between
the two nations which has rendered that distant armament necessary.
By the first article the Government of Paraguay "binds itself for the
responsibility in favor of the United States and Paraguay Navigation
Company which may result from the decree of commissioners" to be
appointed in the manner provided by article 2. This was in accordance
with the instructions to our commissioner, who was told that an
indispensable preliminary to the negotiation would, "of course, be an
acknowledgment on the part of the Paraguayan Government of its liability
to the company." The first paragraph of this second article clearly
specifies the object of the convention. This was not to ascertain
whether the claim was just, to enforce which we had sent a fleet to
Paraguay, but to constitute a commission to "determine," not the
existence, but "the amount, of said reclamations." The final paragraph
provides that "the two commissioners named in the said manner shall meet
in the city of Washington to investigate, adjust, and _determine the
amount_ of the claims of the above-mentioned company upon sufficient
proofs of the charges and defenses of the contending parties." By the
fifth article the Government of Paraguay "binds itself to pay to the
Government of the United States of America, in the city of Assumption,
Paraguay, thirty days after presentation to the Government of the
Republic, the draft which that of the United States of America shall
issue for the amount for which the two commissioners concurring, or
by the umpire, shall declare it responsible to the said company."

The act of Congress of May 16, 1860, employs the same language that
is used in the convention, "to investigate, adjust, and determine the
amount" of the claims against Paraguay. Congress, not doubting that an
award would be made in favor of the company for some certain amount
of damages, in the sixth section of the act referred to provides that
the money paid out of the Treasury for the expenses of the commission
"shall be retained by the United States out of the money" (not any
money) "that may, pursuant to the terms of said convention, be received
from Paraguay."

After all this had been done, after we had fitted out a warlike
expedition in part to obtain satisfaction for this very claim, after
these solemn acts had been performed by the two Republics, the
commissioners have felt themselves competent to decide that they could
go behind the action of the legisl