OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

(TURKEY.)

1830.

TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION.

Concluded May 7, 1830; ratification advised and time for exchange of ratifications extended by the Senate February 1, 1831; ratified by the President February 2, 1831; ratifications exchanged October 5, 1831; proclaimed February 4, 1832.

(The text here printed is a translation from the original treaty, which was in the Turkish language. Differences of opinion as to the true meaning of certain portions have been the subject of diplomatic correspondence without reaching an accord.)

I. Trade privileges.

II. Consular officers.

ARTICLES.

III. Treatment of United States merchants and vessels.

IV. Judicial treatment of United States citizens.

V. Use of United States flag.
VI. War vessels.

VII. Navigation of the Black Sea.
VIII. Ships not to be impressed.
IX. Shipwrecks.
Ratification.

The object of this firm instrument, and the motive of this writing well drawn up, is, that

No treaty or diplomatic and official convention having heretofore existed between the Sublime Porte, of perpetual duration, and the United States of America, at this time, in consideration of the desire formerly expressed, and of repeated propositions which have lately been renewed by that Power, and in consequence of the wish entertained by the Sublime Porte to testify to the United States of America its sentiments of friendship, we, the undersigned Commissioner, invested with the high office of Chief of the Chancery of State of the Sublime Porte, existing forever, having been permitted by His very Noble Imperial Majesty to negotiate and conclude a treaty, and having thereupon conferred with our friend the Honorable Charles Rhind, who has come to this Imperial Residence furnished with full powers to negotiate, settle, and conclude the articles of a treaty, separately and jointly with the other two Commissioners, Commodore Biddle and David Offley, now at Smyrna, have arranged, agreed upon, and concluded the following articles:

• Federal cases: Dainese v. Hale (91 U. S., 13; 1 McArthur (D. C.), 86), Dainese v. United States (15 Ct. Cls., 64).

1

ARTICLE I.

Merchants of the Sublime Porte, whether Mussulmans or Rayahs, going and coming in the countries, provinces, and ports of the United States of America, or proceeding from one port to another, or from the ports of the United States to those of other countries, shall pay the same duties and other imposts that are paid by the most favored nations; and they shall not be vexed by the exaction of higher duties; and, in travelling by sea and by land, all the privileges and distinctions observed towards the subjects of other Powers shall serve as a rule, and shall be observed towards the merchants and subjects of the Sublime Porte. In like manner, American merchants who shall come to the well-defended countries and ports of the Sublime Porte shall pay the same duties and other imposts that are paid by merchants of the most favored friendly Powers, and they shall not, in any way, be vexed or molested; on both sides travelling passports shall be granted.

ARTICLE II.

The Sublime Porte may establish Shahbenders (Consuls) in the United States of America, and the United States may appoint their citizens to be Consuls or Vice-Consuls at the commercial places in the dominions of the Sublime Porte where it shall be found needful to superintend the affairs of commerce. These Consuls or ViceConsuls shall be furnished with berats or firmans; they shall enjoy suitable distinction, and shall have necessary aid and protection.

ARTICLE III.

American merchants established in the well-defended States of the Sublime Porte for purposes of commerce shall have liberty to employ semsars, (brokers,) of any nation or religion, in like manner as merchants of other friendly Powers; and they shall not be disturbed in their affairs, nor shall they be treated, in any way, contrary to established usages. American vessels arriving at or departing from the ports of the Ottoman Empire shall not be subjected to greater visit by the officers of the custom-house and the Chancery of the Port than vessels of the most favored nations.

ARTICLE IV.

If litigations and disputes should arise between subjects of the Sublime Porte and citizens of the United States, the parties shall not be heard, nor shall judgment be pronounced unless the American Dragoman be present. Causes in which the sum may exceed five hundred piastres, shall be submitted to the Sublime Porte, to be decided according to the laws of equity and justice. Citizens of the United States of America, quietly pursuing their commerce, and not being charged or convicted of any crime or offence, shall not be molested; and even when they may have committed some offence they shall not be arrested and put in prison, by the local authorities, but they shall be tried by their Minister or Consul, and punished according to their offence, following, in this respect, the usage observed towards other Franks.

ARTICLE V.

American merchant vessels that trade to the dominions of the Sublime Porte, may go and come in perfect safety with their own flag; but they shall not take the flag of any other Power, nor shall they grant their flag to the vessels of other nations and Powers, nor to vessels of rayahs. The Minister, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls of the United States shall not protect, secretly or publicly, the rayahs of the Sublime Porte, and they shall never suffer a departure from the principles here laid down and agreed to by mutual consent.

ARTICLE VI.

Vessels of war of the two contracting parties, shall observe towards each other, demonstrations of friendship and good intelligence, according to naval usage; and towards merchant vessels they shall exhibit the same kind and courteous manner.

ARTICLE VII.

Merchant vessels of the United States, in like manner as vessels of the most favored nations, shall have liberty to pass the Canal of the Imperial Residence, and go and come in the Black Sea, either laden or in ballast; and they may be laden with the produce, manufactures, and effects of the Ottoman Empire, excepting such as are prohibited, as well as of their own country.

ARTICLE VIII.

