View Document Frames
Bevans, Charles I., ed., "Picnkey's Treaty: 1795," Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949.
TREATIES AND OTHER
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1776-1949
Compiled under the direction of
CHARLES I. BEVANS, LL.B.
Assistant Legal Adviser, Department of State
Volume 11
PHILIPPINES
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC
SPAIN
FRIENDSHIP, LIMITS, AND NAVIGATION
Treaty signed at San Lorenzo el Real October 27, 1795
Senate advice and consent to ratification March 3,1796
Ratified by the President of the United States March 7,1796
Ratified by Spain April 25,1796
Ratifications exchanged at Aranjuez April 25,1796
Entered into force April 25,1796
Proclaimed by the President of the United States August 2,1796
Articles II, III, IV, and XXI and second clause of article XXII invalidated by treaty
February 22,1819
Terminated April 14,1903, by treaty of July 3,1902
8 Stat. 138; Treaty Series 325
His Catholic Majesty and the United States of America desiring to consolidate on
a permanent basis the Friendship and good correspondence which happily prevails between
the two parties, have determined to establish by a convention several points, the
settlement whereof will be productive of general advantage and reciprocal utility
to both Nations.
With this intention his Catholic Majesty has appointed the most Excellent Lord, Don
Manuel de Godoy, and Alvarez de Faria, Rios, Sanchez Zarzosa, Prince de la Paz, Duke
de la Alcudia, Lord of the Soto de Roma and of the State of Albala, Grandee of Spain
of the first class, perpetual Regidor of the City of Santiago, Knight of the illustrious
Order of the Golden Fleece, and Great Cross of the Royal and distinguished Spanish
order of Charles the III. Commander of Valencia del Ventoso, Rivera, and Aceuchal
in that of Santiago; Knight and Great Cross of the religious order of St. John; Counsellor
of State; First Secretary of State and Despacho; Secretary to the Queen; Superintendant
General of the Posts and High Ways; Protector of the Royal Academy of the Noble Arts,
and of the Royal Societies of natural history, Botany, Chemistry, and Astronomy:
Gentleman of the King's Chamber in employement: Captain General of his Armies: Inspector
and Major of the Royal Corps of Body Guards &.a &.a &.a and the President
of the United States, -with the advice and consent of their Senate, has appointed
Thomas Pinckney a Citizen of the United States, and their Envoy Extraordinary to
his Catholic Majesty. And the said Plenipotentiaries have agreed upon and concluded
the following Articles.
ART. I
There shall be a firm and inviolable Peace and sincere Friendship between His Catholic
Majesty his successors and subjects, and the United States and their Citizens without
exception of persons or places.
ART. II
To prevent all disputes on the subject of the boundaries which separate the territories
of the two High contracting Parties, it is hereby declared and agreed as follows:
to wit: The Southern boundary of the United States which divides their territory
from the Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida, shall be designated by a line
beginning on the River Mississippi at the Northermost[sic] part of the thirty first
degree of latitude North of the Equator, which from thence shall be drawn due East
to the middle of the River Apalachicola or Catahouche, thence along the middle thereof
to its junction with the Flint, thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River,
and thence down the middle thereof to the Atlantic Ocean. And it is agreed that if
there should be any troops, Garrisons or settlements of either Party in the territory
of the other according to the above mentioned boundaries, they shall be withdrawn
from the said territory within the term of six months after the ratification of this
treaty or sooner if it be possible and that they shall be permitted to take with
them all the goods and effects which they possess.
ART. III
In order to carry the preceding Article into effect one Commissioner and one Surveyor
shall be appointed by each of the contracting Parties who shall meet at the Natchez
on the left side of the River Mississippi before the expiration of six months from
the ratification of this convention, and they shall proceed to run and mark this
boundary according to the stipulations of the said Article. They shall make Plats
and keep journals of their proceedings which shall be considered as part of this
convention, and shall have the same force as if they were inserted therein. And if
on any account it should be found necessary that the said Commissioners and Surveyors
should be accompanied by Guards, they shall be furnished in equal proportions by
the Commanding Officer of his Majesty's troops in the two Floridas, and the Commanding
Officer of the troops of the United States in their Southwestern territory, who shall
act by common consent and amicably, as well with respect to this point as to the
furnishing of provissions and instruments and making every other arrangement which
may be necessary or useful for the execution of this article.
