Article 1. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be free, sovereign, and independent States; that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, proprietary, and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof; and that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared that the following are, and shall be their boundaries, viz.

Article 2. From the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, viz. That angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River, to the highlands, along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-westermost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraguy, thence along the middle of said river into lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake, until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and lake Erie, thence along the middle of said communication into lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and lake Huron, thence along the middle of said water communication into the lake Huron, thence through the middle of the water communication between that lake and lake Superior, thence through lake Superior, northward of the isles Royal and Phelipeaux, to the Long lake, thence through the middle of said Long lake, and the water communication between it and the lake of the Woods, to the said lake of the Woods, thence through the said lake to the most north-western point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude; south, by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the Equator to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche, thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint river, thence straight

to the head of St. Mary's river, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's river to the Atlantic Ocean; east by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its mouth to the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source, directly north to the aforesaid highlands, which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those that fall into the river St. Lawrence, comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.

Article 3. It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of any kind on the grand bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of any kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use (but not to dry or cure the same on that island) and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his Britannic majesty's dominions in America, and that the American fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground.

Article 4. It is agreed that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted.

Article 5. It is agreed that the congress shall earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the respective States, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession of his

majesty's arms, and who have not borne arms against the said United States: and that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties as may have been confiscated, and that congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States a re-consideration and revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation which on the return of the blessings of peace should universally prevail. And that congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States, that the estates, rights, and properties, of such last-mentioned persons, shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights or properties, since the confiscation.

And it is agreed that all persons who have any interest in confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights.

Article 6. That there shall be no future confiscations made nor any prosecutions commenced against any person or persons for, or by reason of the part which he or they may have taken in the present war, and that no person shall on that account suffer any future loss or damage either in his person, liberty, or property, and that those who may be in confinement on such charges at the time of the ratification of the treaty in America, shall be immediately set at liberty, and the prosecution so commenced be discontinued.

Article 7. There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Britannic majesty and the said States, and between the subjects of the one and the citizens of the other; wherefore all hostilities both by sea and land shall then immediately cease; all prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and his Britannic majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets, from the said United States, and from every port, place, and harbor within the same; leaving in all fortifications the American artillery that may be therein. And shall also

order and cause all archives, records, deeds, and papers, belonging to any of the said States, or their citizens, which in the course of the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper States and persons to whom they belong.

Article 8. The navigation of the river Mississippi from its source to the Ocean shall for ever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States.

Article 9. In case it should so happen that any place or territory belonging to Great Britain or to the United States should be conquered by the arms of either from the other, before the arrival of these articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be restored without difficulty and without requiring any compensation.

Done at Paris, November 30, 1782.

RICHARD OSWALD.

JOHN ADAMS.

B. FRANKLIN.

JOHN JAY.

HENRY LAURENS.

(L. S.)

(L. S.)

(L. S.)

(L. S.)>

(L. S.)

Witness.-CALEB WHITEFORD, Secretary to the British Commission.

WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN, Secretary to the American Commission.

SEPARATE ARTICLE.

It is hereby understood and agreed, that in case Great Britain at the conclusion of the present war shall recover or be put in possession of West Florida, the line of north boundary between the said province and the United States, shall be a line drawn from the mouth of the river Yassous, where it unites with the Mississippi, due east to the river Apalachicola.

Done at Paris, the thirtieth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two.

Attest.-CALEB WHITEFORD, Secretary to the British Commission. Attest.-WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN, Secretary to the American Commission.

To R. R. LIVINGSTON, ESQ.

[EXTRACT.]

Passy, Dec. 5, 1782.

"You desire to be very particularly acquainted with "every step which tends to a negociation." I am therefore encouraged to send you the first part of the journal,' which accidents and a long severe illness interrupted; but which, from notes I have by me, may be continued if thought proper. In its present state, it is hardly fit for the inspection of congress, certainly not for public view. I confide it therefore to your prudence.

The arrival of Mr. Jay, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Laurens, relieved me from much anxiety, which must have continued, if I had been left to finish the treaty alone; and it has given me the more satisfaction, as I am sure the business has profited by their assistance.

Much of the summer had been taken up in objecting against the powers given to Great Britain, and in removing those objections, in using any expressions that might imply an acknowledgment of our independence, seemed at first industriously to be avowed. But our refusing otherwise to treat, at length induced them to get over that difficulty, and then we came to the point of making propositions. Those made by Mr. Jay and me before the arrival of the other gentlemen, you will find in the enclosed paper, No. 1,2 which was sent by the British plenipotentiary to London for the king's consideration. After some weeks an under secretary, Mr. Strachey, arrived; with whom we had much contestation about the boundaries and other articles which he proposed; we settled some, which he carried to London, and

See page 125 of this vol.

2 See p. 287. ib.