They shall enjoy the privileges provided in this convention for Consular Officers, subject to the exceptions and reservations provided for the same.

840..ARTICLE IX.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may have recourse to the authorities of the respective countries within their district, whether federal or local, judicial or executive, for the purpose of complaining of any infraction of the treaties or conventions existing between the United States and Italy, as also in order to defend the rights and interests of their countrymen. If the complaint should not be satisfactorily redressed, 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.

841.. ARTICLE X.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, and their Chancellors or Consular Clerks shall have the right to take in their offices, at the residence of the parties, in their own dwelling, and even on board ship, the depositions of captains and crews of the vessels of their nation, of passengers on board of the same, and of any other citizen or subject of their country.

They shall also have the right to receive at their offices, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country, any contract between citizens or subjects and other inhabitants of the country in which they reside, and also any contract between these latter, provided it relates to real estate situated in the territory of the nation to which the Consular Officer belongs, or to business which is to be transacted in said country.

Copies of papers relative to such contracts and official documents of all kinds, whether originals, copies, or translations, duly authenticated by the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents and sealed with the seal of office of the Consulate, shall be received as evidence in the United States and Italy.

842.. ARTICLE XI.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents shall have exclusive charge of the internal order on board of the merchant vessels of their nation, and shall alone take cognizance of questions, of whatever kind, that may arise, both at sea and in port, between the captain, officers, and seamen, without exception, and especially of those relating to wages and the fulfillment of agreements reciprocally made. The courts, or federal, state, or municipal authorities in the United States, and the tribunals or authorities in Italy, shall not under any pretext interfere in such question, but they shall lend aid to consular officers when the latter shall request it, in order to find out, arrest, and imprison any person belonging to the crew whom they may think proper to place in custody. These persons shall be arrested at the sole demand of the Consular Officers, made in writing to the courts or federal, State, or municipal authorities

in the United States, or to the competent court of anthority in Italy, such demands being supported by an official extract from the register of the vessel and from the crew-list, and they shall be detained during the stay of the vessel in the port, at the disposal of the Consular Officers.

They shall be released at the written request of the said Officer, and the expenses of the arrest and detention shall be paid by the Consular Officer.

843.. ARTICLE XII.

According to the act of Congress of March 5, 1855, to regulate the carriage of passengers in steamships and other vessels, all disputes and questions of any nature that may arise between captains and officers on the one hand, and passengers on board of vessels on the other, shall be brought to and decided by the Circuit or District Courts of the United States to the exclusion of all other courts and authorities.

844.. ARTICLE XIII.

The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may arrest the officers, seamen, and any other person forming part of the crew of the merchant and war vessels of their nation who have been guilty of or charged with deserting from said vessels, in order to return them to their vessels, or to send them back to their country.

To this effect the Consular Officers of Italy in the United States may apply in writing to either the courts or the federal, State, or municipal authorities of the United States, and the Consular Officers of the United States may apply to any of the competent authorities in Italy, and make a demand for the deserters, showing by exhibiting the register of the vessel and the crew-list, or other official documents, that the persons claimed really belonged to said crew. Upon such request alone, thus supported, and without the exaction of any oath from the Consular Officers, the deserters not being citizens or subjects of the country in which the demand is made at the time of their shipment shall be given up.

All assistance and necessary aid, moreover, shall be furnished for the search and arrest of said deserters, who shall be placed in the prisons of the country, and kept there at the request and at the expense of the Consular Officer until he finds an opportunity to send them home.

If, however, such an opportunity shall not present itself within the space of three months, counting from the day of the arrest, the deserter shall be set at liberty, nor shall he be again imprisoned for the same

cause.

845.. ARTICLE XIV.

In the absence of an agreement to the contrary, between the owners, freighters, and insurers, all damages suffered at sea by the vessels of the two countries, whether they enter the respective ports voluntarily or are forced by stress of weather or other causes over which the officers have no control, shall be settled by the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents of the country in which they respectively reside; in case, however, any citizen of the country in which said Consular Officers reside, or subjects of a third power, should be interested in these

damages, and the parties cannot come to an amicable agreement, the competent local authorities shall decide.

846.. ARTICLE XV.

All operations relative to the salvage of the United States vessels. wrecked upon the coasts of Italy, and of Italian vessels upon the coasts of the United States, shall be directed by the respective Consuls-General, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls of the two countries, and until their arrival by the respective Consular Agents, where Consular Agencies exist.

In places and ports where there is no such agency, the local authorities shall give immediate notice of the shipwreck to the Consul of the district in which the disaster has taken place, and until the arrival of the said Consul they shall take all necessary measures for the protection of persons and the preservation of property.

