hibited), on paying the cuftom-house duties, providing that those fhips and carriages 'conform themfelves to the laws. IX. The subjects of the high contracting parties fhall not pay more duties upon the entry or departure of their merchandife than are paid by the fubjects of other nations. Nevertheless, in order to prevent, on both fides, the cuftom-house from being defrauded, in the cafe of the discovery of merchandise imported clandeftinely, and without paying the cuftom-houfe duty, they fhall be confifcated, and the merchants convicted of contrabanding fhall be fubjected to the fine eftablished by the law in such cafes. X. It shall be permitted to the high contracting parties to go, come, and trade freely in the ftates with which the one or the other of thofe parties fhall be, in prefent or in future, at war, provided that they do not carry ammunition to the enemy: with the exception, nevertheless, of places actually blockaded or befieged, whether by fea or land; but at all other times, and with the exception of warlike ammunition, the fubjects aforefaid may tranfport into thofe places every other fort of merchandise, as well as paffengers, without the fmalleft hindrance. With respect to the fearching of merchant fhips, fhips of war and privateers fhall conduct themselves as favourably as the courfe of the war then exifting may poffibly permit it towards the most friendly powers which fhall remain neuter, obferving, as much as poffible, the acknowledged principles and rules of the law of nations. XI. All cannons, mortars, fire-arms, piftols, bombs, gre nades, balls, bullets, mufkets, flints, matches, powder, falt petre, fulphur, cutlaffes, pikes, fwords, belts, cartouch-boxes, faddles and bridles, beyond the quantity which may be neceffary for the use of the fhip, or beyond that which each man ferving on board the veffel, or paffenger, fhall have, fhall be esteemed warlike provisions or ammunition; and if any are found, they fhall be confifcated, according to the laws, as contraband or prohibited effects; but neither the fhips, paffengers, nor the other merchandise found at the fame time, fhall be detained or prevented from continuing their voyage. . XII. If, which God forbid, peace fhould be broken between the two high contracting parties, neither perfons, fhips, nor merchandise, shall be detained or confifcated; but the term of a year at leaft fhall be granted, for the purpose of felling, difpofing of, or carrying away their effects, and withdrawing themselves wherever they fhall please, which is to be understood equally refpecting all thofe who fhall be in the fea and land fervice; and they Thall be permitted, previous to or at their departure, to confign the effects of which they fhall not have difpofed, as well as the debts to which they may have a claim, to fach perfon as they shall judge proper, to be difpofed of according to their will and profit; profit; which debts the debtor fhall equally be obliged to pay as if the rupture had not taken place. XIII. In the event of a fhipwreck happening in a place belonging to one or other of the high contracting parties, not only every affistance shall be given to the unfortunate perfons, and no violence done to them, but also the effects which they thall have thrown out of the fhip into the fea fhall not be concealed, detained, nor damaged, under any pretext whatever; on the con. trary, the above-mentioned effects and merchandise shall be preferved and restored to them, upon a fuitable recompence being given to thofe who fhall have aflifted in faving their perfons, veffels, and effects. XIV. It fhall be permitted to British merchants to build, buy, fell, and hire houses, in all ftates and cities of Ruflia, excepting only the permiffion of building, buying, felling, and hiring houfes in those cities of the empire which have particular rights of citizenship, and privileges contrary thereto; and it is expressly ftipulated, that at St. Petersburgh, Mofcow, Archangel, Riga, and Narva, as well as in all ports of the Black Sea, the houfes which British merchants fhall have purchased or built, fhall, as long as they fhall continue to belong to them, and refide therein, be exempted from having foldiers quartered in them; but fuch houfes as they fhall let or hire fhall be subjected to all city taxes, the tenant and proprietor agreeing with each other on that fub ject. As to every other city in Ruffia, the houfes which they fhall purchase or build, as well as those which they fhall hire or let, fhall not be exempt from having foldiers quartered in them. It is, in like manner, permitted to Ruffian merchants to build, buy, fell, and hire houfes in Great Britain and Ireland, and to difpofe of them as it is allowed to the fubjects of