cargoes at one or more ports in the States of either of the high contracting parties, and then to proceed to complete the said loading or unloading to [at] any other port or ports in the same States. No preference to party to importations. ARTICLE V. Neither of the two Governments, nor any corporation or agent acting in behalf or under the authority of either Government, shall, be given by either in the purchase of any article which, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the one country, shall be imported into the other, give, directly or indirectly, any priority or prefer ence on account of or in reference to the national character of the vessel in which such article shall have been imported; it being the true intent and meaning of the high contracting parties that no distinction. or difference whatever shall be made in this respect. ARTICLE VI. The high contracting parties engage, in regard to the personal privileges, that the citizens of the United States of America Residence, &c. shall enjoy in the dominions of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the subjects of His said Majesty in the United States of America, that they shall have free and undoubted right to travel and to reside in the States of the two high contracting parties, subject to the same precautions of police which are practiced towards the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nations. They shall be entitled to occupy dwellings and warehouses, and to dispose of their personal property of every kind and descripPersonal property. tion, by sale, gift, exchange, will, or in any other way whatever, without the smallest hindrance or obstacle; and their heirs or representatives, being subjects or citizens of the other high contracting party, shall succeed to their personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestato; and may take possession thereof, either by themselves or by others acting for them, and dispose of the same at will, paying to the profit of the respective Governments such dues only as the inhabitants of the country wherein the said goods are shall be subject to pay in like cases. And in case of the absence of the heir and representative, In absence of the such care shall be taken of the said goods as would be taken of the goods of a native of the same country in like case, until the lawful owner may take measures for receiving them. And if a question should arise among several claimants as to which of them said goods belong, the same shall be decided finally by the laws and judges of the land wherein the said goods are. heirs. Тахев. They shall not be obliged to pay, under any pretence whatever, any taxes or impositions, other or greater than those which are paid or may hereafter be paid by the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nations, in the respective States of the high contracting parties. They shall be exempt from all military service, whether by land or by Military service, sea; from forced loans, and from every extraordinary con forced loans, &c. Dwellings. tribution not general and by law established. Their dwellings, warehouses, and all premises appertaining thereto, destined for purposes of commerce or residence, shall be respected. No arbitrary search of or or visit to their houses, and no arbitrary examination or inspection whatever of the books, or examination of pa- papers, or accounts of their trade, shall be made, but such measures shall be executed only in conformity with the Search of houses pers. Rights of property legal sentence of a competent tribunal; and each of the two high contracting parties engages that the citizens or subjects of the other, residing in their respective States, shall enjoy their guaranteed. property and personal security in as full and ample manner as their own citizens or subjects, or the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nations. ARTICLE VII. the country of the may manage their own affairs or The citizens and the subjects of each of the two high contracting parties shall be free in the States of the other to manage Citizens and subtheir own affairs themselves, or to commit those affairs to jects of each party in the management of any persons whom they may appoint as other their broker, factor, or agent; nor shall the citizens and select their subjects of the two high contracting parties be restrained in their choice of persons to act in such capacities, nor shall they be called upon to pay any salary or remuneration to any person whom they shall not choose to employ. agents, &c. Own Absolute freedon sellers. Absolute freedom shall be given in all cases to the buyer and seller to bargain together, and to fix the price of any goods or merchandise imported into or to be exported from the given to buyers and States and dominions of the two high contracting parties; save and except generally such cases wherein the laws and usages of the country may require the intervention of any special agents in the States and dominions of the high contracting parties. ARTICLE VIII. Each of the two high contracting parties may have, in the ports of the other, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Commercial Agents, of their own appointment, who shall enjoy the same privileges Consuls. and powers of those of the most favored 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. The said Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Commercial Agents are authorized to require the assistance of the local authorities for the search, arrest, detention, and imprisonment of the deserters from 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 the said deserters, proving, by the exhibition of the registers of the vessel, the rolls of the crews, or by other official documents, that such individuals formed part of the crews; and this reclamation being thus substantiated, the surrender shall not be refused. Deserters. 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 detained until the time when they shall be restored to the vessels to which they belonged, or sent back to their own country by a vessel of the same nation, or any other vessel whatsoever. But if not sent back within four months from the day of their arrest, or if all the expenses of such imprisonment are not defrayed by the party causing such arrest and imprisonment, 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. Vessels of either party wrecked on the owners. ARTICLE IX. If any ships of war or merchant vessels be wrecked on the coasts of the States of either of the high contracting parties, such ships or vessels, or any parts thereof, and all furniture and merchandise appurtenances belonging thereunto, and all goods and mershall be restored to chandise which shall be saved therefrom, or the produce thereof, if sold, shall be faithfully restored with the least possible delay, to the proprietors, upon being claimed by them, or by their duly authorized factors; and if there are no such proGoods found. prietors or factors on the spot, then the said goods and merchandise, or the proceeds thereof, as well as all the papers found on board such wrecked ships or vessels, shall be delivered to the American or Sicilian Consul or Vice-Consul in whose district the wreck may have taken place; and such Consul, Vice-Consul, proprietors, or factors, shall pay only the expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, together with the rate of salvage, and expenses of quarantine, which would have been payable in the like case of a wreck of a national vessel; and the goods and merchandise saved from the wreck shall not be subject to duties, unless cleared