ARTICLE XXII. ted out, or to sell ports of either party It shall not be lawful for any foreign privateers, not belonging to subjects of the Most Christian King nor citizens of the said Foreign privateers United States, who have commissions from any other Prince not allowed to be fit or State in enmity with either nation, to fit their ships their prizes in the in the ports of either the one or the other of the aforesaid parties, to sell what they have taken, or in any other manner whatsoever to exchange their ships, merchandizes, or any other lading; neither shall they be allowed even to purchase victuals, except such as shall be necessary for their going to the next port of that Prince or State from which they have commissions. ARTICLE XXIII. nation at war with the other. It shall be lawful for all and singular the subjects of the Most Chris. tian King, and the citizens, people, and inhabitants of the Liberty for either said United States, to sail with their ships with all manner party to trade with a of liberty and security, no distinction being made who are the proprietors of the merchandizes laden thereon, from any port to the places of those who now are or hereafter shall be at enmity with the Most Christian King or the United States. It shall likewise be lawful for the subjects and inhabitants aforesaid to sail with the ships and merchandizes aforementioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the places, ports, and havens of those who are enemies of both or either party, without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, not only directly from the places of the enemy aforementioned to neutral places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy to another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of the same Prince or under several. And it is hereby stipulated that free ships shall also give a freedom to goods, and that everything Free ships make shall be deemed to be free and exempt which shall be found free goods, excepting on board the ships belonging to the subjects of either of the confederates, although the whole lading or any part thereof should appertain to the enemies of either, contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed in like manner that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board a free ship, with this effect, that although they be enemies to both or either party, they are not to be taken out of that free ship, unless they are soldiers and in actual service of the enemies. ARTICLE XXIV. contraband articles, band. This liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all kinds of merchandizes, excepting those only which are distinguished What goods shall by the name of contraband; and under this name of contra- be deemed contraband or prohibited goods shall be comprehended arms, great guns, bombs with the fuzes, and other things belonging to them, cannon-ball, gunpowder, match, pikes, swords, lauces, spears, halberds, mortars, petards, granades, saltpetre, muskets, musket-ball, bucklers, helmets, breast-plates, coats of mail, and the like kinds of arms proper for arming soldiers, musket-rests, belts, horses with their furniture, and all other warlike instruments whatever. These merchandizes which follow shall not be reckoned among contraband or prohibited goods; that is to say, all sorts of cloths, and all other manufactures woven of any wool, flax, silk, cotton, or any other materials whatever; all kinds. of wearing apparel, together with the species whereof they are used to be made; gold and silver, as well coined as uncoined, tin, iron, latten, copper, brass, coals; as also wheat and barley, and any other kind of corn and pulse; tobacco, and likewise all manner of spices; salted and smoked flesh, salted fish, cheese and butter, beer, oils, wines, sugars, and all sorts of salts; and in general all provisions which serve for the nourishment of mankind and the sustenance of life; furthermore, all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, cables, sails, sail-cloths, anchors and any parts of anchors, also ships' masts, planks, boards and beams of what trees soever; and all other things proper either for building or repairing ships, and all other goods whatever which have not been worked into the form of any instrument or thing prepared for war by land or by sea, shall not be reputed contraband, much less such as have been already wrought and made up for any other use; all which shall be wholly reckoned among free goods; as likewise all other merchandizes and things which are not comprehended and particularly mentioned in the foregoing enumeration of contraband goods; so that they may be transported and carried in the freest manner by the subjects of both confederates, even to places belonging to an enemy, such towns or places being only excepted as are at that time besieged, blocked up, or invested. Ships and vessels sea-letters or pass ARTICLE XXV. To the end that all manner of dissentions and quarrels may be avoided and prevented, on one side and the other, it is agreed that to be furnished with in case either of the parties hereto should be engaged in ports and certificates, war, the ships and vessels belonging to the subjects or people of the other ally must be furnished with sea-letters or passports, expressing the name, property, and bulk of the ship, as also the name and place of habitation of the master or commander of the said ship, that it may appear thereby that the ship really and truely belongs to the subjects of one of the parties, which passport shall be made out and granted according to the form annexed to this treaty; they shall likewise be recalled every year, that is, if the ship happens to return home within the space of a year. It is likewise agreed that such ships being laden are to be provided not only with passports as above mentioned, but also with certificates, containing the several particulars of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed, and whither she is bound, that so it may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board the same; which certificate shall be made out by the officers of the place whence the ship set sail, in the accustomed form; and if any one shall think it fit or advisable to express in the said certificates the person to whom the goods on board belong, he may freely do so. Vessels coming on the coast or entering the ports of either ARTICLE XXVI. The ships of the subjects and inhabitants of either of the parties coming upon any coasts belonging to either of the said allies, but not willing to enter into port, or being entred into port party, how to be and not willing to unload their cargoes or break bulk, they shall be treated according to the general rules prescribed or to be prescribed relative to the object in question. treated. How vessels are to ARTICLE XXVII. If the ships of the said subjects, people, or inhabitants of either of the parties shall be met with, either sailing along the coasts be treated when met or on the high seas, by any ship of war of the other, or by any privateers, the said ships of war or privateers, for the avoiding of any disorder, shall remain out of cannon-shot, and may send by ships of war or privateers. their boats aboard the merchant ship which they shall so meet with, and may enter her to number of two or three men only, to whom