ment, with every separate cantonment of prisoners in possession of the other, which commissary shall see the prisoners as often as he pleases, shall be allowed to receive and distribute whatever comforts may be sent to them by their friends, and shall be free to make his reports in open letters to those who employ him; but if any officer shall break his parole, or any other prisoner shall escape from the limits of his cantonment after they shall have been designated to him, such individual officer or other prisoner shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article as provides for his enlargement on parole or cantonment. And it is declared, that neither the pretence that war dissolves all treaties, nor any other whatever, shall be considered as annulling or suspending this and the next preceding article; but, on the contrary, that the state of war is precisely that for which they are provided, and during which they are to be as sacredly observed as the most acknowledged articles in the law of nature and nations. ARTICLE XXV. the dominions of the The two contracting parties have granted to each other the liberty of having each in the ports of the other Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Consuls, &c., alAgents, and Commissaries of their own appointment, who owed to reside shall enjoy the same privileges and powers as those of the two parties. most favoured nations; but if any such Consuls shall exercise commerce, they shall be submitted to the same laws and usages to which the private individuals of their nation are submitted in the same place. ARTICLE XXVI. If either party shall hereafter grant to any other nation any particular favour in navigation or commerce, it shall immediately become common to the other party, freely, where it is freely granted to such other nation, or on yielding the same compensation, when the grant is conditional. ARTICLE XXVII. Favours granted to others to be extended to the parties. Limitation of the His Majesty the King of Prussia and the United States of America agree that this treaty shall be in force during the term of ten years from the exchange of the ratifications; and if the treaty. expiration of that term should happen during the course of a war between them, then the articles before provided for the regulation of their conduct during such a war shall continue in force until the conclusion of the treaty which shall restore peace. This treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifications exchanged within one year from the day of its signature, or sooner if possible. In testimony whereof, the Plenipotentiaries before mentioned have hereto subscribed their names and affixed their seals. Done at Berlin, the eleventh of July, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. CHARLES WILLIAM COMTE DE FINKENSTEIN. [L. S.] L. S. L. S. CHRETIEN HENRI CURCE COMTE DE HAUGWIZ. [L. S.) PRUSSIA, 1828. TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF PRUSSIA. CONCLUDED MAY 1, 1828; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED MARCH 14, 1829; PROCLAIMED MARCH 14, 1829. Object. The United States of America and His Majesty the King of Prussia, equally animated with the desire of maintaining the relations of good. understanding which have hitherto so happily subsisted between their respective States, of extending, also, and consolidating the commercial intercourse between them, and convinced that this object cannot better be accomplished than by adopting the system of an entire freedom of navigation, and a perfect reciprocity, based upon principles of equity equally beneficial to both countries, and applicable in time of peace as well as in time of war, have, in consequence, agreed to enter into negotiations for the conclusion of a treaty of navigation. and commerce; for which purpose the President of the United States has conferred full powers on Henry Clay, their Secretary of State; and His Majesty the King of Prussia has conferred like powers on the Sieur Ludwig Niederstetter, Chargé d'Affaires of His said Majesty near the United States; and the said Plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their said full powers, found in good and due form, have concluded and signed the following articles: Reciprocal liberty of commerce. ARTICLE I. There shall be between the territories of the high contracting parties a reciprocal liberty of commerce and navigation. The inhabitants of their respective States shall mutually have liberty to enter the ports, places, and rivers of the territories of each party, wherever foreign commerce is permitted. They shall be at liberty to sojourn and reside in all parts whatsoever of said territories, in order to attend to their affairs; and they shall enjoy, to that effect, the same security and protection as natives of the country wherein they reside, on condition of their submitting to the laws and ordinances there prevailing. ity. Freedom of navi ARTICLE II. Prussian vessels arriving either laden or in ballast in the ports of the United States of America, and, reciprocally, vessels of the gation, and reciproc. United States arriving either laden or in ballast in the ports of the Kingdom of Prussia, shall be treated, on their entrance, during their stay, and at their departure, upon the same footing as national vessels