subjects and citizens, and produced by the soil or industry of any other foreign country: When these two sorts of merchandise shall pass through the straits of the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, or the Black sea, whether these merchandises pass the straits on the vessel which brought them, or been transferred to other vessels, or that, sold for exportation, they may for a limited time have lain in deposit on shore, in order to be put on board other vessels to continue on their passage. In the latter case the merchandise must be deposited at Constantinople, in the customs transit warehouse and elsewhere. Where there is no public warehouse or deposit, be placed under the supervision of the customhouse authorities. ARTICLE VIII. The Sublime Porte desirous to grant facilities of transit overland by means of gradual concession, it is agreed that the duty of three per cent. levied up to this time on merchandise brought into Turkey for the purpose of being despatched to other countries shall be reduced from this date to two per cent., and at the close of eight years, to be reckoned from the day of ratification of the present treaty, shall be changed to a fixed and definite tax of one per cent. The Sublime Porte at the same time declares that it reserves the right to establish by special regulation the precautions to be taken to prevent fraud. ARTICLE IX. The subjects and citizens of the Hanseatic republics engaging in commerce in articles, products of the soil or industry of foreign countries, will pay the like taxes and enjoy the like rights, privileges, and immunities as foreign subjects trading in merchandise coming from their own country. ARTICLE X. As an exception to the stipulations of Article V, it is agreed that tobacco, in all its forms, and salt, shall be included in the list of merchandise which the subjects and citizens of the Hanseatic republics have the privilege of importing to Turkey. In consequence, the subjects and citizens of the Hanseatic republics, or their dependencies, who shall buy or sell tobacco or salt for consumption in Turkey, shall be subject to the same regulations, and shall pay the same duties, as the most favored Ottoman subjects among those who shall engage in trade. in these two articles. In compensation for this restriction no tax shall be collected in future on these articles when they shall be exported to Turkey by the subjects or citizens of the Hanseatic republics; but the quantities of tobacco and salt which shall be exported by the subjects and citizens of the Hanseatic republics, or their dependencies, shall be declared to the custom-house administration, which shall keep, as in the past, the right of supervision over the exports of these products without claim for any return, either for registration or on any other pretence. ARTICLE XI. Besides, henceforth there shall not be imported to Turkey by the subjects or citizens of the Hanseatic republics cannon, or any other fire-arms, nor powder, nor munitions of war whatever. The trade in these articles shall remain under the immediate and special supervision of the Ottoman government, which retains the right to regulate it. In the preceding restriction pistols, fowling-pieces and for the chase, and other fire-arms falling within the category of arms of luxury, are not included. ARTICLE XII. The firmans required of merchant vessels of the Hanseatic republics on their passing through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus shall always be delivered to them in the manner which will occasion the least delay possible. ARTICLE XIII. The captains of merchant vessels of the Hanseatic republics having on board merchandise destined for the Ottoman empire shall be bound to deposit at the custom-house, immediately after their arrival at the port of destination, an authenticated copy of their manifest. ARTICLE XIV. Merchandise introduced by smuggling shall be liable to confiscation to the benefit of the Ottoman treasury, provided the fraud be duly and legally proved, and a proces-verbal of the fact of smuggling be drawn up and communicated without delay to the consular agent of the foreign subject to whom the confiscated merchandise may belong. ARTICLE XV. It is understood that the government of the Hanseatic republics do not mean, through any of the articles of this treaty, to stipulate for anything beyond the natural and precise sense of the terms employed, nor in any manner to embarrass the government of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan in the exercise of its right of internal administration, so far, at all events, as those rights do not manifestly interfere with the stipulations of ancient treaties, and the privileges granted by this convention to the subjects and citizens of the Hanseatic republics or their property. ARTICLE XVI. It is agreed that all the privileges, advantages, and immunities granted by the Ottoman government to the most favored nation shall be equally extended to the Hanseatic republics. The present treaty, which, so soon as ratified, shall take the place of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation of the 18th May, 1839, and of the supplementary convention of the 7th September, 1841, shall remain in force twenty-eight years. Each of the contracting states reserves the right to propose, at the end of the fourteenth and twenty-first years, those modifications which experience shall have suggested. The stipulations entered into by the present convention shall be carried into effect in every part of the Ottoman empire; that is to say, in the possessions of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan situated in Europe and in Asia, in Egypt, and in the other parts of Africa belonging to the Sublime Porte, in Servia, and in the united principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The high contracting parties have agreed to appoint, conjointly, commissioners to establish the tariff of customs duties, to be collected, in conformity with the stipulations of the present treaty, as well on merchandise, the products of the soil and of the