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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1782.
The plan of a convention respecting consular powers being re-considered and amended, was read over, together with instructions to the minister plenipotentiary of these United States respecting it, and the same were agreed to by nine states.
Resolved, That the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of Versailles be and he is hereby authorised and instructed, to enter into a convention with his Most Christian Majesty, on the part of the United States, for the establishment of consular powers and privileges, according to the scheme hereto subjoined; unless it shall be deemed by his Most Christian Majesty more expedient that the same should be executed in the United States.
That the said minister plenipotentiary use his discretion as to the words or arrangement of the convention, confining himself to the matter thereof in all respects, except as to so much of the sixth article as relates to the erection of a chapel; taking care that reciprocal provision be made for the recognition of the consuls and vice consuls of the United States, and for the admission
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of persons attached to the consulate to the privileges stipulated in the fifth article, in a manner most conducive to expedition and freest from difficulty.1
[Note 1: 1 This resolution and the consular convention following it were entered only in the manuscript Secret Journal, Foreign Affairs, and in Secret Journal, No. 4. A copy of the resolution in Charles Thomson's writing is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 25, II, folio 5.]
The Draft of a Convention between his Most Christian Majesty and the United States of North America, for defining and regulating the functions and privileges of Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents and Commissaries.
The Most Christian King and the United States of North America, having, by the twenty-ninth article of the treaty of amity and commerce concluded between them, granted mutually the liberty of having each in the ports of the other, consuls, vice consuls, agents and commissaries, and being willing, in consequence thereof, to determine and fix in a reciprocal and permanent manner the functions and prerogatives of the said consuls, vice consuls, agents and commissaries, respectively, have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE I.
It shall be the duty of the consuls of his Most Christian Majesty to present their commissions, in the first instance, to the United States in Congress assembled, by whom an act shall be made recognising them as such. This act shall be delivered by the consuls to the supreme executive power of the state or states to which they may be sent. Two copies of the exequatur, that is, a publick notification of the quality of the consuls, shall thereupon issue from the supreme executive power, without fees or perquisites of office, one to be retained by the consuls, the other to be published in one or more gazettes. This being done, the pre-eminences, authority and privileges, stipulated in this convention, shall be allowed to them in all places, before all tribunals, and by all persons.
ARTICLE II.
The consuls of his Most Christian Majesty and of the United States may appoint any number of vice consuls within their respective departments. Upon the notification of their appointment, by the consuls, to the supreme executive power of the state to which they may be sent, the exequatur shall be applied
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for and delivered by the several states to them, in the same manner as to consuls; and thereupon the pre-eminences, authority and privileges stipulated in this convention in favour of vice consuls, shall be allowed in all places, before all tribunals, and by all persons.
ARTICLE III.
Consuls and vice consuls shall be subjects or citizens of the power appointing them, and interdicted from all traffick or commerce for their own or another's benefit.
ARTICLE IV.
Consuls may also appoint any number of agents within their departments, who may be of their own nation, or not, at pleasure. They shall receive a commission from the consul appointing. They shall not assume any pre-eminence, authority or privilege herein granted to consuls or vice consuls, nor exact any fees or reward under any pretence whatever. But they shall confine themselves wholly to the assisting of merchants, mariners and vessels, and giving information respecting them to the nearest consul or vice consul.
ARTICLE V.
There may be attached to the consulate, at the will of the consuls within their departments, any number of persons. Neither the papers nor houses of consuls or vice consuls shall be searched. Consuls and vice consuls shall enjoy full and entire immunities for their persons, and be exempt from personal service, publick offices, finding quarters for soldiers, militia duty, watch, ward, guardianship, attorneyship, committeeship, and from all duties, taxes and imposts whatsoever, on moveable property; but shall be liable in respect of real and landed property in the same manner as the subjects or citizens of the country. The arms of his Most Christian Majesty or of the United States, as the case may be, shall be placed upon the outward door of their house; and being so placed, shall entitle the house to the exemptions aforesaid. But no asylum shall be thereby obtained for malefactors or criminals, who shall be delivered up immediately on demand. The same privileges and immunities as those granted in this fifth article to consuls and vice consuls, shall be granted to persons attached to the consulate and living under
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the same roof with the consuls or vice consuls; provided approbation shall be given of their number and appointment, by the supreme executive power of the state to which they may belong.
ARTICLE VI.
Consuls, and vice consuls in places where there are no consuls, may have a chapel in their houses for the celebration of divine service, according to their religious profession. And his Most Christian Majesty and the United States shall cause particular care to be taken that no obstacle or hindrance be thrown in the way of the funeral obsequies or ceremonies observed towards the deceased of either nation.
ARTICLE VII.
