The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution
Chapter 420 : ARTICLE VIII. The navigation of the Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall f

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.[13]

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 carried 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 quant.i.ties 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 rest.i.tution 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?

FOOTNOTE:

[13] 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.

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 co-operation, 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'Estaing, 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 const.i.tute 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 foundation of peace and friends.h.i.+p 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 Hamps.h.i.+re, Ma.s.sachusetts 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 northwesternmost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river to the 45th degree of north lat.i.tude; from thence by a line due west on said lat.i.tude, 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 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 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 west 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 lat.i.tude; south by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in the lat.i.tude of 31st degree 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, 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 sh.o.r.es 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 Gulf 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 dominion 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 rest.i.tution 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 rest.i.tution 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 universally prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several 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, and 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 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 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 Mississippi river, 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 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 eightytwo.

RICHARD OSWALD, JOHN ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, JOHN JAY, HENRY LAURENS.

Witness, CALEB WHITEFOORD, _Secretary to the British Commission_.

W. T. FRANKLIN, _Secretary to the American Commission_.

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 Yazoo, where it unites with the Mississippi, due east, to the river Apalachicola.

Done at Paris, the thirtieth day of November, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eightytwo.

RICHARD OSWALD, JOHN ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, JOHN JAY, HENRY LAURENS.

Attest, CALEB WHITEFOORD, _Secretary to the British Commission_.

W. T. FRANKLIN, _Secretary to the American Commission_.

TO FRANCIS DANA AT PETERSBURG.

Paris, December 12th, 1782.

Sir,