condign punishment on those who may have committed such depredations and their ships, goods, and effects, shall be restored to them without delay or intrigue.

XX. That all our Beglerbegs, Imperial and private Captains, Governors, Commandants, and other administrators, shall always strictly observe the tenor of these Imperial Capitulations, and respect the friendship and correspondence established on both sides, every one in particular taking especial care not to let any thing be done contrary thereto; and as long as the said Monarch shall continue to evince true and sincere friendship, by a strict observance of the Articles and Conditions herein stipulated, these Articles and Conditions of Peace and Friendship shall, in like manner, be observed and kept on our own part. To the end, therefore, that no act might be committed in contravention thereof, certain clear and distinct Capitulations were conceded in the reign of our late Grandfather, of happy memory (whose tomb be ever resplendent!)

Since which, in the time of our said Grandfather of happy memory, Sultan Ahmed (whose tomb be blessed!) James, King of England, sent an Ambassador with letters and presents (which were accepted), and requested that the friendship and good understanding which existed between him and the Porte in the days of our Grandfather, of happy memory, as also the Stipulations and Conditions of the august Capitulations, might be ratified and confirmed, and certain Articles added thereto; which request being represented to the Imperial Throne, express commands were given, that in consideration of the existing friendship and good understanding, and in conformity to the Capitulations conceded to other Princes in amity with the Sublime Porte, the Articles and Stipulations of the Sacred Capitulations should be renewed and confirmed, and the tenor thereof be for ever observed; and amongst the Articles added to the Capitulations conceded by the Command aforesaid, at the request of the said King, were the following:

XXI. That duties shall not be demanded or taken of the English or the merchants sailing under the flag of that nation, on any piastres and sequins they may import into our sacred Dominions, or on those they may transport to any other place.

XXII. That our Beglerbegs, Judges, Defterdars, and Masters of the mint, shall not interpose any hindrance or obstacle thereto by demanding either dollars or sequins from them, under the pretence of having them recoined and exchanged into other money, nor shall give them any molestation or trouble whatever with regard thereto.

XXIII. That the English nation, and all ships belonging to places subject thereto, shall and may buy, sell, and trade in our sacred Domi

nions, and (except arms, gunpowder, and other prohibited commodities) load and transport in their ships every kind of merchandise, at their own pleasure, without experiencing any the least obstacle or hindrance from any one; and their ships and vessels shall and may at all times safely and securely come, abide, and trade in the ports and harbours of our sacred Dominions, and, with their own money, buy provisions and take in water, without any hindrance or molestation from any one.

XXIV. That if an Englishman, or other subject of that nation, shall be involved in any lawsuit, or other affair connected with law, the judge shall not hear nor decide thereon until the Ambassador, Consul, or Interpreter, shall be present; and all suits exceeding the value of four thousand Aspers shall be heard at the Sublime Porte, and nowhere else.

XXV. That the Consuls appointed by the English Ambassador in our sacred Dominions, for the protection of their merchants, shall never, under any pretence, be imprisoned, nor their houses sealed up, nor themselves sent away; but all suits or differences in which they may be involved shall be represented to our Sublime Porte, where their Ambassadors will answer for them.

XXVI. That in case any Englishman, or other person subject to that nation, or navigating under its flag, should happen to die in our sacred Dominions, our fiscal and other officers shall not, upon pretence of its not being known to whom the property belongs, interpose any opposition or violence, by taking or seizing the effects that may be found at his death, but they shall be delivered up to such Englishman, whoever he may be, to whom the deceased may have left them by his will and should he have died intestate, then the property shall be delivered up to the English Consul, or his representative, who may be there present: and in case there be no Consul, or Consular Representative, they shall be sequestered by the judge, in order to his delivering up the whole thereof, whenever any ship shall be sent by the Ambassador to receive the same.

XXVII. That all the privileges and other liberties already conceded, or hereafter to be conceded to the English, and other subjects of that nation sailing under their flag, by divers Imperial Commands, shall be always obeyed and observed, and interpreted in their favour, according to the tenor and true intent and meaning thereof; neither shall any fees be demanded by the fiscal officers and judges in the distribution of their property and effects.

XXVIII. That the Ambassadors and Consuls shall and may take into their service any janizary or interpreter they please, without any other janizary or other of our slaves intruding themselves into their service against their will and consent.

XXIX. That no obstruction or hindrance shall be given to the Ambassadors, Consuls, and other Englishmen, who may be desirous of making wine in their own houses, for the consumption of themselves and families; neither shall the janizaries our slaves, or others, presume to demand or exact any thing from them, or do them any injustice or injury.

XXX. That the English merchants having once paid the customs at Constantinople, Aleppo, Alexandria, Scio, Smyrna, and other ports of our sacred Dominions, not an Asper more shall be taken or demanded from them at any other place, nor shall any obstacle be interposed to the exit of their merchandise.

XXXI. That having landed their merchandise imported by their ships into our sacred Dominions, and paid in any port the customs thereon, and being obliged, from the impossibility of selling the same there, to transport them to another port, the Commandants or Governors shall not, on the landing of such merchandise, exact from them any new custom or duty thereon, but shall suffer them, freely and unrestrictedly, to trade, without any molestation or obstruction what

soever.

