nationality thereof on the same terms as may be provided according to the laws of the United States, for other inhabitants of the islands. The civil rights and the political status of the inhabitants of the islands shall be determined by the Congress, subject to the stipulations contained in the present convention. Danish citizens not residing in the islands but owning property therein at the time of the cession, shall retain their rights of property, including the right to sell or dispose or such property, being placed in this regard on the same basis as the Danish citizens residing in the islands and remaining therein or removing therefrom, to whom the first paragraph of this article relates. ARTICLE 7 Danish subjects residing in the islands shall be subject in matters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction of the courts of the islands, pursuant to the ordinary laws governing the same, and they shall have the right to appear before such courts, and to pursue the same course therein as citizens of the country to which the courts belong. ARTICLE 8 Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the formal delivery in the islands ceded shall be determined according to the following rules: (1) Judgments rendered either in civil suits between private individuals, or in criminal matters, before the date mentioned, and with respect to which there is no recourse or right to review under Danish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed in due form and without any renewed trial whatsoever, by the competent authority in the territories within which such judgments are to be carried out. If in a criminal case a mode of punishment has been applied which, according to new rules, is no longer applicable on the islands ceded after delivery, the nearest corresponding punishment in the new rules shall be applied. (2) Civil suits or criminal actions pending before the first courts, in which the pleadings have not been closed at the same time, shall be confirmed before the tribunals established in the ceded islands after the delivery, in accordance with the law which shall thereafter be in force. (3) Civil suits and criminal actions pending at the said time before the Superior Court or the Supreme Court in Denmark shall continue to be prosecuted before the Danish courts until final judgment according to the law hitherto in force. The judgment shall be executed in due form by the competent authority in the territories within which such judgment should be carried out. ARTICLE 9 The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired by Danish subjects in the islands ceded at the time of exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be respected. ARTICLE 10 Treaties, conventions, and all other international agreements of any nature existing between Denmark and the United States shall eo ipso extend, in default of a provision to the contrary, also to ceded islands. ARTICLE 11 In case of differences of opinion arising between the high contracting parties in regard to the interpretation or application of this convention, such differences, if they cannot be regulated through diplomatic negotiations, shall be submitted for arbitration to the permanent Court of Artibration at the Hague. ARTICLE 12 The ratifications of this convention shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible after ratification by both of the high contracting parties according to their respective procedure. In faith whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed and sealed this convention, in the English and Danish languages. Done at New York this fourth day of August, one thousand nine hundred and sixteen. [SEAL.] DECLARATION ROBERT LANSING In proceeding this day to the signature of the convention respecting the cession of the Danish West-Indian Islands to the United States of America, the undersigned Secretary of State of the United States of America, duly authorized by his government, has the honor to declare that the Government of the United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland. ROBERT LANSING. New York, August 4, 1916. SIR: EXCHANGE OF NOTES REGARDING U. S. SENATE PROVISOS] The Secretary of State to the Danish Minister DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, January 3, 1917. I have the honor to inform you that the Senate of the United States by its resolution of ratification has advised and consented to the ratification of the convention between the United States and Denmark, ceding to the United States the Danish West Indian Islands, with the following provisos: "Provided, however, That it is declared by the Senate that in advising and consenting to the ratification of the said convention, such advice and consent are given with the understanding, to be expressed as a part of the instrument of ratification, that such convention shall not be taken and construed by the high contracting parties as imposing any trust upon the United States with respect to any funds belonging to the Danish National Church in the Danish West Indian Islands, or in which the said church may have an interest, nor as imposing upon the United States any duty or responsibility with respect to the management of any property belonging to said church, beyond protecting said church in the possession and use of church property as stated in said convention, in the same manner and to the same extent only as other churches shall be protected in the possession and use of their several properties. And provided further, that the Senate advises and consents to the ratification of the said convention on condition that the attitude of the United States in this particular, as set forth in the above proviso, be made the subject of an exchange of notes between the governments of the two high contracting parties, so as to make it plain that this condition is understood and accepted by the two governments, the purpose hereof being to bring the said convention clearly within the Constitutional powers of the United States with respect to church establishment and freedom of religion." In view of this resolution of the Senate I have the honor to state that it is understood and accepted by the Government of the United States and the Government of Denmark that the provisions of this convention referring to the property and funds belonging to the Danish National Church in the Danish West Indian Islands shall not be taken and construed by the high contracting parties as imposing any trust upon the United States with respect to any funds belonging to the Danish National Church in the Danish West Indian Islands, or in which the said church may have an interest nor as imposing upon the United States any duty or responsibility with respect to the management of any property belonging to said church, beyond protecting said church in the possession and use of church property as stated in said convention, in the same manner and to the same extent only as other churches shall be protected in the possession and use of their several properties. I trust that your government will in a formal reply to this communication accept this understanding as to the meaning and construction of the provisions of said convention in accordance with the foregoing resolution of the Senate. Accept, Sir, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration. ROBERT LANSING Mr. CONSTANTIN BRUN, Minister of Denmark. SIR: The Danish Minister to the Secretary of State. THE DANISH LEGATION In reply to your communication of this day concerning the relation of the United States to the rights of the Established Church in the Danish West Indies and to the provisions referring to this point in the convention between the United States and Denmark ceding to the States the Danish Westindian Islands, I have the honor to state that it is understood and accepted by the Government of Denmark and the Government of the United States that the provisions of this convention referring to the property and funds belonging to the Danish National Church in the Danish Westindian Islands shall not be taken and construed by the high contracting parties as imposing any trust upon the United States with respect to any funds belonging to the Danish National Church in the Danish Westindian Islands or in which the said Church may have an interest nor as imposing upon the United States any duty or responsibility with respect to the management of any property belonging to said church beyond protecting said church in the possession and use of church property as stated in said convention in the same manner to the same extent only as other churches shall be protected in the possession and use of their several properties. It will be evident from the above that the Danish Government accept the understanding as to the meaning and construction of the provisions of the said convention in accordance with the resolution of the United States' Senate concerning the question of the rights of the Church in the islands. CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT Signed at Washington, August 16, 1916; ratifications exchanged WHEREAS, Many species of birds in the course of their annual migrations traverse certain parts of the United States and the Dominion of Canada; and Whereas, Many of these species are of great value as a source of food or in destroying insects which are injurious to forests and forage plants on the public domain, as well as to agricultural crops, in both the United States and Canada, but are nevertheless in danger of extermination through lack of adequate protection during the nesting season or while on their way to and from their breeding grounds; The United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, being desirous of saving from indiscriminate slaughter and of insuring the preservation of such migratory birds as are either useful to man or are harmless, have resolved to adopt some uniform system of protection which shall 1 U. S. Treaty Series, No. 628. |