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Years; and every such Ship or Vessel, with her tackle, apparel and furniture, together with all materials, arms, ammunition and stores, which may have been procured, for the building and equipment thereof, shall be forfeited, one half to the use of any Person who shall give information, and the other half to the use of The United States. II. And be it further enacted, that the Owners of all armed Ships sailing out of the Ports of The United States, and owned wholly or in part by Citizens thereof, shall enter into Bond to The United States, with sufficient Sureties, prior to clearing out the same, in double the amount of the value of the Vessel and Cargo on board, including her armament, that the said Ship or Vessel shall not be employed by such Owners in cruizing or committing hostilities, or in aiding or co-operating in any warlike measure against the Subjects, Citizens, or Property of any Prince or State, or of any Colony, District, or People with whom The United States are at peace.

III. And be it further enacted, that the Collectors of the Customs be, and they are hereby respectively authorized and required to detain any Vessel manifestly built for warlike purposes, and about to depart from The United States, of which the Cargo shall principally consist of arms and munitions of War, when the number of Men shipped on board, or other circumstances, shall render it probable that such Vessel is intended to be employed by the Owner or Owners to cruize or commit hostilities upon the Subjects, Citizens, or Property of any Prince or State, or of any Colony, District, or People with whom The United States are at peace, until the decision of the President be had thereupon, or until the Owner enters into Bond and Sureties to The United States, prior to clearing out the same, in double the amount of the Vessel and Cargo on board, including ber armament, that the said Ship or Vessel shall not be employed by the Owner or Owners in cruizing or committing hostilities, or in aiding or co-operating in any warlike measure against the Subjects, Citizens, or Property of any Prince or State, or of any Colony, District or People with whom The United States are at peace.

IV. And be it further enacted, that if any Person shall, within the territory or jurisdiction of The United States, increase or augment, or procure to be increased or augmented, or shall be knowingly con cerned in increasing or augmenting the force of any Ship of War, Cruizer, or other armed Vessel, which, at the time of her arrival within The United States, was a Ship of War, Cruizer, or armed i Vessel in the service of a Foreign Prince or State, or of any Colony, District, or People, or belonging to the Subjects or Citizens of any such Prince, State, Colony, District or People, the same being at Warwith any Foreign Prince or State with whom The United States are at Peace, by adding to the number or size of the Guns of such Ves sels prepared for use, or by the addition thereto of any equipment

solely applicable to War, every such Person so offending shall, upon conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court in which the conviction shall be had, so as that such fines shall not exceed 1,000 Dollars, nor the term of imprisonment be more than 1 Year.

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V. And be it further enacted, that this Act shall continue in force for the term of 2 Years.

[Approved, 3rd March, 1817.]

CONVENTION between Prussia and Saxony, for the reciprocal delivering up of Deserters.-Signed at Dresden, the 18th of April, 1817.

(Translation.)

WE, Frederick William, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia, &c. &c. &c., do hereby declare and bring to public notice, that, having agreed with His Majesty the King of Saxony, that, in order to promote the existing friendly and neighbourly understanding between our States, a Convention should be concluded for reciprocally surrendering up Deserters from the Army of both Parties, as well as the Persons liable to military duty, who might endeavour to escape therefrom; and Plenipotentiaries having been appointed for this purpose; that is to say, on our part, our Privy Councillor of State and Chamberlain, and our Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Royal Saxon Court, John Christian Magnus, Baron von Oelssen; and on the part of His Majesty the King of Saxony, His Saxon Majesty's Cabinet Minister and Secretary of State, Dettlev Count Von Einsiedel; the said Plenipotentiaries, after previously exchanging their Full Powers, which were acknowledged to be correct, have signed a Convention under date the 18th April, in this present year, which is word for word as follows:

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Their Royal Majesties the Kings of Prussia and Saxony having, in order further to promote the existing friendly and neighbourly understanding between the 2 States, decided that a Convention should be concluded for reciprocally delivering up Deserters from the Army of both Parties, as well as Persons liable to military duty, who might endeavour to escape therefrom; and the Privy Councillor of State, and Chamberlain of His Majesty the King of Prussia, being also His Prussian Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Royal Saxon Court, John Christian Magnus, Baron Von Oelssen, Knight of the Order of St. John, and the Cabinet Minister and Secretary of State of His Majesty the King of Saxony, Dettlev, Count Von Einsiedel, Knight of the Order of the Crown of Rue, and Grand Cross of the Royal Saxon Order of Civil Merit, and of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, having been entrusted with this charge, and

expressly empowered for the purpose, by their respective Sovereigns, after exchanging their Full Powers, have agreed upon the following points of Compact, subject to the ratification of the same by their Sovereigns, respectively.

ART. I. In future, that is from the day of the publication of the present Convention, after it shall have been previously ratified, Military Persons deserting from the Armies of either of the 2 High Contracting Parties, directly or indirectly, into the Territory of the other or to its Troops, even if these last also should be out of the Territory of their own Country, shall be reciprocally delivered up.

II. All Persons, without distinction as to Rank or Corps, shall be regarded as Deserters, if they belong to any one Division of the Standing Army, or of the Armed Force of the Country, according to the legal Regulations of either of the 2 States, and are bound to the same by an Oath of Allegiance, including the Servants who are employed with the Artillery or Waggon Corps.

III. Should the case occur, that a Deserter from one to the other of the High Contracting Powers, has already previously deserted from a third Power, he shall in such case be delivered up to the Contracting Power whose service he has last left, even although a Treaty of Surrender should in like manner exist with that Power, from which he has previously deserted. But, if a Soldier deserts from the Territory, or Troops, of one of the 2 Contracting Sovereigns to those of a third, and from these again into the Territory, or to the Troops, of the other Contracting Sovereign, the question shall then be, whether the latter Sovereign has a Treaty, or Cartel, with such third Sovereign, and if this should be the case, the Deserter shall be delivered up to the Sovereign from whom he last escaped; but in the contrary case, he shall be delivered up to the one of the 2 Contracting Sovereigns, whose service he quitted in the first instance.

