establish a chancery, where shall be deposited the consular acts and deliberations, all effects left by deceased persons, or saved from shipwreck, as well as testaments, obligations, contracts, and in general all the acts and proceedings done between or by persons of their

nation.

They may in consequence appoint for the business of the said chancery capable persons, receive them, administer an oath to them, give to them the keeping of the seal, and the right of sealing commissions, judgments, and other acts of the consulate, as well as there to discharge the functions of notaries and registers.

ARTICLE VII. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, respectively, shall have the exclusive right of receiving in their chancery, or on board of vessels, the declarations and all the other acts which the captains, masters, seamen, passengers, and merchants of their nation would make there, even their testaments, and other dispositions of last will; and the copies of the said acts, duly authenticated by the said Consuls or Vice Consuls, and under the seal of their consulate, shall receive faith in law in all the tribunals of France and the United States.

They shall have, also, and exclusively, the right to inventory, liquidate, and proceed to the sale of the moveable effects of the estates left by subjects of their nation who shall die within the extent of their consulate. They shall proceed therein with the assistance of two merchants of their said nation, of their own choosing, and shall deposit in their chancery the effects and papers of the said estates; and no officer, military or civil, or of the police of the country, shall trouble them, or interfere therein, in any manner whatsoever. But the said Consuls and Vice Consuls shall not deliver up the same and their product to the lawful heirs or their attorneys, until they shall have discharged all the debts which the deceased shall have contracted in the country, by judgment, by acts, or by notes, the writing and signing of which shall be known and certified by two principal merchants of the nation of the said deceased; and in all other cases the payment of debts cannot be ordered but on the creditors giving sufficient and local security to repay the sums unduly received, principal, interest, and costs; which securities, however, shall remain duly discharged after a year in time of peace, and two years in time of war, if the demand in discharge cannot be formed before these delays against the heirs which shall present themselves. ARTICLE VIII. The respective Consuls and Vice Consuls shall

receive the declarations, "consulats," and other consular acts, from all captains and masters of their respective nations, on account of average, losses sustained at sea by leakage or throwing merchandize overboard; and these captains and masters shall leave in the chancery of the said Consuls and Vice Consuls the "consulats," and other consular acts which they may have had made in other ports on account of the accidents which may have happened to them on their voyage. If a subject of his most Christian Majesty and a citizen of the United States are interested in the said cargo, the average shall be fixed by the tribunals of the country, and not by the Consuls or Vice Consuls; and the tribunals shall admit the acts and declarations, if any should have been passed before the said Consuls and Vice Consuls; but when only the subjects of their own nation, or foreigners, shall be interested, the respective Consuls or Vice Consuls, and in case of their absence or distance, their agents furnished with their commission, shall officially nominate skilful persons of their said nation to regulate the damages and averages.

ARTICLE IX. In case, by storm or other accidents, French ships or vessels shall run ashore on the coasts of the United States, and the ships and vessels of the United States shall run ashore on the coasts of France, 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 security of the effects and merchandize saved. He may take an inventory, without any officers military, of the custom-house, justices, or the police of the country interfering, otherwise than to facilitate to the Consuls, Vice Consuls, captain and crew of the vessel shipwrecked or run ashore, all the assistance and favor which they shall ask, either for the celerity and security of the salvage and effects saved, or to prevent all disturbances.

To prevent even any kind of dispute and discussion in the said cases of shipwreck, it has been agreed that where no Consul or Vice Consul shall be found to attend to the salvage, or that the residence of the said Consul or Vice Consul (he not being at the place of shipwreck) shall be further distant from the said place than that of the competent territorial judge, the latter shall immediately there proceed therein with all the celerity, safety, and precautions prescribed by the respective laws; but the said territorial judge shall retire on the coming of the Consul or Vice Consul, and shall resign to him

the procedures by him done, the expenses of which the Consul or Vice Consul shall cause to be reimbursed to him.

The merchandize and effects saved shall be deposited in the custom-house, or other nearest place of safety, with the inventory of them, which shall be made by the Consul or Vice Consul, or, in their absence, by the judge who shall have had cognizance thereof, and the said merchandizes and effects shall be afterwards delivered, after levying therefrom the costs, and without form of process to the proprietors, who, being furnished with a replevy from the nearest Consul or Vice Consul, shall reclaim them by themselves, or by their attorneys, either for the purpose of reëxporting the merchandizesand in that case they shall pay no kind of duties of exportation-or for the purpose of selling them in the country, if they are not prohibited; and in this latter case, the said merchandizes being averaged, there shall be granted them an abatement of the entrance duties proportioned to the damage sustained, which shall be ascertained by the verbal process formed at the time of the shipwreck, or of the vessel's running ashore.

