purpose have appointed their Plenipotentiaries, to conclude a Convention, that is to say: The President of the United States of America, H. Percival Dodge, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America near the Government of Honduras; and The President of Honduras, Señor Licenciado Marcos Lopez Ponce, Sub-Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Honduras; Who, having examined one another's full powers and having found them in due form, have agreed to and signed the following Articles: ARTICLE I Citizens of the United States who may or shall have been naturalized in Honduras, upon their own application or by their own. consent, will be considered by the United States as citizens of the Republic of Honduras. Reciprocally, Honduraneans who may or shall have been naturalized in the United States upon their own application or with their own consent, will be considered by the Republic of Honduras as citizens of the United States. ARTICLE II If a Honduranean, naturalized in the United States of America, renews his residence in Honduras, without intent to return to the United States, he may be held to have renounced his naturalization in the United States. Reciprocally, if a citizen of the United States, naturalized in Honduras, renews his residence in the United States, without intent to return to Honduras, he may be presumed to have renounced his naturalization in Honduras. The intent not to return may be held to exist when the person naturalized in the one country, resides more than two-years in the other country, but this presumption may be destroyed by evidence to the contrary. ARTICLE III It is mutually agreed that the definition of the word "citizen," as used in this Convention, shall be held to mean a person to whom the nationality of the United States or of Honduras attaches. ARTICLE IV A recognized citizen of the one party, returning to the territory of the other, remains liable to trial and legal punishment for an action punishable by the laws of his original country and committed before his emigration, but not for the emigration itself, saving always the limitation established by the laws of his original country, and any other remission of liability to punishment. ARTICLE V The declaration of intention to become a citizen of the one or the other country has not for either party the effect of naturalization. ARTICLE VI The present Convention shall go into effect immediately on the exchange of ratifications, and in the event of either party giving the other notice of its intention to terminate the Convention it shall continue to be in effect for one year more, to count from the date of such notice. The present Convention shall be submitted to the approval and ratification of the respective appropriate authorities of each of the Contracting Parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington or at Tegucigalpa within twenty-four months of the date hereof. In witness whereof, the Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and of Honduras have signed this Convention in duplicate and have affixed hereunto their respective official Seals in the City of Tegucigalpa, on the twenty-third day of June, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight. [SEAL.] [SEAL.] H. PERCIVAL DODGE. ITALY. CONSULAR CONVENTION. Concluded February 8, 1868; ratification advised by the Senate June 17, 1868; ratified by the President June 22, 1868; ratifications exchanged September 17, 1868; proclaimed February 23, 1869. I. Consuls. II. Exequaturs. III. Exemptions. IV. Consuls as witnesses. V. Arms and flag. VI. Archives. VII. Death or absence of consuls. VIII. Vice Consuls. IX. Infraction of treaties. ARTICLES. X. Powers of consuls. XI. Merchant vessels. XII. Settlement of disputes. XIV. Damages at sea. XV. Salvage. XVI. Disposition of property. The President of the United States and His Majesty the King of Italy, recognizing the utility of defining the rights, privileges, and immunities of consular officers in the two countries, deem it expedient to conclude a consular convention for that purpose. Accordingly, they have named: The President of the United States, William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States; His Majesty the King of Italy, the Commander Marcello Cerruti, &c., &c.; Who, after communicating to each other their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I. Each of the high contracting parties agrees to receive from the other Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, in all its ports, cities, and places, except those where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This reservation, however, shall not apply to one of the high contracting parties without also applying to every other Power. ARTICLE II. Consular officers, on the presentation of their commissions in the forms established in their respective countries, shall be furnished with the necessary exequatur free of charge, and on the exhibition • This Convention was superseded by the Convention of 1878 upon the exchange of ratifications September 17, 1878. In re De Giacema (12 Blatch., 391); Ex parte Fudera (162 Fed. Rep., 591). 24449-VOL 1-10- -61 961 of this instrument they shall be permitted to enjoy the rights, prerogatives, and immunities granted by this convention. ARTICLE III. Consular officers, citizens or subjects of the State by which they are appointed, shall be exempt from arrest, except in the case of offences which the local legislation qualifies as crimes, and punishes as such; from military billetings, from service in the militia or in the national guard, or in the regular army, and from all taxation, Federal, State, or municipal. If, however, they are citizens or subjects of the State where they reside, or own property, or engage in business there, they shall be liable to the same charges of all kinds as other citizens or subjects of the country, who are merchants or owners of property. ARTICLE IV. No consular officer who is a citizen or subject of the State by which he was appointed, and who is not engaged in business, shall be compelled to appear as a witness before the courts of the country where he may reside. When the testimony of such a consular officer is needed, he shall be invited in writing to appear in court, and if unable to do so, his testimony shall be requested in writing, or be taken orally, at his dwelling or office. It shall be the duty of said consular officer to comply with this request, without any delay which can be avoided. In all criminal cases contemplated by the sixth article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, whereby the right is secured to persons charged with crimes to obtain witnesses in their favor, the appearance in court of said consular officer shall be demanded, with all possible regard to the consular dignity and to the duties of his office. A similar treatment shall also be extended to United States Consuls in Italy in the like cases. ARTICLE V. Consuls Generals, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of their offices, or of their dwelling-houses, the arms of their nation, with this inscription, "Consulate, or ViceConsulate, or Consular Agency," of the United States, or of Italy, &c., &c. And they may also raise the flag of their country on their offices or dwellings, except in the capital of the country, when there is a legation there. ARTICLE VI. The consular offices and dwellings shall be at all times inviolable. The local authorities shall not, under any pretext, invade them. 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. When, however, a consular officer is engaged in other business, the papers relating to the consulate shall be kept separate. ARTICLE VII. In the event of the death, incapacity, or absence of Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, their chancellors or secretaries, whose official character may have previously been made known to the Department of State at Washington, or to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Italy, may temporarily exercise their functions, and while thus acting they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives, and immunities granted to the incumbents. ARTICLE VIII. Consuls General and Consuls may, with the approbation of their respective Governments, appoint Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in the cities, ports, and places within their consular jurisdiction. These officers may be citizens of the United States, Italian subjects, or other foreigners. They shall be furnished with a commission by the Consul who appoints them, and under whose orders they are to act. They shall enjoy the privileges stipulated for consular officers in this convention, subject to the exceptions specified in Articles III and IV. ARTICLE IX. Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, may complain to the authorities of the respective countries, whether Federal or local, judicial or local, judicial or executive, within their consular district, of any infraction of the treaties and conventions between the United States and Italy, or for the purpose of protecting 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. ARTICLE X. Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may take at their offices, at the residence of the parties, at their private residence, or on board ship, the depositions of the captains and crews of vessels of their own country, of passengers on board of them, and of any other citizen or subject of their nation. They may also receive at their offices, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country, all contracts between the citizens and subjects of their country, and the citizens, subjects, or other inhabitants of the country where they reside, and even all contracts between the latter, provided they relate to property situated or to business to be transacted in the territory of the nation to which said consular officer may belong. Copies of such papers, and official documents of every kind, whether in the original, copy, or translation, duly authenticated and legalized, by the Consuls General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, and sealed with their official seal, shall be received as legal documents in courts of justice throughout the United States and Italy. |