Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, has named as plenipotentiary of the said Republic, the French citizen, Barbé Marbois, who, in virtue of their full powers, which have been exchanged this day, have agreed to the following articles: ARTICLE I. The Government of the United States engages to pay to the French Government, in the manner specified in the following articles, the sum of sixty millions of francs, independent of the sum which shall be fixed by another convention for the payment of debts due by France to citizens of the United States. ARTICLE II. For the payment of sixty millions of francs, mentioned in the preceding article, the United States shall create a stock of eleven millions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, bearing an interest of six per cent. per annum, payable half yearly in London, Amsterdam, or Paris, amounting by the half year to three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, according to the proportions which shall be determined by the French Government, to be paid at either place, the principal of the said stock to be reimbursed at the treasury of the United States, in annual payments of not less than three millions of dollars each; of which the first payment shall commence fifteen years after the date of the exchange of ratifications; this stock shall be transferred to the Government of France, or to such person or persons as shall be authorized to receive it, in three months at most after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, and after Louisiana shall be taken possession of in the name of the Government of the United States. It is further agreed, that if the French Government should be desirous of disposing of the said stock to receive the said capital in Europe, at shorter terms, that its measures for that purpose shall be taken so as to favour, in the greatest degree possible, the credit of the United States, and to raise to the highest price the said stock. ARTICLE III. It is agreed that the dollar of the United States, specified in the present convention, shall be fixed at five francs 333310000, or five livres eight sous tournois. The present convention shall be ratified in good and due form, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of six months, to date from this day, or sooner if possible. In faith of which the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles both in the French and English languages; declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty has been originally agreed on and written in the French language; to which they have hereunto affixed their seals. Done at Paris, the tenth of Floreal, eleventh year of the French Republic (30th April, 1803). ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON (L. S.). JAMES MONROE (L. S.). BARBÉ MARBOIS (L. S.). CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, ALSO OF THE SAME DATE The President of the United States of America and the First Consul of the French people, having by a treaty of this date terminated all difficulties relative to Louisiana, and established on a solid foundation the friendship which unites the two nations, and being desirous, in compliance with the second and fifth articles of the convention of the 8th Vendemiaire, ninth year of the French Republic (30th September, 1800), to secure the payment of the sum due by France to the citizens of the United States, have respectively nominated as plenipotentiaries, that is to say: the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Robert R. Livingston, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary of the said States, near the Government of the French Republic, and the First Consul, in the name of the French people, the French citizen Barbé Marbois, minister of the public treasury; who, after having exchanged their full powers, have agreed to the following articles: ARTICLE I. The debts due by France to the citizens of the United States, contracted before the 8th Vendemiaire, ninth year of the French Republic (30th September, 1800), shall be paid according to the following regulations, with interest at six per cent., to commence from the period when the accounts and vouchers were presented to the French government. ARTICLE II. The debts provided for by the preceding article are those whose result is comprised in the conjectural note annexed to the present convention, and which, with the interest, cannot exceed the sum of twenty millions of francs. The claims comprised in the said note, which fall within the exceptions of the following articles, shall not be admitted to the benefit of this provision. ARTICLE III. The principal and interests of the said debts shall be discharged by the United States by orders drawn by their ministers plenipotentiary on their treasury; these orders shall be payable sixty days after the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty and the conventions signed this day, and after possession shall be given of Louisiana by the commissioners of France to those of the United States. ARTICLE IV. It is expressly agreed that the preceding articles shall comprehend no debts but such as are due to citizens of the United States, who have been and are yet creditors of France for supplies, embargoes, and for prizes made at sea, in which the appeal has been properly lodged within the time mentioned in the said convention of the 8th Vendemiaire, ninth year (30th September, 1800). ARTICLE V. The preceding articles shall apply only, first, to captures of which the council of prizes shall have ordered restitution; it being well understood that the claimant cannot have recourse to the United States otherwise than he might have had to the Government of the French Republic, and only in case of the insufficiency of the captors; second, the debts mentioned in the said fifth article of the convention, contracted before the 8th Vendemiaire, an 9 (30th September, 1800), the 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 benefit 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 merchandise 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. ARTICLE VI. And that the different questions which may arise under the preceding article may be fairly investigated the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States shall name three persons, who shall act from the present and provisionally, and who shall have full power to examine, without removing the documents, all the accounts of the different claims already liquidated by the bureau established for this purpose 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 if 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 before the 8th Vendemiaire, ninth year (30th September, 1800), the creditor shall be entitled to an order on the treasury of the United States in the manner prescribed by the third article. ARTICLE VII. The same agents shall likewise have power, without removing the documents, to examine the claims which are prepared for verification and to certify those which ought to be admitted by uniting the necessary qualifications, and not being comprised in the exceptions contained in the present convention. ARTICLE VIII. The same agents shall likewise examine the claims which are not prepared for liquidation and certify in writing those which, in their judgments, ought to be admitted to liquidation. ARTICLE IX. In proportion as the debts mentioned in these articles shall be admitted, they shall be discharged with interest at 6 per cent by the treasury of the United States. |