Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/489

 482 rnnme crnnmrins. public or private, should meet with a neutral vessel of the other contracting party, the first shall remain out of cannon shot, and may send his boat, with two or three men only, in order to execute the said examination of the papers concerning the ownership and cargo of the vessel, without causing the least extortion, violence, or ill treatment, for which the commanders of the said armed vessels shall be responsible with their persons and property; and for this purpose the commanders of said private armed vessels shall, before receiving their commissions, give sufficient security to answer for all the damages they may commit. And it is expressly agreed, that the neutral party shall in no case be required to go on board the examining vessel for the purpose of exhibiting his papers, or for any other purpose whatsoever. Anrrcnn XXIII. Passports ond To avoid all kinds of vexation and abuse in the examination of the °°"‘“°“*°“· papers relating to the ownership of vessels belonging to the citizens of the two contracting parties, they have agreed, and do agree, that in case one of them should be engaged in war, the vessels belonging to the citizens of the other must be furnished with ea-letters or passports, expressing the name, property, and bulk of the vessel, and also the name and place of habitation of the master or commander of said vessel, in order that it may thereby appear that the said vessel really and truly belongs to the citizens of one of the contracting parties; they have likewise agreed that such vessels being laden, besides the said sea-letters or passports, shall also be provided with certificates containing the several particulars of the cargo and the place whence the vessel sailed, so that it may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board the same, which certificate shall be made out by the officers of the place whence the vessel sailed, in the accustomed iorm; without which requisites the said vessel maybe detained,to be adjudged by the competent tribunal and may be declared legal prize, unless the said defect shall be satisfied or supplied by testimony entirely equivalentto the satisfaction of the competent tribunal. Anerrom XXIV. Vessels u n der It is further agreed, that the stipulations above expressed, relative to °°'"°7· the visiting and examination of vessels, shall apply only to those which sail without convoy; and when said vessels are under convoy, the verbal declaration of the commander of the convoy, or his word of honor, that the vessels under his protection belong to the nation whose flag he carries, and when they are bound to an enemy’s port that they have 110 contraband goods on board, shall be sufficieut. Anrrcnn XXV. Prim ¤¤¤¤¤ •¤d It is further agreed, that in all cases the established courts for prize d°°"°°“· causes, in the country to which the prizes may be conducted, shall alone take cognizance of them. And whenever such tribunal of either party shall pronounce judgment against any vessel, or goods, or property claimed by the citizens of the other party, the sentence or decree shall mention the reason or motives on which the same shall have been founded; and an authenticated copy of the sentence or decree, in conformity with the laws and usages of the country, and of all the proceedings of the case, shall, if demanded, be delivered to the commanderor algent of said vessel, without any delay, he paying the legal fees for t e same. Anrronn XXVI. Rights or resi- For the greater security of the intercourse between the citizens of ‘]°¤*·¤ l “ °**°° °*` the United States of America and of the United Mexican States, lb \¤ W"' 8g1Q0d, l10W fo\‘ then, that if there should be at any time herenffnf all