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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 every 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 IV.

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 V.

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 endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights and properties, as may have been confis cated; 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 universally prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the seve ral 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 VI.

That there shall be no future confiscations made, nor any prosecu tions 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 VII.

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 VIII.

The navigation of the river Missisippi, from its source to the Ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great-Britain, and the citizens of the United States.

ARTICLE IX.

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 and eighty-two.

Armistice

Declaring a cessation of Hostilities between the UNITED STATES and GREAT-BRITAIN.

WE, the undersigned Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of NorthAmerica, having received from Mr. Fitz Herbert, Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, a declaration, relative to a suspension of arms, to be established between his said Majesty and the said States, the tenor whereof is as follows:

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HEREAS the preliminary articles agreed upon and signed this day, between his Majesty the King of Great-Britain and his Majesty the most Christian King on the one part, and likewise tetween his said Britannic Majesty and his Catholic Majesty on the other part, contain the stipulation of a cessation of hostilities between those three powers, which is to take place after the exchange of the ratifications of the said preliminary articles: AND WHEREAS, by the provisi onal treaty signed on the thirtieth day of November last, between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of North-America, it hath been stipulated that, that treaty should take effect as soon as peace should be established between the said crowns: The undersigned Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, does declare, 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 comprehended in the abovementioned suspension of arms, and that, in consequence, they shall enjoy the benefit of the cessation of hostilities, at the same epochs, and in the same manner as the three crowns abovementioned, their subjects, and their respective possessions; the whole upon condition, that on the part and in the name of the said United States of North-America, a similar declaration shall be delivered expressly, declaring their assent to the present suspension of arms, and containing the assurance of the most perfect reciprocity on their part. IN FAITH WHEREOF, we, the Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, have signed the present declaration, and have caused the seal of our arms to be thereto affixed. Versailles, 20th January, 1783. (L. 5.)

(Signed)

ALLEYNE FITZ HERBERT."

HAVE, in the name of the said United States of North-America, and by virtue of the powers with which they have vested us, accepted the above declaration, do by these presents merely and simply accept it, and do reciprocally declare that the said States shall cause all hostilities to cease against his Britannic Majesty, his subjects and his possessions, at the terms and epochs agreed upon between his said Majesty the King of Great-Britain, his Majesty the King of France, and his Majesty the King of Spain, so, and in the same manner, as has been agreed between those three crowns, and to produce the same effects.

IN FAITH WHEREOF, we, the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of North-America, have signed the present declaration, and have affixed thereto the seal of our arms.

Versailles, the 20th of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.

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Definitive Treaty of Peace

Between the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, and His BRITANNIC MAJESTY.

In the Name of the Most HoLr and UNDIVIDED TRINITY.

T having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the

Grace of GoD King of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, Arch-Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, &c. 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 and harmony: And having for this desirable end, already laid the foundation of peace and reconci liation, by the provisional articles, signed at Paris, on the thirtieth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, 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 conclud ed 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 the treaty between Great-Britain and France, having since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect the provisional articles above mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say, His Britannic Majesty on his part, David Hartley, Esquire, Member of the Parliament of Great-Britain; and the said United States on their part, John Adams, Esquire, late a Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts, and Chief Justice of the said state, and MiLister Plenipotentiary of the said United States to their High Mighti nesses the States General of the United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, President of the Convention of the said State, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the Court of Versailles; John Jay, Esquire, late President of Congress, and Chief Justice of the State of New-York, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the said United States at the Court of Madrid, to be the Plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present definitive treaty; whe after having reciprocally communicated their respective full powers, have agreed upon and confirmed the following articles.

ARTICLE I.

Ilis 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, propriety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof.

ARTICLE II.

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. 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 ivers, that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north-westernmost 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 orCataraquy; 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 said Lake to the water-communication between that Lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the isles Royal and Philipeaux, 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 Missisippi ; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Missisippi, 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 in 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 which 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 III.

It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every 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 every 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 ofthe ground.

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