"ART. IV. In the ordinance of the 30th of April, his Majesty has been pleased, to encourage his subjects to the national commerce, to advise them to engage in maritime commerce as much as possible upon their own account, and with their own merchandises; and it has been established in consequence, in the declaration of the 3d of November, that to obtain passports from the Court, it was necessary to prove, by requisite certificates, that the owners both of the vessel and the cargo were Prussian subjects; nevertheless, all this was done properly in the form of advice, and to render them so much the more attentive to the precautions which they ought to take; it is not, for this the less free and lawful to the subjects of the King, who have obtained requisite passports, to transport also in their vessels, in conformity to the ordinance of the 30th of April, to places and ports which are not besieged, nor close blocked, merchandises and effects belonging to foreign nations, and even to belligerent nations, provided that these merchandises are of the nature of those, which, according to the 2d article of the declaration of the 30th of April, and conformably to the customs and rights of nations, are permitted and not of contraband; his Majesty will not fail to protect them, in such cases according to the principles which he has adopted and established in this regard with other powers, allies, and friends, and he has judged necessary to declare all which goes before, for preventing all abusive interpretation of the declaration of the 3d of November. "ART. V. The captains and commanders of Prussian vessels ought, when they arrive in ports or places, where reside consuls of the King, to present to them their passports, and demand of them attestations, which certify that their vessels are still furnished with passports expedited to them. "ART. VI. The commanders of these vessels would do well also, to take with them the ordinances of the 30th of April and the 3d of November, and the present declaration, to follow so much the better the precepts of it, and to be able, in case of need, to show them, and justify their conduct by them. Nevertheless, those two ordinances, as well as this, which renews them and serves to explain them, have not been published but for the direction of Prussian subjects, who exercise navigation and maritime commerce; and in cases even where they may fail in some point of their observation, and where they may not be furnished with passports requisite, they are not responsible for their negligence, but to his Majesty, their lawful sovereign, and the commanders of armed vessels of the belligerent powers cannot think themselves authorised thereby to stop them, or to take them, when they have not acted openly in a manner contrary to the principles of the maritime neutrality, adopted by his Majesty. "Given at Berlin, the 8th of December, 1781, by express order of the King.