CONVENTION FOR SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS. In order to carry into effect the Convention made at Tientsin by the high Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries respectively representing the United States of America and the Tá Tsing Empire, for the satisfaction of claims of American citizens, by which it was agreed that one fifth of all tonnage, import, and export duties payable on American ships, and goods shipped in American vessels at the ports of Canton, Shanghai and Fuhchau, to an amount not exceeding six hundred thousand taels, should be applied to that end; and the Plenipotentiary of the United States, actuated by a friendly feeling towards China, is willing, on behalf of the United States, to reduce the amount needed for such claims to an aggregate of five hundred thousand taels, it is now expressly agreed by the high contracting parties in the form of a supplementary Convention as follows: ARTICLE I. THAT, on the first day of the next Chinese year, the collectors of customs at the said three ports shall issue debentures to the amount of five hundred thousand taels, to be delivered to such persons as may be named by the Minister, or chief diplomatic officer of the United States in China, and it is agreed that the amount shall be distributed as follows:-Three hundred thousand taels at Canton, one hundred thousand at Shanghai, and one hundred thousand at Fuhchau, which shall be received in payment of one fifth of the tonnage, export, and import duties on American ships, or goods in American ships at the said ports; and it is agreed that this amount shall be in full liquidation of all claims of American citizens at the various ports to this date. IN FAITH WHEREOF, the respective Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and of the Tá Tsing Empire: that is to say, on the part of the United States, WILLIAM B. REED, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: and on the part of the Tá Tsing Empire, KWEILIANG, a member of the Privy Council, Captain-General of the plain white banner division of the Manchu Bannermen, and Superintendent of the Board of Punishments; and HWASHANA, Classical Reader at Banquets, President of the Board of Civil Office, CaptainGeneral of the bordered blue banner division of the Chinese Bannermen, both of them Plenipotentiaries; with Ho KWEI-TSING, GovernorGeneral of the Two Kiang provinces, President of the Board of War and Guardian of the heir-apparent; MINGSHEN, President of the Ordnance Office of the Imperial household, with the insignia of the second grade; and TWAN, a titular President of the fifth grade, member of the establishment of the General Council, and one of the junior Under-Secretaries of the Board of Punishments; all of them special commissioners deputed for the purpose, have signed and sealed these presents. Done at Shanghai, this eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and of the Inde pendence of the United States, the eighty-third; and in the eighth year of Hienfung, the tenth month, and third day. WILLIAM B. REED. Seal of the Chinese Commissioners. L. S. Signatures of Five Chinese AN ACT to carry into effect the Convention between the United States and China, concluded on the eighth of November, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight at Shanghai. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Minister, or chief diplomatic officer of the United States in China, shall, so soon as the Chinese revenue officers issue the debentures, or duty receipts provided for in the Convention, select some proper Depositary of the same in China, making such compensation as he shall think right, the said debentures, or their proceeds being subject to the appropriation hereinafter provided. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint two commissioners who shall form a Board in China, to receive and examine all claims which may be presented to them, under the said convention, according to the provisions of the same, the principles of justice and international law. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Board so constituted shall meet at such time and place as shall be designated by the chief diplomatic officer in China, and within one year from the time of said meeting shall terminate their duties. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the compensation of the said commissioners shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and the President of the United States is authorised to make such provision for the contingent expenses of the commission, as shall appear to him necessary and proper, and the said salaries and expenses shall be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall report to the chief diplomatic officer in China, the several awards made by them, to be approved by him, a copy of which shall be by him translated to the Depositary of the debentures, or the proceeds as hereinbefore provided, who shall thereupon distribute. in rateable proportion, the said debentures, or their proceeds, according to the direction of the said diplomatic officer. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the said commission shall be executed and completed, the records and documents, and all other papers in the possession of the commissioners, relating to the same, shall be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State. Approved, March 3d, 1859. ACT OF CONGRESS. AUGUST 11TH, 1848. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting: I certify that the following is a true and complete copy of an "Act to carry into effect certain provisions in the Treaties between the United States and China and the Ottoman Porte, giving certain judicial powers to Ministers and Consuls of the United States in those countries;" copied from, and carefully collated with, the original roll on file in this Department. In testimony whereof, 1, JAMES BUCHANAN, Secretary of State of the United States, have hereunto subscribed my name, and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-eighth day of August, A. D. 1848, and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-third. (L. S.) JAMES BUCHANAN. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES. By direction of his Excellency JOHN W. DAVIS, Commissioner of the United States of America to China, the following Act is hereby published for the information and guidance of citizens of the United States, visiting or residing in China. PETER PARKER, Secretary of Legation. CANTON, 29th November, 1848. AN ACT to carry into effect certain Provisions in the Treaties between the United States and China and the Ottoman Porte, giving certain Judicial Powers to Ministers and Consuls of the United States in those countries. Commissioner and Consuls vested with judicial authority. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, to carry into full effect the provisions of the treaty of July third, eighteen hundred and forty-four, with the Chinese Empire, the Commissioner and the Consuls of the United States, duly appointed to reside in China, shall, in addition to the other powers and duties imposed upon them by the provisions of said treaty, be vested with the judicial authority herein described, which shall appertain to the said office of Commissioner and Consul, and be a part of the duties belonging thereto. Power to try citizens for crimes com SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, mitted in China. in regard to Crimes and Misdemeanors, the said public functionaries are fully empowered to arraign and try, in the manner herein provided, all citizens of the United States charged with offenses against law, which shall be committed in the dominions of China, including Macao, and upon conviction, to sentence such offenders in the manner herein authorized; and the said functionaries, and each of them, are hereby authorized to issue all such processes as are suitable and necessary to carry this authority into execution. Civil jurisdiction SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, in regard to Civil Rights, whether of property or person, the said functionaries are hereby vested with all the judicial authority necessary to execute the provisions of said treaty, and shall entertain jurisdiction in matters of contract at the port where, or nearest to which, the contract was made, or at the port at which, or nearest to which, it was to be executed; and in all other matters at the port where, or nearest to which, the cause of controversy arose, or at the port where, or nearest to which, the damage complained of was sustained-any such port abovenamed being always one of the five mentioned in the treaty; which jurisdiction shall embrace all controversies between citizens of the United States, or others provided for by said treaty. States, so far as ap SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That Laws of the United such jurisdiction in Criminal and Civil plicable, to be admatters shall, in all cases, be exercisedhered to. and enforced in conformity with the laws of the United States, which are hereby, so far as is necessary to execute said treaty, extended over all citizens of the United States in China, (and over all others to the extent the terms of the treaty justify or require,) so far as such laws are suitable to carry said treaty into effect: but in all cases where such laws are not adapted to the object, or are deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable remedies, the common law shall be extended in like manner over such citizens and others in China; and if defects still remain to be supplied, and neither the common law nor the statutes of the United States furnish appropriate and suitable remedies, the Commissioner shall, by decrees and regulations which shall have the force of law, supply such defects and deficiencies. Forms of process to Commissioner, with the Consuls. be prescribed by the the approbation of SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That, in order to organize and carry into effect the system of jurisprudence demanded by said treaty, the Commissioner, with the advice of the several Consuls for the five ports named in said treaty, or so many of them as can be conveniently assembled, shall prescribe the forms of all processes which shall be issued by any of the said Consuls; the mode of executing, and the time of returning the same; the manner in which trials shall be conducted, and how the records thereof shall be kept; the form of oaths for Christian witnesses, and the mode of |