Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/93

 86 PUBLIU TREATIES. sieged, blockaded, or invested, it is agreed that every vessel so circumstanced may be turned away from such port or place, but shall not be detained, nor shall any part of her cargo, if not contraband, be confiscated, unless, after warning of such blockade or investment from any officer commanding a vessel of the blockading forces, she shall again attempt to enter; but she shall be permitted to go to any other port or place she shall think proper. Nor shall any vessel of either that may have entered into such port before the same was actually besieged, blockaded, or invested by the other, be restrained from quitting such place with her cargo, nor if found therein after the reduction or surrender shall such vessel or her cargo be liable to confiscation, but they shall be restored to the owners thereofl And if any vessel having thus entered the port before the blockade took place, shall take on board a cargo after the blockade be established, she shall he subject to being warned by the blockading tbrces to return to the port blockaded, and discharge the said cargo, and if after receiving the said warning the vessel shall persist in going out with the cargo, she shall be liable to the same consequences as a vessel attempting to enter a blockaded port after being warned off by the blockading forces. Anrrom XX. Examination of In order to prevent all kinds of disorder in the visiting and examina- V<=¤¤¤1¤· tion of the ships and cargoes of both the contracting parties on the high seas, they have agreed mutually, that whenever a vessel of war, public or private, shall meet with a neutral of the other contracting party, the first shall remain at the greatest distance compatible with making the visit under the circumstances of the sea and wind and the degree of suspicion attending the vessel to be visited, and shall send its smallest boat, 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 ships shall be responsible with their persons and property; for which purpose the com manders of the 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 her papers, or for any other purpose whatever. Anrrcnn XXI. Vessels to be To avoid all kind of vexation and abuse in the examination of the P1°V 1 d ¤d W 1 ¤ l1 papers relating to the ownership of the vessels belonging to the citizens p°p°"‘ and subjects of the two contracting parties, they have agreed, and do agree, that in case one of them shall be engaged in war, the ships and vessels belonging to the citizens or subjects of the other must be furnished with sea-letters or passports, expressing the name, property, and bulk of the ship, as also the name and place of habitation of the master or commander of said vessel, in order that it may thereby appear that the ship really and truly belongs to the citizens or subjects of one of the parties; they have likewise agreed, that such ships being laden, besides the said sealetters or passports, shall also be provided with certificates, containing the several particulars of the cargo, and the place whence the ship sailed, so that it may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board the same; which certificates shall be made out by the officers of the place whence the ship sailed, in the accustomed form; without such requisites said vessel may be detained, to be adjudged by the competent tribunal, and may be declared legal prizé, unless the said defect shall be proved to be owing to accident, and be satisfied or supplied by testimony entirely equivalent.