DONE at PARIS, this Sixth Day of February, One Thousand Seven Hunured and Seventy-Eight.

4.

Form of the Passports and Letters which are to be given to the Ships and Barques according to the Twenty-fifth Article of this Treaty.

To all who shall see these presents, Greeting.

IT is hereby made known, that leave and permiffion has been given to , master and commander of the ship called burthen

of the town of tons or thereabouts, lying at present in the port and haven of and bound for and laden with After that this ship has been visited, and before failing, he shall make oath before the officers who have the jurisdiction of maritime affairs, that the said ship belongs to one or more of the fubjects of the act whereof thall be put at the end of these presents; as likewise that he will keep and cause to be kept by his crew on board, the marine ordinances and regulations, and enter in the proper office a list, figned and witnessed, containing the names and firnames, the places of birth and abode of the crew of his ship, and of all who shall embark on board her, whom he shall not take on board without the knowledge and permission of the officers of the marine; and in every port or haven where he shall enter with his ship, he shall shew his present leave to the officers and judges of the marine; and shall give a faithful account to them of what passed and was done during his voyage; and he shall carry the colours, arms and ensign of the king or united states during his voyage. In witness whereof we have figned these presents, and put the seal of our arms there

unto, and caused the same to be countersigned by

the

day of

at

Anno Domini

TREATY OF ALLIANCE,

EVENTUAL and DEFENSIVE.

LOUIS, by the Grace of GOD, King of France and Navarre,

To all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

Their

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HE Congress of the united states of North-America, having by their plenipotentiaries refiding in France, proposed to form with us a defenfive and eventual Alliance: Willing to give the faid ftates an efficacious proof of the interest we take in their prosperity, we have determined to conclude the faid alliance. For these causes and other good confiderations thereto moving, we, repofing entire confidence in the capacity and experience, zeal and fidelity for our service, of our dear and beloved Conrad Alexander Gerard, royal fyndic of the city of Strasbourg, fecretary of our council of state, have nominated, comm ssioned and deputed, and by these presents figned with our hand, do nominate, commission and depute him our plenipotentiary, giving him power and special command to act in this quality, and confer, negociate, treat and agree conjointly with the abovementioned plenipotentiaries of the united states, invested in the like manner with powers in due form to determine, conclude and fign fuch articles, conditions, conventions, declarations, definitive treaty, and any other alts whatever, as he shall judge proper to answer the end which we propose; promising on the faith and word of a king, to agree to, confirm and establish for ever, to accomplish and execute punctually whatever our faid dear and beloved Conrad Alexander Gerard fhall have ftipulated and figned in virtue of the present power, without ever contravening it, or suffering it to be contravened for any cause and under any pretext whatever; as likewise to cause our letters of ratification to be made in due form, and to have them delivered in order to be exchanged at the time that shall be agreed upon. For fuch is our pleasure. In teftimony whereof we have set our seal to these presents. Given at Versailles, the thirtieth day of the month January, in the year of grace one thousand seven hundred and feventy-eight, and the fourth of our reign.

TH

HE Most Christian King and the United States of NorthAmerica, to wit, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New Jersey, Pennfylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and Georgia, having this day concluded a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, for the reciprocal advantage of their subjects and citizens, have thought it necessary to take into confideration the means of strengthening those engagements, and of rendering them useful to the fafety and tranquillity of the two parties; particularly in case Great-Britain, in resentment of that connection, and of the good correspondence which is the object of the said treaty, should break the peace with France, either by direct hoftilities, or by hindering her commerce and navigation in a manner contrary to the rights of nations, and the peace subsisting between the two crowns. And his majesty and the said united states having resolved in that case, to join their councils and efforts against the enterprizes of their common enemy;

The respective plenipotentiaries impowered to concert the clauses and conditions proper to fulfil the said intentions, have, after the most mature deliberation, concluded and determined on the following articles.

Article 1. IF war should break out between France and GreatBritain during the continuance of the present war between the united states and England, his majesty and the said united states shall make it a common cause, and aid each other mutually with their good offices, their counsels and their forces, according to the exigence of conjunctures, as becomes good and faithful allies.

