Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818)/French Pecuniary Indemnity

''Reference to Convention of 9th October, 1818. Pecuniary Indemnity to the Allied Powers. Injurious effect of the too frequent exportation of Specie from France.''

The Duke de Richelieu represented at the Conference that the terms for the payment of the 265,000,000 to be furnished by France, according to the Convention of the 9th of October, having been fixed at very near periods, a too rapid exportation of specie has been occasioned, which tends to produce a depreciation in the inscriptions of Rentes, equally injurious to the interests of all the Contracting Parties. To remedy this inconvenience, the Duke de Richelieu, proposed the following arrangements:

1st. That the 165,000,000 which France ought to discharge, according to Article VI. of the Convention, by 9 equal monthly instalments, from the 6th of January to the 6th of September next, shall be paid by twelve monthly instalments, from the 6th of January to the 6th of December inclusive ; the interest for the delay of three months being made good by France at the rate of 5 per cent.

2nd. That the 100,000,000 to be discharged by inscriptions of Rentes, according to Article V. of the said Convention, and for which the different Governments have treated with Messrs. Baring and Hope, shall be realized by payments made at the same epochs, and with the same allowance of Interest, by the drawers, on account of the delay which shall be granted them.

3rd. That arrangements shall be adopted with the abovementioned houses, in order that the Bills drawn upon them, conformably to Article VI., may be paid in assets at the different places which may suit the convenience of the Governments interested, in such a manner as to effect their discharge, and avoid the removal of too great a mass of specie.

M.M. the Ministers and Plenipotentiaries of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, were unanimously of opinion to admit the proposition of the Duke of Richelieu with the proviso that, with respect to Article III. particular arrangements shall be contracted with Messrs. Baring and Hope, to fix the terms on which the assets in foreign funds shall be accepted ; and also that, in order to facilitate these arrangements, Mr. Baring should be invited to come to Aix-la-Chapelle, to take measures for that purpose, in concert with the persons charged with this business.

Prince Hardenberg, moreover, placed on the Protocol the subjoined observations and reservations, relative to the private arrangement that the Prussian Government entered into with Messrs. Baring, for the part of the payments stipulated by the Convention of the 9th of October, which accrue to the said Government.

[Subjoined to the Protocol of the 3rd November, 1818.]

If the Prussian Government consents to the proposed modifications of the pecuniary stipulations of the Convention of the 9th of October, it is in the threefold supposition— Arrangement with Messrs. Baring.

1st. That its private arrangement with Messrs. Hope and Co. and Baring, Brothers, and Co. remain entire, except with regard to such modifications as the Prussian Government may ultimately agree upon with those houses.

2nd. That the loss which may result from the proposed payment in assets, upon foreign places, shall be made good to the Allied Sovereigns ; and

3rd. That the guarantee already stipulated for the payments agreed upon, shall also extend to the more remote periods now required.