Sa Majesté le Roi de Serbie-Continued. Son Excellence M. Michel Militchevitch, Son envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire à Londres et à La Haye. Sa Majesté le Roi de Siam: Mom Chatidej Udom, major-général; M. C. Corragioni d'Orelli, Son conseiller de légation; Sa Majesté le Roi de Suède, des Goths et des Vendes: Son Excellence M. Knut Hjalmar Leonard Hammarskjold, Son ancien ministre de la justice, Son envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire à Copenhague, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage; M. Johannes Hellner, Son ancien ministre sans portefeuille, ancien membre de la cour suprême de Suède, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage. Le Conseil Fédéral Suisse: Son Excellence M. Gaston Carlin, envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire de la Confédération suisse à Londres et à La Haye; M. Eugène Borel, colonel d'état major général, professeur à l'université de Genève; M. Max Huber, professeur de droit à l'université de Zürich. Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Ottomans: Son Excellence Turkhan Pacha, Son ambassadeur extraordinaire, Son Excellence Rechid Bey, Son ambassadeur à Rome; Le Président de la République Orientale de l'Uruguay: Son Excellence M. José Battle y Ordoñez, ancien président de la République, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage; Son Excellence M. Juan P. Castro, ancien président du sénat, envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire de la République à Paris, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage. Le Président des Etats-Unis de Vénézuéla : M. José Gil Fortoul, chargé d'affaires de la République à Berlin. Who, after having deposited their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following provisions: CHAPTER I.-Postal Correspondence. ARTICLE I. The postal correspondence of neutrals or belligerents, whatever its official or private character may be, found on the high seas on board a neutral or enemy ship, is inviolable. If the ship is detained, the correspondence is forwarded by the captor with the least possible delay. The provisions of the preceding paragraph do not apply, in case of violation of blockade, to correspondence destined for or proceeding from a blockaded port. ARTICLE II. The inviolability of postal correspondence does not exempt a neutral mail-ship from the laws and customs of maritime war as to neutral merchant-ships in general. The ship, however, may not be searched except when absolutely necessary, and then only with as much consideration and expedition as possible. CHAPTER II.-The Exemption from Capture of certain Vessels. ARTICLE III. Vessels used exclusively for fishing along the coast or small boats employed in local trade are exempt from capture, as well as their appliances, rigging, tackle, and cargo. They cease to be exempt as soon as they take any part whatever in hostilities. The Contracting Powers agree not to take advantage of the harmless character of the said vessels in order to use them for military purposes while preserving their peaceful appearance. ARTICLE IV. Vessels charged with religious, scientific, or philanthropic missions are likewise exempt from capture. CHAPTER III.—Regulations regarding the Crews of Enemy Merchantships Captured by a Belligerent. ARTICLE V. When an enemy merchant-ship is captured by a belligerent, such of its crew as are nationals of a neutral State are not made prisoners of war. The same rule applies in the case of the captain and officers likewise nationals of a neutral State, if they promise formally in writing not to serve on an enemy ship while the war lasts. ARTICLE VI. The captain, officers, and members of the crew, when nationals of the enemy State, are not made prisoners of war, on condition that they make a formal promise in writing, not to undertake, while hostilities last, any service connected with the operations of the war. ARTICLE VII. The names of the persons retaining their liberty under the condi tions laid down in Article V, paragraph 2, and in Article VI, are notified by the belligerent captor to the other belligerent. The latter is forbidden knowingly to employ the said persons. ARTICLE VIII. The provisions of the three preceding Articles do not apply to ships taking part in the hostilities. CHAPTER IV.-Final Provisions. ARTICLE IX. The provisions of the present Convention do not apply except between Contracting Powers, and then only if all the belligerents are parties to the Convention. ARTICLE X. The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible. The first deposit of ratifications shall be recorded in a procèsverbal signed by the Representatives of the Powers taking part therein and by the Netherland Minister for Foreign Affairs. Subsequent deposits of ratifications shall be made by means of a written notification, addressed to the Netherland Government and accompanied by the instrument of ratification. A duly certified copy of the procès-verbal relative to the first deposit of ratifications, of the notifications mentioned in the preceding paragraph, as well as of the instruments of ratification, shall be at once sent by the Netherland Government, through the diplomatic channel, to the Powers invited to the Second Peace Conference, as well as to the other Powers which have adhered to the Convention. In the cases contemplated in the preceding paragraph, the said Government shall inform them at the same time of the date on which it received the notificatiton. ARTICLE XI. Non-Signatory Powers may adhere to the present Convention. The Power which desires to adhere notifies its intention in writing to the Netherland Government, forwarding to it the act of adhesion, which shall be deposited in the archives of the said Government. This Government shall at once transmit to all the other Powers a duly certified copy of the notification as well as of the act of adhesion, mentioning the date on which it received the notification. ARTICLE XII. The present Convention shall come into force in the case of the Powers which were a party to the first deposit of ratifications, sixty days after the procès-verbal of that deposit, and, in the case of the Powers which ratify subsequently or which adhere, sixty days after the notification of their ratification has been received by the Netherland Government. ARTICLE XIII. In the event of one the Contracting Powers wishing to denounce the present Convention, the denunciation shall be notified in writing to the Netherland Government, which shall at once communicate a duly certified copy of the notification to all the other Powers informing them of the date on which it was received. The denunciation shall only have effect in regard to the notifying Power, and one year after the notification has reached the Netherland Government. ARTICLE XIV. A register kept by the Netherland Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall give the date of the deposit of ratifications made in virtue of Article X, paragraphs 3 and 4, as well as the date on which the notifications of adhesion (Article XI, paragraph 2) or of denunciation (Article XIII, paragraph 1) have been received. Each Contracting Power is entitled to have access to this register and to be supplied with duly certified extracts from it. In faith whereof the Plenipotentiaries have appended their signatures to the present Convention. Done at The Hague, the 18th October, 1907, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Netherland Government, and duly certified copies of which shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel, to the Powers invited to the Second Peace Conference. 1. Pour l'Allemagne : 2. Pour les Etats Unis d'Améri que: 3. Pour l'Argentine: 4. Pour l'Autriche-Hongrie : 5. Pour la Belgique: 6. Pour la Bolivie : 7. Pour le Brésil: 8. Pour la Bulgarie: 9. Pour le Chili: 10. Pour la Chine: 11. Pour la Colombie: MARSCHALL. JOSEPH H. CHOATE. U. M. ROSE. DAVID JAYNE HILL. C. S. SPERRY. WILLIAM I. BUCHANAN. ROQUE SAENZ PEÑA. LUIS M. DRAGO. BON MACCHIO. CLAUDIO PINILLA. E. LISBOA. GÉNÉRAL-MAJOR VINAROFF. AUGUSTO MATTE. CARLOS CONCHA. JORGE HOLGUIN. S. PEREZ TRIANA. 12. Pour la République de Cuba: ANTONIO S. DE BUSTAMANTE. 13. Pour le Danemark: 14. Pour la République Domini caine: GONZALO DE QUESADA. C. BRUN. DR. HENRIQUEZ Y CARVAJAL |