sold, or to their heirs or assigns, subjects of his Britannic majesty, the following process shall be had :"The claimants shall be obliged to produce, 1st, the proces verbal containing the inventory of the moveable effects seized or sequestered; 2d, the proces verbal of the sale of the said effects; or, in default of proofs in writing, such other proof as the respective commissioners of the two powers shall judge sufficient in lieu thereof, according to the principles established in the preceding article; the French government engaging, in this respect, to give the same facility, and the commissioners are authorized to make the same search, and to take the same measures, as have been detailed in the foregoing article, with respect to immoveable property. The amount of the stock arising from the seizures and sales of the moveable property, shall be thus determined; regard being always had to those periods during which paper-money was in circulation, and to the fictitious augmentation of prices resulting therefrom.

"The capital, liquidated and allowed, shall be inscribed upon the great book of the public debt of France, at the rate which has been fixed by the preceding articles, and the inscription = shall bear date, and shall bear interest, from the 22d of March next, inclusively.

"The arrears liquidated and allowed, due upon the said capital, from the period at which the claimant was deprived of the possession of his or her moveable property, shall be calculated at the rate of three per cent. per annum, without » deduction, and the whole amount of the said arrears, up to the 22d of March next, exclusively, shall be inscribed upon the great book of the public debt of France, at the rate above-mentioned, and shall bear interest from the 22d of March next, inclusively.

"The vessels, ships, cargoes, and other moveable property, which shall have been seized and confiscated, either to the profit of France, or to the profit of the subjects of his most Christian majesty, in conformity to the laws of war, and the prohibitory decrees, shall not be admitted to the liquidation, nor to the payments mentioned n the present article.

7. "The claims of the subjects of his Britanic majesty, arising from the different loans made by the French government, or from mortgages pon property sequestered, seized, and sold by he said government, or any other claim what oever, not comprised in the preceding articles, ind which would be admissible according to the erms of the 4th additional article of the treaty of Paris, 1814, and of the present convention, shall liquidated and fixed, adopting, with respect each claim, the modes of admission, of veri

formable to their respective natures, and which BOOK XVI. shall be defined and fixed by the mixed commission mentioned in the following articles, accord- CHAP. VIII. ing to the principles laid down in the above articles.

"These claims, thus liquidated, shall be paid in inscriptions in the great book, at the rate above-mentioned, and the inscriptions shall bear date, and shall bear interest, from the 22d of March next, inclusively.

"In the cases wherein the edicts or decrees, constituting the claims above-mentioned, shall have assured to the creditors the re-imbursement of the capitals, and other profitable conditions or favorable chances, account shall be had thereof to the benefit of the claimants, as detailed above, in article 2.

8. "The amount of the inscriptions arising to each creditor from his claims liquidated and allowed, shall be divided by the commissioners of deposit, into five equal portions: the first of which shall be delivered immediately after liquidation; the second, three months after; and so on with respect to the other portions every three months; the creditors will, nevertheless, receive the interests of the whole of their debts Iquidated, and allowed from the 22d of March, 1816, inclusive, as soon as their respective claims shall have been. allowed and admitted.

9. "A capital, producing an interest of three millions five hundred thousand francs, commencing from the 22d of March, 1816, shall be inscribed as a fund of guarantee, in the great book of the public debt of France, in the name of two or four commissioners, the one half English and the other half French, chosen by their respective governments. These commissioners shall receive the said interest from the 22d of March, 1816, every six months; they shall hold it in deposit, without having the power of negociating it: and they shall further be bound to place the amount of it in the public funds, and to receive the accumulated and compound interest of the same, for the profit of the creditors. In case the three millions five hundred thousand francs of interest shall be insufficient, there shall be delivered to the said commissioners inscriptions for larger sums, until their amount shall be equal to what may be necessary to pay all the debts mentioned in the present act. These additional inscriptions, if there shall be any, shall be delivered, bearing interest from the same period as the three millions five hundred thousand francs above stipulated, and shall be administered by the commissioners, according to the same principles, so that the claims which shall remain to be paid, shall be paid with the same proportion of accumulated and compound interest, as if the fund of guarantee had been from the first sufficient; and as soon

1815.

BOOK XVI. have been made, the surplus or the interest fund not employed, with the proportion of accumulated CHAP. VIII. and compound interest which shall belong thereto, shall, if there be any, be given up to the disposal of the French government.