ART. IV
It is likewise agreed that the Western boundary of the United States which separates
them from the Spanish Colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed
of the River Mississippi from the Northern boundary of the said States to the completion
of the thirty first degree of latitude North of the Equator; and his Catholic Majesty
has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said River in its whole breadth from
its source to the Ocean shall be free only to his Subjects, and the Citizens of the
United States, unless he should extend this privilege to the Subjects of other Powers
by special convention.
ART. V
The two High contracting Parties shall by all the means in their power maintain peace
and harmony among the several Indian Nations who inhabit the country adjacent to
the lines and Rivers which by the preceding Articles form the boundaries of the two
Floridas; and the better to obtain this effect both Parties oblige themselves expressly
to restrain by force all hostilities on the part of the Indian Nations living within
their boundaries: so that Spain will not suffer her Indians to attack the Citizens
of the United States, nor the Indians inhabiting their territory; nor will the United
States permit these last mentioned Indians to commence hostilities against the Subjects
of his Catholic Majesty, or his Indians in any manner whatever.
And whereas several treaties of Friendship exist between the two contracting Parties
and the said Nations of Indians, it is hereby agreed that in future no treaty of
alliance or other whatever (except treaties of Peace) shall be made by either Party
with the Indians living within the boundary of the other; but both Parties will endeavour
to make the advantages of the Indian trade common and mutualy beneficial to their
respective Subjects and Citizens observing in all things the most complete reciprocity:
so that both Parties may obtain the advantages arising from a good understanding
with the said Nations, without being subject to the expence which they have hitherto
occasioned.
ART. VI
Each Party shall endeavour by all means in their power to protect and defend all
Vessels and other effects belonging to the Citizens or Subjects of the other, which
shall be within the extent of their jurisdiction by sea or by land, and shall use
all their efforts to recover and cause to be restored to the right owners their Vessels
and effects which may have been taken from them within the extent of their said jurisdiction
whether they are at war or not with the Power whose Subjects have taken possession
of the said effects.
ART. VII
And it is agreed that the Subjects or Citizens of each of the contracting Parties,
their Vessels, or effects shall not be liable to any embargo or detention on the
part of the other for any military expedition or other public or private purpose
whatever; and in all cases of seizure, detention, or arrest for debts contracted
or offenses committed by any Citizen or Subject of the one Party within the jurisdiction
of the other, the same shall be made and prosecuted by order and authority of law
only, and according to the regular course of proceedings usual in such cases. The
Citizens and Subjects of both Parties shall be allowed to employ such Advocates,
Sollicitors, Notaries, Agents, and Factors, as they may judge proper in all their
affairs and in all their trials at law in which they may be concerned before the
tribunals of the other Party, and such Agents shall have free access to be present
at the proceedings in such causes, and at the taking of all examinations and evidence
which may be exhibited in the said trials.
ART. VIII
In case the Subjects and inhabitants of either Party with their shipping whether
public and of war or private and of merchants be forced through stress of weather,
pursuit of Pirates, or Enemies, or any other urgent necessity for seeking of shelter
and harbor to retreat and enter into any of the Rivers, Bays, Roads, or Ports belonging
to the other Party, they shall be received and treated with all humanity, and enjoy
all favor, protection and help, and they shall be permitted to refresh and provide
themselves at reasonable rates with victuals and all things needful for the sustenance
of their persons or reparation of their Ships, and prosecution of their voyage; and
they shall no ways be hindered from returning out of the said Ports, or Roads, but
may remove and depart when and whither they please without any let or hindrance.
ART. IX
All Ships and merchandise of what nature soever which shall be rescued out of the
hands of any Pirates or Robbers on the high seas shall be brought into some Port
of either State and shall be delivered to the custody of the Officers of that Port
in order to be taken care of and restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as
due and sufficient proof shall be made concerning the property there of.
