nevertheless, understood that the instructions originally issued to an officer holding the rank of lieutenant of the navy, or other superior rank, shall, in case of his death or temporary absence, be sufficient to authorize the officer on whom the command of the vessel has devolved to make the search, although such officer may not hold the aforesaid rank in the service.

Thirdly. That if at any time the commander of a cruizer of either of the two nations shall suspect that any merchant-vessel, under the escort or convoy of any ship or sipps of war of the other nation, carries negroes on board, or has been engaged in the African Slave Trade, or is fitted out for the purpose thereof, the commander of the cruizer shall communicate his suspicions to the commander of the convoy, who, accompanied by the commander of the cruizer, shall proceed to the search of the suspected vessel; and in case the suspicions appear well founded, according to the tenour of this Treaty, then the said vessel shall be conducted or sent to one of the places where the mixed courts of justice are stationed, in order that it may there be adjudicated upon.

Fourthly. It is further mutually agreed, that the commanders of the ships of the two navies, respectively, who shall be employed on this service, shall adhere strictly to the exact tenour of the aforesaid instructions.

III. As the two preceding articles are entirely reciprocal, the two High Contracting Parties engage mutually to make good any losses which their respective subjects or citizens may incur by an arbitrary and illegal detention of their vessels; it being understood that this indemnity shall be borne VOL. CIV.

by the Government whose cruizer shall have been guilty of such arbitrary and illegal detention; and that the search and detention of vessels specified in the first article of this Treaty shall be effected only by ships which may form part of the two navies, respectively, and by such of those ships only as are provided with the special instructions annexed to the present Treaty, in pursuance of the provisions thereof. The indemnification for the damages of which this article treats shall be paid within the term of one year, reckoning from the day in which the mixed court of justice pronounces its sentence.

IV. In order to bring to adjudication, with as little delay and inconvenience as possible, the vessels which may be detained according to the tenour of the first article of this Treaty, there shall be established, as soon as may be practicable, three mixed courts of justice, formed of an equal number of individuals of the two nations, named for this purpose by their respective Governments. These courts shall reside, one at Sierra Leone; one at the Cape of Good Hope; and one at New York.

But each of the two High Contracting Parties reserves to itself the right of changing, at its pleasure, the place of residence of the court or courts held within its own territories.

These courts shall judge the causes submitted to them according to the provisions of the present Treaty, and according to the regulations and instructions which are annexed to the present Treaty, and which are considered an integral part thereof; and there shall be no appeal from their decision.

P

V. In case the commanding of

ficer of any of the ships of the navies of either country, duly commissioned according to the provisions of the first article of this Treaty, shall deviate in any respect from the stipulations of the said Treaty, or from the instructions annexed to it, the Government which shall conceive itself to be wronged thereby shall be entitled to demand reparation; and in such case the Government to which such commanding officer may bebelong binds itself to cause inquiry to be made into the subject of the complaint, and to inflict upon the said officer a punishment proportioned to any wilful transgression which he may be proved to have committed.

VI. It is hereby further mutually agreed, that every British or American merchant-vessel which shall be searched by virtue of the present Treaty, may lawfully be detained, and sent or brought before the mixed courts of justice established in pursuance of the provisions thereof, if in her equipment there shall be found any of the things hereinafter mentioned, namely:

1st. Hatches with open gratings, instead of the close hatches which are usual in merchant-vessels.

2nd. Divisions or bulk-heads in the hold or on deck, in greater number than are necessary for vessels engaged in lawful trade.

3rd. Spare plank, fitted for laying down as a second or slave deck.

4th. Shackles, bolts, or handcuffs.

5th. A larger quantity of water in casks or in tanks than is requisite for the consumption of the crew of the vessel as a merchant-vessel.

6th. An extraordinary number of water-casks, or of other vessels

for holding liquid; unless the master shall produce a certificate from the custom-house at the place from which he cleared outwards, stating that a sufficient security had been given by the owners of such vessel that such extra quantity of casks, or of other vessels, should be used only to hold palm oil, or for other purposes of lawful com

merce.

