officers aforesaid, in the absence of a diplomatic agent of their country, may apply directly to the government of the country where they exercise their functions. ARTICLE X. Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents may take at their offices, at their private residence, at the residence of the parties, 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 of their nation. They may also receive at their offices, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country, all contracts between the citizens of their country and the citizens 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 the said consular officer may belong. Such papers and official documents, whether in the original, in copies or in translation, duly authenticated and legalized by the consulsgeneral, 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 Greece. ARTICLE XI. In the case of the death of any citizen of the United States in Greece, or of a Greek subject in the United States, without having any known heirs or testamentary executors by him appointed, the competent local authorities shall give information of the circumstance to the consular officers of the nation to which the deceased belongs, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to the parties interested. In all that relates to the administration and settlement of estates, the consular officers of the high contracting parties shall have the same rights and privileges as those accorded in the United States of America and Greece, respectively, to the consular officers of the most favored nation. ARTICLE XII. Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall have exclusive charge of the internal order of the merchant vessels of their nation and shall alone take cognizance of differences which may arise either at sea or in port between the captains, officers and crews,' with out exception, particularly in reference to the adjustment of wages and, the execution of contracts. In case any discord should happen on board of vessels of either party, in the territory or waters of the other, neither the Federal, State or Municipal Authorities or Courts in the United States, nor any Court or Authority in Greece, shall on any pretext interfere except when the' said disorders are of such a nature as to cause or to be likely to cause a breach of the peace or serious trouble in the port or on shore; or when, in such trouble or breach of the peace, a person or persons shall be implicated, not forming a part of the crew. In any other case, said Federal, State or Municipal Authorities or Courts in the United States, or Courts or Authorities in Greece, shall not interfere but shall render forcible aid to consular officers, when they may ask it, to search, arrest and imprison all persons composing the crew, whom they may deem it necessary to confine. Those persons shall be arrested at the sole request of the consuls addressed in writing to either the Federal, State or Municipal Courts or Authorities in the United States, or to any Court or Authority in Greece, and supported by an official extract from the register of the ship or the list of the crew, and the prisoners shall be held, during the whole time of their stay in the port, at the disposal of the consular officers. Their release shall be granted at the mere request of such officers made in writing. The expenses of the arrest and detention of those persons, shall be paid by the consular officers. ARTICLE XIII The said consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents are authorized 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-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents, and may be confined 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 again be arrested for the same cause. It 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. 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 cause, 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 the said 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. ARTICLE XV All operations relative to salvage of United States vessels wrecked upon the coasts of Greece, and of Greek 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 customhouse charges unless it be intended for consumption in the country in which the wreck took place. ARTICLE XVI Consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents shall be at liberty to go, either in person or by proxy, on board vessels of their nation admitted to entry and to examine the officers and crews, to examine the ship's papers, to receive declarations concerning their voyage, their destination and the incidents of the voyage; also to draw up manifests and lists of freight, to facilitate the entry and clearance of their vessels, and finally to accompany the said officers or crews before the judicial or administrative authorities of the country, to assist them as their interpreters or agents. The judicial authorities and custom-house officials shall in no case proceed to the examination or search of merchant vessels without having given previous notice to the consular officers of the nation to which the said vessels belong, in order to enable the said consular officers to be present. They shall also give due notice to the said consular officers, in order to enable them to be present at any depositions or statements to be made in courts of law or before local magistrates, by officers or persons belonging to the crew, thus to prevent errors or false interpretations which might impede the correct administration of justice. The notice to consuls, vice-consuls or consular agents shall name the hour fixed for such proceedings. Upon the non-appearance of the said officers or their representatives, the case may be proceeded with in their absence. ARTICLE XVII The present convention shall remain in force for the space of ten years, counting from the day of the exchange of the ratifications, which shall be made in conformity with the respective constitutions of the two countries and exchanged at Athens as soon as possible. In case neither party gives notice, twelve months before the expiration of the said period of ten years, of its intention not to renew this convention, it shall remain in force one year longer, and so on from year to year, until the expiration of a year from the day on which one of the parties shall have given such notice. This convention abrogates articles 12, 13 and 14 of the treaty of Commerce and Navigation concluded between the United States of America and Greece at London, December 10th/22d, 1837, the remaining articles of such treaty continuing in force. In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed this convention in duplicate and have hereunto affixed their seals. Done at Athens the 19th/2d day of November December 1902 (SEAL) CHARLES S. FRANCIS. And whereas the said Convention, as amended by the Senate of the United States, has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the City of Athens, on the ninth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and three; Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof, as amended, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and three [SEAL] and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-eighth. By the President: JOHN HAY THEODORE ROOSEVELT SIR: I have the honor to request information as to the relations of this legation to Chinese citizens residing in Guatemala and how far I am permitted to go in making representations in their behalf. The concrete case which suggests this inquiry is as follows: On February 19 Ton San Lon, a Chinese merchant, reported to me that upon Sunday, the 16th instant, a boy, Low Hip, in charge of his branch store at Jutiapa, had been arrested for refusing to give an officer small bills for $10,000 in bills of the denomination of $100 each, the officer offering him 10 per cent premium for the exchange, which is about the current rate in Guatemala. Ton San Lon declared he did not have that much in small bills and to give up such small bills as he had would destroy his ability to make change for his customers and therefore paralyze his business. I went to the minister of foreign affairs and requested that he investigate the case and, if he found it to be as represented, to direct the immediate release of the Chinese from prison. The minister of foreign affairs called upon me the next day and informed me the man had been released, but defended instead of apologized for the act. He declared the Chinese merchants would gather all the small bills up and send them to Guatemala for sale, and suggested that I advise them to cease doing this and to furnish the officials with change when called upon. I replied that I had advised not only the Chinese but Americans to be considerate in doing all they could to accommodate the Government officials during these difficult times, but I hoped the Government would not fail to recognize that if the Chinese merchants were in honest possession of money, of any denomination, they could not legally or rightfully be imprisoned for not giving it up for an equivalent unsatisfactory to themselves. Ton San Lon reports the officer has warned his boy that he must furnish $3,000, change, per week or be arrested. The trouble grows out of the fact that one of the banks, The Occidental, in issuing currency did not go to the expense of issuing it in convenient denominations, but put out the entire block, through the Government, in bills of $100 each, consequently one has to pay about 8 or 10 per cent to get these bills broken. Öne can not draw one's |