France Pays for Its Old, Looting Ways…Plus 6 Percent Interest
- Now that France and the United States have gotten the Louisiana thing figured out and reaffirmed their BFF-ness, it's time to deal with the outstanding debts owed by France to American citizens. The POTUS and first consul have given Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois the authority to sort it all out in this convention.
- Six seems like a pretty cool number so the debts from prior to September 30th, 1800, that are owed by France are going to be paid according to the following regulations at a 6 percent interest rate, just like the cash the United States now owes France for Louisiana.
- Also, that interest started kicking in when the indebted accounts and vouchers were presented to the French government.
- Overall, the interest charged can't be more than 20 million francs in total. There are a few debts that should be excepted from this agreement, and those aren't going to be dealt with here.
- Sixty days after this paperwork is signed and the United States takes possession of Louisiana, the debts we are talking about here need to be paid.
- A few years prior to this arrangement, there had been a little hullabaloo between the French and the United States in which several American ships were captured and looted. The Treaty of Mortefontaine didn't really address what was to be done about that so in this convention, that mess is getting sorted out once and for all. Caveat: our boys are only going to address the debts that were officially filed within the time constraints outlined in the Mortefontaine deal.
- Speaking of caveats, here's a few more...
- First off, this only applies to claimants who have previously been promised payment for their trouble, and those folks can't expect any additional help from either the U.S. or French government.
- Second, only people who are covered by the protective net of the U.S. government are gonna get paid here, so foreign citizens, pirates, criminals, and the like are all out of luck. Also, any stolen stuff that wasn't the property of an American citizen in the first place is not covered by this agreement.
- Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois are going to nominate three other guys to deal with concerns about and investigations into questions brought up by those caveats and stipulations. Those three are going to start their new jobs ASAP and will be employed provisionally.
- Those guys are also going to decide whether or not a person's concerns and claims are legit.
- And they're going to decide whether those concerns and claims are candidates for cash reimbursement.
- Any legitimate claims they add to the debt pile will also be subject to that 6 percent interest rate mentioned earlier.
- To guard against false or exaggerated claims, all claims are subject to further examination. This examination can go all the way to the top and could, if it's not figured out sooner, end up being decided by the minister of the United States (Livingston) and/or the minister of the treasury of the French Republic (Barbé-Marbois).
- Once it gets that high up the examination ladder, the French government is going to get the final say on whether the claim is truly legit or not.
- If a claim is rejected, the United States won't get paid for it and the French government can do what it wants with it.
- Once these docs are ratified, people have 12 months to bring up their claims. If they don't bring them up by then, it's too late.
- All debts not covered by this convention can be dealt with on their own.
- This convention, just like the previous treaty and convention, needs to be ratified within six months.
- And, just like the other docs, Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois are signing English and French copies of this treaty, and they all declare that the original doc was in French.
- All three are signing and affixing their seals on April 30th, 1803—otherwise known as Floréal the 10th in the 11th year of the French Republic.