⚫ or Ships so visited, and in all Things assist to the utmost of his Power in the due Execution of the present Convention, according to the true Intent and Meaning thereof.

5th. It is further mutually agreed, that the Commanders of the Ships of the Two Royal Navies, who shall be employed on this Service, shall adhere strictly to the exact Tenor of the • Instructions which they shall receive for this Purpose.

Article IV.-As the Two preceding Articles are entirely reciprocal, the Two High Contracting Parties engage mutually to make good any Losses which their respective Subjects may incur unjustly, by the arbitrary and illegal Detention of their < Vessels; it being understood that this Indemnity shall invari ably be borne by the Government whose Cruizer shall have been guilty of the arbitrary Detention; and that the Visit and Detention of Ships specified in this Article, shall only be effected by those British or Netherland Vessels which may form Part of the Two Royal Navies, and by those only of such Vessels which are provided with the special Instructions annexed to the present Treaty, in pursuance of the Provisions thereof.

‹ Article V.—No British or Netherland Cruizer shall detain any Ship whatever not having Slaves actually on board; and in order to render lawful the Detention of any Ship, whether 'British or Netherland, the Slaves found on board such Vessels 'must have been brought there for the express Purpose of the 'Traffic.

Article VI.- All Ships of the Royal Navies of the Two • Nations, which shall hereafter be destined to prevent the <Traffic in Slaves, shall be furnished by their respective Govern 'ments with a Copy of the Instructions annexed to the present • Treaty, and shall be considered as an integral Part thereof.

These Instructions shall be written in the Dutch and English Languages, and signed for the Vessels of each of the Two Powers by the Minister of their respective Marine.

The Two High Contracting Parties reserve the Faculty of < altering the said Instructions, in Whole or in Part, according to < Circumstances; it being however well understood, that the said < Alterations cannot take place but by common Agreement, and C by the Consent of the Two High Contracting Parties.

Article VII.-In order to bring to Adjudication, with the least Delay and Inconvenience, the Vessels which may be ⚫ detained for having been engaged in a Traffic of Slaves, accord ing to the Tenor of the Fifth Article of this Treaty, there shall be established, within the Space of a Year at furthest from the Exchange of the Ratifications of the present Treaty, Two Mixed Courts of Justice, formed of an equal Number of Individuals of the Two Nations, named for this Purpose by their respective Sovereigns.

These Courts shall reside, one in a Possession belonging to • His Britannic Majesty, the other within the Territories of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands; and the Two Govern ments, at the Period of the Exchange of the Ratifications of the present Treaty, shall declare, each for its own Dominions, in what Places the Courts shall respectively reside. Each of the Two High Contracting Parties reserving to itself the Right

of

of changing, at its Pleasure, the Place of Residence of the 'Court held within its own Dominions; provided, however, that one of the Two Courts shall always be held upon the Coast of Africa, and the other in one of the Colonial Possessions of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.

The Courts shall judge the Causes submitted to them according to the Terms of the present Treaty, without Appeal, and ' according to the Regulations and Instructions annexed to the present Treaty, of which they shall be considered as an 'integral Part.

Article VIII.-In case the Commanding Officer of any of the Ships of the Royal Navies of Great Britain and of the Netherlands, commissioned under the Second Article of this Treaty, shall deviate in any respect from the Dispositions of the 'said Treaty, and shall not be enabled to justify himself, either by the Tenor of the said Treaty, or of the Instructions annexed to it, the Government which shall conceive itself to be wronged by such Conduct shall be entitled to demand Reparation; and in such Case the Government to which the Captor may belong 'binds itself to cause Enquiry to be made into the Subject of 'the Complaint, and to inflict upon the Captor, if he be found to 'have deserved it, a Punishment proportioned to the Transgres'sion which may have been committed.

'Article IX.-The Acts or Instruments annexed to this Treaty, and which form an integral Part thereof, are as 'follow:

A. Instructions for the Ships of the Royal Navies of both 'Nations destined to prevent the Traffic in Slaves.

'B. Regulation for the Mixed Courts of Justice, which are to hold their Sittings on the Coast of Africa, and in one of 'the Colonial Possessions of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.

Article X.-The present Treaty, consisting of Ten Articles, shall be ratified, and the Ratifications exchanged within the Space of One Month from this Date, or sooner if possible. In Witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and thereunto affixed the Seal of their Arms. 'Done at the Hague, this Fourth Day of May in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

' (Signed)

• Clancarty.

