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26° & 27° Victoriae, cap. XXXIV
An Act to carry into effect an additional Article to the Treaty of the Seventh Day of April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, between Her Majesty and the United States of America, for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade.
[29th June 1863.]
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'WHEREAS on the Seventh Day of April in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two a Treaty was concluded and signed at Washington, between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America, for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade: And whereas by the First Article of such Treaty it was stipulated and agreed that those Ships of the respective Navies of the Two High Contracting Parties which shall be provided with special Instructions for that Purpose as therein-after mentioned may visit such Merchant Vessels of the Two Nations as may upon reasonable Grounds be suspected of being engaged in the African Slave Trade, or of having been fitted out for that Purpose, or of having, during the Voyage on which they are met by the said Cruizers, been engaged in the African Slave Trade, contrary to the Provisions of the said Treaty, and that such Cruizers may detain and send or carry away such Vessels in order that they may be brought to Trial in the Manner therein-after agreed upon: And whereas it was by the said Article further stipulated and agreed that the reciprocal Right of Search and Detention should be exercised only within the Distance of Two hundred Miles from the Coast of Africa, and to the Southward of the Thirty-second Parallel of North Latitude, and within Thirty Leagues from the Coast of the Island of Cuba: And whereas the Two High Contracting Parties have agreed that the reciprocal Right of Visit and Detention as defined in the Article aforesaid may be exercised also within Thirty Leagues of the Island of Madagascar, within Thirty Leagues of the Island of Puerto Rico, and within Thirty Leagues of the Island of San Domingo: And whereas the High Contracting Parties have further agreed that the present additional Article shall have the same Force and Validity as if it had been inserted Word for Word in the Treaty concluded between the Two High Contracting Parties of the Seventh of April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and shall have the same Duration as that Treaty, and that it shall be ratified, and the Ratifications shall be exchanged at London in Six Months from this Date, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have thereunto affixed the Seal of their Arms. Done at Washington, the Seventeenth Day of February in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
'(L.S.) LYONS. '(L.S.) WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 'And whereas Ratifications were exchanged at London on the First Day of April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three: And whereas it is expedient that Provision should be made for giving Effect to the present additional Article:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows: |
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| Where Right of Search may be exercised. | 1. The reciprocal Right of Search and Detention as defined in the First Article of the said Treaty may be exercised also within Thirty Leagues of the Island of Madagascar, within Thirty Leagues of the Island of Puerto Rico, and within Thirty Leagues of the Island of San Domingo. |
| Additional Article to have the same Force, &c. as the Treaty. | 2. The present additional Article shall have the same Force and Validity as if it had been inserted in the Treaty concluded, between the Two High Contracting Parties on the Seventh of April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and shall have the same Duration as that Treaty. |
| This and Acts of 1862 to be read as One. | 3. This Act and the African Slave Trade Treaty Acts, Nos. 1 and 2, 1862, shall be read and construed as One Act. |
| Short Title. | 4. This Act may for all Purposes be cited as the "African Slave Trade Treaty Act, 1863." |
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