tween 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 a 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.-Tribunals for expediting decisions in commercial affairs.

ARTICLE XIV.-Citizens of both nations to be exempt from personal service.

ARTICLE XV.-Consuls to enjoy the most favoured nation privileges.

ARTICLE XVI.-(Duration of the convention.)-"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 fourteenth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight.":

1

"L. C. DE MONTMORIN. "TH. JEFFERSON."

1 See the Report upon this convention by John Jay, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, July 4, 1785. (Secret Journals of Congress, IV., 159.)

FRANCE, 1782.

CONTRACT FOR THE PAYMENT OF LOANS TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY.

Concluded July 16, 1782. Ratified by the Continental Congress, January 22, 1783.

"The King having been pleased to attend to the requests made to him in the name and on behalf of the United Provinces of North America, for assistance in the war and invasion under which they had for several years groaned; and His Majesty, after entering into a treaty of amity and commerce with the said Confederated Provinces, on the 6th of February, 1778, having had the goodness to support them, not only with his forces by land and sea, but also with advances of money, as abundant as they were effectual, in the critical situation to which their affairs were reduced; it has been judged proper and necessary to state exactly the amount of those advances, the conditions on which the King made them, the periods at which the Congress of the United States have engaged to repay them to his Majesty's royal treasury, and, in fine, to state this matter in such a way as for the future to prevent all difficulties capable of interrupting the good harmony which His Majesty is resolved to maintain and preserve between him and the said United States. For executing so laudable a purpose, and with a view to strengthen the bands of amity and commerce which subsist between His Majesty and the said United States; we, Charles Gravier de Vergennes, etc., Counsellor of the King, in all his councils, Commander of his Orders, Minister and Secretary of State, and of his commands and finances, vested with full powers of His Majesty to us given for this purpose and we, Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of North America, in like manner vested with full powers of the Congress of the said States for like present purpose; after duly communicating our respective powers have agreed to the following articles:

“ARTICLE I.—It is agreed and certified that the sums advanced by His Majesty to the Congress of the United States, under the title of a loan, in the years 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, and the present, 1782, amount to the sum of eighteen millions of livres, money of France, according to the following twentyone receipts of the above mentioned underwritten Minister of Congress, given in virtue of his full powers, to wit:

"Amounting in the whole to 18 millions, viz. 18,000,000

"By which receipts the said Minister has promised, in the name of Congress, and in behalf of the thirteen United States, to cause to be paid and reimbursed to the royal treasury of

His Majesty, on the 1st of January, 1788, at the house of his grand banker at Paris, the said sum of eighteen millions, money of France, with interest at 5 per cent. per annum."

FRANCE, 1800.

CONVENTION OF PEACE, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION.

Concluded September 30, 1800. Ratifications exchanged at Paris, July 31, 1801. Proclaimed December 21, 1801.

ARTICLE I-Declaration of amity.

ARTICLE II. (Treaties of 1778 and 1788 abrogated.)-" The Ministers Plenipotentiary of the two parties not being able to agree at present respecting the treaty of alliance of 6th February, 1778, the treaty of amity and commerce of the same date, and the convention of 14th of November, 1788, nor upon the indemnities mutually due or claimed, the parties will negociate further on these subjects at a convenient time, and until they may have agreed upon these points the said treaties and convention shall have no operation, and the relations of the two countries shall be regulated as follows:"

ARTICLE III.—(Restoration of public ships.)-"The public ships which have been taken on one part and the other, or which may be taken before the exchange of ratifications, shall be restored."

ARTICLE IV. (Captured property, not definitively condemned, to be restored.)—" Property captured, and not yet definitively condemned, or which may be captured before the exchange of ratifications (contraband goods destined to an enemy's port excepted), shall be mutually restored on the fol

1 By subsequent articles of this convention the United States acknowledge the loan of ten million livres, made by Holland to France for their account, in 1781; and stipulate to pay the same in ten annual installments, beginning in 1787. The eighteen million livres mentioned in article I. were to be paid in twelve annual installments, beginning the third year after a peace.

A new loan of six million livres was negotiated with France on Febuary 25, 1783, to be paid in six annual installments, beginning in 1797.

lowing proofs of ownership, viz.: The proof on both sides with respect to merchant ships, whether armed or unarmed, shall be a passport in the form following:

"And this passport will be sufficient without any other paper, any ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding; which passport shall not be deemed requisite to have been renewed or recalled, whatever number of voyages the said ship may have made, unless she shall have returned home within the space of a year. Proof with respect to the cargo shall be certificates, containing the several particulars of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed and whither she is bound, so that the forbidden and contraband goods may be distinguished by the certificates which certificates shall have been made out by the officers of the place whence the ship set sail, in the accustomed form of the country. And if such passport or certificates, or both, shall have been destroyed by accident or taken away by force, their deficiency may be supplied by such other proofs of ownership as are admissible by the general usage of nations. Proof with respect to other than merchant ships shall be the commission they bear.

"This article shall take effect from the date of the signature of the present convention. And if, from the date of the said signature, any property shall be condemned contrary to the intent of the said convention, before the knowledge of this stipulation shall be obtained, the property so condemned shall, without delay, be restored or paid for."

ARTICLE V.-(Prosecution of debts authorized). "The debts contracted by one of the two nations with individuals of the other, or by the individuals of one with the individuals of the other, shall be paid, or the payment may be prosecuted, in the same manner as if there had been no misunderstanding between the two States. But this clause shall not extend to indemnities claimed on account of captures or confiscations."

ARTICLE VI.-(Freedom of commerce and navigation.) "Commerce between the parties shall be free. The vessels of the two nations and their privateers, as well as their prizes, shall be treated in their respective ports as those of the nation the most favoured; and, in general, the two parties shall enjoy in the ports of each other, in regard to commerce and navigation, the privileges of the most favoured nation."