The Medallic History of the United States of America Part 26

No subject of their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands shall apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the said United States of America, or any of them, or the subjects and inhabitants of the said United States, or any of them, or against the property of the inhabitants (p. 081) of any of them, from any Prince or State with which the said United States of America may happen to be at war: nor shall any subject or inhabitant of the said United States of America, or any of them, apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the High and Mighty Lords the States-General of the United Netherlands, or against the subjects of their High Mightinesses, or any of them, or against the property of any one of them, from any Prince or State with which their High Mightinesses may be at war: And if any person of either nation shall take such commission or letters of marque, he shall be punished as a pirate.

ARTICLE XX.

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 for the cargoes, at least if there is not just cause to presume that they carry to an enemy merchandizes of contraband.

ARTICLE XXI.

The two contracting parties grant to each other, mutually, the liberty of having, each in the ports of the other, consuls, vice-consuls, agents, and commissaries, of their own appointing, whose functions shall be regulated by particular agreement, whenever either party chooses to make such appointments.

ARTICLE XXII.

This treaty shall not be understood in any manner to derogate from the ninth, tenth, nineteenth, and twenty-fourth articles of the treaty with France, as they were numbered in the same treaty, concluded the sixth of February, 1778, and which make the articles ninth, tenth, seventeenth, and twenty-second of the treaty of commerce now subsisting between the United States of America and the Crown of France; nor shall it hinder His Catholic Majesty from according to that treaty, and enjoying the advantages of said four articles.

ARTICLE XXIII.

If at any time the United States of America shall judge necessary to commence negotiations with the King or Emperor of Morocco and Fez, and with the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, or Tripoli, or with any of them, to obtain pa.s.sports for the security of their navigation in the Mediterranean Sea, their High Mightinesses promise that upon the requisition which the United States of America shall make of it, they will second such negotiations in the most favourable manner, by means of their Consuls residing near the said King, Emperor, and Regencies.

_Contraband._

ARTICLE XXIV.

The liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all sorts of merchandizes, excepting only those which are distinguished under the name of contraband, or merchandizes prohibited; (p. 082) and under this denomination of contraband and merchandizes prohibited, shall be comprehended only warlike stores and arms, as mortars, artillery, with their artifices and appurtenances, fusils, pistols, bombs, grenades, gunpowder, saltpetre, sulphur, match, bullets and b.a.l.l.s, pikes, sabres, lances, halberts, casques, cuira.s.ses, and other sorts of arms, as also soldiers, horses, saddles, and furniture for horses; all other effects and merchandizes, not before specified expressly, and even all sorts of naval matters, however proper they may be for the construction and equipment of vessels of war, or for the manufacture of one or another sort of machines of war, by land or sea, shall not be judged contraband, neither by the letter, nor according to any pretended interpretation whatever, ought they or can they be comprehended under the notion of effects prohibited or contraband: so that all effects and merchandizes, which are not expressly before named, may, without any exception, and in perfect liberty, be transported by the subjects and inhabitants of both allies, from and to places belonging to the enemy; excepting only the places which at the time shall be besieged, blocked, or invested; and those places only shall be held for such which are surrounded nearly by some of the belligerent powers.

ARTICLE XXV.

To the end that all dissention and quarrel may be avoided and prevented, it has been agreed, that in case that one of the two parties happens to be at war, the vessels belonging to the subjects or inhabitants of the other ally shall be provided with sea letters or pa.s.sports, expressing the name, the property, and the burthen of the vessel, as also the name of abode of the master, or commander of the said vessel, to the end that thereby it may appear that the vessel really and truly belongs to the subjects or inhabitants of one of the parties; which pa.s.sports shall be drawn and distributed, according to the form annexed to this treaty; each time that the vessel shall return, she should have such her pa.s.sport renewed, or at least they ought not to be of more ancient date than two years, before the vessel has been returned to her own country.

It has also been agreed that such vessels, being loaded, ought to be provided not only with the said pa.s.sports or sea letters, but also with a general pa.s.sport, or with particular pa.s.sports or manifests, or other publick doc.u.ments, which are ordinarily given to vessels outward bound in the ports from whence the vessels have set sail in the last place, containing a specification of the cargo, of the place from whence the vessel departed, and of that of her destination, or, instead of all these, with certificates from the magistrates or governors of cities, places and colonies from whence the vessel came, given in the usual form, to the end that it may be known whether there are any effects prohibited or contraband, on board the vessels, and whether they are destined to be carried to an enemy's country or not; and in case any one judges proper to express in the said doc.u.ments the persons to whom the effects on board belong, he may do it freely, without, however, being bound to do it; and the omission of such expression cannot and ought not to cause a confiscation.

ARTICLE XXVI.

