History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to which the United States Has Been a Party

those that were "prepared for verification," and those that were "prepared for liquidation." Claims of the first class were the only ones in which the creditors were expressly entitled to an immediate order on the Treasury of the United States on the simple certificate of the commissioners that their claims came within the convention. The commissioners, therefore, directed the agent of the United States first to attend to that class of claims.

Rules of Procedure.

In accordance with this view, the commissioners on the 1st of August 1803 adopted the following rules: "BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE UNITED STATES, "Paris, Monday, August 1st, 1803.

"Present: John Mercer. Isaac Cox Barnet. "Ordered, That the following Rules and Regulations relative to the proceedings of this Board, be inserted in the Register of its transactions, viz: "1. The Claims which were at the French Bureaux for liquidation or Settlement on the 30th of April 1803, shall be the first to be examined and decided upon by this Board.

"2. The decisions to be made upon the above-mentioned Claims shall be in point of priority according to their respective places on the conjectural note annexed to the Convention-unless circumstances, should occur in particular Cases, which, in the opinion of the Board may justify their delaying to give an immediate decision; in which case they will proceed to consider some other Case next upon the said Conjectural Note.

"3. In every case to be determined, a summary statement of it drawn from all the material evidence in the possession of this Board, shall immediately precede their final decision and make a part of the Record in the Register.

4. No determination shall be finally made against any claim without giving a reasonable notice to the Claimant, his Attorney, Agent or Representative, if he is known to be in Paris.

"5. In every case where the claim shall be rejected by the Board, a copy of their opinion as stated upon this Register, shall be furnished to the Claimant, his Attorney, Agent or Representative, if he is n Paris, and his original papers, if any, in the possession of the Board, remitted to him, his Receipt for the same being first given to the Secretary to be by him filed among the Papers of this office.

"6. In every case of rejection, a similar copy may be sent to the proper Department of the French Government if required by them.

47. When any claim shall be admitted, the following shall be the form of the Certificate to be signed by the Commissioners concurring in opinion, countersigned by the Secretary and by him delivered to the Minister of the United States; each Certificate to be numbered. This form may be so varied as to suit the character of the Person in whose name it shall issue, as Principal or Representative:

"The Undersigned Commissioners do certify to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, that the claim of an American Citizen and Creditor of the French Republic, having been fully examined by them, is found to belong to the Classes of claims designated in the Convention above referred to, and embraced by the principles and qualifications established in it; and that the said (or

who appears to have been regularly constituted his agent, attorney, representative or assignee, as the case may be)-is entitled to receive from the United States, under the said Convention, the sum of as principal, and the sum of — as interest now due upon, and in full of, the said claim.

"Given under their hands, and the seal of this Commission, at Paris, this day of

"8. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a list of all the certificates by him delivered to the Minister of the United States, designating in the said list the number of each Certificate, its date, the party's name, as

The ratifications of the treaty and conventions were exchanged at W

ington on the 21st of October 1803.

On May 18, 1803, Livingston and Monroe sign Appeatment of Com-commission appointing James Mercer, of Virg miners and Agent Isaac Cox Barnet, of New Jersey, commercial age the United States at Antwerp; and William McClure, of Richmond, gina, as a board for the purpose of examining claims. On the 29 June this commission was delivered to Mercer and Barnet, McClure temporarily in England. Fulwar Skipwith, commercial agent of United States at Paris, was appointed as agent under Article X. o onvention to assist in the examination of claims.

Messrs. Mercer and Barnet held their first me

Difficulties of Commis- on July 5, 1803, and recognized Nathaniel Cuttin Massachusetts, as secretary of the board. Mr. McC whose stay in England was unexpectedly prolonged, took his seat a Joard on the 1st of September 1803. His colleagues had already terities. On consideration of the convention they were of op that no tai act conid be performed by them in relation to the ol emaraced by it until its ratification by the competent authorities of 1:aed States; but, while this opinion precluded all definitive dec on clams, they deemed themselves competent to adopt certain pre tury measures which would hasten the conclusion of their labors i erent of the cocvention being ratified. In attempting to do so, how they encountered serious obstacles.

The second article of the convention declared, The Cot have seen, that the debts intended to be provid were those whose result was comprised in the weturn noce annexed to it. To the copy of the convention whic costers received no such note was annexed. A paper purp to be a copy of the conjectural note was presented to them by the ag theated States, with the statement that he had received it fro of the American masters. In order, however, to obtain for the doc an ofta saarten it was sent to Messts. Livingston and Monroe. sy returned by the former as a true copy of the note int

The next question that arose related to the exa tion of documents. The convention provided th documents should not be removed from the bure the French Generament, in which they were deposited. The co sincers were thecelice required to perform their labors in the F affes where other documents were deposited and where other bu af the French Government was daily transacted, or else to obtai the ougies of the various papers which it is necessary to exa Jeeing & impossible property to conduct their business in the 1 other consulted the French authorities, who readily underto ave them in obtaining orgies of soch documents as were required peace of this wet was bewerer, essarily attended w

Rules of Procedure.

In accordance with this view, the commissioners on the 1st of August 1803 adopted the following rules: "BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE UNITED STATES, "Paris, Monday, August 1st, 1803.

4. No determination shall be finally made against any claim without giving a reasonable notice to the Claimant, his Attorney, Agent or Representative, if he is known to be in Paris.

"6. In every case of rejection, a similar copy may be sent to the proper Department of the French Government if required by them.

