1855 ÉTATS-UNIS D'AMÉRIQUE ET PAYS-BAS.

Traité sur les consuls, conclu entre les États-Unis d'Amérique et les Pays-Bas, signé à La Haye, le 22 Janvier 1855.

ART. I. Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States of America will be admitted into all the ports of the transmarine possessions or Colonies of the Netherlands, which are open to the vessels of all nations.

ART. II. The Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States of America are considered as commercial agents, protectors of the maritime commerce of their countrymen in the ports within the circumference of their consular districts.

They are subject to the laws both civil and criminal of the country, in which they reside; with such exceptions as the present convention establishes in their favour.

ART. III. The Consuls-General and Consuls before being admitted to exercise their functions and to enjoy the immunities attached thereto, must present a commission in due form to the Government of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.

After having obtained the exequatur which shall be contersigned as promptly as possible by the Governor of the Colony, the said Consular Agents shall be entitled to the protection of the Government and to the assistance of the local authorities in the free exercise of their functions.

The Government in granting the exequatur, reserves the right of withdrawing the same, or to cause it to be withdrawn by the Governor of the Colony, on a statement of the reasons for doing so.

ART. IV. The Consuls-General and Consuls are authorized to place on the outer door of their consulates the arms of their Government, with the inscription: « Consulate of the United States of America »><.

It is well understood, that this outward mark shall never be considered, as conferring the right of asylum, nor as having the power to exempt the house and those dwelling therein from the prosecution of the local justice.

ART. V. It is nevertheless understood, that the archives and do- 1855 cuments relating to the affairs of the consulate shall be protected against all search, and that no authority or magistrate shall have the power under any pretext whatever to visit or seize them or to examine their contents.

ART. VI. The Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls shall not be invested with any diplomatic character. When a request is to be addressed to the Netherland Government, it must be done through the medium of the diplomatic agent residing at the Hague, if one be there. The Consul may in case of urgency apply to the Governor of the Colony himself, showing the urgency of the case, and stating the reasons, why the request can not be addressed to the subordinate authorities, or that previous applications made to such authorities have not been attended to.

ART. VII. Consuls-General and Consuls shall be free to establish Vice-Consuls in the ports mentioned in article I and situated in their consular districts.

The Vice-Consuls may be taken indiscriminately from among the subjects of the Netherlands, or from citizens of the United States, or of any other country, residing or having the privilege according to the local laws to fix their residence in the port to which the ViceConsul shall be named.

These Vice-Consuls whose nomination shall be submitted to the approval of the Governor of the Colony, shall be provided with a certificate given to them by the Consul under whose orders they exercise their functions.

The Governor of the Colony may in all cases withdraw from the Vice-Consuls the aforesaid sanction, in communicating to the Consul-General or Consul of the respective district, the motives for his doing so.

ART. VIII. Passports delivered or signed by Consuls or Consular Agents do not dispense the bearer from providing himself with all the papers required by the local laws, in order to travel or to establish himself in the Colonies.

The right of the Governor of the Colony to prohibit the residence in, or to order the departure from the Colony of any person, to whom a passport may have been delivered, remains undisturbed.

ART. IX. When a ship of the United States is wrecked upon the coast of the Dutch Colonies, the Consul-General, Consul or ViceConsul, who is present at the scene of the disaster, will in case of

1855 the absence, or with the consent of the captain or supercargo, take all the necessary measures for the salvage of the vessel, the cargo and all that appertains to it.

In the absence of the Consul-General, Consul or Vice-Consul, the Dutch authorities of the place where the wreck has taken place, will act in the premises, according to the regulations prescribed by the laws of the Colony.

ART. X. Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls may, in so far, as the extradition of deserters from merchant vessels or ships of war shall have been stipulated by treaty, request the assistance of the local authorities for the arrest, detention and imprisonment of deserters from vessels of the United States. To this end they shall apply to the competent functionaries and claim said deserters in writing proving by the register of the vessel, the list of the crew or by any other authentic document, that the persons claimed belonged to the crew.

The reclamation being thus supported, the local functionaries shall exercise what authority they possess, in order to cause the deserters to be delivered up.