ART. X
When any Vessel of either Party shall be wrecked, foundered, or otherwise damaged
on the coasts or within the dominion of the other, their respective Subjects or Citizens
shall receive as well for themselves as for their Vessels and effects the same assistance
which would be due to the inhabitants of the Country where the damage happens, and
shall pay the same charges and dues only as the said inhabitants would be subject
to pay in a like case: and if the operations of repair should require that the whole
or any part of the cargo be unladen they shall pay no duties, charges, or fees on
the part which they shall relade and carry away.
ART. XI
The Citizens and Subjects of each Party shall have power to dispose of their personal
goods within the jurisdiction of the other by testament, donation, or otherwise;
and their representatives being Subjects or Citizens of the other Party shall succeed
to their said personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestato and they may take
possession thereof either by themselves or others acting for them, and dispose of
the same at their will paying such dues only as the inhabitants of the Country wherein
the said goods are shall be subject to pay in like cases, and in case of the absence
of the representatives, such care shall be taken of the said goods as would be taken
of the goods of a native in like case, until the lawful owner may take measures for
receiving them. And if question shall arise among several claimants to which of them
the said goods belong the same shall be decided finally by the laws and Judges of
the Land wherein the said goods are. And where on the death of any person holding
real estate within the territories of the one Party, such real estate would by the
laws of the Land descend on a Citizen or Subject of the other were he not disqualified
by being an alien, such subject shall be allowed a reasonable time to sell the same
and to withdraw the proceeds without molestation, and exempt from all rights of detraction
on the part of the Government of the respective states.
ART. XII
The merchant Ships of either of the Parties which shall be making into a Port belonging
to the enemy of the other Party and concerning whose voyage and the species of goods
on board her there shall be just grounds of suspicion shall be obliged to exhibit
as well upon the high seas as in the Ports and havens not only her passports but
likewise certificates expressly showing that her goods are not of the number of those
which have been prohibited as contraband.
ART. XIII
For the better promoting of commerce on both sides, it is agreed that if a war shall
break out between the said two Nations one year after the proclamation of war shall
be allowed to the merchants in the Cities and Towns where they shall live for collecting
and transporting their goods and merchandizes, and if any thing be taken from them,
or any injury be done them within that term by either Party, or the People or Subjects
of either, full satisfaction shall be made for the same by the Government.
ART. XIV
No subject of his Catholic Majesty shall apply for or take any commission or letters
of marque for arming any Ship or Ships to act as Privateers against the said United
States or against the Citizens, People, or inhabitants of the said United States,
or against the property of any of the inhabitants of any of them, from any Prince
or State with which the said United States shall be at war.
Nor shall any Citizen, Subject, or Inhabitant of the said United States apply for
or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any Ship or Ships to act as
Privateers against the subjects of his Catholic Majesty or the property of any of
them from any Prince or State with which the said King shall be at war. And if any
person of either Nation shall take such commissions or letters of marque he shall
be punished as a Pirate.
ART. XV
It shall be lawful for all and singular the Subjects of his Catholic Majesty, and
the Citizens People, and inhabitants of the said United States to sail with their
Ships with all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made who are
the proprietors of the merchandizes laden thereon from any Port to the Places of
those who now are or hereafter shall be at enmity with his Catholic Majesty or the
United States. It shall be likewise lawful for the Subjects and inhabitants aforesaid
to sail with the Ships and merchandizes aforementioned, and to trade with the same
liberty and security from the Places, Ports, and Havens of those who are Enemies
of both or either Party without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, not only
directly from the Places of the Enemy aforementioned to neutral Places but also from
one Place belonging to an Enemy to another Place belonging to an Enemy, whether they
be under the jurisdiction of the same Prince or under several, and it is hereby stipulated
that Free Ships shall also give freedom to goods, and that every thing shall be deemed
free and exempt which shall be found on board the Ships belonging to the Subjects
of either of the contracting Parties although the whole lading or any part thereof
should appertain to the Enemies of either; contraband goods being always excepted.