ARTICLE X. The Consuls and Vice Consuls shall have on board of the vessels of their respective nations full power and jurisdiction in matters civil. They shall cause to be executed the respective laws, ordinances, and rules concerning navigation on board of the said vessels, and for this purpose they shall go there without being interrupted by any officer or other person whatsoever.

They may cause to be arrested every vessel carrying the flag of their respective nation; they may sequester them, and even send them back respectively from the United States to France, or from France to the United States; they may cause to be arrested, without difficulty, every captain, master, sailor, or passenger of their said respective nation.

They may cause to be arrested or detained in the country the sailors and deserters of their respective nations, or send them back or transport them out of the country.

It shall be a sufficient proof that the sailors and deserters belong to one of the respective nations that their names be written in the ship's register or inserted in the roll of the crew.

One and the other of these proofs concerning sailors and deserters being thus given, no tribunals, judges, or officers whatsoever shall, in any manner whatever, take cognizance of the complaints which

the said sailors and deserters may make, but they shall, on the contrary, be delivered up on an order signed by the Consul or Vice Consul, without its being in any one's power in any manner to detain, engage, or withdraw them. And to attain to the complete execution of the arrangements contained in this article, all persons having authority shall be bound to assist the said Consuls and Vice Consuls, and on a simple requisition signed by them, they shall cause to be detained and guarded in prison, at the disposal and expense of the said Consuls and Vice Consuls, the said sailors and deserters until they shall have an opportunity to send them out of the country.

ARTICLE XI. In cases where the respective subjects shall have committed any crime, they shall be amenable to the judges of the country.

ARTICLE XII. All differences and suits between the subjects of his most Christian Majesty settled in the United States, or between the citizens and subjects of the United States settled in France, and all differences and suits concerning commerce between the subjects of his most Christian Majesty and one of the parties residing in France or elsewhere, and the other in the United States, or between the citizens and subjects of the United States, one of the parties residing in the United States or elsewhere, and the other in France, shall be determined by the respective Consuls, either by a reference to arbitration or by a summary judgment and without costs.

No officer, civil or military, shall interfere or take any part whatever in the affair. Appeals shall be carried before the tribunals of France or the United States, to whom it may appertain to take cognizance thereof. The Consuls or Vice Consuls shall not take cognizance of disputes or differences which shall arise betwixt a subject of his most Christian Majesty and a citizen of the United States; but the said disputes shall be brought before the tribunals to which the defendant shall be amenable.

ARTICLE XIII. The general utility of commerce having caused to be established in France tribunals and particular forms to accelerate the decision of commercial affairs, the merchants of the United States shall enjoy the benefit of these establishments in France, and the Congress of the United States shall recommend to the Legislatures of the different States to provide equivalent advantages in favor of the French merchants, for the prompt despatch and decision of affairs of the same nature.

ARTICLE XIV. The subjects of his most Christian Majesty and those of the United States, who shall prove that they belong to the body of their respective nations, by the certificate of the Consul or Vice Consul of the districts, mentioning their names, surnames, and place of their settlement, as inscribed in the registers of the consulate, shall not lose, for any cause whatever, in the respective domains and States, the quality of subjects of the country of which they originally were, conformably to the 11th article of the treaty of amity and commerce, of the 6th February, 1778, of which the present article shall serve as an interpretation in case of necessity, and the said subjects respectively shall enjoy, in consequence, exemption from all personal service in the place of their settlement.

ARTICLE XV. If any other nation acquires, by virtue of any convention whatever, either in France or in the United States, a treatment more favorable with respect to the consular preeminences, powers, authority, and privileges, the Consuls, Vice Consuls, and Agents of his most Christian Majesty or the United States, reciprocally shall participate therein, agreeable to the terms stipulated therein, agreeable to the terms stipulated by the 2d, 3d, and 4th articles of the treaty of amity and commerce, concluded between his most Christian Majesty and the United States.

ARTICLE XVI. The ratification of the present convention shall be given in proper form, and exchanged on both sides within the space of six months, or sooner if possible.

In faith whereof, we, the underwritten Ministers Plenipotentiaries of his most Christian Majesty and the United States of North America, have signed the present convention, and have thereto affixed the seal of our arms.

Done at Versailles, the 29th July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four.

GRAVIER DE VERGENNES,
B. FRANKLIN.

Faithfully translated from the original, by

JOHN PINTARD.

REPORT OF SECRETARY JAY, RESPECTING FRENCH AND AMERICAN

CONSULS.

Office for Foreign Affairs, July 4, 1786.

The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign