one of the gazettes published within their consulate, and that they shall retain the said effects in their hands four months to answer all demands which shall be presented; and they shall be bound after this delay to deliver to the persons succeeding thereto, what shall be more than sufficient for the demands which shall have been formed. ARTICLE 6 The consuls and vice consuls respectively shall receive the declarations, protests, and reports of all captains and masters of their respective nation on account of average losses sustained at sea; and these captains and masters shall lodge in the chancery of the said consuls and vice consuls, the acts which they may have made in other ports on account of the accidents which may have happened to them on their voyage. If a subject of the Most Christian King and a citizen of the United States, or a foreigner, are interested in the said cargo, the average shall be settled by the tribunals of the country and not by the consuls or vice consuls; but when only the subjects or citizens of their own nation shall be interested, the respective consuls or vice consuls shall appoint skilful persons to settle the damages and average. ARTICLE 7 In cases where, by tempest or other accident, French ships or vessels shall be stranded on the coasts of the United States, and ships or vessels of the United States shall be stranded on the coasts of the dominions of the Most Christian King, the consul or vice consul nearest to the place of shipwreck shall do whatever he may judge proper, as well for the purpose of saving the said ship or vessel, its cargo, and appurtenances, as for the storing and the security of the effects and merchandise saved. He may take an inventory of them, without the intermeddling of any officers of the military, of the customs, of justice, or of the police of the country, otherwise than to give to the consuls, vice consuls, captain, and crew of the vessel shipwrecked or stranded, all the succor and favor which they shall ask of them, either for the expedition and security of the saving and of the effects saved, as to prevent all disturbance. And in order to prevent all kind of dispute and discussion in the said cases of shipwreck, it is agreed that when there shall be no consul or vice consul to attend to the saving of the wreck, or that the residence of the said consul or vice consul (he not being at the place of the wreck) shall be more distant from the said place than that of the competent judge of the country, the latter shall immediately proceed therein, with all the dispatch, certainty, and precautions prescribed by the respective laws; but the said territorial judge shall retire on the arrival of the consul or vice consul and shall deliver over to him the report of his proceedings, the expenses of which the consul or vice consul shall cause to be reimbursed to him, as well as those of saving the wreck. The merchandise and effects saved shall be deposited in the nearest customhouse, or other place of safety, with the inventory thereof, which shall have been made by the consul or vice consul, or by the judge who shall have proceeded in their absence, that the said effects and merchandise may be afterwards delivered (after levying therefrom the costs) and without form of process, to the owners, who, being furnished with an order for their delivery from the nearest consul or vice consul, shall reclaim them by themselves, or by their order, either for the purpose of reexporting such merchandise, in which case they shall pay no kind of duty of exportation, or for that of selling them in the country, if they be not prohibited there, and in this last case the said merchandise, if they be damaged, shall be allowed an abatement of entrance duties proportioned to the damage they have sustained, which shall be ascertained by the affidavits taken at the time the vessel was wrecked or struck. ARTICLE 8 The consuls or vice consuls shall exercise police over all the vessels of their respective nations and shall have on board the said vessels all power and jurisdiction in civil matters, in all the disputes which may there arise; they shall have an entire inspection over the said vessels, their crew, and the changes and substitutions there to be made, for which purpose they may go on board the said vessels whenever they may judge it necessary. Well understood that the functions hereby allowed shall be confined to the interior of the vessels, and that they shall not take place in any case which shall have any interference with the police of the ports where the said vessels shall be. ARTICLE 9 The consuls and vice consuls may cause to be arrested the captains, officers, mariners, sailors, and all other persons, being part of the crews of the vessels of their respective nation, who shall have deserted from the said vessels, in order to send them back and transport them out of the country; for which purpose the said consuls and vice consuls shall address themselves to the courts, judges, and officers competent, and shall demand the said deserters in writing, proving by an exhibition of the registers of the vessel or ship's roll 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; and there shall be given all aid and assistance to the said consuls and vice consuls for the search, seizure, and arrest of the said deserters, who shall even be detained and kept in the prisons of the country, at their request and expense, until they shall have found an opportunity of sending them back. But if they be not sent back within three 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. ARTICLE 10 In cases where the respective subjects or citizens shall have committed any crime or breach of the peace, they shall be