Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/244

 FRANCE, 1803, 237 Arvricmu III. The principal and interests of the said debts shall be discharged by How the debts the United States, by orders drawn by their Minister Plenipotentiary °'°‘° "°P°*'1· on their treasury; these orders shall be payable sixty days after the exchange of ratiiications of the treaty and the conventions signed this day, and after possession shall be given of Louisiana by the commissaries of France to those of the United States. Aurrcnm IV. It is expressly agreed that the preceding articles shall comprehend no What debts are debts but such as are due to citizens of the United States, .who have °°“'I"°l“°“‘l“" "Y been and are yet creditors of France, ter supplies, for embargoes, and m°}€,,p"°°d'”g M` prizes made at sea, in which the appeal has been properly lodged within [Sc), ,,,),,,,,,,),,0,, the time mentioned in the said convention, 8th Vendémiaire, ninth year, of isco, pp, 224- (30th September, 1800.) 232.] Anrrcnn V. The preceding articles shall apply only, lst, to captures of which the To Wim ,,3,,,,,, council of prizes shall have ordered restitution, it being well under- articles particustood that the claimant cannot have recourse to the United States, lm`]? ¤PPlY· otherwise than he might have had to the Government of the French Republic, and only in case of insufficiency of the captors; 2d, the [so., Aman, 5 debts mentioned in the said fifth article of the convention con- cciivsntioncrieoo, tracted befbre the 8th Vendémiaire, an 9, (30th September, 1800,) the I’· 226-] payment of which has been heretofore claimed of the actual Government of France, and for which the creditors have a right to the protection of the United States; the said fifth article does not comprehend prizes whose condemnation has been or shall be confirmed: it is the express intention of the contracting parties not to extend the benent of the present convention to reclamations of American citizens, who shall have established houses of commerce in France, England, or other countries than the United States, in partnership with foreigners, and who by that reason and the nature of their commerce ought to be regarded as domiciliated in the places where such houses exist. All agreements and bargains concerning merchandize, which shall not be the property of American citizens, are equally excepted from the benefit of the said convention, saving, however, to such persons their claims in like manner as if this treaty had not been made. Aarrcim VI. And that the different questions which may arise under the preceding C 0 m m imoum article may be iairly investigated, the Minister Plenipotentiary of the of claims. United States shall name three persons, who shall act irom the present and provisionally, and who shall have inll power to examine, without removing the documents, all the accounts of the different claims already liquidated by the bureaus established for this purp ose by the French Republic, and to ascertain whether they belong to the classes designated by the present convention and the principles established in it- or 1f' they are not in one of its exceptions and on their certificate, declaring that the debt is due to an American citizen or his representative, and that it existed beibre the Sth Vendémiaire, 9th year, (30th September, 1800,) the debtor shall be entitled to an order on the treasury of the [S¢eArticle III.] United States, in the manner prescribed by the third article. AR1‘ICLE VII. The same agents shall likewise have power, without removing the Examination or documents, to examine the claims which are prepared for verification, prepared claims. and to certity those which ought to be admitted by uniting the necessary qualifications, and not being comprised in the exceptions contained in the present convention.