7th. A greater number of messtubs or kids than requisite for the use of the crew of the vessel as a merchant-vessel.

8th. A boiler, or other cooking apparatus, of an unusual size, and larger, or capable of being made larger, than requisite for the use of the crew of the vessel as a merchant-vessel; or more than one boiler, or other cooking apparatus, of the ordinary size.

9th. An extraordinary quantity of rice, of the flour of Brazil, of manioc or cassada, commonly called farinha, of maize, or of Indian corn, or of any other article of food whatever, beyond the probable wants of the crew; unless such rice, flour, farinha, maize, Indian corn, or other article of food, be entered on the manifest as part of the cargo for trade.

10th. A quantity of mats or matting greater than is necessary for the use of the crew of the vessel as a merchant-vessel; unless such mats or matting be entered on the manifest as part of the cargo for trade.

If it be proved that any one or more of the articles above specified is or are on board, or have been on board during the voyage in which the vessel was captured, that fact shall be considered as prima facie evidence that the vessel was employed in the African Slave Trade, and she shall in con

sequence be condemned and declared lawful prize; unless the master or owners shall furnish clear and incontrovertible evidence, proving to the satisfaction of the mixed court of justice that, at the time of her detention or capture, the vessel was employed in a lawful undertaking, and that such of the different articles above specified as were found on board at the time of detention, or as may have been embarked during the voyage on which she was engaged when captured, were indispensable for the lawful object of her voyage. VII. If any one of the articles specified in the preceding article as grounds for condemnation should be found on board a merchant-vessel, or should be proved to have been on board of her during the voyage on which she was captured, no compensation for losses, damages, or expenses consequent upon the detention of such vessel shall in any case be granted either to the master, the owner, or any other person interested in the equipment or in the lading, even though she should not be condemned by the mixed court of justice.

VIII. It is agreed between the two High Contracting Parties that, in all cases in which a vessel shall be detained under this Treaty, by their respective cruizers, as having been engaged in the African Slave Trade, or as having been fitted out for the purposes thereof, and shall consequently be adjudged and condemned by one of the mixed courts of justice to be established as aforesaid, the said vessel shall, immediately after its condemnation, be broken up entirely, and shall be sold in separate parts, after having been so broken up; unless either of the two Govern

ments should wish to purchase her for the use of its navy, at a price to be fixed by a competent person chosen for that purpose by the mixed court of justice; in which case the Government whose cruizer shall have detained the condemned vessel shall have the first option of purchase.

IX. The captain, master, pilot, and crew of any vessel condemned by the mixed courts of justice shall be punished according to the laws of the country to which such vessel belongs, as shall also the owner or owners, and the persons interested in her equipment or cargo, unless they prove that they had no participation in the enterprise.

For this purpose, the two High Contracting Parties agree that, in so far as it may not be attended with grievous expense and inconvenience, the master and crew of any vessel which may be condemned by a sentence of one of the mixed courts of justice, as well as any other persons found on board the vessel, shall be sent and delivered up to the jurisdiction of the nation under whose flag the condemned vessel was sailing at the time of capture; and that the witnesses and proofs necessary to establish the guilt of such master, crew, or other persons, shall also be sent with them.

The same course shall be pursued with regard to subjects or citizens of either Contracting Party who may be found by a cruizer of the other on board a vessel of any third Power, or on board a vessel sailing without flag or papers, which may be condemned by any competent court for having engaged in the African Slave Trade.

X. The negroes who are found

on board of a vessel condemned by the mixed courts of justice, in conformity with the stipulations of this Treaty, shall be placed at the disposal of the Government whose cruizer has made the capture; they shall be immediately set at liberty and shall remain free, the Government to whom they have been delivered guaranteeing their liberty.

XI. The acts or instruments annexed to this Treaty, and which it is mutually agreed shall form an integral part thereof, are as follows:

(A.) Instructions for the ships. of the navies of both nations destined to prevent the African Slave Trade.

(B.) Regulations for the mixed courts of justice.