the most favoured nations. They fhall have the free exercise of the Greek religion in their own houses, or in the places allotted for that purpofe. In like manner British merchants fhall have the free exercise of the Proteftant religion. The fubjects of both the one and the other power, established in Ruffia or in Great Britain, fhall have the difpofal of their property, and the power of leaving it by will to whom they fhall judge proper, according to the cuftom and the laws of their own country. XV. Paffports fhall be granted to all British subjects who fhall defire to quit Ruffia, after having published their names and places of abode in the Gazettes, according to the custom of the prefent day, without obliging them to give security; and if at the time there does not appear any juft caufe for detaining them, they thall be permitted to depart, after providing themselves, however, with paffports from the tribunals established for that purpose. The fame facility fhall be granted, on the like occafion, accord ing to the cuftom of the country, to Ruffian fubjects, who fhall defire to quit the dominions of Great Britain. XVI. British merchants, who fhall hire or keep fervants, shall be obliged to conform themselves to the laws of the empire upon this fubject; which Ruffian merchants fhall be equally obliged to do in Great Britain. XVII. In all law-fuits and other affairs, British merchants fhall not be under any other jurifdiction than that of the college of commerce, or that which fhall be hereafter established for the administration of juftice between merchants. If it should happen, however, that British merchants were to have law-fuits in any cities at a distance from the above-mentioned college of commerce, both they and the other party fhall carry their complaint before the magiftrates of the faid cities. Ruffian merchants in Great Britain fhall have reciprocally the fame protection and justice, according to the laws of that kingdom, which other foreign merchants have there, and fhall be treated in the fame manner as the fubjects of the most favoured nation. XVIII. Ruffian merchants refiding in Great Britain, and British merchants refiding in Ruffia, fhall not be obliged to fhew their books or papers to any perfon whatfoever, unlefs it be to afford evidence in courts of juftice; neither shall the faid books or papers be taken or detained. If it fhould happen, however, that a British merchant becomes a bankrupt, the affair fhall be under the jurifdiction, at St. Petersburgh, of the college of com. merce, or of that which fhall hereafter be established for the purpofe of adminiftering juftice in commercial affairs, and, in the other cities at a diftance, under that of the magiftrate of the city; and the bufinefs fhall be carried on according to the laws which are, or fhall hereafter be made upon that subject. If, however, British merchants, obftinately refolved not to become bankrupts, fhould refufe to pay their debts either into the banks of his Impe-: rial Majesty or to individuals, it shall be permitted to arrest a part of their effects, equivalent to their debts, and in cafe those. effects fhould prove inadequate to that purpofe, they may arreft their perfons, and detain them until the majority of their creditors, both as to the number and value of their refpective demands, confent to liberate them with refpect to their effects which fhall have been arrefted, they fhall remain in the cuftody of those who fhall be appointed and duly authorised for that purpose by the majority of the creditors as aforefaid; and the perfons fo appointed fhall be obliged to appraise the effects as foon as poffible, and to make a juft and equitable diftribution to all the creditors, according to their refpective claims. The fame courfe fhall be pursued, in fimilar cafes, with regard to Ruffian merchants in the dominjons of Great Britain, and they fhall be protected therein in the manner regulated in the preceding article. XIX. In cafe of complaints and of law-fuits, three perfons of irreproachable character, from amongst the foreign merchants, fhall be, according to the circumstances of the cafe, appointed by the college of commerce, and in fuch places where there is none, by the magiftrate, to examine the books and papers of the complainants; and the report which they fhall make to the college of commerce, or to the magiftrate, of what they fhall have found in the faid books and papers, fhall be confidered as good proof. XX. The custom-houfes fhall take care to examine the fervants or the clerks of Ruffian merchants, at the time of their enregistering their purchases, if they are furnished, for that purpose, with the orders or full powers of their masters, and if they are not, they shall