XXXII. That no excise or duty on animal food shall be demanded of the English, or any subjects of that nation.

XXXIII. That differences and disputes having heretofore arisen between the Ambassadors of the Queen of England and the King of France, touching the affair of the Flemish merchants, and both of them having presented memorials at our Imperial Stirrup, praying that such of the said merchants as should come into our sacred Dominions might navigate under their flag, Hatti-sheriffs were granted to both parties, but the Captain Pasha, Sinan, the son of Cigala, now deceased, who was formerly Vizir, and well versed in maritime affairs, having represented that it was expedient that such privilege should be granted to the Queen of England, and that the Flemish merchants should place themselves under her flag, as also the merchants of the four Provinces of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Guelderland, and all the other Vizirs being likewise of opinion that they should all navigate under the Queen's flag, and, like all the other English, pay the consulage and other duties, as well on their own merchandise as on those of others loaded by them in their ships, to the Queen's Ambassadors or Consuls, it was by express order and Imperial authority accordingly commanded, that the French Ambassador or Consul should never hereafter oppose or intermeddle herein, but in future act conformably to the tenor of the present Capitulation.

After which, another Ambassador arrived from the said Queen, with the gifts and presents sent by her, which being graciously accepted, the said Ambassador represented that the Queen desired that certain other privileges might be added to the Imperial Capitulations, whereof he furnished a list, one of which was, that certain Capitulations having been granted in the days of our Grandfather, of happy memory (whose tomb be ever blessed!) to the end that the merchants of Spain, Portugal, Ancona, Sicily, Florence, Catalonia, Flanders, and all other merchant-strangers, might go and come to our sacred Dominions, and manage their trade, it was stipulated, in such Capitulations, that they should be at liberty to appoint Consuls; but each nation being unable to defray the charge and maintenance of a Consul, they were left at liberty to place themselves under the flag of any of the Kings in peace and amity with the Sublime Porte, and to have recourse to the protection of any of their Consuls, touching which privilege divers Commands and Capitulations were repeatedly granted, and the said merchants having, by virtue thereof, chosen to navigate under the English flag, and to have recourse, in our harbours, to the protection of the English Consuls, the French Ambassadors contended that the said merchant-strangers were entitled to the privilege of their Capitulations, and forced them to have recourse in all ports to their Consuls, which being represented by the said Nations to our august Tribunal, and their cause duly heard and decided, they were, for a second time, left to their free choice, when again having recourse to the protection of the English Ambassadors and Consuls, they were continually molested and opposed by the French Ambassador, which being represented by the English, with a request that we would not accept the Articles added to the French Capitulations, respecting the Nations of merchant-strangers, but that it should be again inserted in the Capitulations, that the said Nations should, in the manner described, have recourse to the protection of the English Consuls, and that hereafter they should never be vexed or molested by the French on this point, it was, by the Imperial authority, accordingly commanded that the merchants of the countries aforesaid should, in the manner prescribed, have recourse to the protection of the English Ambassadors and Consuls, conformably to the Imperial Commands to them conceded, and which particular was again registered in the Imperial Capitulations, viz., that there should never be issued any Commands contrary to the tenor of these Capitulations, which might tend to the prejudice or breach of our sincere friendship and good understanding; but that on such occasions the cause thereof should first be certified to the Ambassador of England residing at our Sublime Porte, in order to his answering and objecting to any thing that might tend to a breach of the Articles of Peace.

XXXIV. That the English merchants, and other subjects of that Nation, shall and may, according to their condition, trade at Aleppo, Egypt. and other ports of our sacred Dominions, on paying (according to ancient custom) a duty of three per cent. on all their merchandize, without being bound to the disbursement of an Asper more.

XXXV. That, in addition to the duty hitherto uniformly exacted on all merchandise, laden, imported, and transported in English ships, they shall also pay the whole of the consulage to the English Ambassadors and Consuls.

XXXVI. That the English merchants, and all others sailing under their flag, shall and may, freely and unrestrictedly, trade and purchase all sorts of merchandise (prohibited commodities alone excepted), and convey them, either by land or sea, or by way of the River Tanaïs, to the countries of Muscovy or Russia, and bring back from thence other merchandise into our sacred Dominions, for the purposes of traffic, and also transport others to Persia and other conquered countries.

XXXVII. That such customs only shall be demanded on the said goods in the conquered countries as have always been received there, without any thing more being exacted.

XXXVIII. That should the ships bound for Constantinople be forced by contrary winds to put into Caffa, or any other place of those parts, and not be disposed to buy or sell any thing, no one shall presume forcibly to take out or seize any part of their merchandise, or give to the ships or crews any molestation, or obstruct the vessels that are bound to those ports; but our Governors shall always protect and defend them, and all their crews, goods, and effects, and not permit any damage or injury to be done to them: and should they be desirous of purchasing, with their own money, any provisions in the places where they may happen to be, or of hiring any carts or vessels (not before hired by others), for the transportation of their goods, no one shall hinder or obstruct them therein.

XXXIX. That custom shall not be demanded or taken on the merchandise brought by them in their ships to Constantinople, or any other port of our sacred Dominions, which they shall not, of their own free will, land with a view to sale.

XL. That on their ships arriving at any port, and landing their goods and merchandises, they shall and may, after having paid their duties, safely and securely depart, without experiencing any molestation or obstruction from any one.

XLI. The English ships coming into our sacred Dominions, and touching at the ports of Barbary and of the Western Coast, used oftentimes to take on board pilgrims and other Turkish passengers, with the intention of landing them at Alexandria, and other ports of