retain them, the case of bankruptcy only excepted. ARTICLE XVII. The merchant ships of either of the parties, which shall be making into a port of the other party, and concerning whose voyage and the species of goods on board her there shall be any just grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit, as well upon the high seas as in the ports and havens, not only her passports, but likewise certificates expressly showing that her goods are not of the number of those, which have been prohibited as contraband. ARTICLE XVIII. If, by exhibiting the abovesaid certificates, mentioning the particulars of the things on board, the other party should discover there are any of those sorts of goods, which are prohibited and declared contraband by this treaty, and consigned for a port under the obedience of his enemies, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, or to open any chest, coffer, pack, cask, or any other vessel or package found therein, or to remove the smallest particle of the goods, whether such ship belongs to the subjects of their High Mightinesses, the States of the Seven United Provinces of Holland, or to the subjects or inhabitants of the said United States of America, unless the loading be brought on shore in presence of the officers of the Court of Admiralty, and an inventory thereof made; but there shall be no allowance to sell, exchange, or alienate the same in any manner, until after that due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods, and the Court of Admiralty respectively shall, by a sentence pronounced, have confiscated the same; saving always as well the ship itself, as any other goods found therein, which by this treaty are to be esteemed free; neither may they be detained on pretence of their being, as it were, infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated as lawful prize; but if not the whole cargo, but only part thereof shall consist of prohibited or contraband goods, and the commander of the ship shall be ready and willing to deliver them to the captor who has discovered them, in such case, the captor having received those goods shall forthwith discharge the ship, and not hinder her by any means from freely prosecuting the voyage on which she was bound; but, in case the contraband merchandise cannot be all received on board the vessel of the captor, then the captor may, notwithstanding the offer of delivering him the contraband goods, carry the vessel into the nearest port, agreeable to what is above directed. ARTICLE XIX.