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tice, by the magistrates of cities respectively, where it shall be judged that there is any room to complain in this respect.(1)

793. There shall be an entire and perfect liberty of conscience allowed to the subjects and inhabitants of each party, and to their families, and no one shall be molested in regard to his worship, provided he submits, as to the public demonstration of it, to the laws of the country. There shall be given, moreover, liberty, when any subjects or inhabitants of either party shall die in the territory of the other, to bury them in the usual burying places, or in decent and convenient grounds to be appointed for that purpose, as occasion shall require; and the dead bodies of those who are buried, shall not in any wise be molested. And the two contracting parties shall provide, each one in his jurisdiction, that their respective subjects and inhabitants may henceforward obtain the requisite certificates of deaths in which they shall be interested.(2)

794. Their high mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands and the United States of America shall endeavour, by all the means in their power, to defend and protect all vessels and other effects, belonging to their subjects and inhabitants respectively, or to any of them, in their ports, roads, havens, internal seas, passes, rivers, and as far as their jurisdiction extends at sea, and to recover, and cause to be restored to the true proprietors, their agents or attorneys, all such vessels and effects, which shall be taken under their jurisdiction: and their vessels of war and convoys, in cases when they may have a common enemy, shall take under their protection all the vessels belonging to the subjects and inhabitants of either party, which shall not be laden with contraband goods, according to the description which shall be made of them hereafter, for places with which one of the parties is in peace and the other at war, nor destined for any place blockaded, and which shall hold the same course, or follow the same route; and they shall defend such vessels as long as they shall hold the same course or follow the same route, against all attacks, force, and violence of the common enemy, in the same manner as they ought to protect and defend the vessels belonging to their own respective subjects.(3)

795. The subjects of the contracting parties may, on one side and on the other, in the respective countries and states, dispose of their effects, by testament, donation, or otherwise; and their heirs, subjects of one of the parties, and residing in the country of the other, or elsewhere, shall receive such successions, even ab intestato, whether in person, or by their attorney or substitute, even although they shall not have obtained letters of naturalization, without having the effect of such commission contested, under pretext of any rights or prerogatives of any province, city, or private person: and if the heirs, to whom such successions may have fallen, shall be minors, the tutors or curators, established by the judge domiciliary of the said minors, may govern, direct, administer, sell and alienate the effects fallen to the said minors by inheritance, and in general, in relation to the said successions and effects, use all the rights, and fulfil all the functions which belong, by the disposition of the laws, to guardians, tutors, and curators: Provided, nevertheless, That this disposition cannot take place but in cases where the testator shall not have named guardians, tutors, curators, by testament, codicil, or other legal instrument.(4)

796. It shall be lawful and free for the subjects of each party, to employ

(1) Treaty of 1782, art. 28.

(2) Ibid. art. 4.

(3) Ibid. art. 5.
(4) Ibid. art. 6.

such advocates, attorneys, notaries, solicitors, or factors, as they shall judge proper.(1)

797. Merchants, masters, and owners of ships, mariners, men of all kinds, ships and vessels, and all merchandises and goods in general, and effects of one of the confederates, or of the subjects thereof, shall not be seized, or detained in any of the counties, lands, islands, cities, places, ports, shores, or dominions whatsoever of the other confederate, for any military expedition, public or private use of any one, by arrests, violence, or any colour thereof; much less shall it be permitted to the subjects of either party, to take or exfort by force, any thing from the subjects of the other party, without the consent of the owner; which, however, is not to be understood of seizures, detentions, and arrests, which shall be made by the command and authority of justice, and by the ordinary methods, on account of debts or crimes; in respect whereof, the proceedings must be by way of law, according to the forms of justice.(2)

798. It is further agreed and concluded, that it shall be wholly free for all merchants, commanders of ships, and other subjects and inhabitants of the contracting parties, in every place, subject to the jurisdiction of the two powers respectively, to manage themselves their own business; and moreover, as to the use of interpreters or brokers, as also in relation to the loading or unloading of their vessels, and every thing which has relation thereto, they shall be, on one side and on the other, considered and treated upon the footing of natural subjects, or, at least, upon an equality with the most favoured nation.(3)

799. And that more effectual care may be taken for the security of subjects and people of either party, that they do not suffer molestation from the vessels of war or privateers of the other party, it shall be forbidden to all commanders of vessels of war, and other armed vessels of the said States General of the United Netherlands, and the said United States of America, as well as to all their officers, subjects, and people, to give any offence or do any damage to those of the other party; and if they act to the contrary, they shall be, upon the first complaint which shall be made of it, being found guilty after a just examination, punished by their proper judges, and moreover obliged to make satisfaction for all damages and interests thereof, by reparation, under pain and obligation of their persons and goods.(4)

