Let it be published and executed. Bogotá, June 4, 1877. (L.S.) SERJIO CAMARGO, President of the Union. J. M. QUIJANO, Secretary of the Treasury and National Credit. COLOMBIAN LAW, determining the Mode of Payment of Claims of Foreigners for Losses incurred during the Civil War.-Bogotá, June 4, 1877.* (Translation.) THE Congress of the United States of Colombia, decrees: ART. 1. The claims which have been or may be recognized in favour of foreigners by the Supreme Federal Court arising out of loans, supplies, expropriations, and injuries inflicted by the war, in accordance with the law on the subject, shall be paid by means of drafts on the Custom-houses and salt administration (Salinas) created in virtue of the Executive Decree No. 529 of the 13th of September, 1876, and in conformity with the provisions of that Decree. §. The drafts which may be issued by virtue of the provisions of this Article shall only bear 6 per cent. annual interest. 2. The foreigners entitled to receive the drafts spoken of in the preceding Article, in payment of their claims, must produce the sentence in which it shall be stated, not only that they are creditors of the public Treasury, but that they are so in their character of neutral foreigners. Given in Bogotá, on the 28th of May, 1877. EMILIANO RESTREPO, President of the Senate of Plenipotentiaries. JOSÉ M. MALDONADO NEIRA, President of the Chamber of Deputies. TOMAS RODRIGUEZ PÉRES, Secretary to the Senate of Plenipotentiaries. ADOLFO CUELLAR, Secretary to the Chamber of Deputies. Let it be published and executed. Bogotá, June 4, 1877. (L.S.) SERJIO CAMARGO, President of the Union. J. M. QUIJANO, Secretary of the Treasury and National Credit. The British Government protested against this Law in a Note addressed to the Colombian Government on the 3rd of January, 1878, and a new Law was passed by the Colombian Congress on the 28th of June, 1878. See Vol. LXIX. AWARD of the British, United States, and Belgian Commissioners appointed under the Treaty of 8th May, 1871,* to award the amount of Compensation, if any, to be paid by the United States' Government to the British Government, in respect of the North American Fisheries.-Halifax, November 23, 1877. "THE undersigned Commissioners appointed under Articles XXII and XXIII of the Treaty of Washington of the 8th May, 1871, to determine, having regard to the privileges accorded by the United States to the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, as stated in Articles XIX and XXI of the said Treaty, the amount of any compensation which in their opinion ought to be paid by the Government of the United States to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, in return for the privileges accorded to the citizens of the United States, under Article XVIII of the said Treaty : "Having carefully and impartially examined the matters referred to them according to justice and equity, in conformity with the solemn declaration made and subscribed by them on the 15th day of June, 1877: "Award the sum of 5,500,000 dollars, in gold, to be paid by the Government of the United States to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, in accordance with the provisions of the said Treaty. "Signed at Halifax, this 23rd day of November, 1877. The United States' Commissioner is of opinion that the advantages accruing to Great Britain under the Treaty of Washington are greater than the advantages conferred on the United States by the said Treaty, and he cannot, therefore, concur in the conclusions announced by his colleagues. And the American Commissioner deems it his duty to state further that it is questionable whether it is competent for the Board to make an award under the Treaty, except with the unanimous consent of its members. E. H. KELLOGG, Commissioner. Vol. LXI. Page 40. FRENCH DECLARATION of Neutrality in the War between Russia and Turkey.-- Versailles, May 6, 1877. LE Gouvernement de la République ayant résolu d'observer une stricte neutralité dans la guerre qui vient d'éclater entre la Russie et la Turquie, croit devoir rappeler aux Français résidant en France ou à l'étranger qu'ils doivent s'abstenir de tout fait qui, commis en violation des lois Françaises ou du droit des gens, pourrait être considéré comme un acte hostile à l'une des deux parties ou contraire à une scrupuleuse neutralité. Il leur est interdit notamment de s'enrôler ou de prendre du service, soit dans l'armée de terre, soit à bord de bâtiments de guerre de l'un ou de l'autre des belligérants, ou de concourir à l'équipement ou à l'armement d'un navire de guerre. Le Gouvernement déclare en outre qu'il ne sera permis à aucun navire de guerre de l'un ou de l'autre des belligérants d'entrer et de séjourner avec des prises dans les ports ou rades de la France et de ses Colonies pendant plus de 24 heures, hors le cas de relâche forcée, ou de nécessité justifiée. Aucune vente d'objets provenant de prises ne pourra avoir lieu dans les dits ports ou rades. Les personnes qui contreviendraient aux défenses susmentionnées ne pourront prétendre à aucune protection du Gouvernement ou de ses agents contre les actes ou mesures que les belligérants pourraient exercer ou décréter, et seront poursuivies, s'il y a lieu, conformément aux lois de l'État. MESSAGE of the President of the United States respecting the execution of Article X of the Treaty with Great Britain of August 9, 1842,* relating to Extradition.