Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 8.djvu/432

 420 TREATY WITH MEXICO. 1831. same is besieged, blockaded, or invested, it is agreed that every vessel so situated 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 the commanding officer of the blockading force, she should again attempt to enter the aforesaid port; but she shall be permitted to go to _F,-6,, egress any other port or place she may think proper. Nor shall any vessel of Rllowed i¤ M- either of the contracting parties, that may have entered into such port '“" °“°“‘ before the same was actually besieged, blocltaded, or invested by the other, be restrained from quitting such place with her cargo; nor if found therein after the surrender, shall such vessel or her cargo be liable to confiscation, but she shall he restored to the owner thereofi Em,,,,,,,,,,,,., Aa·r1cr.s XXII. In order to prevent all kinds of disorder in the visitafvossels at ing and examination of the vessels and cargoes of both the contracting ¤°¤· parties on the high seas, they have agreed, mutually, that, whenever a vessel of war, 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. Ono ohm Aarrcnn XXIII. To avoid all kinds of vexation and abuse in the parties being examination of papers relating to the ownership of vessels belonging to ¤¤g¤tY1¢d¥¤2*¤¤‘» the citizens of the two contracting parties, they have agreed, and do Xffgf fo°b°‘pf°_ agree, that in case one of them should be engaged in war, the vessels med wm, W, belonging to the citizens of the other must be furnished with sea-letters l¤¤¢r¤. &¤· 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 sealetters 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 oflicers of the place whence the vessel sailed, in the accustomed form: lt not so pro- without which requisites, the said vessel may be detained, to be adjudged to the satisfaction of the competent tribunal. Vessels under Awrtens XXIV. It is further agreed, that the stipulations above ex— ¤¤nv<>v· pressed, relative to 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 ol' 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 no contraband goods on board, shall be sufficient. pm., ,,,,um,_ Aivrrcnn XXV. It is further agreed, that in all cases the established courts for prize causes, in the country to which the prizes may be conducted, shall alone take cognizance of them. And whenever such
 * l¢!¢g» Lg? [ l by the competent tribunal, and may be declared legal prize, unless the
 * ,;l;,_g "“' ° said defect shall be satisfied or supplied by testimony entirely equivalent