coming from the same place, with respect to the duties of tonnage, light-houses, pilotage, salvage, and port charges, as well as to the fees and perquisites of public officers, and all other duties and charges, of whatever kind or denomination, levied in the name or to the profit of the Government, the local authorities, or of any private establishment whatsoever. ARTICLE III. Articles of com All kind of merchandise and articles of commerce, either the produce of the soil or the industry of the United States of America, merce to pay the or of any other country, which may be lawfully imported of either nation. into the ports of the Kingdom of Prussia, in Prussian ves ne duties, in ves sels, may also be so imported in vessels of the United States of America, without paying other or higher duties or charges, of whatever kind or denomination, levied in the name or to the profit of the Government, the local authorities, or of any private establishments whatsoever, than if the same merchandise or produce had been imported in Prussian vessels. And, reciprocally, all kind of merchandise and articles of commerce, either the produce of the soil or of the industry of the Kingdom of Prussia, or of any other country, which may be lawfully imported into the ports of the United States in vessels of the said States, may also be so imported in Prussian vessels, without paying other or higher duties or charges, of whatever kind or denomination, levied in the name or to the profit of the Government, the local authorities, or of any private establishments whatsoever, than if the same merchandise or produce had been imported in vessels of the United States of America. ARTICLE IV. The above prov further plained. To prevent the possibility of any misunderstanding, it is hereby declared that the stipulations contained in the two preceding articles are to their full extent applicable to Prussian ves- 100 sels and their cargoes arriving in the ports of the United States of America, and, reciprocally, to vessels of the said States and their cargoes, arriving in the ports of the Kingdom of Prussia, whether the said vessels clear directly from the ports of the country to which they respectively belong, or from the ports of any other foreign country. ARTICLE V. Pro luce of the ; ar favorable footing. No higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States of any article the produce or manufacture of Prussia, and no higher or other duties shall be ties put on the st imposed on the importation into the Kingdom of Prussia of any article the produce or manufacture of the United States, than are or shall be payable on the like article being the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country. Nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the importation or exportation of any article the produce or manufacture of the United States, or of Prussia, to or from the ports of the United States, or to or from the ports of Prussia, which shall not equally extend to all other nations. ARTICLE VI. ties put on the same tations. All kind of merchandise and articles of commerce, either the produce of the soil or of the industry of the United States of America, Vessels of the paror of any other country, which may be lawfully exported footing, as to expor from the ports of the said United States in national vessels, may also be exported therefrom in Prussian vessels without paying other or higher duties or charges, of whatever kind or denomination, levied in the name or to the profit of the Government, the local authorities, or of any private establishments whatsoever, than if the same merchandise or produce had been exported in vessels of the United States of America. An exact reciprocity shall be observed in the ports of the Kingdom of Prussia, so that all kind of merchandise and articles of commerce, either the produce of the soil or the industry of the said Kingdom, or of any other country, which may be lawfully exported from Prussian ports in national vessels, may also be exported therefrom in vessels of the United States of America, without paying other or higher duties or charges of whatever kind or denomination, levied in the name or to the profit of the Government, the local authorities, or of any private establishments whatsoever, than if the same merchandise or produce had been exported in Prussian vessels. ARTICLE VII. The preceding articles are not applicable to the coastwise navigation of the two countries, which is respectively reserved by tion excepted. each of the high contracting parties exclusively to itself. Coastwise naviga Neither party to to goods on account of the importing bottom. ARTICLE VIII. No priority or preference shall be given, directly or indirectly, by either of the contracting parties, nor by any company, corgive any preference poration, or agent, acting on their behalf or under their authority, in the purchase of any article of commerce, lawfully imported, on account of or in reference to the character of the vessel, whether it be of the one party or of the other, in which such article was imported; it being the true intent and meaning of the contracting parties that no distinction or difference whatever shall be made in this respect. Prospective provision for maintain ARTICLE IX. If either party shall hereafter grant to any