or incapacity of such person or persons, or of his or their omitting, or declining, or ceasing to act as such umpire, another and different person shall be named, as aforesaid, to act as such umpire, in the place of the person so originally named, as aforesaid, and shall make and subscribe such declaration as aforesaid. ARTICLE II The commissioners shall then conjointly proceed to the investigation and decision of the claims which shall be presented to their notice, in such order and in such manner as they may conjointly think proper, but upon such evidence or information only as shall be furnished by or on behalf of their respective governments. They shall be bound to receive and peruse all written documents or statements which may be presented to them by or on behalf of their respective governments in support of, or in answer to any claim, and to hear, if required, one person on each side on behalf of each government on each and every separate claim. Should they fail to agree in opinion upon any individual claim, they shall call to their assistance the umpire whom they may have agreed to name, or who may be determined by lot, as the case may be; and such umpire, after having examined the evidence adduced for and against the claim, and after having heard, if required, one person on each side as aforesaid, and consulted with the commissioners, shall decide thereupon finally and without appeal. The decision of the commissioners and of the umpire shall be given upon each claim in writing, shall designate whether any sum which may be allowed shall be payable in gold or in the currency of the United States, and shall be signed by them respectively. It shall be competent for each government to name one person to attend the commissioners as agent on its behalf, to present and support claims on its behalf, and to answer claims made upon it, and to represent it generally in all matters connected with the investigation and decision thereof. The President of the United States of America and the President of the Mexican Republic hereby solemnly and sincerely engage to consider the decision of the commissioners conjointly, or of the umpire, as the case may be, as absolutely final and conclusive upon each claim decided upon by them or him, respectively, and to give full effect to such decisions without any objection, evasion, or delay what soever. It is agreed that no claim arising out of a transaction of a date prior to the second of February, 1848, shall be admissible under this convention. ARTICLE III Every claim shall be presented to the commissioners within eight months from the day of their first meeting, unless in any case where reasons for delay shall be established to the satisfaction of the commissioners, or of the umpire in the event of the commissioners differing in opinion thereupon, and then and in any such case the period for presenting the claim may be extended to any time not exceeding three months longer. The commissioners shall be bound to examine and decide upon every claim within two years and six months from the day of their first meeting. It shall be competent for the commissioners conjointly, or for the umpire if they differ, to decide in each case whether any claim has or has not been duly made, preferred, and laid before them, either wholly or to any and what extent, according to the true intent and meaning of this convention. ARTICLE IV When decisions shall have been made by the commissioners and the arbiter in every case which shall have been laid before them, the total amount awarded in all the cases decided in favor of the citizens of the one party shall be deducted from the total amount awarded to the citizens of the other party, and the balance, to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars, shall be paid at the city of Mexico or at the city of Washington, in gold or its equivalent, within twelve months from the close of the commission, to the government in favor of whose citizens the greater amount may have been awarded, without interest or any other deduction than that specified in Article VI of this convention. The residue of the said balance shall be paid in annual instalments to an amount not exceeding three hundred thousand dollars, in gold or its equivalent, in any one year until the whole shall have been paid. ARTICLE V The high contracting parties agree to consider the result of the proceedings of this commission as a full, perfect, and final settlement of every claim upon either government arising out of any transaction of a date prior to the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention; and further engage that every such claim, whether or not the same may have been presented to the notice of, made, preferred, or laid before the said commission, shall, from and after the conclusion of the proceedings of the said commission, be considered and treated as finally settled, barred, and henceforth inadmissible. ARTICLE VI The commissioners and the umpire shall keep an accurate record and correct minutes of their proceedings, with the dates. For that purpose they shall appoint two secretaries versed in the language of both countries to assist them in the transaction of the business of the commission. Each government shall pay to its commissioner an amount of salary not exceeding forty-five hundred dollars a year in the currency of the United States, which amount shall be the same for both governments. The amount of compensation to be paid to the umpire shall be determined by mutual consent at the close of the commission, but necessary and reasonable advances may be made by each government upon the joint recommendation of the commission. The salary of the secretaries shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars a year in the currency of the United States. The whole expenses of the commission, including contingent expenses, shall be defrayed by a ratable deduction on the amount of the sums awarded by the commission, provided always that such deduction shall not exceed five per cent on the sums so awarded. The deficiency, if any, shall be defrayed in moieties by the two governments. ARTICLE VII The present convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the President of the Mexican Republic, with the approbation of the Congress of that Republic; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within nine months from the date hereof, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at Washington, the fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight. [Here follow signatures.] No. 49 ARGENTINA-BOLIVIA Provision for the arbitration of disputes concerning boundaries.