No  armed  vessel  which  has  been  or  shall  be  originally  fitted
<nU  in  any  port  of  the  United  States  by  either  of  the  parties  at
war,  is  henceforth  to  have  asylum  in  any  district  of  the  United
States.  If  any  such  armed  vessel  shall  appear  within  your
di^ct,  she  is  immediately  to  be  notified  to  the  GK>vernor  and
Attorney  of  the  district,  which  is  also  to  be  done  in  respect  to
any  prize  that  such  armed  vessel  shall  bring  or  send  in.  At  foot
is  a  list  of  such  armed  vessels  of  the  above  description,  as  have
hitherto  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Executive.
The  purchasing  within  and  exporting  from  the  United  States,
by  way  of  merchandise^  articles  commonly  called  contraband,  being
generally  warlike  instruments  and  military  stores,  is  free  to  all
the  parties  at  war,  and  is  not  to  be  interfered  with.  If  our  own
citizens  undertake  to  carry  them  to  any  of  those  parties,  they
will  be  abandoned  to  the  penalties  which  the  laws  of  war  author
ize.  You  will  be  particularly  careful  to  observe  and  to  notify,
as  directed  in  other  instances,  the  case  of  any  citizen  of  the
United  States,  who  shall  be  found  in  the  service  of  either  of  the
parties  at  war.
In  case  any  vessel  shall  be  found  in  the  act  of  contravening
any  of  the  rules  or  principles  which  are  the  ground  of  this


576  HAMILTON'S    WORKS.  [jEt.  3e.
instraction,  she  is  to  be  refused  a  clearance  until  slie  shaD  bave
complied  with  what  the  Governor  shall  have  decided  in  reference
to  her.  Care,  however,  is  to  be  taken  in  this,  not  unnecessarily
or  unreasonably,  to  embarrass  trade  or  to  vex  any  of  the  parties
concerned.
