ARTICLE IV.
Whereas by the 6th article of the Convention signed at
Madrid on the 11th day of August 1802 it is provided, that as
it had not been possible for the Plenipotentiaries of the two
powers to agree upon a mode by which the Board of Commissioners
to be organized in virtue of the same should arbitrate
the claims originating from the excesses of foreign
cruizers, agents, Consuls or tribunals in their respective territories,
which might be imputable to their two Governments,
&c; and whereas such explanations have been had upon the
subject of the Article aforesaid as have led to an accord: It
is therefore agreed that the Board of Commissioners to be
organized as aforesaid shall have power for the space of eighteen
months from the exchange of the ratifications hereof
to hear and determine in the manner provided as to other
claims in the said Convention all manner of claims of the
Citizens and subjects of either party for excesses committed
or to be committed by foreign cruizers, Agents, Consuls or
tribunals in their respective territories which may be imputable
to either Government according to the principles of
justice, the law of the nations or the treaties between the
powers, and also all other excesses committed or to be committed
by officers or individuals of either nation, contrary to
justice, equity, the law of nations or the existing treaties
and for which the claimants may have a right to demand
compensation.
