or Vice Consul nearest to the place of shipwreck, shall do whatever he may judge proper, as well for the purpose of saving the said ship or vessel, its cargo and appurtenances, as for the storing and security of the effects and merchandize saved. He may take an inventory of them without the intermeddling of any officers of the military, of the customs, of justice, or of the police of the country, otherwise than to give to the Consuls, Vice Consuls, captain, and crew of the vessel shipwrecked or stranded all the succor and favor which they shall ask of them, either for the expedition and security of the saving and of the effects saved as to prevent all disturbance. And in order to prevent all kind of dispute and discussion in the said cases of shipwreck, it is agreed that when there shall be no Consul or Vice Consul to attend to the saving of the wreck, or that the residence of the said Consul or Vice Consul (he not being at the place of the wreck) shall be more distant from the said place than that of the competent judge of the country, the latter shall immediately proceed therein with all the despatch, certainty, and precautions prescribed by the respective laws; but the said territorial judge shall retire on the arrival of the Consul or Vice Consul, and shall deliver over to him the report of his proceedings, the expenses of which the Consul or Vice Consul shall cause to be reimbursed to him, as well as those of saving the wreck. The merchandize and effects saved shall be deposited in the nearest custom-house or other place of safety, with the inventory thereof, which shall be made by the Consul or Vice Consul, or by the judge who shall have proceeded in their absence, that the said effects and merchandize may afterwards be delivered, after levying therefrom the costs, and without form of process to the owners, who being furnished with an order for their delivery from the nearest Consul or Vice Consul, shall reclaim them by themselves, or by their order, either for the purpose of reëxporting such merchandize, in which case they shall pay no kind of duty of exportation; or for that of selling them in the country, if they be not prohibited there; and in this last case the said merchandize, if they be damaged, shall be allowed an abatement of entrance duties, proportioned to the damage they have sustained, which shall be ascertained by the affidavits taken at the time the vessel was wrecked or struck. ARTICLE VIII. The Consuls and Vice Consuls shall exercise police over all the vessels of their respective nations, and shall have on board the said vessels all power and jurisdiction in civil matters, in all the disputes which may there arise; they shall have an entire inspection over the said vessels, their crew, and the changes and substitutions there to be made. For which purpose they may go on board the said vessels whenever they may judge it necessary. Well understood that the functions hereby allowed shall be confined to the interior of the vessels, and that they shall not take place in any case which shall have any interference with the police of the ports where the said vessels shall be. ARTICLE IX. The Consuls and Vice Consuls may cause to be arrested the captains, officers, mariners, sailors, and all other persons being part of the crews of the vessels of their respective nations, who shall have deserted from the said vessels, in order to send them back, and transport them out of the country. For which purpose the said Consuls and Vice Consuls shall address themselves to the courts, judges, and officers competent, and shall demand the said deserters in writing, proving by an exhibition of the registers of the vessel or ship's roll that those men were part of the said crews; and on this demand, so proved, (saving, however, where the contrary is proved,) the delivery shall not be refused, and there shall be given all aid and assistance to the said Consuls and Vice Consuls, for the search, seizure, and arrest of the said deserters, who shall even be detained and kept in the prisons of the country, at their request and expense, until they shall have found an opportunity of sending them back. But if they be not sent back within three months, to be counted from the day of their arrest, they shall be set at liberty, and shall be no more arrested for the same cause. ARTICLE X. In cases where the respective subjects or citizens shall have committed any crime or breach of the peace, they shall be amenable to the judges of the country. ARTICLE XI. When the said offenders shall be a part of the crew of a vessel of their nation, and shall have withdrawn themselves on board the said vessel, they may be there seized and arrested by order of the judges of the country. These shall give notice thereof to the Consul or vice Consul, who may repair on board, if he thinks proper; but this notification shall not in any case delay execution of the order in question. The persons arrested shall not afterwards be set at liberty until the Consul or Vice Consul shall have been notified thereof, and they shall be delivered to him, if he requires it, to be put again on board of the vessel on which they were arrested, or of others of their nation, and to be sent out of the country. ARTICLE XII. All differences and suits between the subjects of the most Christian King in the United States, or between the citizens of the United States within the dominions of the most Christian King, and particularly all disputes relative to the wages and terms of engagement of the crews of the respective vessels, and all differences, of whatever nature they be, which may arise between the privates