amenable to the judges of the country. ARTICLE 11 When the said offenders shall be a part of the crew of a vessel of their nation and shall have withdrawn themselves on board the said vessel, they may be there seized and arrested by order of the judges of the country. These shall give notice thereof to the consul or vice consul, who may repair on board if he thinks proper; but this notification shall not in any case delay execution of the order in question. The persons arrested shall not afterwards be set at liberty until the consul or vice consul shall have been notified thereof; and they shall be delivered to him, if he requires it, to be put again on board of the vessel on which they were arrested, or of others of their nation, and to be sent out of the country. ARTICLE 12 All differences and suits between the subjects of the Most Christian King in the United States, or between the citizens of the United States within the dominions of the Most Christian King, and particularly all disputes relative to the wages and terms of engagement of the crews of the respective vessels, and all differences, of whatever nature they be, which may arise between the privates of the said crews, or between any of them and their captains, or between the captains of different vessels of their nation, shall be determined by the respective consuls and vice consuls, either by a reference to arbitrators or by a summary judgment, and without costs. No officer of the country, civil or military, shall interfere therein or take any part whatever in the matter; and the appeals from the said consular sentences shall be carried before the tribunals of France or of the United States, to whom it may appertain to take cognizance thereof. ARTICLE 13 The general utility of commerce having caused to be established within the dominions of the Most Christian King particular tribunals and forms for expediting the decision of commercial affairs, the merchants of the United States shall enjoy the benefit of these establishments; and the Congress of the United States will provide, in the manner the most conformable to its laws, for the establishment of equivalent advantages in favor of the French merchants, for the prompt dispatch and decision of affairs of the same nature. ARTICLE 14 The subjects of the Most Christian King and citizens of the United States who shall prove by legal evidence that they are of the said nations respectively, shall in consequence enjoy an exemption from all personal service in the place of their settlement. ARTICLE 15 If any other nation acquires, by virtue of any convention whatever, a treatment more favorable with respect to the consular preeminences, powers, authority, and privileges, the consuls and vice consuls of the Most Christian King or of the United States reciprocally shall participate therein, agreeable to the terms stipulated by the second, third, and fourth articles of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce concluded between the Most Christian King and the United States. ARTICLE 16 The present convention shall be in full force during the term of twelve years, to be counted from the day of the exchange of ratifications, which shall be given in proper form and exchanged on both sides within the space of one year, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof we, Ministers Plenipotentiary, have signed the present convention and have thereto set the seal of our arms. Done at Versailles the fourteenth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight. FRIENDSHIP AND COMMERCE Convention signed at Paris September 30, 1800, with additional article and provisos Senate advice and consent to ratification, with a proviso, February 3, 1801 1 Ratified by the President of the United States, with a proviso, February 18, 18011 Ratified by France, with a proviso, July 31, 1801 2 Ratifications exchanged at Paris July 31, 1801 Entered into force July 31, 1801 Senate resolution declaring convention fully ratified December 19, 1801 8 Stat. 178; Treaty Series 85 * CONVENTION BETWEEN THE FRENCH Republic and THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The Premier Consul of the French Republic in the name of the People of France, and the President of the United States of America, equally desirous to terminate the differences which have arisen between the two States, have respectively appointed their Plenipotentiaries, and given them full power to treat upon those differences and to terminate the same, that is to say, the Premier Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the People of France has appointed for the Plenipotentiaries of the said Republic, the Citizens, Joseph Bonaparte, Ex-Ambassador of the Republic at Rome, and Counsellor of State, Charles Pierre Claret Fleurieu, member of the national Institute, and of the Board of longitude of France, and Counsellor of State-President of the section of the Marine, and Pierre Louis Roederer, member of the national institute of France; and Counsellor of State-President of the Section of the The U.S. proviso called for deletion of the second article and the addition or insertion of the following article: "It is agreed that the present Convention shall be in force for the term of eight years from the time of the exchange of the Ratifications." In its instrument of ratification France consented to accept, ratify, and confirm the convention "with the addition importing that the convention shall be in force for the space of eight years and with the retrenchment of the second article: Provided, that by this retrenchment the two states renounce the respective pretentions which are the object of the said article." 3 For a detailed study of this convention, see 2 Miller 457. |