ARTICLE XXIII.

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 without exception, particularly in reference to the adjustment of wages and the execution of contracts. In case any disorder should happen on board of vessels of either party in the territorial waters of the other, neither the Federal, State or Municipal Authorities in the United States, nor the Authorities or Courts in Spain, shall on any pretext interfere, except when the said disorders are of such a nature as to cause or 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 in the United States, or Authorities or Courts in Spain, shall not interfere, but shall render forcible aid to consular officers, when they may ask it, to search for, 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 Consul addressed in writing to either the Federal, State or Municipal Authorities in the United States, or the Authorities or Courts in Spain, 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 XXIV.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular-Agents of the two countries may respectively cause to be arrested and sent on board or cause to be returned to their own country, such officers, seamen or other persons forming part of the crew of ships of war or merchant vessels of their Nation, who may have deserted in one of the ports of the other.

To this end they shall respectively address the competent national or local authorites in writing, and make request for the return of the deserter and furnish evidence by exhibiting the register, crew list or other official documents of the vessel, or a copy or extract therefrom, duly certified, that the persons claimed belonged to said ship's company. On such application being made, all assistance shall be furnished for the pursuit and arrest of such deserters, who shall even be detained. and guarded in the gaols of the country pursuant to the requisition and at the expense of the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents, until they find an opportunity to send the deserters home.

If, however, no such opportunity shall be had for the space of three months from the day of the arrest, the deserters shall be set at liberty, and shall not again be arrested for the same cause. It is understood that persons who are citizens or subjects of the country within which the demand is made shall be exempted from the provisions of this article.

If the deserter shall have committed any crime or offence in the country within which he is found, he shall not be placed at the disposal of the Consul until after the proper Tribunal having jurisdiction in the case shall have pronounced sentence, and such sentence shall have been executed.

ARTICLE XXV.

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 port in the respective countries voluntarily, or are forced by stress of weather or other causes over which the officers have no control, shall be settled by the ConsulsGeneral, Consuls Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents of the respective countries; in case, however, any citizen or subject of the country to which said consular officers are commissioned, or any subject of a third Power be interested and the parties cannot come to an amicable agreement, the competent local authorities shall decide.

ARTICLE XXVI.

In case of the death of a citizen or subject of one of the parties within the territories or dominion of the other, the competent local authorities shall give notice of the fact to the Consuls or Consular Agents of the Nation to which the deceased belongs, to the end that information may be at once transmitted to the parties interested.

ARTICLE XXVII.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents of the respective High Contracting Parties shall have, under the laws of their country and the instructions and regulations of their own Government so far as compatible with local laws, the right of representing the absent, unknown or minor heirs, next of kin or legal representatives of the citizens or subjects of their country, who shall die within their consular jurisdiction; as well as those of their countrymen dying at sea whose property is brought within their consular district; and of appearing either personally or by delegate in their behalf in all proceedings relating to the settlement of their estate until such heirs or legal representatives shall themselves appear.

Until such appearance the said consular officers shall be permitted, so far as compatible with local laws, to perform all the duties prescribed by the laws of their country and the instructions and regulations of their own Government for the safe-guarding of the property and the settlement of the estate of their deceased countrymen.

In every case the effects and property of such deceased citizens or subjects shall be retained within the consular district for twelve calendar months by said Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents or by the legal representatives or heirs of the deceased during which time the creditors, if any, of the deceased shall have the right to present their claims and demands against the said effects and property, and all questions arising out of such claims or demands shall be decided by the local judicial authorities in accordance with the laws of the country to which said officers are commissioned.

ARTICLE XXVIII.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents, as likewise the Consular Chancellors, Secretaries or Clerks of the High Contracting Parties shall reciprocally enjoy in both countries all the rights, immunities and privileges which are or may hereafter be granted to the officers of the same grade of the most favored Nation.

ARTICLE XXIX.