IV. The following cases alone, shall be considered as sufficient grounds for refusing to deliver up a Deserter:

a. When the Deserter is a Native of the States of the High Contracting Sovereign, into whose Territory he has deserted, according to the Territorial Arrangements of the latest Treaties, and is therefore only returning to his home, by the act of desertion.

b. When a Deserter has committed an offence in that State to which he has escaped, the punishment for which offence must, according to the Laws of the Country, be inflicted previously to his being delivered up. And when the Deserter shall be delivered up, after he has undergone such punishment, the Papers relating to the investigation of his offence shall be handed over, either in Original, or in Extracts and Certified Copies, in order that the question may be considered, whether or not it may be proper to employ such Deserter again, in Military Service.

Debts or other Engagements, entered into by a Deserter, shall not afford any right to the State in which he may sojourn, to refuse to deliver him up.

V. The obligation to deliver up Deserters shall extend also to the horses, saddles, and riding equipments, arms and uniforms, which may have been taken away by the Deserters, at the time of their de sertion; and this extension of the obligation shall be observed, even if the delivering up of the Deserter himself be refused, by virtue of the stipulations contained in the preceding Article.

VI. In order to expedite, with the utmost possible regularity, the delivering up of Deserters, the 2 High Contracting Parties shall agree upon the Places, situated on the Frontiers of the Territories of each, at which Deserters shall be delivered up; for which purpose, those Towns shall be selected in which there is a Garrison; and an Authority, to be reciprocally appointed, shall be entrusted with the charge of receiving Deserters, and with the immediate payment of all the Expenses stipulated in the following Articles, X and XII.

VII. The delivery shall, as a matter of course, be made voluntarily, and without awaiting or expecting a requisition to that effect. So soon, therefore, as a Military or Civil Authority shall discover a Deserter from the other Party, he shall immediately deliver up such Deserter, together with the effects, horses, arms, &c., which he may have with him, to the Authority of the other Party, at the nearest Place agreed upon for the delivering up of Deserters, together with a Procès Verbal, which shall be drawn up on the occasion; and he shall receive, in return, a Certificate of the transaction.

VIII. But should a Deserter escape the notice of the Authorities of that State into which he has deserted, he shall be immediately delivered up, upon the first requisition to that effect, even though he should have found an opportunity of obtaining employment in the Military Service of that State. It is only when there exist doubts, respecting the correctness of any essential circumstances upon which the demand for the delivery is specially founded, and which are stated in the Requisition, which may render it necessary that an investigation of them should take place between the Authorities who require the delivery, and those from whom the same is required, that there shall be any hesitation in complying with the requisition for such delivery.

IX. The Requisitions mentioned in the preceding Article shall, on the part of Prussia, be presented to the Saxon Government, and to the Superior Bailiwick at Bautzen, or to the Royal CommanderGeneral, respectively; and, on the part of Saxony, to the nearest Provincial Government, or to the Commander-General of the Prussian Province to which the Deserter may have betaken himself. Those Deserters who may have been admitted into the Service shall be

delivered up by the Military Authorities; and the other Deserters shall be delivered up by the Civil Authorities.

X. The Power delivering up Deserters shall be reimbursed the Expenses of subsisting them, from the day of their apprehension to the day when they are delivered up, inclusive; at the rate of 3 Prussian Groschens current per day, for each Deserter, and of 6 pounds of oats, 8 pounds of hay, and 3 pounds of straw, Dresden weight of 110 pounds to the cwt., daily, for each horse. The calculation of the Expenses of the fodder shall be made according to the Market-prices of the Place, or of the nearest Town, where the apprehension was effected, and the payment of them shall follow, without the slightest difficulty, immediately after the delivery.

XI. In addition to these Expenses, and the Reward mentioned in the following Article, XII, no other payment whatever, whether claimed on account of bounty or pay, or for guarding and despatching Deserters, or however else such claims or services may be denominated, shall under any pretext be demanded, even though the Individual to be delivered up should have been enlisted amongst the Troops of that Sovereign who delivers up the Deserter.

XII. A Reward of 5 Prussian Dollars current for every Man without a horse, and of 10 Prussian Dollars current for every Man with a horse, shall be paid to any Subject who delivers up a Deserter; which Reward shall be advanced by the Party who will have to make the delivery, and be repaid to him immediately after it has been effected. With respect to other Individuals, liable to Military Duty, who may decamp, but who are not comprehended in the special classes of Deserters described in Article II, this Cartel-Money shall not be paid.

XIII. The Authority delivering up Deserters, shall give an Ac knowledgement of the receipt of the Expences, and of the reimbursement of the Reward, mentioned in Articles X and XII. But the delivering up of Deserters shall not be delayed, in consequence of the amount of the Expenses which are to be reimbursed, not being immediately to be ascertained; if there be no doubt or reason, of a general character, to prevent it.

XIV. It shall be the imperative and bounden duty of all the Authorities, more especially of those on the Frontiers, to keep an active look-out for Deserters from the other Party, and therefore, without previously waiting for a requisition for the purpose, to place forthwith under surveillance, or to apprehend, according to circumstances, Person who shall, from his language, apparel, arms, or other indications, appear to be a Déserter.

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XV. All Persons belonging to the Reserve-Corps and to the Militia, and in general all Subjects liable to Military Duty, according to the Constitution of the 2 States respectively, who shall, from the

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