If the vessels of the said subjects or inhabitants of either of the parties, sailing along the coasts or on the high seas, are met by a vessel of war, or privateer, or other armed vessel (p. 083) of the other party, the said vessels of war, privateers, or armed vessels, for avoiding all disorder, shall remain without the reach of cannon, but may send their boats on board the merchant vessel, which they shall meet in this manner, upon which they may not pa.s.s more than two or three men, to whom the master or commander shall exhibit his pa.s.sport, containing the property of the vessel, according to the form annexed to this treaty: And the vessel, after having exhibited such a pa.s.sport, sea letter, and other doc.u.ments, shall be free to continue her voyage, so that it shall not be lawful to molest her, or search her in any manner, nor give her chase, nor to force her to alter her course.

ARTICLE XXVII.

It shall be lawful for merchants, captains, and commanders of vessels, whether publick and of war, or private and of merchants, belonging to the said United States of America, or any of them, or to their subjects and inhabitants, to take freely into their service, and receive on board of their vessels, in any port or place in the jurisdiction of their High Mightinesses aforesaid, seamen or others, natives or inhabitants of any of the said States, upon such conditions as they shall agree on, without being submitted for this to any fine, penalty, punishment, process, or reprehension whatsoever.

And reciprocally, all merchants, captains, and commanders, belonging to the said United Netherlands, shall enjoy, in all the ports and places under the obedience of the said United States of America, the same privilege of engaging and receiving seamen or others, natives or inhabitants of any country of the domination of the said States-General: Provided, that neither on one side nor the other, they may not take into their service such of their countrymen who have already engaged in the service of the other party contracting, whether in war or trade, and whether they meet them by land or sea; at least if the captains or masters under the command of whom such persons may be found, will not of his own consent discharge them from their service, upon pain of being otherwise treated and punished as deserters.

ARTICLE XXVIII.

The affair of the refraction shall be regulated in all equity and justice, by the magistrates of cities respectively, where it shall be judged that there is any room to complain in this respect.

ARTICLE XXIX.

The present treaty shall be ratified and approved by their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands and by the United States of America; and the acts of ratification shall be delivered in good and due form, on one side and on the other, in the s.p.a.ce of six months, or sooner if possible, to be computed from the day of the signature.

In faith of which, we the Deputies and Plenipotentiaries of the Lords the States-General of the United Netherlands, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, in virtue of our respective authorities and full powers, have signed the present treaty and apposed thereto the seals of our arms.

Done at the Hague the eighth of October, one thousand seven (p. 084) hundred and eighty-two.

John ADAMS. [L.S.]

George VAN RANDWYCK. [L.S.]

B. V. D. SANTHEUVEL. [L.S.]

P. V. BLEISWIJK. [L.S.]

W. C. H. VAN LIJNDEN. [L.S.]

D. J. VAN HEECKEREN. [L.S.]

Joan VAN KUFFELER. [L.S.]

F: G: VAN DEDEM, TOT DEN GELDER. [L.S.]

H: TJa.s.sENS. [L.S.]

_____

_Convention between the Lords the States-General of the United Netherlands and the United States of America, concerning vessels recaptured. Concluded October 8, 1782._

The Lords the States-General of the United Netherlands and the United States of America, being inclined to establish some uniform principles with relation to prizes made by vessels of war, and commissioned by the two contracting Powers, upon their common enemies, and to vessels of the subjects of either party, captured by the enemy, and recaptured by vessels of war commissioned by either party, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

The vessels of either of the two nations recaptured by the privateers of the other, shall be restored to the first proprietor, if such vessels have not been four and twenty hours in the power of the enemy, provided the owner of the vessel recaptured pay therefor one-third of the value of the vessel, as also of that of the cargo, the cannons and apparel, which third shall be valued by agreement, between the parties interested; or, if they cannot agree thereon among themselves, they shall address themselves to the officers of the admiralty of the place where the privateer who has retaken the vessel shall have conducted her.

ARTICLE II.

If the vessel recaptured has been more than twenty-four hours in the power of the enemy, she shall belong entirely to the privateer who has retaken her.

ARTICLE III.

In case a vessel shall have been recaptured by a vessel of war belonging to the States-General of the United Netherlands, or to the United States of America, she shall be restored to the first owner, he paying a thirtieth part of the value of the ship, her cargo, cannons and apparel, if she has been recaptured in the interval of twenty-four hours, and the tenth part if she has been recaptured after the twenty-four hours, which sums shall be (p. 085) distributed in form of gratifications to the crews of the vessels which have retaken her. The valuation of the said thirtieth parts and tenth parts shall be regulated according to the tenor of the first article of the present convention.

ARTICLE IV.

The rest.i.tution of prizes, whether they may have been retaken by vessels of war or by privateers, in the mean time and until requisite and sufficient proofs can be given of the property of vessels recaptured, shall be admitted in a reasonable time, under sufficient sureties for the observation of the aforesaid articles.

ARTICLE V.