Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/214

 FRANCE, 1778. 207 soever. They may by testament, donation, or otherwise, dispose of their Di¤P¤¤¤l ¤¤d i¤- goods, moveable and immoveable, in favourof such persons as to them shall h°"*P“°? °f P*`°P‘ seem good, and their heirs, sulnects of the said United States, residing gg.? m mh" °°“°` whether in France or elsewhere, may succeed them ab intestat, without being obliged to obtain letters of naturalization, and without having the effect of this concession contested or impeded under pretext of any rights or prerogative of provinces, cities, or private persons; and the said heirs, whether such by particular title, or ab intestat, shall be exempt from all duty called droit de detraction, or other duty of the same kind, saving nevertheless the local rights or duties as much and as long as similar ones are not established by the United States, or any of them. The subjects of the Most Christian King shall enjoy on their part, in all the dominions of the said States, an entire and perfect reciprocity relative to the stipulations contained in the present article, but it is at the same time agreed that its contents shall not affect the laws made, or that may be made hereafter in France against emigrations which shall remain in all their force and vigour, and the United States on their part, or any of them, shall be at liberty to enact such laws relative to that matter as to them shall seem proper. Aarictn XII. The merchant ships of either of the parties which shall be making Examination of into a port belonging to the enemy of the other ally, and concerning “l“P" P°·P°'°· whose voyage and the species_of goods on board her there shall be just grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit, as well upon the high seas as in the ports and havens, not only her passports, but likewise certificates, expressly showing that her goods are not of the number of those which have been prohibited as contraband. Am·1oLn XIII. If by the exhibiting of the abovesaid certificates the other party dis- P*°°°°<“¤$¤ iu cover there are any of those sorts of goods which are prohibited aud gm;' °°“°‘“"““° declared contraband and consigned for a port under the obedience of his ' enemies, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, or to open any chest, coffers, packs, casks, or any other vessels found therein, or to remove the smallest parcels of her goods, whether such ship belongs to the subjects of France, or the iuhabitan ts of the said United States, unless the lading be brought on shore in the 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, in any manner, untill after that due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods, and the court of admiralty shall by a sentence pronounced have confiscated the same; saving always as well the ship itself as any other goods found therein, which by this treaty are to be esteemed free, neither may they be detained on pretence of their being as it were infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated, as lawful prize; but if not the whole cargo, but only part thereof, shall consist of prohibited or contraband goods, and the commander of the ship shall be ready and willing to deliver them to the captor who has discovered them, in such case the captor having received those goods shall forthwith discharge the ship, and not hinder her by any means freely to prosecute the voyage on which she was bound. But in case the contraband merchandises cannot beall received on board the vessel of the captor, then the captor may, notwithstanding the offer of delivering him the contraband goods, curry the vessel into the nearest port agreeable to what is above directed. Anriotn XIV. Ou the contrary, it is agreed that whatever shall be found to be laden · €¤¤’¤i¤¤¤ti¤¤¤· by the subjects and inhabitants of either party on any ship belonging to the enemys of the other, or to their subjects, the whole, although it