—Signed at Buenos Aires, July 9, 18681 ARTICLE XIX The contracting parties undertake to employ all pacific and conciliatory measures, in the most fraternal manner, to adjust any questions or differences which may arise between them, and if, unfortunately, war should break out, hostilities will not commence between the countries without previous reciprocal notification six months before a rupture, accompanied by a manifesto indicating the causes of the declaration of war. The question of boundaries will never be a question of war, but of friendly convention or of arbitration. No. 50 COSTA RICA-NICARAGUA Provision for general arbitration, in a treaty of peace and friendship.— Signed at San José, July 30, 18682 ARTICLE I There shall be constant peace and sincere and perpetual friendship between the Republic of Nicaragua and the Republic of Costa Rica. 1 English: British and Foreign State Papers, vol. LXXII, p. 607. Spanish: Tratados de la Argentina, vol. II, p. 89. See supplementary agreement of February 27, 1869, No. 53, post, p. 83. Ratifications exchanged at Buenos Aires, September 24, 1869. The treaty had been approved in its entirety by the Constituent Assembly of Argentina. But the Bolivian Legislative Assembly had approved it subject to a new understanding that should either modify or cancel Article XX, which made more specific recommendations for the settlement of the boundary through arbitration in case an understanding on any point should not be reached by negotiation. When the negotiators met on February 27, 1869, to consider the proposed modification or cancellation of Article XX, they decided to cancel it; and made a separate agreement to enter into negotiations on the subject after the conclusion of the existing war with Paraguay, in which Argentina was engaged, affirming their determination to submit the disputed points to arbitration. This treaty of July 9, 1868, thus modified was again approved and the ratifications exchanged, as above stated, the year originally allowed for the exchange, which had expired, having been extended for another year if it should be found necessary. English: British and Foreign State Papers, vol. LXX, p. 258. Spanish: Tratados Internacionales de Costa Rica (1892), p. 233. Ratified by Nicaragua, August 24, 1868; ratified by Costa Rica, August 28, 1868; ratifications exchanged at San Jose, June 10, 1869. In the acts of ratification the legislative bodies of both countries made modifications, which, however, did not affect the arbitral provision. For the Nicaraguan ratification see Bonilla, Tratados Internacionales de Nicaragua, p. 380, following the text of the treaty. The arbitral provision is found in Tratados de Arbitraje de Nicaragua, p. 125; and Wiesse, Tratados de Arbitramiento, p. 55. ARTICLE II Consequently the said republics shall never in any case make war upon each other. Should any difference arise between them, they shall at first furnish each other the proper explanations, and if these do not suffice to settle the difficulties and restore a good understanding, they shall resort in any eventuality to the arbitration of the government of a friendly nation. No. 51 CHILE-PERU Arrangement for the arbitration of the claim of a citizen of the former against the government of the latter.-Signed at Lima, October 31, 18681 Having met in the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Peru, the undersigned, José Antonio Barrenechea, Minister of that Department, and Joaquín Godoy, Chargé d'Affaires of Chile, with the object of taking into consideration the pending claim of the Chilean citizen, Mr. Samuel Langshaw; and bearing in mind that the Superior Court of Justice of Lima has declared void the decision pronounced by the arbitrators, appointed November 7, 1866, to decide the said claim, for the reason that the said arbitrators failed to take oath thereby making void their decision, have agreed upon the nomination of new arbitrators, two on the part of the Peruvian Government and two on the part of Langshaw, in order that as arbitrators, and friendly mediators they may proceed ex aequo et bono, and first taking the oath required by law, to make their decision, determining the indemnification due in consequence of the said claim, on the merits of the case as shown in the record already made. The said arbitrators on their part, before beginning the exercise of their functions, shall choose an umpire who shall likewise take the legal oath. The decision which may be rendered by the arbitrators, or umpire as the case may be, shall be final, considered as a sentence passed on authority of res adjudicata, without either of the parties being able to interpose 1 Spanish: Manuscript sent from the foreign office of Peru. Strictly speaking this is not an international arbitration, but an arrangement between the Peruvian Government and a Chilean claimant through the mediation of the Chilean diplomatic representative at Lima. Not being a treaty, it made no provision for ratification or exchange. It is, however, a recognition of the principle of arbitration in international relations. |