All treaties, agreements, conventions and contracts between the United States and Spain prior to the Treaty of Paris shall be expressly abrogated and annulled, with the exception of the Treaty signed the seventeenth of February 1834 between the two countries, for the settlement of claims between the United States of America and the Government of His Catholic Majesty, which is continued in force by the present Convention.

ARTICLE XXX.

The present Treaty of Friendship and General Relations shall remain in full force and vigor for the term of ten years from the day of the exchange of ratifications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if neither Party notifies to the other its intention of reforming any of, or all, the articles of this Treaty, or of terminating it twelve months before the expiration of the ten years stipulated above, the said Treaty shall continue binding on both Parties beyond the said ten years, until twelve months from the time that one of the Parties notifies its intention of proceeding to its reform or of terminating it.

ARTICLE XXXI.

The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at the City of Madrid as soon as possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms.

Done in duplicate at Madrid this third day of July in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and two.

[SEAL.] [SEAL.]

BELLAMY STORER

EL DUQUE DE ALMODÓVAR DEL RIO. And whereas the said Treaty has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the City of Madrid, on the fourteenth day of April 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 Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof 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 twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and three, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-seventh. [SEAL] THEODORE ROOSEVELT

By the President:

JOHN HAY Secretary of State.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

THANKS FOR ASSISTANCE RENDERED BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS TO FAMINE SUFFERERS IN SWEDEN.

No. 306.]

Mr. Thomas to Mr. Hay.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Stockholm, March 20, 1903.

SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith, in English translation, copy of a letter received by me from Hon. Karl J. Bergström, governor of the province of Norrbotten, the most northern and territorially the largest province of Sweden. It is also the province which has suffered most from the failure of the crops of last year.

In this letter Governor Bergström extends to me, as the representative of America, an expression of the warm and profound sentiments of heartfelt gratitude of the inhabitants of Norrbotten for the generous contributions to famine sufferers received from SwedishAmericans and from American citizens generally.

As Governor Bergström desires that a knowledge of the feelings of gratitude which fill the breasts of the famine sufferers of Norrbotten should be communicated to the American people, I would suggest that the widest publicity be given to his letter.

In transmitting these honorable sentiments, I embrace the opportunity personally to testify that the noble donations of American citizens to the famine-stricken people of northern Sweden, in this time of their greatest need, have drawn more closely together the strong bonds of friendship and good will that have always united America and Sweden. I have, etc.,

W. W. THOMAS.

I am very anxious, Mr. Minister, to extend to you, as the representative of the United States of America, an expression of the warm and profound sentiments of heartfelt and devoted gratitude which fill the souls of the inhabitants of the province of Norrbotten, so severely afflicted by failure of crops, for the gifts which they have already received from the noble and warm-hearted people of the United States. Although the first gifts to the sufferers came from the sons and daughters of Sweden, who in the New World have won respected and economically independent positions, it seems that now the whole great and free American nation has with sympathy and brotherly love taken in hand those here in the lofty north who are so cruelly visited by severe misfortunes.

For the ample proofs of noble self-sacrifice and magnanimous generosity toward the people of Sweden, Finland, and Norway, of which Norrbotten will doubtless receive a portion, the Swedish people and the inhabitants of the province of Norrbotten can not feel sufficiently grateful.

For Norrbotten it has been a great comfort to feel the interest which has been shown this remote part of the world by the people of America and its influential newspapers, two of which have sent to Sweden special correspondents to investigate the situation.

The esteem which the Swedish people have always cherished and evinced for the American people will, through the sympathy now shown, be still more confirmed and united with grateful feelings.

It would be exceptionally dear to my heart if the American people could be given a knowledge of these feelings of gratitude, so feebly interpreted by me, which fill the breasts of the famine sufferers in the province of Norrbotten.

I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to express to you, Mr. Minister, my recognition of the great zeal and self-sacrificing work which Mr. D. O. Bell, in your service, has laid down for the sufferers in Norrbotten. I feel that I am deeply indebted to him for all that he has done for the famine sufferers.

With great respect, etc.,

KARL J. BERGSTRÖM, Governor of the Province of Norrbotten.