tention to the captain of the convoy, who shall have the power to order an officer to remain on board the ship thus detained, and to assist at the examination of the cause of her detention. The merchant ship shall be carried immediately to the nearest and most convenient port belonging to the belligerent power, and the ulterior search shall be carried on with all possible diligence.

Art. V. It is also agreed, that if any merchant ship thus convoyed should be detained without just and sufficient cause, the commander of the ship or ships of war of the belligerent power, shall not only be bound to make to the owners of the ship and of the cargo a full and perfect compensation for all the losses, expenses, damages, and costs, occasioned by such a detention, but shall farther be liable to an ulterior punishment for every act of violence or other fault which he may have committed, according as the nature of the case may require. On the other hand, no ship of war with a convoy shall be permitted, under any pretext whatsoever, to resist by force the detention of a merchant ship or ships, by the ship or ships of war of the belligerent power; an obligation which the commander of a ship of war, with convoy, is not bound to observe towards privateers and their fitters out.

Art. VI. The high contracting powers shall give precise and efficacious orders, that the sentences upon prizes made at sea shall be conformable with the rules of the most exact justice and equity; that they shall be given by judges above suspicion, and who shall not be interested in the matter. The government of the respective States shall take care that the said sentences shall be promptly and duly executed, according to the forms prescribed. In case of the unfounded detention, or other contravention of the regulations stipulated by the present treaty, the owners of such a ship and cargo shall be allowed damages proportioned to the loss occasioned by such detention. The rules to observe for these damages, and for the case of unfounded detention, as also the principles to follow for the purpose of accelerating the process, shall be the matter of additional articles, which the contracting parties agree to settle between them, and which shall have the same force and validi

ty as if they were inserted in the present act. For this effect, their Imperial and Britannic Majesties mutually engage to put their hand to the salutary work, which may serve for the coinpletion of these stipulations, and to communicate to each other without delay, the views which may be suggested to them by their equal solicitude to prevent the least grounds for dispute in future.

VII. To obviate all the inconveniences which may arise from the bad faith of those who avail themselves of the flag of a nation without belonging to it, it is agreed to establish, for an inviolable rule, that any vessel whatever, to be considered as the property of the country the flag of which it carries, must have on board the captain of the ship, and one half of the crew of the people of that country, and the papers and passports in due and perfect form; but every vessel which shall not observe this rule, and which shall infringe the ordinances published on that head, shall lose all rights to the protection of the contracting powers.

VIII. The principles and measures adopted by the present act, shall be alike applicable to all the maritime wars in which one of the two powers may be engaged whilst the other remains neutral. These stipulations shall, in consequence, be regarded as permanent, and shall serve for a constant rule to the contracting powers in matter of commerce and navigation.

IX. His Majesty the King of Denmark, and his Majesty the King of Sweden, shall be immediately invited by his Imperial Majesty, in the name of the two contracting parties, to accede to the present convention, and at the same time to renew and confirm their respective treaties of commerce with his Britannic Majesty; and his said majesty engages, by acts which shall have established that agreement, to render and restore to each of these powers, all the prizes that have been taken from them, as well as the territories and countries under their domination, which have been conquered by the arms of his Britannic Majesty since the rupture, in the state in which those possessions were found, at the period at which the troops of his Britannic Majesty entered them. The orders of his said majesty for the VOL. VI.

H

restitution of those prizes and conquests shall be immediately expedited after the exchange of the ratification of the acts by which Sweden and Denmark shall accede to the present treaty.

X. The present convention shall be ratified by the two contracting parties, and the ratifications exchanged at St. Petersburgh in the space of two months at farthest, from the day of the signature. In faith of which, the respective plenipotentiaries have caused to be made two copies perfectly similar, signed with their hands, and have sealed with their arms. Done at St. Petersburgh the 5th (17th) June, 1801. N. COUNT DE PANIN. ST. HELENS.

(L. S.)
(L. S.)

Formula of the Passports and Sea-Letters which ought to be delivered in the respective Admiralties of the States of the two High Contracting Parties to the Ships of War, and Merchant Vessels, which shall sail from them, conformable to Article IV. of the present Treaty.

