By this Treaty and Convention authority to search and SEARCH. detain Muscat vessels is given to Her Majesty's ships, and the ships of war belonging to the East India Company, under the following circumstances : First. When Muscat vessels are laden with Slaves, and met Treaty of with anywhere bound for Christian countries. 1822; 1839. Secondly. When such vessels are engaged in Slave Trade, and Additional met with anywhere excepting within a direct line drawn from Art. I, of Cape Delgado, passing two degrees to seaward of the Island of Dec 17, Socotra and ending at Passein: but you will observe that vessels met with outside of that line are exempt from seizure, if they have been driven beyond it by stress of weather, or other necessity. 1822; Thirdly. When such vessels are laden with Slaves, and met Treaty of with inside of the line, but not furnished with port-clearances Art. VI. required by Article VI of 1822. On seizing any vessel under this Treaty, you will take pos- DETENTION. session of the ship's papers, making a list thereof, according to Form No. 4, and certifying the same by your signature. Form No. 4. You will also draw out a declaration, according to Form No. 5, stating the circumstances attending the capture, and mention- Form No. 5. ing the date and place where it was made, and you will certify the same by your signature. ING TO THE On detaining under this Treaty Muscat vessels, outside of the CONDUCTline drawn from Cape Delgado to seaward of Socotra and ending PORT OF ADat Passein, you will without delay, carry or send the vessel with JUDICATION. the Slaves, to the nearest British Court of Vice-Admiralty, delivering up to the proper authorities the vessel for trial, and Second Addie the Slaves, if any, for liberation; but on detaining any vessel of Dec. 17, within the said line, you will carry or send such vessel with her 1839. Slaves to Muscat for trial. The Officer in charge is at the time of delivering up the vessel to the authorities before which the case is to be tried, to deliver also the ship's papers and certificates thereof, and the captor's declaration of capture. Third Addi You will observe that by the Additional Articles of the 17th of December, 1839, the Imaum of Muscat has promised to punish tional Article as pirates any of his subjects who may be found concerned in of Dec. 17, the sale of persons of the Soomalee tribe. The circumstances attending the seizure of any vessel under this Treaty must be fully reported to the Officer under whose orders you are serving, and a duplicate of the Report sent at the earliest opportunity to the Admiralty. Given under our hands, this 12th day of June, 1844. 1839. G. COCKBURN. Ratifications exchanged [Forms 1, 2, 3, 4, apply to this Treaty.] 3.-SWEDEN AND NORWAY. Instructions for Commanders of Her Majesty's Ships authorized to By the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High THE Treaty of the 6th May, 1824, between Great Britain Feb.26,1825. and Sweden, has four Annexes, marked A, B, C, and D, which, Treaty; by the terms of the Treaty, are declared to form an integral Art. VIII. part thereof. Ratifications Annex A contains a Proclamation of the King of Sweden, dated the 7th of February, 1823, declaring that any Swedish or Norwegian vessel employed in the Slave Trade, shall lose all right to protection from the Swedish or Norwegian flag. Annex B contains extract from a Norwegian Proclamation, dated the 16th of March, 1792, abolishing all Traffic in Negroes. Annex C contains Instructions for the ships of the royal navies of both Nations employed to prevent the illicit Traffic in Slaves. Annex D contains Regulations for the Mixed Courts of Justice to be established under the Treaty. There is also a Declaration made at the period of the exchange of the Ratifications of this Treaty, stating that a Mixed British and Swedish Court is to be established at Sierra Leone. There is likewise an Additional Article, dated at Stockholm, exchanged the 15th of June, 1835, by which it is stipulated that condemned July 27,1835. AUTHORITY TO ACT Treaty; Art. III. Annex C, Sect. 1. vessels are to be broken up. Your conduct in suppressing the Slave Trade carried on in Swedish and Norwegian vessels, must be governed and regulated by the Treaty, and the Annexes, and the Declaration; and the following Instructions are framed in conformity with these documents, for the purpose of distinctly pointing out the course which you are to pursue in carrying the Treaty into effect. Commanders of Her Majesty's ships are not authorized to search Swedish or Norwegian vessels under this Treaty, unless duly provided with the Instructions contained in Annex Cand with Special Orders from the Admiralty to carry the same into effect; but when furnished with those Instructions, they are authorized to visit, search, and detain, under the conditions prescribed by the Treaty, any Swedish or Norwegian vessels which, upon reasonable grounds, may be suspected of being engaged in Slave Trade. The authority to visit and search must be exercised under the SEARCH. following restrictions and regulations : VISIT AND Annex C, First. In no case is the search to be made by an Officer Sect. 2. under the rank of Lieutenant in the Navy. Secondly. The Right of Search can be exercised in respect to Sect 2. Treaty; Annex C, merchant-vessels only. Sect. 1. Thirdly. The Right of Search is not to be exercised in the Treaty; Mediterranean Sea, nor within the European seas, lying without Art. III, the Straits of Gibraltar, to the Northward of the 37th degree of North latitude, and within, and to the Eastward of the Meridian of Ferro. Sect. 5. Fourthly. If you should suspect that a Swedish or Norwe- Treaty; gian vessel, under convoy of a Swedish ship of war, is engaged Art. III, in the Slave Trade, you are to communicate your suspicions to the Commander of the Convoy, who is then to proceed to visit the suspected vessel, accompanied either by you or by an Officer delegated by you as your representative. If the suspicion appear to be well founded, the vessel is to be taken by you before one of the Mixed Courts of Justice established under the Treaty. Should, however, the Commander of the Convoy refuse to make the search, you have no authority to take any further steps. The Commander of the Convoy is to afford all the aid and assistance possible to the visit of the suspected vessel, and to her eventual seizure, according to the spirit and true sense of the Treaty. In the case of a British vessel, sailing under your convoy, being suspected of Slave Trade by a Commander of a Swedish ship of war, duly authorized to act under