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HANSEATIC REPUBLICS.

[The Hanseatic Republics were incorporated into the North German Union, under the constitution of the latter, July 1, 1867.]

HANSEATIC REPUBLICS, 1827.

CONVENTION OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE FREE HANSEATIC REPUBLICS OF LUBECK, BREMEN, AND HAMBURG. CONCLUDED DECEMBER 20, 1827; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED JUNE 2, 1828; PROCLAIMED JUNE 2, 1828.

Object of said

The United States of America on the one part, and the Republic and Free Hanseatic City of Lubeck, the Republic and Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, and the Republic and Free Hanseatic treaty. City of Hamburg, (each State for itself separately,) on the other part, being desirous to give greater facility to their commercial intercourse, and to place the privileges of their navigation on a basis of the most extended liberality, have resolved to fix, in a manner clear, distinct, and positive, the rules which shall be observed between the one and the other, by means of a convention of friendship, commerce, and navigation.

For the attainment of this most desirable object, the President of the United States of America has conferred full powers on Henry Clay, their Secretary of State; and the Senate of

Negotiators..

the Republic and Free Hanseatic City of Lubeck, the Senate of the Republic and Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, and the Senate of the Republic and Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg, have conferred full powers on Vincent Rumpff, their Minister Plenipotentiary near the United States of America;

Who, after having exchanged their said full powers, found in due and proper form, have agreed to the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

Imports.

The contracting parties agree, that whatever kind of produce, manufacture, or merchandise of any foreign country can be, from time to time, lawfully imported into the United States in their own vessels, may be also imported in vessels of the said Free Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg; and that no higher or other duties upon the tonnage or cargo of the vessel shall be levied or collected, whether the importation be made in vessels of the United States, or of either of the said Hanseatic Republics. And, in like manner, that whatever kind of produce, manufacture, or merchandise of any foreign country can be, from time to time, lawfully imported into either of the said Hanseatic Republics, in its own vessels, may be also imported in vessels of the United States; and that no higher or other duties upon the tonnage or cargo of the vessel shall be levied or collected, whether the importation be made in vessels of the one party or of the other. And they further agree, that whatever may be lawfully

exported, or re-exported, by one party in its own vessels, to any foreign country, may, in like manner, be exported or re-exported in the vessels of the other party. And the same bounties, duties, and drawbacks shall be allowed and collected, whether such exportation or re-exportation be made in vessels of the one party or of the other. Nor shall higher or other charges, of any kind, be imposed in the ports of the one party, on vessels of the other, than are or shall be payable in the same ports by national vessels.

Duties to be prid

parties.

ARTICLE II.

No higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation, into the United States, of any article the produce or manufacby the contracting ture of the Free Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg; and no higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation, into either of the said Republics, 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 other or higher duties or charges be imposed by either party on the exportation of any articles to the United States, or to the Free Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, or Hamburg, respectively, than such as are, or shall be payable on the exportation of the like articles to 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 the Free Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, or Hamburg, to or from the ports of the United States, or to or from the ports of the other party, which shall not equally extend to all other nations.

ARTICLE III.

No priority or preference shall be given, directly or indirectly, by any No priority or pre- or either of the contracting parties, nor by any company, ference to be given. corporation, or agent, acting on their behalf, or under their authority, in the purchase of any article the growth, produce, or manufacture of their States, respectively, imported into the other, 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.

ARTICLE IV.

In consideration of the limited extent of the territories of the Republies of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, and of the intimate connection of trade and navigation subsisting between these Republics, it is hereby stipulated and agreed, that any vessel which shall be owned exclusively by a citizen or citizens of any or either of them, and of which the master shall also be a citizen of any or either of them, and provided threefourths of the crew shall be citizens or subjects of any or either of the said Republics, or of any or either of the States of the Confederation of Germany, such vessel, so owned and navigated, shall, for all the purposes of this convention, be taken to be and considered as a vesseľ belonging to Lubeck, Bremen, or Hamburg.

ARTICLE V.

Any vessel, together with her cargo, belonging to either of the Free Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, or Hamburg, and coming from either of the said ports to the United States, shall, for all the purposes of this convention, be deemed to have cleared from the Republic to which such vessel belongs, although, in fact, it may not have been the one from which she departed; and any vessel of the United States, and her cargo, trading to the ports of Lubeck, Bremen, or Hamburg, directly, or in succession, shall, for the like purposes, be on the footing of a Hanseatic vessel and her cargo making the same voyage.

ARTICLE VI.

It is likewise agreed that it shall be wholly free for all merchants, commanders of ships, and other citizens of both parties, to manage, themselves, their own business, in all the ports and places subject to the jurisdiction of each other, as well with respect to the consignment and sale of their goods and merchandise by wholesale or retail, as with respect to the loading, unloading, and sending off their ships, submitting themselves to the laws, decrees, and usages there established, to which native citizens are subjected; they being, in all these cases, to be treated as citizens of the Republic in which they reside, or at least to be placed on a footing with the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation.

ARTICLE VII.