other nation any par ticular favor in navigation or commerce, it shall immedi ing the most favored ately become common to the other party, freely, where it is freely granted to such other nation, or on yielding the same compensation, when the grant is conditional. footing. Consuls, &c. ARTICLE X. The two contracting parties have granted to each other the liberty of having, each in the ports of the other, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries of their own appointment, who shall enjoy the same privileges and powers as those of the most favored nations. But if any such Consul shall exercise commerce, they shall be submitted to the same laws and usages to which the private individuals of their nation are submitted, in the same place. suls, &c. The Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Commercial Agents shall have the Jurisdiction of Con right, as such, to sit as judges and arbitrators in such dif ferences as may arise between the captains and crews of the vessels belonging to the nation whose interests are committed to their charge, without the interference of the local authorities, unless the conduct of the crews or of the captain should disturb the order or tranquillity of the country, or the said Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Commercial Agents should require their assistance to cause their decisions to be carried into effect or supported. It is, however, understood, that this species of judgment or arbitration shall not deprive the contending par ties of the right they have to resort, on their return, to the judicial authority of their country. ARTICLE XI. The said Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Commercial Agents are author the local authorities. ised to require the assistance of the local authorities, for Consuls, &c., may the search, arrest, and imprisonment of the deserters from require the aid of the ships of war and merchant vessels of their country. For this purpose they shall apply to the competent tribunals, judges, and officers, and shall in writing demand said deserters, proving, by the exhibition of the registers of the vessels, the rolls of the crews, or by other official documents, that such individuals formed part of the crews; and, on this reclamation being thus substantiated, the surrender shall not be refused. Such deserters, when arrested, shall be placed at the disposal of the said Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Commercial Agents, and may be confined in the public prisons, at the request and cost of those who shall claim them, in order to be sent to the vessels to which they belonged, or to others of the same country. But if not sent back within three months from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall not be again arrested for the same cause. However, if the deserter should be found to have committed any crime or offence, his surrender may be delayed until the tribunal before which his case shall be depending shall have pronounced its sentence, and such sentence shall have been carried into effect. ARTICLE XII. vived. The twelfth article of the treaty of amity and commerce, concluded between the parties in 1785, and the articles from the thir- Certain stipulations teenth to the twenty-fourth, inclusive, of that which was in form or treaties reconcluded at Berlin in 1799, with the exception of the last paragraph in the nineteenth article, relating to treaties with Great Britain, are hereby revived with the same force and virtue as if they made part of the context of the present treaty, it being, however, understood that the stipulations contained in the articles thus revived shall be always considered as in no manner affecting the treaties or conventions concluded by either party with other Powers, during the interval between the expiration of the said treaty of 1799, and the commencement of the operation of the present treaty. the subject of future The parties being still desirous, in conformity with their intention declared in the twelfth article of the said treaty of 1799, to Security of neuestablish between themselves, or in concert with other mari-tial navigation to be time Powers, further provisions to ensure just protection and tresty. freedom to neutral navigation and commerce, and which may, at the same time, advance the cause of civilization and humanity, engage again to treat on this subject at some future and convenient period. ARTICLE XIII. Vessels entering Considering the remoteness of the respective countries of the two high contracting parties, and the uncertainty resulting therefrom, with respect to the various events which may take place, it blockaded ports. is agreed that a merchant vessel belonging to either of them, which may be bound to a port supposed at the time of its departure to be blockaded, shall not, however, be captured or condemned for having attempted a first time to enter said port, unless it can be proved that said vessel could and ought to have learnt, during its voyage, that the blockade of the place in question still continued. But all vessels which, after having been warned off once shall, during the same voyage, attempt a second time to enter the same blockaded port, during the continuance of the said blockade, shall then subject themselves to be detained and condemned. |