The Department of State to the French Embassy.
Washington, October 27, 1899.
The Department of State of the United States has received the unofficial memorandum of the French embassy at Washington, dated August 14, 1899, in reference to the inviolability, under Article III of the consular convention between the United States and France of February 23, 1853, of the residence at Arcachon of Mr. Tourgée, the United States consul at Bordeaux.
The memorandum states that the Government of the Republic of France desires to know the construction given by the United States Government to Article III of the said convention, and also the American jurisprudence in matters of the inviolability of the residence of French consuls in the United States; whether that inviolability applies [Page 452] only to the dwelling which the French consul occupies in the city designated by the exequatur as being that where he is permitted to reside, or whether, on the other hand, it applies also to the dwelling in which such consul may reside temporarily for his own pleasure and without any official reason, outside of such city but still within the limits of its jurisdiction.
Article III of the consular convention of February 23, 1853, between the United States and France provides that:
“The consular offices and dwellings shall be inviolable. The local authorities shall not invade them under any pretext.”
This Department regards the inviolability of the consular dwelling thus guaranteed by the treaty as applicable to the dwelling in which the consular officer for the time being has his habitation. This dwelling may or may not be connected with or near the consular offices. There is nothing in the exequaturs granted by this Government to French or other foreign consuls in the United States requiring or indicating that they may be only permitted to reside in the city in which the consular office is located. That is not a matter with which this Government is concerned. It is deemed to be a matter to be determined by the consular officer, under the regulation of the Government which appoints him. The consul at Bordeaux is designated by this Government as consul for the ten departments of southwest France, and the exequatur granted him by the French Government expressly designates those ten departments within which his consular functions are to be recognized. Arcachon, where he had his dwelling when the acts of which he complains were committed, is located in the consular district of Bordeaux. The United States requires the consul to keep consular offices at Bordeaux, but it does not require him to maintain his dwelling place in that city, nor is it believed that there is anything in his exequatur requiring this. It is submitted that he had a perfect right to establish his dwelling at Arcachon. His object in doing so was to take certain treatment recommended by his physician which could only be taken there. While there all mail for the consulate was forwarded to him without being opened, and all except mere routine work of the consulate was performed there by himself and his clerks. Thus the place was not only his residence, but the place where his official duties were transacted also.
In the opinion of this Department the inviolability secured by the treaty clearly applied to the premises occupied by Mr. Tourgée at Arcachon.
No case has arisen in the United States involving a construction of the treaty provision by the courts.