British subjects, shall, subject to the provisions of Article II, be held by the United States to be in all respects and for all purposes British subjects, and shall be treated as such by the United States. Reciprocally, British subjects who have become, or shall become, and are naturalized according to law within the United States of America as citizens thereof, shall, subject to the provisions of Article II, be held by Great Britain to be in all respects and for all purposes citizens of the United States, and shall be treated as such by Great Britain. ARTICLE II Such citizens of the United States as aforesaid who have become and are naturalized within the dominions of her Britannic Majesty as British subjects, shall be at liberty to renounce their naturalization and to resume their nationality as citizens of the United States, provided that such renunciation be publicly declared within two years after the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention. Such British subjects as aforesaid who have become and are naturalized as citizens within the United States, shall be at liberty to renounce their naturalization and to resume their British nationality, provided that such renunciation be publicly declared within two years after the twelfth day of May, 1870. The manner in which this renunciation may be made and publicly declared shall be agreed upon by the governments of the respective countries. ARTICLE III If any such citizen of the United States as aforesaid, naturalized within the dominions of her Britannic Majesty, should renew his residence in the United States, the United States government may, on his own application and on such conditions as that government may think fit to impose, readmit him to the character and privileges of a citizen of the United States, and Great Britain shall not, in that case, claim him as a British subject on account of his former naturalization. In the same manner, if any such British subject as aforesaid naturalized in the United States should renew his residence within the dominions of her Britannic Majesty, her Majesty's government may, on his own application and on such conditions as that government may think fit to impose, readmit him to the character and privileges of a British subject, and the United States shall not, in that case, claim him as a citizen of the United States on account of his former naturalization. ARTICLE IV The present convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by her Britannic Majesty, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London as soon as may be within twelve months from the date hereof. In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their respective seals. Done at London, the thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy. SUPPRESSION OF AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE Additional convention and annex signed at Washington June 3, 1870, modifying treaty of April 7, 1862 Senate advice and consent to ratification July 8, 1870 Ratified by the United Kingdom July 16, 1870 Ratified by the President of the United States July 19, 1870 Ratifications exchanged at London August 10, 1870 Entered into force August 10, 1870 Proclaimed by the President of the United States September 16, 1870 16 Stat. 777; Treaty Series 131 ADDITIONAL CONVENTION TO THE CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED States and GREAT BRITAIN, OF THE 7TH OF APRIL, 1862, RESPECTING THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE The United States of America and her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, having come to the conclusion that it is no longer necessary to maintain the three mixed courts of justice, established at Sierra Leone, at the Cape of Good Hope, and at New York, in pursuance of the treaty concluded at Washington, on the 7th day of April, 1862,2 for the suppression of the African slave trade, they have resolved to conclude an additional convention for the purpose of making the requisite modifications of the said treaty, and have named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say: The President of the United States of America, Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, and her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Edward Thornton, Esquire, Companion of the Order of the Bath, and her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles: ARTICLE I Everything contained in the treaty concluded at Washington on the 7th of April, 1862, between the United States of America and her Majesty 1 Pursuant to notice of termination given by the United Kingdom Apr. 27, 1922. 2 TS 126, ante, p. 136. the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the suppression of the African slave trade, and in the annexes A and B thereto, which relates to the establishment of three mixed courts of justice at Sierra Leone, at the Cape of Good Hope, and at New York, to hear and decide all cases of capture of vessels which may be brought before them as having been engaged in the African slave trade, or as having been fitted out for the purposes thereof, as well as to the composition, jurisdiction, and mode of procedure of such courts, shall cease and determine as regards the said mixed courts, from and after the exchange of the ratifications of the present additional convention, except in so far as regards any act or proceeding done or taken in virtue thereof, before this additional convention shall be officially communicated to the said mixed courts of justice. The said courts shall nevertheless have the power, and it shall be their duty, to proceed with all practicable dispatch to the final determination of all causes and proceedings which may be pending, and undetermined in them, or either of them, at the time of receiving notice of the ratification of this convention. ARTICLE II The jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the said mixed courts in pursuance of the provisions of the said treaty shall, after the exchange of the ratifications of the present additional convention, be exercised by the courts of one or the other of the high contracting parties according to their respective modes of procedure in matters of maritime prize; and all the provisions of the said treaty with regard to the sending or bringing in of captured vessels for adjudication before the said mixed courts, and with regard to the adjudication of such vessels by the said courts, and the rules of evidence to be applied and the proceedings consequent on such adjudication, shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the courts of the high contracting parties. It is, however, provided that there may be an appeal from the decision of any court of the high contracting parties, in the same manner as by the law of the country where the court sits is allowed in other cases of maritime prize. ARTICLE III It is agreed that in case of an American merchant vessel searched by a British cruiser being detained as having been engaged in the African slave trade, or as having been fitted out for the purposes thereof, she shall be sent to New York or Key West, whichever shall be most accessible for adjudication, or shall be handed over to an United States cruiser, if one should be available in the neighborhood of the capture; and that in the corresponding case of a British merchant vessel searched by a United States cruiser being detained as having been engaged in the African slave trade, or as having been fitted out for the purposes thereof, she shall be sent for adjudication to the nearest or most accessible British colony, or shall be handed over to a British cruiser, if one should be available in the neighborhood of the capture. All the witnesses and proofs necessary to establish the guilt of the master, crew, or other persons found on board of any such vessel, shall be sent and handed over with the vessel itself, in order to be produced to the court before which such vessel or persons may be brought for trial. All negroes, or others, (necessary witnesses excepted,) who may be on board either an American or a British vessel for the purpose of being consigned to slavery, shall be handed over to the nearest British authority. They shall be immediately set at liberty, and shall remain free, her Britannic Majesty guaranteeing their liberty. With regard to such of those negroes, or others, as may be sent in with the detained vessel as necessary witnesses, the government to which they may have been delivered shall set them at liberty as soon as their testimony shall no longer be required, and shall guarantee their liberty. Where a detained vessel is handed over to a cruiser of her own nation, an officer in charge, and other necessary witnesses and proofs, shall accompany the vessel. ARTICLE IV It is mutually agreed that the instructions for the ships of the navies of both nations destined to prevent the African slave trade, which are annexed to this convention, shall form an integral part thereof, and shall have the same force and effect as if they had been annexed to the treaty of the 7th of April, 1862, in lieu of the instructions forming annex A to that treaty. ARTICLE V In all other respects the stipulations of the treaty of April 7, 1862, shall remain in full force and effect until terminated by notice given by one of the high contracting parties to the other, in the manner prescribed by Article XII thereof. ARTICLE VI The high contracting parties engage to communicate the present convention to the mixed courts of justice, and to the officers in command of their respective cruisers, and to give them the requisite instructions in pursuance thereof, with the least possible delay. ARTICLE VII The present additional convention shall have the same duration as the treaty of the 7th of April, 1862, and the additional article thereto of the 17th of February, 1863.3 It shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at London as soon as possible. " TS 127, ante, p. 152. |