[2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] Great Book of the Public Debt, they are to be entered in the names of the Commissioners of Liquidation of the Governments concerned, or of those whom they may appoint. These Inscriptions are to be taken from the Guarantee Fund stipulated by Article XX of the present Convention, and in the manner specified by Article XXI. Interest on Debts. ART. XVIII.* All Debts which bear Interest, either according to law or the Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), are to continue to bear the same. With respect to those to which no Interest appertains, either from their nature or by the said Treaty, they are to bear an interest of 4 per cent. from the date of the signature of the present Convention. All interest is to be paid in cash, and on the amount of the nominal value of the debt. The stipulations relating to interest are to be reciprocal between France and the other Contracting Powers. Periods for Payment of Claims. ART. XIX.* The Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), in regulating the periods within which the payments were to be completed, proclaimed 3 Classes of Debts. In order to make things agree with such an arrangement, it has been resolved to adopt, in like manner, 3 Classes for Reimbursement, as follows:: 1. The Deposits legally entrusted to the "Caisse d'Amortissement" are to be refunded in money within 6 months from the exchange of the Ratifications of the present Convention, whenever the delivery of the documents shall have taken place during the first three months of the liquidation. Those cases whereof the documents shall have been delivered in subsequently are to be liquidated within the succeeding 3 months. 2. The Debts arising from the payment of securities, or from funds which were deposited by the "Communes" and Public Establishments in the "Caisse de Service," the "Caisse d'Amortissement," or any other "Caisse" of the French Government, are to be reimbursed in Inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt, at par, on condition, however, that in the event of the price of the day of settlement being under 75, the French Government is to have the benefit of the difference between the price of the day and 75. *See Convention of 25th April, 1818. [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] 3. The Other Debts not comprehended in the two preceding sections are to be likewise reimbursed in Inscriptions at par, with this difference, however, that the French Government guarantees to them only a price of 60, at the same time engaging to make good the difference between the price of the day and 60. Appointment of Trustees to receive Yearly Revenue. ART. XX. On the 1st of January next, at latest, shall be inscribed, as a Guarantee Fund, in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France, a Capital producing 3,500,000 French francs yearly revenue, with possession from 22nd March, 1816, in the name of two, four, or six Commissioners, one-half of them subjects of His Most Christian Majesty, and the other half of the Allied Sovereign Powers; which said Commissioners are to be chosen and appointed, namely, one, two, or three by the French Government, and one, two, or three by the Allied Powers. Income to be Received every Six Months. They are to receive the said yearly Income every 6 months, of which they are to be the trustees, without power of negotiating the same. Amount to be Funded. They are to place the amount thereof in the Public Funds, and receive the accumulated and compound Interest of the same for the benefit of the creditors. Insufficiency of Interest to be made up to pay Amount of Debts. In case the 3,500,000 francs of Interest shall be insufficient, there shall be delivered to the said Commissioners, Inscriptions for larger sums, until their amount shall equal what may be necessary to pay the Debts mentioned in the present Conven tion. Disposal of Additional Inscriptions. These Additional Inscriptions, if they are necessary, shall be made over with the Dividends from the same period as the 3,500,000 francs yearly revenue above stipulated, and shall be administered by the same Commissioners, and according to the same principles, so that the Debts 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. [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] Surplus of Inscriptions to be made over to French Government. As soon as the payments due to the creditors shall have been made, the Surplus of the Inscriptions not employed, if there be any, as well as the proportion of accumulated and compound interest which shall belong thereto, shall be given up to the disposal of the French Government. Examination of Abstracts of Liquidation. ART. XXI. In proportion as the Abstracts of Liquidation prescribed by Article XVII of the present Convention shall be delivered to the Trustees or Commissioners of Deposit, the latter are to examine the same, in order to their being forthwith entered in the Great Book of the Public Debt, to the debit of their trust, and to the credit of the Commissioners of Liquidation of the reclaiming Governments. Renewal of Engagements by Sovereigns of Countries which have ceased to belong to France. ART. XXII.