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. (L. S.) (L. S.) (L. S.) (L. S.) (L. S.) HENRY LAURENS. Witness. CALEB WHITEFORD, Secretary to the British Commission. WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN, Secretary to the 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. No. III. Article proposed by the American Plenipotentiaries. It is agreed that his Britannic Majesty will earnestly recommend it to his Parliament to provide for, and make 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 or 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, negroes, &c. seized and carried off by his armies, under Generals Arnold, Cornwallis, and others, from the State 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 further agreed, that his Britannic Majesty will also earnestly recommend it to his Parliament to make compensation for all 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 VOL. II. S 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. SIR, TO THE HON. R. R. LIVINGSTON, ESQ. Passy, Dec. 14, 1782. We have the honor to congratulate congress on the signature of the preliminaries of a peace between the crown of Great Britain and the United States of America, to be inserted in a definitive treaty so soon as the terms between the crowns of France and Great Britain shall be agreed on. A copy of the articles is here enclosed,* and we cannot but flatter ourselves that they will appear to congress, as they do to all of us, to be consistent with the honor and interest of the United States; and we are persuaded congress would be more fully of that opinion if they were apprised of all the circumstances and reasons which have influenced the negotiation. Although it is impossible for us to go into that detail, we think it necessary nevertheless to make a few remarks on such of the articles as appear most to require elucidation. Remarks on Article 2, relative to the boundaries. The court of Great Britain insisted on retaining all the territories comprehended within the province of Quebec by the act of parliament respecting it. They contended that Nova Scotia should extend to the river Kennebeck; and they claimed not only all the lands in the western country, and on the Mississippi, which were not expressly included in our charters and governments, but also all such lands within them as remained ungranted by the King of Great Britain: it would be endless to enumerate all the discussions and arguments on the subject. We knew this court and Spain to be against our claims to the western country, and having no reason to think that lines more favorable could ever have been obtained, we finally agreed to those described in this article. Indeed they appear to leave us little to complain of, and not much to desire. Congress will observe, that although our northern line is in a certain part below * See page 268 of this vol. the latitude of forty-five, yet in others it extends above it, divides the Lake Superior, and gives us access to its western and southern waters, from which a line in that latitude would have excluded us. Remarks on Article 4, respecting creditors. We had been informed that some of the states had confiscated British debts; but although each state has a right to bind its own citizens, yet in our opinion it appertains solely to congress, in whom exclusively are vested the right of making war and peace, to pass acts against the subjects of a power with which the confederacy may be at war. It therefore only remained for us to consider, whether this article is founded in justice and good policy. In our opinion no acts of government could dissolve the obligations of good faith, resulting from lawful contracts between individuals of the two countries, prior to the war. We knew that some of the British creditors were making common cause with the refugees, and other adversaries of our independence; besides, sacrificing private justice to reasons of state and political convenience, is always an odious measure, and the purity of our reputation in this respect in all foreign commercial countries is of infinitely more importance to us, than all the sums in question. It may also be remarked, that American and British creditors are placed on an equal footing. Remarks on Articles 5 and 6, respecting refugees. These articles were among the first discussed, and the last agreed to; and had not the conclusion of their business, at the time of its date, been particularly important to the British administration, the |