this particular, it is declared that those places only are besieged or blockaded which are actually attacked by a belligerent force capable of preventing the entry of the neutral.

ARTICLE XVIII.

goods are contra

The articles of contraband before enumerated and classified which may be found in a vessel bound for an enemy's port, shall Mode of proceeding be subject to detention and confiscation, leaving free the when only part of the rest of the cargo and the ship, that the owners may dispose band. of them as they see proper. No vessel of either of the two nations shall be detained on the high seas on account of having on board articles of contraband, whenever the master, captain, or supercargo of said vessel will deliver up the articles of contraband to the captor, unless the quantity of such articles be so great and of so large a bulk that they cannot be received on board the capturing ship without great inconvenience; but in this and in all other cases of just detention the vessel detained shall be sent to the nearest convenient and safe port for trial and judgment according to law.

ARTICLE XIX.

Blockades and sieges.

And whereas it frequently happens that vessels sail for a port or place belonging to an enemy without knowing that the same is besieged, 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 the commanding officer 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 of the parties, that may have entered into such port or place 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 and surrender, shall such vessel or her cargo be liable to confiscation, but they shall be restored to the owners thereof.

ARTICLE XX.

Right of visitation

In order to prevent all kind of disorder in the visiting and examination of the ships and cargoes of both the contracting parties on the high seas, they have agreed, mutually, that whenever and search. a vessel of war, public or private, shall meet with a neutral of the other contracting party, the first shall remain out of cannon-shot, and may send its 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 ships shall be responsible, with their persons and property; for which purpose, the commanders 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.

ARTICLE XXI.

To avoid all kind of vexation and abuse in the examination of the

Ship's papers

in papers relating to the ownership of the vessels belonging case of a war. 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 ships and vessels belonging to the citizens 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 ap pear that the ship really and truly belongs to the citizens of one of the parties. They have likewise agreed, that such ships, 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 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 which requisites said vessel may be 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 equivalent.

Convoys.

ARTICLE XXII.

It is further agreed that the stipulations above expressed relative to the visiting and examination of vessels shall apply only to those which sail without convoy; and when said vessels shall be under convoy, the verbal declaration of the commander of the convoy, on 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 no contraband goods on board, shall be sufficient.

Prize courts.

ARTICLE XXIII.

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 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 reasons or motives on which the same shall have been founded; and an authenticated copy of the sentence or decree, and of all the proceedings in the case, shall, if demanded, be delivered to the commander or agent of said vessel without any delay, he paying the legal fees for the same.

ters of marque.

ARTICLE XXIV.

Whenever one of the contracting parties shall be engaged in war Commissions or let- with another State, no citizen of the other contracting party shall accept a commission or letter of marque for the purpose of assisting or co-operating hostilely with the said enemy against the said party so at war, under the pain of being treated as a pirate.

Case of war be.

ARTICLE XXV.

If by any fatality, which cannot be expected, and which God forbid, the two contracting parties should be engaged in a war tween the contract with each other, they have agreed, and do agree, now for then, that there shall be allowed the term of six months to the merchants residing on the coasts and in the ports of each other, and

ing nations.

the term of one year to those who dwell in the interior, to arrange their business and transport their effects wherever they please, giving to them the safe-conduct necessary for it, which may serve as a sufficient protection until they arrive at the designated port. The citizens of all other occupations who may be established in the territories or dominions of the United States of America and of the Republic of Guatemala shall be respected and maintained in the full enjoyment of their personal liberty and property, unless their particular conduct shall cause them to forfeit this protection, which, in consideration of humanity, the contracting parties engage to give them.

ARTICLE XXVI.

Debts, &c., in case

Neither the debts due from individuals of the one nation to individuals of the other, nor shares nor moneys which they may have in public funds or in public or private banks, shall of war. ever, in any event of war or of national difference, be sequestered or confiscated.

ARTICLE XXVII.

Exemptions of Envoys, &c.

Both the contracting parties, being desirous of avoiding all inequality in relation to their public communications and official intercourse, have agreed, and do agree, to grant to the Envoys, Ministers, and other public agents the same favours, immunities, and exemptions which those of the most favoured nation do or shall enjoy ; it being understood that whatever favours, immunities, or privileges the United States of America or the Republic of Guatemala may find it proper to give the Ministers and public agents of any other Power, shall, by the same act, be extended to those of each of the contracting par

ties.

ARTICLE XXVIII.

