[2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] out, in order that their number may be reduced to 5. The parties are, however, at liberty to abide, if they all agree thereto, by a Commission of 4 Arbitrators, the number of whom, in order to obtain an odd number, is to be in like manner reduced to 3. In the cases specified by Section 7 of the present Article, the 6 Umpires, or the 4, if the parties have agreed to that number, are to enter into discussion, without previous elimination of one of their number. In either of these cases, the arbitrators convoked for the purpose are immediately to enter upon the examination of the claim, or class of claim in question, and are to decide by a majority of voices, without appeal. The Record Keeper is to attend all the sittings, and to act as minute clerk. If the Commission of Arbitration have not decided upon the class of a claim, though it has on a claim itself, such decision terminates the affair. If it has decided on the class of a claim, the case, provided that class be acknowledged as admissible, goes back to the Commission of Liquidation, for that Commission to determine on the admission of the individual claim, and the amount thereof, or refer it anew to a Commission of Arbitration of 5 or 3 Members. Notification of Judgment to Commission of Laquidation. Judgment being given, the Recorder is to notify to the Commission of Liquidation every such sentence, for the purpose of being inserted in their proceedings; as the said decisions are to be considered and acted upon as precedents by the Commission of Liquidation. Limit of Duties of the Commissions. It is to be well understood, that the Commissions appointed by virtue of the present Article, are not to extend their labours beyond the liquidation of the obligation specified by the present Treaty, and that of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1). Reimbursement to France of Debts in Countries no longer belonging to France. ART. VI.* The High Contracting Parties, desiring to see the full performance of Article XXI of the Treaty of Paris of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), and, accordingly, determinate the mode of crediting France for such Debts, specially secured in their origin * See Convention of 25th April, 1818. [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] by mortgages upon countries which have ceased to form part of France, or otherwise contracted by their internal Administration, and which have been converted into Inscriptions in the Great Book of the National Debt of France, have agreed that the amount of the Capital which each of the Governments of the said respective countries may have to reimburse to France, shall be determined by the price which the funds may bear, on an average, between the day of the signature of the present Convention and the 1st January, 1816. This capital is to be made good to France, according to the statements which the Commission appointed by Article V of the present Convention shall draw up and settle every two months after the titles have been duly verified, on the strength of which the inscriptions have been made. France to pay Dividends on Inscriptions for Debts on Mortgage on Immovables. France is not to be reimbursed the amount of the Inscriptions arising from Debts secured by Mortgage on Immovables which the French Government have alienated, whatever be the nature of the said immovables, provided the purchasers thereof have paid the amount into the hands of the agents of the French Government, unless the said immovables should at present be (otherwise than by possession obtained unfairly during the continuance of the French Administration) in the hands either of the present Government, of public establishments, or of the former possessors. The French Government remains charged with the payment of the dividends on those Inscriptions. Countervailing Accounts to be settled by Mutual Consent. The Countervailing Accounts of what may become due to France in inscriptions, and the payments to which she has engaged herself by the present Convention, cannot be settled but with mutual consent, excepting for what follows in the succeeding Article. Reductions from Countervailing Accounts. ART. VII.* From these reimbursements shall be deducted: 1. The Interest on Inscriptions in the Great Book of the State, till the period of the 22nd December, 1813; also, the Interest which France may have paid subsequently to that period, shall, in like manner, be made good to her by the respective Govern ments. *See Convention of 25th April, 1818. [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] 2. The capitals and interest secured by mortgage on immovables alienated by the French Government, although the said capitals have not yet been converted into Inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt; provided, however, that on account of the present stipulation, nothing shall be done contrary to the laws or orders of the Government, which decreed forfeitures, &c., or in virtue of which the Debts were to become extinct to the benefit of France by way of "confusion," or of compensation. Commission of Arbitration to be Appointed to settle Claim of Netherlands to Interest of Debt of Holland. ART. VIII. The French Government having refused to recognise the claim of the Government of the Low Countries, relative to the payment of the Interest of the Debt of Holland, which may not have been paid for the half years of March and September, 1813, it is agreed to refer to a Commission of Arbitration the decision of the principle of the said question. Composition of Commission. This Commission is to be composed of 7 members, two of