middle of that river to the 45th degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataroquy; 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 Lake Huron; thence through the middle of the said Lake, to the water communication between that Lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior, northward of the Isles Royal and Philippeaux 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 northwestern point thereof; and from thence on a due western 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 31st 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 31 degrees north of the equator to the middle of the river Apalachicola, or Catahouchi; 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 point 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. The citizens of the said United States shall have the liberty of taking fish of every kind on all the banks of Newfoundland, and also in the Gulf of St Lawrence; and also to dry and cure their fish on the shores of the Isle of Sables and on the shores of any of the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks of the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, so long as such bays, harbors and creeks shall continue and remain unsettled; on condition that the citizens of the said United States do not exercise the fishery, but at the distance of three leagues from all the coast belonging to Great Britain, as well those of the continent as those of the islands situated in the Gulf of St Lawrence. And as to what relates to the fishery on the coast of the Island of Cape Breton out of the said gulf, the citizens of the said United States shall not be permitted to exercise the said fishery, but at the distance of fifteen leagues from the coasts of the Island of Cape Breton.

ARTICLE IV. It is agreed, that the British creditors shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of such bona fide

debts as were contracted by any persons who are citizens of the United States, before the year 1775.

ARTICLE V. It is agreed, that restitution shall be made of all estates, rights and properties in America, which have been confiscated during the war.

ARTICLE VI. There shall be a full and entire amnesty of all acts and offences, which have been or may be supposed to have been committed on either side, by reason of the war, and in the course thereof; and no one shall hereafter suffer in life or person, or be deprived of his property, for the part he may have taken therein. All persons in confinement on that account, shall immediately on the ratification of the treaty in America, be set at liberty; all prosecutions which may be depending in consequence of any of the said offences, shall cease, and no fresh prosecutions shall at any time hereafter be commenced thereupon.

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, 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 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 Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and citizens of the United States.

SEPARATE ARTICLE. It is hereby understood and agreed, that in case Great Britain, at the end of the present war, shall be, 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 Yazoo, where it unites with the river Mississippi, due cast to the river Apalachicola.

ARTICLE PROPOSED AND READ TO THE COMMISSIONERS, BEFORE SIGNING THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES.*

It is agreed, that his Britannic Majesty will earnestly recommend it to his Parliament to provide for and make a compensation to the merchants and shopkeepers of Boston, whose goods and merchandise were seized and taken out of their stores, warehouses and shops, by order of General Gage and others of his commanders and officers there; and also to the inhabitants of Philadelphia, for the goods taken away by his army there; and to make compensation, also, for the tobacco, rice, indigo, and negroes, &c. seized and car

*This Article, and the Farts which follow, were drawn up by Dr Franklin, aud intended to be insisted on, in case the British Commissioners persevered in their demands respecting the fisheries. See Franklin's Correspondence, Vol. IV. p. 50.

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ried off by his armies under Generals Arnold, Cornwallis, and others, from the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, and also for all vessels and cargoes, belonging to the inhabitants of the said United States, which were stopped, seized, or taken, either in the ports, or on the seas, by his Governors, or by his ships of war, before the declaration of war against the said States.

And it is farther agreed, that his Britannic Majesty will also earnestly recommend it to his Parliament to make compensation for all the towns, villages, and farms, burnt and destroyed by his troops, or adherents, in the said United States.

FACTS.

There existed a free commerce, upon mutual faith, between Great Britain and America. The merchants of the former credited the merchants and planters of the latter, with great quantities of goods, on the common expectation, that the merchants, having sold the goods, .would make the accustomed remittances; that the planters would do the same by the labor of their negroes, and the produce of that labor, tobacco, rice, indigo, &c.

England, before the goods were sold in America, sends an armed force, seizes those goods in the stores; some even in the ships that brought them, and carries them off; seizes, also, and carries off the tobacco, rice, and indigo, provided by the planters to make returns, and even the negroes, from whose labor they might hope to raise other produce for that purpose.