Th: Jefferson.
[The annexed are translations of the declaration and
counter-declaration, referred to in the preceding letter.]
DECLARATION.
The events which have taken place in the republic of the United Provinces appearing no longer to leave any subject of discussion, and still less of dispute, between the two courts, the undersigned are authorized to ask, if it be the intention of his Most Christian Majesty to act in pursuance of the notification given, on the 16th of last month, by the Minister Plenipotentiary of his Most Christian Majesty, which, announcing his purpose of aiding Holland, has occasioned maritime armaments on the part of his Majesty, which armaments have become reciprocal.
If the court of Versailles is disposed to explain itself on this subject, and on the conduct adopted towards the republic, in a manner conformably to the desire, evinced by each party, to preserve a good understanding between the two courts, it being also understood, at the same time, that no hostile view is entertained, in any quarter, in consequence of the past; his Majesty, always eager to manifest his concurrence in the friendly sentiments of his Most Christian Majesty, agrees forthwith that the armaments, and, in general, all preparations for war, shall be mutually discontinued, and that the marines of the two nations shall be placed on the footing of a peace establishment, such as existed on the first of January of the present year.
Signed. Dorset Wm. Eden.
At Versailles, the 27th of October, 1787.
COUNTER-DECLARATION.
It neither being, nor ever having been, the intention of his Majesty to interpose by force in the affairs of the republic of the United Provinces, the communication made to the court of London by M. Barthelemy having had no other object than to announce to that court an intention, the motives of which no longer-exist, especially since the King of Prussia has made known his resolution, his Majesty makes no difficulty in declaring, that he has no wish to act in pursuance of the communication aforesaid, and that he entertains no hostile view in any quarter, relative to what has passed in Holland.
Consequently, his Majesty, desiring to concur in the sentiments of his Britannic Majesty, for the preservation of a good understanding between the two courts, consents with pleasure to the proposition of his Britannic Majesty, that the armaments, and, in general, all preparations for war, shall be mutually discontinued, and that the marines of the two nations shall be replaced upon the footing of the peace establishment, as it existed on the first day of January of the present year.