1815.

10." In proportion as the liquidation shall be effected, and as the claims shall be allowed, distinction being made between the sums representing the capitals, and the sums arising from the arrears or interest, the commission of liquidation, which shall be mentioned in the following articles, shall deliver to the creditors, allowed to be such, two certificates, for the value of the whole inscription to be made, bearing interest from the 22d of March, 1816, inclusive; one of the certificates relating to the capital of the debt, and the other relating to the arrears or interest liquidated up to the 22d of March, 1816, exclusively.

11. "The certificates above-mentioned shall be delivered over to the commissioners holding the annuities in deposit, who shall check the same, in order that they be immediately inscribed into the great book of the public debt of France, to the debit of the deposit fund, and to the credit of the new creditors, acknowledged as such, bearers of the said certificates, care being taken to distinguish the perpetual from the life-annuities. And the said creditors shall be authorized, from the day of the definitive liquidation of their claims, to receive, for their profit, from the said commissioners, the interests which are due to them, together with the accumulated and compound interests, if there be any, as well as such portion of the capital as shall have been paid, according to what has been regulated by the preceding articles.

12. "A further delay shall be allowed, after the signature of the present convention, to the subjects of his Britannic majesty, who shall have claims upon the French government, for the matters specified in the present act, in order that they may bring forward their claims, and produce their titles.

"This delay shall be extended to three months, for the creditors residing in Europe; six months for such as are in the western colonies; and twelve months for such as are resident in the East Indies, or in other countries equally distant. After the expiration of these periods, the said subjects of his Britannic majesty shall no longer have the benefit of the present liquidation.

13. In order to proceed in the liquidation and allowance of the claims mentioned in the preceding articles, there shall be formed a commission, composed of two French and two English commissioners, who shall be nominated and appointed by their respective governments.

"These commissioners, after they shall have allowed and admitted the titles to the claims, shall proceed, according to the principles pointed

out, to the allowance, liquidation, and determi nation of the sums which shall be due to each creditor.

"In proportion as the claims shall be allowed and ascertained, they shall deliver to the credi tors the two certificates mentioned in the 10th article; one for the capital, the other for the interests.

14. "A commission of arbitration shall, at the same time, be named, composed of four members, two of whom shall be named by the British government, and two by the French govern

ment.

"If it shall be necessary to call upon the ar bitrators, in case of an equality of votes on any point, the four names of the arbitrators, English and French, shall be put into an urn, and the one of the four, whose name shall be drawn first, shall be the arbitrator of the particular affair upon which there shall have been such equality of votes.

"Each of the commissioners of liquidation shall, in his turn, take from the urn the ticket which is to point out the arbitrator. A proces verbal shall be made of this operation, and shal be annexed to the one which shall be drawn up for the liquidation and determination of the particular claim.

"If a vacancy shall take place, either in the commission of liquidation, or in that of arbitra tion, the government, which ought to provide for the nomination of a new member, shall proceed to that nomination without delay, in order that the two commissions may always remain, as far as possible, complete.

"If one of the commissioners of liquidation shall be absent, he shall be replaced, during his absence, by one of the arbitrators of his nation; and as, in that case, there will remain but one arbitrator of that nation, the two arbitrators of the other nation shall also be reduced to one by lot. And if one of the arbitrators should absent him self, the same operation shall take place, in order to reduce to one the two arbitrators of the ether nation. It is generally understood, that in order to obviate all manner of delay in this busines the liquidation and adjudication shall not be sapended, provided there shall be present, and in activity, one commissioner and one arbitrator e each nation, the principle of equality betwee the commissioners and the arbitrators of the twe nations being always preserved and re-establishes if necessary, by lot.

"Whenever either of the contracting power shall proceed to the nomination of new comm sioners of liquidation, of deposit, or of arbitr tion, the said commissioners shall be obliged previously to their entering upon their function to make the oath, and in the forms detailed the following article.

15." The commissioners of liquidation, the commissioners of deposit, and the arbitrators, shall together make oath, in presence of the ambassador of his Britannic majesty, and between the hands of the keeper of the seals of France, to proceed justly and faithfully, to have no preference either for the creditor or for the debtor, and to act in all their proceedings according to the stipulations of the treaty of Paris, of the 30th of May, 1814, and of the treaties and conventions with France, signed this day, and more particularly according to those of the present

convention.

