His Majesty the Most Christian King, and the United States of America, having, by the twenty-ninth article of the treaty of amity and commerce concluded between them, mutually granted the liberty of having, in their respective States and ports, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries, and being willing, in consequence thereof, to define and establish, in a reciprocal and permanent manner, the functions and privileges of Consuls and Vice-Consuls, which they have judged it convenient to establish of preference, his M. C. Majesty has nominated the Sieur Count of Montmorin of St. Herent, Marechal of his Camps and Armies, Knight of his Orders and of the Golden Fleece, his Counsellor in all his Councils, Minister and Secretary of State, and of his Commandments and Finances, having the department of foreign affairs, and the United States have nominated Thomas Jefferson, citizen of the United States of America and their Minister Plenipotentiary near the King, who after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, have agreed on what follows:
Article I. The Consuls and Vice-Consuls named by the M. C. K. and the United States, shall be bound to present their commissions according to the forms which shall be established respectively by the M. C. K. within his dominions, and by the Congress within the United States; there shall be delivered to them, without any charges, the Exequatur necessary for the exercise of their functions; and on exhibiting the said Exequatur, the governors, commanders, heads of justice, bodies corporate, tribunals, and other officers having authority in the ports and places of their consulates, shall cause them to enjoy immediately, and without difficulty, the pre-eminences, authority, and privileges, reciprocally granted, without exacting from the said Consuls and Vice-Consuls any fee, under any pretext whatever.
Article II. The Consuls and Vice-Consuls, and persons attached to their functions, that is to say, their chancellors and secretaries, shall enjoy a full and entire immunity for their chancery and the papers which shall be therein contained: they shall be exempt from aU, personal service, from soldiers’ billets, militia, watch, guard, guardianship, trusteeship, as well as from all duties, taxes, impositions, and charges whatsoever, except on the estate real and personal of which they may be the proprietors or possessors, which shall be subject to the taxes imposed on the estates of all other individuals: and in all other instances they shall be subject to the laws of the land, as the natives are.
Those of the said Consuls and Vice-Consuls who shall exercise commerce, shall be respectively subject to all taxes, charges, and impositions established on other merchants.
They shall place over the outward door of their house the arms of their sovereign: but this mark of indication shall not give to the said house any privilege of asylum for any person or property whatsoever.
Article III. The respective Consuls and Vice-Consuls may establish agents in the different ports and places of their departments, where necessity shall require. These agents maybe chosen among the merchants, either national or foreign, and furnished with a commission from one of the said Consuls; they shall confine themselves respectively to the rendering to their respective merchants, navigators, and vessels, all possible service, and to inform the nearest Consul of the wants of the said merchants, navigators, and vessels, without the said agents otherwise participating in the immunities, rights, and privileges attributed to Consuls and Vice-Consuls, and without power, under any pretext whatever, to exact from the said merchants any duty or emolument whatsoever.
Article IV. The Consuls and Vice-Consuls respectively, may establish a chancery, where shall be deposited the consular determinations, acts, and proceedings, as also testaments, obligations, contracts, and other acts done by or between persons of their nation, and effects left by decedents, or saved from shipwreck.
They may, consequently, appoint fit persons to act in the said chancery, qualify and swear them in, commit to them the custody of the seal, and authority to seal commissions, sentences, and other consular acts, and also to discharge the functions of notaries and registers of the consulate.
Article V. The Consuls and Vice-Consuls respectively, shall have the exclusive right of receiving in their chancery, or on board their vessels, the declarations and all other the acts which the captains, masters, crews, passengers, and merchants of their nation may choose to make there, even their testaments and other disposals by last will: and the copies of the said acts, duly authenticated by the said Consuls or Vice-Consuls, 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.