| As early as September 1778, favorable American and Dutch relations were defined by a draft for a treaty of amity and commerce. On 22 February 1779, W. Lee, a Commissioner to the courts of Vienna and Berlin, presented that plan for a treaty of commerce between the Americans and the Netherlands to the delegates meeting in the Second Continental Congress, which had been drawn up during the previous September. John Adams, who had assisted in the writing of the Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jefferson, was commissioned by the Continental Congress to serve as an ambassador to the Dutch Republic, more formally named the States General Of The Seven United Provinces Of The Netherlands. Before the representatives of the Dutch Provinces would enter into any treaty, Adams would have to convince the sovereigns of those Provinces to recognize the United States of America as a sovereign state, a task that would consist of Adams submitting letters, memorials and drafts of the intended Treaty to the President and Secretary of their High Mightinesses of each Province, who, in turn, would present the documents to the sovereign of that Province. John Adams persevered and accomplished the tasks required of him. In a letter to Benjamin Rush, dated 22 April 1782, Adams could not conceal his excitement as he announced: The Batavian Spirit is at last arroused, and has uttered its Voice, with Majesty, for the Souvereignty of the United States of America. The 19 of April, was the memorable day, when their High Mightinesses took, the Resolution... The tireless efforts of John Adams eventually produced the following Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which was signed by Adams and ambassadors from each of the Seven United Provinces on 06 September 1782. It might be noted that on 16 November 1776 the guns of Fort Orange in the Dutch island of St. Eustatious had been fired in a salute to the ship, Andrew Doria, as she, flying the red and white striped flag of the Continental Congress, entered the harbor. Whether simply a ritual, or a deliberate act, the salute was the first acknowledgement by any foreign power of the sovereignty of the United States of America. |
| Treaty of Amity and Commerce, between their HIGH MIGHTINESSES, the STATES GENERAL of the UNITED NETHERLANDS and the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, to wit: New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia.
THEIR HIGH MIGHTINESSES the STATES GENERAL of the UNITED NETHERLANDS and the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, to wit New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, desiring to ascertain, in a permanent and equitable manner, the rules to be observed relative to the commerce and correspondence which they intend to establish between their respective states, countries and inhabitants, have judged that the said end cannot be better obtained, than by establishing the most perfect equality and reciprocity for the basis of their agreement, and by avoiding all those burthensome preferences, which are usually the sources of debate, embarrassment and discontent; by leaving also each party at liberty, to make, respecting commerce and navigation, such ulterior regulations, as it shall find most convenient to itself; and by founding the advantages of commerce solely upon reciprocal utility, and the just rules of free intercourse, reserving withall to each party, the liberty of admitting at its pleasure, other nations to a participation of the same advantages. On these principles, their said High Mightinesses, the States General of the United Netherlands, have named for their plenipotentiaries, from the midst of their assembly, Messieurs, their deputies for the foreign affairs; and the said United States of America, on their part, have furnished with full powers, Mr. John Adams, late Commissioner of the United States of America, at the Court of Versailles, heretofore delegate in Congress from the state of Massachusetts-Bay, and Chief Justice of the said state, who have agreed and concluded as follows, to wit: Article the First. There shall be a firm, inviolable and universal peace and sincere friendship, between their High Mightinesses, the Lords the States General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America, and between the subjects and inhabitants of the said parties, and between the countries, islands, cities and places, situated under the jurisdiction of the said United Netherlands, and the said United States of America, their subjects and inhabitants, of every degree, without exception of persons or places. Article the Second. The subjects of the said States General of the United Netherlands, shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities or places of the United States of America, or any of them, no other nor greater duties or imposts of whatever nature or denomination they may be, than those which the nations the most favoured, are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, navigation and commerce, which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another, in the said States, or in going from any of those ports to any foreign port of the world, or from any foreign port of the world to any of those ports. Article the Third. The subjects and inhabitants of the said United States of America, shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities or places of the said United Netherlands, or any of them, no other nor greater duties or imposts of whatever nature or denomination they may be, than those, which the nations the most favoured, are or shall be obliged to pay: And they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, navigation and commerce, which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another in the said States, or from any one towards any one of those ports, from or to any foreign port of the world. And the United States of America, with their subjects and inhabitants shall leave to those of their High Mightinesses, the peaceable enjoyment of their rights, in the countries, islands and seas, in the East and West Indies, without any hinderance or molestation. Article