XIV.

Traité général d'amitié et de paix entre la GrandeBretagne et le Maroc, signé, à Tanger, le 9 décembre 1856*).

Texte anglais.

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco and Fez, being desirous to maintain and strengthen the relations of friendship which have long subsisted between their respective dominions and subjects, have resolved to proceed to a revision and improvement of the Treaties subsisting between the respective countries, and have for that purpose named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, John Hay Drummond Hay, Esquire, Her Chargé d'Affaires and Consul - General at the Court of His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco and Fez;

And His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco and Fez, Seed Mohamed Khateeb, His Commissioner for Foreign Affairs;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

Art. I. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, her heirs and successors, and His Sherifian Majesty the Sultan of Morocco and Fez, and between their respective dominions and subjects.

Art. II. Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain may appoint one or more Consuls in the dominions of the Sultan of Morocco and Fez; and such Consul or Consuls shall be at liberty to reside in any of the seaports or cities of the Sultan of Morocco which they or the British Government may choose, and find most convenient for the affairs and service of Her Britannic Majesty and for the assistance of British merchants.

*) En anglais et en langue arabe.

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Art. III. The British Chargé d'Affaires,) or other Political agent accredited by the Queen of Great Britain to the Sultan of Morocco, as also the British Consuls who shall reside in the dominions of the Sultan of Morocco, shall always have respect and honour paid to them, suitable to their rank. Their houses and families shall be safe and protected. No one shall interfere with them, or commit any act of oppression or disre spect towards them, either by words or by deeds; and if any one should do so, he shall receive a severe pu nishment, as a correction to himself and a check to others.

The said Chargé d'Affaires shall be at liberty to choose his own interpreters and servants, either from the Mussulmans or others, and neither his interpreters nor servants shall be compelled to pay any capitation tax, forced contribution, or other similar or corresponding charge. With respect to the Consuls or Vice-Consuls who shall reside at the ports under the orders of the said Chargé d'Affaires, they shall be at liberty to choose one interpreter, one guard, and two servants, either from the Mussulmans or others; and neither the interpreter, nor the guard, nor their servants, shall be compelled to pay any capitation tax, forced contribution, or other similar or corresponding charge. If the said Chargé d'Affaires should appoint a subject of the Sultan of Morocco as Vice-Consul at a Moorish port, the said Vice-Consul, and those members of his family who may dwell within his house, shall be respected, and exempt ed from the payment of any capitation, tax, or other similar or corresponding charge; but the said Vice-Con sul shall not take under his protection any subject of the Sultan of Morocco except the members of his far mily dwelling under his roof. The said Chargé d'Affair res, and the said Consuls, shall be permitted to have a place of worship, and to hoist their national flag at all times on the top of the houses which they may occupy, either in the city or out of it, and also in their boats whenever they go to sea. No prohibition nor tax shall be put upon their goods, furniture, or any other articles which may come to them for their own use and for the use of their families, in the dominions of the Sultan of Morocco; but the said Chargé d'Affaires, Consuls, or Vice-Consuls, shall be required to deliver to the offiNouv. Recueil gén. Tome XVII. Part. I. I

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cers of the Customs a note of hand, specifying the number of articles which they shall require to be passed. This privilege shall only be accorded to those Consular Officers who are not engaged in trade. If the service of their Sovereign should require their attendance in their own country, or if they should depute another person to act for them in their absence, they shall not be prevented in any way from so doing, and no impediment shall be offered either to themselves, their servants, or their property, but they shall be at liberty to go and come, respected and honoured; and both they themselves and their deputies or Vice-Consuls shall be entitled, in the most ample sense, to every privilege which is now enjoyed, or may in future be granted, to the Consul of any other nation.

Art. IV. With respect to the personal privileges to be enjoyed by the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty in the dominions of the Sultan of Morocco, His Sherifian Majesty engages that they shall have a free and undoubt ed right to travel and to reside in the territories and dominions of His said Majesty, subject to the same precautions of police which are practised towards the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nations.

