There existed a free Commerce upon mutual Faith between C. 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 made the accustomed Remittances; that the Planters would do the same by the labour of their Negroes, and the Produce of that Labour, Tobacco, Rice Indigo &c.

England before the Goods were sold in America, sends an armed force, seizes the 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 Labour 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 Linnen to a Neighbour on Credit, should follow him, take the Linnen 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 betray’d by the pretended Credit, and are now doubly ruined, first by the Enemy, and then by the Negociators 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 robb’d of? Article proposed.

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 Merchandize 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 and Nigroes &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 stopt 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 the Towns, Villages and Farmes burnt and destroyed by his Troops or Adherents in the said United States.

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 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 Rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Laurence, 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 or Cataraquy; 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 the lake Superior Northward of the Isles Royal and Phelipeaux 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 Mississippi, thence by a Line drawn along the middle of the said River Mississippi until it shall intersect the Northernmost part of 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 Cathouche, thence along the Middle thereof to its Junction with the flint River, thence strait 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 high Lands which divide the Rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the River St. Laurence; 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 Funcy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such Islands as now are or heretofore have been within the Limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia.

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 Banks of New-foundland, also in the Gulph of St. Laurence, and all other places in the Sea, where the Inhabitants of the United States shall have Liberty to take fish of every Kind on such Part of the Coast of New-foundland 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, Harbours 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.

It is agreed that the Creditors on either Sides shall meet with no lawful Impediment to the recovery of the full Value in sterling Money of all bonâ fide Debts heretofore contracted.

It is agreed that 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 born 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 Endeavours to obtain the Restitution 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 bonâ 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 now lawful impediment in the Prosecution of their just Rights.

That there shall be no future Confiscations made nor any Prosecutions commenced against any Person or Persons for or by Reason of the Past 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, 7.

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 from henceforth 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 post, Place and harbour within the same; leaving in all Fortifications, the American Artillery that may be therein; and shall also order and cause all archives, Record-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.

The Navigation of the River Mississippi, from its Source to the ocean, shall for ever remain [Rest of the document missing]