The deserters being arrested, shall be placed at the disposal of said Consuls and may be confined in the public prisons at the request, and at the expense of those who claim them, in order that they may be taken to the vessels, to which they belong or to other vessels of the same nation. But if they are not sent back within four months, from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty and shall not again be arrested for the same cause.

It is understood however, that if the deserter be found to have committed any crime, offence or contravention, his extradition may be delayed, until the court having cognizance of the matter shall have pronounced its sentence and the same has been carried into execution.

ART. XI. In case of the death of a citizen of the United States without having any known heirs or testamentary executors, the Dutch authorities who according to the laws of the Colonies are charged with the administration of the estate, will inform the Consuls or Consular Agents of the circumstance, in order that the necessary information may be forwarded to parties interested.

ART. XII. The Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls have in that capacity, in so far as the laws of the United States of America allow it, the right to be named arbiters in the differences, which may arise between the masters and the crews of the vessels, belonging to the United States, and this without the inter

ference of the local authorities, unless the conduct of the crew 1855 or of the captain should have been such as to disturb the order and tranquillity of the country or that the Consuls-General, Consuls or Vice-Consuls should request the assistance of the said authorities, in order to carry out their decisions or to maintain their authority.

It is understood however that this decision or special arbitrement is not to deprive on their return the parties in litigation of the right of appeal to the judiciary authorities of their own country.

ART. XIII. The Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls, A who are not subjects of the Netherlands, who at the time of their appointment are not established as residents in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or its Colonies, and who do not exercise any calling, profession or trade, besides their Consular functions, are, in so far as in the United States the same privileges are granted to the Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the Netherlands, exempt from military billetings, from personal taxation and moreover from all public or municipal taxes, which are considered of a personal character, so that this exemption shall never extend to customhouse-duties or other taxes, whether indirect or real.

The Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls, who are not natives or recognized subjects of the Netherlands, but who may exercise conjointly with their Consular functions, any profession or trade whatever, are obliged to fulfill duties and pay taxes and contributions like all Dutch subjects and other inhabitants.

Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls, subjects of the Netherlands, but to whom it has been accorded to exercise Consular functions, conferred by the Government of the United States of America, are obliged to fulfill duties and pay taxes and contributions like all Dutch subjects and other inhabitants.

ART. XIV. The Consuls-General, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States shall enjoy all such or other privileges, exemptions and immunities in the Colonies of the Netherlands, as may at any future time be granted to the agents of the same rank of the most favoured nation.

ART. XV. The present convention shall remain in force for the space of five years from the day of the exchange of the ratifications, which shall take place within the delay of twelve months or sooner if possible.

In case neither of the contracting parties gives notice twelve months before the expiration of the said period of five years, of

1855 its intentions not to renew this convention, it shall remain in force a year longer, and so on from year to year, until the expiration of a year from the day on which one of the parties shall give such notice.

In witness whereof, etc.

ESPAGNE ET OLDENBOURG.

Publication du gouvernement grand-ducal d'Oldenbourg, relative au commerce et à la navigation avec l'Espagne, en date du 24 Janvier 1855.

Regierungs-Bekanntmachung, betreffend die Gleichstellung der Spanischen Schiffe mit den Oldenburgischen, rücksichtlich der Hafen- und Schiffahrts-Abgaben.

Da gegen diesseitige Zusicherung der Gegenseitigkeit von der Königl. Spanischen Regierung die Anordnung getroffen ist, dass die Oldenburgischen Schiffe in den Häfen des Königreichs Spanien und der anliegenden Inseln hinsichtlich der Hafen- und SchiffahrtsAbgaben den Spanischen Schiffen völlig gleich behandelt werden sollen, so wird dies hierdurch zur Kunde der die Häfen des Königreichs Spanien und der anliegenden Inseln besuchenden hiesigen Seefahrer gebracht, und werden zugleich alle Erheber solcher Hafen- und Schiffahrts-Abgaben an den hiesigen Hafenplätzen und Küsten angewiesen, rücksichtlich derselben die Spanischen Schiffe den Oldenburgischen völlig gleich zu behandeln.