the Fourth. There shall be an entire and perfect liberty of conscience allowed to the subjects and inhabitants of each party, and to their families, and no one shall be molested in regard to his worship, provided to submits as to the public demonstration of it, to the laws of the country: There shall be given moreover, liberty, when any subjects or inhabitants of either party shall die in the territory of the other, to bury them in the usual burying places, or in decent and convenient grounds to be appointed for that purpose, as occasion shall require; and the dead bodies of those who are buried, shall not in any wise be molested. And the two contracting parties shall provide, each one in his jurisdiction, that their respective subjects and inhabitants, may, henceforward obtain the requisite certificates in cases of deaths in which they shall be interrested. Article the Fifth. Their High Mightinesses, the States General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America, shall endeavour, by all the means in their power, to defend and protect all vessels and other effects, belonging to their subjects and inhabitants respectively, or to any of them in their ports, roads, havens, internal seas, passes, rivers, and as far as their jurisdiction extends at sea, and to recover, and cause to be restored to the true proprietors, their agents or attornies, all such vessels, and effects, which shall be taken under their jurisdiction. And their vessels of war and convoys, in cases when they may have a common ennemy, shall take under their protection all the vessels belonging to the subjects and inhabitants of either party, which shall not be laden with contraband goods, according to the description, which shall be made of them hereafter, for places, with which one of the parties is in peace and the other at war, nor destined for any place blocked, and which shall hold the same course or follow the same route, and they shall defend such vessels as long as they shall hold the same course follow the same route, against all attacks, force and violence of the common enemy, in the same manner as they ought to protect and defend the vessels belonging to their own respective subjects. Article the Sixth. The subjects of the contracting parties may, on one side, and on the other, in the respective countries and States, dispose of their effects, by testament, donation or otherwise; and their heirs, subjects of one of the parties, and residing in the country of the other, or elsewhere, shall receive such successions, even ab intestato, whether in person or by their attorney or substitute, even although they shall not have obtained letters of naturalization, without having the effect of such commission contested, under pretext of any rights or praerogatives of any province, city, or private person: and if the heirs, to whom such successions may have fallen, shall be minors, the tutors or curators, established by the judge domiciliary of the said minors, may govern, direct, administer, sell and alienate the effects fallen to the said minors by inheritance, and in general, in relation to the said successions and effects, use all the rights, and fulfil all the functions which belong, by the disposition of the laws, to guardians, tutors and curators: Provided nevertheless, that this disposition cannot take place, but in cases where the testator shall not have named guardians, tutors, curators, by testament, codicil, or other legal instrument. Article the Seventh. It shall be lawful and free for the subjects of each party, to employ such advocates, attornies, notaries, solicitors or factors, as they shall judge proper. Article the Eighth. Merchants, masters and owners of ships, mariners, men of all kinds, ships and vessels, and all merchandizes and goods in general, and effects of one of the confederates, or of the subjects thereof, shall not be seized or detained, in any of the countries, lands, islands, cities, places, ports, shores or dominions whatsoever of the other confederate, for any military expedition, public or private use of any one, by arrests, violence or any colour thereof; much less shall it be permitted to the subjects of either party, to take or extort by force, any thing from the subjects of the other party, without the consent of the owner; which, however, is not to be understood of seizures, detentions and arrests, which shall be made by the command and authority of justice, and by the ordinary methods, on account of debts or crimes, in respect whereof, the proceedings must be by way of law, according to the forms of justice. Article the Ninth. It is further agreed and concluded, that it shall be wholly free for all merchants, commanders of ships, and other subjects and inhabitants of the contracting parties, in every place, subjected to the jurisdiction of the two powers respectively, to manage themselves, their own business; and moreover as to the use of interpreters or brokers, as also in relation to the loading or unloading of their vessels, and every thing which has relation thereto, they shall be, on one side and on the other, considered and treated upon the footing of natural subjects, or, at least, upon an equality with the most favoured nation. Article the Tenth. The merchant ships, of either of the parties, coming from the port of an enemy, or from their own, or a neutral port, may navigate freely towards any port of an enemy of the other ally: they shall be, nevertheless, held, whenever it shall be required, to exhibit, as well upon the high seas, as in the ports, their sea-letters, and other documents, described in the twenty-fifth article, stating expressly that their effects are not of the number of those, which are prohibited, as contraband: And, not having any contraband goods for an enemy’s port, they may freely and without hindrance, pursue their voyage, towards the port of an enemy. . Nevertheless, it shall not be required to examine the papers of vessels convoyed by vessels of war, but credence shall be given to the word of the officer, who shall conduct the convoy. Article the Eleventh. If by exhibiting the sea-letters, and other