It is also agreed that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board a
free Ship, so that, although they be Enemies to either Party they shall not be made
Prisoners or taken out of that free Ship unless they are Soldiers and in actual service
of the Enemies.
ART. XVI
This liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all kinds of merchandizes
excepting those only which are distinguished by the name of contraband; and under
this name of contraband or prohibited goods shall be comprehended arms, great guns,
bombs, with the fusees, and other things belonging to them, cannon ball, gun powder,
match, pikes, swords, lances, speards, halberds, mortars, petards, grenades, salpetre,
muskets, musket ball, bucklers, helmets, breast plates, coats of mail, and the like
kind of arms proper for arming soldiers, musket rests, belts, horses with their furniture
and all other warlike instruments whatever. These merchandizes which follow shall
not be reckoned among contraband or prohibited goods; that is to say, all sorts of
cloths and all other manufactures woven of any wool, flax, silk, cotton, or any other
materials whatever, all kinds of wearing aparel together with all species whereof
they are used to be made, gold and silver as well coined as uncoined, tin, iron,
latton, copper, brass, coals, as also wheat, barley, oats, and any other kind of
corn and pulse: tobacco and likewise all manner of spices, salted and smoked flesh,
salted fish, cheese and butter, beer, oils, wines, sugars, and all sorts of salts,
and in general all provisions which serve for the sustenance of life. Furthermore
all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, cables, sails, sail cloths, anchors,
and any parts of anchors, also ships masts, planks, wood of all kind, and all other
things proper either for building or repairing ships, and all other goods whatever
which have not been worked into the form of any instrument prepared for war by land
or by sea, shall not be reputed contraband, much less such as have been already wrought
and made up for any other use: all which shall be wholly reckoned among free goods,
as likewise all other merchandizes and things which are not comprehended and particularly
mentioned in the foregoing enumeration of contraband goods: so that they may be transported
and carried in the freest manner by the subjects of both parties, even to Places
belonging to an Enemy, such towns or Places being only excepted as are at that time
besieged, blocked up, or invested. And except the cases in which any Ship of war
or Squadron shall in consequence of storms or other accidents at sea be under the
necessity of taking the cargo of any trading Vessel or Vessels, in which case they
may stop the said Vessel or Vessels and furnish themselves with necessaries, giving
a receipt in order that the Power to whom the said ship of war belongs may pay for
the articles so taken according to the price thereof at the Port to which they may
appear to have been destined by the Ship's papers: and the two contracting Parties
engage that the Vessels shall not be detained longer than may be absolutely necessary
for their said Ships to supply themselves with necessaries: that they will immediately
pay the value of the receipts: and indemnify the proprietor for all losses which
he may have sustained in consequence of such transaction.
ART. XVII
To the end that all manner of dissensions and quarrels may be avoided and prevented
on one side and the other, it is agreed that in case either of the Parties hereto
should be engaged in a war, the ships and Vessels belonging to the Subjects or People
of the other Party must be furnished with sea letters or passports expressing the
name, property, and bulk of the Ship, as also the name and place of habitation of
the master or commander of the said Ship, that it may appear thereby that the Ship
really and truly belongs to the Subjects of one of the Parties; which passport shall
be made out and granted according to the form annexed to this Treaty. They shall
likewise be recalled every year, that is, if the ship happens to return home within
the space of a year. It is likewise agreed that such ships being laden, are to be
provided not only with passports as above mentioned but also with certificates containing
the several particulars of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed, that so it
may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board the same; which
certificates shall be made out by the Officers of the place whence the ship sailed
in the accustomed form; and if any one shall think it fit or adviseable to express
in the said certificates the person to whom the goods on board belong he may freely
do so: without which requisites they may be sent to one of the Ports of the other
contracting Party and adjudged by the competent tribunal according to what is above
set forth, that all the circumstances of this omission having been well examined,
they shall be adjudged to be legal prizes, unless they shall give legal satisfaction
of their property by testimony entirely equivalent.
