DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND FOREIGN RELATIONS. 



217 



consulted with the commissioners, shall decide there- 

 upon finally and without appeal. Nevertheless, if 

 the commissioners, or any two of them, shall think 

 it desirable that a sovereign, or head of f a friendly 

 state, should be an arbitrator or umpire in the case 

 of any claim, the commissioners shall report to that 

 effect to their respective Governments, who shall 

 thereupon, within six months, agree upon some sov- 

 ereign, or head of a friendly state, who shall be in- 

 vited to decide the claim. In the event of a deci- 

 sion involving the question of compensation to be 

 paid being arrived at by a special arbitrator or um- 

 pire, the amount of such compensation shall _be re- 

 ferred back to the commissioners for adjudication, 

 and in the event of their not being able to agree t it 

 shall then be decided by the arbitrator or umpire 

 appointed by them, or who shall have been deter- 

 mined by lot. It shall be competent for each Gov- 

 ernment to name one person to attend the commis- 

 sioners 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 con- 

 nected with the investigation and decision thereof. 

 The President of the United States of America, and 

 her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 solemnly and sincerely engage to consider the de- 

 cision of the commissioners, or umpire, as the case 

 may be, as absolutely final and conclusive upon each 

 claim decided upon by them respectively ; and ; to 

 give full effect to such decisions without any objec- 

 tion, evasion, or delay, whatsoever, it is agreed that 

 no claim arising out of any transaction of a date prior 

 to February 8, 1853, shall be admissible under this 

 convention. 



ABT. 3. Every claim shall be presented to the com- 

 missioners within six 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 arbitrator or umpire, in the 

 event of the commissioners differing in opinion there- 

 upon, and then, in any such case, the period for pre- 

 senting the claim may be extended not exceeding three 

 months longer. The commissioners shall beljound 

 to examine and decide upon every claim within two 

 years from the day of their first meeting, which meet- 

 ing shall be held in the city of Washington. 



ABT. 4; All sums of money which may be awarded 

 by the commissioners, or by the arbitrator or umpire, 

 on account of any claim, shall be paid in coin or its 

 equivalent by the one Government to the other, as 

 the case may be, within eighteen months after the 

 date of the decision, without interest. 



ART. 5. The high contracting parties engage to 

 consider the result of the proceedings at this com- 

 mission as a full, perfect, and final settlement of every 

 claim upon either Government arising out of any trans- 

 action of a date prior to the exchange of the ratifica- 

 tions 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 set- 

 tled, barred and thenceforth inadmissible. 



ART. 6. The commissioners and the arbitrator or 

 umpire shall keep an accurate record and correct min- 

 utes or notes of all their proceedings, with the dates 

 thereof, and shall appoint and employ a clerk or other 

 person to assist them in the transaction of the busi- 

 ness which may come before them. A secretary and 

 clerks are to be appointed conjointly. The whole ex- 

 penses of the commission, including contingent ex- 

 penses, shall be defrayed equally between the two 

 Governments. 



ART. 7. 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 her 

 Britannic Majesty, and the ratifications shall be ex- 

 changed at London, as soon as may be within twelve 

 months from the date hereof. 



In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries 

 have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the 

 seals of their arms. 



Done at London, the fourteenth day of January, 

 A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-nine. 

 CLARENDON. 

 EEVEKDY JOHNSON. 



China. Mr. Burlingame, the representative 

 of the United States in China, by letter of De- 

 cember 11, 1867, to Mr. Seward, informed him 

 of his appointment by the Chinese Government 

 as envoy to the treaty powers, and his accept- 

 ance of the position, and his intention to visit 

 the United States with the embassy by the first 

 opportunity. On arriving in Washington, the 

 embassy was presented and received by Presi- 

 dent Johnson, who on the 9th of July trans- 

 mitted to the Senate the text of a treaty (see 

 CHINA). 



This treaty was subsequently ratified by the 

 Senate substantially as given on a preceding 

 page. 



Extradition. The following important opin- 

 ion, delivered by Judge Hall of the United States 

 Circuit Court for the Northern District of New 

 York on the certiorari and habeas corpus in the 

 notorious extradition case of Charles H. Baker, 

 which was argued by Messrs. Swartz and Bene- 

 dict, counsel for the Queen, and by Messrs. 

 Box and Parker for the prisoner, will be im- 

 portant to the legal profession : 



Judge Hall says that a foreign conviction un- 

 der the statutes of the State of New York does 

 not render a witness incompetent, as the stat- 

 ute has no reference to a conviction under the 

 laws of the State. The statutes of the State 

 of New York provide that the Governor or Le- 

 gislature may pardon a convict, and thus re- 

 store his competency. This could not be done 

 in the case of a foreign conviction, however. 

 " I am of the opinion that the same result would 

 be reached, if the case was governed by the 

 rules of evidence as they stood previous to the 

 statutes of this State, as a foreign conviction in 

 the year 1789 would not render such person 

 incompetent." 



The following important questions of law 

 were fully argued, but the decision on the first 

 point rendered a decision on them unnecessary, 

 although the intimations of the Court were in 

 their favor : 



1. Bail could not be taken under the extra- 

 dition treaty, because cases so arising are not 

 offences against the United States, but simply 

 under the treaty. 



2. The question whether the United States 

 Circuit Court has appellate jurisdiction from 

 the decision of the United States Commissioner. 



3. How far the Criminal Court could receive 

 evidence in certiorari and habeas corpus. 



Neutrality Laws. The Government Com- 

 mission, named by the British Cabinet to in- 

 quire into the workings of the neutrality laws 

 and amendments proper to be made to enable 

 the Government to fulfil all its international 

 obligations, made their report. 