documents, described more particularly in the twenty-fifth article of this treaty, the other party shall discover there are any of those sort of goods, which are declared prohibited, and contraband, and that they are consigned for a port under the obedience of his enemy, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, nor to open any chest, coffer, packs, casks, or other vessels found therein or to remove the smallest parcel of her goods, whether the said vessel belongs to the subjects of their High Mightinesses, the States General of the United Netherlands, or to the subjects or inhabitants of the said United States of America, unless the lading be brought on shore, in presence of the officers of the court of admiralty, and an inventory thereof, made; but there shall be no allowance to sell, exchange or alienate the same, until after that due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods of contraband, and the court of admiralty, by a sentence pronounced, shall have confiscated the same, saving always as well the ship itself, as any other goods found therein, which are to be esteemed free and may not be detained on pretence of their being infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated as lawful prize: But on the contrary, when by the visitation at land, it shall be found that there are no contraband goods in the vessel, and it shall not appear by the papers that he who has taken and carried in the vessel has been able to discover any there, he ought to be condemned in all the charges, damages and interests of them, which he shall have caused, both to the owners of vessels, and to the owners and freighters of cargoes, with which they shall be loaded, by his temerity in taking and carrying them in; declaring most expressly the free vessels shall assure the liberty of the effects with which they shall be loaded, and that this liberty shall extend itself equally to the persons who shall be found in a free vessel, who may not be taken out of her, unless they are military men actually in the service of an enemy. Article the Twelfth. On the contrary, it is agreed, that whatever shall be found to be laden, by the subjects and inhabitants, of either party, on any ship, belonging to the enemies of the other, or to their subjects, although it be not comprehended under the sort of prohibited goods, the whole may be confiscated, in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy; except nevertheless such effects and merchandizes as were put on board such vessel, before the declaration of war, or in the space of six months after it, which effects shall not be, in any manner, subject to confiscation but shall be faithfully and without delay restored in nature to the owners who shall claim them, or cause them to be claimed, before the confiscation and sale, as also their proceeds, if the claim could not be made, but in the space of eight months, after the sale, which ought to be public: Provided nevertheless, that if the said merchandizes are contraband, it shall by no means be lawful to transport them afterwards to any port belonging to ennemies. Article the Thirteenth. And that more effectual care may be taken for the security of subjects and people of either party, that they do not suffer molestation from the vessels of war or privateers of the other party, it shall be forbidden to all commanders of vessels of war and other armed vessels of the said States General of the United Netherlands, and the said United States of America, as well as to all their officers, subjects and people, to give any offence or do any damage to those of the other party; and if they act to the contrary, they shall be, upon the first complaint which shall be made of it, being found guilty after a just examination, punished by their proper judges, and moreover obliged to make satisfaction for all damages and interests thereof, by reparation, under pain and obligation of persons and goods. Article the Fourteenth. For further determining of what has been said, all Captains of privateers, or fitters-out of vessels armed for war, under commission and on account of private persons, shall be held, before their departure, to give sufficient caution, before competent judges, either to be entirely responsible, for the malversations which they may commit in their cruizes or voyages, as well as for the contraventions of their captains and officers against the present treaty, and against the ordinances and edicts which shall be published in consequence of and conformity to it, under pain of forfeiture and nullity of the said commissions. Article the Fifteenth. All vessels and merchandizes, of whatsoever nature, which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates or robbers, navigating the high seas without requisite commissions shall be brought into some port of one of the two states, and deposited in the hands of the Officers of that port, in order to be restored entire to the true proprietor, as soon as due and sufficient proofs shall be made concerning the property thereof. Article the Sixteenth. If any ships or vessels, belonging to either of the parties, their subjects or people, shall, within the coasts or dominions of the other, stick upon the sands, or be wrecked or suffer any other sea-damage, all friendly assistance and relief shall be given to the persons ship-wrecked, or such as shall be in danger thereof; and the vessels, effects and merchandizes, or the part of them which shall have been saved, or the proceeds of them, if, being perishable, they shall have been sold, being claimed within a year and a day, by the masters or owners, or their agents or attornies, shall be restored, paying only the reasonable charges, and that which must be paid, in the same case, for the salvage, by the proper subjects of the country: there shall also be delivered them, safe conducts or passports, for their free and safe passage from thence, and to return, each one to his own country. Article the Seventeenth. In case the subjects or people of either party with their shipping, whether public and of war or private and of merchants, be forced through stress of