Art. 2. The essential and direct end of the present defenfive alliance is, to maintain effectually the liberty, fovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited, of the said united states, as well in matters of government as of commerce.

Art. 3. The two contracting parties shall, each on its own part, and in the manner it may judge most proper, make all the efforts in its power against their common enemy, in order to attain the end proposed.

Art. 4. The contracting parties agree, that in case either of them should form any particular enterprize in which the concurrence of the other may be defired, the party whose concurrence is defired, shall readily and with good faith join to act in concert for that purpose, as far as circumstances and its own particular fituation will permit; and in that cafe, they shall regulate by a particular convention, the quantity and kind of fuccour to be furnished, and the time and manner of its being brought into action, as well as the advantages which are to be its compenfation. Art.

Art. 5. If the united states should think fit to attempt the reduction of the British power remaining in the northern parts of America, or the islands of Bermudas, those countries or islands, in cafe of success, shall be confederated with, or dependent upon the faid united states.

Art. 6. The most christian king renounces for ever the poffeffion of the islands of Bermudas, as well as of any part of the continent of North-America, which before the treaty of Paris, in 1763, or. in virtue of that treaty, were acknowledged to belong to the crown of Great-Britain, or to the united states, heretofore called British colonies, or which are at this time, or have lately been under the power of the king and crown of Great-Britain.

Art. 7. If his most christian majesty shall think proper to attack any of the islands situated in the Gulph of Mexico, or near that gulph, which are at present under the power of Great Britain, all the faid ifles, in case of success, shall appertain to the crown of France.

Art. 8. Neither of the two parties shall conclude either truce or peace with Great-Britain, without the formal confent of the other first obtained; and they mutually engage not to lay down their arms, until the independence of the united states shall have been formally or tacitly assured, by the treaty or treaties that shall terminate the war. :

Art. 9. The contracting parties declare, that being resolved to fulfil each on its own part, the clauses and conditions of the present treaty of alliance, according to its own power and circumstances, there shall be no after-claim of compenfation, on one fide of the other, whatever may be the event of the war.

Art. 10. The most christian king and the united states agree to invite or admit other powers, who may have received injuries from England, to make common cause with them, and to accede to the present alliance, under fuch conditions as shall be freely agreed to, and settled between all the parties.

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Art. 11. The two parties guarantee mutually from the present time and for ever, against all other powers, to wit, The united states to his most christian majesty, the present poffeffions of the crown of France in America, as well as those which it may acquire by the future treaty of peace; and his most christian majesty guarantees on his part to the united states, their liberty, sovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited, as well in matters of government as commerce, and also their possessions, and the additions or conquests, that their confederation may obtain during the war, from any of the dominions now or heretofore poslessed by Great-Britain in North-America, conformable to the fifth and fixth articles above written; the whole as their possession shall be fixed and affured to the said states, at the moment of the cessation of their present war with England.

Art. 12. In order to fix more precisely the sense and application of the preceding article, the contracting parties declare, that in

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TREATY OF ALLIANCE.

case of a rupture between France and England, the reciprocal guarantee declared in the said article, shall have its full force and effect, the moment such war shall break out; and if such rupture shall not take place, the mutual obligations of the said guarantee shall not commence until the moment of the cefssation of the present war, between the united states and England, shall have afcertained their poffeffions.

Art. 13. The present treaty shall be ratified on both fides, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of fix months, or fooner, if possible.

IN FAITH WHEREOF the respective plenipotentiaries, to wit, on the part of the most christian king, Conrad Alexander Gerard, royal fyndic of the city of Strasbourg, and secretary of his majesty's council of state; and on the part of the united states, Benjamin Franklin, deputy to the general congress from the state. of Pennsylvania, and prefident of the convention of said state; Silas Deane, heretofore deputy from the state of Connecticut; and Arthur Lee, counsellor at law, have figned the above articles both in the French and English languages; declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally compofed and concluded in the French language, and they have hereunto affixed their seals.

DONE at PARIS, this Sixth Day of February, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Eight.