Under the strict letter of the Treaty those Allies who had received less than their share might have claimed to be paid the difference in cash by those who had received more. This situation and the allocation of the milliard paid by Germany between May and August 1921 were the subject of the Financial Agreement provisionally signed at Paris on August 13, 1921. This Agreement chiefly consisted of concessions to France, partly by Belgium, who agreed in effect to a partial postponement of her priority charge on two milliards out of the first sums received from Germany for Reparation, and partly by Great Britain, who accepted for the purposes of internal accounting amongst the Allies themselves a lower value for the coal delivered by Germany than the value fixed by the Treaty.[82] In view of these concessions about future payment, the _first_ milliard in cash, received _after_ May 1, 1921, was divided between Great Britain and Belgium, the former receiving 450 million gold marks in discharge of the balance still due to her in respect of the costs of occupation, and the balance falling to the latter as a further instalment of her agreed priority charge. This Agreement was represented in the French press as laying new burdens upon France, or at least as withdrawing existing rights from her. But this was not the case. The Agreement was directed throughout to moderating the harshness with which the letter of the Treaty and the arrangements of Spa would have operated against France.[83] The actual value of these deliveries is a striking example of how far the value of deliverable articles falls below the estimates which used to be current. The Reparation Commission have stated that the credit which Germany will receive in respect of her Mercantile Marine will amount to about 755 million gold marks. This figure is low, partly because many of the ships were disposed of after the slump in tonnage.[84] Nevertheless, this was one of the tangible assets of great value, which it was customary at one time to invoke in answer to those who disputed Germany’s capacity to make vast payments. What does it amount to in relation to the bill against her? The bill is 138 milliard gold marks, on which interest at 6 per cent for one year is 8280 million gold marks. That is to say, Germany’s Mercantile Marine in its entirety, of which the surrender humbled so much pride and engulfed so vast an effort, would about meet a month’s charges. EXCURSUS VI THE DIVISION OF RECEIPTS AMONGST THE ALLIES