weather, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other urgent necessity, for seeking of shelter and harbour, to retreat and enter into any of the rivers, creeks, bays, ports, roads, or shores, belonging to the other party, they shall be received with all humanity and kindness, and enjoy all friendly protection and help, and they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves, at reasonable rates, with victuals, and all things needfull for the sustenance of their persons, or reparation of their ships, and they shall no ways be detained or hindered from returning out of the said ports or roads, but may remove and depart when and whither they please, without any let or hindrance. Article the Eighteenth. For the better promoting of commerce, on both sides, it is agreed, that if a war should break out, between their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America, there shall always be granted to the subjects on each side, the term of nine months after the date of the rupture, or the proclamation of war, to the end, that they may retire, with their effects, and transport them where they please, which it shall be lawful for them to do, as well as to sell or transport their effects and goods, in all freedom, and without any hindrance, and without being able to proceed, during the said term of nine months, to any arrest of their effects, much less of their persons: On the contrary, there shall be given them, for their vessels and their effects, which they would carry away, passports and safe conducts, for the nearest ports of their respective countries, and for the time necessary for the voyage. And no prize made at sea, shall be adjudged lawful, at least, if the declaration of war was not, or could not be known, in the last port which the vessel taken, has quitted, but for whatever may have been taken from the subjects and inhabitants of either party, and for the offences which may have been given them, in the interval of the said terms, a compleat satisfaction shall be given them. Article the Nineteenth. No subject of their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands, shall apply for or take any commission or letter of marque, for arming any ship or ships, to act as privateers against the said United States of America, or any of them, or the subjects and inhabitants of the said United States, or any of them, or against the property of the inhabitants of any of them, from any Prince or State, with which the said United States of America may happen to be at war; nor shall any subject or inhabitant of the said United States of America, or of any of them, apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the United Netherlands, or against the subjects of their High Mightinesses, or any of them, or against the property of any one of them, from any Prince or State with which their High Mightinesses may be at war: And if any person of either nation shall take such commission or letters of marque, he shall be punished as a pirate. Article the Twentieth. If the vessels of the subjects or inhabitants of one of the parties come upon the coast belonging to either of the said allies, but not willing to enter into port, or being entered into port and not willing to unload their cargoes or break bulk, or take in any cargo, they shall not be obliged to pay neither for the vessels nor the cargoes, any duties of entry in or out, nor to render any account of their cargoes, at least if there is not just cause to presume, that they carry to an enemy merchandizes of contraband. Article the Twenty-first. The two contracting parties grant to each other mutually, the liberty of having each in the ports of the other, Consuls, Vice -Consuls, Agents and Commissaries of their own appointing, whose functions shall be regulated by particular agreement, whenever either party chuses to make such appointments. Article the Twenty-second. This treaty shall not be understood in any manner to derogate from the ninth, tenth, nineteenth and twenty-fourth articles of the treaty with France, as they were numbered in the same treaty, concluded the sixth of February, 1778, and which make the articles ninth, tenth, seventeenth and twenty-second of the treaty of commerce now subsisting between the United States of America and the crown of France: nor shall it hinder his Catholic Majesty from acceeding to that treaty, and enjoying the advantage of the said four articles. Article the Twenty-third.If at any time the United States of America shall judge necessary, to commence negotiations with the King or Emperor of Morocco and Fez, and with the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, or with any of them, to obtain passports for the security of their navigation in the Mediterranean Sea, their High Mightinesses promise, that upon the requisition which the United States of America shall make of it, they will second such negotiations, in the most favourable manner, by means of their Consuls residing near the said King, Emperor and Regencies. CONTRABAND. Article the Twenty-fourth. The liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all sorts of merchandizes, excepting only those, which are distinguished under the name of contraband, or merchandizes prohibited: And under this denomination of contraband and merchandizes prohibited, shall be comprehended only warlike stores and arms, as mortars, artillery, with their artifices and appurtenanes, fusils, pistols, bombs, grenades, gun-powder, salt-petre, sulphur, match, bullets and balls, pikes, sabres, lances, halberts, casques, cuirasses, and other sorts of arms; as also soldiers, horses, saddles, and furniture for horses; all other effects and merchandizes, not before specified expressly, and even all sorts of naval matters, however proper they may be for the construction and equipment of vessels of war, or for the manufacture of one or another sort of machines of war by land or sea, shall not be judged contraband, neither by the letter, nor according to any pretended interpretation whatever, ought they, or can they be comprehended under the notion of effects prohibited or contraband: so that all effects and