American negotiator communicated to the British minister the following, as the result of those deliberations.

The American government, then, was prepared to say that the practice of impressing seamen from American vessels could not hereafter be allowed to take place. That practice was founded on principles which it did not recognize, and was invariably attended by consequences so unjust, so injurious, and of such formidable magnitude, as could not be submitted to.

In the early disputes between the two governments, on this so long contested topic, the distinguished person to whose hands were first intrusted the seals of the Department of State declared, that "the simplest rule will be, that the vessel being American shall be evidence that the seamen on board are such."

Fifty years' experience, the utter failure of many negotiations, and a careful reconsideration of the whole subject when the passions were laid, and no present interest or emergency existed to bias the judgment, had convinced the American government that this was not only the simplest and best, but the only rule, which could be adopted and observed, consistently with the rights and honor of the United States, and the security of their citizens. That rule announced, therefore, what would hereafter be the principle maintained by their government. In every regularly documented American merchant vessel, the crew who navigated it would find their protection in the flag which was over them.1 (a)

1 Wheaton's Hist. Law of Nations, pp. 737-746. Mr. Webster's Letter to Lord Ashburton, August 8, 1842.

(a) [In the negotiations of 1823, the American Minister was authorized, if Great Britain would agree to abolish impressment, to stipulate to exclude all natural-born subjects of the belligerent party not naturalized before the commencement of a war, from the public and private naval service of the neutral, and even to extend the exclusion to all those naturalized after the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty. Mr. Adams, Secretary of State, to Mr. Rush, July 28, 1823. Cong. Doc. 18 Cong. 2 Sess., Senate, Confidential, p. 54.

Similar instructions had been given to the Commissioners at Ghent, and, with the express view of meeting the case, the 12th section of the Act of 3d March, 1813, (U. S. Stat. at Large, vol. ii. p. 811,) "for the regulation of seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States," had provided that no person subsequently arriving in the United States should be admitted to

IV. The municipal laws and institutions of any $11. Consular jurisState may operate beyond its own territory, and within diction. the territory of another State, by special compact between the two States.

Such are the treaties by which the consuls and other commercial agents of one nation are authorized to exercise, over their own countrymen, a jurisdiction within the territory of the State

become a citizen who should not, for the continued term of five years next preceding his admission, have resided in the United States, without being, at any time during the said five years, out of the territory of the United States. Looking to the habits of life of seamen, this provision was deemed entirely equivalent to the total prohibition of their naturalization, and was intended to meet the suggestions made during the negotiations of 1806, between Lord Holland and Lord Aukland and Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinkney- when it was proposed that it should be made penal for British commanders to impress American citizens from on board of American vessels on the high seas, and for officers of the United States to grant certificates of citizenship to British subjects. American State Papers, vol. vi. p. 323. This arrangement was again brought forward, at the time of the proposed armistice, at the commencement of the war, by Mr. Russell, in a conference with Lord Castlereagh, when the entire exclusion of all subsequently naturalized citizens was offered by us, as a consideration for the discontinuance of the practice of impressment. Id. vol. ix. p. 147.

Impressment was also one of the numerous subjects confided to Mr. Gallatin, in 1826. In consequence, however, of what had previously occurred, that eminent diplomatist, though authorized to receive and discuss, was not permitted to make any new proposals; and he found that, "though Mr. Canning (who was then Premier) was, as Lord Castlereagh had been, ahead of public opinion or national pride, he did not feel himself quite strong enough to encounter those sentiments, and to give new arms to his adversaries; and notwithstanding his conviction that an agreement, such as he might expect, was extremely desirable, he was not prepared, at that time, to make the proposal." Mr. Gallatin to Mr. Clay, Secretary of State, 28th July, 1827. After the departure of Mr. Gallatin, an intimation was given, by Lord Dudley, of the disposition of the Ministry, of which the Duke of Wellington had then become the head, to enter into an arrangement on the basis, on which it was understood that the United States were willing to treat. This suggestion of the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs was duly communicated to the government, at Washington, though without resulting in any new negotiation. Mr. Lawrence, Chargé d'Affaires, to Mr. Clay, April 5, 1828. MS. Despatches. But, though not brought again to the notice of the British government, the provision of the Act of 1813, which was equivalent to a practical prohibition to naturalize foreign seamen, remained on our statute-book as a means to conciliate the pretensions of England with the immunity of our flag, till the 26th of June, 1848, when the condition of continuous residence was stricken out of the law. U. S. Stat. at Large, vol. ix. p. 240.]

where they reside. The nature and extent of this peculiar jurisdiction depend upon the stipulations of the treaties between the two States. Among Christian nations it is generally confined to the decision of controversies in civil cases, arising between the merchants, seamen, and other subjects of the State, in foreign countries; to the registering of wills, contracts, and other instruments executed in presence of the consul; and to the administration of the estates of their fellow-subjects, deceased within the territorial limits of the consulate. The resident consuls of the Christian powers in Turkey, the Barbary States, and other Mohammedan countries, exercise both civil and criminal jurisdiction over their countrymen, to the exclusion of the local magistrates and tribunals. This jurisdiction is ordinarily subject, in civil cases, to an appeal to the superior tribunals of their own country. The criminal jurisdiction is usually limited to the infliction of pecuniary penalties; and, in offences of a higher grade, the functions of the consul are similar to those of a police magistrate, or juge d'instruction. He collects the documentary and other proofs, and sends them, together with the prisoner, home to his own country for trial.1