800. For further determining of what has been said, all captains of privateers, or fitters-out of vessels armed for war, under commission and on account of private persons, shall be held, before their departure, to give suf ficient caution, before competent judges, either to be entirely responsible for the malversations which they may commit in their cruises or voyages, as well as for the contraventions of their captains and officers against the present treaty, and against the ordinances and edicts which shall be published in consequence of, and conformity to it, under pain of forfeiture and nullity of the said commission.(5)

801. All vessels and merchandises of whatsoever nature, which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates or robbers, navigating the high seas without requisite commissions, shall be brought into some port of one of the two states, and deposited in the hands of the officers of that port, in order to be restored entire to the true proprietor, as soon as due and sufficient proofs shall be made concerning the property thereof.(6)

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802. If any ships or vessels, belonging to either of the parties, their subjects or people, shall, within the coasts or dominions of the other, stick upon the sands, or be wrecked, or suffer any other sea damage, all friendly assistance and relief shall be given to the persons shipwrecked, or such as shall be in danger thereof; and the vessels, effects, and merchandises, or the part of them which shall have been saved, or the proceeds of them, if, being perishable, they shall have been sold, being claimed within a year and a day by the masters or owners, or their agents or attorneys, shall be restored, paying only the reasonable charges, and that which must be paid, in the same case, for the salvage, by the proper subjects of the country: there shall also be delivered them, safe conducts or passports, for their free and safe passage from thence, and to return, each one, to his own country.(1)

803. In case the subjects or people 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, creeks, bays, ports, roads, or shores, belonging to the other party, they shall be received with all humanity and kindness, and enjoy all friendly protection and help, and they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves, at reasonable rates, with victuals, and all things needful for the sustenance of their persons, or reparation of their ships; and they shall no ways be detained or 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)

804. For the better promoting of commerce on both sides, it is agreed that if a war should break out between their high mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands and the United States of America, there shall always be granted to the subjects on each side, the term of nine months after the date of the rupture, or the proclamation of war, to the end that they may retire, with their effects, and to transport them where they please, which it shall be lawful for them to do, as well as to sell or transport their effects and goods, in all freedom, and without any hinderance, and without being able to proceed, during the said term of nine months, to any arrest of their effects, much less of their persons; on the contrary, there shall be given them, for their vessels and their effects, which they would carry away, passports and safe conducts for the nearest ports of their respective countries, and for the time necessary for the voyage. And no prize made at sea shall be adjudged lawful, at least if the declaration of war was not or could not be known, in the last port which the vessel taken has quitted, but for whatever may have been taken from the subjects and inhabitants of either party, and for the offences which may have been given them, in the interval of the said terms, a complete satisfaction shall be given them.(3)

805. 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 any of them, from any prince or state with which the 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

(1) Treaty of 1782, art. 16. (2) Ibid. art. 17.

(3) Ibid. art. 18.

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.(1)

806. If the vessels of the 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 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 pass more than two or three men, to whom the master or commander shall exhibit his passport, containing the property of the vessel, according to the form annexed to this treaty and the vessel, after having exhibited such a passport, sea letter, and other documents, shall be free to continue her voyage, so that it shall not be lawful to molest her, or search her in any manner, nor to give her chase, nor to force her to alter her course.(2)

807. It shall be lawful for merchants, captains, and commanders of vessels, whether public 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 subject for this, to any fine, penalty, punishment, process, or reprehension whatsoever.(3)

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 denomination 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, under pain of being otherwise treated and punished as deserters.(4)

808. The liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all sorts of merchandises, excepting only those which are distinguished under the name of contraband, or merchandises prohibited, and under this denomination of contraband and merchandises 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 balls, pikes, sabres, lances, halberds, casques, cuirasses, and other sorts of arms; as also soldiers, horses, saddles and furniture for horses; all other effects and merchandises 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 merchandises, 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

(1) Treaty of 1782, art. 19.

(2) Ibid. art. 26.

(3) Ibid. art. 27.
(4) Ibid. Ibid.

and to places belonging to the enemy; excepting only the places which at the same 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.(1)

809. 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 passports, expressing the name, the property, and the burden of the vessel, as also the name and the place 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 subjects or inhabitants of one of the parties; which passports 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 passport 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.(2)

It has also been agreed, that such vessels being loaded, ought to be provided not only with the said passports or sea letters, but also with a general passport, or with particular passports or manifests, or other public documents, 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 documents, 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.(3)

810. 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.(4)

811. If the vessel recaptured has been more than twenty-four hours in the power of the enemy, she shall belong entirely to the vessel which has retaken her.(5)

812. 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 distributed in form of gratifications to the crews of the vessels which shall have retaken her. The valuation of the said thirtieth parts and

(1) Treaty of 1782, Art. 24.

(2) Ibid. Art. 25.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Convention of Oct. 8, 1782, Art. 1. (5) Ibid. Art. 2.

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