for consumption; it being understood that in case of any legal claim upon such wreck, goods, or merchandise, the same shall be referred for decision to the competent tribunals of the country. Legal claims on such wreck. Vessels of either stress of weather in other. ARTICLE X. The merchant vessels of each of the two high contracting parties, which may be forced by stress of weather or other cause party forced by into one of the ports of the other, shall be exempt from all to the ports of the duty of port or navigation paid for the benefit of the State, if the motives which led to take refuge be real and evident, and if no operation of commerce be done by loading or unloading merchandises; [it being] well understood, however, that the ing, in certain cases, loading or unloading, which may regard the subsistence of gaging in commerce. the crew, or necessary for the reparation of the vessel, shall not be considered operations of commerce, which lead to the payment of duties, and that the said vessels do not stay in port beyond the time necessary, keeping in view the cause which led [to] taking refuge. Loading or unload not considered en ARTICLE XI. To carry always more fully into effect the intentions of the two high contracting parties, they agree that every difference of duty, Difference of duty. whether of the ten per cent. or other, established in the respective States, to the prejudice of the navigation and commerce of those nations which have not treaties of commerce and navigation with them, shall cease and remain abolished in conformity to the principle established in the 1st article of the present treaty, as well on the productions of the soil and industry of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which therefrom shall be imported in the United States of America, whether in vessels of the one or of the other country, as on those which, in like manner, shall be imported in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in vessels of both countries. They declare, besides, that as the productions of the soil and industry of the two countries, on their introduction in the ports of the other, shall not be subject to greater duties than those which shall be imposed Duties on wines. on the like productions of the most favoured nations, so the red and white wines of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies of every kind, including those of Marsala, which may be imported directly into the United States of America, whether in vessels of the one or of the other country, shall not pay higher or greater duties than those of the red and white wines of the most favoured nations. And in like manner the cottons of the United States of America, which may be imported directly in[to] the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whether in vessels of the one or other nation, shall not pay higher or greater duties than the cottons of Egypt, Bengal, or those of the most favoured nations. ARTICLE XII. Duties on cottone. This treaty to be and until 12 months party The present treaty shall be in force from this day, and for the term of ten years, and further, until the end of twelve months after either of the high contracting parties shall have given in force ten years. notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same; after either each of the said high contracting parties reserving to itself the right of giving such notice at the end of the said term of ten years, or at any subsequent term. ARTICLE XIII. give notice, &c. The present treaty shall be approved and ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the said States, and by His Majesty Ratifications. the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Naples, at the expiration of six months from the date of its signature, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at Naples the first of December, in the year one thousand eight. hundred and forty-five. CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES, RELATIVE TO THE RIGHTS OF NEUTRALS AT SEA. SIGNED AT NAPLES, JANUARY 13, 1855; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED AT WASHINGTON, JULY, 14, 1855; PROCLAIMED JULY 16, 1855. Preamble. The United States of America and His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, equally animated with a desire to maintain and to preserve from all harm the relations of. good understanding which have at all times so happily subsisted between themselves, as also between the inhabitants of their respective States, have mutually agreed to perpetuate, by means of a formal con vention, the principles of the right of neutrals at sea, which they recog nize as indispensable conditions of all freedom of navigation and maritime trade. For this purpose the President of the United States has conferred full powers on Robert Dale Owen, Minister ResiNegotiators. dent at Naples of the United States of America; and His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies has conferred like powers on Mr. Louis Carafa della Spina, of the Dukes of Traetto, Weekly Major-domo of His Majesty, Commendator of His Royal Order of the Civil Merit of Francis the First, Grand Cross of the distinguished Rl. Spanish Order of Charles the Third, Great Officer of the Order of the Legion d'Honneur, Grand Cross of the Order of S. Michael of Baviera, Grand Cross of the Florentine Order of the Merit under the title of S. Joseph, Grand Cross of the Order of Parma of the Merit under the title of S. Ludovico, Grand Cross of the Brasilian Order of the Rose, provisionally charged with the port-folio of Foreign Affairs; And said Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have concluded and signed the following articles: Free ships to make free contraband. ARTICLE I. The two high contracting parties recognize as permanent and immutable the following principles, to wit: 1st. That free ships goods, except make free goods; that is to say, that the effects or goods belonging to subjects or citizens of a Power or State at war are free from capture and confiscation when found on board of neutral vessels, with the exception of articles contraband of war. 2d. That the property of neutrals on board an enemy's vessel is not subject to confiscation unless the same be contraband of war. They engage to apply these principles to the commerce and navigation of all such Powers and States as shall consent to adopt them on their part as permanent and immutable. Neutral property. to Understanding as these principles. ARTICLE II. The two high contracting parties reserve themselves to come to an ulterior understanding as circumstances may require with application of regard to the application and extension to be given, if there be any cause for it, to the principles laid down in the 1st article. But they declare from this time that they will take the stipu lations contained in said article 1st as a rule, whenever it shall become a question, to judge of the rights of neutrality. Other nations may ARTICLE III. It is agreed by the high contracting parties that all nations which shall or may consent to accede to the rules of the first artiaccede to the above cle of this convention, by a formal declaration stipulating principles. to observe them, shall enjoy the rights résulting from such accession as they shall be enjoyed and observed by the two Powers signing this convention. They shall mutually communicate to each other the results of the steps which may be taken on the subject. ARTICLE IV. The present convention shall be approved and ratified by the Presi dent of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of said States, and by Ratifications. |