[2nd Peace of Paris. French Pecuniary Indemnity.] No. 41.-CONVENTION between Great Britain (Austria, Prussia, and Russia) and France, relative to the Pecuniary Indemnity to be paid by France to the Allied Powers. Signed at Paris, 20th November, 1815. [This Convention was annexed to the Definitive Treaty of the same date, see Art. IV.] Convention between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity with Article IV of the Principal Treaty, relative to the payment of the Pecuniary Indemnity to be furnished by France to the Allied Powers. 1. Payment of Indemnity in five years. 2. Mode of paying Indemnity. 3. Engagements to be exchanged by Bons au Porteur. 4. Time at which engagements are to be exchanged for Bons au Porteur. 5. Issue of Bons au Porteur in Coupures or Bills. 6. Limit to amount of Bons au Porteur. 7. Non-payment of Interest. 8. Guarantee to be made over by France to Allied Powers. 9. Persons in whose name the Fund of Interest is to be inscribed. Right of Allies to transfer Inscriptions in other Names. 10. Deposit of Inscriptions. 11. Appointment of Mixed Commission. Payments. Arrears. Bons unpaid to be given up to French Commissioners, and paid over to Allied Commissioners. 12. Full amount of Inscriptions to be always in hands of Treasurers. 13. Interest on Bons au Porteur not paid when presented. 14.} Facilities for payment of last 100,000,000 francs Indemnity. 16. Fulfilment by France of Engagements relative to Clothing and Equipment of Allied Armies. (English version.*) Convention between Great Britain and France, concluded in conformity with Article IV of the Principal Treaty (No. 40), relative to the Payment of the Pecuniary Indemnity to be furnished by France to the Allied Powers.t THE payment to which France has bound herself to the Allied Powers, as an Indemnity, by Article IV of the Treaty of this *For French version, see "State Papers," vol. iii, p. 293. The Stipulations of the Convention upon this subject, concluded on the same day, between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and France, were, verbatim the same as those of this Convention. [2nd Peace of Paris. French Pecuniary Indemnity.] day, shall take place in the form and at the periods prescribed by the following Articles : Payment of Indemnity in Five Years. ART. I. The sum of 700,000,000 of francs, being the amount of the Indemnity, shall be discharged, day by day, in equal portions, in the space of 5 years, by means of Bons au Porteur on the Royal Treasury of France, in the manner that shall be now set forth. Mode of Paying Indemnity. ART. II. The Treasury shall give over, immediately, to the Allied Powers, 15 Engagements for 46,000,000 and two-thirds each, forming together the sum of 700,000,000; the first Engagement payable on the 31st March, 1816, the second on the 31st of July of the same year, and so on in every fourth month during the five successive years. Engagements to be exchanged for Bons au Porteur. ART. III. These Engagements shall not be negotiable, but they shall be periodically exchanged against Bons au Porteur, negotiable, drawn in the form used in the ordinary service of the Royal Treasury. Time at which Engagements are to be exchanged for Bons au Porteur. ART. IV. In the month which shall precede the four, in the course of which an Engagement is to be paid, that Engagement shall be divided by the Treasury of France, into Bons au Porteur payable in Paris, in equal portions, from the first to the last day of the four months. Thus the Engagement of 46,000,000 and two-thirds, falling due the 31st of March, 1816, shall be exchanged in the month of November, 1815, against Bons au Porteur, payable in equal portions from the 1st of December, 1815, to the 31st of March, 1816. The Engagement of 46,000,000 and two-thirds, which will fall due the 31st of July, 1816, shall be exchanged in the month of March of the same year, against Bons au Porteur, payable in equal portions from the 1st of April, 1816, to the 31st of July of the same year, and so on every four months. [2nd Peace of Paris. French Pecuniary Indemnity.] Issue of Bons au Porteur in Coupures or Bills. ART. V. No single Bon au Porteur shall be delivered for the sum due each day, but the sum so due shall be divided into several Coupures or Bills, of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 20,000 francs, the which sums added together, will amount to the sum total of the payment due for each day. Limit to amount of Bons au Porteur. ART. VI. The Allied Powers, convinced that it is as much their interest as that of France, that too considerable a sum of Bons au Porteur should not be issued at once, agree that there never shall be in circulation Bons for more than 50,000,000 of francs at a time. Non-payment of Interest. ART. VII. No Interest shall be paid by France for the delay of 5 years, which the Allied Powers allow to her for the payment of the 700,000,000 of francs. Guarantee to be made over by France to Allied Powers. ART. VIII. On the 1st of January, 1816, there shall be made over by France to the Allied Powers, as a Guarantee for the regularity of the payments, a Fund of Interest inscribed in the Grand Livre of the Public Debt of France, of 7,000,000 of francs, on a capital of 140,000,000. This Fund of Interest shall be used to make good, if there should be need of it, the deficiencies in the Acceptances of the French Government, and to render the payments equal, at the end of every six months, to the Bons au Porteur which shall have fallen due, as shall be hereafter detailed. Persons in whose Name the Fund of Interest is to be Inscribed. ART. IX. This Fund of Interest shall be inscribed in the name of such persons as the Allied Powers shall point out; but these persons cannot be the holders of the Inscriptions, except in the case provided for in Article XI ensuing. Right of Allies to transfer Inscriptions in other Names. The Allied Powers further reserve to themselves the right to transfer the Inscriptions to other names, as often as they shall judge necessary. [2nd Peace of Paris. French Pecuniary Indemnity.] Deposit of Inscriptions. ART. X. The deposit of these Inscriptions shall be confined to one Treasurer named by the Allied Powers, and to another named by the French Government. Appointment of Mixed Commission. ART. XI. There shall be a Mixed Commission, composed of an equal number on both sides, of Allied and French Commissioners, who shall examine every six months the state of the payments, and shall regulate the balance. Payments. Arrears. The Bons of the Treasury paid shall constitute the Payments; those which shall not yet have been presented to the Treasury of France, shall enter into the account of the subsequent balance; those also which shall have fallen due, been presented, and not paid, shall constitute the arrear, and the sum of Inscriptions to be applied, at the market price of the day, to cover the deficit. Bons unpaid to be given up to French Commissioners and paid over to Allied Commissioners. As soon as that operation shall have taken place, the Bons unpaid shall be given up to the French Commissioners, and the Mixed Commission shall order the Treasurers to pay over the sum so determined upon, and the Treasurers shall be authorised and obliged to pay it over to the Commissioners of the Allied Powers, who shall dispose of it as they shall think proper. Full amount of Inscriptions to be always in hands of Treasurers. ART. XII. France engages to replace immediately in the hands of the Treasurers, an amount of Inscriptions equal to that which may have been made use of, according to the foregoing Article, in order that the Fund stipulated in Article VIII may be always kept at its full amount. Interest on Bons au Porteur not Paid when Presented. ART. XIII. France shall pay an interest of 5 per cent. per annum, from the date of the Bons au Porteur falling due, upon all such Bons the payment of which may have been delayed by the act of France. |