of the said crews, or between 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. The general utility of commerce having caused to be established within the dominions of the most Christian King particular tribunals and forms for expediting the decision of commercial affairs, the merchants of the United States shall enjoy the benefit of these establishments; and the Congress of the United States will provide, in the manner the most conformable to its laws, equivalent advantages in favor of the French merchants for the prompt despatch and decision of affairs of the same nature. ARTICLE XIV. The subjects of the most Christian King and citizens of the United States who shall prove, by legal evidence, that they are of the said nation respectively, shall, in consequence, enjoy an exemption from all personal service in the place of their settlement. ARTICLE XV. If any other nation acquires, by virtue of any convention whatever, a treatment more favorable with respect to the consular preeminences, powers, authority, and privileges, the Consuls and Vice Consuls of the most Christian King or of the United States, reciprocally, shall participate therein, agreeable to the terms stipulated by the 2d, 3d, and 4th articles of the treaty of amity and commerce concluded between the most Christian King and the United States. ARTICLE XVI. 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 14th of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight. L. C. DE MONTMORIN, [L. s.] [L. S.] Sir, FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. Paris, November 19, 1788. Since my letter of September 5, wherein I acknowledge Mr. Remsen's favor of July 25, I have written those of September 24 and of the 14th instant. This last will accompany the present, both going by the way of London for want of a direct opportunity; but they go by a private hand. No late event worth notice has taken place between the Turks and Austrians. The former continue in the territories of the latter with all the appearances of superiority. On the side of the Russians, the war wears an equal face, except that the Turks are still masters of the Black sea. Oczakow is not yet taken. Denmark furnished to Russia its stipulated quota of troops with so much alacrity, and was making such other warlike preparations, that it was believed they meant to become principals in the war against Sweden. Prussia and England hereupon interposed efficiently. Their Ministers appointed to mediate, gave notice to the Court of Copenhagen that they would declare war against them in the name of their sovereigns, if they did not immediately withdraw their troops from the Swedish territories. The Court of London has since said that their Minister (Elliott) went further in this than he was authorized; however, the Danish troops are retiring. Poland is augmenting its army from twenty to an hundred thousand men. Nevertheless, it seems as if England and Prussia meant in earnest to stop the war in that quarter, contented to leave the two empires in the hands of the Turks. France, desired by Sweden to join the Courts of London and Berlin, in their mediation between Sweden and Russia, has declined it. We may be assured she will meddle in nothing external before the meeting of her States General. Her temporary annihilation in the political scale of Europe, leaves to England and Prussia the splendid role of giving the law without meeting the shadow of opposition. The internal tranquillity of this country is perfect. Their stocks, however, continue low, and the difficulty of getting money to face current expenses very great. In the contest between the King and Parliament, the latter fearing the power of the former, pressed the convoking the States General. The Government found itself obliged by other difficulties also to recur to the same expedient. The Parliament, after its recall, showed that it was now become apprehensive of the States General; and discovered a determination to cavil at their form, so as to have a right to deny their legality, if that body should undertake to abridge their powers. The Court, hereupon, very adroitly determined to call the same Notables who had been approved by the nation the last year to decide on the form of convoking the Etats Generaux; thus withdrawing itself from the disputes which the Parliament might excite, and committing them with the nation. The Notables are now in session. The Government had manifestly discovered a disposition that the tiers-etat or commons should have as many representatives in the States General as the nobility and clergy together; but five bureaux of the Notables have voted, by very great majorities, that they should have only an equal number with each of the other orders singly. One bureau, by a majority of a single voice, had agreed to give the commons the double number of representatives. This is the first symptom of a decided combination between the nobility and clergy, and will necessarily throw the people into the scale of the King. It is doubted whether the States can be collected so early as January, though the Government, urged by the want of money, is for pressing their convocation. It is still more uncertain what the States will do when they meet. There are three objects which they may attain, probably, without opposition from the Court. 1. A periodical meeting of the States. 2. Their exclusive right of taxation. 3. The right of enregistering laws and proposing amendments to them as now exercised by the Parliaments. This would lead, as it did in England, to the right of originating laws. The Parliament would, by this last measure, be reduced to a |