ARTICLE 5

That in order to forestall and prevent any fraud that might be attempted against the present ordinance and notice, we order and command all owners or vessels and merchants who are inhabitants of these Provinces, or those who send their vessels and goods out of this country; we notify and exhort, moreover, all other persons, of whatever nation they may be or whencesoever they may come, not to load or cause to be loaded in their vessels goods, wares, or merchandise, nor to transport them or cause them to be transported in any other way than under regular ship's papers, proper passports, letters of destination, bills of lading, of advice, and of shipment, or other similar documents, as is required for loading and transportation by virtue of the laws and proclamations of the places where the goods, wares, and merchandise are loaded, for we shall consider as subject to confiscation, and now declare to be legitimate prize, all vessels that shall sail with ship's registers of more than one sovereign or regent; as well as the goods, wares, and merchandise with which they are loaded, for which there is found to be more than one letter of destination, two sets of freight invoices, bills of lading, or other documents, as well as vessels and goods which are not properly supplied with the aforesaid requisite documents.

ARTICLE 6

And in order that every officer and commander of a war-ship, belonging either to the State or to private owners, who have commissions from His Highness the Prince of Orange and of Nassau, in his capacity as Admiral General of these Provinces, may be assured that the vessels which he may encounter at sea, laden with any of the aforesaid contraband goods, are not bound for the aforesaid ports, cities, and places of Great Britain or other countries under the rule of the aforesaid King, the aforesaid captains shall be permitted to accost at sea all vessels against which there may be any suspicion, and require them to show their ship's registers, passports, letters of destination, and bills of lading, to prove to whom the vessels belong, where and in what place they were loaded, of what their cargoes consist, and at what point they are to be unloaded. When all these have been shown to them and when they have ascertained that the aforesaid vessels are not bound, with any of the said contraband goods, to any ports or places under the rule of the King of Great Britain, they shall

permit them to pass freely; but if the contrary should, from the documents or otherwise, appear to be the case, they shall safely bring in such vessels with the goods on board, and shall take possession of all the documents that are found on board of such vessels and that have been shown to them; as well as to draw up in writing, in all due form, the declarations which the masters and members of the crew shall make with regard to the purpose of their voyage; likewise as to the character of the vessel and of its cargo, and they shall have the master sign these declarations, to be forwarded and delivered together with the documents found, the vessel itself, and its cargo to the member of the Admiralty Board, under whose authority the capturing vessel is. As to vessels under convoy, the declarations of the officers of the convoy that the vessels under their convoy are not loaded with contraband goods, according to their full knowledge thereof, must be accepted, and no further visit shall be required.

ARTICLE 7

It is also our intention that all the penalties herein provided shall apply to and shall be enforced against any of our inhabitants, who violate our ordinance, whether merchants, masters, or any one else, together with confiscation of the vessels and of the goods thereon. belonging to the owner, as provided hereinbefore; or if they are not within reach, they shall be condemned to pay a fine equivalent to the amount, each one in his individual capacity, upon their arrival in these Provinces. Or if it should be learned and if it should be proved that they had contravened in any way our present ordinance and proclamation, they shall be considered as having been caught in the act and brought into port by our war-ships, or else seized and brought to justice in this country by other officers of the State.

ARTICLE 8

And in order that the execution of our present ordinance and notice may give no legitimate cause of complaint to any king, republic, prince, power, or city, who are in alliance and union with this State, we order and expressly charge by these presents all our nautical commanders and other officers, who are commissioned, whether of the war-ships of the State or of vessels armed by private individuals on commissions of His Royal Highness, to be guided strictly by the alliances and

treaties which we have made or may hereafter make with other kings, republics, princes, powers, and cities, concerning the transportation of contraband goods. To the same end, we order our Admiralty Board to notify in particular all nautical commanders, both those of the State and those of privateers armed under commissions of His Highness, to interpret properly the aforesaid Article 3, and to furnish. them with extracts from the said treaties, with orders to govern themselves strictly thereby.

ARTICLE 9

Jurisdiction of offenses against this ordinance shall belong to the Board of Admiralty in the districts in which the violations shall be discovered, or from which the commanders who shall make the seizures sailed.

