ARTICLE II. It is reciprocally agreed on the part of the United States, in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the United States Tariff Act of 1897, that the rates of duty heretofore imposed and collected, under the said Act, on Champagne and all other French sparkling wines upon entering the United States and the Island of Porto Rico shall be conditionally suspended and, instead, the following duties shall be imposed and collected, to wit: On Champagne and all other sparkling wines, in bottles containing not more than one quart and more than one pint, six dollars per dozen; containing not more than one pint each and more than onehalf pint, three dollars per dozen; containing one-half pint each or less, one dollar and fifty cents per dozen; in bottles or other vessels containing more than one quart each, in addition to six dollars per dozen bottles on the quantities in excess of one quart, at the rate of one dollar and ninety cents per gallon. But it is expressly understood that this concession may be withdrawn in the discretion of the President of the United States whenever additional duties beyond those now existing and which may be deemed by him unjust to the commerce of the United States shall be imposed by France on products of the United States. ARTICLE III. It is further agreed that, inasmuch as complaints have arisen in both countries regarding the effect of the regulations in force in the respective countries affecting the admission of each other's products. and to the end that if there be in the regulations of either country any provisions which unnecessarily restrict trade, such provisions may be modified, and the cause of complaint removed, a commission of three experts shall be appointed by the Government of the United States and a like commission of three experts shall be appointed by the Government of France. Such Commissions shall in conference each with the other inquire into and ascertain fully the existing conditions in each country as bearing upon the necessity of the regulations affecting the trade of the other country and as bearing upon the practicability of reciprocal tariff concessions. Each commission shall report to its own Government thereon. It is further agreed that upon the basis of the report so made the two Governments shall enter upon an exchange of views to the end that if possible all cause of complaint in their respective regulations regarding the admission of any of the products of either country to the other may be removed. ARTICLE IV. This additional Agreement shall take effect and be in force on and after the first day of February, one thousand nine hundred and eight, and shall continue in force so long as the Agreements signed on May 28, 1898, and August 20, 1902, shall remain in force. Done in duplicate in English and French texts at Washington. this twenty-eighth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and eight. ELIHU ROOT [SEAL] 1908.. ARBITRATION CONVENTION. Signed at Washington February 10, 1908; ratification advised by the Senate February 19, 1908; ratified by the President February 27, 1908; ratifications exchanged at Washington March 12, 1908; proclaimed March 14, 1908. I. Differences to be submitted. II. Special agreement. ARTICLES. III. Ratification. The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the French Republic, signatories of the Convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes, concluded at The Hague on the 29th July, 1899; Taking into consideration that by Article XIX of that Convention the High Contracting Parties have reserved to themselves the right of concluding Agreements, with a view to referring to arbitration all questions which they shall consider possible to submit to such treatment, Have authorized the Undersigned to conclude the following arrangement: ARTICLE I. Differences which may arise of a legal nature, or relating to the interpretation of treaties existing between the two Contracting Parties, and which it may not have been possible to settle by diplomacy, shall be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration established at The Hague by the Convention of the 29th July, 1899, provided, nevertheless, that they do not affect the vital interests, the independence, or the honor of the two Contracting States, and do not concern the interests of third Parties. ARTICLE II. In each individual case the High Contracting Parties, before appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, shall conclude a pecial Agreement defining clearly the matter in dispute, the scope of the powers of the Arbitrators, and the periods to be fixed for the formation of the Arbitral Tribunal and the several stages of the procedure. It is understood that on the part of the United States such special agreements will be made by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and on the part of France they will be subject to the procedure required by the constitutional laws of France. ARTICLE III. The present Convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; it shall become effective on the day of such ratificaion, and shall remain in force for a period of five years thereafter. Done in duplicate in the English and French languages, at Washngton, this tenth day of February, in the year 1908. ELIHU ROOT [SEAL] [SEAL] GERMAN EMPIRE. The formation of the German Empire in 1871 by the consolidation of the North German Union, etc., has in some instances abrogated the treaties entered into with the independent German governments now embraced in the Empire, but reference is here given to all the separate governments with which treaties have been concluded. See Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Brunswick and Lüneberg, Hanover, Hanseatic Republics, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, MecklenburgStrelitz, Nassau, North German Union, Oldenburg, Prussia, Saxony, Schaumburg-Lippe, Württemburg. 1871. CONSULAR CONVENTION." Concluded December 11, 1871; ratification advised by the Senate January 18, 1872; ratified by the President January 26, 1872; ratifications exchanged April 29, 1872: proclaimed June 1, 1872. I. Consular officers. II. Exequaturs. III. Privileges and immunities. IV. Arms and flags. V. Inviolability of consulates. VI. Temporary vacancies. VII. Consular agencies. ARTICLES. VIII. Communications with authorities. X. Property of decedents. XI. Effects of deceased sailors and passengers. XII. Authority over ships. XIII. Disputes between officers and crews of ships. XIV. Deserters from ships. XV. Damages to vessels at sea. XVI. Shipwrecks. XVII. Trade-mark protection. XVIII. Duration; ratification. Protocol. As to meaning of “ prop erty," and "deceased citizens." The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, in the name of the German Empire, led by the wish to define the rights, privileges, immunities and duties of the respective Consular Agents, have agreed upon the conclusion of a Consular Convention, and for that purpose have appointed their Plenipotentiaries, namely: The President of the United States of America, George Bancroft. