File No. 11854.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Decree.
[From Gaceta of January 22,
1908.]
Ministry of State.
Preamble.
Sir: The plenipotentiaries of the
Governments of Austria, Sardinia, France, Great Britain, Prussia,
Russia, and Turkey, who, convened at the congress of Paris, had just
signed the treaty of March 30, 1856, for the reestablishment of
peace, on April 16 of that year drew up a declaration relating to
maritime law in time of war to the effect that:
- First. Privateering was and should remain
abolished.
- Second. The neutral flag covers enemy goods excepting
contraband of war.
- Third. Neutral goods under the enemy’s flag, excepting
also contraband of war, can not be captured.
- Fourth. Blockades to be binding must be effective—that is,
must be maintained by forces capable of actually preventing
access to the enemy’s coast.
This declaration, according to one of its paragraphs, was to be
submitted to the States not represented at the congress, which were
to be invited to adhere thereto.
Such an invitation having been extended to Spain by the French
ambassador in a note of May 19, 1856, the Government then in power
had to take into account the circumstance, which had also been
communicated to it, that adhesion to the rules above set forth could
not be limited, but must embrace them all, according to the
twenty-fourth protocol of the congress. The minister of state of his
Catholic majesty, in his reply under date of May 16, 1857, stated
that the Madrid cabinet highly appreciated the noble doctrines
embodied in the declaration and had seen with satisfaction the
resolutions adopted as to the liberty of enemy goods under a neutral
flag and of neutral goods under the enemy’s flag and as to the
requirement, for the existence of a blockade, that access to the
enemy’s coast should be prevented; but that it could not at that
time, owing to special considerations impossible to disregard,
assent to the rule that privateering was and should remain
abolished.
The right nevertheless to issue letters of marque, reserved by Spain
in 1857, has not since then been exercised.
Upon the discussion recently at the Second International Peace
Conference of various questions of international maritime law in
time of war your Majesty’s Government had to consider whether the
change in circumstances
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and the practically unanimous example of other powers did not render
it advisable to give the adhesion which half a century ago was
refused.
The result of our deliberations was that we authorized the first
delegate of Spain at the said conference to announce that our
country, inspired by the desire to contribute to the unification of
international maritime law in time of war, was now prepared to
accept the rule for the suppression of privateering and to adhere to
the Declaration of Paris of 1856 in its entirety.
This adhesion having been thereupon communicated to the Government of
the neighboring Republic, and having been accepted by it, in its
name and in that of the other high contracting parties, the
undersigned minister, in accord with the council of ministers, has
the honor to submit to your Majesty’s approval the following draft
decree.
Madrid, January 20, 1908.
Sir, your Majesty’s most obedient servant,
royal decree.
Whereas my ambassador in London and first delegate at the Second
International Peace Conference made, in pursuance of instructions,
at the seventh plenary session of the said conference, on September
27, 1907, a declaration in the following terms: “The Spanish
Government informed that of France by a note of May 16, 1857,
addressed to the French ambassador in Madrid, that it highly
appreciated the noble doctrines contained in the Declaration of
Paris, and saw with satisfaction the international agreement adopted
as to the liberty of enemy goods under the neutral flag and of
neutral goods under the enemy’s flag, as well as that respecting the
effectiveness of blockades; but that it could not, at that time,
assent to the abolition of privateering. His Majesty’s Government,
which has not since had occasion to avail itself of the right to
issue letters of marque, expressly reserved in 1857, inspired now by
the desire to contribute to the unification of international
maritime law, has commissioned me to inform the conference that it
accepts the rule for the abolition of privateering and adheres to
all the provisions of the Declaration of Paris;”
And whereas my ambassador in Paris has notified the French Government
of the said adhesion, and the said Government has accepted it in its
own name, and in that of the other powers which signed the
declaration as to maritime law, drawn up in that capital on April
16, 1856;
Therefore, taking into consideration the reasons submitted to me by
my minister of state, and in accordance with the advice of the
council of ministers, I hereby resolve that the declaration above
recited, made in the name of the Spanish Government before the
Second International Peace Conference by the first delegate of
Spain, shall be strictly fulfilled and obeyed and shall be held to
be in full force and effect for the purposes therein set forth.
Given in the palace this 20th of January,
1908.
Alfonso.
