Translation of circular of 17th June, 1861., June 17, 1861

Translation of circular of 17th June, 1861.

[577] The ministers of foreign affairs and of justice, empowered thereto by the King, by these presents warn all inhabitants of the kingdom not to engage in any way or manner in privateering during the present troubles in the United States of North America, as the Dutch government (having agreed some time ago to respect the rules of sea-right, fixed upon by the Congress of Paris of 1856, where among other things privateering was abolished) will not grant sanction to commissions or lettres de marque, that therefore commissions or lettres de marque which contrary to the above-named rules will be issued to Dutch citizens will have no legal consequence whatever, and that, therefore, the King’s subjects and all those subject for whatever reason to the laws of the country, who on such papers might engage in privateering or help thereto, may be considered by other nations as pirates, and will be prosecuted by Dutch judges for such acts committed as are punishable by law.

The ministers aforesaid,