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Privileges exemptions.

ness.

and

ment they shall be permitted to enjoy the rights, prerogatives, and immunities granted by this convention.

653.. ARTICLE III.

Consular Officers, citizens, or subjects of the state by which they are appointed, shall be exempt from arrest, except in the case of offenses which the local legisla. tion qualifies as crimes, and punishes as such; from military billetings, from service in the militia or in the national guard, or in the regular army, and from all taxation, Federal, State, or municipal. If, however, they are citizens or subjects of the state where they reside, or own property, or engage in business there, they shall be liable to the same charges of all kinds as other citizens or subjects of the country who are merchants or owners of property.

654.. ARTICLE IV.

Consul as wit- No Consular Officer who is a citizen or subject of the state by which he was appointed, and who is not engaged in business, shall be compelled to appear as a witness before the courts of the country where he may reside. When the testimony of such a Consular Officer is needed he shall be invited in writing to appear in court, and, if unable to do so, his testimony shall be requested in writing, or be taken orally, at his dwelling or office.

Crimes.

Arms and flag.

It shall be the duty of said Consular Officer to comply with this request without any delay which can be avoided.

In all criminal cases contemplated by the sixth article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, whereby the right is secured to persons charged with crimes to obtain witnesses in their favor, the appearance in court of said Consular Officer shall be demanded, with all possible regard to the Consular dignity and to the duties of his office. A similar treatment shall also be extended to United States Consuls in Italy in the like cases.

655.. ARTICLE V.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of their offices, or of their dwelling-houses, the arms of their nation, with this inscription: "Consulate," or "Vice-Consulate," or "Consular Agency" of the United States, or of Italy, &c., &c. And they may also raise the flag of their country on their offices or dwellings, except in

the capital of the country, when there is a Legation there.

656..ARTICLE VI.

of

offices and dwell

The Consular Offices and dwellings shall be at all Inviolability times inviolable. The local authorities shall not, un- ings. der any pretext, invade them. 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. When, however, a Consular Officer is engaged in other business the papers relating to the Consulate shall be kept separate.

657.. ARTICLE VII.

of Consul.

In the event of the death, incapacity, or absence of Death or absence Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, their Chancellors or Secretaries, whose official character may have previously been made known to the Department of State at Washington, or to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Italy, may temporarily exercise their functions, and while thus acting they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives, and immunities granted to the incumbents.

658..ARTICLE VIII.

and

Vice-Consuls
Consular

Consuls-General and Consuls may, with the approbation of their respective governments, appoint Vice-Con- Agents. suls and Consular Agents in the cities, ports, and places within their Consular jurisdiction. These officers may be citizens of the United States, Italian subjects, or other foreigners. They shall be furnished with a commission by the Consul who appoints them, and under whose orders they are to act. They shall enjoy the privileges stipulated for Consular Officers in this Convention, subject to the exceptions specified in Articles III and IV.

659.. ARTICLE IX.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Infraction treaties. Agents may complain to the authorities of the respectjve countries, whether federal or local, judicial or local, udicial or executive, within their Consular district, of any infraction of the treaties and conventions between the United States and Italy, or for the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of their countrymen. If the complaint should not be satisfactorily redressed, the Consular Officers aforesaid, in the absence of a Diplomatic Agent of their country, may apply directly to the government of the country where they reside.

of

Declarations and

depositions.

Merchant-ves sels and desertions

660..ARTICLE X.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may take at their offices, at the residence of the parties, at their private residence, or on board ship, the depositions of the captains and crews of vessels of their own country, of passengers on board of them, and of any other citizen or subject of their nation. They may also receive at their offices, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country, all contracts between the citizens and subjects of their country, and the citizens, subjects, or other inhabitants of the country where they reside, and even all contracts between the latter, provided they relate to property situated or to business to be transacted in the territory of the nation to which said Consular Officer may belong. Copies of such papers, and official documents of every kind, whether in the original, copy, or translation, duly authenticated and legalized by the ConsulsGeneral, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, and sealed with their official seal, shall be received as legal documents in courts of justice throughout the United States and Italy.