ARTICLE 10

In cases where the offenders are not caught in the act, but are accused thereafter, jurisdiction shall belong to the Board of Admiralty, or to the regular judges before whom they are brought in first instance. And in order that all officers and all persons in general who have at heart the welfare of the State, and who are opposed to such contraventions, may be the more attentive to the scrupulous observance of this ordinance by each and every one, and to the punishment of offenders, as an example, in accordance with the terms of these presents, the money realized through confiscation and otherwise shall be applied as it ordinarily is by the proclamations of the respective Provinces of the United Provinces, to wit: one-third to the informer, whether he is a sworn employee of the State or not, one-third to the officer making the accusation, and the remaining third to the State.

ARTICLE 11

As to vessels and goods that shall be seized and brought in by any war-ships of this State or by vessels sailing under commissions, because of violation of the present ordinance, and which shall be declared subject to confiscation and lawful prize, the division shall be made according to instructions, proclamation, and ordinance which have heretofore been published or which may hereafter be published.

ARTICLE 12

And in order that all vessels and goods, which shall be seized and brought to these Provinces because of violations, may be delivered into the hands of the said Board, we order expressly those who shall seize them strictly to observe, and to see to it that all those whose duty it is shall strictly observe, the terms of our proclamation of December 1, 1640, against general pillaging and forcible capture, with the warning that the penalties provided by the said proclamation shall be severely enforced against those who may have attempted any act contrary to the aforesaid prohibition.

ARTICLE 13

To prevent the losses resulting from the confiscation of the aforesaid vessels and goods from falling on any one other than the offenders, and from affecting through insurance any other inhabitants of these Provinces, as well as to restrict as much as possible English navigation and commerce, we expressly order, not only that none of our inhabitants shall attempt to insure or to have insured directly or indirectly, in this country or elsewhere, any contraband goods, in any way whatsoever; nor to give or to receive any refunds for the purpose of circumventing our proclamation, either directly or indirectly, on any pretext whatever, under penalty of confiscation of the sums insured by the insurers. That the said prohibition shall apply both to insurance and to refunds, and officers who shall be convicted of having neglected this part of their duty shall be severely punished by being deprived of their positions or such other penalty as the case may require.

And in order that no one may allege ignorance hereof, these presents shall be proclaimed, posted, and published in the usual way.

Done and adopted in our Assembly at The Hague on January 26, 1781.

(Signed) W. v. LYNDEN

By order of Their High Mightinesses,

(Signed) FLAGEL

Memorandum of the Court of Sweden for the Court of Russia concerning the Effect of the Accession of the Netherlands to the System of Armed Nutrality, February 28, 17811

When the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands resolved to take part in the armed neutrality by its accession to the maritime conventions of the northern Powers, it was enjoying complete neutrality, and there was no obstacle to the accomplishment of an undertaking which was carried to its perfection by an act of accession and acceptance, signed at St. Petersburg on December 24, last, old style.

By this act the Republic bound itself to the common cause of neutral Powers, and acquired as such rights to the assistance of the other Powers, with which it was to share the obligations and advantages, in conformity with the terms of the conventions concluded during the past year between Sweden, Russia, and Denmark.

But the Republic was unable to maintain very long the status in which it had contracted its engagements. England declared war on it and forced the Republic to leave the class of neutral Powers and to take its place among the belligerent Powers. All this took place with such marvellous rapidity that the Ambassadors of both nations were recalled, letters of marque despatched, and several Dutch vessels taken before the news of the accession concluded at St. Petersburg reached The Hague.

In such extraordinary state of affairs, it is essential that the three Crowns of the north carefully consider the nature of their engagements with respect to the Republic, and decide the question in close union and concert.

The system adopted by these Powers is a system of perfect neutrality. It is only by following this system that they have the right to carry on their commerce freely, that they have bound themselves to protect it and mutually to uphold it. From this point of view they have fixed the obligations and the assistance which they mutually owe each other; their naval armaments are fitted out accordingly and are not intended to take the offensive against any one. The warships of a neutral nation, the obligations and advantages are the same on all sides; but it is not the same with regard to a nation at war. Measures can not be concerted, nor can they act in common with such a nation without overstepping the bounds prescribed by a strict neu

Translation. French text at Martens, Recueil de Traités, vol. 3, p. 235.