on the high seas will be exempt from seizure by the ships of his Majesty the King of Prussia, without regard to reciprocity.

In compliance with the request further contained in your note, that communication has been officially made public from this Department.

It is now nearly a century since the United States, through Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, their plenipotentiaries, and Prussia, under the guidance of the great Frederick, entered into a treaty of amity and commerce, to be in force for ten years from its date, whereby it was agreed that if war should unhappily arise between the two contracting parties, "all merchant and trading vessels employed in exchanging the products of different places, and thereby rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life more easy to be obtained, and more general, should be allowed to pass free and unmolested; and that neither of the contracting powers should grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels, empowering them to take or destroy such trading vessels, or interrupt such commerce."

The Government of the United States receives with great pleasure the renewed adherence of a great and enlightened German government to the principle temporarily established by the treaty of 1785, and since then advocated by this Government whenever opportunity has offered. In 1854, President Pierce, in his annual message to Congress, said: "Should the leading powers of Europe concur in proposing, as a rule of international law, to exempt private property upon the ocean from seizure by public armed cruisers, as well as by privateers, the United States will readily meet them on that broad ground." In 1856, this Government was invited to give its adhesion to the declaration of Paris. Mr. Marcy, the then Secretary of State, replied: "The President proposes to add to the first proposition in the declaration of the Congress at Paris the following words: 'And that the private property of the subjects or citizens of a belligerent on the high seas shall be exempted from seizure by public armed vessels of the other belligerent, unless it be contraband. Thus amended, the Government of the United States will adopt it, together with the other three principles contained in that declaration.'" And again, in 1861, Mr. Seward renewed the offer to give the adhesion of the United States to the declaration of the congress of Paris, and expressed a preference that the same amendment should be retained.

Count Bismarck's dispatch, communicated in your letter of the 19th instant, shows that North Germany is willing to recognize this principle (even without reciprocity) in the war which has now unhappily broken out between that country and France. This gives

42179-34-32

reason to hope that the Government and the people of the United States may soon be gratified by seeing it universally recognized as another restraining and harmonizing 1 influence imposed by modern civilization upon the art of war.

Accept [etc.]

1

HAMILTON FISH

143

The Secretary of State (Fish) to the Minister in the North German Union (Bancroft) 2

No. 257

2

WASHINGTON, October 28, 1870. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch of the 5th instant, No. 147, in which, referring to my letter of the 22d of July last, to Baron Gerolt, you state that Mr. Delbrück informs you that when the time shall come for negotiating a peace with France, one of the conditions to be proposed and insisted on will be the recognition of the principle of exempting private property on the high seas from seizure. You then inquire whether you will be authorized to propose, on your part, a recognition in the pending treaty relating to consulships and inheritances between the United States and the North German Union.

In reply, you are informed that you are authorized to obtain the recognition of the principle of the exemption of private property of citizens or subjects of either of the two parties from capture on the high seas by either privateers or public vessels of the other. I am [etc.] HAMILTON FISH

144

Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Italy, February 26, 1871 3

[Articles XII-XVI]

ARTICLE XII

3

The high contracting parties agree that, in the unfortunate event of a war between them, the private property of their respective citizens and subjects, with the exception of contraband of war, shall be exempt from capture or seizure, on the high seas or elsewhere, by the armed vessels or by the military forces of either party; it being understood that this exemption shall not extend to vessels and their cargoes which may attempt to enter a port blockaded by the naval forces of either party.

'Malloy, Treaties, Conventions, etc., vol. 1, pp. 969-977.

ARTICLE XIII

The high contracting parties having agreed that a state of war between one of them and a third Power shall not, except in the cases of blockade and contraband of war, effect the neutral commerce of the other, and being desirous of removing every uncertainty which may hitherto have arisen respecting that which, upon principles of fairness and justice, ought to constitute a legal blockade, they hereby expressly declare that such places only shall be considered blockaded as shall be actually invested by naval forces capable of preventing the entry of neutrals, and so stationed as to create an evident danger on their part to attempt it.