In all cases in which it may be necessary that the consuls or vice consuls should perform any juridical or official act, the publick bodies, or the persons in publick authority who shall require such act, shall either inform them thereof in writing, or send a military or civil officer with a verbal message respecting it: and the consuls or vice consuls shall, on their part, readily and bona fide do whatsoever may be demanded of them on these occasions.
ARTICLE VIII.
The consuls and vice consuls respectively may establish a chancery as a depository of the consular acts and deliberations, of effects left by the dead or saved from shipwreck, of testaments, obligations, contracts, and all other acts and things done by or between people of their nation. They may appoint the officers of the chancery, administer to them an oath of office, intrust to them the keeping of the seal, and the right of affixing the same to commissions, judgments and other consular acts; and empower them to discharge the functions of notaries and registers.
ARTICLE IX.
The consuls and vice consuls respectively shall have the exclusive right of receiving in their chancery, or on board of vessels of their nation, all the declarations and other acts which the captains, masters, seamen, passengers and merchants of their nation shall think proper to make or lodge therein; and last wills and testaments, and copies of any act duly authenticated by
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the consuls or vice consuls, and under the seal of their consulate, shall receive full faith and credit in all courts of justice as well in France as in the United States. They shall also have the exclusive right of inventorying the effects of those of their nation who may die within their consulate, liquidating their accounts, and selling their moveable property. They shall call to their assistance in this business two merchants of their own nation, and of their own choice, and cause to be deposited in the chancery the effects and papers of the deceased of their own nation, without being interrupted therein by any officer, military, judiciary, or of the police. But neither the consuls nor vice consuls shall deliver the effects of the deceased or the produce of their sales over to the heir or lawful successor, or his representative or attorney, until all the debts which the deceased shall have contracted by judgment, act or bill, shall be discharged: the signature or handwriting, and genuineness thereof being first certified by two merchants of the same nation with the deceased, and of reputation. In all other cases payment of no debt shall be made, unless the creditor shall first enter into a bond, with one sufficient surety at least, who is resident on the spot, for the return of all moneys unduly received, as well the principal as interest and costs: the surety shall not be bound beyond one year in time of peace, and two years in time of war. If, however, within those terms the creditor shall call upon the lawful representative or successor to the property of the deceased, by a proper legal process, and prove his title to the money so received, the surety shall stand discharged.
ARTICLE X.
The consuls and vice consuls respectively shall receive the declarations, consulats, or other consular acts, of all captains and masters of their respective nations, for damages received at sea by leakage or the throwing of goods overboard. And all consulats, or other consular acts made by them in foreign ports for accidents during the voyage, shall be lodged in the chancery aforesaid. If a subject of France and a citizen of the United States be jointly interested in the cargo, the damage shall be settled by the tribunals of the country, not by the consuls or vice consuls. But where subjects or citizens of their own nation are alone interested, the consul or vice consul shall then choose experienced persons of their respective nations to settle the same.
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ARTICLE XI.
In every case of a wreck, the nearest consul or vice consul may exercise his discretion in saving the vessel wrecked, with her cargo and appurtenances, and in storing and securing what is saved; and may also take an inventory thereof. In this business no officers of the customs, of justice, of the police, or naval officer, shall interfere, but upon application made to them for their assistance, in which case they shall exert themselves in the most effectual manner. To prevent all clashing of jurisdictions in case of shipwreck, it is agreed, that where thoro shall be no consul or vice consul, or they may be more distant from the place of the accident than a judge of the country having authority in such cases, this judge shall immediately proceed to the exercise of his authority according to law; but shall retire upon the coming of a consul or vice consul, into whose hands he shall put the whole business, rendering an account of his transactions, and receiving from the consul or vice consul reimbursement for all expences. Whatsoever is saved shall be lodged in the nearest customhouse or naval office, or where there is no customhouse or naval office, in the nearest place of security, with an inventory prepared by the consul or vice consul, or in their absence by the judge of the country as aforesaid. Upon the order of the nearest consul or vice consul, and without any fees or perquisites for storage when lodged in publick stores, the owner may reclaim the property so saved in person, or by attorney; and may either re-export the same free from all duties of exportation, or sell it in the country, if goods of such a quality be not prohibited. In this latter case of a sale of unprohibited goods, there shall be an abatement of the duties on importation, in proportion to the damages sustained by the shipwreck, to be determined by the account taken by the consul, vice consul or judge of the country, or any other competent officer at the time of the accident.
ARTICLE XII.
The consuls and vice consuls shall have, on board of the vessels of their respective nations, all power and jurisdiction in matters of a civil nature. They shall have the power of causing the laws, regulations, and ordinances of their respective nations, concerning navigation, to be observed on board of their said vessels. For this purpose they shall freely, and without any molestation or hindrance from any officer or other person, visit the said vessels.