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the said States, near His Majesty the Emperor of Germany; His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, Bernard König, His Privy Councillor of Legation; who have agreed to and signed the following articles: ARTICLE I. Each of the Contracting Parties agrees to receive from the other Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in all • Federal cases: The Burchard (42 Fed. Rep., 608), Richter v. Reynolds (59) Fed. Rep., 577), The Neck (138 Fed. Rep., 144), The Baker (171 Fed. Rep., 485). its ports, cities and places, except those where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This reservation, however, shall not apply to one of the Contracting Parties without also applying to every other Power. ARTICLE II. The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents shall be reciprocally received and recognized, on the presentation of their commissions, in the forms established in their respective countries. The necessary exequatur for the exercise of their functions shall be furnished to them free of charge, and, on the exhibition of this instrument, they shall be admitted at once, and without difficulty, by the territorial authorities, Federal, State or communal, judicial, or executive of the ports, cities and places of their residence and district, to the enjoyment of the prerogatives reciprocally granted. The Government that furnishes the exequatur reserves the right to withdraw the same on a statement of the reasons for which it has thought proper to do so. ARTICLE III. The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents, as well as their Chancellors and Secretaries, shall enjoy in the two countries all privileges, exemptions and immunities which have been granted, or may in future be granted, to the Agents of the same rank of the most favored nation. Consular officers, not being citizens of the country where they are accredited, shall enjoy, in the country of their residence, personal immunity from arrest or imprisonment except in the case of crimes, exemption from military billetings and contributions, from military service of every sort and other public duties, and from all direct or personal or sumptuary taxes, duties and contributions, whether Federal, State or municipal. If, however, the said consular officers are or become owners of property in the country in which they reside, or engage in commerce, they shall be subject to the same taxes and imposts, and to the same jurisdiction, as citizens of the country, property-holders or merchants. But under no circumstances shall their official income be subject to any tax. Consular officers who engage in commerce shall not plead their consular privileges to avoid their commercial liabilities. Consular officers of either character shall not in any event be interfered with in the exercise of their official functions, further than is indispensable for the administration of the laws of the country. ARTICLE IV. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of their offices, or of their dwellings, the arms of their nation, with the proper inscription indicative of the office. And they may also hoist the flag of their country on the consular edifice, except in places where a legation of their country is established. They may also hoist their flag on board any vessel employed by them in port for the discharge of their duty. ARTICLE V. The consular archives shall be at all times inviolable, and under no pretence whatever shall the local authorities be allowed to examine or seize the papers forming part of them. When, however, a consular officer is engaged in other business, the papers relating to the consulate shall be kept in a separate enclosure. The offices and dwellings of Consules missi who are not citizens of the country of their residence shall be at all times inviolable. The local authorities shall not, except in the case of the pursuit for crimes, under any pretext invade them. In no case shall they examine or seize the papers there deposited. In no event shall those offices or dwellings be used as places of asylum. ARTICLE VI. In the event of the death, prevention or absence of Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents, their Chancellors or Secretaries, whose official character may have previously been made known to the respective authorities in Germany or in the United States, may temporarily exercise their functions, and, while thus acting, they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives and immunities granted by this convention to the incumbents. ARTICLE VII. Consuls-General and Consuls may, with the approbation of their respective Governments, appoint Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in the cities, ports and places within their consular jurisdiction. These officers may be citizens of Germany, of the United States, or any other country. They shall be furnished with a commission by the Consul who appoints them and under whose orders they are to act, or by the Government of the country which he represents. They shall enjoy the privileges stipulated for consular officers in this convention, subject to the exceptions specified in Article III. ARTICLE VIII. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents shall have the right to apply to the authorities of the respective countries. whether Federal or local, judicial or executive, within the extent of their consular district, for the redress of any infraction of the treaties and conventions existing between the two countries, or of international law; to ask information of said authorities, and to address said authorities to the end of protecting the rights and interests of their countrymen, especially in cases of the absence of the latter: in which cases such Consuls, etc., shall be presumed to be their legal representatives. If due notice should not be taken of such application, the consular officers aforesaid, in the absence of a diplomatic agent of their country, may apply directly to the Government of the country where they reside. ARTICLE IX. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents of the two countries, or their Chancellors, shall have the right, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country. |