ARTICLE XIV

And whereas it frequently happens that vessels sail for a port or a place belonging to an enemy without knowing that the same is besieged, blockaded, or invested, it is agreed that every vessel so circumstanced may be turned away from such port or place, but shall not be detained, nor shall any part of her cargo, if not contraband of war, be confiscated, unless, after a warning of such blockade or investment from an officer commanding a vessel of the blockading forces, by an endorsement of such officer on the papers of the vessel, mentioning the date and the latitude and longitude where such endorsement was made, she shall again attempt to enter; but she shall be permitted to go to any other port or place she shall think proper. Nor shall any vessel of either, that may have entered into such a port before the same was actually besieged, blockaded, or invested by the other, be restrained from quitting such place with her cargo, nor, if found therein after the reduction and surrender, shall such vessel or her cargo be liable to confiscation, but they shall be restored to the owners thereof; and if any vessel, having thus entered any port before the blockade took place, shall take on board a cargo after the blockade be established, she shall be subject to being warned by the blockading forces to return to the port blockaded and discharge the said cargo, and if, after receiving the said warning, the vessel shall persist in going out with the cargo, she shall be liable to the same consequences as a vessel attempting to enter a blockaded port after being warned off by the blockading forces.

ARTICLE XV

The liberty of navigation and commerce secured to neutrals by the stipulations of this treaty shall extend to all kinds of merchandise, excepting those only which are distinguished by the name of contraband of war. And, in order to remove all causes of doubt and misunderstanding upon this subject, the contracting parties expressly

agree and declare that the following articles, and no others, shall be considered as comprehended under this denomination:

1. Cannons, mortars, howitzers, swivels, blunderbusses, muskets, fusees, rifles, carbines, pistols, pikes, swords, sabers, lances, spears, halberds, bombs, grenades, powder, matches, balls, and all other things belonging to, and expressly manufactured for, the use of these

arms.

2. Infantry belts, implements of war and defensive weapons, clothes cut or made up in a military form and for a military use. 3. Cavalry belts, war saddles and holsters.

4. And generally all kinds of arms and instruments of iron, steel, brass, and copper, or of any other materials manufactured, prepared, and formed expressly to make war by sea or land.

ARTICLE XVI

It shall be lawful for the citizens of the United States, and for the subjects of the Kingdom of Italy, to sail with their ships with all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made who are the proprietors of the merchandise laden thereon, from any port to the places of those who now are, or hereafter shall be, at enmity with either of the contracting parties. It shall likewise be lawful for the citizens aforesaid to sail with the ships and merchandise before mentioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the places, ports, and havens of those who are enemies of both or either party without any opposition or disturbance whatever, not only directly from the places of the enemy before mentioned to neutral places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy to another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of one power or under several; and it is hereby stipulated that free ships shall also give freedom to goods, and that everything shall be deemed to be free and exempt from capture which shall be found on board the ships belonging to the citizens of either of the contracting parties, although the whole lading or any part thereof should appertain to the enemies of the other, contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed, in like manner, that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board of a free ship; and they shall not be taken out of that free ship unless they are officers or soldiers, and in the actual service of the enemy: Provided, however, and it is hereby agreed, that the stipulations in this article contained, declaring that the flag shall cover the property, shall be understood as applying to those Powers only who recognize this principle, but if either of the two contracting parties shall be at war with a third, and the other neutral, the flag of the neutral shall cover the property of enemies whose Governments acknowledge this principle, and not of others.

145

Proclamation Regarding the Blockade of Certain Ports of Cuba, April 22, 1898 1

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, by a joint resolution passed by the Congress and approved April 20, 1898, and communicated to the Government of Spain, it was demanded that said Government at once relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters; and the President of the United States was directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States to such extent as might be necessary to carry said resolution into effect; and

WHEREAS, in carrying into effect said resolution, the President of the United States deems it necessary to set on foot and maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including all ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda and the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba:

Now, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM MCKINLEY, President of the United States, in order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare and proclaim that the United States of America have instituted and will maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda and the port of Cienfuegos on the south coast of Cuba, aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and the law of nations applicable to such cases. An efficient force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessel approaching any of said ports, or attempting to leave the same, without notice or knowledge of the establishment of such blockade, will be duly warned by the commander of the blockading forces, who will indorse on her register the fact, and the date, of such warning, where such indorsement was made; and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter any blockaded port, she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize, as may be deemed advisable.

Neutral vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to issue therefrom.

2

For papers of the Navy Department relating to this blockade, see H.Doc. 3, 55th Cong., 3d sess., vol. XII, pp. 179–325.