alienate therefrom the propriety of the said town of Gibraltar, it is hereby agreed and concluded, that the preference of having the same shall always be given to the Crown of Spain before any others. : XV. Their Royal Majesties on both parts renew and confirm all Treaties of peace, friendship, confederation, and commerce, made heretofore, and concluded between the Crowns of Great Britain and Spain, and the said Treaties are hereby renewed and confirmed in as full and ample manner, as if they were now particularly here inserted that is to say, as far as they are not found to be contrary to the Treaties of peace and commerce which were the last made and signed. [And especially by this Treaty those Agreements, Treaties, and Conventions are confirmed and strengthened, which relate as well to the exercise of commerce and navigation in Europe, and elsewhere, as to the introduction of negroes into the Spanish West Indies, and which either are already made, or will forthwith be made between both nations at Madrid.] And whereas it is insisted on the part of Spain, that certain rights of fishing at the Island of Newfoundland belong to the Guipuscoans, or other subjects of the Catholic King, Her Britannic Majesty consents and agrees, that all such privileges as the Guipuscoans and other people of Spain are able to make claim to by right, shall be allowed and preserved to them. XVII. But if it happen through inadvertency, or imprudence, or any other cause, that any subject of either of their aforesaid Royal Majesties, do or commit any thing by land, sea, or on fresh waters, in any part of the world, whereby this present Treaty be not observed, or whereby any particular Article of the same hath not its effect, this peace and good correspondence between the Queen of Great Britain and the Catholic King, shall not therefore be interrupted or broken, but shall remain in its former strength, force, and vigour. And that subject only shall be answerable for his own fact, and shall suffer such punishment as is inflicted by law, and according to the prescriptions of the law of nations. XVIII. But if (which God forbid) the disputes which are composed, should at any time be renewed between Their said Royal Majesties, and break out into open war, the ships, mer chandizes, and goods, both moveable and immoveable, of the subjects on both sides, which shall be found to be and remain in the Ports and Dominions of the adverse Party, shall not be confiscated, or suffer any damage; but the space of six months, on the one part, and on the other, shall be granted to the said subjects of each of Their said Royal Majesties, in order to their selling the aforesaid things, or any other their effects, or carrying away and transporting the same from thence, whithersoever they please, without any molestation. Signed and sealed at Utrecht, theth of July, 1713. JOH. BRISTOL, C.P.S. (L.S.) DUC DE OSSUNA, (L S.) TREATY OF NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE between Great Britain and Spain. Signed at Utrecht 1713.* Translation from the Latin. 28th November, 9th December, I. The Treaty of Peace, Commerce, and Alliance, concluded at Madrid, between the Crowns of Great Britain and Spain, the 13 day of May, 1667, is ratified and confirmed by this Treaty, and for the greater strengthening and confirmation of the same, it has been thought proper to insert it word for word in this place, together with the Royal Schedules or ordinations annexed to it, as follows: (See page 140.) Their Royal Majesties do mutually promise, that they will faithfully perform and fulfil all and every one of the Articles of the foregoing Treaty, and all privileges, concessions, agreements, or other advantages whatsoever, arising to the subjects on either side, which are contained in them, or in the annexed Schedules; and that they will at all times cause the same to be performed and fulfilled by their ministers, officers, or other subjects, so that the subjects on each side may enjoy the full effect of all and every * Renewed by Article II of the Treaty of Versailles, 1783. one of them, (those only excepted, concerning which something else shall be established in the following Articles, to the mutual satisfaction of each Party) and of all those likewise which are contained in the following Articles. Moreover the Treaty of 1670," made between the Crowns of Great Britain and Spain, for preventing all differences, restraining depredations, and establishing Peace between the said Crowns in America, is again ratified and confirmed, [without any prejudice however to any contract, or other privilege or leave granted by His Catholic Majesty to the Queen of Great Britain or Her subjects, in the late Treaty of Peace, or in the contract of Assiento,] as likewise without prejudice to any liberty or power, which the subjects of Great Britain enjoyed before, either through right, sufferance, or indulgence. II. The subjects of Their Majesties, trading respectively in the Dominions of Their said Majesties, shall not be bound to pay greater duties, or other imposts whatsoever, for their imports or exports, than shall be exacted of, and paid by the subjects of the most favoured nation; and if it shall happen in time to come, that any diminutions of duties, or other advantages shall be granted by either side, to any Foreign nation, the subjects of each Crown shall reciprocally and fully enjoy the same. And as it has been agreed, as is above-mentioned, concerning the rates of duties, so it is ordained as a general rule between Their Majesties, that all and every one of their subjects shall, in all