For the United States' territorial transit of closed mails from Queensland for Mexico, British Columbia, Canada, or other British North American Provinces, when transmitted entirely by land routes, 6 cents per ounce for letter mails, and 16 cents per pound for all kinds of printed matter; For the United States' territorial and sea transit of closed mails from Queensland for British Columbia or other British North American Provinces, Mexico, Central and South America, or the West India Islands, when transmitted from the United States by sea, 25 cents per ounce for letter mails, and 20 cents per pound for all kinds of printed matter. The Queensland post office shall render an account to the United States' post office, upon letter-bills to accompany each mail, of the weight of the letters, and also of the printed and other matter contained in such closed mails, forwarded to the United States for transmission to either of the above-named countries and colonies; and the accounts arising between the two offices on this class of correspondence shall be stated, adjusted, and settled quarterly, and the amounts of the United States' transit charges found due on such closed mails shall be promptly paid over by the Queensland post office to the United States' post office in such manner as the Postmaster-General of the United States shall prescribe. V. Prepaid letters from foreign countries received in and forwarded from the United States to Queensland shall be delivered in said Colony free of all charges whatsoever, and letters received in Queensland from the United States addressed to other Colonies of Australia will be forwarded to destination subject to the same conditions as are applicable to correspondence originating in Queensland and addressed to those countries. VI. The two Post Departments may, by mutual agreement, provide for the transmission of registered articles in the mails exchanged between the two countries. The register fee for each article shall be 10 cents in the United States and 4d. in Queensland. VII. The two Post Departments shall settle by agreement between them all measures of detail and arrangement required to carry this Convention into execution, and may modify the same in like manner, from time to time, as the exigencies of the service may require. VIII. Every fully prepaid letter despatched from one country to the other shall be plainly stamped with the words “Paid all" in red ink, on the right-hand upper corner of the address, in addition to the date-stamp of the office at which it was posted, and on insufficiently paid letters the amount of the deficient postage shall be inscribed in black ink. IX. Dead letters, which cannot be delivered from whatsoever cause, shall be mutually returned, without charge, monthly, or as frequently as the regulations of the respective offices will permit. X. This Convention shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1876, and shall be terminable at any time on a notice, by either office, of six months. Done in duplicate, and signed in Brisbane the 8th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1875, and in Washington on the 2nd day of February, 1876. Approved, MARSHALL JEWELL, Postmaster-General of the United States. GEORGE THORN, JUNIOR, Postmaster-General of Queensland. EWD. CAIRNS. I hereby approve the aforegoing Convention, and in testimony thereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. U. S. GRANT. By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. Washington, February 5, 1876. CONVENTION between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, for extending the Functions of the Umpire appointed pursuant to the Convention of July 4, 1868,* for the Adjustment of Claims.-Signed at Washington, April 29, 1876. [Ratifications exchanged at Washington, June 29, 1876.] WHEREAS pursuant to the Convention between the United States and the Mexican Republic of the 19th day of April, 1871,† the functions of the Joint Commission under the Convention between the same parties of the 4th of July, 1868,* were extended for a term not exceeding one year from the day on which they were to terminate according to the Convention last named: And whereas, pursuant to Article I of the Convention between the same parties, of the 27th day of November, 1872, the Joint Commission above referred to was revived and again extended for a term not exceeding two years from the day on which the func tions of the said Commission would terminate pursuant to the said Convention of the 19th day of April, 1871: And whereas pursuant to the Convention between the same parties of the 20th day of November, 1874,* the said Commission was again extended for one year from the time when it would have expired pursuant to the Convention of the 27th of November, 1872, that is to say, until the 31st day of January, 1876; and it was provided that if at the expiration of that time, the umpire under the Convention should not have decided all the cases which may then have been referred to him, he should be allowed a further period of not more than six months for that purpose: And whereas it is found to be impracticable for the umpire appointed pursuant to the Convention adverted to, to decide all the cases referred to him, within the said period of six months prescribed by the Convention of the 20th of November, 1874 : And the parties being still animated by a desire that all that business should be closed as originally contemplated, the President of the United States has for this purpose conferred full powers on Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, and the President of the Mexican Republic has conferred like powers on Don Ignacio Mariscal, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of that Republic to the United States; and the said Plenipotentiaries