ART. XVIII
If the Ships of the said subjects, People or inhabitants of either of the Parties
shall be met with either sailing along the Coasts on the high Seas by any Ship of
war of the other or by any Privateer, the said Ship of war or Privateer for the avoiding
of any disorder shall remain out of cannon shot, and may send their boats aboard
the merchant Ship which they shall so meet with, and may enter her to number of two
or three men only to whom the master or Commander of such ship or vessel shall exhibit
his passports concerning the property of the ship made out according to the form
inserted in this present Treaty: and the ship when she shall have shewed such passports
shall be free and at liberty to pursue her voyage, so as it shall not be lawful to
molest or give her chace in any manner or firce her to quit her intended course.
ART. XIX
Consuls shall be reciprocally established with the privileges and powers which those
of the most favoured Nations enjoy in the Ports where their consuls reside, or are
permitted to be.
ART. XX
It is also agreed that the inhabitants of the territories of each Party shall respectively
have free access to the Courts of Justice of the other, and they shall be permitted
to prosecute suits for the recovery of their properties, the payment of their debts,
and for obtaining satisfaction for the damages which they may have sustained, whether
the persons whom they may sue be subjects or Citizens of the Country in which they
may be found, or any other persons whatsoever who may have taken refuge therein;
and the proceedings and sentence of the said Court shall be the same as if the contending
parties had been subjects or Citizens of the said Country.
ART. XXI
In order to terminate all differences on account of the losses sustained by the Citizens
of the United States in consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been taken
by the Subjects of his Catholic Majesty during the late war between Spain and France,
it is agreed that all such cases shall be referred to the final decision of Commissioners
to be appointed in the following manner. His Catholic Majesty shall name one Commissioner,
and the President of the United States by and with the advice and consent of their
Senate shall appoint another, and the said two Commissioners shall agree on the choice
of a third, or if they cannot agree so they shall each propose one person, and of
the two names so proposed one shall be drawn by lot in the presence of the two original
Commissioners, and the person whose name shall be so drawn shall be the third Commissioner,
and the three Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and
decide the claims in question according to the merits of the several cases, and to
justice, equity, and the laws of Nations. The said Commissioners shall meet and sit
at Philadelphia and in the case of the death, sickness, or necessary absence of any
such commissioner his place shall be supplied in the same manner as he was first
appointed, and the new Commissioner shall take the same oaths, and do the same duties.
They shall receive all complaints and applications, authorized by this article during
eighteen months from the day on which they shall assemble. They shall have power
to examine all such persons as come before them on oath or affirmation touching the
complaints in question, and also to receive in evidence all written testimony authenticated
in such manner as they shall think proper to require or admit. The award of the said
Commissioners or any two of them shall be final and conclusive both as to the justice
of the claim and the amount of the sum to be paid to the claimants; and his Catholic
Majesty undertakes to cause the same to be paid in specie without deduction, at such
times and Places and under such conditions as shall be awarded by the said Commissioners.
ART. XXII
The two high contracting Parties hoping that the good correspondence and friendship
which happily reigns between them will be further increased by this Treaty, and that
it will contribute to augment their prosperity and opulence, will in future give
to their mutual commerce all the extension and favor which the advantage of both
Countries may require; and in consequence of the stipulations contained in the IV.
article his Catholic Majesty will permit the Citizens of the United States for the
space of three years from this time to deposit their merchandize and effects in the
Port of New Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any other duty
than a fair price for the hire of the stores, and his Majesty promises either to
continue his permission if he finds during that time that it is not prejudicial to
the interests of Spain, or if he should not agree to continue it there, he will assign
to them on another part of the banks of the Mississippi an equivalent establishment.
ART. XXIII
The present Treaty shall not be in force until ratified by the Contracting Parties,
and the ratifications shall be exchanged in six months from this time, or sooner
if possible.
In Witness whereof We the underwritten Plenipotentiaries of His Catholic Majesty
and of the United States of America have signed this present Treaty of Friendship,
Limits and Navigation and have thereunto affixed our seals respectively.
Done at San Lorenzo el Real this seven and twenty day of October one thousand seven
hundred and ninety five.
THOMAS PINCKNEY [SEAL]
EL PRINCIPE DE LA PAZ [SEAL]
