CONVENTION FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE CLAIMS OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES PROCEEDING FROM THE VENEZUELAN LAW OF Espera OF 1849 Whereas the Executive Power of Venezuela has been duly authorized by the resolution adopted at a joint session of the two Chambers of Congress on the 30th day of April 1853, to take whatever measures it might deem necessary for the purpose of terminating the foreign reclamations on account of the Credits proceeding from the law of Espera [moratory law] of the 9th of April 1849, which may have to be satisfied peremptorily; and whereas the Government of the United States has demanded in that manner the payments of the Credits of its Citizens, having such origin; now therefore the undersigned Isaac Nevett Steele, Chargé d'Affaires of the United States to the Republic of Venezuela and Simon Planas, Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Venezuela, being duly authorized to conclude an arrangement for the payment of these claims, have agreed upon the following articles. ART. 1st The Government of Venezuela obligates itself to pay to the Government of the United States or to its Chargé d'Affaires at Caracas the full amount of the claims of Citizens of the United States, proceeding from the aforesaid law of Espera, as set forth in a list of said claims, to be made by the undersigned and considered as a part of this agreement, in the following manner, that is to say, the said full amount shall be divided into four equal parts, which shall be paid respectively on the 1st day of June, the 1st day of 1 1 For a detailed study of this convention, including a discussion of the settlement, see 6 Miller 197. September and the 1st day of December 1854, and the 1st day of March 1855, together with interest at five per cent per annum, which shall commence to run on the 1st day of July next, and shall continue until the day of payment, and shall be paid at the same time with the installment upon which it may have accrued. ART. 2a It is also hereby stipulated that if the Government of Venezuela shall fail to pay any one of the four installments mentioned in the preceding article on the day therein expressed, then the said Chargé d'Affaires of the United States, shall take and receive directly from the Commercial House of A. M. Seixas and C° of La Guayra, or from any other House which he may select in its stead, the one half part of all the ordinary duties upon importations which shall be made by said House, from the date upon which the particular installment not paid became due, until the whole amount of said claims with the corresponding interest thereon, as stipulated in the aforegoing article, shall be fully paid and satisfied. The house which may be selected shall deliver to the Custom House of that port the receipts which shall be given to said House by the American Legation for the half of the duties hereby conceded to it, and from the value of the pagarés [promises to pay] given by said House shall be discounted nine per Centum per annum, and the net proceeds resulting shall be charged by the Custom House to the account of the Legation. ART. 3d If the mode of payment established in the Second Article should not be possible, because of the inability of the Chargé d'Affaires of the United States to find a merchant in La Guayra with whom to make the proposed arrangement, the responsability of the Government of Venezuela, in conformity with the Stipulations of the first article shall remain in full force. ART. 4th It is further stipulated that the interest of five per cent per annum, which has to be paid upon said claims in the first fifteen days of the month of July next, by virtue of the Resolution of the Executive Power of the 20th of May 1851, shall be paid within that time to the Chargé d'Affaires of the United States. In Witness whereof the undersigned have signed two of one tenor in Caracas on the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and fifty three. I. NEVETT STEELE Chargé d'Affaires of the United States to the Republic of Venezuela SIMON PLANAS LIST OF THE SUMS DUE REFERRED TO IN THE AGREEMENT CONCLUDED BY THE UNDERSIGNED ON THE 1ST OF JUNE 1853 Tomas Trujillo. Emily Renshaw Wolff. Emily Renshaw Wolff.. Emily Renshaw Wolff for an order of the National Bank on the General The three sums due last mentioned belong in part to Emily Renshaw Wolff Amounts 19, 016. 14 3, 706. 80 4, 174. 13 4, 767. 98 558.79 3, 188. 98 1,753. 74 17, 000. 00 $118, 180. 54 Done and signed by the undersigned at Caracas on the sixth of June one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three. I. NEVETT STEELE, Chargé d'Affaires SIMON PLANAS CLAIMS: THE CASE OF THE BRIG "HORATIO" Convention signed at Caracas February 27, 1858 Entered into force February 27, 1858 1 7 Miller 727 The undersigned, Charles Eames, Minister Resident of the United States, and Jacinto Gutierrez, Secretary of Foreign Relations of Venezuela, in behalf of their respective Governments, and duly authorized to adjust the claim presented by the Legation of the United States for losses and damages resulting from the detention and judicial trials suffered in the port of Maracaibo, in the year 1.850, by the American brig "Horatio," which failed to present all the packages specified in her Manifest, but which notwithstanding was absolved in two concurring judicial decrees upon proof of exemption from all culpability in the case, have agreed upon the following settlement. ART. 1st Venezuela recognizes as a debt due to the owners of the brig "Horatio," by reason of the losses and damages above mentioned, the sum of five thousand one hundred and fifty one dollars and seventy cents, United States currency ($5.151.70¢). ART. 2nd Said sum shall bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum from the 11th of Sept. 1.850, the date of the second judicial decree, up to the day in which this convention shall be duly approved by the Congress of Venezuela. ART. 3rd The capital sum and interest herein stipulated shall be added to, and form part of, the amount recognized and included in the convention concluded, in behalf of the two Governments, in June 1.853,2 respecting the payment of Espera claims. ART. 4th The present agreement shall be submitted to the Congress of Venezuela for its approval. In testimony whereof the undersigned have concluded and subscribed this convention in duplicate, at the city of Caracas this twenty seventh day of February 1.858. CHARLES EAMES JACINTO GUTIERREZ 1 For a detailed study of this convention, including a discussion of the settlement, see 7 Miller 727. Ante, p. 1062. CLAIMS: AVES ISLAND Convention signed at Valencia January 14, 1859 Approved by Venezuela February 1, 1859 Senate advice and consent to ratification February 21, 1861 Terminated upon fulfillment of its terms 1 1 18 Stat. 796; Treaty Series 368 CONVENTION between the UNITED STATes and Venezuela for SETTLEMENT OF AVES ISLAND CLAIMS Edward A. Turpin, Minister Resident of the United States of America, and Luis Sanojo, Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Relations of the Government of Venezuela, being duly authorized to form an equitable agreement for the satisfaction of the damages and losses sustained by Philo S. Shelton, Sampson and Tappan, and Lang and Delano, in consequence of the evictions of their agents and employees from the Aves Island by the forces of Venezuela, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I The Government of Venezuela obliges itself to pay to the Government of the United States, or to its Minister Resident in Venezuela, the gross sum of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, United States currency, ($130,000,) of which said sum, one hundred and five thousand dollars ($105,000) is in liquidation of the claims of Shelton, Sampson and Tappan, and is to be distributed among themselves, and the residue, that is to say, twenty-five thousand dollars, ($25,000,) is in liquidation of claims of Lang and Delano. ARTICLE II The said sum of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, shall be paid in the following terms: 1 1 For a discussion of the payments and a detailed study of this convention, see 8 Miller 137. |