Be it known, that we have given leave and permission to N-, of the city or place of N- master or conductor of

the ship N, belonging to N-,

of

of

tons, or thereabouts, now lying

of the port of N―,

in the port or harbour

to sail from thence to N- laden with N—————, on account of N―, after the said ship shall have been visited before its departure in the usual manner by the officers appointed for that purpose; and the said N, or such other as shall be vested with powers to replace him, shall be obliged to produce in every port or harbour which he shall enter with the said vessel, to the officers of the place, the present license, and to carry the flag of N-, during his voyage.

In faith of which, &c.

NOTE No. V.

TO THE CASE OF THE BELLO CORRUNES, ante,

p.

156.

Decision du Conseil des Prises sur les Precautions Conservatoires du Produit des Prises.

Au nom de la république Française, une et indivisible, le conseil a rendu la décision suivante :

Vu le mémoire présenté au conseil par le commissaire général des relations commerciales de sa majesté Danoise près la ré. publique Française ;

Vu les conclusions du commissaire du gouvernement laissées cejourd'hui sur le bureau, et dont la teneur suit :

Le commissaire-général des relations commerciales de sa majesté Danoise a présenté au conseil des prises, le 13 floréal présent mois, un mémoire par lequel il demande la mise en sûreté ou le cautionnement du produit des ventes, dans les contestations sur la validité des prises Danoises, antérieure au 4 nivôse dernier, sans excepter celles qui se trouvaient pendantes au tribunal de cassation. Il se dit particulièrement chargé des intérêts des négocians Danois.

J'ai pris connaissance de ce mémoire, d'après l'invitation que le conseil m'a faite, par sa délibération du 23 floréal, de donner mes conclusions par écrit, conformément à l'article 13 de l'arrêté des consuls, du 6 germinal an 8, contenant réglement sur la manière de statuer relativement aux prises maritimes.

Avant de m'occuper de la demande, il m'a paru important d'examiner si le commissaire Danois avait qualité pour la former.

Ce commissaire est un agent politique. Dès qu'il est reconnu par le gouvernement français, il peut incontestablement remplir les fonctions attachées à son mandat; mais, peut-il, par des actions ou par des deinandes, intervenir dans des contestations particulières, mues entre des négocians Français et des négocians de sa nation?

L'article 13 de l'arrêté du 6 germinal, n'admet que les par

ties ou leurs défenseurs qui justifieront préalablement de leurs droits et de leurs pouvoirs.

Le commissaire Danois ne se montre pas pour son intérêt propre, mais comme chargé des intérêts d'autrui. Il n'est point partie; il ne prétend exercer que le ministère de défenseur. Justifie-t-il de son droit et de son pouvoir ?

Il est vraisemblable qu'il n'agit qu'en vertu de son titre de commissaire-général des relations commerciales. Il est possi ble qu'on l'ait autorisé, par ce titre, à donner une attention particulière aux contestations dans lesquelles il se dit chargé des intérêts des négocians Danois.

Mais tout titre, que le commissaire Danois ne tiendrait que de son gouvernement, ne saurait le rendre le véritable représentant des parties. Au gouvernement appartient la protection, et aux parties seules, la propriété. Un propriétaire peut disposer de son bien et exercer ses droits par lui-même ou par autrui. Mais, chacun étant arbitre et régulateur de sa propre fortune, il n'est libre à qui que ce soit d'intervenir dans les affaires d'un autre, s'il n'en a reçu de lui le pouvoir. La mission générale donnée au commissaire Danois par son souverain, pour le charger de veiller à l'intérêt des négocians de sa nation, et sur tout de ceux qui ont essuyé des prises, ne suffirait donc jamais pour établir ce commissaire mandataire, proprement dit, de chacun de ses négocians Dans les principes du droit politique, la mission du commissaire Danois est essentiellement limitée aux bons offices d'un protecteur qui recommande, et ne s'étend pas aux actes d'un fondé de pouvoir qui régit ou qui dispose.

Je conviens qu'un droit, plus ancien et plus sacré que le droit politique, je veux dire le droit social, autorise tout homme à suivre les affaires d'un absent qui ne connaît pas sa situation personnelle, et qui a besoin des secours spontanés de cette bienveillance naturelle dont le germe n'a pu être entièrement étouffé par nos vices, et dont le droit civil s'honore de sanctionner les effets. (1)

(1) Digeste, liv. III. tit. 5. De negotiis gestis, loi: hoc edictum necessarium est, quoniam magna utilitas absentium versatur, ne indefensi...........pati

antur.