TREATY of Commerce and Navigation, between The United States and Turkey.-Signed at Constantinople, February 25, 1862.

[Ratifications exchanged at Constantinople, June 5, 1862.]

THE United States of America on the one part, and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire on the other part, being equally animated by the desire of extending the commercial relations between their respective countries, have agreed, for this purpose, to conclude a Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, and have named as their respective Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: The President of the United States of America, Edward Joy Morris, Minister resident at the Sublime Porte; and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, his Highness Mehemed Emin Aali Pacha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, decorated with the Imperial Orders of the Ottomanich in Brilliants, Majidich, and Order of Merit of the First Class, and the Grand Crosses of several foreign orders; who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:

ART. I. All rights, privileges, and immunities, which have been conferred on the citizens or vessels of the United States of America by the Treaty already existing between the United States of America and the Ottoman Empire, are confirmed, now and for ever, with the exception of those clauses of the said Treaty which it is the object of the present Treaty to modify; and it is, moreover, expressly stipulated that all rights, privileges, or immunities, which the Sublime Porte now grants, or may hereafter grant to, or suffer to be enjoyed by the subjects, ships, commerce, or navigation of any other foreign power, shall be equally granted to and exercised and enjoyed by the citizens, vessels, commerce, and navigation of the United States of America.

II. The citizens of The United States of America, or their agents, shall be permitted to purchase, at all places in the Ottoman Empire and its possessions (whether for the purposes of internal trade or of exportation), all articles, without any exception whatsoever, the produce or manufacture of the said Empire and possessions; and the Sublime Porte having, in virtue of the second Article of the Convention of Commerce, of the 16th of August, 1838,* with Great Britain, formally engaged to abolish all monopolies of agricultural produce, or of every other articles whatsoever, as well as all "permits" (tezkerehs) from the Local Governors, either for the purchase of any Article, or for its removal from one place * Vol. XXVI. Page 688.

to another when purchased, any attempt to compel the citizens of the United States of America to receive such "permits" from the Local Governors shall be considered as an infraction of this Treaty, and the Sublime Porte shall immediately punish with severity any viziers, or other officers, who shall have been guilty of such misconduct, and shall render full justice to citizens of the United States of America for all losses or injuries which they may duly prove themselves to have suffered thereby.

III. If any articles of Ottoman produce or manufacture be purchased by citizens of the United States of America, or their agents, for the purpose of selling the same for internal consumption in Turkey, the said citizens, or their agents, shall pay at the purchase and sale of such articles, and in any manner of trade therein, the same duties that are paid in similar circumstances by the most favoured class of Ottoman subjects, or of foreigners in the internal trade of the Ottoman Empire.

IV. No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the dominions and possessions of either of the Contracting Parties, on the exportation of any article to the dominions and possessions of the other, than such as are or may be payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from the dominions and possessions of either of the two Contracting Powers to the dominions and possessions of the other, which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other country.

No charge or duty whatsoever will be demanded on any article of Ottoman produce or manufacture purchased by citizens of the United States of America, or their agents, either at the place where such article is purchased or in its transit from that place to the place whence it is exported, at which it will be subject to an export duty not exceeding 8 per cent., calculated on the value at the place of shipment, and payable on exportation; and all articles which shall once have paid this duty shall not again be liable to the same duty, however they may have changed hands within any part of the Ottoman Empire.

It is furthermore agreed, that the duty of 8 per cent. above mentioned will he annually reduced by one per cent. until it shall be, in this manner, finally reduced to a fixed duty of one per cent. ad valorem, destined to cover the general expenses of administration and control.

V. No other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States of America of any article the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, from whatever place arriving, whether by sea or by land; and no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the dominions and possessions of His Imperial

Majesty, of any article the produce or manufacture of the United States of America, from whatever place arriving, than are or may be payable on the like article the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of either of the Contracting Parties, into the dominions and possessions of the other, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like articles, being the produce or manufacture of any other country.

His Imperial Majesty further engages that, save as hereinafter excepted, he will not prohibit the importation into his dominions and possessions of any article the produce and manufacture of the United States of America, from whatever place arriving; and that the duties to be imposed on every article the produce or manufacture of the United States of America imported into the Empire and possessions of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, shall in no case exceed one fixed rate of 8 per cent. ad valorem, or a specific duty, fixed by common consent, equivalent thereto. Such rate shall be calculated upon the value of such articles at the wharf, and shall be payable at the time of their being landed, if brought by sea, or at the first Custom-House they may reach, if brought by land.

If these articles, after having paid the import duty of 8 per cent., are sold either at the place of their arrival or in the interior of the country, neither the buyer nor the seller shall be charged with any further duty in respect to them; and if such articles should not be sold for consumption in the Ottoman Empire, but should be re-exported within the space of 6 months, the same shall he considered as merchandize in transit by land, and be treated as is stated hereinafter in Article XII of this Treaty; the administration of the Customs being bound to restore, at the time of their re-exportation, to the merchant, who shall be required to furnish proof that the goods in question have paid the import duty of 8 per cent., the difference between that duty and the duty levied on goods in transit by land, as set forth in the Article above cited.