By the treaty of peace, amity, and commerce, concluded at Wang Hiya, 1844, between the United States and the Chinese Empire, it is stipulated, art. 21, that "citizens of the United States, who may commit any crime in China, shall be subject to be tried and punished only by the consul, or other public functionary of the United States thereto authorized, according to the laws of the United States." Art 25. "All questions in regard to rights, whether of property or of person, arising between citizens of the United States in China shall be subject to the jurisdiction, and regulated by the authorities, of their own government. And all controversies occurring in China, between citizens of the United States and the subjects of any other government, shall be

1 De Steck, Essai sur les Consuls, sect. vii. §§ 30-40. Pardessus, Droit Commercial, Pt. VI. tit. 6, ch. 2, § 2, ch. 4, §§ 1, 2, 3. Miltitz, Manuel des Consuls, tome ii. Partie 2, pp. 102-135, 70-78, 162–201, 695-779, 853-866. The various treaties between the United States and foreign powers, by which the functions and privileges of consuls are reciprocally regulated, will be found accurately enumerated and fully analyzed in the above treatise of Baron de Miltitz, tome ii. Part II. pp. 1498-1598.

regulated by the treaties existing between the United States and such governments respectively, without interference on the part of China." (a)

(a) [In the treaties between the United States and Great Britain, there is no other provision respecting consuls than that contained in the 4th article of the Commercial Convention of 1815, which merely stipulates that it shall be free to each party to appoint consuls, to reside, for the protection of trade, in the dominions of the other; but requires that, before any one acts, he shall be approved and admitted by the government to which he is sent. In case of illegal or improper conduct, the consul is to be punished according to law, if the laws will reach the case, or be sent back; the offended government assigning to the other the reasons for the same. U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. viii. p. 230.

For consuls to engage in commerce, is at variance with the policy of some of the European governments, particularly France and England; which, in general, accord to their commercial agents fixed salaries, in addition to fees, — the only mode in which, except in special cases, American consuls are compensated. There is, moreover, a provision in several of the treaties which stipulate for consuls the privileges accorded to those of the most favored nation, that if they shall exercise commerce, they shall be subjected to the same laws and usages to which private individuals are subject in the same place, in respect to their business.

As the Convention of 23d February, 1853, with France, is peculiar, not only for the provision which it makes as to aliens holding real property in the States of the Union, and in extending the consular jurisdiction over the merchant vessels of the respective countries, according to the principles of the French law, but in other particulars, it is here inserted.

ARTICLE I. The consuls-general, consuls, and vice-consuls, or consular agents of the United States and France shall be reciprocally received and recognized, on the presentation of their commissions, in the form established in their respective countries. The necessary exequatur, for the exercise of their functions, shall be furnished to them without charge; and, on the exhibition of this exequatur, they shall be admitted at once, and without difficulty, by the territorial authorities, federal or state, 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 it, on a statement of the reasons for which it has thought proper to do so.

ART. II. The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, or consular agents of the United States and France shall enjoy, in the two countries, the privileges usually accorded to their offices; such as personal immunity, except in the case of crime; exemption from military billetings, from service in the militia, or the national guard, and other duties of the same nature; and from all direct and personal taxation, whether federal, state, or municipal. If, however, the said .consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, or consular agents are citizens of the country in which they reside; if they are, or become owners of property there, or engage in commerce, they shall be subject to the same taxes and imposts, and,

§ 12. In

Every sovereign State is independent of every other,

dependence in the exercise of its judicial power.

of the State,

as to its judicial power.

This general position must, of course, be qualified by the exceptions to its application, arising out of express

with the reservation of the treatment granted to commercial agents, to the same jurisdiction as other citizens of the country, who are owners of property, or mer

chants.

They may place, on the outer door of their offices, or of their dwelling-houses, the arms of their nation, with an inscription in these words: "Consul of the United States," or "Consul of France;" and they shall be allowed to hoist the flag of their country thereon.

They shall never be compelled to appear as witnesses before the courts. When any declaration for judicial purposes, or deposition, is to be received from them, in the administration of justice, they shall be invited, in writing, to appear in court, and, if unable to do so, their testimony shall be requested in writing, or be taken orally at their dwellings.

Consular pupils shall enjoy the same personal privileges and immunities as consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, or consular agents.

In case of death, indisposition, or absence of the latter, the chancellors, secretaries, and consular pupils attached to their offices, shall be entitled to discharge, ad interim, the duties of their respective posts; and shall enjoy, whilst thus acting, the prerogatives granted to the incumbents.

ART. III. The consular offices and dwellings shall be inviolable. The local authorities shall not invade them under any pretext. In no case shall they examine or seize the papers there deposited. In no case shall those offices or dwellings be used as places of asylum.

ART. IV. The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, or consular agents of both countries shall have the right to complain to the authorities of the respective governments, whether federal or local, judicial or executive, throughout the extent of their consular district, of any infraction of the treaties or conventions existing between the United States and France, or for the purpose of protecting informally the rights and interests of their countrymen, especially in cases of absence. Should there be no diplomatic agent of their nation, they shall be authorized, in case of need, to have recourse to the general or federal government of the country in which they exercise their functions.

ART. V. The respective consuls-general and consuls shall be free to establish, in such parts of their districts as they may see fit, vice-consuls, or consular agents, who may be taken indiscriminately from among Americans of the United States, Frenchmen, or citizens of other countries. These agents, whose nomination, it is understood, shall be submitted to the approval of the respective governments, shall be provided with a certificate given to them by the consul by whom they are named, and under whose orders they are to act.

ART. VI. The consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, or consular agents shall have the right of taking, at their offices or bureaus, at the domicile of the par