THE United States of America and the Republic of Peru, desirous of consolidating permanently the good understanding and friendship now happily existing between the parties, have resolved to arrange and terminate their differences and pretensions, by means of a Convention that shall determine exactly the responsibilities of Peru, with respect to the claims of certain citizens of the United States against her: And with this intention, the President of the United States has appointed James C. Pickett, Charge d'Affaires of said States near Peru, and his Excellency the President of the Republic of Peru has appointed Don Manuel del Rio, principal officer of the Department of Finance, acting minister of the same Department, and supernumerary Councillor of State; and both Commissioners, after having exchanged their powers, have agreed upon and signed the following articles:-
The Peruvian Government, in order to make full satisfaction for various claims of citizens of the United States, on account of seizures, captures, detentions, sequestrations and confiscations of their vessels, or for the damage and destruction of them, of their cargoes, or other property, at sea, and in the ports and territories of Peru, by order of said Government of Peru, or under its authority, has stipulated to pay to the United States the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, which shall be distributed among the claimants, in the manner and according to the rules that shall be prescribed by the Government of the United States.
The sum of three hundred thousand dollars, which the Government of Peru has agreed to pay, in the preceding article, shall be paid at Lima, in ten equal annual instalments of thirty thousand dollars each, to the person or persons that may be appointed by the United States to receive it. The first instalment shall be paid on the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and an instalment on the first day of each succeeding January, until the whole sum of three hundred thousand dollars shall be paid.
The Peruvian Government agrees, also, to pay interest on the before mentioned sum of three hundred thousand dollars, at the rate of four per centum per annum, to be computed from the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, and the interest accruing on each instalment shall be paid with the instalment. That is to say, interest shall be paid on each annual instalment, from the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
All the annual payments made on account of the three hundred thousand dollars, shall be paid in hard dollars, of the same standard and value as those now coined at the mint in Lima, and the annual payments, as well as the accruing interest, may be exported from Peru free of all duty whatever.
There shall not be demanded of the Government of Peru any other payment or indemnification, on account of any claim of the citizens of the United States, that was presented to it by Samuel Larned, Esquire, when Charge d'Affaires of the United States near Peru. But the claims subsequent to those presented by Mr. Lamed to the Government of Peru, shall be examined and acted upon hereafter.
It is further agreed, that the Peruvian Government shall have the option of paying each annual instalment, when it is due, with orders on the custom-house at Callao, which shall be endorsable in sums of any amount, and receivable in the treasury as cash, in payment of duties on importations of all kinds; and the orders shall be given in such a manner as that, in case similar orders shall be at a discount in the market, the full value of each annual payment shall be secured and made good to the United States, as though it had been paid in cash, at the time of its falling due; and any loss occasioned by discount, or delay in the collection, shall be borne and made good by the Peruvian Government.
This Convention shall be ratified by the contracting parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within two years from its date, or sooner, if possible, after having been approved by the President and Senate of the United States, and by the Congress of Peru.
In witness whereof, the respective Commissioners have signed the same, and affixed thereto their seals.
Done in triplicate at the city of Lima, this seventeenth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
J. C. PICKETT, [L. S.]
MANUEL DEL RIO, [L. S.]
[NOTE.-The foregoing treaty is published in Foreign Treaties, Vol. I. p. 570. The reason for publishing it again, appears in the following extract from the proclamation of the President, of January 8, 1847:-
" And whereas the seventh article of the said Convention required that the ratifications of the contracting parties should be exchanged within two years from its date, which provision was not observed by the said parties, owing to delays in the ratification rendering such exchange impracticable within the time stipulated; and whereas it appears that the duly constituted authorities of the Republic of Peru did, on the 21st of October, 1845, by law, approve in all respects the said Convention, with the condition, however, that the first annual instalment of thirty thousand dollars on account of the principal of the debt recognized thereby, and to which the second article relates, should begin from the 1st of January, 1846, and the interest on this annual sum, according to Article III., should be calculated and paid from the 1st of January, 1842; and whereas the said Convention, and the aforesaid modification thereof, have been duly ratified, and the respective ratifications of the same were exchanged in the city of Lima on the 31st day of October last, by Albert G. Jewett on the part of the United States, and Manuel del Rio on the part of the Republic of Peru:
" Now, therefore, be it known, that I, JAMES K. POLK, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Convention, and the modification thereof, to be made public, to the end that the same, and every article and clause thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof"]
|
Source: Statutes of the United States - Volume 9 |