Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/543

 536 PUBLIC TREATIES. ing any contraband goods for an enemy’s port, they may freely, and without hindrance, pursue their voyage towards the port of an enemy. Nevertheless, it shall not be required to examine the papers of vessells convoyed by vessells of war, but credence shall be given to the word of the officer who shall conduct the convoy. Aarrxcra XI. PM ¤ ssdi ¤z¤ If, by exhibiting the sea-letters and other documents described more {hi," "°,';f"“g"“d particularly in the twentyffth article of this treaty, the other party °°° °° M ‘ shall discover there are any of those sorts of goods which are declared prohibited 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, easks, or other vessells found therein, or to remove the smallest parcell of her goods, whether the said vessell 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 inventary 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 itselif 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 they be confiscated as lawfull prize: But, on the contrary, when, by the visitation at land, it shall be found that there are no contraband goods in the vessell, and it shall not appear by the papers that he who has taken and carried in the vessell 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 vessells 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 cx- Frss ships msks pressly the free vessells shall assure the liberty of the effects with which f'°° 8"°d°· they shall be loaded, and that this liberty shall extend itselif equally to the persons who shall be found in a free vessell, who may not be taken out of her, unless they are military men actually in the service of an enemy. Anrrcrm XII. Neutral property On the contrary, it is agreed that whatever shall be found to be laden on •¤smy’s vssssl- 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 confis! cated in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy; except, nevertheless, such efects and merchandizes as were put on board such yessell before the declaration of war, or in the space of six months after 1t, 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 conhscation and sale, as_also their proceeds, if the claim could not be made but 1D the space of eight months after the sale, which ought to be publick: ?l‘0V1d0d, nevertheless, that if the said merohandizes are contraband, It shall by no means, be lawfull to transport them afterwards to any port belonging to enemies. Anrrom XIII. Vessels of w ar And that more effectual caremay be taken for the security of subjects ¤¤d1>¤v¤¢¤¤¤¤- and people of either_party, that they do not suffer molestation from the vessells of war or privateers of the other party, it shall be forbidden to