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not contraband of war, as is not held as part of the vessel, its equipment, or as money, plate, or cargo contained therein.

All passengers not in the service of the enemy, and all women and children on board such vessels should be released and landed at a convenient port, at the first opportunity.

If any person in the Navy strips off the clothes of, or pillages, or in any manner maltreats any person taken on board a prize, he shall suffer such punishment as a court-martial may adjudge.

(This last clause is No. 17 of Articles for the Government of the Navy.)

ARTICLE 12. The United States of America acknowledge and protect, in hostile countries occupied by their forces, private property, religion, and morality; the persons of the inhabitants, especially those of women; and the sacredness of domestic relations. Offenses to the contrary shall be rigorously punished. (See discussion, p. 50.)

ARTICLE 14. All private vessels of the enemy, except coast fishing vessels innocently employed, are subject to capture, unless exempt by treaty stipulations.

In case of military or other necessity, private vessels of an enemy may be destroyed, or they may be retained for the service of the Government. Whenever captured vessels, arms, munitions of war, or other material are destroyed or taken for the use of the United States before coming into the custody of a prize court, they shall be surveyed, appraised, and inventoried by persons as competent and impartial as can be obtained; and the survey, appraisement, and inventory shall be sent to the prize court where proceedings are to be held.

ARTICLE 15. In absence of treaty governing the case, the treatment to be accorded private vessels of an enemy sailing prior to the beginning of a war, to or from a port of the United States, or sojourning in a port of the United States at the beginning of the war, will be determined by special instructions from the Navy Department. (See discussion, p. 57.)

ARTICLE 19. A neutral vessel carrying the goods of the enemy is, with her cargo, exempt from capture,

except when carrying contraband of war, endeavoring to evade a blockade, or guilty of unneutral service.

In place of Section IV the following articles of The Hague Convention, for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention of August 22, 1864, should be inserted:

ARTICLE I. Military hospital ships, that is to say, ships constructed or assigned by States specially and solely for the purpose of assisting the wounded, sick, or shipwrecked, and the names of which shall have been communicated to the belligerent powers at the beginning or during the course of hostilities, and in any case before they are employed, shall be respected, and can not be captured while hostilites last.

These ships, moreover, are not on the same footing as men-of-war as regards their stay in a neutral port.

ARTICLE II. Hospital ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private individuals or officially recognized relief societies, shall likewise be respected and exempt from capture, provided the belligerent Power to whom they belong has given them an official commission and have notified their names to the hostile Power at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in any case before they are employed.

These ships should be furnished with a certificate from the competent authorities, declaring that they had been under their control while fitting out and on final departure.

ARTICLE III. Hospital ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private individuals or officially recognized societies of neutral countries, shall be respected and exempt from capture if the neutral Power to whom they belong has given them an official commission and notified their names to the belligerent powers at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in any case before they are employed.

ARTICLE IV. The ships mentioned in Articles I, II, and III shall afford relief and assistance to the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked of the belligerents independently of their nationality.

The Governments engage not to use these ships for any military purpose.

These ships must not in any way hamper the movements of the combatants.

During and after an engagement they will act at their own risk and peril.

The belligerents will have the right to control and visit them; they can refuse their help, order them off, make them take a certain course, and put a commissioner on board; they can even detain them, if important circumstances require it.

As far as possible the belligerents shall inscribe in the sailing papers of the hospital ships the orders they give them.

ARTICLE V. The military hospital ships shall be distinguished by being painted white outside, with a horizontal band of green about a meter and a half in breadth.

The ships mentioned in Articles II and III shall be distinguished by being painted white outside, with a horizontal band of red about a meter and a half in breadth.

The boats of the ships above mentioned, as also small craft which may be used for hospital work, shall be distinguished by similar painting.

All hospital ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross, provided by the Geneva Convention.

ARTICLE VI. Neutral merchantmen, yachts, or vessels having or taking on board sick, wounded, or shipwrecked of the belligerents can not be captured for so doing, but they are liable to capture for any violation of neutrality they may have committed.

ARTICLE VII. The religious, medical, or hospital staff of any captured ship is inviolable, and its members can not be made prisoners of war. On leaving the ship they take with them the objects and surgical instruments which are their own private property. This staff shall continue to discharge its duties while necessary, and can afterwards leave when the commander in chief considers it possible.

The belligerents must guarantee to the staff that has fallen into their hands the enjoyment of their salaries intact.

ARTICLE VIII. Sailors and soldiers who are taken on board when sick or wounded, to whatever nation they belong, shall be protected and looked after by the captors.

ARTICLE IX. The shipwrecked, wounded, or sick of one of the belligerents who fall into the hands of the other, are prisoners of war. The captor must decide, according to circumstances, if it is best to keep them or send them to a port of his own country, to a neutral port, or even to a hostile port. In the last case prisoners thus repatriated can not serve as long as the war lasts.

ARTICLE X. (Excluded.)

ARTICLE XI. The rules contained in the above articles are binding only on the contracting powers in case of war between two or more of them.

The said rules shall cease to be binding from the time when in a war between the contracting powers one of the belligerents is joined by a noncontracting power.

ARTICLE 31. The object of the visit and search of a vessel is:

(1) To determine its nationality.

(2) To ascertain whether contraband of war is on board.

(3) To ascertain whether a breach of blockade is intended or has been committed.

(4) To ascertain whether the vessel is guilty of unneutral service or is engaged in any capacity in the service of the enemy.

The right of search must be exercised in strict conformity with treaty provisions existing between the United States and other states and with proper consideration for the vessel boarded.

ARTICLE 37. Blockade is a measure of war between belligerents, and in order to be binding must be effective; that is, it must be maintained by a force sufficient to render hazardous the ingress to or egress from a port.

If the blockading force be driven away by stress of weather and return without delay to its station, the continuity of the blockade is not thereby broken. If the blockading force leave its station voluntarily, except for purposes of the blockade, or is driven away by the enemy, the blockade is abandoned or broken. The abandonment or forced suspension of a blockade requires a new notification of blockade.

ARTICLE 43. Neutral vessels found in port at the time of the establishment of a blockade will be allowed a specified number of days from the establishment of the blockade, to load their cargoes and depart from such port.

(Articles of the code will need to be renumbered in accordance with changes suggested above.)

20681-7

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