the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall exhibit his passport concerning the property of the ship, made out according to the form inserted in this present treaty, and the ship, when she shall have showed such passport, shall be free and at liberty to pursue her voyage, so as it shall not be lawful to molest or search her in any manner, or to give her chase or force her to quit her intended course. ARTICLE XXVIII. No search after goods are put on board ships or ves els, unless in case of fraud. It is also agreed that all goods, when once put on board the ships or vessels of either of the two contracting parties, shall be subject to no farther visitation; but all visitation or search shall be made beforehand, and all prohibited goods shall be stopped on the spot, before the same be put on board, unless there are manifest tokens or proofs of fraudulent practice; nor shall either the persons or goods of the subjects of His Most Christian Majesty or the United States be put under any arrest or molested by any other kind of embargo for that cause; and only the subject of that State to whom the said goods have been or shall be prohibited, and who shall presume to sell or alienate such sort of goods, shall be duly punished for the offence. ARTICLE XXIX. Consuls &c., to be The two contracting parties grant mutually the liberty of having each in the ports of the other Consuls, Vice-Consuls, agents, and commissaries, whose functions shall be regulated by a par- allowed in the ports ticular agreement. ARTICLE XXX. of each party. Free ports. And the more to favour and facilitate the commerce which the subjects of the United States may have with France, the Most Christian King will grant them in Europe one or more free ports, where they may bring and dispose of all the produce and merchandize of the thirteen United States; and His Majesty will also continue to the subjects of the said States the free ports which have been and are open in the French islands of America; of all which free ports the said subjects of the United States shall enjoy the use, agreable to the regulations which relate to them. ARTICLE XXXI. The present treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of six months, or sooner if possible. Ratification. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles, both in the French and English languages, declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally composed and concluded in the French language, and they have thereto affixed their seals. Done at Paris this sixth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight. C. A. GERARD. [L. S.] B. FRANKLIN. ARTHUR LEE. L. S. L. S. L. S.] ACT SEPARATE AND SECRET. The Most Christian King declares, in consequence of the intimate union which subsists between him and the King of Spain, that in concluding with the United States of America this treaty of amity and commerce, and that of eventual and defensive alliance, His Majesty hath intended, and intends, to reserve expressly, as he reserves by this present separate and secret act, to his said Catholick Majesty the power of acceding to the said treatys, and to participate in their stipulations at such time as he shall judge proper. It being well understood, nevertheless, that if any of the stipulations of the said treatys are not agreable to the King of Spain, His Catholick Majesty may propose other conditions analogous to the principal aim of the alliance and conformable to the rules of equality, reciprocity, and friendship. The Deputies of the United States, in the name of their constituents, accept the present declaration in its full extent, and the Deputy of the said States who is fully impowerd to treat with Spain promises to sign, on the first requisition of His Catholic Majesty, the act or acts necessary to communicate to him the stipulations of the treaties above written; and the said Deputy shall endeavour, in good faith, the adjustment of the points in which the King of Spain may propose any alteration conformable to the principles of equality, reciprocity, and the most sincere and perfect amity, he, the said Deputy, not doubting but that the person or persons impower'd by His Catholic Majesty to treat with the United States will do the same with regard to any alterations of the same kind that may be thought necessary by the said Plenipotentiary of the United States. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present separate and secret article, and affixed to the same their seals. Done at Paris this sixth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight. C. A. GERARD. [L. S.] B. FRANKLIN. L. S. SILAS DEANE. [L. S. ARTHUR LEE, [L. S.] Deputy, Plenipotentiary for France and Spain. FRANCE, 1782. CONTRACT BETWEEN HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ENTERED INTO BY THE COUNT DE VERGENNES AND MR. FRANKLIN, THE 16TH OF JULY, 1782, AND RATIFIED BY CONGRESS THE 22D DAY OF JANUARY, 1783. Motives for mak ment of the amount furnished by France, &c. The King having been pleased to attend to the requests made to him. in the name and on behalf of the United Provinces of ing a particular state- North America, for assistance in the war and invasion of pecuniary supplies under which they had for several years groaned; and His Majesty, after entering into a treaty of amity and commerce with the said Confederated Provinces, on the 6th of February, 1778, having had the goodness to support them, not only with his forces by land and sea, but also with advances of money, as abundant as they were effectual, in the critical situation to which their affairs were reduced it has been judged proper and necessary to state exactly the amount of those advances, the conditions on which the King made them, the periods at which the Congress of the United States have engaged to repay them to His Majesty's royal treasury, and, in fine, to state this matter in such a way as for the future to prevent all difficulties capable of interrupting the good harmony which His Majesty is resolved to maintain and preserve between him and the said United States. For executing so laudable a purpose, and with a view to strengthen the bands of amity and commerce which subsist between His Majesty and the said United States; we, Charles Gravier de Vergennes, &c., Counsellor of the King, in all his councils, Commander of his Orders, Minister and Secretary of State, and of his commands and finances, vested with full powers of His Majesty to us given for this purpose: and we, Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of North America, in like manner wested with full powers of the Congress of the said States for the present purpose; after duly communicating our respective powers have agreed to the following articles: ARTICLE I. Amount of different loans, It is agreed and certified that the sums advanced by His Majesty to the Congress of the United States, under the title of a loan, in the years 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, and the present, 1782, amount to the sum of eighteen million of livres, money of France, according to the following twenty-one receipts of the above mentioned under written Minister of Congress, given in virtue of his full powers, to wit: Amounting in the whole to 18 millions, viz........ 4, 000, 000 1,500,000 1, 500, 000 3, 000, 000 6, 000, 000 .18, 000, 000 |