Official., Thursday, September 13, 1866

Official.

Napoleon, by the grace of God and the national will, &c. Upon the report of our minister secretary of state for foreign affairs, we have decreed and do decree as follows:

Article I. A convention relating to the assignment to the French government of the customs receipts of Mexico having been signed at Mexico on the 30th of July, 1866, the said convention, whose tenor runs as under, having our sanction, will receive full and entire execution from the date of November, 1866.

CONVENTION.

His Majesty the Emperor of the French and his majesty the emperor of Mexico, animated by a desire to settle to their mutual satisfaction the financial questions pending between their governments, have resolved to conclude a convention with that object, and appoint for their plenipotentiaries—

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, M. Alphonse Dano, his envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary at Mexico, &c.

His majesty the emperor of Mexico, M. Louis de Arroyo, under-secretary of state, &c.; who have agreed upon the following articles:

Article 1. The Mexican government grants to the French government an assignment of one-half of the receipts of all the maritime customs of the empire arising from the undermentioned duties:

Principal and special import and export duties upon all objects.

Additional duties of internacion and contra-registre.

The duty of mejoras materiales as soon as the said duty shall be freed from the assignment actually in force in favor of the Vera Cruz and Mexico Railway Company—an assignment which cannot be extended.

As the export duties of the custom-house on the Pacific coast are already pledged to the extent of three-fourths, the assignment now made in favor of the French government shall be limited to the twenty-five per cent. which remains unchanged.

Art. 2. The produce of the assignment stipulated in the foregoing article shall be applied: First, to the payment of the interest to the sinking fund, and of all the obligations arising out of the two loans contracted in 1864 and 1865 by the Mexican government. Second, to the payment of interest at the rate of three per cent. upon the sum of 216,000,000 francs, of which the Mexican government has acknowledged itself indebted by virtue of the convention of Miramar, and of all the sums subsequently advanced in any shape from the French treasury. The amount of this liability, (créance,) estimated now at the approximate sum of 250,000,000 francs, shall be hereafter fixed in definite manner. In the event of the amounts received being insufficient for the full payment of the charges above mentioned, the rights of the holders of bonds of the two loans and of the French government shall remain completely reserved.

Art. 3. The amount arising from the assignment of one-half of the produce of the Mexican customs shall increase proportionally with the augmentation of the receipts, and in case the amount should exceed the sum necessary to meet the charges specified in article one, the excess shall be applied in reduction of the capital sum due to the French government.

ART. 4. The quota of duties and the mode of levying them, at present in force, shall not undergo any modification which might have the effect of diminishing the product of the proportion assigned.

Art. 5. The collection of the duties assigned, as mentioned in article one, shall be performed at Vera Cruz and at Tampico by special agents, placed under the protection of the French flag. All the duties received at these two custom-houses on account of the Mexican treasury shall be appropriated to the discharge of the French concession, with the sole reserve of any portion that may be the subject of any assignment now recognized, and of the payment of the salaries of the officers of those custom-houses. The amount of this latter expense, which shall include the remuneration allowed to the French agents, must not exceed five per cent. of the produce of the before-mentioned duties. A quarterly settlement of accounts shall set forth the amounts thus received by the French government and the product of the assigned duties in all the custom-houses of the empire. This settlement of accounts shall fix the sum to be immediately paid by the Mexican government to make up the amount of the revenue conceded in case there should be a deficiency, or the sum to be handed over to it should the sum received be in excess. In all the other ports than Vera Cruz and Tampico the French consular agents shall revise the accounts of the customs establishments in the ports where they are resident.

Art. 6. It shall be left to the discretion of the Emperor Napoleon III to fix the time during which the agents charged with levying these repayments shall be maintained at Tampico and Vera Cruz, as well as to define the measures which may be proper to insure their protection.

Art. 7. The arrangements above specified shall be submitted for approbation to the Emperor of the French, and shall become in force at a time fixed by his Majesty.

The convention signed at Miramar on April 10, 1864, shall from that time be abrogated on all points which relate to financial questions.

In faith of which the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention, to which they have affixed their seals.

Made in duplicate at Mexico, the 30th of July, 1866.

ALPH. DANO.

LOUIS DE ARROYO.

Art. II. Our minister secretary of state for the home department, provisionally charged with the department of foreign affairs, is charged with the execution of the present decree.

NAPOLEON.

St. Cloud, September 12, 1866.

Seen and sealed with the seal of the state:

The Seal Keeper and Minister of Justice and Public Worship,

J. BAROCHE.

By the Emperor:

The Minister of the Interior in charge ad interim of the Department of Foreign Affairs,