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take cognizance of differences that may arise, either at seaor in port, between the captain, officers, and crew withoutexception, particularly in reference to the adjustment ofwages and the execution of contracts. The local authori-ties shall not on any pretext interfere in these differences,but shall lend forcible aid to the consuls, when they mayask, to arrest and imprison all persons composing the crewwhom they may deem it necessary to confine. Those per-sons shall be arrested at the sole request of the consuls, ad-dressed in writing to the local authority and supported byan official extract from the register of the ship or the list ofthe crew, and shall be held, during the whole time of theirstay in port, at the disposal of the consul. Their releaseshall be granted at the mere request of the consuls made inwritiug. The expenses of the arrest and detention of thesepersons shall be paid by the consuls.
Article IX.
The respective consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, orconsular agents may arrest the officers, sailors, or all otherpersons making part of the crews of ships-of-war or mer-chant-vessels of their nation, who may be guilty or be ac-cused of having deserted said ships and vessels, for thepurpose of sending them on board or back to their country* * *; to that end the consuls of the United States inFrance * * * shall apply to any of the competent au-thorities, and make a request in writing for the deserters,supporting it by an exhibition of the registers of the vesseland list of crew, or by other official documents to show thatthe men whom they claim belonged to said crew. Uponsuch request alone thus supported, and without the exac-tion of any oath from the consuls, the deserters, not being.citizens of the country where the demand is made either atthe time of their shipping or of their arrival in port, shallbe given up to them. All aid and protection shall be fur-nished them for the pursuit, seizure, and arrest of the de-serters who shall even be put and kept in the prisons of thecountry, at the request and at the expense of the consuls,until those agents may find an opportunity of sending themaway. If, however, such opportunity should not present
Deserters.