"The commissioners of liquidation, and the arbitrators, shall be authorized to call witnesses whenever they shall judge it necessary, and to examine them by oath in the usual forms, upon all points relative to the different claims which form the object of this convention.

16. "When the 3,500,000 francs of interest, mentioned in the 9th article, shall have been inscribed in the name of the commissioners who are to hold that sum in deposit, and on the first demand which shall be thereafter made by the French government, his Britannic majesty shall give the necessary orders to carry into execution the restoration of the French colonies, as stipulated by the treaty of Paris, of the 30th of May, 1814, comprebending Martinique and Guadaloupe, which have been since occupied by the British forces..

"The inscription above-mentioned, shall be made before the 1st of January next, at the latest.

17. "The prisoners of war, officers and soldiers, both naval and military, or of any other description, taken during the hostilities which have lately ceased, shall, on both sides, be immediately restored to their respective countries, under the same conditions which are specified in the convention of the 23d of April, 1814, and in the treaty of the 30th of May of the same year: and the British government renounces all claim to any sums or indemnities whatsoever, which might belong to it from the surplus arising from the maintenance of the said prisoners of war, subject, nevertheless, to the condition specified in the 4th additional article of the treaty of Paris, of the 30th of May, 1814.

“Dated at Paris, the 20th day of November, 1815,

tarif of customs published in the above-mentioned BOOK XVI. city, by his royal-highness the Duke d'Angouleme, on the 24th of March, 1814, shall be liqui- CHAP. VIII, dated and paid, according to the principles and 1815. the object declared in the above-mentioned decision of his most Christian majesty.

"The commission instituted by the 13th article of the convention of this day, is directed to proceed immediately to the liquidation of the said claim, and to fix the dates of its payment to be made in money.

"The decision which shall be made by the commissioners, shall be executed immediately, according to its form and tenor.

"The present additional article shall have the same force and effect as if it were inserted word for word in the convention signed this day, relative to the examination and liquidation of the claims of the subjects of his Britannic majesty against the government of France.

"In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have thereto affixed the seals of their arms.

"Done at Paris, the 20th day of November, 1815.

After this reading, the minister continued→→→ "After long and continued discussions, in which demands still more important had been produced to us, and at length withdrawn, those which have been communicated to you, were presented to us as an ultimatum, and the most urgent and impe rious considerations imposed it on us a law to subscribe to them. These demands are certainly the most burthensome, the hardest, the most painful part of the stipulations that we have had to discuss; and it is enough to know that they have been proposed to Frenchmen, to be justified in the conclusion, that indispensible necessity alone could induce them to subscribe to them. But if, after the example of the king, whom you heard, gentlemen, at the opening of your session, with that love of frankness and goodness, which is the most striking feature in his noble character, express to you the profound affliction with which his heart is penetrated; if, I say, we may be permitted to give an account before you, and in the face of Europe, of the impressions which we may have felt, I will say, that arrived at this period of the negociation, the most thorny that ever exercised the zeal and tried the devotion of the servants of an unhappy king; after having exhaust, ed all the means of discussion and resistance which could be suggested by reason, and by that political foresight which in good as well as in bad fortune ought to be the constant guide of the Conduet of cabinets, seeing on the one part, in the

1815.

BOOK XVI. disposition of the ministers of the powers a determination irrevocably fixed; seeing, on the other CHAP. VIII. hand, that the present crisis brought incessantly into action, in the whole extent of France, the principle of an oppression, of an impoverishment, of an irritation, and, in short, a series of devastations, which seemed daily to increase and to acquire new strength; we judged, that if we suffered this crisis to be indefinitely prolonged, the fate of France was at stake, even the fate of those who have imposed upon us such great sacrifices, and perhaps the destiny of social order in Europe. And it was in the prospect of so many dangers, that sacrificing, without hesitation, all our repugnance, we accepted, in the name of the king, in the name of the country, the conditions which have been laid before you."

The minister, on ending his discourse, observed, for the information of the chamber, that there were no secret conditions accessory to those which he had just communicated.

