"As by the war by sea, which has actually broken out between Great Britain, on one side, and France and Spain on the other, the commerce and the navigation of neutral powers suffer considerable damages, her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, and his Majesty, the King of Denmark and of Norway, in consequence of their assiduous attention to unite their proper dignities, and their cares for the safety and the well being of their subjects, from the regard which they have so often testified for the rights of nations in general, have found it necessary, in the present circumstances, to determine their conduct according to those sentiments. "Her Majesty, the Empress of Russia has, by her declaration, dated the 28th of February, 1780, to the belligerent powers, exposed to light, in the face of all Europe, the fundamental principles, which spring from the original law of nations, which she claims, and which she adopts as a rule of her conduct in the present war. As this attention of the Empress, to watch over the reciprocal rights of nations, has united the suffrages of all the neutral powers, so she has engaged herself in it, as an affair, which concerns the most essential of her interests, and she has carried it to that length, that we may seriously consider it as a subject worthy of the times present and to come, considering that it is to bring into one system, and establish permanently, the rights, prerogatives, and engagements of neutrality. "His Majesty, the King of Denmark and of Norway, convinced of these principles, has likewise established and demanded them in the declaration of the 8th of July, 1780, which he has caused to be presented, as well as that of Russia, to the belligerent powers; and to give them support, he has caused to be equipped a part of his fleet. From hence has arisen the harmony and unanimity, with which her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, and his Majesty, the King of Denmark and of Norway, have judged necessary, by a reciprocal friendship and confidence, and conformably to the interests of their subjects, to confirm these common engagements, to be concluded by a formal convention. In this view, their said Imperial and Royal Majesties have chosen and named for their Plenipotentiaries, viz. her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, M. Charles Van Osten, named Saken, present Counsellor of State, Knight of the Order of St Anne, Minister Plenipotentiary of her said Majesty to the Court of Denmark, &c. &c.; and his Majesty, the King of Denmark and of Norway, M. Otton, Count de Thott, Privy Counsellor, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, &c.; M. Joachim Otton de Schack-Reventlaw, Privy Counsellor, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, &c.; M. Jean Henri d'Eichstedt, Privy Counsellor, Governor of his Royal Highness, the Hereditary Prince, Knight of the Order of the Elephant, &c.; and M. André Pierre, Count de Bernstorff, Privy Counsellor, Secretary of State of the Department