shall be done only when the fact of the commission of the crime shall be so established as to justify their apprehension and commitment for trial, if the crime had been committed in the country where the persons so accused shall be found; in all of which the tribunals of said country shall proceed and decide according to their own laws.

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ECUADOR.

Treaty concluded June 13, 1839, (Peace, Friendship, Navigation, and Commerce.)

596..ARTICLE XXIX.

Vice-Consuls.

To make more effectual the protection which the Consuls and United States and the Republic of Ecuador shall afford in future to the navigation and commerce of the citizens of each other, they agree to receive and admit Consuls and Vice-Consuls, in all the ports open to foreign commerce, who shall enjoy in them all the rights, prerogatives, and immunities of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the most favored nation; each contracting party, however, remaining at liberty to except those ports and places in which the admission and residence of such . Consuls and Vice-Consuls may not seem convenient.

597.. ARTICLE XXX.

In order that the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the two Commission and contracting parties may enjoy the rights, prerogatives, exequatur. and immunities which belong to them by their public character, they shall, before entering on the exercise of their functions, exhibit their commission or patent in due form to the government to which they are accredited, and, having obtained their exequatur, they shall be held and considered as such, by all the authorities, magistrates, and inhabitants in the Consular district in which they reside.

598..ARTICLE XXXI.

It is likewise agreed that the Consuls, their secretaries, officers, and persons attached to the service of Consuls, they not being citizens of the country in which

Exemptions, &c.

Deserters and local aid.

Consular Con

the Consul resides, shall be exempted from all kinds of taxes, imposts, and contributions, except those which they shall be obliged to pay on account of commerce or their property, to which the citizens and inhabitants, native and foreign, of the country in which they reside, are subject; being, in everything besides, subject to the laws of the respective states. The archives and papers of the Consulates shall be respected inviolably, and under no pretext whatever shall any magistrate seize or in any way interfere with them.

599.. ARTICLE XXXII.

The said Consuls shall have power to require the assistance of the authorities of the country for the arrest, detention, and custody of deserters from the public and private vessels of their country, and for that purpose they shall address themselves to the courts, judges, and officers competent, and shall demand the said deserters in writing, proving by an exhibition of the register of the vessel's or ship's roll, or other public documents, that those men were part of the said crews, and on this demand so proved, (saving, however, where the contrary is proved,) the delivery shall not be refused. Such deserters, when arrested, shall be put at the disposal of said Consuls, and may be put in the public prisons at the request and expense of those who reclaim them, to be sent to the ships to which they belonged, or to others of the same nation. But if they be not sent back within two months, to be counted from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall be no more arrested for the same cause.

600..ARTICLE XXXIII.

For the purpose of more effectually protecting their vention in future. Commerce and navigation, the two contracting parties do hereby agree, as soon hereafter as circumstances will permit them, to form a Consular Convention, which shall declare, especially, the powers and immunities of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the respective parties.

"Most favored nation" clause.

601.. ARTICLE XXXIV.

It is further" agreed that the words, "most favored nation," that occur in this treaty, shall not be so construed as to prevent either of the contracting parties from concluding any treaty or convention with any other nation or state it may think proper, as freely and as fully as though said words were not used: Provided, however, That notwithstanding any such treaty or convention

the citizens of the United States shall be placed in Ecuador, with respect to navigation and commerce, upon an equal footing with the subjects of Spain, and with the citizens of Mexico, and of the other Hispano-American States, with which treaties have been, or may be, concluded; and that the citizens of Ecuador shall be entitled to enjoy, in the United States, the same rights and privileges, with respect to navigation and commerce, that the citizens of the United States enjoy, or shall enjoy, in Ecuador.

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FRANCE.

Convention concluded February 23, 1853, (Consular priv

ileges.)

602.. ARTICLE I.

Consnls, &c.,

The Consuls-General, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents of the United States and France, shall and exequaturs. be reciprocally received and recognized on the presentation of their commissions, in the form established in their respective countries. The necessary exequatur for the exercise of their functions shall be furnished to them without charge; and on the exhibition of this exequatur, they shall be admitted at once and without difficulty, by the territorial authorities, Federal or State, judicial or executive, of the ports, cities, and places of their residence and district, to the enjoyment of the prerogatives reciprocally granted. The government that furnishes the exequatur reserves the right to withdraw it on a statement of the reasons for which it has thought proper to do so.