Consuls and Vice

To make more effectual the protection which the United States of America and the Republic of Guatemala shall afford in future to the navigation and commerce of the citizens of each Consuls. other, they agree to receive and admit Consuls and Vice-Consuls in all the ports open to foreign commerce, who shall enjoy in them all the rights, prerogatives, and immunities of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the most favoured nation; each contracting party, however, remaining at liberty to except those ports and places in which the admission and residence of such Consuls and Vice-Consuls may not seem convenient.

ARTICLE XXIX.

Consuls, &c., to exhibit their com. missions and to receive an exequatur.

In order that the Consuls and Vice Consuls of the two contracting parties may enjoy the rights, prerogatives, and immunities which belong to them by their public character, they shall, before entering on the exercise of their functions, exhibit their commission or patent in due form to the Government to which they are accredited; and, having obtained their exequatur, they shall be held and considered as such by all the authorities, magistrates, and inhabitants in the consular district in which they reside.

ARTICLE XXX.

It is likewise agreed that the Consuls, their secretaries, officers, and

Consuls and their persons attached to the service of Consuls, they not being secretaries, &c. citizens of the country in which the Consul resides, shall be exempt from all public service, and also from all kind of taxes, imposts, and contributions, except those which they shall be obliged to pay on account of commerce or their property, to which the citizens and inhabitants, native and foreign, of the country in which they reside, are subject; being in everything besides subject to the laws of the respective States. The archives and papers of the consulate shall be respected inviolably, and under no pretext whatever shall any magistrate seize or in any way interfere with them.

Deserters.

ARTICLE XXXI.

The said Consuls shall have power to require the assistance of the authorities of the country for the arrest, detention, and custody of deserters from the public and private vessels of their country, and for that purpose they shall address themselves to the courts, judges, and officers competent, and shall demand the said deserters in writing, proving by an exhibition of the registers of the vessel's or ship's roll, or other public documents, that those men were part of the said crews; and on this demand, so proved, (saving, however, where the contrary is proved,) the delivery shall not be refused. Such deserters, when arrested, shall be put at the disposal of the said Consuls, and may be put in the public prisons, at the request and expense of those who reclaim them, to be sent to the ships to which they belonged, or to others of the same nation. But if they be not sent back within two months, to be counted from he day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall be no more arrested for the same cause.

Con ular convention.

ARTICLE XXXII.

For the purpose of more effectually protecting their commerce and navigation, the two contracting parties do hereby agree, as soon hereafter as circumstances will permit, to form a consular convention, which shall declare specially the powers and immunities of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the respective parties.

ARTICLE XXXIII.

The United States of America and the Republic of Guatemala, desiring to make as durable as circumstances will permit the relations which are to be established between the two parties by virtue of this treaty or general convention of peace, amity, commerce, and navigation, have declared solemnly, and do agree to, the following points:

1st. The present treaty shall remain in full force and virtue for the term of twelve years, to be counted from the day of the exDuration of treaty. change of the ratifications, and further until the end of one year after either of the contracting parties shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same; each of the contracting parties reserving to itself the right of giving such notice to the other at the end of said term of twelve years. And it is hereby agreed between them, that on the expiration of one year after such notice shall have been received by either from the other party, this treaty, in all its parts relative to commerce and navigation, shall altogether cease and determine, and in all those parts which relate to peace and friendship it shall be perpetually binding on both Powers.

2dly. If any one or more of the citizens of either party shall infringe any of the articles of this treaty, such citizens shall be held personally responsible for the same, and the harmony and good correspondence between the nations shall not be interrupted thereby; each party engaging in no way to protect the offender or sanction such violation.

1s declared.

3dly. If (which indeed cannot be expected) unfortunately any of the articles contained in the present treaty shall be violated or Satisfaction to be infringed in any other way whatever, it is expressly stipu- daanded he tore wat lated that neither of the contracting parties will order or authorize any acts of reprisal, nor declare war against the other, on complaints of injuries or damages, until the said party considering itself offended shall first have presented to the other a statement of such injuries or damages, verified by competent proof, and demanded justice and satisfaction, and the same shall have been either refused or unreasonably delayed.

4thly. Nothing in this treaty contained shall, however, be construed or operate contrary to former and existing public treaties with other sovereigns or States.

Ratifications.

The present treaty of peace, amity, commerce, and navigation shall be approved and ratified by the President of the United States of America by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the Government of the Republic of Guatemala, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Washington or Guatemala within eighteen months, counted from the date of the signature hereof, or sooner if possible.

In faith whereof we, the Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and of the Republic of Guatemala, have signed and sealed these presents, in the city of Guatemala, this third day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.