7. When any claim shall be admitted, the following shall be the form of the Certificate to be signed by the Commissioners concurring in opinion, countersigned by the Secretary and by him delivered to the Minister of the United States; each Certificate to be numbered. This form may be so varied as to suit the character of the Person in whose name it shall issue, as Principal or Representative:

"The Undersigned Commissioners do certify to the tentiary of the United States at Paris, that the claim Citizen and Creditor of the French Republic, having 1 by them, is found to belong to the Classes of c Convention above referred to, and embraced by t fications established in it; and that

who appears to have been regul

sentative or assignee, as the e

United States, under the saĪ and the sum of

olaim,

“Given under their

Minister Plenipoof an American folly examined ted in the d quali

repreom the incipal, the said

at Paris,

principal, agent, attorney, representative, or assignee, as expressed in the certificate, in whose name it has issued, the principal sum and interest for which it is granted, and the day of the month when by him delivered to the Minister of the United States.

9. When either of the Commissioners shall dissent from the opinion of the other two, he shall have the right to state upon the register, his reasons, to be signed by him.

"10. Should it so happen that either Commissioner should feel himself interested in any claim that may come before the Board, he shall be at liberty to decline giving an opinion upon it; and in such case his absence from the Board may be stated in the Register, nor shall such Commissioner be required to sign the Certificate to be sent to the Minister when the Debt is admitted; or the copy of the opinion to be delivered to the claimant, when the claim shall be rejected.

"11. The Secretary will keep a list of all the claims arranged according to the respective dates at which the papers relating to them were presented to this Board by the French Department.

"He will also keep a regular account of the Expenses of the Board, taking and filing receipts for all sums paid for that purpose.

"12. The Board will meet every day, Saturdays and Sundays excepted, from the hours of eleven in the morning till four in the afternoon whenever there shall be any case undecided before them.

"JOHN MERCER. "I. Cox BARNET.

"N. B.-The documents being made a part of the Record in each case, has superceded the necessity of the Rule No. 3."

Erroneous Classifica

tions.

The investigations of Mr. Skipwith disclosed the fact that the terms of the convention, and especially the phrases "liquidated," "prepared for liquidation," and "prepared for verification," bore no relation to the actual state of the claims in the French offices, and furnished no guide to the order in which they should be examined. Under these circumstances the commissioners deemed it their duty to establish some principle for the investigation of claims, whose operation would be uniform and just; and with that view they determined that the claims on the conjectural note ought first to be examined and decided upon, according to the dates at which they respectively originated. This opinion was concurred in by Mr. McClure, when he took his seat at the board; and on the 17th of August the commissioners made the following order:

"17TH AUGUST 1803.

"The Board having reconsidered the 2nd Article of the Rules and Regulations for its proceedings adopted under date the 1st Current as recorded Page 33, and finding by the Report of the Agent of the United States (above recorded) that the Council of Liquidation of the French Government do not consider any of the outstanding American claims as definitively liquidated, although a certain number of them have been thus denominated heretofore, as appears by the Conjectural note' alluded to in the 2nd article of the Convention under which this Board was formed; therefore

"Ordered, That the 2nd article of the Rules and Regulations above mentioned be repealed so far as it relates to the order in which it was proposed to decide on the claims; and that the said claims shall in future be examined and determined upon according to the respective years in which they originated against the French Government."1

1MSS. Dept. of State.

Difficulties in Examining Claims.

The difficulties of the board in respect of the examination of claims did not end with the promulgation of this new rule. No dates were entered in the conjectural note, and in order to carry the rule into effect the agent of the United States was requested to obtain from the French office a statement of the dates at which the claims respectively arose. While this statement was being prepared authenticated vouchers in certain claims belonging to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth years of the republic were presented to the board, with information that they were arranged in conformity with the principle which had been established, and that they contained the whole number of claims (independently of the embargo claims) in the first four years. These claims embraced one in the first year, four in the second, twelve in the third, and seven in the fourth. Having no reason to doubt the correctness of this information, the two commissioners, on the 26th of August, directed the liquidation of one in the second year, four in the third, and three in the fourth, intending to suspend any further proceedings on them, and to withhold their final certificate, until the ratification of the convention by the United States was known. But, by the next communication of documents from the French department, it appeared that the first information was entirely incorrect; that there were various other claims belonging to the same years as those that had been presented; and that the true number could not be ascertained until the general statement had been received. A majority of the board, therefore, the third commissioner having taken his seat, determined to confine its attention to the examination of documents, without directing the liquidation of any other claims until, by the receipt of the general statement of dates, the board should be enabled to arrange the conjectural note, and to examine and decide upon the claims according to the principle which had been established. When the statement of dates was received the claims on the conjectural note were arranged under the several years in which they originated. This arrangement, however, did not enable the board to proceed with its examination, since the documents requisite for that purpose had not been fully received. Moreover, many claims were reported upon by the agent of the United States, which were not embraced in the conjectural note. No prize cases were found upon it. Whether the claims included in it would, with interest, consume the whole fund it was impossible to say; but the commissioners declared that they would not consider it their duty to direct any liquidations to be made beyond that sum.1

Commissioners' Controversy with Livingston.

While the commissioners were thus struggling on they became engaged in an acrimonious correspondence with Chancellor Livingston. Livingston had set his heart on the early liquidation of the claims, and this desire was greatly intensified by the importunities of the claimants. By the convention, the commissioners were to act "from the present and provisionally." The exchange of the ratifications of the convention took place at Washington

Messrs. Barnet and McClure to Mr. Madison, Sec. of State, December 26, 1803, MSS. Dept. of State.

2 Am. State Papers, For. Rel. VI. 178–180.

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History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to which the United ...