beloved brother-in-law and cousin, Albert Casimir, Prince Royal of Poland and Lithuania, Duke of Saxe Teschen, etc., etc., our Lieutenant Governors and Captains General of the Netherlands, etc., ordered and decreed, and hereby order and decree the following articles:

ARTICLE 1

All of our subjects in the Netherlands who own sea-going vessels are required to furnish a declaration, signed by them, within six weeks after publication of the present ordinance, free of carrier's charge, to the Admiralty office at Ostend, Bruges, or Nieuport, respectively, according to the city where the vessels in question procured their ship's registers, and in the case of vessels whose registers were obtained in other cities of this country, the declaration shall be made to the office at Ostend. These declarations must contain (1) the name of the vessel, (2) its character and capacity in nautical tons, (3) whether it was built in this country or in a foreign country, and in the latter case indicate, so far as possible, in what country it was built, where it was purchased, and furnish evidence of the purchase and present ownership of the vessel, (4) the name of the captain commanding it, (5) in what port or waters its owners know or presume it to be now, (6) the date and place where the ship's register was procured with which the vessel is furnished; all this under penalty of a fine of 200 florins for every vessel whose declaration shall not have been made within the prescribed time.

ARTICLE 2

With regard to vessels which our subjects shall acquire after the publication of the present ordinance, they shall be required, before these vessels may put to sea, to procure registers in the usual form, which must be certified at one of the Admiralty offices, at Ostend, Bruges, or Nieuport, respectively, under penalty of invalidity. The owners shall at the same time deliver a separate declaration, containing (1) the name of the vessel, (2) its character and tonnage, (3) whether it was built in this country or in a foreign country, indicating, in the latter case, in what country it was built, where it was purchased, producing evidence of the purchase, (4) the name of the captain who is to command the vessel, (5) in what port it is at present; and the certificate shall state that the present article has been complied with, all under the same penalty decreed in the preceding article.

ARTICLE 3

The owners of vessels who shall sell or transfer, or have other persons sell or transfer, vessels belonging to them, must, within fifteen days at the outside, give a declaration thereof to one of the offices of the Admiralty, at Ostend, Bruges, or Nieuport, respectively, according to the city where the ship's registers may have been delivered, and to the Admiralty office at Ostend, if the registers were furnished in any other city of this country. They must return to the Admiralty office the registers and other papers that they shall receive from the magistrates for the vessels sold or transferred; which return must be made at the same time as the declaration, if the sale or transfer is made in the ports or places of this country, and within one month, or other period to be determined by the Admiralty officials, if the sale is made in foreign ports, under penalty of confiscation of the value of the vessels and 4,000 florins fine, one-third of the amount confiscated and of the fine to go to the informer.

ARTICLE 4

Those who shall be convicted of having lent their name to conceal or disguise foreign ownership of a vessel, in whole or in part, by obtaining registry in this country, or those who shall have yielded, lent, or allowed the use of their registers for other vessels than that for which the register was originally furnished, those who shall have altered or changed in any manner whatsoever their registers, those who, navigating under the flag of this country, shall at the same time be supplied with and make use of a foreign register, or who shall make use of foreign passes, passports, or other papers for their vessel. shall for each offense be liable to a fine of 6,000 florins, as well as every one of our subjects who shall have cooperated or participated therein; and one-third of this fine shall be paid to the informer. Cases of this character previous to the publication of this ordinance shall remain subject to the usual penalties.

We decree, etc.

Given in our city of Brussels the 12th day of the month of December in the year of Grace 1782, the 12th of our reign in the Roman Empire. and the 3rd of our reign in Hungary and Bohemia.

By the Emperor and King in Council.

Act of February 21, 1783, by which His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies accedes to the System of Armed Neutrality1 Her Imperial Majesty of all the Russias, inspired by a generous desire to consolidate the true principles of the right of neutrals on the sea, calculated to maintain the freedom of their navigation and maritime commerce, as set forth in her declaration of February 28, 1780, transmitted to the Powers then at war, has observed with the greatest satisfaction how widely the successive adhesion of different Powers to the same principles has extended their effect. For this reason and because of her just confidence in the friendship of His Sicilian Majesty, she has determined to invite him likewise to strengthen by his cooperation in a work of so great importance; and His said Majesty, recognizing this action to be a mark of friendship as well as a feeling of just confidence in him, in the belief that the said principles are entirely in accord with those which he, like his August Father, has constantly followed, ever since the restoration by him of the independent existence of the Monarchy of his Kingdoms, and such as they are clearly recognized in his treaties with Sweden in the year 1742, with Denmark in 1748, with the States-General of the United Provinces in 1753, the only treaties concluded since the period when the said Kingdoms ceased to belong to other sovereignties, has not hesitated to reply with eagerness.

To this end Their Majesties have deemed it wise to conclude a formal act, in which the said principles shall be set forth, and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries, to wit: Her Imperial Majesty of all the Russias, John Count d'Ostermann, her Vice Chancellor, Privy Councilor, Senator and Chevalier of the Orders of St. Alexander Nevsky, of St. Wladimir of the First Class, and of St. Anne; Alexander de Bezborodko, Major General of her Armies, Member of the College of Foreign Affairs, Colonel Commanding the Kiovia Regiment of Militia of Little Russia, Chevalier of the Order of St. Wladimir of the First Class; Pierre de Bacounin, her Councilor of State, Member of the College of Foreign Affairs, Chevalier of the Order of St. Wladimir of the Second Class and of the Order of St. Anne; and His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies, Don Muzio Gaëta, Duke of St. Nicholas, his Gentleman of the Chamber and his Minister Plenipotentiary at the Imperial Court of Russia; who, having exchanged their full powers,

1Translation. French text at Martens, Recueil de Traités, vol. 3, p. 267. Ratifications exchanged at St. Petersburg, July 1, 1783.

Her Majesty the Empress of all the Russias and His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies, convinced of the solidity and of the incontestable self-evidence of the principles set forth in the aforesaid declaration of February 28, 1780, which may be reduced in substance to the five following points:

(1) That neutral vessels may navigate freely from port to port and along the coasts of the nations at war.

(2) That effects and merchandise belonging to the subjects of the Powers at war shall be free on board neutral vessels, with the exception of contraband of war.

(3) That nothing shall be considered as such except the merchandise enumerated in Articles 10 and 11 of the treaty of commerce and navigation concluded between Russia and Great Britain on June 20, 1766.

(4) That to determine what constitutes a blockaded port, none shall be considered such except a port where the attacking Power shall have disposed a proportionate number of vessels sufficiently near to make access thereto clearly dangerous.

(5) Finally, that these principles, which shall serve as the rule in proceedings and judgments as to the legality of prizes, shall not impair the force of treaties now existing between Their Majesties and other Powers, but they shall give them additional force.

Their said Majesties declare that, not only do they fully adhere to the same principles, but that on all occasions they will cooperate effectually to maintain them in their full force and effect, and will see to their most scrupulous execution.

ARTICLE 2

In any war in which the high contracting Parties, observing absolute neutrality, shall not take part, they shall see to the strictest enforcement of the prohibition of commerce in contraband on the part of their respective subjects with any one whatsoever of the Powers now at war, or which may hereafter enter into the war.