With all due deference to Dr Franklin, I cannot help declaring, that I am firmly persuaded that the Court of France would not have substituted the 5th article in the place of the above, if they had not had some designs contrary to the intentions of Congress, so clearly expressed in their 9th article. His Most Christian Majesty, in the 11th article of the Treaty of Alliance, does not guaranty _generally_ to the United States 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, but stipulates that the guaranty shall only be _conformable to the 5th and 6th articles_. The latter of these contains nothing but a renunciation on the part of France of the Islands of the Bermudas, and of the whole continent of North America. As France does not pretend to any claim upon the Floridas, this renunciation can in no respect affect those Provinces. Spain, who was at the peace in 1763 obliged to cede them to Great Britain, may be desirous of resuming them, and the 5th article in the Treaty of Alliance seems to lay the foundation of such a claim. Should that event ever take place, it would prove extremely prejudicial to the interests of the United States in general, but particularly to those of the South. Spain would by that means have a direct communication with the Indians on our frontiers, and have it in her power to disturb our settlements whenever she pleased.