Treaty port

“ Hence an American vessel, clearing for a French port with a cargo of provisions or ship stores, was lawful prize to a British cruiser, as, by the law of nations, carrying articles contraband of war to an enemy, while the same vessel, clearing for a British port, with the same cargo, could not be captured by a French vessel, because the treaty declared that the articles composing the cargo should not be contraband as between the United States and France. ”

“ Its object was to enjoin on our citizens ‘a friendly conduct towards all the belligerent powers;’ but a preparation of hostilities is the reverse of this.
None of the engagements in our treaties stipulate this permission. The XVIIth article of that of commerce, permits the armed vessels of either party to enter the ports of the other, and to depart with their prizes freely: but the entry of an armed vessel into a port, is one act; the equipping a vessel in that port, arming her, and manning her, is a different one, and not engaged by any article of the treaty. ”

“ The empress forwarded an explicit declaration of the design and the nature of the combination to the several European courts. By this extraordinary treaty, all neutral ships were to be freely navigated from port to port on the coasts of nations at war, and the effects belonging to the subject of any sovereign were to be safe in all neutral vessels, except contraband merchandise. Thus the seas were to be left in the situation designed by God and nature, that all mankind might reap the benefits of a free and open intercourse with each other. ”

“ Nor have we been advised that Great Britain has ever suggested that under this treaty a crew of a vessel lawfully seized could not be brought into port or tried according to our laws. Diligent as the representatives of that nation have always been in guarding the rights of their people, such a construction of the treaty has not been advanced. ”

“ If any Tunisian subject shall freight an American vessel and load her with merchandise, and shall afterwards want to unlace or ship them on board of another vessel, we will not permit him until the matter is determined by a reference of merchants, who shall decide upon the case; and after the decision, the determination shall be conformed to.
Embargoes. No captain shall be detained in port against his consent, except when our ports are shut for the vessels of all other nations, which may take place with respect to merchant vessels but not to those of war. ”

“ One article of this treaty was quoted as exactly covering the case. It said:
"All ships and "merchandise of what nature soever, which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates" or robbers on the high seas shall be brought into some port of either State and shall be delivered to the custody of the officers of that port, in order "to be taken care of and restored entire" to the true proprietor as soon as due and sufficient proof shall be made concerning the property thereof." ”

“ It has from time to time been stipulated, in treaties between belligerent and neutral countries, (as in the case of the Treaty between Great Britain and the United States, of 1794,) that vessels of the neutral country should not be considered as having notice of a blockade, until they have been duly and respectfully warned off; and it would only be on a second attempt to enter port that they would be liable to be seized. Under such a treaty a neutral vessel might lawfully sail for a blockaded port, knowing it to be blockaded. ”

“ And if a vessel shall be forced in whatever way to take refuge in any port other than one of the free ports, then in like manner the persons on board shall receive friendly treatment and the means of safety and security.
Article XXVIII.
Citizens of the United States, their vessels and property, shall not be subject to any embargo; nor shall they be seized or forcibly detained for any pretense of the public service; but they shall be suffered to prosecute their commerce in quiet, and without molestation or embarrassment. ”

“ But there is a constitutional limit to this power, and that is that it may not make a treaty in violation of a municipal law of the country. In exemplification of this I may cite a case which arose in connection with the treaty of commerce with Austria in 1883. An Austrian vessel from some port on the Danube arrived in the Thames with a freight sanctioned by that treaty, and it was immediately seized by the Custom House officers for violation of the Navigation Laws; and the particular clause of these laws which had been infringed had to be repealed before the treaty was allowed to operate. ”

“ Persons, goods, postal services, ships, vessels, carriages, wagons and other means of transport coming from or going to the free zone, and crossing the territory of the State under whose sovereignty or authority the port is placed, shall be deemed to be in transit across that State if they are going to or coming from the territory of any other State whatsoever. ”

“ The seaports of the Allied and Associated Powers are entitled to all favours and to all reduced tariffs granted on German railways or navigable waterways for the benefit of German ports or of any port of another Power. ”

“ The Government communicated to the Englishman the order for his departure before the treaty was made public. But for that precaution the populace would have probably committed some excess or other, in order to make the agent of English power feel the effects of the resentment which had constantly increased during his stay at that port. Those engaged in trade were the only persons dissatisfied with the treaty of 1783. ”

