runaway slaves to Brazil; and for this purpose have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: His Excellency Honorio Hermeto Carneiro Leão, of the Privy Council, and of the Council of State, Senator of the Empire, Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, and Officer of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross; and his Excellency Antonio Paulino Limpo de Abreu, of the Privy Council and of the Council of State, Senator of the Empire, Dignitary of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross, and Knight of the Order of Christ, on the part of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil; And the Advocate, Don Anders Lamas, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the said Republic to the Court of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, on the part of the President of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay; Who, after having exchanged their respective full powers, which were found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles: ART. I. The 2 High Contracting Parties bind themselves not to give asylum in their respective territories to great criminals, and agree to their reciprocal extradition, when the following conditions conjointly concur: 1st. When the crimes for which the extradition of the criminal is claimed have been committed in the territory of the Government that claims it. 2nd. When, by their gravity and habitual frequency, they may be capable of endangering the morality or security of the people ; such as assassination, poisoning, incendiarism, robbery, fraudulent bankruptcy, fabrication and introduction of false coin or of any paper circulating as money, forgery of public documents, of notes of the authorized banks or of bills of exchange, abstraction of trustmoney or funds by public functionaries or by servants to whose keeping they were confided. 3rd. When the said crimes can be proved in such a manner that the laws of the country from which the extradition of the criminal is claimed would justify his arrest and accusation, had the crime been committed within its territory. 4th. When the criminal is claimed directly, or through the medium of the Representative of the Government of the nation in which the offence shall have taken place. II. The extradition shall not take place: 1st. If the criminal claimed be a citizen of the country of the Government to which the reclamation is made. 2nd. For political crimes; and when a criminal shall have been given up for any of the acts enumerated in the preceding Article, he shall not be tried or punished for political crimes or acts connected with them, that may have taken place previous to his being delivered up. III. It is understood that if an individual who has committed crimes in more than one State should be claimed by the respective Governments, the preference shall be given to that in whose territory the greater offence shall have been committed; and if the crimes be of equal gravity, to that which first made the claim. IV. It is also understood that if the individual whose extradition is claimed should have committed any crime in the country in which he has taken refuge, and should have been brought to trial for it, his extradition can only take place after he has suffered punishment, or in the event of his acquittal. V. The expenses of the arrest, detention and transport of the criminal shall be borne by the Government that claims him. VI. The Government of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay recognizes the principle of restoration, in regard to slaves belonging to Brazilian subjects, who, against the will of their masters, shall have resorted to the territory of the Republic, in any manner, and shall be found there. In this restoration, the following rules shall be observed: 1st. The said slaves shall be claimed either directly by the Imperial Government or through the medium of its Representative in the Republic. 2nd. It is allowed that the reclamation may be made by the President of the province of San Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul, in case the slave or slaves claimed should belong to Brazilian subjects resident or established in that province. 3rd. It is also allowed that the reclamation may be made by the master of the slave before the competent authority of the place where he may be, if the master of the slave should enter, in the pursuit for his capture, into the Oriental territory, or if he should send in pursuit an agent specially authorized for the said purpose. 4th. The reclamation here treated of must be accompanied by a certificate or document proving, according to the laws of Brazil, the right to the property that is claimed. 5th. The expenses incurred in the apprehension and restitution of the slave or slaves claimed shall be on account of the claimant. VII. The 2 High Contracting Parties also bind themselves not to receive knowingly and willingly into their States, and not to employ in their service, individuals who have deserted from the naval or military service of the other; the deserted soldiers and sailors, whether from vessels of war or merchantmen, are to be seized, and delivered up as soon as they shall be claimed in due form, upon condition that the party receiving them shall undertake to commute the maximum of the punishment incurred by the desertion, if this, according to the legislation of the reclaiming country, should be visited with capital punishment. VIII. In order to avoid difficulties which frequently occur, and in conformity with the spirit of the preceding stipulations, the 2 High Contracting Parties also agree: 1st. That neither of them shall admit into its naval or military service any individual of the other's nationality, although not a deserter from the army or navy of the nation to which he belongs, except by voluntary contract, which is to be considered valid. 