having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due form, have agreed upon the following Articles : I. The High Contracting Parties agree that if the umpire appointed under the Convention above referred to shall not, on or before the expiration of the six months allowed for the purpose by Article II of the Convention of the 20th of November, 1874, have decided all the cases referred to him, he shall then be allowed a further period until the 20th day of November, 1876, for that purpose. II. It is further agreed that so soon after the 20th day of November, 1876, as may be practicable, the total amount awarded in all cases already decided, whether by the Commissioners or by the umpire, and which may be decided before the said 20th day of November, in favour of citizens of the one party, shall be deducted from the total amount awarded to the citizens of the other party, and the balance, to the amount of 300,000 dollars, shall be paid at the city of Mexico, or at the city of Washington, in gold or its equivalent, on or before the 31st day of January, 1877, to the Government in favour of whose citizens the greater amount may have been awarded, without interest or any other deduction than that specified in Article VI of the said Convention of July, 1868. The residue of the said balance shall be paid in annual instalments on the 31st day of January in each year, to an amount not exceeding 300,000 dollars, in gold or its equivalent, in any one year, until the whole shall have been paid. *Vol. LXV. Page 1319. III. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible. In witness whereof the above-named Plenipotentiaries have signed the same and affixed thereto their respective seals. Done in Washington, the 29th day of April, in the year 1876. (L.S.) HAMILTON FISH. (L.S.) IGNACIO MARISCAL. ACT of Congress of the United States, to amend Section 5271 of the Revised Statutes, relating to Extradition. [Chap. 133.] [June 19, 1876.] BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that Section 5271 of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows: "In every case of complaint and of a hearing upon the return of the warrant of arrest, any depositions, warrants, or other papers offered in evidence shall be admitted and received for the purpose of such hearing if they shall be properly and legally authenticated so as to entitle them to be received as evidence of the criminality of the person so apprehended, by the tribunals of the foreign country from which the accused party shall have escaped, and copies of any such depositions, warrants, or other papers, shall, if authenticated according to the law of such foreign country, be in like manner received as evidence; and the certificate of the principal Diplomatic or Consular officer of the United States resident in such foreign country shall be proof that any such deposition, warrant, or other paper, or copy thereof, is authenticated in the manner required by this section." Approved, June 19, 1876. REPORT of the United States' Court of Commissioners on the Alabama Claims.-Washington, November 14, 1876. SIR, Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, Washington, D.C., November 14, 1876. I HAVE the honour to inform you that on the 1st of January next this Court will have adjudicated all the claims presented to it in accordance with the several Acts of Congress prescribing its jurisdiction and powers. Under the Act approved June 23, 1874, 1,383 claims were filed, and after the passage of the Act approved March 6, 1876, 685 additional claims were presented, making the total number of claims. filed 2,068. The aggregate sum claimed in all these cases was about fourteen and one-half millions of dollars. There have been submitted to the Court 1,958 claims, and judgments have been rendered in 1,928 of them, leaving 30 cases heard and now under advisement. There yet remain 110 claims to be submitted. Two lists of claims adjudicated have been reported to you as required by law the first embracing the judgments entered on or prior to January 22, 1876; the second embracing the judgments entered between that date and July 22, 1876. The amount of the judgments embraced in the first list, with interest, was The amount in the second list, including interest, was...... Total amount reported for payment with interest. Since July 22, 1876, the aggregate amount of the judgments en- Total amount of judgments to this date, including interest...... interest, was ...... Dollars. 6,642,927 '64 2,353,787 44 8,996,715.08 155,426 40 9,152,14148 ...... 13,172,319 46 The amount claimed in the cases not yet heard, not including interest, is ........ And in those heard but not decided, is Total amount, not including interest, claimed in cases not yet decided..... 1,292,932.80 24,064 .73 1,316,997 .53 The only claims (with the exception of those of insurers stated below) adjudicated by the Court were those presented by owners of property actually destroyed by the cruizers named in the Act of June 23, 1874, or by sailors on vessels destroyed, for loss of personal effects and wages. These claimants have been awarded the value of their property less the amount of insurance received by them. Five claims of insurers, corporate or private, have been allowed, in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of the Act creating this Court, in which the aggregate amount of the judgments was 160,290-22 dollars. All of these insurers alleged and proved not only that they suffered losses by the acts of the inculpated cruizers, but that the aggregate of their losses in the business growing out of "war-risks" was greater than the aggregate of their premiums and other gains growing out of "war-risks" taken. Some few claims were presented for loss of premiums paid insurance companies on account of "war-risks," or for loss of |