SWISS CONFEDERATION. SWISS CONFEDERATION, 1847. CONVENTION WITH THE SWISS CONFEDERATION FOR THE MUTUAL ABOLITION OF THE DROIT D'AUBAINE AND TAXES ON EMIGRATION. CONCLUDED MAY 18, 1847; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED AT WASHINGTON, MAY 3, 1848; PROCLAIMED MAY 4, 1848. Preamble. The President of the United States of America and the Federal Directory of the Swiss Confederation, animated by the desire to secure and extend by an amicable convention the relations happily existing between the two countries, have to this effect appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit: The President of the United States of America, James Buchanan, Secretary of State of the United States; and the Federal Directory of the Swiss Confederation, A. C. Cazenove, Swiss Consul at Alexandria; Negotiators. Who, after the exchange of their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and signed the following articles: ARTICLE I. Personal property. Heirs, &c The citizens of each one of the high contracting parties shall have power to dispose of their personal property within the jurisdiction of the other, either by testament, donation, or ab intestato, or in any other manner; and their heirs, being citizens of the other party, shall inherit all such personal estates, whether by testament or ab intestato, and they may take possession of the same, either personally or by attorney, and dispose of them as they may think proper, paying to the respective governments no other charges than those to which the inhabitants of the country in which the said property shall be found would be liable in a similar case; and in the absence of such heir, or heirs, the same care shall be taken of the property that would be taken in the like case for the heirs. preservation of the property of a citizen of the same country, until the lawful proprietor shall have had time to take measures for possessing himself of the same; and in case any dispute should arise between claimants to the same succession as to the property thereof, the question shall be decided according to the laws and by the judges of the country in which the property is situated. ARTICLE II. Property of absent Cases of dispute. Alien heirs. If, by the death of a person owning real property in the territory of one of the high contracting parties, such property should descend, either by the laws of the country or by testamentary disposition, to a citizen of the other party, who, on account of his being an alien, could not be permitted to retain the actual possession of such property, a term of not less than three years shall be allowed to him to dispose of such property, and to collect and withdraw the proceeds thereof, without paying to the Government any other charges than those which in a similar case would be paid by an inhabitant of the country in which such real property may be situated. Duration of this convention. ARTICLE III. The present convention shall be in force for the term of twelve years from the date hereof; and further, until the end of twelve months after the Government of the United States on the one part, or that of the Swiss Confederation on the other, shall have given notice of its intention of terminating the same. This convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington, within twelve months after its date, Ratifications. or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention, and have thereunto affixed their seals. Done at Washington, this eighteenth day of May, A. D. 1847, and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-first. JAMES BUCHANAN. [L. S.] L. S. SWISS CONFEDERATION, 1850. CONVENTION OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE, EXTRADITION, &c., WITH THE SWISS CONFEDERATION, CONCLUDED NOVEMBER 25, 1850; RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED NOVEMBER 8, 1855; PROCLAIMED NOVEMBER 9, 1855. The United States of America and the Swiss Confederation, equally animated by the desire to preserve and to draw more closely the bonds of friendship which so happily exist between the two Republics, as well as to augment, by all the means at their disposal, the commercial intercourse of their respective citizens, have mutually resolved to conclude a general convention of friendship, reciprocal establishments, commerce, and for the surrender of fugitive criminals. For this purpose they have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit: The President of the United States, A. Dudley Mann, Special Agent of the United States on a mission to the Swiss Confederation; and the Swiss Federal Council, Henry Druey, President of the Swiss Confederation, Director of the Political Department, and Frederick Frey-Hérosée, member of the Federal Council, Director of the Department of Commerce and of Tolls; Negotiators. Who, after a communication of their respective full powers, have agreed to the following articles: Citizens to be on a ARTICLE I. The citizens of the United States of America and the citizens of Switzerland shall be admitted and treated upon a footing of footing of equality. reciprocal equality in the two countries, where such admission and treatment shall not conflict with the constitutional or legal provisions, as well federal as State and cantonal, of the contracting parties. The citizens of the United States and the citizens of Switzerland, as well as the members of their families, subject to the constitutional and legal provisions aforesaid, and yielding obedience to the laws, regulations, and usages of the country wherein they reside, shall be at liberty to come, go, sojourn temporarily, domiciliate or establish themselves permanently, the former in the Cantons Liberties granted. of the Swiss Confederation, the Swiss in the States of the American Union, to acquire, possess, and alienate therein property, (as is explained in Article V ;) to manage their affairs; to exercise their profession, their industry, and their commerce; to have establishments; to possess warehouses; to consign their products and their merchandise, and to sell them by wholesale or retail, either by themselves or by such brokers or other agents as they may think proper; they shall have free access to the tribunals, and shall be at liberty to prosecute and defend their rights before courts of justice in the same manner as native citizens, either by themselves or by such advocates, attorneys, or other agents as they may think proper to select. No pecuniary or other more burdensome condition shall be imposed upon their residence or establishment, or upon the enjoyment of the above-mentioned rights, than shall be im posed upon citizens of the country where they reside, nor any condition whatever to which the latter shall not be subject. Restriction on said The foregoing privileges, however, shall not extend to the exercise of political rights, nor to a participation in the property of communities, corporations, or institutions of which the citi- liberties. zens of one party, established in the other, shall not have become members or co-proprietors. ARTICLE II. Taxes, The citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established in the other, shall be free from personal military service; but they shall be liable to the pecuniary or material contributions which may be required, by way of compensation, from citizens of the country where they reside, who are exempt from the said service. No higher impost, under whatever name, shall