The local authorities shall intervene only to preserve order, and to protect the interests of the salvors, if they do not belong to the crew of the wrecked vessel, and to secure the execution of the arrangements made for the entry and exportation of the merchandise saved. It is understood that such merchandise is not to be subjected to any custom-house charges, unless it be intended for consumption in the country in which the wreck took place.

847.. ARTICLE XVI.

In case of the death of a citizen of the United States in Italy, or of an Italian citizen in the United States, who has no known heir, or testamentary executor designated by him, the competent local authorities shall give notice of the fact to the Consuls or Consular Agents of the nation to which the deceased belongs, to the end that information may be at once transmitted to the parties interested.

848..ARTICLE XVII.

The respective Consuls-General. Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, as likewise the Consular Chancellors, Secretaries, Clerks, or Attachés, shall enjoy in both countries, all the rights, prerogatives, immunities, and privileges which are or may hereafter be granted to the officers of the same grade of the most favored nation.

849.. ARTICLE XVIII.

This Convention shall remain in force for the space of ten years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications, which shall take place in conformity with the respective Constitutions of the two countries, at Washington or at Rome, within the period of six months, or sooner, if possible.

In case neither party gives notice twelve months previously to the expiration of said period of ten years of its intention not to renew the Convention, this shall remain in force until the expiration of a year from the day on which one of the parties shall have made such announcement.

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JAPAN.

Treaty concluded March 31, 1854 (Peace and Amity).

There shall be appointed by the Government of the United States Consuls or Agents to reside in Simoda, at any time after the expiration of eighteen months from the date of the signing of this treaty: Provided, That either of the two governments deem such arrangement necessary.

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Treaty concluded June 17, 1857 (Intercourse).

851.. ARTICLE II.

It being known that American ships coming to the ports of Simoda and Hakodadi cannot have their wants supplied by the Japanese, it is agreed that American citizens may permanently reside at Simoda and Hakodadi, and the Government of the United States may appoint a Vice-Consul to reside at Hakodadi.

This article to go into effect on the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred fifty-eight.

852.. ARTICLE IV.

Americans committing offenses in Japan shall be tried by the American Consul-General or Consul, and shall be punished according to American

laws.

Japanese committing offenses against Americans shall be tried by the Japanese authorities, and punished according to Japanese laws.

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853.. ARTICLE VI.

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The Government of Japan admits the right of his excellency the Consul-General of the United States to go beyond the limits of seven ri, but has asked him to delay the use of that right, except in cases of emergency, shipwreck, &c., to which he has assented.

854.. ARTICLE VII.

Purchases for his excellency the Consul-General, or his family, may be made by him only, or by some member of his family, and payment made to the seller for the same without the intervention of any Japanese official,

and for this purpose Japanese silver and copper coin shall be supplied to his excellency the Consul-General.

Treaty concluded July 29, 1858 (Peace and Friendship).

855..ARTICLE I.

There shall henceforward be perpetual peace and friendship between the United States of America and His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan and his successors.

The President of the United States may appoint a Diplomatic Agent to reside at the city of Yedo, and Consuls or Consular Agents to reside at any or all of the ports in Japan which are opened for American commerce by this treaty. The Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General of the United States shall have the right to travel freely in any part of the Empire of Japan from the time they enter on the discharge of their official duties.

The Government of Japan may appoint a Diplomatic Agent to reside at Washington, and Consuls or Consular Agents for any or all of the ports of the United States. The Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General of Japan may travel freely in any part of the United States from the time they arrive in the country.

856.. ARTICLE II.

The President of the United States, at the request of the Japanese Government, will act as a friendly mediator in such matters of difference as may arise between the Government of Japan and any European power. The ships of war of the United States shall render friendly aid and assistance to such Japanese vessels as they may meet on the high seas, so far as can be done without a breach of neutrality; and all American Consuls residing at ports visited by Japanese vessels shall also give them such friendly aid as may be permitted by the laws of the respective countries in which they reside.

857..ARTICLE III.

In addition to the ports of Simoda and Hakodadi, the following ports and towns shall be opened on the dates respectively appended to them, that is to say: Kanagawa on the (4th of July, 1859) fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine; Nagasaki on the (4th of July, 1859) fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine; Nee-e-gata on the (1st of January, 1860) first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty; Hiogo on the (1st of January, 1863) first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

If Nee-e-gata is found to be unsuitable as a harbor, another port on the west coast of Nipon shall be selected by the two governments in lieu thereof. Six months after the opening of Kanagawa the port of Simoda shall be closed as a place of residence and trade for American