STATE PAPERS. 



263 



majesty the king of Sweden, and 

 his niajest)' the emperor of all the 

 Russias, have deemed it expedient 

 to equip a number of ships of war 

 and frigates, which shall be charged 

 to see that object obtained, and the 

 squadrons of each power shall take 

 those stations and protect those con- 

 voys, which their commerce and 

 their navigation may require, and 

 which shall be conformable to the 

 course of trade of each nation. 



Art. V. To provide against all 

 inconveniencies which may proceed 

 from any nation abusing the pri- 

 vilege of their flag, it is established 

 as a regulation not to be departed 

 from, that every transport, be it 

 whose it may, belonging to the 

 country whose flag it bears, .shall 

 have on board a captain and the 

 half of the crew composed of the 

 subjects of that country, and the 

 passport shall be drawn up in due 

 and regular form. Every transport 

 which shall not observe thesp regu- 

 lations, or shall violate the command 

 printed at the end of this present 

 convention, shall forfeit all right to 

 tlie protection of the contracting 

 parties, and the government to 

 which it may belong shall alone be 

 responsi])le for all the loss, damage, 

 or inconvenience it may sustain. 



Art. VI. Should it nevertheless 

 liappen that the merchant- ship of 

 one of the powers should find itself 

 in a situation where the ships of war 

 of that nation are not stationed, and 

 where they cannot have the pro- 

 tection of their own convoys, in such 

 case the commandant of the ship of 

 war of tlic other power, if it shall 

 be required, shall duly and faithfully 

 afl'ord such assistance as may be ne- 

 cessary, llie ships of war and fri- 

 gates of the one nation shall allbrd 

 protection and assistance to the mer- 



chant vessels of the other, provided, 

 in the mean time, that the vessel re- 

 quiring such assistance shall not have 

 violated the principles of the neu- 

 trality, by having carried on an il- 

 licit commerce. 



Art. VII. This convention shall 

 have no retrospective operation, and 

 consequently it shall have no re- 

 ference to any diffei-ences that ex- 

 isted previous to its conclusion . Its 

 application shall only be to future 

 acts of violence and aggression, and 

 it shall form the basis of a system 

 for the protection of all the neutral 

 nations of Europe, whose rights 

 may hereafter be denied or vio- 

 lated. 



Art. VIII. Should it, notwith- 

 standing all the possible care of the 

 two powers, and notwithstanding 

 the observance of the most perfect 

 neutrality on their sides, so happen 

 that the merchant-ships of his ma- 

 jesty the King of Sweden, or of his 

 imperial majesty of all the Russias, 

 should be insulted, plundered, or 

 taken by the ships of war or priva- 

 teers of one or other of the bellige- 

 rent powers, the minister of the in- 

 jured party shall forthwith repre- 

 sent the same to the government 

 whose ship of war or privateer shall 

 have committed such act of vio- 

 lence ; he shall reclaim the captured 

 vessel, demand due satisfaction, and 

 by no means lose sight of the insult 

 oftered to the flag. The ministers 

 of the other contracting power shall 

 also enforce the complaint in the 

 most energetic and determined 

 manner possible, and they shall ge- 

 nerally and uniformly act in con- 

 cert together. Should their just 

 complaint meet with no redress, or 

 should it be postponed from time to 

 time, then shall their majesties have 

 recourse to reprisals against such 



