The commissioners referred to in the preceding article shall be appointed in the following manner; that is to say: One commissioner shall be named by the President of the United States, one by Her Britannic Majesty, and a third by the President of the United States and Her Britannic Majesty conjointly; and in case the third commissioner shall not have been so named within a period of three months from the date when this article shall take effect, then the third commissioner shall be named by the representative at London of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. In case of the death, absence, or incapacity of any commissioner, or in the event of any commissioner omitting or ceasing to act, the vacancy shall be filled in the manner hereinbefore provided for making the original appointment, the period of three months in case of such substitution being calculated from the date of the happening of the vacancy. The commissioners so named shall meet in the city of Halifax, in the Province of Nova Scotia, at the earliest convenient period after they have been respectively named, and shall before proceeding to any business make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially and carefully examine and decide the matters referred to them to the best of their judgment and according to justice and equity; and such declaration shall be entered on the record of their proceedings. Each of the high contracting parties shall also name one person to attend the commission as its agent, to represent it generally in all matters connected with the commission. ARTICLE XXIV. The proceedings shall be conducted in such order as the commissioners appointed under Articles XXII and XXIII of this treaty shall determine. They shall be bound to receive such oral or written testimony as either Government may present. If either party shall offer oral testimony, the other party shall have the right of cross-examination, under such rules as the commissioners shall prescribe. If in the case submitted to the commissioners either party shall have specified or alluded to any report or document in its own exclusive possession, without annexing a copy, such party shall be bound, if the other party thinks proper to apply for it, to furnish that party with a copy thereof; and either party may call upon the other, through the commissioners, to produce the originals or certified copies of any papers adduced as evidence, giving in each instance such reasonable notice as the commissioners may require.