They shall be entitled to hire, on lease or otherwise, dwellings and warehouses; and if a British subject shall not find a house or warehouse suitable for his dwelling or for his stores, the Moorish authorities shall assist him in finding a site, within the localities generally selected for the habitations of Europeans, if there be a suitable site within the town, for building a dwelling or stores, and an agreement shall be entered upon, in writing, with the authorities of the town, regarding the number of years that the British subject shall retain possession of the land and buildings, in order that he shall thus be repaid the expenses of the outlay he shall have made; and no person shall compel the British subject to give up the dwelling or warehouses until the time mentioned in the said document shall have expired. They shall not be obliged to pay, under any pretence whatever, any taxes or impositions. They shall be exempt from all military service, whether by land or sea; from forced loans, and from every extraordinary contribution. Their dwellings, warehouses, and all premises appertaining thereto, destined for purposes of re

sidence or commerce, shall be respected. No arbitrary search of or visit to the houses of British subjects, and no arbitrary examination or inspection whatever of their books, papers, or accounts, shall be made; but such measures shall be executed only in conformity with the. orders and consent of the Consul - General or Consul.: And, generally, His Majesty the Sultan engages that the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty residing in his states or dominions shall enjoy their property and personal security in as full and ample manner as subjects of the Emperor of Morocco are entitled to do within the territories of Her Britannic Majesty.

Her Britannic Majesty, on her part, engages to ensure the enjoyment of the same protection and privileges to the subjects of His Majesty the Sultan of Morocco within her dominions, which are or may be enjoyed by the subjects of the most favoured nations.

Art. V. All British subjects and merchants who may wish to reside in any part of the dominions of the Sultan of Morocco shall have perfect security for their own persons and property; and they shall be free to exercise the rites of their own religion, without any interference or hindrance, and to have a burial-place for their dead; and they shall be allowed to go out to bury them with safety and protection in going and in returuing. They shall be free to appoint any one, whom they may choose of their own friends or servants for the transaction of their affairs, either on land or at sea, without any prohibition or interruption; and if a British merchant shall have a ship in or outside of one the harbours of the Sultan of Morocco, he shall be permit-. ted to go on board of her, either by himself or with any whom he likes of his own friends or servants, without either himself or his friends or servants. being subjected to any forced contribution for so doing.

Art. VI. Any person subject to the Queen of Great Britain, or under her protection, shall not be compelled to sell or to buy anything without his own free will; nor shall any of the Sultan of Morocco's subjects have a claim or right upon any goods of a British merchant, but what such merchant may give them voluntarily; and nothing shall be taken away from any British merchant but what shall be agreed upon between the respective parties.

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The same rule shall be observed with regard to Moorish subjects in the dominions of the Queen of Great Britain.

Art. VII. No subject of the Queen of Great Britain, nor any person under her protection, shall, in the dominions of the Sultan of Morocco, be made liable to pay a debt due from another person of his nation, unless he shall have made himself responsible or guarantee for the debtor, by a document under his own handwriting; and,-in like manner, the subjects of the Sultan of Morocco shall not be made liable to pay a debt due from another person of his nation to a subject of Great Britain, unless he shall have made himself responsible or guarantee for the debtor by a document under his own handwriting.

Art. VIII. In all criminal cases and complaints, and in all civil differences, disputes, or causes of litigation which may occur between British subjects, the British Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent, shall be sole judge and arbiter. No Governor, Kadi, or other Moorish authority, shall intermeddle therein; but the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty shall, in all matters of criminal or civil cognizance arising or existing between British subjects exclusively, be amenable to the tribunal of the Consul-General, Consul, or other British authority only.

Art. IX. All criminal cases and complaints, and all civil differences, disputes, or causes of litigation arising between British subjects and subjects of the Moorish Government, shall be adjusted in the following man

ner:

If the plaintiff be a British subject and the defendant a Moorish subject, the Governor of the town or district, or the Kadi, according as the case may apper tain to their respective Courts, shall alone judge the case; the British subject making his appeal to the Governor or Kadi, through the British Consul General, Consul, or his deputy, who will have a right to be present in the Court during the whole trial of the case.

In like manner, if the plaintiff be a Moorish subject, and the defendant a British subject, the case shall be referred to the sole judgment and decision of the British Consul-General, Consul, Vice- Consul, or Consular Agent, the plaintiff shall make his appeal through the