be exacted from the citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established in the other, than shall be levied upon citizens of the country in which they reside, nor any contribution whatsoever to which the latter shall not be liable. In case of war, or of expropriation for purposes of public utility, the citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established Indemnities for in the other, shall be placed upon an equal footing with the damages. citizens of the country in which they reside with respect to indemnities for damages they may have sustained. ARTICLE III. Citizers who wish or are compelled to return The citizens of one of the two Republics, residing or established in the other, who shall desire to return to their country, or who shall be sent thither by a judicial decision, by an act of police, or in conformity with the laws and regulations on morals and mendicity, shall be received at all times and under all circumstances, they, their wives, and their legitimate issue, in the country to which they belong, and in which they shall have preserved their rights in conformity with the laws thereof. ARTICLE IV. In order to establish their character as citizens of the United States of America, or as citizens of Switzerland, persons belonging to the two contracting countries shall be bearers of passports, Passports, &c or of other papers in due form, certifying their nationality, as well as that of the members of their family, furnished or authenticated by a diplomatic or consular agent of their nation, residing in the one of the two countries which they wish to inhabit. Property. ARTICLE V. The citizens of each one of the contracting parties shall have power to dispose of their personal property within the jurisdiction of the other, by sale, testament, donation, or in any other manner; and their heirs, whether by testament or ab intestato, or their successors, being citizens of the other party, shall succeed to the said property, or inherit it, and they may take possession thereof, either by themselves or by others acting for them; they may dispose of the same as they may think proper, paying no other charges than those to which the inhabitants of the country wherein the said property is situated shall be liable to pay in a similar case. In the absence of such heir, Property of de- heirs, or other successors, the same care shall be taken by ceased persons. the authorities for the preservation of the property that would be taken for the preservation of the property of a native of the same country, until the lawful proprietor shall have had time to take measures for possessing himself of the same. The foregoing provisions shall be applicable to real estate situated within the States of the American Union, or within the Cantons of the Swiss Confederation, in which foreigners shall be entitled to hold or inherit real estate. Real estate. But in case real estate situated within the territories of one of the contracting parties should fall to a citizen of the other party, who, on account of his being an alien, could not be permitted to hold such property in the State or in the Canton in which it may be situated, there shall be accorded to the said heir, or other successor, such term as the laws of the State or Canton will permit to sell such property; he shall be at liberty at all times to withdraw and export the proceeds thereof without difficulty, and without paying to the Government any other charges than those which in a similar case would be paid by an inhabitant of the country in which the real estate may be situated. ARTICLE VI. Any controversy that may arise among the claimants to the same succession, as to whom the property shall belong, shall be deamong claimants to cided according to the laws and by the judges of the country Controversies a succession. Consuls. in which the property is situated. ARTICLE VII. The contracting parties give to each other the privilege of having, Consuls and Vice- each, in the large cities and important commercial places of their respective States, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of their own appointment, who shall enjoy the same privileges and powers, in the discharge of their duties, as those of the most favored nations. But before any Consul [or Vice Consul] shall act as such, he shall, in the ordinary form, be approved of by the Government to which he is commissioned. In their private and business transactions, Consuls and Vice-Consuls shall be submitted to the same laws and usages as private individuals, citizens of the place in which they reside. Exequatur. It is hereby understood that in case of offence against the laws by a Consul or a Vice-Consul, the Government to which he is commissioned may, according to circumstances, withdraw his exequatur, send him away from the country, or have him punished in conformity with the laws, assigning to the other Government its reasons for so doing. The archives and papers belonging to the consulates shall be respected inviolably, and under no pretext whatever shall any magis- Archives, &c., to trate, or other functionary, visit, seize, or in any way inter- be inviolate. fere with them. ARTICLE VIII. Each nation to have rights of the most favored nation, respecting imports, In all that relates to the importation, exportation, and transit of their respective products, the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation shall treat each other, reciprocally, as the most favored nation, union of nations, State, or society, exports, and transit as is explained in the following articles. ARTICLE IX. of products. Neither of the contracting parties shall impose any higher or other duties upon the importation, exportation, or transit of the natural or industrial products of the other, than are or shall Duties. be payable upon the like articles, being the produce of any other country, not embraced within its present limits. ARTICLE X. Commercial privi In order the more effectually to attain the object contemplated in Article VIII, each of the contracting parties hereby engages not to grant any favor in commerce to any nation, union of leges. nations, State, or society, which shall not immediately be enjoyed by the other party. ARTICLE XI. Origin of products. Should one of the contracting parties impose differential duties upon the products of any nation, the other party shall be at liberty to determine the manner of establishing the origin of its own products, destined to enter the country by which the differential duties are imposed. ARTICLE XII. Commerce. The Swiss territory shall remain open to the admission of articles. arriving from the United States of America; in like manner, no port of the said States shall be closed to articles arriving from Switzerland, provided they are conveyed in vessels of the United States, or in vessels of any country having free access to the ports of said States. Swiss merchandise arriving under the flag of the United States, or under that of one of the nations most favored by them, shall pay the same duties as the merchandise of such nation; under any other flag it shall be treated as the merchandise of the country to which the vessel belongs. In case of shipwreck and of salvage on the coasts of the United States, Swiss merchandise shall be respected and treated as that belonging to citizens of the said States. Shipwreck. The United States consent to extend to Swiss products, arriving or |