Having given the principal treaties and conventions at length, we shall make only a few observations. In perusing the principal treaty between France and the allies, it is sufficiently evident, that they considered that country as by no means in a tranquil state; and from the extraordinary powers which they were pleased to bestow on the Duke of Wellington, it is equally evident, that they regarded it as by no means improbable, that circumstances might arise which would render absolutely necessary the most vigorous measures, with a promptness that would not admit of the allies themselves being consulted. By the terms of the treaty, they placed themselves on their guard against revolutionary measures; for such they supposed most likely to occur. In a country, which for the last twenty-five years had passed through such scenes as France had witnessed, it was not to be expected that the love of tranquillity, order, and justice would soon regain their proper and safe dominion. But though the allies effectually guarded against any attempts on the part of the people to disturb Louis on his

throne, they do not appear to have been equally solicitous to guard the people against the en croachments of the sovereign on their rights and happiness. They did, indeed, in a very indirect and gentle manner, bint to him, that he ought to forget what was past, and secure himself on the throne by the moderation and justice of his ac tions. But in the event that he did not so com duct himself; in the event that, by the injustice of his measures, the people were roused to op position and resistance, would not their conduct be deemed revolutionary; and, consequently, would not the allies deem themselves at liberty to support the monarch against his subjects?

France complained loudly and most bitterly of the conditions of peace, which she termed barsh and severe. Galling and humiliating it no doubt was, to a nation which only three years before, with her arms, threatened the confines of Asia: not only to have lost every thing, but thus to have the bridle of Europe placed in her jaws, in order to curb her future motions. This short revolution was certainly most fatal to France: and the expenses which she incurred in conse quence were immense. We shall here put into a short compass what it has cost her, i consequence of the return of Bonaparte from Elba.

Francs.

In our last chapter we noticed the opening of the two chambers by the king. The character and proceedings of the chamber of deputies astonished and alarmed the real friends of the peace and liberty of France. It was soon discovered, that the majority displayed undoubted and avowed symptoms of restoring the government of France much nearer to the standard and principles which distinguished it before the revolution, than the constitutional charter admitted. The cause of this character of the deputies is not well ascertained; but it is certain they did not represent the feelings and wishes of the nation. Indeed, it is absurd to suppose that the nation, the greatest part of whom had grown up in the midst of the revolution, and consequently, though suffering from its evils, must have imbibed many of its notions on government, and had especially benefited by the abolition of tithes and feudal rights, and by the sale of emigrant property, &c. should wish to return to the state and government of 1786. But, though it is difficult to learn the real causes which produced this character in the chamber of deputies, yet there are some which undoubtedly tended towards its production. In the first place, the deputies were chosen while the allies were in possession of France; of course they could not be the free and unbiassed choice of the people. Secondly, the deputies were not chosen by the people, but by the electoral colleges. The members of these colleges were originally chosen by the people, and were by Bonaparte made members for life. The vacancies occasioned by death, &c. not being regularly filled up, on the return of the Bourbons a vast number of emigrants and royalists were nominated by the king to fill up the vacant situations. The number of deputies was reduced to 396: the qualification necessary for a candidate was enacted to be the payment of 5,000 francs (2087.) of contribution; and such presidents were named

CHAP. I.

1815.

to the electoral colleges, as precluded the suc- BOOK XVII, cess of any but a court candidate. Consequently, most of the deputies, chosen by these colleges, were warm friends of the Bourbons, and decided enemies of the Jacobins and Bonapartists. The members of the chamber of peers were all nominated by the king, and consisted principally of royalists. Soon after the opening of the chambers, they both voted loyal addresses to the king, which we shall insert. The following is the address of the chamber of peers: "Sire,-Your faithful subjects, the peers of France, have been profoundly moved by the words which your majesty delivered from the throne, and which are still felt in all hearts. They hasten to deposit at your feet the homage of their respectful and ardent loyalty; that of their regret for your sorrows, of their hope in your wisdom; that of all the sentiments which circumstances so important must excite; of all the resources which can be offered by our love for your person, our fidelity to your blood, our interminable and boundless devotion for our country and our king

"Yes, sire, when, last year, Providence, listening to the wishes of the world, restored you to the wishes of France, re-erected for you the throne of your fathers, our patrimony as well as yours, the appearance of your majusty was the signal of a peace, with which you doubtless felicitated yourself as much as we blessed it. That peace was more than honorable; it was glorious for you, whose presence brought with it all the inspirations of virtue; for the French, who even in their reverses gathered the tributes of admiration due to their valor; for the powers, who, free in their resentment, then enchained it by their magnanimity.

"To the benefit of a glorious peace, your majesty immediately added that of a free constitution, the object of our desires, the work of your wisdom, and the present of your love.