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.] L. S. [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 vested 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. Amonnt 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 4, 000, 000 6, 000, 000 .18, 000, 000 cent. By which receipts the said Minister has promised, in the name of ConInterest at five per gress, and in behalf of the thirteen United States, to cause to be paid and reimbursed to the royal treasury of His Majesty, on the 1st of January, 1788, at the house of his grand banker at Paris, the said sum of eighteen millions, money of France, with interest at five per cent. per annum. ARTICLE 11. Repayment of the loans. Considering that the payment of so large a capital at the one stipu lated period, the 1st of January, 1788, may greatly injure the finances of the Congress of the United States, and it may perhaps be even impracticable on that footing, His Majesty has been pleased for that reason to recede in that respect from the tenor of the receipts which the Minister of Congress has given for the eighteen million livres tournois, mentioned in the foregoing article, and has consented that the payment of the capital in ready money, at the royal treasury, be in twelve equal payments of 1,500,000 livres each, and in twelve years only, to commence from the third year after a peace. Abatement of in terest. ARTICLE III. Although the receipts of the Minister of the Congress of the United States specify that the eighteen million of livres above mentioned are to be paid at the royal treasury, with interest at five per cent. per annum, His Majesty being willing to give the said United States a new proof of his affection and friendship, has been pleased to make a present of, and to forgive the whole arrears of interest to this day, and from thence to the date of the treaty of peace; a favor which the Minister of the Congress of the United States acknowledges to flow from the pure bounty of the King, and which he accepts in the name of the said United States with profound and lively acknowledg ments. Interest to dimin ARTICLE IV. The payment of the said eighteen millions of livres tournois shall be in ready money at the royal treasury of His Majesty at Paris, ish in proportion to in twelve equal parts, and at the terms stipulated in the payments, &c. above second article. The interest of the said sum, at five per cent. per annum, shall commence with the date of the treaty of peace, and shall be paid at every period of the partial payments of the capital, and shall diminish in proportion with the payments. The Congress of the said United States being left, however, at liberty to free themselves sooner from this obligation by anticipated payments, in case the state of their finances will admit. Loan made by acknowledged to be ARTICLE V. Although the loan of five millions of florins of Holland, agreed to by the States General of the United Provinces of the NetherFrance in Holland. lands, on the terms of the obligation passed on the 5th of for the use of United November, 1781, between His Majesty and the said States General, has been made in His Majesty's name, and guaranteed by him, it is nevertheless acknowledged by these presents, that the said loan was made in reality on account, and for the service, of the United States of North America, and that the capital, amounting, at a States moderate valuation, to the sum of ten millions livres tournois, has been paid to the said United States, agreeably to a receipt for the payment of the said sum given by the undersigned Minister of Congress the seventh day of June last. ARTICLE VI. said loan. By the convention of the said 5th of November, 1781, the King has been pleased to promise and engage to furnish and pay at Engagement of the the general counter of the States General of the Netherlands, French king to repay the capital of the said loan, with the interest at four per cent. per annum, without any charge or deduction whatever to the lenders, so that the said capital shall be wholly repaid after the space of five years, the payments to be made in ten equal periods, the first of which to commence the sixth year from the date of the loan, and afterwards from year to year to the final payment of the said sum; but it is in like manner acknowledged by this act that this engagement was entered into by the King at the request of the undersigned Minister of the United States, and on the promise by him made in the name of Congress, and on behalf of the thirteen United States, to cause to be reimbursed and paid at the royal treasury of His Majesty at Paris, the capital, interest, and cost of the said loan, according to the conditions and terms fixed by the said convention of the 5th of November, 1781. ARTICLE VII. Agreement to repay in Holland. It is accordingly agreed and settled that the sum of ten million livres tournois, being, by a moderate computation, the principal of the loan of five millions of Holland florins above men- amount of the loan tioned, shall be 'reimbursed, and paid in ready money at the royal treasury of His Majesty at Paris, with the interest at four per cent. per annum, in ten equal payments, of one million each, and in ten terms, the first of which shall be on the 5th of November, 1787, the second, the 5th November, 1788, and so from year to year till the final payment of the said sum of ten millions, the interest lessening in proportion with the partial payments of the capital. But in consequence of the King's affection for the United States, His Majesty has been pleased to charge himself with the expense of commissions and bank for the said loan, of which expenses His Majesty has made a present to the United States, and this their undersigned Minister accepts, with thanks, in the name of Congress, as a new proof of His Majesty's generosity and friendship for the said United States. ARTICLE VIII. Interest on the five years to be paid France. With regard to the interest of the said loan during the five years preceding the first term of payment of the capital, as the King has engaged to pay it at the general counter of the States loan in Holland for General of the Netherlands, at the rate of four per cent. by United States to yearly, and every year, counting from the 5th of November, 1781, according to the convention of that day, the Minister of Congress acknowledges that the repayment of that is due to His Majesty by the United States, and he engages, in the name of the said United States, to cause payment thereof to be made at the same time and at the same rate at the royal treasury of His Majesty; the first year's interest to be paid the 5th of November next, and so yearly, during the five years preceding the first term for the payment of the capital, fixed as above on the 5th of November, 1787. The high contracting parties reciprocally bind themselves to the faithful observance of this contract, the ratifications of which shall be exchanged in the space of nine months from this day, or sooner if possible. Ratifications to be exchanged In Dine months. In testimony whereof we, the said Plenipotentiaries of His Most Christian Majesty, and of the thirteen United States of North America, in virtue of our respective powers, have signed these presents, and thereunto fixed the seal of our arms. Done at Versailles the 16th day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. GRAVIER DE VERGENNES. L. S.] [L. S.] FRANCE, 1783. A CONTRACT BETWEEN HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY AND THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, ENTERED INTO AT VERSAILLES ON THE 25TH OF FEBRUARY, 1783. The re-established peace between the belligerent Powers, the advantages of a free commerce to all parts of the globe, and the independence of the thirteen United States of North America, acknowledged and founded on a solid and honorable basis, rendered it probable that the said States would be in a condition to provide hereafter for their necessities by means of the resources within themselves without being compelled to implore the continuation of the succours which the King has so liberally granted during the war: But the Minister Plenipotentiary of the said United States to His Majesty, having represented to him the exhausted state to which they had been reduced by a long and disastrous war, His Majesty has condescended to take into consideration the request made by the aforesaid Minister, in the name of the Congress of the said States, for a new advance of money to answer numerous purposes of urgent and indispensable expenses in the course of the present year; His Majesty has in consequence determined, notwithstanding the no less pressing necessities of his own service, to grant to Congress a new pecuniary assistance, which he has fixed at the sum of six millions livres tournois, under the title of loan, and under the guaranty of the whole thirteen United States, which the Minister of Congress has declared his acceptance of, with the liveliest acknowledgments, in the name of the said States. And as it is necessary to the good order of His Majesty's finances, and also useful to the operations of the finances of the United States, to assign periods for payment of the six millions livres in question, and to regulate the conditions and terms of reimbursement which should be made at His Majesty's royal treasury at Paris, after the manner of what has been stipulated for the preceding advances, by a former contract of the 16th July, 1782 We, Charles Gravier, Count de Vergennes, &c., Counsellor of the King in his Councils, Commander of his Orders, Chief of the Royal Council of Finances, Counsellor of State, &c., Minister and Secretary of State and of his commands and finances, invested with full powers by His Majesty, given to us for the purpose of these presents: And we, Benjamin Frank |