661.. ARTICLE XI.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents shall have exclusive charge of the internal order of the merchant-vessels of their nation, and shall alone take cognizance of differences which may arise, either at sea or in port, between the captains, officers, and crews, without exception, particularly in reference to the adjustment of wages and the execution of contracts. Neither the Federal, State, or municipal authorities or courts in the United States, nor any court or authority in Italy, shall on any pretext interfere in these differences, but shall render forcible aid to Consular Officers, when they may ask it, to search, arrest, and imprison all persons composing the crew whom they may deem it necessary to confine. Those persons shall be arrested at the sole request of the Consuls, addressed in writing to either the Federal, State, or municipal courts or authorities in the United States, or to any court or authority in Italy, and supported by an official extract from the register of the ship, or the list of the crew, and shall be held during the whole time of their stay in the port at the disposal of the Consular Officers.

Their release shall be granted at the mere request of such officers, made in writing. The expenses of the arrest and detention of those persons shall be paid by the Consular Officers.

662.. ARTICLE XII.

sels.

In conformity with the act of Congress, (5th March, Disputes on ves1855, "to regulate the carriage of passengers on steamships and other vessels,") all disputes and differences of any nature between the captains and their officers on the one hand, and the passengers of their ships on the other, shall be brought to and decided by the circuit or district courts in the United States, to the exclusion of all other courts or authorities.

663.. ARTICLE XIII.

The respective Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may arrest the officers, sailors, and all other persons making part of the crew of ships of war or merchant-vessels of their nation who may be guilty, or be accused of having deserted said ships and vessels, for the purpose of sending them on board or back to their country. To that end the Consnls of Italy in the United States may apply in writing to either the Federal, State, or municipal courts or authorities; and the Consuls of the United States in Italy may apply to any of the competent authorities and make a request, in writing, for the deserters, supporting it by the exhibition of the register of the vessel and list of the crew, or by other official documents, to show that the persons claimed belonged to the said crew.

Upon such request alone, thus supported, and without the exaction of any oath from the Consular Officers, the deserters, not being citizens or subjects of the country where the demand is made at the time of their shipping, shall be given up. All the necessary aid and protection shall be furnished for the search, pursuit, seizure, and arrest of the deserters, who shall even be put and kept in the prisons of the country, at the request and expense of the Consular Officers, until there may be an opportunity for sending them away. If, however, such an opportunity should not present itself within the space of three months, counting from the day of the arrest, the deserter shall be set at liberty, nor shall he be again arrested for the same cause.

664.. ARTICLE XIV.

In the absence of an agreement to the contrary between the owners, freighters and insurers, all damages suffered at sea by the vessels of the two countries, whether they enter port voluntarily or are forced by stress of weather, shall be settled by the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents of the respective countries where they reside. If, how

Deserters.

Damages s uffered at sed.

Salvage.

Deaths of citi

Zelis

ever, any inhabitant of the country, or citizen or subject of a third power, shall be interested in the matter, and the parties caunot agree, the competent local authorities shall decide.

665..ARTICLE XV.

All proceedings relative to the salvage of American vessels wrecked upon the coasts of Italy, and of Italian vessels wrecked upon the coasts of the United States, shall be directed by the Consuls-General, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls of the two countries, respectively, and, until their arrival, by the respective Consular Agents, whenever an agency exists. In the places and ports where an agency does not exist, the local authorities, until the arrival of the Consul in whose district the wreck may have occurred, and who shall immediately be informed of the occurrence, shall take all necessary measures for the protection of persons and the preservation of property. The local authorities shall not otherwise interfere than for the maintenance of order, the protection of the interests of the salvors, if they do not belong to the crews that have been wrecked, and to carry into effect the arrangements made for the entry and exportation of the merchandise saved. It is understood that such merchandise is not to be subjected to any custom-house charges, unless it be intended for consumption in the country where the wreck may have taken place.

666.. ARTICLE XVI.

In case of the death of a citizen of the United States in Italy, or of an Italian subject in the United States, without having any known heirs or testamentary executor by him appointed, the competent local authorities shall inform the Consuls or Consular Agents of the nation to which the deceased belongs of the circumstance, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to parties interested.

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Consuls.

JAPAN.

Treaty concluded March 31, 1854, (Peace and Amity.)

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There shall be appointed by the government of the United States Consuls or Agents to reside in Simoda, at

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