Mr. Fish to Baron Gerolt
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of Baron Gerolt, the envoy and minister plenipotentiary of the North German Union of the 14th instant, inclosing a translation of a telegram from Count Bismarck, of the 13th instant, to the North German legation a Washington, in the following words:
The treatment of German merchant ships by France obliges us to revoke the declaration made by us at the beginning of the war, exempting all French merchant vessels, not carrying contraband of war articles, from capture by our war-vessels.
As neutral property may have been shipped on board of French vessels in confidence of the above declaration, the new measure will not be carried into effect until four weeks after this date.
In informing Baron Gerolt that the information so communicated will be made public, the undersigned has the honor further to express the great regret with which the Government of the United States receives the information that circumstances have arisen which in the opinion of the government of North Germany justifies its withdrawal from a position which the Government of the United States regarded with very great satisfaction, as taken in the best interests of civilization.
The telegram from Count Bismarck which was communicated to the [Page 404] undersigned by Baron Gerolt on the 19th day of July last was in the following language:
Private property on high seas will be exempted from seizure by His Majesty’s ships, without regard to reciprocity.
The notice now communicated to the undersigned by Baron Gerolt relates in terms to French merchant vessels, and makes no mention of American merchant vessels. To avoid misapprehension and future difficulty, the undersigned has the honor to inquire of Baron Gerolt whether the merchant vessels of the United States are to continue exempt from seizure, or whether they are to be considered at the expiration of the term named as relegated to their rights under the 13th article of the treaty of 1799 between the United States and Prussia, which was revived by the 12th article of the treaty of 1828.
Article XIII.
And in the same case of one of the contracting parties being engaged in war with any other power, to prevent all the difficulties and misunderstandings that usually arise respecting merchandise of contraband, such as arms, ammunition, and military stores of every kind, no such articles carried in the vessels, or by the subjects or citizens of either party, to the enemies of the other, shall be deemed contraband, so as to induce confiscation or condemnation and a loss of property to individuals. Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such vessels and articles, and to detain them for such length of time as the captors may think necessary to prevent the inconvenience or damage that might ensue from their proceeding, paying however a reasonable compensation for the loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors; and it shall further be allowed to use in the service of the captors the whole or any part of the military stores so detained, paying the owners the full value of the same, to be ascertained by the current price at the place of its destination. But in the case supposed of a vessel stopped for articles of contraband, if the master of the vessel stopped will deliver out the goods supposed to be of contraband nature, he shall be admitted to do it, and the vessel shall not in that ease he carried into any port, nor further detained, but shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage.
All cannons, mortars, fire-arms, pistols, bombs, grenades, bullets, balls, muskets, flints, matches, powder, saltpeter, sulphur, cuirasses, pikes, swords, belts, cartouch boxes, saddles, and bridles, beyond the quantity necessary for the use of the ship, or beyond that which every man serving on board the vessel, or passenger, ought to have; and in general whatever is comprised under the denomination of arms and military stores, of what description soever, shall be deemed objects of contraband.
The undersigned, &c.,