the said acts, duly authenticated by the said Consuls or viceConsuls, under the seal of their consulate, shall receive faith in law, equally as their originals would, in all the tribunals of the dominions of the M. C. King and of the United States.

They shall also have, and exclusively, in case of the absence of the testamentary executor, guardian or lawful representative, the right to inventory, liquidate, and proceed to the sale of the personal estate left by subjects or citizens 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, or, for want of them, of any other at their choice, and shall cause to be deposited in their chancery the effects and papers of the said estates; and no officer, military, judiciary, or of the police of the country, shall disturb them or interfere therein in any manner whatsoever : but the said Consuls and vice-Consuls shall not deliver up the said effects, nor the proceeds thereof, to the lawful representatives or to their order, till they shall have caused to be paid all debts which the deceased shall have contracted in the country; for which purpose the creditor shall have a right to attach the said effects in their hands, as they might in those of any other individual whatever, and proceed to obtain sale of them, till payment of what shall be lawfully due to them. When the debts shall not have been contracted by judgment, deed or note, the signature whereof shall be known, payment shall not be ordered, but on the creditor's giving sufficient surety resident in the country, to refund the sums he shall have unduly received, principal, interest and costs; which surety, nevertheless, shall stand duly discharged after the term of one year, in time of peace, and of two in time of war, if the discharge cannot be formed before the end of this term, against the representatives who shall present themselves.

And in order that the representatives may not be unjustly kept out of the effects of the deceased, the Consuls and viceConsuls shall notify his death in some one of the gazettes published within their consulate, and that they shall retain the said effects in their hands four months, to answer all just 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 VI. The Consuls and vice-Consuls, respectively, shall receive the declarations, protests and reports, of all captains and masters of their respective nations, 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 M. C. K. 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 VII. 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 M. C. K., 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 vessels shipwrecked or stranded, all the succour 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 Custom-house, 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 viceConsul, shall reclaim them by themselves, or by their order, either for the purpose of re-exporting 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 prohi bited 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 VIII. The Consuls and 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 vessel shall be.

Article IX. 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 nations, 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 X. 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 XI. 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 XII. All differences and suits between the subjects of the M. C. K. in the U. S. or between the citizens of the United States within the dominions of the M. C. K., 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 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 XIII. The general utility of commerce having caused to be established within the dominions of the M. C. K, particular tribunals and forms for expediting the decision of commercial affairs, the merchants of the U. S. shall enjoy the benefit of these establishments; and the Congress of the U. S. will provide in the manner the most conformable to its laws, 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 the M. C. K. and citizens of the U. S. 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 XV. If any other nation acquires, by virtue of any convention whatever, a treatment more favorable with respect to the consular pre-eminences, powers, authority and privileges, the Consuls and vice-Consuls of the M. C. K. or of the U. S. reciprocally, shall participate therein, agreeably to the terms stipulated by the second, third, and fourth articles of the treaty of amity and commerce, concluded between the M. C. K. and the U. S.

Article XVI. 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 14th of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight.

My last to you was of the 31st of July; since which, I have received yours of July the 24th, August the 10th and 23rd. The first part of this long silence in me was occasioned by a knowledge that you were absent from New York; the latter part, by a want of opportunity, which has been longer than usual. Mr. Shippen being just arrived here, and to set out to-morrow for London, I avail myself of that channel of conveyance. Mr. Carrington was so kind as to send me the second volume of the American Philosophical Transactions, the Federalist, and some other interesting pamphlets; and I am to thank you for another copy of the Federalist, and the report of the instructions to the ministers for negotiating peace. The latter, unluckily, omitted exactly the passage I wanted, which was what related to the navigation of the Mississippi. With respect to the Federalist, the three authors had been named to me. I read it with care, pleasure and improvement, and was satisfied there was nothing in it