-Washington, December 23, 1876. TO THE SENATE: When Congress adjourned in August last, the execution of the Extradition Article of the Treaty of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain had been interrupted. The United States had demanded of Her Majesty's Government the surrender of certain fugitives from justice, charged with crimes committed within the jurisdiction of the United States, who had sought asylum and were found within the territories of Her Britannic Majesty, and had, in due compliance with the requirements *Vol. XXX. Page 360. of the Treaty, furnished the evidence of the criminality of the fugitives, which had been found sufficient to justify their apprehension and commitment for trial, as required by the Treaty, and the fugitives were held and committed for extradition. Her Majesty's Government, however, demanded from the United States certain assurances or stipulations as a condition for the surrender of these fugitives. As the Treaty contemplated no such conditions to the performance of the obligations which each Government had assumed, the demand for stipulations on the part of this Government was repelled. Her Majesty's Government thereupon, in June last, released two of the fugitives (Ezra D. Winslow and Charles I. Brent), and subsequently released a third (one William E. Gray), and refusing to surrender, set them at liberty. In a Message to the two Houses of Congress on the 20th day of June last,* in view of the condition of facts as above referred to, I said: "The position thus taken by the British Government, if adhered to, cannot but be regarded as the abrogation and annulment of the Article of the Treaty on Extradition. Under these circumstances it will not, in my judgment, comport with the dignity or self-respect of this Government to make demands upon that Government for the surrender of fugitive criminals, nor to entertain any requisition of that character from that Government under the Treaty." Article XI of the Treaty of 1842 provided that Article X (that relating to extradition) should continue in force until one or the other of the parties should signify its wish to terminate it, and no longer. In view, however, of the great importance of an Extradition Treaty, especially between two States as intimately connected in commercial and social relations as are the United States and Great Britain, and in the hope that Her Majesty's Government might yet reach a different decision from that then attained, I abstained from recommending any action by Congress terminating the Extradition Article of the Treaty. I have, however, declined to take any steps under the Treaty toward extradition. It is with great satisfaction that I am able now to announce to Congress and the country that, by the voluntary act of Her Majesty's Government, the obstacles which had been interposed to the execution of the Extradition Article of the Treaty have been removed, On the 27th October last,† Her Majesty's Representative at this * Vol. LXVII. Page 887. + Vol. LXVII. Page 899. capital, under instructions from Lord Derby, informed this Government that Her Majesty's Government would be prepared, as a temporary measure, until a new Extradition Treaty can be concluded, to put in force all powers vested in it for the surrender of accused persons to the Government of the United States, under the Treaty of 1842, without asking for any engagement as to such persons not being tried in the United States for other than the offences for which extradition had been demanded. I was happy to greet this announcement as the removal of the obstacles which had arrested the execution of the Extradition Treaty between the two countries. In reply to the note of Her Majesty's Representative, after referring to the applications heretofore made by the United States for the surrender of the fugitives referred to in the correspondence which was laid before Congress at its last session, it was stated that on an indication of readiness to surrender these persons, an agent would be authorized to receive them, and I would be ready to respond to requisitions which may be made on the part of Her Majesty's Government under Article X of the Treaty of 1842, which I would then regard as in full force until such time as either Government shall avail itself of the right to terminate it provided by Article XI, or until a more comprehensive arrangement can be reached between the two Governments in regard to the extradition of criminals—an object to which the attention of this Government would gladly be given, with an earnest desire for a mutually satisfactory result. A copy of the correspondence between Her Majesty's Representative at this capital and the Secretary of State on the subject is transmitted herewith. It is with great satisfaction that I have now to announce that Her Majesty's Government, while expressing its desire not to be understood to recede from the interpretation which in its previous correspondence it has put upon the Treaty, but having regard to the prospect of a new Treaty, and the power possessed by either party of spontaneously denouncing the old one, caused the re-arrest on the 4th instant of Brent, one of the fugitives who had been previously discharged; and, after awaiting the requisite time within which the fugitive is entitled to appeal or to apply for his discharge, on the 21st instant surrendered him to the agent appointed on behalf of this Government to receive and to convey him to the United States. Her Majesty's Government has expressed an earnest desire to re-arrest and deliver up Winslow and Gray, the other fugitives who had been arrested and committed on the requisition of the United States, but were released because of the refusal of the United States |