* The present Sovereigns of the Countries which have ceased to belong to France hereby renew the engagement which they have contracted by Article XXI of the Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), to account with the French Government from the 22nd December, 1813, for such of the Debts of the said Countries as have been converted into Inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt of France. The Accounts relative to all the said Debts shall be drawn up and adjusted by the Commissions appointed by Article V of the present Convention. It is understood that France is to continue the payment of the dividends on these Inscriptions. Renewal of Engagement to Refund to French Subjects Claims on account of Securities, &c. ART. XXIII. The Governments aforesaid renew the engagement to refund to French subjects in the service of the ceded Countries the sums which they may have to claim on account of Securities, or Deposits in their respective Treasuries. These reimbursements shall be made in the same manner as that agreed upon in Article XIX of the present Convention towards subjects of the said Countries for payments of a like nature. Right of French Government to make certain Deductions. ART. XXIV. It is reserved to the French Government the * See Convention of 25th April, 1818. [2nd Peace of Paris. Private Claims on France.] right of deducting from those Securities, which by Article XXII of the Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), and by Article X of the present Convention it has engaged to refund, the Balances due from persons accountable whom a Judgment of the Court of Accounts given before the 30th May, 1814, shall have declared to be withholders of Public Money. Such Deduction is to take place, however, without being prejudicial to the proceedings which, in default of sufficient Security, may be directed against the Defaulters, in the ordinary course, before the Tribunals of the Countries wherein the persons accountable have settled. Proceedings against Persons for Non-payment of Bills accepted by them previous to 30th May, 1814. ART. XXV. In the Countries ceded by the Treaty of the 30th May, 1814 (No. 1), and by the present Treaty, such persons who have accepted Bills, negotiable, to the advantage of the Royal Treasury, or of the "Caisse d'Amortissement” (not receivers of direct contributions), and who should not have honoured the same when they became due, may be proceeded against for payment, before the regular Tribunals of the Country where they are settled, unless they should have been compelled to pay them before the 30th May, 1814, or, with regard to the Countries ceded by the present Treaty, before the 20th November, 1815, in favour of the Agents of the new possessors of the Countries. Rules laid down to apply to Debts which France may claim from Governments of Countries detached from France. ART. XXVI. All that has been agreed to by the present Convention, with respect to the period within which the creditors of France are to deliver in their Claims for Liquidation, the time when the Abstracts of Liquidations are to be drawn up, the Interest to be allowed to the respective classes of Debts, and the manner in which they are to be paid, applies equally to those Debts which France may have to claim from the Governments of the Countries detached from France. Done at Paris, the 20th November, in the year of Our Lord, 1815. (L.S.) CASTLEREAGH. [2nd Peace of Paris. Bentheim and Steinfurth Claims.] ADDITIONAL ARTICLE. Paris, 20th November, 1815. Claim of Counts of Bentheim and Steinfurth. The House of the Counts of Bentheim and Steinfurth having advanced a claim against the French Government upon different grounds, viz. :— Francs. In pursuance of a Convention of the 22nd of May, 1804* 800,000 Interest at 6 per cent. per annum upon that sum 480,000 For the revenues of the County of Bentheim, since the French Government took possession thereof...... 2,225,000 4,247,200 Total..... It has been settled, in the form of an Agreement, that the Government of France shall pay to that House, in lieu of every claim whatsoever : 1. The sum of 800,000 francs in specie, to be paid by 12ths, in Monthly Instalments, commencing from the 1st January, 1816. 2. The sum of 510,000 francs, by Inscriptions in the Great Book of the Public Debt, at par, guaranteeing to the same the exchange at 75, or making up the difference between the exchange of the day and 75. These Inscriptions shall be delivered before the 1st January, and the Interest on them shall commence from the 22nd March, 1816. In consideration of the payment of this sum of 1,310,000 francs, the House of the Counts of Bentheim and Steinfurth renounces the right of advancing or renewing any Claim against the French Government, under any title or on any ground whatsoever, the said renunciation being made by agreement. Done at Paris, the 20th of November, in the year of our Lord, 1815. (L.S.) CASTLEREAGHI. * See Appendix. |