections of such duties so as to conform the same to any variation which may take place in the discriminating duties levied on the cargoes of American vessels in the said port of Havana :(2)

784. Whenever the president of the United States shall be satisfied, that the discriminating duties in favour of Spanish bottoms levied upon cargoes of American vessels in the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico have been abolished, or whenever in his opinion a satisfactory arrangement upon the subject of the said duties shall have been made between the United States and Spain, the president is hereby authorized to declare the same by proclamation, and thereupon this act shall cease to have any further force or effect.(3)

[blocks in formation]

Articles 22 and 23 of the treaty of 1782 are omitted from the text. The former provided that this treaty should not derogate from certain articles of the treaty with France, of 6th February, 1778; and the latter, for the aid of the Netherlands to the United States in forming treaties with the Barbary powers.

230

[blocks in formation]

If one party be at war the vessels
of the other to be provided with
sea letters, and passports, or mani-
809
fests
Restoration of recaptured vessels— ✔
provision for

810

[blocks in formation]

ART. 785. There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace and sincere friendship, between their high mightinesses, the lords, the States General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America, and between the subjects and inhabitants of the said parties, and between the countries, islands, cities, and places, situated under the jurisdiction of the said United Netherlands, and the said United States of America, their subjects and inhabitants, of every degree, without exception of persons or places.(1)

786. The subjects of the said States General of the United Netherlands, shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities, or places, of the United States of America, or any of them, and the subjects and inhabitants of the said United States of America, shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities, or places of the said United Netherlands, or any of them, no other nor greater duties or imposts of whatever nature or denomination they may be, than those which the nations the most favoured are or shall be obliged to pay: and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and exemptions in trade, navigation, and commerce, which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another in the said states, or from any one towards any one of those ports, And the United States of Amefrom or to any foreign port of the world. rica, with their subjects and inhabitants, shall leave to those of their high mightinesses, the peaceable enjoyment of their rights, in the countries, islands, and seas, in the East and West Indies, without any hinderance or molestation.(2)

787. The merchant ships of either of the parties, coming from the port of an enemy, or from their own, or a neutral port, may navigate freely towards any port of an enemy of the other ally: they shall be, nevertheless, held, whenever it shall be required, to exhibit, as well upon the high seas, as in the ports, their sea letters, and other documents, described in the twenty-fifth article, stating expressly that their effects are not of the number of those which are prohibited as contraband: and not having any contraband goods for an enemy's port, they may freely and without hinderance, pursue their Nevertheless, it shall not be retowards the port of an enemy. voyage quired to examine the papers of vessels convoyed by vessels of war, but credence shall be given to the word of the officer who shall conduct the convoy.(3)

788. If, by exhibiting the sea letters, and other documents, described more particularly in the twenty-fifth article of this treaty, the other party shall discover there are any of those sorts of goods, which are declared prohibited

(1) Treaty of 1782, Art. 1.
(2) Ibid. Art. 2, 3.

(3) Ibid. Art. 10.

and contraband, and that they are consigned for a port under the obedience of his enemy, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, nor to open any chest, coffer, packs, casks, or other vessels found therein, or to remove the smallest parcel of her goods, whether the said vessel belongs to the subjects of their high mightinesses, the States General of the United Netherlands, or to the subjects or inhabitants of the said United States of America, unless the lading be brought on shore, in presence of the officers of the court of admiralty, and an inventory thereof made, but there shall be no allowance to sell, exchange, or alienate the same, until after that due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods of contraband, and the court of admiralty, by a sentence pronounced, shall have confiscated the same, saving always as well the ship itself, as any other goods found therein, which are to be esteemed free, and may not be detained on pretence of their being infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall be confiscated as lawful prize: but, on the contrary, when, by the visitation at land, it shall be found that there are no contraband goods in the vessel, and it shall not appear by the papers that he who has taken and carried in the vessel has been able to discover any there, he ought to be condemned in all the charges, damages, and interests of them, which he shall have caused, both to the owners of vessels, and to the owners and freighters of cargoes, with which they shall be loaded, by his temerity in taking and carrying them in; declaring most expressly that free vessels shall assure the liberty of the effects with which they shall be loaded, and that this liberty shall extend itself equally to the persons who shall be found in a free vessel, who may not be taken out of her, unless they are military men actually in the service of an enemy.(1)

789. On the contrary, it is agreed, that whatever shall be found to be laden by the subjects and inhabitants of either party, on any ship belonging to the enemies of the other, or to their subjects, although it be not comprehended under the sort of prohibited goods, the whole may be confiscated in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy, except nevertheless such effects and merchandises as were put on board such vessel before the declaration of war, or in the space of six months after it, which effects shall not be, in any manner, subject to confiscation, but shall be faithfully and without delay restored in nature to the owners who shall claim them, or cause them to be claimed, before the confiscation and sale, as also their proceeds, if the claim could not be made but in the space of eight months after the sale, which ought to be public: Provided, nevertheless, That if the said merchandises are contraband, it shall by no means be lawful to transport them afterwards to any port belonging to enemies.(2)

790. If the vessels of the subjects or inhabitants of one of the parties come upon any coast belonging to either of the said allies, but not willing to enter into port, or being entered into port and not willing to unload their cargoes or break bulk, or take in any cargo, they shall not be obliged to pay, neither for the vessels nor their cargoes, any duties of entry in or out, nor to render any account of their cargoes, at least if there is not just cause to presume that they carry to an enemy merchandises of contraband.(3)

791. The two contracting parties grant to each other, mutually, the liberty of having each in the ports of the other, consuls, agents, and commissaries of their own appointing, whose functions shall be regulated by particular agreement, whenever either party chooses to make such appointment.(4) 792. The affair of the refraction shall be regulated in all equity and jus

(1) Treaty of 1782, Art. 11.

(2) Ib. Art. 12.

(3) Ib. Art. 20.

(4) Ib. Art. 21.

« ZurückWeiter »