CONCLUSION. According to the stipulations of the new Treaty of Commerce all merchandise imported into the Ottoman Empire, excepting such as are prohibited, by merchants of the United States of America, as well as all those exported by them from the country will pay a custom house duty of eight per cent. As, by the new treaty, the duties of the customs are to be assessed on the value of the merchandise at the wharf, the valuations established as a principle, on the wholesale prices of the goods, counting the Yuzluk, or gold Majidieh, at one hundred piastres, they have undergone a diminuation of 10 per cent. so as to reduce them, according to their value at the wharf. The duties, therefore, of the present tariff, are fixed on the nett value of the merchandise and will be collected as herein stated. The duty of 8 per cent on exports is only applicable to the first year of the present tariff. They will be reduced for the second-that is, to 7 per cent— for the third-that is to 6 per cent., and so on so that each year they will be diminished one per cent. until the eighth year. At the commencement of the 8th and the following years, the duties will only amount to one per cent, collected as stipulated in said treaty, only for the purpose of covering the expenses of the customs. All articles of export, not designated in the present tariff, or which being therein designated, are left to pay duties ad valorem will first be reduced as aforestated, ten per cent. on their current value, and then pay the proper duties on the remaining value-this, however, to be subject to the same annual diminuation of one per cent, as all those articles which have been properly tariffed. The products of the United States of America imported into the Ottoman Empire, will always continue to pay a duty of eight per cent. Those which have not been designated in the tariff or are left to their ad valorem will pay in the same manner 8 per cent after the aforesaid reduction of 10 per cent of their value. The payment of the import and export duties will be effected in immediate cash payments: that is, the Yuzluk, or gold Majidieh at one hundred piastres ands its subdivisions in gold and silver of pure alloy in due proportion. Five silver Majidiehs to make one gold Majidieh of 100 piastres; and the foreign coins to be at the value which may be fixed for them at the imperial mint. At the capital merchants are free to pay their duties in the paper currency Kaimehs at the highest rate of the Borsa (Exchange) in place of the gold Majidieh of 100 piastres. A bulletin will be procured daily for this purpose, indicating how many piastres of the paper currency will represent a gold Majidieh, and will serve for the day following. It will be suspended in a conspicuous place in the custom house, and the Kaimeh currency will be received in payment of duties at the highest rate stated in said bulletin. Payments in Kaimehs calculated on the basis of the gold Majidieh of 100 piastres in the place of money of pure alloy, are, however, restricted entirely to the capital for the present; and if, at a later period, the circulation of this eurrency be extended to the provinces of the Empire, it will also be received there in payment of the custom house duties in the same manner as has been explained with reference to the capital, that is to say-on the calculation of the number of paper piastres required to make one gold Majidieh of one hundred piastres. In the mean time and in advance of the case, it being impracticable to establish on an uncertain basis, the manner of effecting the payment there in Kaimehs it is left for the present, undetermined; so that in case of future need an arrangement may be made between the Sublime Porte and the Legation of the U. S. of America, according to the existing circumstances. Until then, the custom house duties in the provinces will be collected as aforesaid,-viz the Yuzluk, a gold Majidieh for 100 piastres, and its sub divisions in gold and silver of pure alloy in the same proportion, 5 silver Majidiehs to the gold Majidieh of 100 piastres, and all foreign coins at the rates fixed, on this basis by the imperial mint. In the event of the custom house authorities and the merchants of the United States, not being able to come to an understanding on the value of the merchandize not designated in the tariff, or left ad valorem and a dispute arise between them the duties will according to ancient usage, be paid in kind. The present tariff will remain in force at the custom house of the capital from the 1st March 1278, or March 13, 1862 è la franka to the 1 March 1285 or March 13, 1869. One year previous to the expiration of this term, viz: during the last year, each of the parties will have the right, in consequence of the differences which may probably occur in the value of merchandize to claim a revision of the tariff. But, if this term of one year pass by without any such claim having been put forward by either of them, the tariff will continue to hold good for another period of seven years. The present tariff has thus been drawn up to this tenor and purpose, by the Commissioners of the U. S. of America and the Sublime Porte and received the sanction of His Imperial Majesty. Chaban 29-1278. (Signed by) MEHEMMED KIANY, For the President of the Commission, H. 8. Ismail Pacha, absent. (Signed by) MEHEMMED KIANY, For himself. (Signed by) MEHEMMED KIAMIL. [L. 8.] [L. 8.] [L. 8.] [L. S.] [L. S.] (Signed by) ENVERY. ARISTIDES AZARIAN, Concluded August 11, 1874; ratification advised by the Senate January 20, 1875; ratified by the President January 22, 1875; ratifications exchanged April 22, 1875; proclaimed May 26, 1875. I. Surrender of accused. ARTICLES. V. Procedure. VI. Expenses. VII. Nondelivery of citizens. The United States of America and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, having judged it expedient, with a view to the better administration of justice and to the prevention of crimes within their respective territories and jurisdiction, that persons convicted of or charged with the crimes hereinafter specified, and being fugitives from justice, should, under certain circumstances, be reciprocally delivered up, have resolved to conclude a convention for that purpose, and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries: the President of the United States Geo: H. Boker, Minister Resident of the United States of America near the Sublime Porte; and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, His Excellency A. Aarifi Pasha, his Minister for Foreign Affairs; who, after reciprocal communication of their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles, to wit: ART. I. The Government of the United States and the Ottoman Government mutually agree to deliver up persons who, having been convicted of or charged with the crimes specified in the following article, committed within the jurisdiction of one of the contracting parties, shall seek an asylum or be found within the territories of the other: Provided, That this shall only be done upon such evidence of criminality as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive or person so charged shall be found, would justify his or her apprehension and commitment for trial, if the crime had been there committed. ART. II. Persons shall be delivered up who shall have been convicted of, or be charged, according to the provisions of this convention, with any of the following crimes: 1st. Murder, comprehending the crimes designated by the terms of parricide, assassination, poisoning, and infanticide. 