VI. It is understood that any article the produce or manufacture of a foreign country intended for importation into the United Principalities of Moldo-Wallachia, or into the Principality of Servia, which shall pass through any other part of the Ottoman Empire, will not be liable to the payment of Customs duty until it reaches those Principalities; and, on the other hand, that any article of foreign produce or manufacture passing through those Principalities, but destined for some other part of the Ottoman Empire, will not be liable to the payment of Customs duty until such article reaches the first Custom-House under the direct administration of the Sublime Porte.

The same course shall be followed with respect to any article the produce or manufacture of those Principalities, as well as with respect to any article the produce or manufacture of any other portion of the Ottoman Empire, intended for exportation; such articles will be liable to the payment of Customs duties—the former to the Custom-House of the aforesaid Principalities, and the latter to the Ottoman Custom-House; the object being that neither import or export duties shall in any case be payable more than once.

VII. The subjects and citizens of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy, in the dominions and possessions of the other, equality of treatment with native subjects or citizens in regard to warehousing, and also in regard to bounties, facilities, and drawbacks.

VIII. All articles which are, or may be, legally importable into the United States of America, in vessels of The United States, may likewise be imported in Ottoman vessels without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges, of whatever denomination, than if such articles were imported in vessels of The United States; and, reciprocally, all articles which are or may be legally importable into the dominions and possessions of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan in Ottoman vessels, may likewise be imported in vessels of The United States without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges, of whatever denomination, than if such articles were imported in Ottoman vessels. Such reciprocal equality of treatment shall take effect without distinction, whether such articles come directly from the place of origin or from any other country. In the same manner there shall be perfect equality of treatment in regard to exportation, so that the same export duties shall be paid, and the same bounties and drawbacks allowed in the dominions and possessions of either of the Contracting Parties on the exportation of any article which is, or may be, legally exportable therefrom, whether such exportation shall take place in Ottoman or in vessels of The United States, and whatever may be the place of destination, whether a port of either of the Contracting Parties, or of any third Power.

IX. No duties of tonnage, harbour, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding duties of whatever nature, or under whatever denomination, levied in the name or for the profit of Government, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations, or establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the ports of the dominions and possessions of either country upon the vessels of the other country which shall not equally, and under the same conditions, be imposed in the like cases on national vessels in general.

Such equality of treatment shall apply reciprocally to the respec

tive vessels, from whatever port or place they may arrive and whatever may be their place of destination.

X. All vessels, which, according to the laws of The United States, are to be deemed vessels of The United States, and all vessels which, according to Ottoman laws, are to be deemed Ottoman vessels, shall, for the purposes of this Treaty, be deemed vessels of The United States and Ottoman vessels, respectively.

XI. No charge whatsoever shall be made upon goods of The United States, being the produce or manufacture of the United States of America, whether in vessels of The United States, or other vessels, nor upon any goods the produce or manufacture of any other foreign country carried in vessels of The United States, when the same shall pass through the Straits of the Dardanelles, or of the Bosphorus, whether such goods shall pass through those straits in the vessels that brought them, or shall have been transhipped to other vessels; or whether, after having been sold for exportation, they shall, for a certain limited time, be landed in order to be placed in other vessels for the continuance of their voyage. In the latter case, the goods in question shall be deposited at Constantinople, in the magazines of the Custom-House, called transit magazines; and in any other places where there is no entrepôt, they shall be placed under the charge of the administration of the Customs.

XII. The Sublime Porte, desiring to grant, by means of gradual concessions, all facilities in its power to transit by land, it is stipulated and agreed that the duty of 3 per cent., levied up to this time on articles imported into the Ottoman Empire, in their passage through the Ottoman Empire to other countries, shall be reduced to 2 per cent. payable as the duty of 3 per cent. has been paid hitherto, on arriving in the Ottoman dominions; and at the end of 8 years, to be reckoned from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty, to a fixed and definite tax of 1 per cent, which shall be levied, as is to be the case with respect to Ottoman produce exported, to defray the expense of registration.

The Sublime Porte, at the same time, declares that it reserves to itself the right to establish, by a special enactment, the measures to be adopted for the prevention of fraud.

XIII. Citizens of the United States of America, or their agents, trading in goods the produce or manufacture of foreign countries, shall be subject to the same taxes, and enjoy the same rights, privileges, and inmunities, as foreign subjects dealing in goods the produce or manufacture of their own country.

XIV. An exception to the stipulations laid down in Article V shall be made in regard to tobacco in any shape whatsoever, and also in regard to salt, which two articles shall cease to be included