I beg herewith to enclose to you the translation of a communication just
received from the imperial royal department of foreign affairs.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington.
[Translation.]
The consuls of the United States of North America, in Venice and
Trieste— the former under date October 28 and November 19, the
latter November 17, 1862—have notified the imperial royal
stadtholdership in Venice and the imperial royal central authorities
in Trieste, respectively, that a new law of the United States
empowers ships-of-war of such foreign countries as will reciprocate
the favor, in certain cases therein specified, to purchase stores in
the public magazines of the ports of the United States, free from
any tax or duty whatever; and at the same time have inquired whether
in the Austrian ports, lying within the jurisdiction of the said
consular functionaries, ships-of-war belonging to the United States
were already enjoying this privilege, or whether it would be allowed
in future?
In relation to the said notice, the imperial royal foreign office has
the honor, after due consultation with the proper imperial royal
central authority, to communicate to the honorable legation of the
United States and to place at its disposal the following
information:
In the Austrian ports there are no public magazines from which ships
obtain supplies.
As Venice, Trieste, Fiume, Buccari, Porto Re, and Zeugg are in fact
free ports, and therefore lie outside the Austrian tariff limits, of
course stores can be obtained in them free of duties. In the other
Austrian ports all the freely marketable articles used for ships’
stores are either Austrian or foreign productions; in the latter
case they have already been taxed upon their importation into the
tariff territory, and consequently are subjected to no further tax
when they are taken on board ship—that is, out of the tariff
territory—since no export duties are payable upon articles of food,
drink, &c. Even productions of foreign origin, which in transitu
are temporarily stored in the magazines of the customs, are only
subjected to a small rate for storage as a remuneration for the use
of the official warehouses at the time when they are removed and
transported over the tariff boundaries, or on board a ship as
stores, transit duties having been abolished in Austria. In adding
the request that the honorable legation will transmit the
information herein imparted to the government of the United States,
the undersigned embraces the opportunity to renew to the same the
assurance of his most perfect consideration.
For the minister of foreign affairs, the moderator of state,
