Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/383

 376 PUBLIC TREATIES. and commercial agents, who shall enjoy the full protection and receive every assistance necessary for the due exercise of their functions, but it is expressly declared that in case of illegal or improper conduct with respect to the laws or Government of the country in which said Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or commercial agents shall reside, they may be prosecuted and punished conformably to the laws, and deprived of the exercise of their functions by the offended Government, which shall ac- Inviclability of quaint the other with its motives for having thus acted, it being underarchives. stood, however, that the archives and documents relative to the affairs of the consulate shall be exempt from all search, and shall be careiull y preserved under the seals of the Consuls, Vice-Consulsyor commercial agents, and of the authority of the place where they may reside. Settlement ofdif- The Consuls, Vice-Oonsuls, or commercial agents, or the persons duly ferences between authorized to supply their places, shall have the right, as such, to sit as ’¤¤¤*°’° and °'°“’°· judges and arbitrators in such differences as may arise between the captains and crews of the vessels belonging to the nation whose interests are committed to their charge without the interference of the local authorities, unless the conduct of the crews, or of the captain, should disturb the order or tranquillity of the country ; or the said Oonsuls, Vice-Consuls, or commercial agents should require their assistance to cause their decisions to be carried into effect or supported. It 1s, however, understood, that this species of judgment or arbitration shall not deprive the contending parties of the right they have to resort, on their return, to the judicial authority of their country. Anrrcnn XIII. Deserts:-s from The said Consnls, Vice-Consuls, or commercial agents are authorized v•>¤¤¢l¤· to require the assistance of the local authorities for the arrest, detention, and imprisonment of the deserters from the ships of war and merchant vessels of their country; and for this purpose they shall apply to the competent tribunals, judges, and officers, and shall, in writing, demand said deserters, proving by the exhibition of the registers of the vessels, the rolls of the crews, or by other official documents, that such individuals formed part of the crews, and on this reclamation being thus substantiated the surrender shall not be refused. Such deserters, when arrested, shall be placed at the disposal of the said Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or commercial agents, and may be coniined in the public prisons at the request and cost of those who claim them, in order to be sent to the vessels to which they belonged, or to others of the same country. But if not sent back within the space of two months, reckoning from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall not be again arrested for the same cause. 'lt is understood, however, that if the deserter should be found to have committed any crime or offence, his surrender may be delayed until the tribunal before which the case shall be depending shall have pronounced its sentence, and such sentence shall have been carried into effect. Aarromc XIV. Wreck od an d in'case any vessel of one of the high contracting parties shall have damaged v¤¤¤¤1¤· been stranded or shipwrecked, or shall have suffered any other damage on the coasts of the dominions of the other, every aid and assistance shall be given to the person shipwrecked or in danger, and passports shall be granted to them to return to their country. The shipwrecked vessels and merchandise, or their proceeds, if the same shall have been sold, shall be restored to their owners, or to those entitled thereto, if Salvage. claimed within a year and a day, upon paying such costs of salvage as would be paid by national vessels in the same circumstances ; and the salvage companies shall not compel the acceptance of their services except in the same cases and after the same delays as shall be granted to the captains and crews of national vessels. Moreover, the respective