2nd. That the Imperial Agents in the Republic, and the Agents of the Republic in Brazil, shall not authorize the embarkation on board the vessels of their respective nations, of any individual, even on pretext of indigence, without previously soliciting and obtaining the proper passport, if the laws and regulations of the country so require. It is understood that this resolution does not include the case of refuge or asylum being sought on board the vessels of the High Contracting Parties, and in which they are bound to observe the well-understood principles of humanity proper to enlightened nations. IX. The exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty shall take place at Monte Video, within the term of 30 days, reckoned from this date, or sooner if possible. In testimony whereof we, the Undersigned, Plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, and of the President of the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay, in virtue of our full powers, have signed the present Convention with our hands, and have caused to be put to it the seal of our arms. Done in the city of Rio de Janeiro, on the 12th day of October, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1851. (L.S.) HONORIO HERMETO CARNEIRO LEAO. (L.S.) ANTONIO PAULINO LIMPO DE ABREU. (L.S.) ANDRES LAMAS. And having before us the said Treaty, the tenor of which is the foregoing, and all that it contains having been well seen, considered, and examined by us, we hereby approve, ratify, and confirm it, as well in the whole as in each one of its Articles and stipulations; and by this present we declare it to be firm and valid for ever, promising on our Imperial faith and word inviolably to observe and fulfil it, and to cause it to be observed and fulfilled by all possible means. In testimony and confirmation whereof, we have caused the present letter to be issued, signed by us, sealed with the great seal of the arms of the Empire, and countersigned by our Minister and Secretary of State, whose name is affixed below. Given at the palace of Rio de Janeiro, on the 13th day of the month of October, in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1851. (L.S.) PEDRO, Emperor. PAULINO JOSE SOARES DE SOUZA. ACT of the Congress of Colombia, declaring Slave Trade Piracy.-Bogotá, February 14, 1825. (Translation.) THE Senate and Chamber of Representatives of the Republic of Colombia, in Congress assembled, considering that in order to render more efficacious the regulations of the Law of the 21st of July of the year 1821-11, which, with the design of gradually abolishing slavery, prohibits the importation of slaves into Colombia, it is necessary to design proportionate penalties against those who infringe this law, and against those who, trampling upon the rights of natural liberty, and the eternal principles of reason and sound policy, engage in the African Slave Trade; DECREE: ART. I. The citizens and subjects of Colombia, and the commanders, mates, and sailors of national vessels who, on the high sea, or in any parts that are under the jurisdiction of the Republic, are found conveying, conducting, or transporting one or more persons taken from Africa as slaves, or who help to embark, convey, or transport slaves taken from Africa, or who traffic, in buying or selling, one or more of them, shall be held and tried for any of those acts as pirates, and punished with death. II. The commanders or masters, mates and sailors, and all other persons of whatever nation, who are found conveying, transporting, buying or selling, Africans as slaves, provided they are met with in the ports, bays, creeks, roads, rivers, and coasts of Colombia, within the waters of her jurisdiction, shall also be held and tried as pirates, and punished with death. III. Every national or foreign vessel found off the coast of Colombia, within the waters of her jurisdiction, or in her ports, roads, bays, creeks, and rivers, having on board slaves, not domestics or personal servants, proceeding from the West India Islands or any other part not Africa, shall be confiscated, together with the cargo belonging to the offender. The commander or master of the vessel, the owner thereof, if on board, or not, provided he is a Colombian, and has engaged the vessel in the Slave Trade, the supercargo to whom is committed the sale or the purchase of such slaves, and whoever may be employed on his account in this traffic, shall be condemned to 10 years of hard labour. IV. From what is ordained in the preceding Article, it must not be understood that the trade and transfer from one port to another of Colombia, of slaves existing therein, is prohibited, whether effected for the purpose of sale, or any other, provided the prohibition contained in Article V of the Law of the 21st of July, 1821, is not contravened. V. The President of the Republic is authorized, in virtue of this law, to defray the expenses requisite to send from the territory of Colombia such slaves as may be imported in prizes, if he should think fit to do so; but whether he order them to leave Colombia, or permit them to remain therein, he shall emancipate them. VI. The cognizance of offences mentioned in this law belongs to the Courts and Tribunals of Marine, which shall proceed to the condemnation and the execution of the sentence in the same manner as in prosecutions against pirates. VII. The present law shall have effect from 1 year after its publication in the capital of the Republic, with regard to foreign vessels; and after 6 months reckoned in like manner with regard to national vessels which infringe this law. Done at Bogotá, on the 14th of February, 1825-15. LUIS A. BARALT, President of the Senate. Palace of the Government at Bogotá, the 18th of February, 1825-15. Let it be executed, FRANCISCO DE PAULA SANTANDER. |