not be credited. The fame measures shall be adopted with the fervants of British merchants; and when the faid fervants, having orders or full powers from their masters, fhall have enregistered the merchandise on account of their masters, the latter fhall be refponfible therefor in the fame manner as if they had themselves enregistered them. With refpect to the Ruffian fervants employed in fhops, they fhall, in like manner, be enregiftered by the tribunals established for that purpose, in the cities where thofe fhops fhall be; and their mafters fhall be refponfible for them, in matters of trade, and in the purchases which they fhall have made in their name. XXI. In the cafe of Ruffian merchants who are in debt to British merchants upon bills of exchange, or who have made contracts for the delivery of merchandise, not paying their bills of exchange, or not delivering their merchandife at the place or at the time agreed upon and mentioned in the faid bills or contracts, the college of commerce, after complaints to that effect shall have been made, and proofs given, fhall fummon them three times, granting them a fufficient time to appear in perfon; and if they allow it to elapfe without appearing, the faid college fhall condemn them, and fend an exprefs, at the expense of the plaintiff, to the governors and to the tribunals of government, enjoining them to put the fentence into execution, and thereby compel the debtors to fulfil their engagements. And if the demands fhould be found frivolous or unjuft, then the British merchants fhall be obliged to pay the damage which they fhall have occafioned, either by the lofs of time, or by the expenfes of the voyage. XXII. The brack fhall be established with justice, and the brackers fhall be anfwerable for the quality of the merchandise and for fraudulent packages, and obliged, upon fufficient proofs against them, to pay for the loffes which they have occafioned. XXIII. A regulation fhall be made in order to prevent the abuses which may be practifed in the packing of leather, hemp, and lint; and if any difputes fhould happen between the purcha f fer and feller refpecting the weight or the tare of any dife, the custom-house fhall decide it according to equity. merchan XXIV. In every thing which relates to taxes and duties upon the importation and exportation of merchandife in general, the fubjects of the two high contracting parties fhall always be confidered and treated as the most favoured nation. XXV. The fubjects of the two contracting powers fhall be at liberty, in their refpective dominions, to affemble together with their conful, in body, as a factory, and make amongst themselves, for the common interest of the factory, fuch arrangements as they fhall judge proper, provided they are in no refpect contrary to the laws, ftatutes, and regulations of the country or place where they fhall be established. XXVI. Peace, friendship, and good intelligence shall continue for ever between the high contracting parties; and, as it is cuftomary to fix a certain period to treaties of commerce, the abovementioned high contracting parties have agreed that the present shall laft eight years, reckoning from the expiration of the convention concluded between them on the 25th of March, 1793; and this treaty fhall have effect immediately after its ratification: this term being elapfed, they may agree together to renew or prolong it. XXVII. The prefent treaty of navigation and commerce shall be approved and ratified by his Britannic Majefty and his Imperial Majefty of all the Ruffias, and the ratification, in good and due form, fhall be exchanged in the fpace of the months, or sooner if it can be done, reckoning from the day of the fignature. In faith of which, the refpective plenipotentiaries have caufed two copies of it to be made, perfectly conformable to each other, figned with their hands, and have thereunto affixed the feal of their arms. Done at St. Petersburgh the 10-21ft of February, 1797. (L. S.) ALEXANDER Count of Befborodko CHARLES WHITWORTH. DECLARATION. We, the undersigned, being furnished with the full powers of his Majesty the King of Great Britain on one fide, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Ruffias on the other, having, in virtue of: thofe full powers, concluded and figned, at St. Petersburgh, on February 10-21, 1797, a treaty of navigation and commerce, of which the 9th article ftates, The fubjects of the high contracting parties fhall not pay higher duties, on the importation and exportation of their merchandife, than are paid by the fubjects of another nation, &c. declare by thefe prefents, in virtue of thofe fame full powers, that by the words other nations, European nations alone are to be understood. The |