(L. S.)

A. W. C. De Nagell.

(L. s.)

• Van Maanen.

(L. s.)

• Annexes.

'Instructions for the Ships of the British and Netherland Royal
'Navies, employed to prevent the Traffic in Slaves.
Article I. Every Ship of the Royal British or Netherland
Navy, which, furnished with these Instructions, shall, in Con-
formity with the Second Article of the Treaty of this Date, have
a Right to visit the Merchant Ships of either of the Two
Powers actually engaged or suspected to be engaged in the
'Slave Trade, may, except in the Seas exempted by the Third

• Article

Instructions for

British and
Netherland

Ships.

Regulations for Mixed Courts, as to

the Nether

lands.

Article of the said Treaty, proceed to such Visit, and should any Slaves be found on board, brought there for the express Purposes of the Traffic, the Commander of the said Ship of the Royal Navy may detain them; and having detained them, he is to bring them as soon as possible, for Judgment, before that of the Two Mixed Courts of Justice appointed by the 'Seventh Article of the Treaty of this Date, which shall be the nearest, or which the Commander of the capturing Ship shall, upon his own Responsibility, think he can soonest reach 'from the Spot where the Ship shall have been detained.

Ships, on board of which no Slaves shall be found intended ' for Purposes of Traffic, shall not be detained on any Account or Pretence whatever.

'Negro Servants or Sailors that may be found on board the 'said Vessels cannot in any Case be deemed a sufficient Cause for • Detention.

Article II. - Whenever a Ship of the Royal Navy, so com missioned, shall meet a Merchantman liable to be searched, it <shall be done in the mildest Manner, and with every Attention which is due between allied and friendly Nations; and in no case shall the Search be made by an Officer holding a Rank <inferior to that of Lieutenant in the Navies of Great Britain and of the Netherlands.

Article III.-The Ships of the Royal Navies so commis. <sioned, which may detain any Merchant Ship, in pursuance of the Tenor of the present Instructions, shall leave on board all the Cargo, as well as the Master, and a Part at least of the Crew of the above mentioned Ship; the Captor shall draw up in Writing an authentic Declaration, which shall exhibit the State in which he found the detained Ship, and the Changes which may have taken place in it. He shall deliver to the Master of the detained Ship a signed Certificate of the Papers 'seized on board the said Vessel, as well as of the Number of 'Slaves found on board at the Moment of Detention.

The Negroes shall not be disembarked till after the Vessels which contain them shall be arrived at the Place where the Legality of the Capture is to be tried by One of the Two Mixed Courts, in order that in the Event of their not being adjudged legal Prize, the Loss of the Proprietors may be more easily repaired. If, however, urgent Motives, deduced from 'the Length of the Voyage, the State of Health of the Negroes or other Causes, required that they should be disembarked, entirely or in Part, before the Vessel could arrive at the Place of Residence of One of the said Courts, the Commander of the capturing Ship may take on himself the Responsibility of such Disembarkation, provided that the Necessity be stated in a "Certificate in proper Form.

Regulations for the Mixed Courts of Justice, which are to reside on the Coast of Africa, and in a Colonial Possession of His 'Majesty the King of the Netherlands.

Article I.- The Mixed Courts of Justice to be established by the Treaty of this Date, upon the Coast of Africa and in a Colonial Possession of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands,

are

are appointed to decide upon the Legality of the Detention of ⚫ such Vessels as the Cruizers of both Nations shall detain in pursuance of this same Treaty.

The above mentioned Courts shall judge definitively and without Appeal, according to the present Treaty.

The Proceeding shall take place as summarily as possible; the Courts are required to decide, as far as they shall find it 'practicable, within the Space of Twenty Days, to be dated from that on which every detained Vessel shall have been brought into the Port where they shall reside; - First, upon the Legality of the Capture; - Secondly, in the Cases in which the captured Vessel shall have been liberated, as to the Indemni'fication which the said Vessel is to receive.

And it is hereby provided, that in all Cases the final Sentence shall not be delayed, on account of the Absence of Witnesses or ' for Want of other Proofs, beyond the Period of Two Months, except upon the Application of any of the Parties interested, when, upon their giving satisfactory Security to charge themselves with the Expence and Risks of the Delay, the Courts may at their Discretion grant an additional Delay, not exceeding Four Months.