XII. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at London in six months from this date, or sooner if possible. It shall continue and remain in full force for the term of ten years from the day of exchange of the ratifications, and, further, until the end of one year after either of the Contracting Parties shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same; each of the Contracting Parties reserving to itself the right of giving such notice to the other at the end of said term of ten years. And it is hereby agreed between them that, on the expiration of one year after such notice shall have been received by either from the other party, this Treaty shall altogether cease and determine.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty, and have thereunto affixed the seal of their arms. Done at Washington,

the

seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. (L.S.) LYONS.

(L.S.) WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Annex (A) to the Treaty between

Great Britain and the United States of America, for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, signed at Washington on the 7th day of April, 1862.

Instructions for the Ships of the

British and United States' Navies employed to prevent the African Slave Trade.

I. The commander of any ship belonging to the British or United States' Navy, which shall be furnished with these instructions, shall have a right to search and detain any British or United States' merchant-vessel which shall be actually engaged, or suspected to be engaged, in the African Slave Trade, or to be fitted out for the purposes thereof, or to have been engaged in such trade during the voyage in which she may be met with by such ship of the British or United States' Navy; and such commander shall thereupon bring or send such merchant-vessel (save in the case provided for in Article V. of these instructions), as soon as possible, for judgment, before one of the three mixed courts of justice established in virtue of the fourth article of the said Treaty, that is to say;

If the vessel shall be detained on the Coast of Africa, she shall be brought before that one of the two mixed courts of justice to be established at the Cape of Good Hope and at Sierra Leone, which

may be nearest to the place of detention, or which the captor, on his own responsibility, may think can be soonest reached from such place.

If the vessel shall be detained on the coast of the Island of Cuba, she shall be brought before the mixed court of justice at New York.

II. Whenever a ship of either of the two navies, duly authorized as aforesaid, shall meet a merchant-vessel liable to be searched under the provisions of the said Treaty, the search shall be conducted with the courtesy and consideration which ought to be observed between allied and friendly nations; and the search shall, in all cases, be made by an officer holding a rank not lower than that of lieutenant in the navy; or by the officer who at the time shall be second in command of the ship by which such search is made.

III. The commander of any ship of the two navies, duly authorized as aforesaid, who may detain any merchant-vessel in pursuance of the tenour of the present instructions, shall leave on board the vessel so detained the master, the mate, or boatswain, and two or three at least of the crew; the whole of the negroes, if any; and all the cargo. The captor shall, at the time of detention, draw up, in writing, a declaration, which shall exhibit the state in which he found the detained vessel; such declaration shall be signed by himself, and shall be given in or sent, together with the captured vessel, to the mixed court of justice before which such vessel shall be carried or sent for adjudication. He shall deliver to the master of the detained vessel a signed and certified list of the papers found on

board the same, as well as a certificate of the number of negroes found on board at the moment of detention.

In the declaration which the captor is hereby required to make, as well as in the certified list of the papers seized, and in the certificate of the number of negroes found on board the detained vessel, he shall insert his own name and surname, the name of the capturing ship, and the latitude and longitude of the place where the detention shall have been made.

The officer in charge of the detained vessel shall, at the time of bringing the vessel's papers into the mixed court of justice, deliver into the court a certificate signed by himself, and verified on oath, stating any changes which may have taken place in respect to the vessel, her crew, the negroes, if any, and her cargo, between the period of her detention and the time of delivering in such paper.

IV. If urgent reasons, arising from the length of the voyage, the state of health of the negroes, or any other cause, should require that either the whole or a portion of such negroes should be disembarked before the vessel can arrive at the place at which one of the mixed courts of justice is established, the commander of the capturing ship may take upon himself the responsibility of so disembarking the negroes, provided the necessity of the disembarkation, and the causes thereof, be stated in a certificate in proper form. Such certificate shall be drawn up and entered at the time on the logbook of the detained vessel.

V. In case any merchant-vessel detained in pursuance of the present instructions should prove to be unseaworthy, or in such a con