industry of the Hanseatic republics and the Germanic confederation, and imported by the subjects and citizens of those states into the Ottoman empire, as on the products of the soil and of the industry of Turkey bought for export by the subjects and citizens of the Hanseatic republics and their dependencies. The new tariff established in this way shall remain in force for seven years from the date of the exchange of ratifications. Each of the high contracting parties shall have the right, one year before the expiration of this term, to ask for a revision of the tariff; but if at such time neither the one nor the other avail of this power, the tariff shall continue to have the force of law for seven other years, dating from the expiration of the preceding seven years, and the same shall be the case at the end of each successive period of seven years. ARTICLE XVIII. The present treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Berlin, within the term of two months, or sooner if it can be done. Done at Berlin, the 27th December, 1862. ARISTARCHI. [SEAL.] Ratifications exchanged 12th of February, 1863. Publication made 17th of April, 1863. BREMEN-HENRY BOERNSTEN, Consul. JANUARY 20, 1863. I have the honor to submit to you a full and complete statement of the commerce and navigation of Bremen in the year 1862. The world's commerce has passed through a year of great difficulties. In consequence of the war in our country, commerce, as well as navigation, has suffered great losses, and on the other side they have earned unexpectedly great gains and profits; but, notwithstanding, the general feeling is one of uneasiness, uncertainty in speculation, and the general desire expressed on all sides is that of a speedy termination of the American war, and the re-establishment of regular commercial transactions. The commercial branch which has suffered the most was, naturally, the trade in cotton. Up to this date the cotton industry, strengthened by the accumulated great gains of former years, has manfully resisted the pressure of the unfavorable circumstances, but the sacrifices already made, and those unavoidably in the next future to be supported, show clearly that a longer continuation of the cotton famiue will arise, for whole Europe, to the proportions of a national calamity, and will have a great and pernicious effect upon all other commercial, industrial, and economical relations. Bremen, too, has suffered under this calamity, and the general import of the year 1862 shows a considerable diminution against the import of 1861; but, in general, the transactions of 1862 have given a satisfactory result, and proved again the solidity of the Bremen commerce. The principal import of Bremen consists in tobacco and cotton, brought mostly in our own ships from the United States. In 1860 the import of cotton was 129,148 bales; in 1861, 95,562 bales of cotton and 57,713 hogsheads of tobacco. In 1862 the import of American cotton was reduced nearly to nothing, and the import of American tobacco consisted only of 25,216 hogsheads. The closing of a number of ports in the United States compelled the Bremen merchants to look to other ports, and East India has been principally taken into consideration. The advantages of a neutral flag, and the circumstance that a large number of American merchant vessels have been captured or destroyed, or employed for the war service, showed themselves very favorable to the Bremen navigation. Under these circumstances, the Bremen commercial fleet has been augmented with twenty-four ships of 16,408 tons, together. Besides, there are sailing from the Weser river, under the Hanoverian flag, forty-four ships of 11,624 tons, and, under the Oldenburg flag, 186 ships, of 50,930 tons. The Bremen commerce has, therefore, at its disposal 507 sea-going ships, of 244,698 tons, altogether, not to count the lighters, towboats, river steamers, &c. The steamship company of the North German Lloyd has now, in regular trips between New York and Bremen, four of the largest Nation. and most safe ocean steamers, and, in regular trips to London and Hull, six smaller steamers. The trips of all those boats were made in 1862, with the greatest regularity, and without the least accident. The railroad between Bremerhaven and Bremen is in full operation, and passengers, as well as goods, are quickly and cheaply expedited from Bremerhaven to Bremen by railroad when the river is closed by ice. The emigration to the United States was not very considerable last year. The total amount of emigrants sailed from Bremen to the United States was 15,019 persons, in eighty-four ships. The number of maritime insurance companies here has increased to twenty-two, all substantial and solid. Nearly all the companies had to suffer great losses in 1862, so that the capital invested will hardly bring four per cent. interest. Money was easy during 1862, and only for a short time the discount rate of the Bremen bank has been raised to five per cent.; the average rate of discount was 3 per cent.; and, notwithstanding, the institution will yield large dividends to the stockholders. I annex herewith a general review of the Bremen navigation, a list of ships arrived and sailed to and from the port, and a general review of the commerce of Bremen, imports and exports. Statement showing the number of vessels of all nations arrived at and departed from the port of Bremen during the year 1862. No. of vessels. Last 4,000 lbs., or 2 tons. No. of crews. Comparative statement of the total arrivals and departures of vessels of all nations at the port of Bremen for the years 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, and 1862, both in cargo and ballast. Statement showing the number of arrivals and departures of vessels at the port of Bremen during the year 1862, according to the countries from which and to which they sailed. 3,043 280, 937 18,832 3,100 289,846 18,986 3,459 305, 893 19,939 3,473 299, 199 19, 378 3, 146 286, 343 18, 101 Heligoland. 898 876 5 349 195 Lubeck 33 Mecklenburg 67 Prussia... 680 516 Norway. 260 612 Great Britain. 4,271 Holland 481 9 |