ndemnities mutually
due or claimed, the parties will negotiate further on these subjects at
a convenient time; and until they may have agreed upon these points the
said treaties and convention shall have no operation, and the relations
of the two countries shall be regulated as follows:

* * * * *

ART. V. The debts contracted by one of the two nations with individuals
of the other, or by the individuals of one with the individuals of the
other, shall be paid, or the payment may be prosecuted, in the same
manner as if there had been no misunderstanding between the two States.
But this clause shall not extend to indemnities claimed on account of
captures or confiscations.

On this convention being submitted to the Senate of the United States,
they consented and advised to its ratification with the following
proviso:

_Provided_, That the second article be expunged, and that the following
article be added or inserted: It is agreed that the present convention
shall be in force for the term of eight years from the time of the
exchange of ratifications.

The spirit and purpose of this change are apparent and unmistakable.
The convention as signed by the respective plenipotentiaries did not
adjust all the points of controversy. Both nations, however, desired the
restoration of peace. Accordingly, as to those matters in the relations
of the two countries concerning which they could agree, they did agree
for the time being; and as to the rest, concerning which they could not
agree, they suspended and postponed further negotiation.

They abandoned no pretensions, they relinquished no right on either
side, but simply adjourned the question until "a convenient time."
Meanwhile, and until the arrival of such convenient time, the relations
of the two countries were to be regulated by the stipulations of the
convention.

Of course the convention was on its face a temporary and provisional
one, but in the worst possible form of prospective termination. It was
to cease at a convenient time. But how should that convenient time be
ascertained? It is plain that such a stipulation, while professedly not
disposing of the present controversy, had within itself the germ of a
fresh one, for the two Governments might at any moment fall into dispute
on the question whether that convenient time had or had not arrived.
The Senate of the United States anticipated and prevented