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 east 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 Facts which follow, were drawn up by Dr Franklin, and 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..

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.

Britain now demands that the debts shall, nevertheless, be paid.

Will she, can she, justly, refuse making compensation for such seizures?

If a draper, who had sold a piece of linen to a neighbor on credit, should follow him, take the linen from him by force, and then send a bailiff to arrest him for the debt, would any court of law or equity award the payment of the debt, without ordering a restitution of the cloth?

Will not the debtors in America cry out, that, if this compensation be not made, they were betrayed by the pretended credit, and are now doubly ruined; first, by the enemy, and then by the negotiators at Paris, the goods and negroes sold them being taken from them, with all they had besides, and they are now to be obliged to pay for what they have been robbed of?

TO M. DE LAFAYETTE.

Paris, November 28th, 1782.

Sir,

We have received the letter you did us the honor to write on the 25th instant.

Our country has had early and repeated proofs both of your readiness and abilities to do her service. The prospect of an inactive campaign in America induced us to adopt the opinion, that you might be more useful here than there; especially, in case the negotiation for peace, on the part of France in England, should be committed to your

management; for your knowledge of our affairs and attachment to our interest, might have been very advantageous to us on such an occasion. But as an opportunity now offers of your being instrumental in producing a cooperation, which would, probably, put a glorious and speedy termination to the war in America, we, for our part, perfectly approve of your going with Count d'Es taing, in the manner proposed.

We have the honor to be, &c. &c.

JOHN ADAMS,

B. FRANKLIN,
JOHN JAY.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLES OF PEACE.

Articles agreed upon by and between Richard Oswald, Esq. the Commissioner of his Britannic Majesty for treating of peace with the Commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said Majesty on the one part, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, four of the Commissioners of the said States for treating of peace with the Commissioner of his said Majesty, on their behalf, on the other part; 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 is not to be concluded, until terms of peace shall be agreed upon between Great Britain and France, and his Britannic Majesty shall be ready to conclude such treaty accordingly.

Whereas reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience are found by experience to form the only permanent foun

dation of peace and friendship between States, it is agreed to form the articles of the proposed treaty on such principles of liberal equity and reciprocity, as that partial advantages (those seeds of discord) being excluded, such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the two countries may be established, as to promise and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony.

ARTICLE I. 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, propriety, 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 II. From the northwest 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 highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the northwesterntnost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the 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,