lands and places subject to the command of Their respective Majesties, use and enjoy at least the same privileges, liberties, and immunities, concerning all imposts or duties whatsoever, which relate to persons, wares, merchandize, ships, freighting, mariners, navigation and commerce, and enjoy the same favour in all things, (as well in the Courts of Justice, as in all those things which relate to trade, or any other right whatsoever) as the most favoured nation uses and enjoys, or may use and enjoy for the future, as is explained more at large in the 38th Article of the Treaty of 1667, which is cially inserted in the foregoing Article. III. Whereas by the Treaty of Peace lately concluded between Their Royal Majesties, it was laid as the basis and foundation of the said Treaty, that the subjects of Great Britain should use and enjoy the same privileges and liberty of trade throughout all the Dominions of Spain, which they enjoyed in the time of Charles the Second; and therefore the same rule is likewise and ought to be the basis and foundation of the present Treaty of Commerce (which is understood to extend reciprocally to the subjects of Spain trading in Great Britain, in regard to whatsoever, by agreement, belongs to them:) and whereas a certain, clear, and expeditious method of paying the duties is of the greatest use in settling trade upon a good foot, and to the mutual advantage of each nation; it is therefore agreed and concluded, that within the space of three months from the ratification of this Treaty, Commissaries appointed for that purpose by Their respective Majesties, shall meet on the part of each of Their Royal Majesties, either at Madrid or Cadiz; by whom a new book of rates shall, without any delay of time be made, which book of rates shall be published in every port, and shall contain, and severally express the duties which are hereafter to be paid for wares brought into, or carried out of Castile, Arragon, Valencia, and Catalonia, and shall settle them in such a manner, that all the different imposts which, in the time of the late King Charles the Second, were paid under several names, and in different Custom-houses, for wares entering into or going out of the ports of Spain (the Kingdoms of Arragon and Valencia, and the principality of Catalonia being comprehended therein, Guipuscoa and Biscaya, of which mention shall be made hereafter, only excepted) shall be put together and be contained in one duty, and payable only in one sum. But whereas the British Ambassador made pressing instances, that it might be given as a rule to the said Commissaries, that no greater duties, or other imposts whatsoever, should be made payable in any port, wet or dry, in His said Catholic Majesty's Dominions by the said new book of rates, than what were paid in the Custom-houses of the Port of St. Mary's or Cadiz, in the reign of the late King of Spain, Charles the Second; the Ambassadors of Spain have consented, and it is agreed and stipulated, that that rule shall be observed in those very ports of Cadiz and St. Mary's; so that all augmentations of duties which were introduced in the said ports after the time of Charles the Second, on occasion of the war, or under the title of Habilitation, or any other whatsoever, ceasing and being taken away, the British subjects shall not, before or after the said book of rates is settled, be bound to pay any greater duties, of what sort soever, or under what name soever, for their imports or exports in the ports of St. Mary's and Cadiz, than what were paid there in the time of King Charles the Second. Moreover in regard to the Ports of St. Mary's and Cadiz, the said Commissaries shall be strictly enjoined not to make the new book of rates according to the old indexes of duties, which by reason of the exorbitant rights that were appointed to be paid by them, ceased to be in use in the time of Charles the Second, but shall follow the tenor of those indexes only, which (whether they were commonly called arrancel or registers) shall be found to have subsisted in the time of King Charles the Second, and to have been the rule by which the duties were then paid. And it is further agreed, that the subjects of Great Britain, having paid these duties for their wares in the said ports, to wit, those, until the new indexes are made, which were paid in the time of Charles the Second, or else such as shall be made payable by the said new book of rates, shall have liberty to transport the said wares, either by sea or land, into any other port or place of the aforesaid Dominions of Spain, nor shall the duties which were paid before be re-exacted on that occasion. Moreover for preventing all disputes, which (notwithstanding the exact administration of Justice in Spain in all other respects) have formerly arisen concerning other duties, which, to the great prejudice of trade and traders, have been exacted formerly; it is agreed, that wares which have paid the duties in the manner aforesaid at Cadiz, or the port of St. Mary's, and are transported in order to be sold by wholesale, shall be free and clear from any other duty whatsoever, throughout all Spain, provided however, that the proprietor of the said wares or factors brings certificates, that the duties were duly paid in the manner aforesaid, otherwise such wares shall be looked upon as fraudulently transported. But as to the payment of the rights commonly called "de Alcavalos, Cientos, and Millones," it is agreed, that it shall be regulated according to the 5th and 8th Article of this Treaty. But because the Spanish Ambassadors are persuaded, that the |