Merchant vessels of the two contracting Parties shall not be forcibly taken, for the shipment of troops, munitions and other objects of war, if the captains or proprietors of the vessels, shall be unwilling to freight them.

ARTICLE IX.

If any merchant vessel of either of the contracting parties should be wrecked, assistance and protection shall be afforded to those of the crew that may be saved; and the merchandise and effects, which it may be possible to save and recover, shall be conveyed to the Consul nearest to the place of the wreck, to be, by him, delivered to the proprietors.

CONCLUSION.

The foregoing articles, agreed upon and concluded between the Riasset (Chancery of State,) and the above-mentioned Commissioner of the United States, when signed by the other two commissioners, shall be exchanged. In ten months from the date of this temessuck, or instrument of treaty, the exchange of the ratifications of the two Powers shall be made, and the articles of this treaty shall have full force and be strictly observed by the two contracting Powers.

Given the 14th day of the moon Zilcaade, and in the year of the Hegira 1245, corresponding with the 7th day of May, of the year 1830 of the Christian æra.

MOHAMMED HAMED, Reis-ul-Kutab, (Reis Effendi.)

1862..

TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION.

Concluded February 25, 1862; ratification advised by the Senate April 9, 1862; ratified by the President April 18, 1862; ratifications exchanged June 5, 1862; proclaimed July 2, 1862.

Servia.

VII. Warehousing, etc.

VIII. Nationality of vessels.

IX. Tonnage duties, etc.

X. Proof of nationality of vessels.

XII. Transit duty.

XIII. Taxes.

XIV. Tobacco and salt.

XV. Gunpowder and arms.

XVI. Firmans.

XVII. Manifests.

XVIII. Contraband.

XIX. Turkish vessels.

XX. Substitute for convention of
1838.

XXI. Construction of treaty.
XXII. Tariff.

XI. Charges upon goods of United XXIII. Ratification.

States.

The United States of America, on the one part, and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, on the other part, being equally animated by the desire of extending the commercial relations between their respective countries, have agreed, for this purpose, to conclude a treaty of commerce and navigation, and have named as their respective Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

The President of the United States of America, Edward Joy Morris, Minister Resident of the Sublime Porte; and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, His Highness Mehemed Emin Aali Pacha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, decorated with the Imperial Orders of the Othmanieh in Brilliants, the Majidieh, and Order of Merit of the first class, and the Grand Crosses of several foreign orders;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

All rights, privileges, and immunities, which have been conferred on the citizens or vessels of the United States of America by the treaty already existing between the United States of America and the Ottoman Empire, are confirmed, now and forever, with the exception of those clauses of the said treaty which it is the object of the present treaty to modify; and it is moreover expressly stipulated that all rights, privileges, or immunities, which the Sublime Porte now grants, or may hereafter grant to, or suffer to be enjoyed by the subjects, ships, commerce, or navigation of any other foreign Power, shall be equally granted to and exercised and enjoyed by the citizens, vessels, commerce, and navigation of the United States of America.

This treaty is contended to have been abrogated upon notice given by the Turkish Government to date from June 5, 1884. Dianese v. Hale (91 Ú. S., 13; 1 McArthur (D. C.), 86).

ARTICLE II.

The citizens of the United States of America, or their agents, shall be permitted to purchase, at all places in the Ottoman Empire and its possessions, (whether for the purposes of internal trade or exportation,) all articles, without any exception whatsoever, the produce or manufacture of the said Empire and possessions; and the Sublime Porte having, in virtue of the second article of the convention of commerce of the 16th of August, 1838, with Great Britain, formally engaged to abolish all monopolies of agricultural produce, or of every other article whatsoever, as well as all "permits" (tezkerehs) from the local Governors, either for the purchase of any article or for its removal from one place to another when purchased, any attempt to compel the citizens of the United States of America to receive such "permits" from the local Governors shall be considered as an infraction of this treaty, and the Sublime Porte shall immediately punish with severity any Viziers or other officers who shall have been guilty of such misconduct, and shall render full justice to citizens of the United States of America for all losses or injuries which they may duly prove themselves to have suffered thereby.

ARTICLE III.

If any articles of Ottoman produce or manufacture be purchased by citizens of the United States of America, or their agents, for the purpose of selling the same for internal consumption in Turkey, the said citizens, or their agents, shall pay at the purchase and sale of such articles, and in any manner of trade therein, the same duties that are paid in similar circumstances by the most favored class of Ottoman subjects, or of foreigners in the internal trade of the Ottoman Empire.

ARTICLE IV.

No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the dominions and possessions of either of the contracting parties, on the exportation of any article to the dominions and possessions of the other, than such as are or may be payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from the dominions and possessions of either of the two contracting Powers to the dominions and possessions of the other, which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other country.

No charge or duty whatsoever will be demanded on any article of Ottoman produce or manufacture purchased by citizens of the United States of America, or their agents, either at the place where such article is purchased, or in its transit from that place to the place whence it is exported, at which it will be subject to an export duty not exceeding eight per cent., calculated on the value at the place of shipment, and payable on exportation; and all articles which shall once have paid this duty shall not again be liable to the same duty, however they may have changed hands within any part of the Ottoman Empire.