To put an end to the
Crimean War (1853–1856), a series of diplomatic meetings were organised in Paris to negotiate peace, modelled after the
Congress of Vienna. On the conclusion of the
Treaty of Paris, which was signed on 30 March 1856, the
plenipotentiaries assembled in conference also did agree on this declaration, at the suggestion of
Count Walewski, the French Prime-Minister. The declaration is the outcome of a
modus vivendi signed between France and Britain at the dawn of the Crimean War in 1854 becoming war allies for the first time. These two powers had agreed that they would not seize enemy goods on neutral vessels nor neutral goods on enemy vessels. The belligerents had also agreed that they would not issue
letters of marque, which they actually had not done during the war. At the close of this war the principal states of Europe concluded that private armed ships, maintained at private cost for private gain, and often necessarily for a long time beyond the reach of the regular naval force of the state, could not be kept under proper control. With the agreements written down in the Declaration of Paris these rules were confirmed and added to them the principle that
blockades, in order to be obligatory, must be effective. The Declaration did not as such make privateers into a new category of international criminals, but rather made it a treaty obligation of states that they refrain from commissioning privateers in the first place. Most states normally treated foreign privateers as
pirates in any case. In the plain wordings of the Declaration: The Declaration has been signed by Great Britain,
Austria,
France,
Prussia,
Russia,
Sardinia, and
Turkey. Ultimately, 55 states, royal houses and free cities ratified the Declaration, including the
Ottoman Empire. This treaty established maritime law among the major powers of Europe. It represented the first multilateral attempt to codify in times of peace rules which were to be applicable in the event of war. This declaration bound only its signatories and nations that did accede later, when at war with each other, and left them free to use privateers when at war with other states.
Position of the United States The United States, which aimed at a complete exemption of non-contraband private property from capture at sea, withheld its formal adherence in 1857 when its "
Marcy" amendment was not accepted by all powers, chiefly as a result of British influence. His proposed amendment would have exempted from seizure in time of war all private property that was not contraband, including enslaved persons. The US was also keen on maintaining privateers. It argued that, not possessing a great navy, it would be obliged in time of war to rely largely upon merchant ships commissioned as war vessels, and that therefore the abolition of privateering would be entirely in favour of European powers, whose large navies rendered them practically independent of such aid. Several other maritime states did not accede to the declaration, such as
China,
Venezuela,
Bolivia,
Costa Rica,
Honduras, and
El Salvador. and went on to extensively employ privateers as
blockade runners. During the
Spanish–American War of 1898, when the United States Government affirmed its policy of conducting hostilities in conformity with the dispositions of the declaration. Spain too, though not a party, declared its intention to abide by the declaration, but it expressly gave notice that it reserved its right to issue letters of marque. At the same time both belligerents organized services of auxiliary cruisers composed of merchant ships under the command of naval officers. Some of the questions raised by this declaration were clarified by the
1907 Hague Convention. The rules contained in this declaration later came to be considered as part of the general principles of
international law and the United States too, though not formally a party, abides by provisions. == Signing parties ==