merchandizes, which are not expressly before named, may, without any exception, and in perfect liberty, be transported by the subjects and inhabitants of both allies, from and to places belonging to the enemy; excepting only the places, which at the same time, shall be besieged, blocked or invested; and those places only shall be held for such, which are surrounded nearly by some of the belligerent powers. Article the Twenty-fifth. To the end that all dissention and quarrel may be avoided and prevented, it has been agreed, that in case that one of the two parties happens to be at war, the vessels belonging to the subjects or inhabitants of the other ally, shall be provided with sea-letters or passports, expressing the name, the property and the burthen of the vessel, as also the name and the place of abode of the master or commander of the said vessel, to the end, that thereby it may appear, that the vessel really and truly belongs to subjects or inhabitants of one of the parties; which passports shall be drawn and distributed, according to the form annexed to this treaty, each time that the vessel shall return, she should have such her passport renewed, or at least, they ought not to be of more ancient date than two years, before the vessel has been returned to her own country. It has been also agreed, that such vessels, being loaded, ought to be provided not only with the said passports or sea-letters, but also with a general passport, or with particular passports or manifests, or other public documents, which are ordinarily given to vessels which in the ports from whence the vessels have set sail in the last place, containing a specification of the cargo, of the place from whence the vessel departed, and of that of her destination; or, instead of all these with certificates from the Magistrates or Governors of cities, places, and colonies, from whence the vessel came, given in the usual form, to the end that it may be known, whether there are any effects prohibited or contraband, on board the vessels, and whether they are destined to be carried to an enemy’s country or not. And in case any one judges proper to express in the said documents, the persons to whom the effects on board belong, he may do it freely, without, however being bound to do it; and the omission of such expression cannot and ought not to cause a confiscation. Article the Twenty-sixth. If the vessels of the said subjects or inhabitants of either of the parties, sailing along the coasts or on the high seas, are met by a vessel of war, or privateer, or other armed vessel of the other party, the said vessels of war, privateers, or armed vessels, for avoiding all disorder, shall remain without the reach of cannon, but may send their boats on board the merchant vessel, which they shall meet in this manner, upon which they may not pass more than two or three men, to whom the master or commander shall exhibit his passport, containing the property of the vessel, according to the form annexed to this treaty: And the vessel, after having exhibited such a passport, sea-letter and other documents, shall be free to continue her voyage, so that it shall not be lawful to molest her, or search her in any manner, nor to give her chace, nor to force her to alter her course. Article the Twenty-seventh. It shall be lawful, for merchants, captains and commanders of vessels, whether public and of war, or private and of merchants, belonging to the said United States of America, or any of them, or to their subjects and inhabitants, to take freely into their service, and receive on board of their vessels, in any port or place in the jurisdiction of their High Mightinesses aforesaid, seamen or others, natives or inhabitants of any of the said states, upon such conditions as they shall agree on, without being subject for this, to any fine, penalty, punishment, process or reprehension, whatsoever. And reciprocally, all merchants, captains and commanders, belonging to the said United Netherlands, shall enjoy, in all the ports and places under the obedience of the said United States of America, the same privilege of engaging and receiving seamen or others, natives or inhabitants of any country of the domination of the said States General: Provided that neither on the one side or the other, they may not take into their service, such of their countrymen who have already engaged in the service of the other party contracting, whether in war or trade, and whether they meet by land or sea; at least if the captains or masters under the command of whom such persons may be found, will not, of his own consent discharge them from their service: upon pain of being otherwise treated and punished as deserters. Article the Twenty-eighth. The affair of the refraction shall be regulated in all equity and justice, by the magistrates of cities respectively, where it shall be judged that there is any room to complain in this respect. Article the Twenty-ninth. The present treaty shall be ratified and approved by their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands, and by the United States of America; and the acts of ratification shall be delived, in good and due form, on one side and on the other, in the space of six months, or sooner, if possible, to be computed from the day of the signature. In faith of which, We, the Deputies and Plenipotentiaries of the Lords the States General of the United Netherlands, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, in virtue of our respective authorities and full powers, have signed the present treaty, and opposed thereto the seals of our arms. DONE at the Hague, the eighth of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. John Adams. George Van Randwyck. B.V.D. Sandtheuvel. P.V. Bleiswyk. W.C.H. Van Lynden. D.I. Van Heeckeren. Joan Van Kuffeler. F.G. Van Dedem Tot Den Gelder. H. Tjassens. |
| From Laws Of The United States Of America, Volume I, 1795, Printed at the State=Press by Adams and Larkin, Pages 448-457. |
| CONVENTION between the LORDS the STATES GENERAL of the UNITED NETHERLANDS, and the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, concerning Vessels recaptured.