the Treaty, you will, on the Commander of a Swedish ship of war communicating to you his suspicions, invite the Swedish Officer to accompany you in the search, or to delegate an Officer for such purpose; and if the suspicions appear to you to be well founded, you will permit the Swedish Officer to seize the vessel, and send the vessel to one of the ports where the Mixed Courts of Justice are stationed under the Treaty, in order that the case may be tried by the authorized Tribunal. In case an application, such as is above described, should be made to you, you will take care that the search and enquiry which is instituted, shall be strict and satisfactory. You will afford all the aid and assistance possible to the visit of the suspected vessel, and to her eventual seizure if required; and you will treat the Swedish Commander with every courtesy and respect throughout the whole proceeding. A full report of the circumstances relating to any British, Swedish or Norwegian vessels, so met with under Convoy, must be made to the Officer under whose orders you are serving, and a duplicate of the Report is to be sent to the Admiralty at the earliest opportunity. DETENTION. Treaty; Treaty; Annex C, It will be your duty, when duly authorized under this Treaty, to seize any Swedish or Norwegian vessel found where search is permitted, whenever it shall appear, First. That one or more Slaves for the purpose of traffic, are or have been on board during the voyage on which the vessel may be captured. Secondly. That the vessel has on board any of the fittings or equipments mentioned in the Seventh Article of the Treaty; excepting in the particular cases where it is provided to the contrary, by Sections 6 and 9 of the said Article, provided such vessel be met with in any river, gulph, or creek, on the coast of Africa, or within one degree to the Westward thereof, and between the 20th degree of North latitude and the 20th degree of South latitude. Thirdly. Negro servants or sailors found on board Swedish or Norwegian vessels cannot in any case be deemed a sufficient cause for detention. If you should determine to seize the vessel, you are forthwith to take possession of the ship's papers, and of all other documents and letters found on board, and to cause a list to be made out Form No. 1. thereof in duplicate according to Form No. 1, verifying the same by your signature; and you are to deliver to the Master one of the said certified lists. Annex C, You are also at the time of seizure to draw up in writing a Declaration of the state in which you found the said vessel, Form No. 2. according to Form No. 2, and this Declaration is to be signed by CONDUCT ING TO THE PORT OF AD yourself, and to be given in or sent, together with the captured vessel, to the Mixed Commission before which such vessel shall be taken for adjudication. In the event of your seizing a Swedish or Norwegian vessel, JUDICATION. you must without delay conduct her for trial before the Mixed Annex C, Treaty; Court of Justice established under the Treaty. The Treaty provides that two Courts of Justice shall be established, one at Sierra Leone, and one at St. Bartholomew; and Declara- but at present, that at Saint Bartholomew is not established tion annexed under the Treaty. to it. Annex C, You are to leave on board the seized vessel all the cargo, as well as the Master and a part at least of the crew of the vessel seized. The Negroes are not to be disembarked till after the vessel which contains them shall have arrived at the place where the legality of the capture is to be tried, unless urgent motives, arising from the length of the voyage, the state of health of the Negroes, or other causes, require that they should be disembarked entirely or in part. In this case you must draw out a certificate according to Form No. 3. Form No. 3, in which you are to declare the reasons of the said transfer; and the persons so transferred must be conducted immediately to the same port as the vessel and its cargo. As soon as you shall have brought the seized vessel to the place PROCEEDwhere the Mixed Court of Justice is sitting, you are to deliver INGS AT THE to the Court, First. The duplicate of the certificate delivered to the Master at the time of seizure, according to Form No. 4. Secondly. The authenticated declaration drawn up also at the time of the seizure, according to Form No. 5. PORT OF AD- Form No. 4. Form No. 5. Thirdly. An affidavit, to which all the ship's papers, together with all other documents and letters at any time found on board must be annexed, and this affidavit must verify the same: Form No. 6 is to be used for this purpose, unless there should be Form No. 6. a different Form prescribed by the Court. Fourthly. Another affidavit, in which are to be stated any changes which have taken place in respect to the vessel, the Slaves, if any, and her cargo, between the period of her detention and the time of delivering in such papers: Form No. 7 is to Form No. 7. be used for this purpose, unless there should be a different Form prescribed by the Court. Fifthly. If any Slaves shall have been removed, as mentioned in Annex C, Section 3, you are also to deliver in to the Court the certificate therein described, according to Form No. 3. You are then, by yourself or agent, to proceed in the case, according to the forms of business in use in the Mixed Court of Justice, which you will learn upon application to the Registrar of the Court. Form No. 3. The rights conferred by the Treaty must, in every case and Treaty; in all stages be exercised in the mildest manner, and with every Art. V. attention which ought to be observed between allied and friendly nations; and you will bear in mind the responsibility of Great Britain to see that any losses which Swedish or Norwegian subjects may suffer by the arbitrary or illegal detention of their vessels shall be made good. You will mark that, in case Her Majesty's Officers deviate in any respect from the stipulations of the Treaty, or the Instructions annexed to it, Her Majesty's Government upon complaint is bound to cause enquiry to be made, and to inflict upon the Treaty; Officer, a punishment proportionate to any wilful transgression Art. VI. he may have committed. Swedish and Norwegian ships of war duly authorized under the Treaty have the same right of search and detention, with respect to British merchant-vessels suspected of being engaged in the Slave Trade, as may be exercised by Her Majesty's ships of war so authorized, with respect to Swedish and Norwegian merchant-vessels. Given under our hands, this 12th day of June, 1844. G. COCKBURN, |