TREATIES. 3 



ARTICLE X. 



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 alli- 

 ance, under such conditions as shall be freely agreed to and settled 

 between all the parties. 



ARTICLE XI. 



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 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 com- 

 merce, 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 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. 



ARTICLE XII. 



In order to fix more precisely the sense and application of the pre- 

 ceding article, the contracting parties declare, that in case of a rup- 

 ture 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 betw r een the United 

 States and England shall have ascertained their possessions. 



ARTICLE XIII 



The present Treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifica- 

 tions 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 Penn- 

 sylvania, 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 pres- 

 ent Treaty was originally composed and concluded in the French 

 language, and they have hereunto affixed their seals. 



Done at Paris, this sixth day of February, one thousand seven hun- 

 dred and seventy-eight. 



C. A. GERARD. 

 B. FRANKLIN. 

 SILAS DEANE. 

 ARTHUR LEE. 



L. s. 

 L. s. 



L. S. 

 L. S. 