THE LORDS, the STATES GENERAL of the UNITED NETHERLANDS, and the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, being inclined to establish some uniform principles, with relation to prizes made by vessels of war, and commissioned by the two contracting powers, upon their common enemies, and to vessels of the subjects of either party, captured by the enemy, and re-captured by vessels of war, commissioned by either party, have agreed upon the following articles. Article the First. The vessels of either of the two nations re-captured by the privateers of the other, shall be restored to the first proprietor, if such vessels have not been four and twenty hours in the power of the enemy, provided the owner of the vessel re-captured, pay therefor, one third of the value of the vessel, as also of that of the cargo, the cannons and apparel, which third shall be valued by agreement, between the parties interested; or, if they cannot agree thereon among themselves, they shall address themselves to the Officers of the Admiralty, of the place where the privateer, who has retaken the vessel, shall have conducted her. Article the Second. If the vessel re-captured, has been more than twenty-four hours in the power of the enemy, she shall belong entirely to the privateer who has retaken her. Article the Third. In case a vessel shall have been re-captured by a vessel of war, belonging to the States General of the United Netherlands, or to the United States of America, she shall be restored to the first owner, he paying a thirtieth part of the value of the ship, her cargo, cannons and apparel, if she has been re-captured, in the interval of twenty-four hours and the tenth part if she has been re-captured after the twenty-four hours: which sums shall be distributed in form of gratifications to the crews of the vessels which shall have retaken her. The valuation of the said thirtieth parts and tenth parts, shall be regulated according to the tenor of the first article of the present Convention. Article the Fourth. The restitution of prizes, whether they may have been retaken by vessels of war or by privateers, in the mean time and until requisite and sufficient proofs can be given of the property of vessels re-captured, shall be admitted in a reasonable time, under sufficient sureties for the observation of the aforesaid articles. Article the Fifth. The vessels of war and privateers of one and of the other of the two nations, shall be reciprocally, both in Europe and in the other parts of the world, admitted in the respective ports of each, with their prizes, which may be unloaded and sold according to the formalities used in the state where the prize shall have been conducted, as far as may be consistent with the twenty-second article of the treaty of commerce: Provided always, that the legality of prizes by the vessels of the Low Countries, shall be decided conformably to the laws and regulations established in the United Netherlands; As likewise, that of prizes made by American vessels, shall be judged, according to the laws and regulations determined by the United States of America. Article the Sixth. Moreover, it shall be free for the States General of the United Netherlands, as well as for the United States of America, to make such regulations as they shall judge necessary, relative to the conduct which their respective vessels and privateers ought to hold in relation to the vessels which they shall have taken and conducted into the ports of the two powers. In faith of which, We the Deputies and Plenipotentiaries of the Lords, the States General of the United Netherlands, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, have in virtue of our respective authorities and full powers, signed these presents, and confirmed the same with the seal of our arms. DONE at the Hague, the eighth of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. John Adams. George Van Randwyck. B.V.D. Sandtheuvel. P.V. Bleiswyk. W.C.H. Van Lynden. D.I. Van Heeckeren. Joan Van Kuffeler. F.G. Van Dedem Tot Den Gelder. H. Tjassens. |
| From Laws Of The United States Of America, Volume I, 1795, Printed at the State=Press by Adams and Larkin, Pages 457-459. |