“ These provisions give to us and to them a direct and indirect carrying trade. Each nation gets as much of both as its ability and enterprise can secure, and gathers a supply of the produce of other nations by foreign vessels, which they may not be able to bring in their own.
Between the treaties of which we have been just speaking and our treaty with Portugal there is nothing in common, except the provision in the latter abolishing discriminating duties of tonnage and all other port charges upon vessels. In the negotiation of oue treaty with her, our Charg e d'Affaires, Mr. ”

“ Heavy duties were laid upon our vessels and their cargoes by all of them. The trade and navigation of the United States with all parts of the world were altogether permissive,-such as each nation chose to allow upon its own terms. Our treaty stipulations at that time with France, the Netherlands, and Sweden were not exceptions of any value. The only benefit from them was, that the commerce and navigation of the United States could not be burdened more than that of any other foreign nation. ”

“ If the merchant vessels of the citizens or subjects of one of the other parties, sailing along the coasts or on the high seas without any escort, are met by the vessels of war or private armed vessels of the other party, being engaged in a war with any other power, they shall be held, if required, to exhibit their passports, sea-letters, and other documents described in the article of this treaty ”

“ To counteract the ordinances of the Berlin decrees, which forbade any ship of any nation to be admitted into Continental ports without certificates of origin—that is, without certificates showing that no part of their cargo was of British produce—various Orders in Council had been issued by Britain, permitting [549] all neutral vessels to trade to any country at peace with Great Britain, provided that they touched at a British port, and paid the British duties. ”

“ It is part of the law of civillized nations that, when a merchant vessel of one country enters the ports of another for the purposes of trade, it subjects itself to the law of the place to which it goes, unless, by treaty or otherwise, the two countries have come to some different understanding or agreement ”

“ Now it is this day ordered, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, that all vessels under a neutral or friendly flag, being neutral or friendly property, shall be permitted to import into any port or place in Her Majesty's dominions all goods and merchandize whatsoever, to whomsoever the same may belong, [217] and to export from any port or place in her Majesty's dominions to any port not blockaded, any cargo or goods, not being contraband of war, or not requiring a special permission, to whomsoever the same may belong. ”

“ Whether the public ships of war enter the ports of another friendly nation, under the license implied by the absence of any prohibition, or under an express stipulation by treaty, they are equally exempt from the local jurisdiction. ”

“ Let them fare as well in our ports as other foreigners, inasmuch as they certainly grant as much to us as most others do, is all I contend for. I do not wish they should fare better.
The impressment of our seamen by the British is made use of as an objection to our carrying the Treaty into effect. It is, to be sure, a mortifying circumstance, and must excite our utmost detestation of such conduct. But let not our passions get the better of our judgment. ”

“ All States entering into such a treaty will enjoy the right of passage through the canal on payment of the same tolls. The work, if constructed under these guaranties, will become a bond of peace instead of a subject of contention and strife between the nations of the earth. Should the great maritime States of Europe consent to this arrangement (and we have no reason to suppose that a proposition so fair and honorable will be opposed by any) , the energies of their people and ours will cooperate in promoting the success of the enterprise. ”

“ You are therefore not to consent to any treaty of commerce with Great Britain without an explicit stipulation on her part, not to molest or disturb the inhabitants of the United States of America in taking fish on the Banks of Newfoundland and other fisheries in the American seas anywhere, excepting within the distance of three leagues of the shores of the territories remaining to Great Britain at the close of the war, if a nearer distance cannot be obtained by negotiation. ”

“ The Japanese Government, however, agrees to allow vessels of the United States to continue, as heretofore, for the period of the duration of the present Treaty, to carry cargo between the existing open ports of the Empire, excepting to or from the ports of Osaka, Niigata, and Ebisuminato. ”

“ Then followed the order, which prohibited all neutral trade with the whole European sea-coast from Copenhagen to Trieste, leaving only the Baltic open. No American vessel should be allowed to enter any port in Europe from which British vessels were excluded, unless the American should clear from some British port under regulations to be prescribed at a future time. ”

“ Since the signing of Jay’s Treaty, American shipping had flourished, owing to the fact that being a neutral nation, the United States could convey to France and Spain the produce of their West Indian colonies, the ships of the two European countries not being serviceable on account of the war with Great Britain, whose fleets swept the ocean. ”

“ The object of the treaty was to provide, that neutral vessels should protect goods to whomsoever belonging, with the exception of contraband only. The passport was to be conclusive of the neutrality of the ship, and the certificate was to show, that the cargo was not contraband. If these documents are wanting, then the property of the ship is to be established by equivalent testimony; and that being shown to be neutral, will protect the cargo, even if enemy's property, unless, indeed, it consist of contraband articles. ”