‘File 5/6 I Brussels Conference and general rules and procedure on slave traffic’ [‎33r] (82/297)

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Administration of the State. No withdrawal of
fire-arms or imported ammunition shall take place
from such depots without the previous authoriza
tion of the Administration. This authorization
shall be, except in cases hereinafter specified,
refused for the withdrawal of all arms of precision,
such as rifles, magazine-guns, or breech-loaders,
whether whole or in detached pieces, their cart
ridges, caps, or other ammunition intended for
them.
At the seaports and under conditions affording
the needful guarantees the respective Grovernments
may permit private depots, but only for ordinary
powder and flint-lock muskets, and to the exclusion
of improved arms and their ammunition.
Independently of the measures directly taken
by Governments for the arming of the public force
and the organization of their defence, individual
exceptions shall be admitted for persons affording
sufficient guarantees that the arm and ammunition
delivered to them will not be given, assigned, or
sold to third persons, and for travellers provided
with a declaration of their Government stating
that the weapon and ammunition are destined
exclusively for their personal defence.
All arms in the cases provided for in the preced
ing paragraph shall be registered and marked by
the authorities appointed lor the supevision, who
shall deliver to the persons in question licences to
bear arms, indicating the name of the bearer and
showing the stamp with which the arm is marked.
These licences are revocable in case of proved
improper use, and will be issued for five years only,
but may be renewed.
The rule above set forth as to
shall also apply to gunpowder
From the depots can be withdrawn for sale only
flint-lock guns, with unrifled barrels, and common
gunpowders, called trade powders (" poudres de
traite - "). At each withdrawal of arms and ammu
nition of this kind for sale, the local authorities
shall determine the regions in which these arms
and ammunition may be sold. The regions infected
by the Slave Trade shall always be excluded.
Persons authorized to take arms or powder out of
the public depots (warehouses) shall present to the
Administration every six months detailed lists
indicating the destinations of the arms and powder
sold, as well as the quantities still remaining in the
store-houses.
ARTICLE X.
The Governments shall take all measures they
may deem necessary to insure as complete a fulfil
ment as possible of the provisions respecting the
importation, the sale, and transport of fire-arms
and ammunition, as well,as to prevent either the
entry or exit thereof by their inland frontiers, or
the passage thereof to regions where the Slave
Trade is rife.
The authorization of transit within the limits
of the zone specified by Article VIII cannot be
withheld when the arms and ammunition are to
pass across the territory of a Signatory or adherent
Power in the occupation of the coast, towards
inland territories placed under the sovereignty or
protectorate of another Signatory or adherent
Power, unless this latter Power have direct access
to the sea through its own territory. It this access
placing in depot
be completely interrupted, the authorization of
transit can no longer be withheld. Any demand of
transit must be accompanied by a declaration
emanating from the Government of the Power
having the inland possessions, and certifying that
the said arms and ammunition are not destined for
sale, but are for the use of the authorities of such
Power, or of the military forces necessary for the
protection of the missionary or commercial stations,
or of persons mentioned by name in the declaration.
Nevertheless, the territorial Power of the coast
retains the right to stop, exceptionally and provi
sionally, the transit of arms of precision and
ammunition across its territory, if in consequence
of inland disturbances or other serious danger there
is ground for fearing that the dispatch of arms and
ammunition might compromise its own safety.
ARTICLE XI.
The Powers shall communicate to each other the
information relating to the traffic in fire-arms and
ammunition, the licences granted, and the measures
of repression in force in their respective territories.
ARTICLE XII.
The Powers undertake to adopt or to propose to
their respective Legislatures the measures necessary
to insure the punishment everywhere of infringers
of the prohibitions laid down m Articles VIII and
IX, and that of their accomplices, besides the
seizure and confiscation of the prohibited arms and
ammunition, either by fine or by imprisonment, or
by both penalties together, in proportion to the
importance of the infraction, and in accordance
with the gravity of each case.
ARTICLE XIII.
The Signatory Powers who have in Africa
possessions in contact with the zone specified in
Article VIII bind themselves to take the necessary
measures for preventing the introduction of fire
arms and ammunition across their inland frontiers
into the regions of the said zone, at least that of
improved arms and cartridges.
ARTICLE XIV.
The system stipulated in Articles VIII to XIII
shall remain in force during twelve years. In case
none of the Contracting Parties shall have notified,
twelve months before the expiration of this period,
its intention of putting an end to it, or shall have
demanded its revision, it shall continue to remain
obligatory for two more years, and shall thus
continue in force from two years to two years.
Chapter II.— Caravan Routes and the Land
Transport of Slaves.
ARTICLE XV.
independently of the repressive or protective
action which they exercise in the centres of the
Slave Trade, the stations, cruizers, and posts the
establishment of which is provided for in Article II,
and all other stations established or recognized by
Article IV by each Government in its possessions,
will furthermore have the mission of supervising so
far as circumstances will permit, and in proportion
to the progress of their administrative organization,
the roads followed on their territory by the slave-
dealers, there to stop the convoys in their march,
or to pursue them wherever their action can be
legally exercised.