2d. The attempt to commit murder. 3. The crimes of rape, arson, piracy and mutiny on board a ship, whenever the crew, or part thereof, by fraud or violence against the commander, have taken possession of the vessel. 4th. The crime of burglary, defined to be the action of breaking and entering by night into the house of another with the intent to commit felony; and the crime of robbery, defined to be the action of feloniously and forcibly taking from the person of another goods or money by violence or putting him in fear. 5th. The crime of forgery, by which is understood the utterance of forged papers, the counterfeiting of public, sovereign, or govern ment acts. 6th. The fabrication or circulation of counterfeit money, either coin or paper, of public bonds, bank-notes, and obligations and in general of all things, being titles and instruments of credit, the counterfeiting of seals, dies, stamps, and marks of state and public administrations and the utterance thereof. 7th. The embezzlement of public moneys committed within the jurisdiction of either party, by public officers or depositors. 8th. Embezzlement by any person or persons hired or salaried, to the detriment of their employers, when these crimes are subject to infamous punishment. ART. III. The provisions of this treaty shall not apply to any crime or offence of a political character, and the person or persons delivered up for the crimes enumerated in the preceding article shall in no case be tried for any ordinary crime, committed previously to that for which his or their surrender is asked. ART. IV. If the person whose surrender may be claimed, pursuant to the stipulations of the present treaty, shall have been arrested for the commission of offenses in the country where he has sought an asylum, or shall have been convicted thereof, his extradition may be deferred until he shall have been acquitted, or have served the term of imprisonment to which he may have been sentenced. ART. V. Requisitions for the surrender of fugitives from justice shall be made by the respective diplomatic agents of the contracting parties, or in the event of the absence of these from the country, or its seat of government, they may be made by superior consular officers. If the person whose extradition may be asked for shall have been convicted of a crime, a copy of the sentence of the court in which he may have been convicted, authenticated under its seal, and an attestation of the official character of the judge by the proper executive authority, and of the latter by the Minister or consul of the United States or of the Sublime Porte, respectively, shall accompany the requisition. When, however, the fugitive shall have been merely charged with crime, a duly authenticated copy of the warrant for his arrest in the country where the crime may have been committed, or of the depositions upon which such warrant may have been issued, must accompany the requisition as aforesaid. The President of the United States or the proper executive authority in Turkey may then issue a warrant for the apprehension of the fugitive, in order that he may be brought before the proper judicial authority for examination. If it should then be decided that, according to law and the evidence, the extradition is due pursuant to the treaty, the fugitive may be given up according to the forms prescribed in such cases. ART. VI. The expenses of the arrest, detention, and transportation of the persons claimed shall be paid by the government in whose name the requisition has been made. ART. VII. Neither of the contracting parties shall be bound to deliver up its own citizens under the stipulations of this treaty. ART. VIII. This convention shall continue in force during five (5) years from the day of exchange of ratification, but if neither party shall have given to the other six (6) months' previous notice of its intention to terminate the same, the convention shall remain in force five years longer, and so on. The present convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Constantinople, within twelve (12) months, and sooner, if possible. In the French text the word et (and) follows the word commis (committed). 24449-VOL 2-10- -8 In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention in duplicate, and have thereunto affixed their seals. Done at Constantinople the eleventh day of August one thousand eight hundred and seventy four. GEO: H. BOKER. [SEAL.] A. AARIFI. [SEAL.] 1874. RIGHT TO HOLD REAL ESTATE IN TURKEY." Protocol proclaimed by the President of the United States October 29, 1874. The United States of America and His Majesty the Sultan being desirous to establish by a special act the agreement entered upon between them regarding the admission of American citizens to the right of holding real estate, granted to foreigners by the law promulgated on the 7th of Sepher 1284, (January 18, 1867) have authorized: The President of the United States of America George H. Boker, Minister Resident of the United States of America near the Sublime Porte, and His Imperial Majesty the Sultan His Excellency A. Aarifi Pasha, His Minister of Foreign Affairs, to sign the Protocol which follows: PROTOCOL. The law granting foreigners the right of holding real estate does not interfere with the immunities specified by the treaties, and which will continue to protect the person and the movable property of foreigners who may become owners of real estate. As the exercise of this right of possessing real property may induce foreigners to establish themselves in larger numbers in the Ottoman Empire, the Imperial Government thinks it proper to anticipate and to prevent the difficulties to which the application of this law may give rise in certain localities. Such is the object of the arrangements which follow. The domicile of any person residing upon the Ottoman soil being inviolable, and as no one can enter it without the consent of the owner, except by virtue of orders emanating from competent authority and with the assistance of the magistrate or functionary invested with the necessary powers, the residence of foreigners is inviolable on the same principle, in conformity with the treaties, and the agents of the public force cannot enter it without the assistance of the Consul or of the delegate of the Consul of the Power on which the Foreigner depends. " This protocol, the original of which is in the French language, is printed in this compilation as it states in detail the rights of citizens of the United States in respect to real estate in the Turkish dominions. |