of these respects, with any other or higher imposts or duties than those which are or may be paid by native citizens, subject always to the local laws and regulations of such territories. country in the terri In the event of any citizen of either of the two contracting parties Case of the death dying without will or testament in the territory of the other of a citizen of one contracting party, the Consul-General, Consul, or Vice-Contory of the other. sul, of the nation to which the deceased may belong, or, in his absence, the representative of such Consul-General, Consul, or ViceConsul, shall, so far as the laws of each country will permit, take charge of the property which the deceased may have left, for the benefit of his lawful heirs and creditors, until an executor or administrator be named by the said Consul-General, Consul, or Vice-Consul, or his representative. Compulsory military service. ARTICLE XI. The citizens of the United States of America residing in the territories of the Republic of Paraguay, and the citizens of the Republic of Paraguay residing in the United States of America, shall be exempted from all compulsory military service whatsoever, whether by sea or land, and from all forced loans or military exactions or requisitions; and they shall not be compelled to pay any charges, requisition, or taxes other or higher than those that are or may be paid by native citizens. Consuls. ARTICLE XII. It shall be free for each of the two contracting parties to appoint Consuls for the protection of trade, to reside in the territories of the other party; but before any Consul shall act as such, he shall, in the usual form, be approved and admitted by the Government to which he is sent; and either of the two contracting parties may except from the residence of Consuls such particular places as either of them may judge fit to be excepted. The Diplomatic Agentos and Consuls of the United States of America in the territories of the Republic of Paraguay, shall enjoy Their privileges, &c. whatever privileges, exemptions, and immunities are or may be there granted to the Diplomatic Agents and Consuls of any other nation whatever; and, in like manner, the Diplomatic Agents and Consuls of the Republic of Paraguay in the United States of America shall enjoy whatever privileges, exemptions, and immunities are or may be there granted to agents of any other nation whatever. Provisions in case of war. ARTICLE XIII. For the better security of commerce between the citizens of the United States of America and the citizens of the Republic of Paraguay, it is agreed that if at any time any interruption of friendly intercourse or any rupture should unfortunately take place between the two contracting parties, the citizens of either of the said contracting parties, who may be established in the territories of the other in the exercise of any trade or special employment, shall have the priv ilege of remaining and continuing such trade or employment therein without any manner of interruption, in full enjoyment of their liberty and property, as long as they behave peaceably and commit no offence against the laws; and their goods and effects, of whatever description they may be, whether in their own custody or intrusted to individuals or to the State, shall not be liable to seizure or sequestration, or to any other charges or demands than those which may be made upon the like effects or property belonging to native citizens. If, however, they prefer to leave the country, they shall be allowed the time they may require to liquidate their accounts and dispose of their property, and a safe conduct shall be given them to embark at the ports which they shall themselves select. Consequently, in the case referred to of a rupture, the public funds of the contracting States shall never be confiscated, sequestered, or detained. ARTICLE XIV. The citizens of either of the two contracting parties residing in the territories of the other shall enjoy, in regard to their houses, persons, and properties, the protection of the Government in as full and ample a manner as native citizens. Citizens of either country in the territory of the other. Religious liberty. In like manner the citizens of each contracting party shall enjoy, in the territories of the other, full liberty of conscience, and shall not be molested on account of their religious belief; and such of those citizens as may die in the territories of the other party shall be buried in the public cemeteries, or in places appointed for the purpose, with suitable decorum and respect. Rights of burial and worship. The citizens of the United States of America residing within the territories of the Republic of Paraguay shall be at liberty to exercise, in private and in their own dwellings, or within the dwellings or offices. of the Consuls or Vice-Consuls of the United States of America, their religious rites, services, and worship, and to assemble therein for that purpose without hindrance or molestation. ARTICLE XV. Duration of this The present treaty shall be in force during ten years, counted from the day of the exchange of the ratifications; and, further, until the end of twelve months after the Government of the treaty United States of America on the one part, or the Government of Paraguay on the other, shall have given notice of its intention to terminate the same. The Paraguayan Government shall be at liberty to address to the Government of the United States of America, or to its rep- Notice on the part resentative in the Republic of Paraguay, the official declara- of Paraguay. tion agreed upon in this article. ARTICLE XVI. The present treaty shall be ratified by His Excellency the President of the United States of America within the term of fifteen months, or earlier if possible, and by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Paraguay within twelve days from this date, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in Washington. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed it, and affixed thereto their seals. Done at Assumption this fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine. PERSIA. . PERSIA, 1856. TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND COMMERCE WITH PERSIA. CONCLUDED DECEMBER 13, 1856; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED JUNE 13, 1857; PROCLAIMED AUGUST 18, 1857. In the name of God, the clement and the merciful. Preamble. The President of the United States of North America, and His Majesty as exalted as the planet Saturn; the Sovereign to whom the sun serves as a standard; whose splendor and magnificence are equal to that of the skies; the Sublime Sovereign, the Monarch whose armies are as numerous as the stars; whose greatness calls to .mind that of Jeinshid; whose magnificence equals that of Darius; the heir of the crown and throne of the Kayanians; the Sublime Emperor of all Persia; being both equally and sincerely desirous of establishing relations of friendship between the two Governments, which they wish to strengthen by a treaty of friendship and commerce reciprocally advantageous and useful to the citizens and subjects of the two high contracting parties, have for this purpose named for their Plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States of North America, Carroll Spence, Minister Resident of the United States near the Sublime Negotiators. Porte; and His Majesty the Emperor of all Persia, His Excellency Emin ul Molk Farrukh Khan, Ambassador of His Imperial Majesty the Shah, decorated with the portrait of the Shah, with the great cordon blue, and bearer of the girdle of