them to be named by the French Government, two by the Government of the Netherlands, and the three others to be chosen from the States decidedly neuter, and who have no interest in the question, such as Russia, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, and the Kingdom of Naples. The choice of these three last Commissioners is to be made in such manner, that one of them is to be named by the French Government, another by that of the Netherlands, and the third by the said two neutral Commissioners. Oath to be taken by Commissioners. The Commission is to meet at Paris, on the 1st of February, 1816. The members thereof are to take the same Oath to which the Commissioners of Arbitration are subject, as stated in Article V of the present Convention, to be administered in the same manner. Commissioners of Liquidation to submit their Opinions to the Arbitrators for Decision. As soon as the Commission shall be constituted, the Commissioners of Liquidation of the two Powers shall each submit in [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] writing the arguments in support of their opinion, in order that the Arbitrators may be enabled to decide which of the two Governments, the French Government, or the Government of the Netherlands, shall be bound to pay the aforesaid Arrears of Interest, taking for basis the dispositions of the Treaty of Paris, of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), and whether the reimbursement which the Government of the Netherlands may have to make to France, for Inscriptions of the Debts of Countries re-united to the Crown of the Netherlands, and detached from France, is to be required without deducting the dividends of the Debt of Holland, in arrear for 1813. Liquidation of Debts of Countries Ceded to France. ART. IX. The liquidation shall be proceeded in, of the unpaid interest of the Debts secured on mortgage upon the soil of countries ceded to France by the Treaties of Campo Formio* and Luneville,† and arising from loans formally acknowledged by the Governments of the ceded countries, or from expenses incurred by the effective administration of the said countries. Bases on which Commissioners of Liquidation are to Regulate themselves. The Commissioners of Liquidation are to regulate their operations according to the dispositions of the Treaties of Peace, and the laws and decrees of the French Government, with respect to the liquidation and extinction of the debts of the nature in question. Reimbursement of Securities. ART. X. As it has been stipulated by Article XXIII of the Treaty of Paris, of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), that the French Government should reimburse the Securities given by the public functionaries entrusted with the management of public money in the countries separated from France, 6 months after the presenting of their accounts, the case alone of misdemeanour being excepted, it remains agreed: 1. That the obligation of presenting their accounts to the French Government does not extend to the Receveurs Communaux; nevertheless, as the French Government has had an interest in * (17th October, 1797). See Appendix. [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] certain portions of the receipts wherewith those accountable persons were charged, and that consequently it may still call for redress against them, in cases of misdemeanour, no application for restitution of their Securities shall be presented, without being accompanied by a certificate from the superior authorities of the country to which these persons accountable may belong, at the same time specifying the sum which, after the audit of their accounts, shall have been acknowledged to be due to the French Government on the account above mentioned, and which the latter shall deduct from the security, giving proof that nothing is due to the same, except, in either case, the deduction of those balances which France has reserved to herself by Article XXIV of the present Convention. 2. The accounts of the functionaries who have had the management of money belonging to the French Government, and who were bound to have their administration approved by the Court of Accounts, shall be examined by the French Government, in conjunction with the Commissioner of the present Government of the province where the person accountable has been employed. The examination of each account is to take place within 6 months after it has been delivered in; if during this period no decision has been given, the French Government renounces all claim against the person accountable. This stipulation does not derogate, with respect to those who are accountable, from the time of forfeiture fixed by Article XVI, it being well understood that, in the event of the non-presentation of the accounts, the French Government reserves to itself the right of proceeding against the said persons accountable, in the customary manner. 3. The functionaries not being liable to be made responsible for what has occurred relative to their "Caisses," since the entrance of the Foreign Troops, it has been expressly agreed, that the French Government are not to charge them with the balances which they owed at that period, and that it shall only be a manifest misdemeanor, committed before the entrance of those Troops, which shall authorise the French Government to withhold the whole, or part of the Security. In all other respects the same is to be restored, in the manner expressed in Article XIX, Section 2. Funds deposited by Communes and Public Establishments. ART. XI. Conformably to Article XXV of the Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), the Funds deposited by "Communes," and |