The convention explains itself.
[Enclosure.]
The Moniteur, in its official part, contains the text of the
convention concluded between France and Mexico, to regulate the
conditions of the stay of the French troops in this last-named
country for the purpose of establishing order and consolidating
the new empire. The convention runs thus:
The government of the Emperor of the French and that of the
emperor of Mexico, animated with an equal desire to secure the
re-establishment of order in Mexico and to consolidate the new
empire, have resolved to regulate by a convention the conditions
of the stay of the French troops in that country, and have named
their plenipotentiaries to that effect, viz:
The Emperor of the French, M. Charles Herbet, minister
plenipotentiary of the first class, councillor of state,
director of the ministry of foreign affairs, grand officer of
the legion of honor, &c.;
And the emperor of Mexico, M. Joaquin Velasquez de Leon, his
minister of state without portfolio, grand officer of the
distinguished order of our Lady of Guadalupe, &c.;
Who, after having communicated to each other their full powers,
agreed on the following provisions:
Article 1. The French troops at present
in Mexico shall be reduced as soon as possible to a corps of
25,000 men, including the foreign legion. This corps, in order
to safeguard the interests which led to the intervention, shall
remain temporarily in Mexico, on the conditions laid down by the
following articles:
Art. 2. The French troops shall
evacuate Mexico in proportion as the emperor of Mexico shall be
able to organize the troops necessary to replace them.
Art. 3. The foreign legion in the
service of France, composed of 8,000 men, shall nevertheless
remain in Mexico six years after all the other French troops
shall have been recalled, in conformity with article 2. From
that moment the said legion shall pass into the service and pay
of the Mexican government, which reserves to itself the right of
abridging the duration of the employment of the foreign legion
in Mexico.
Art. 4. The points of the territory to
be occupied by the French troops, as well as the military
expeditions of the said troops, if there be any, shall be
determined in common concord directly between the emperor of
Mexico and the commandant-in-chief of the French corps.
Art. 5. On all the points where the
garrison shall be exclusively composed of Mexican troops, the
military command shall devolve on the French commander. In case
of expeditions combined of French and Mexican troops, the
superior direction of those troops shall also belong to the
French commander.
Art. 6. The French commander shall not
interfere with any branch of the Mexican administration.
Art. 7. So long as the requirements of
the French corps d’armée shall
necessitate a trimonthly service of transports between France
and Vera Cruz, the expense of the said service, fixed at the sum
of 400,000 francs per voyage, (going and returning,) shall be
paid by Mexico.
Art. 8. The naval stations which France
maintains in the West Indies and in the Pacific ocean shall
often send vessels to show the French flag in the ports of
Mexico.
Art. 9. The expenses of the French
expedition to Mexico, to be paid by the Mexican government, are
fixed at the sum of 270 millions for the whole duration of the
expedition down to the 1st of July, 1864. That sum shall bear
interest at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum. From the 1st of
July all the expenses of the Mexican army shall be at the charge
of Mexico.
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Art. 10. The indemnity to be paid to
France by the Mexican government for the pay and maintenance of
the troops of the corps d’armée after the
1st of July, 1864, remains fixed at the sum of 1,000 francs a
year for each man.
Art. 11. The Mexican government shall
hand over to the French government the sum of sixty-six millions
in bonds of the loan, at the rate of issue, viz: fifty-four
millions to be deducted from the debt mentioned in article 9,
and twelve millions as an instalment of the indemnities due to
Frenchmen in virtue of article 14 of the present convention.
Art. 12. For the payment of the surplus
of the war expenses, and for acquitting the charges in articles
7, 10, and 14, the Mexican government engages to pay annually to
France the sum of twenty-five millions in specie. That sum shall
be imputed, first, to the sums due in virtue of articles 7 and
10; and secondly, to the amount, interest and principal, of the
sum fixed in article 9; thirdly, to the indemnities which shall
remain due to French subjects in virtue of article 14 and
following.
Art. 13. The Mexican government shall
pay, on the last day of every month, into the hands of the
paymaster general of the army, what shall be due for covering
the expenses of the French troops remaining in Mexico, in
conformity with article 10.
Art. 14. The Mexican government engages
to indemnify French subjects for the wrongs they have newly
suffered, and which were the original cause of the
expedition.
Art. 15. A mixed commission, composed
of three Frenchmen and three Mexicans, appointed by their
respective regiments, shall meet at Mexico within three months,
to examine and determine these claims.
Art. 16. A commission of revision,
composed of two Frenchmen and two Mexicans, appointed in the
same manner, sitting at Paris, shall proceed to the definite
liquidation of the claims already admitted by the commission
designated in the preceding article, and shall decide on those
which have been received for its decision.
Art. 17. The French government shall
set at liberty all the Mexican prisoners of war as soon as the
emperor of Mexico shall have entered his states.
Art. 18 The present convention shall be
ratified, and the ratifications exchanged as early as
possible.
Done at the castle of Miramar, this 10th day of April, 1864.
HERBET
JOAQUIN VELASQUEZ DE LEON.