603.. ARTICLE II.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents of the United States and France, shall enjoy in the two countries the privileges usually accorded to their offices, such as personal immunity, except in the case of crime, exemption from military billetings, from service in the militia or the national guard, and other duties of the same nature; and from all direct and personal taxation, whether Federal, State, or municipal. If, however, the said Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents are citizens of the country in which they reside; if they are, or become, owners of property there, or engage in commerce, they

Immunities and privileges.

Inviolability of

ings.

shall be subject to the same taxes and imposts, and, with the reservation of the treatment granted to Commercial Agents, to the same jurisdiction as other citizens of the country who are owners of property or merchants.

They may place on the outer door of their offices, or of their dwelling-houses, the arms of their nation, with an inscription in these words: Consul of the United States," or "Consul of France;" and they shall be allowed to hoist the flag of their country thereon.

They shall never be compelled to appear as witnesses before the courts. When any declaration for judicial purposes, or deposition, is to be received from them in the administration of justice, they shall be invited, in writing, to appear in court, and if unable to do so, their testimony shall be requested in writing, or be taken orally at their dwellings.

Consular Pupils shall enjoy the same personal privileges and immunities as Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents.

In case of death, indisposition, or absence of the latter, the Chancellors, Secretaries, and Consular Pupils attached to their offices shall be entitled to discharge ad interim the duties of their respective posts; and shall enjoy, while thus acting, the prerogatives granted to the incumbents.

604.. ARTICLE III.

The Consular offices and dwellings shall be inviolable. offices and dwell The local authorities shall not invade them under any pretext. In no case shall they examine or seize the papers there deposited. In no case shall those offices or dwellings be used as places of asylum.

605.. ARTICLE IV.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents, of both countries, shall have the right to complain to the authorities of their respective governments, whether federal or local, judicial or executive, throughout the extent of their Consular district, of any infraction of the treaties or conventions existing between the United States and France, or for the purpose of protecting informally the rights and interests of their countrymen, especially in cases of absence. Should there be no Diplomatic Agent of their nation, they shall be authorized, in case of need, to have recourse to the general or federal government of the country in which they exercise their functions.

606..ARTICLE V.

The respective Consuls-General and Consuls shall be free to establish, in such parts of their districts as they may see fit, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents, who may be taken indiscriminately from among Americans of the United States, Frenchmen, or citizens of other countries. These Agents, whose nomination, it is understood, shall be submitted to the approval of the respective governments, shall be provided with a certificate given to them by the Consul by whom they are named, and under whose orders they are to act.

607.. ARTICLE VI.

Vice-Consuls

and Consular Agents.

Declarations,

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents, shall have the right of taking at their protests, &c. offices or bureaus, at the domicile of the parties concerned, or on board ship, the declarations of captain, crews, passengers, merchants, or citizens of their country, and of executing there all requisite papers.

The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents shall have the right also to receive at their offices or bureaus, comformably to the laws and regulations of their country, all acts of agreement executed between the citizens of their own country and the citizens and inhabitants of the country in which they reside, and even all such acts between the latter, provided that these acts relate to property situated, or to business to be transacted, in the territory of the nation to which the Consul or the Agent before whom they are executed may belong.

ments.

Copies of such papers, duly authenticated by the Copies of docuConsuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents, and sealed with the official seal of their Consulate, or Consular Agency, shall be admitted in courts of justice throughout the United States and France, in like manner as the originals.

608.. ARTICLE VII.

In all the States of the Union whose existing laws Right to hold permit it, so long and to the same extent as the said property. laws shall remain in force, Frenchmen shall enjoy the right of possessing personal and real property by the same title and in the same manner as the citizens of the United States. They shall be free to dispose of it as they may please, either gratuitously, or for value received, by donation, testament, or otherwise, just as those citizens themselves; and in no case shall they be subjected to taxes on transfer, inheritance, or any