Article II.-Each of the above mentioned Mixed Courts, which are to reside on the Coast of Africa, and in a Colonial Possession of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, shall be composed in the following Manner:

The Two High Contracting Parties shall each of them name a Judge and an Arbitrator, who shall be authorized to hear and 'to decide, without Appeal, all Cases of Capture of Vessels which, in pursuance of the Stipulations of the Treaty of this Date, shall be brought before them. All the essential Parts of the Proceedings carried on before these Mixed Courts shall be written down in the legal Language of the Country in which the Court may reside.

The Judges and the Arbitrators shall make Oath before the principal Magistrate of the Place in which the Courts may reside, to judge fairly and faithfully, to have no Preference either for the Claimants or the Captors, and to act in all their 'Decisions in pursuance of the Stipulations of the Treaty of this Date.

There shall be attached to cach Court a Secretary or Regis trar, appointed by the Sovereign of the Country in which the Court may reside, who shall register all its Acts, and who, pre**vious to his taking charge of his Post, shall make Oath before the Court to conduct himself with respect for their Authority, and to act with Fidelity in all the Affairs which may belong to his Charge.

Article III.-The Form of the Process shall be as follows: 'The Judges of the Two Nations' shall, in the first Place, pro'ceed to the Examination of the Papers of the Vessels, and to receive the Depositions of the Captain, and of Two or Three at least of the principal Individuals on board of the detained Vessel, as well as the Declaration on Oath of the Captor, should it appear necessary, in order to be able to judge and to pronounce whether the said Vessel has been justly detained or not, accord5 GEO. IV.

Y y

ing

ing to the Stipulations of the present Treaty, and in order that ' according to this Judgment, it may be condemned or liberated; and in the Event of the Two Judges not agreeing in the Sentence they ought to pronounce, whether as to the Legality of the Detention, or the Indemnification to be allowed, or any other Question which might result from the Stipulations of the present Treaty, they shall draw by Lot the Name of One of the Two Arbitrators, who, having considered the Documents ' of the Process, shall consult with the above mentioned Judges ' on the Case in Question, and the final Sentence shall be pronounced conformably to the Opinion of the Majority of the ' above mentioned Judges, and of the above mentioned Arbi

'trator.

Article IV.—In the authenticated Declaration, which the "Captor shall make before the Court, as well as in the Certificate of the Papers seized, which shall be delivered to the Captain of the captured Vessel at the Time of the Detention, the above ⚫ mentioned Captor shall be bound to declare his Name, the Name ' of his Vessel, as well as the Latitude and Longitude of the Place where the Detention shall have taken place, and the Number of Slaves found on board of the Ship at the Time of the Detention.

Article V. As soon as Sentence shall have been pronounc ed, the detained Vessel, if liberated, and the Cargo, in the State in which it shall then be found, shall be restored to the < Master or the Person who represents him, who may, before the same Court, claim a Valuation of the Damages which they may have a Right to demand; the Captor himself, and in his 'Default, his Government, shall remain responsible for the above < mentioned Damages.

The Two High Contracting Parties bind themselves to pay, within the Term of a Year from the Date of the Sentence, the Costs and Damages which may be granted by the above named • Court, it being understood that these Costs and Damages shall be at the Expence of the Power of which the Captor shall be ⚫ a Subject.

Article VI.-In case of the Condemnation of a Vessel, she ⚫ shall be declared lawful Prize as well as her Cargo, of whatever Description it may be, with the Exception of the Slaves who " may be on board as Objects of Commerce; and the said Vessel, as well as her Cargo, shall be sold by Public Sale, for the Profit of the Two Governments; and as to the Slaves, they shall receive from the Mixed Court a Certificate of Emancipation, ⚫ and shall be delivered over to the Government on whose Territory the Court which shall have so judged them shall be established, to be employed as Servants or free Labourers. Each of the Two Governments binds itself to guarantee the Liberty of such Portion of these Individuals as shall be respectively consigned to it.

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Article VII.—The Mixed Courts shall also take Cognizance ⚫ and decide according to the Third Article of this Regulation, on all Claims for Compensation, on account of Losses occasioned to Vessels detained under Suspicion of having been engaged the Slave Trade, but which shall not have been condemned

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legal