The citizens of each of the contracting parties shall have power to dispose of their personal goods, within the jurisdiction of Power to dispose the other, by sale, donation, testament, or otherwise; and of personal goods. their representatives, being citizens of the other party, shall succeed to their said personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestato, and they may take possession thereof, either by themselves or others acting for them, and dispose of the same at their will, paying such dues only as the inhabitants of the country wherein said goods are shall be subject to pay in like cases; and if, in the case of real estate, the said heirs would be prevented from entering into the possession of the inheritance on account of their character of aliens, there shall be granted to them the term of three years to dispose of the same, as they may think proper, and to withdraw the proceeds without molestation, and exempt from all duties of detraction on the part of the Government of the respective States.

ARTICLE VIII.

Special protection to persons and property.

Both the contracting parties promise, and engage formally, to give their special protection to the persons and property of the citizens of each other, of all occupations, who may be in the territories subject to the jurisdiction of the one or the other, transient or dwelling therein, leaving open and free to them the tribunals of justice for their judicial recourse, on the same terms which are usual and customary with the natives or citizens of the country in which they may be; for which they may employ, in defence of their rights, such advocates, solicitors, notaries, agents, and factors as they may judge proper, in all their trials at law; and such citizens or agents

shall have as free opportunity as native citizens to be present at the decisions and sentences of the tribunals, in all cases which may concern them, and likewise at the taking of all examinations and evidence which may be exhibited in the said trials.

Favors to become

common.

ARTICLE IX.

The contracting parties, desiring to live in peace and harmony with all the other nations of the earth, by means of a policy frank and equally friendly with all, engage mutually not to grant any particular favor to other nations, in respect of commerce and navigation, which shall not immediately become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation, if the concession was conditional.

Duration of convertion.

ARTICLE X.

The present convention shall be in force for the term of twelve years from the date hereof, and further, until the end of twelve months after the Government of the United States on the one part, or the free Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, or Hamburg, or either of them, on the other part, shall have given notice of their intention to terminate the same; each of the said contracting parties reserving to itself the right of giving such notice to the other, at the end of the said term of twelve years. And it is hereby agreed between them that, at the expiration of twelve months after such notice shall have been received by either of the parties from the other, this convention, and all the provisions thereof, shall, altogether, cease and determine, as far as regards the States giving and receiving such notice; it being always understood and agreed that, if one or more of the Hanseatic Republics aforesaid shall, at the expiration of twelve years from the date hereof, give or receive notice of the proposed termination of this convention, it shall nevertheless remain in full force and operation as far as regards the remaining Hanseatic Republics or Republic, which may not have given or received such notice.

ARTICLE XI.

The present convention being approved and ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of Ratifications. the Senate thereof, and by the Senates of the Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within nine months from the date hereof, or sooner if possible.

In faith whereof we, the Plenipotentiaries of the contracting parties, have signed the present convention, and have thereto affixed our seals. Done in quadruplicates at the city of Washington, on the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, in the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America.

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HANSEATIC REPUBLICS, 1828.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLE TO THE CONVENTION OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION, OF THE 20TH OF DECEMBER, 1827, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE HANSEATIC REPUBLICS OF LUBECK, BREMEN, AND HAMBURG. CONCLUDED JUNE 4, 1828; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED JANUARY 14, 1829; PROCLAIMED JANUARY 14, 1829.

Object of additional

Consuls &c.

The United States of America and the Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, wishing to favor their mutual commerce by affording, in their ports, every necessary assist article. ance to their respective vessels, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have further agreed upon the following additional article to the convention of friendship, commerce, and navigation, concluded at Washington on the twentieth day of December, 1827, between the contracting parties. The Consuls and Vice-Consuls may cause to be arrested the sailors, being part of the crews of the vessels of their respective countries, who shall have deserted from the said vessels, in order to send them back and transport them out of the country. For which purpose the said Consuls and Vice-Consuls 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 said vessels, or ship's roll, or other official document, that those men were part of said crews; and on this demand being so proved, (saving, however, where the contrary is proved,) the delivery shall not be refused; and there shall be given all aid and assistance to the said Assistance to be Consuls and Vice-Consuls for the search, seizure, and arrest afforded to consals, of the said deserters, who shall even be detained and kept in the prisons of the country, at their request and expense, until they shall have found opportunity of sending them back. But if they be not sent back within two months, to be counted from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall be no more arrested for the same

cause.

&c.

It is understood, however, that if the deserter should be found to have committed any crime or offence, his surrender may be delayed until the tribunal before which the case shall be depending shall have pronounced its sentence, and such sentence shall have been carried into effect.

The present additional article shall have the same force and value as if it were inserted, word for word, in the convention signed at Washington on the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, and being approved and ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the Senates of the Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within nine months from the date hereof, or sooner if possible.

Ratifications.

In faith whereof we, the undersigned, by virtue of our respective full powers, have signed the present additional article, and have thereto affixed our seals.

Done in quadruplicate at the city of Washington, on the fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.

H. CLAY. [L. S.]
V. RUMPFF. [L. S.]

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