ARTICLE 5th 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 any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their Endeavours 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 Reconsideration 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 universaly prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States, that the Estates, Rights and Properties of such last mention'd Persons shall be restored to them; they refunding to any Persons who may be now in Possession the bonâ 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 6th 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 Prosecutions so commenced be discontinued. ARTICLE 7th 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, & his Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient speed, & 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 Harbour 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 & Persons to whom they belong. ARTICLE 8th 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 9th 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, the thirtieth day of November, in the year One thousand Seven hundred Eighty Two CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES Declarations signed at Versailles January 20, 1783 1 8 Stat. 58; Treaty Series 103 1 We the underwritten Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of North America, having received from Mr Fitz-Herbert, Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, a Declaration relative to a Suspension of Arms to be establish'd between his said Majesty and the said States, of which the following is a Copy. Viz: 3 "Whereas the Preliminary Articles agreed to and signed this Day between his Majesty the King of Great Britain, and his most Christian Majesty on the one Part, and also between his said Britannic Majesty and his Catholic Majesty on the other Part, stipulate a Cessation of Hostilities between those three Powers, which is to Commence upon the Exchange of the Ratifications of the said Preliminary Articles; And whereas by the Provisional Treaty signed the thirtieth of November last, between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of North America, it was stipulated that the said Treaty should have its Effect as soon as Peace between the said Crowns should be established; The underwritten Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty declares in the Name, and by the express Order of the King his Master, that the said United States of North America, their Subjects and their Possessions, shall be comprised in the suspension of Arms abovementioned, And that they shall consequently enjoy the Benifit of the Cessation of Hostilities, at the same Periods and in the same Manner as the three Crowns aforesaid and their Subjects and Possessions respectively: On Condition however, that on the Part and in the Name of the Said United States of North America, there shall be deliver'd a similar Declaration expressing the Assent to the present Suspension of Arms, and containing an Assurance of the most perfect Reciprocity on their Part. 1 For a detailed study of these declarations, see 2 Miller 108. 2 3 Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin, vol. I, p. 516 (New York, Derby and Jackson, 1859). "In faith whereof, we, the Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, have signed this present Declaration, and have thereto caused the Seal of our Arms to be affixed, at Versailles this twentieth Day of January One Thousand seven hundred & Eighty three." "ALLEYNE FITZ-HERBERT (LS.)" We have in the Name of the said United States of North America & in Virtue of the Powers we are vested with, received the above Declaration and do accept the same by these Presents, and we do reciprocally declare, that the said States shall cause to cease all Hostilities against his Britannic Majesty, his Subjects and Possessions at the Terms or Periods agreed to between his said Majesty the King of Great Britain, his Majesty the King of France, and his Majesty the King of Spain, in the same manner as is stipulated between these three Crowns, and to have the same Effect. In faith whereof, We Ministers Plenipotentiary from the United States of America, have signed the present Declaration and have hereunto affixed the Seals of our Arms. At Versailles the twentieth of January one thousand seven hundred and eighty three. TREATY OF PEACE Signed at Paris September 3, 1783 Ratified and proclaimed by the Congress of the United States (Con tinental Congress) January 14, 1784 Ratified by Great Britain April 9, 1784 Ratifications exchanged at Paris May 12, 1784 Entered into force May 12, 1784 1 Article 4 supplemented by convention of January 8, 1802 1 Articles 2 and 3 superseded by subsequent conventions regarding bound- Articles 4-7,9, and 10 terminated upon fulfillment of terms In the Name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity. It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the Hearts of the most Serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, Arch-Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire &ca. and of the United States of America, to forget all past Misunderstandings and Differences that have unhappily interrupted the good Correspondence and Friendship which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory Intercourse, between the two Countries upon the Ground of reciprocal Advantages and mutual Convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual Peace & Harmony, and · having for this desirable End already laid the Foundation of Peace and Reconciliation, by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th of November 1782,* by the Commissioners empowered on each Part, which Articles were agreed to be inserted in and to constitute the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and the said United States, but which Treaty was not to be concluded until Terms of Peace should be agreed upon between Great Britain and France and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such Treaty accordingly; and 2 See Moore, Digest of International Law, vol. V, pp. 381 and 382. |