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They may cause to be arrested and sequestered every vessel carrying the flag of their respective nations, and even send them back to France, or the United States, as the case may be, as well as arrest any captain, master, seaman or passenger of their respective nations. They may cause to be arrested and detained in the country, sailors and deserters of their respective nations, or cause them to be transported therefrom. It shall be sufficient evidence of the sailors and deserters belonging to their respective nations, if their names appear in the registers of the vessels, or the roll of their crew. Proof being thus made concerning sailors and deserters, all tribunals, judges and officers whatsoever, shall be interdicted and disabled from taking cognizance in any manner of complaints exhibited by such sailors or deserters. But they shall be delivered up to an order signed by the consuls or vice consuls, without being detained, engaged, or withdrawn in any manner. That these powers vested in consuls and vice consuls may be completely executed, all persons in authority shall assist them; and upon a simple requisition made by the consuls or vice consuls in writing, shall cause to be kept in prison, at the disposal and cost of the consuls or vice consuls, the sailors and deserters so arrested, until an opportunity shall be presented of sending them out of the country.
ARTICLE XIII.
All offences committed in France by a citizen of the United States against a subject of his Most Christian Majesty, shall be inquired into and punished according to the laws of France; and those committed in any one of the United States by a subject of his Most Christian Majesty, against a citizen of the United States, shall be inquired into and punished according to the laws of such state. But offences committed in France by a citizen of the United States, against a citizen of the United States, or committed in any one of the United States by a subject of his Most Christian Majesty, against a subject of his Most Christian Majesty, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the consuls and vice consuls of France, or of the United States, as the case may be.
ARTICLE XIV.
All differences and disputes between the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty in the United States, or between the citizens of the United States in France, and all differences and disputes
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concerning commerce between the subjects of his Most Christian Majesty, one party being resident in France or elsewhere, and another in the United States, or between citizens of the United States, one party being resident in the United States or elsewhere, and another in France, shall be heard, tried and decided on by the consuls or vice consuls of their respective nations, either by referring the same to arbitration, or by making a decree summarily, and without costs. No officer, civil or military, shall intermeddle or interpose herein in any respect. Appeals shall be carried to such courts as have been or may be appointed by his Most Christian Majesty, and the United States, respectively. No disputes or differences, between a subject of his Most Christian Majesty and a citizen of the United States, shall be determined or taken up in any manner by the consuls or vice consuls, but shall be decided by the courts of the country in which the defendant shall be found.
ARTICLE XV.
The advantages to commerce having caused the erection of certain tribunals in France, and particular forms for the speedy determination of commercial matters, the merchants of the United States shall enjoy the benefits of those establishments in France; and the United States in Congress assembled will recommend to the legislatures of the several states to establish equal advantages in the speedy decision of causes in favour of French merchants in matters of the same nature.
ARTICLE XVI.
The subjects of his Most Christian Majesty and the citizens of the United States shall be exempt from all personal services in the place of their residence, either in France or the United States, as the case may be. Whensoever any person in France or the United States, as the case may be, shall claim any privilege or exemption, as a subject of his Most Christian Majesty, or of the United States, before any judge, tribunal or officer whatsoever, a certificate of the consul or vice consul of the district containing his name, surname, and the place of his residence, and the affidavit of the person claiming such privilege or exemption, that he is a subject of his Most Christian Majesty, or of the United States, as the case may be, shall be sufficient evidence thereof, unless the contrary shall manifestly appear.
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ARTICLE XVII.
Conformably to the third and fourth articles of the treaty of amity and commerce between his Most Christian Majesty and the United States, if any other nation, by virtue of any convention whatsoever, shall receive greater indulgence, either in France or in the United States, with regard to consular powers, privileges, or authority, the consuls, vice consuls, agents and commissaries of France, and of the United States, as the case may be, shall participate therein.1
[Note 1: 1 A copy of this convention, in Charles Thomson's writing, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 25, II, folios 7--13.]
By the United States in Congress assembled. Philadelphia, January 25, 1782.
Signed, JOHN HANSON, President.
Attest.
Charles Thomson, Secretary.
The plan of the convention being agreed to, it was
Resolved, That it be recommended to the several legislatures of these United States, to provide by law for the establishment of a speedy mode of administering justice between subjects of his Most Christian Majesty and citizens of the United States: and for vesting persons in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, with power to secure shipwrecked property in the most effectual manner.2
[Note 2: 2 This resolution was also entered in the manuscript Secret Journal, Foreign Affairs.]
The committee, consisting of Mr. [William] Ellery, Mr. [Edmund] Randolph, Mr. [Richard] Law, Mr. N[oble] W[imberly] Jones and Mr. [George] Clymer, to whom was re-committed the report of a committee, on sundry letters and papers respecting the district of country, commonly known by the name of the New Hampshire Grants, delivered in their report; which was taken into consideration and debated.
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