I0 TREATY OF ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. 1778. ART. X. q·,,,,d,,,;t0,h,, The Most Christian King and the United States agree, to invite or P¤W¢F¤•¤ ¤¤- admit other powers who may have received injuries from England, to ‘?°d° '° 'h° “l' make common cause with them, and to accede to the present alliance, hmm' under such conditions as shall be freely agreed to, and settled between all the parties. ART. XI. , The two arties uarantee mutually from the present time, and for- ¤¤L¤I$im gm ever againstpall other powers, to wit:_The United States to his Most Christian Majesty, the present possessions 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 dominrons now, or heretofore possessed by Great Britain in North America, conformable to the 5th and 6th articles above written, the whole as their possessions shall be fixed and assured to the said states, at the moment of the cessation of their present war with England. ART. XII. Guaranty In order to tix more precisely the sense and application of the pre-
- g°‘° °°”" ceding article, the contracting parties declare, that in 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 cessation of the present war, between the United States and England, shall have ascertained their possessions. ART. XIII. Ratification. The present treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratitications shall be exchanged in the space of six months, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof the respective plenipotentiaries, to wit: On the part of the Most Christian king, Conrad Alexander Gerard, Royal Syndic of the city of Strasbourgh, 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 President of the Convention of the same state; Silas Deane, heretofore Deputy from the state of Connecticut, and Arthur Lee, Councellor at Law, have signed the above articles both in the French and English languages, declaring nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally composed and conciluded in the French language, and they have hereunto atlixed t err sea s. Dina gt garig, this sixth gay of February, one thousand seven un rc an seventywig t. C. A. GERARD, (1.. s.) B. FRANKLIN, r.. s.) SILAS DEANE, ft. s. ARTHUR LEE, (L. sj