diamonds, &c., &c., &c., &c. And the said Plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in proper and due form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I. There shall be hereafter a sincere and constant good understanding between the Government and citizens of the United States of North America and the Persian Empire and all Persian Sincere and stant amity. subjects. con ARTICLE II. The Ambassadors or Diplomatic Agents whom it may please either of the two high contracting parties to send and maintain near Ambassadors. the other shall be received and treated, they and all those composing their missions, as the Ambassadors and Diplomatic Agents of the most favored nations are received and treated in the two respective countries; and they shall enjoy there, in all respects, the same prerogatives and immunities. ARTICLE III. The citizens and subjects of the two high contracting parties-travellers, merchants, manufacturers, and others-who may reside in the territory to be in the territory of either country, shall be respected and efficiently protected by the authorities of the country and Resident citizens protected. their agents, and treated in all respects as the subjects and citizens of the most favored nation are treated. They may reciprocally bring, by land or by sea, into either country, and expert from it, all kinds of merchandise and products, May engage in comand sell, exchange, or buy, and transport them to all places merce, in the territories of either of the high contracting parties. It being, however, understood that the merchants of either nation who shall engage in the internal commerce of either country shall be governed, in respect to such commerce, by the laws of the country in which such commerce is carried on; and in case either of the high contracting Powers shall hereafter grant other priviledges concerning such internal commerce to the citizens or subjects of other Governments, the same shall be equally granted to the merchants of either nation engaged in such internal commerce within the territories of the other. ARTICLE IV. Duties. The merchandise imported or exported by the respective citizens or subjects of the two high contracting parties shall not pay in either country, on their arrival or departure, other duties than those which are charged in either of the countries on the merchandise or products imported or exported by the merchants and subjects of the most favored nation, and no exceptional tax, under any name or pretext whatever, shall be collected on them in either of the two countries. ARTICLE V. Disputes. All suits and disputes arising in Persia between Persian subjects and citizens of the United States shall be carried before the Persian tribunal to which such matters are usually referred at the place where a Consul or Agent of the United States may reside, and shall be discussed and decided according to equity, in the presence of an employé of the Consul or Agent of the United States. All suits and disputes which may arise in the Empire of Persia between citizens of the United States shall be referred entirely for trial and for adjudication to the Consul or Agent of the United States residing in the province wherein such suits and disputes may have arisen, or in the province nearest to it, who shall decide them according to the laws of the United States. All suits and disputes occurring in Persia between the citizens of the United States and the subjects of other foreign Powers, shall be tried and adjudicated by the intermediation of their respective Consuls or agents. In the United States, Persian subjects, in all disputes arising between themselves, or between them and citizens of the United States or foreigners, shall be judged according to the rules adopted in the United States respecting the subjects of the most favored nation. Criminal offences. Persian subjects residing in the United States, and citizens of the United States residing in Persia, shall, when charged with criminal offences, be tried and judged in Persia and the United States in the same manner as are the subjects and citizens of the most favored nation residing in either of the above-mentioned countries. ARTICLE VI. In case of a citizen or subject of either of the contracting parties Effects of persons dying. dying within the territories of the other, his effects shall be delivered up integrally to the family or partners in business of the deceased; and in case he has no relations or partners, his effects in either country shall be delivered up to the Consul or agent of the nation of which the deceased was a subject or citizen, so that he may dispose of them in accordance with the laws of his country. Agent and three Consuls. ARTICLE VII. For the protection of their citizens or subjects, and their commerce Each Power may respectively, and in order to facilitate good and equitable have Diplomatic relations between the citizens and subjects of the two countries, the two high contracting parties reserve the right to maintain a Diplomatic Agent at either seat of government, and to name each three Consuls in either country; those of the United States shall reside at Teheran, Bender, Bushir, and Tauris; those of Persia, at Washington, New York, and New Orleans. Privileges of Con sule. The Consuls of the high contracting parties shall reciprocally enjoy in the territories of the other, where their residences shall be established, the respect, priviledges, and immunities granted in either country to the Consuls of the most favored nation. The Diplomatic Agent or Consuls of the United States shall not protect, secretly or publicly, the subjects of the Persian Government, and they shall never suffer a departure from the principles here laid down and agreed to by mutual consent. And it is further understood, that if any of those Consuls shall engage in trade, they shall be subjected to the same laws and usages to which private individuals of their nation engaged in commercial pursuits in the same place are subjected. And it is also understood by the high contracting parties, that the Diplomatic and Consular Agents of the United States shall not employ a greater number of domestics than is allowed by treaty to those of Russia residing in Persia. ARTICLE VIII. And the high contracting parties agree that the present treaty of friendship and commerce, cemented by the sincere good feeling and the confidence which exists between the Governments of the United States and Persia, shall be in force for the term of ten years from the exchange of its ratification; and if, before the expiration of the first ten years, neither of the high contracting parties shall have announced, by official notification to the other, its intention to arrest the operation of said treaty, it shall remain binding for one year beyond that time, and so on until the expiration of twelve months, which will follow a similar notification, whatever the time may be at which it may take place; and the Plenipotentiaries of the two high contracting parties further agree to exchange the ratifications of their respective governments at Constantinople in the space of six months, or earlier if practicable. In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries of the two high contracting parties have signed the present treaty, and have attached their seals to it. Done in duplicate in Persian and English, the thirteenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, and of the Hijéreh the fifteenth day of the moon of Rebiul Sany one thousand two hundred and seventy-three, at Constantinople. CARROLL SPENCE. [L. S.] EMIN UL MOLK FARRUKH KHAN. [L. S.] |