Slike strani
PDF
ePub

of the treaty of amity and commerce which was concluded between His Majesty the King of Prussia and the United States of America on the 11th day of July, A. D. 1799, which article was revived by the treaty of May 1, A. D. 1828, between the same parties, and is still in force, it was agreed that

the vessels of war, public and private, of both parties shall carry freely, wheresoever they please, the vessels and effects taken from their enemies, without being obliged to pay any duties, charges, or fees to officers of admiralty, of the customs, or any others; nor shall such prizes be arrested, searched, or put under legal process when they come to and enter the ports of the other party, but may freely be carried out again at any time by their captors to the places expressed in their commissions, which the commanding officer of such vessel shall be obliged to show.

And I do further declare and proclaim that it has been officially communicated to the Government of the United States by the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the North German Confederation at Washington that private property on the high seas will be exempted from seizure by the ships of His Majesty the King of Prussia, without regard to reciprocity.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL]

Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of August, A. D. 1870, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.

By the President:

HAMILTON FISH,

Secretary of State.

U. S. GRANT.

Diplomatic Correspondence

Tonnage Dues1

Mr. von Alvensleben to Mr. Bayard

[Translation]

IMPERIAL GERMAN LEGATION,

Washington, August 3, 1885 (Received August 5).

The undersigned, Imperial German Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, has, in accordance with the orders he has received, the honor to make the following very respectful communication to Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State of the United States.

By a law of June 26, 1884 (an act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carrying trade, and for other purposes), section 14 (tonnage tax), it has been provided that vessels which sail from a port in North or Central America, in the West Indian Islands, the Bahama, Bermuda, and Sandwich Islands, to a port of the United States, shall pay in it, in place of the previous tonnage tax of 30 cents per ton a year, only 3 cents per ton, and not more than 15 cents a year, whilst vessels from other foreign ports have to bear a tax of 6 cents. This lowering of the tax to 3 cents has been granted to the favored countries-Canada, Newfoundland, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and West Indian Islands, Mexico, and Central America, including Panama and Aspinwall-unconditionally and without regard to the taxes, however relatively high, these countries on their side levy on American ships.

Article 9 of the Prussian-American treaty of the 1st of May, 1828, which has been lately in the correspondence between the cabinets of Berlin and Washington concerning the petroleum railroad rates as well as because of the Spanish-American treaty concerning the trade of Cuba and Puerto Rico, successively asserted by both Governments to be valid for all Germany, runs as follows:

If either party shall hereafter grant to any other nation any particular favor in navigation or commerce, it shall immediately

1 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1888, part 2, pp. 1872-1878. See ante, pp. 100, 141.

become common to the other party, freely, where it is freely granted to such other nation, or on yielding the same compensation, when the grant is conditional.

The treaties which the United States in their time have concluded with the Hanse cities, Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, contain similar provisions. In accordance with the purport of these, Germany has an immediate claim, and without making any concession in return, to participate in the enjoyment of the tonnage tax abatement to 3 cents per ton, which has been unconditionally conceded.

The undersigned is, in accordance with the view of the Imperial Government above set forth, directed to claim from the Government of the United States for German vessels the abatement of the tonnage tax to 3 cents per ton, and to propose, at the same time, the repayment of the tonnage tax which at the rate of 6 cents per ton has been overpaid since the law of the 26th of June, 1884, went into effect.

While the undersigned reserves for himself the right to make in due time proper proposals in reference to the abatement provided over and above this in the law of the 26th June of last year, dependent on certain conditions, and which (abatement) may in the future even exceed that of 3 cents per ton, according to the result of proper inquiries concerning the tonnage dues and other taxes hereafter to be levied in German harbors, he has the honor to request very respectfully that the Secretary of State will kindly take the proper course, so that German shipping may as soon as possible participate in the unconditional favor, to which it is entitled, of an abatement of the tonnage tax to 3

cents.

The undersigned has the honor to await, very respectfully, your kind answer in reference to this matter, and avails himself, etc.

H. v. ALVENSLEBEN.

Mr. Bayard to Mr. von Alvensleben

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 7, 1885.

Sir: I had the honor to receive in due season your note of August 3 last, touching the application of the provisions of the fourteenth section of the shipping act, approved June 26, 1884, in respect of the

« PrejšnjaNaprej »