[2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on Francc.]

Payment in Inscriptions on Great Book of the Public Debt.

These Claims shall be liquidated by the Commissioners appointed by the Convention of this day, and the amount thereof shall be paid, in Inscriptions on the Great Book of the Public Debt, at a rate not under 75, in the same manner as has been agreed upon with regard to the securities to be refunded.

Appointment of Commissioners of Liquidation and Arbitration.

ART. V. The High Contracting Parties, being animated by the desire of agreeing on a mode of liquidation, calculated at once to accelerate the same, and promote, in each particular case, a final decision, have resolved, while expounding the arrangements of Article XX of the Treaty of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), to appoint Commissions of Liquidation, to be employed, in the first place, in the examination of the claims; and also Commissions of Arbitration, which are to decide on such cases on which the former Commission do not agree.

*

The mode to be acted upon, in this respect, is to be as follows:

Appointment of Commissioners.t

1. Immediately after the exchange of the Ratifications of the present Treaty, France, and the other High Contracting Parties, or those interested in this object, shall name Commissioners of Liquidation, and Commissioners of Arbitration, or Umpires, who are to reside at Paris, and shall be instructed to direct and carry into execution, the Arrangements contained in Articles XVIII and XIX of the Treaty of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), and Articles II, IV, VI, VII, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXII, XXIII, and XXIV of the present Convention.

Duties of Commissioners of Liquidation.

2. The Commissioners of Liquidation are to be named by all the parties interested, in such numbers as each of them may think proper to appoint. They will be instructed to receive and examine,

Sce Convention of 27th October, 1816.

The Commissioners of Liquidation were:-Mr. Colin Alexander Mackenzie and Mr. George Lewis Newnham. The Commissioners of Arbi tration were:-Mr. George Hammond and Mr. David Richard Morier. The Commissioners of Deposit were :-Mr. David Richard Morier and Mr. James Drummond. Their appointments were dated 27th December, 1815.

[2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.]

according to a scale fixed upon for that purpose, and with the least possible delay, and liquidate, if there be just cause, all Claims.

Each Commissioner shall be at liberty to unite in one Committee all the Commissioners of the respective Governments, and to lay before them and cause them to examine the Claims of the Subjects of his Government, or else to treat separately with the French Government.

Duties of Arbitrators.

3. The Arbitrators are to be instructed to decide definitively, and without appeal, on all cases referred to them in conformity to the present Article, by the Commissioners of Liquidation, who may not have been able to agree thereon. All the High Contracting Parties, or those interested, may name as many of these Arbitrators as they may think proper; but every one of these Arbitrators must make oath before the Chancellor of France, and in the presence of the Ministers of the other High Contracting Parties residing at Paris, to pass judgment, without partiality whatever for the parties, according to the principles laid down by the Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), and by the present Convention.

Appointment of Record Keepers and Clerks.

4. As soon as the Arbitrators named by France, and by at least two of the other parties interested, shall have taken this Oath, all the said Commissioners who may be in Paris shall meet, under the Presidency of the Senior Commissioner, for the purpose of arranging the Appointments of one or more of the Recorders or Record Keepers, and of one or more Clerks, who are to be sworn before them, as well as for the purpose of discussing, if necessary, a general system for the dispatch of business, the keeping of the Registers, and other matters of internal regulation.

Commissioners of Arbitration to Decide Cases in which Commissioners of Liquidation Disagree.

5. The Commissioners appointed to form the Commissions of Arbitration being thus ordained, whenever the Commissioners of Liquidation shall not have agreed on a Case, the Arbitrators are to proceed with the same in the manner hereinafter mentioned.

[2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.]

Composition of Commission of Arbitration.

6. In those cases wherein the Claims are of the nature provided for by the Treaty of Paris, or by the present Convention, and wherein the question is merely to determine on the validity of the Demand, or the amount of the Sum claimed, the Commission of Arbitration is to be composed of 6 Umpires, namely, 3 French, and 3 appointed by the reclaiming Government.

The said 6 Arbitrators shall then draw lots, for the purpose of deciding which of them is to be thrown out, and being thus reduced to 5, are then finally to determine on the Claim referred to them.

7. In the event of the question being whether the contested Claim can be reckoned amongst those provided for by the Treaty of Paris of 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), or by the present Convention, the Commission of Arbitration is to be composed of 6 members, whereof 3 are to be French, and 3 named by the Government reclaiming. These 6 Umpires are then to decide by a majority, whether the Claim is susceptible of being admitted to liquidation; in the event of an equality of votes, the examination of the affair is to be suspended, and is to become subject matter of future regular negotiation between the Governments.

8. Every time that a case shall be referred to the decision of a Commission of Arbitration, the Government, whose Commissioner of Liquidation shall not have been able to agree with the French Government, shall name 3 Umpires, and France shall name as many; all of them chosen amongst those who shall have taken, or may take, previously to their acting, the stipulated Oath. This choice is to be made known to the Record Keeper, at the same time transmitting to him the whole of the documents. The Record Keeper will duly note this nomination and the deposit of the papers, and will enter the claim in the proper register, which shall have been opened for that purpose.

Arbitrators to be summoned by Record Keeper.

When the turn of a Claim shall come round in its regular order of entry, the Record Keeper is to summon the 6 Arbitrators above named.

When the case shall happen to be one of those specified in Section 6 of the present Article, the names of the said 6 Arbitrators shall be put in an urn; the last drawn shall of course go

[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 Liquidation.

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, 1819.