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A COLLECTION OF PAPERS: CONTAINING

  • The DECLARATION of the INDEPENDENCE of the United States of America, dated July 4th, 1776.
  • The TREATIES of ALLIANCE and COMMERCE, between the United States of America and France, Feb. 6, 1778.
  • Transcript of the TREATY between France and the United States of America, July 16th, 1782; with the Ratification thereof by Congress.
  • The TREATY of AMITY and COMMERCE, between the States General of the United Netherlands and the United States of America, dated October 8th, 1782; with the Ratification thereof by Congress.
  • The DECREE of the Queen of Portugal for opening a Commercial Intercourse between her Subjects and those of the United States of America, dated Febr. 13, 1783.
  • TREATY of AMITY and COMMERCE between his Maje­sty the King of Sweden, and the United States of Ame­rica, dated April 3, 1783; with the Ratification there­of by Congress.
  • DEFINITIVE TREATY of PEACE between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty, dated September 3d, 1783; with the Ratification thereof by Congress.
  • TO WHICH IS ADDED His Excellency General WASHINGTON's Circular Letter to the different Governors of the respective States, dated June 11th, 1783.

NEW-YORK: PRINTED BY SAMUEL LOUDON.

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IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. A DECLARATION by the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, in General Congress Assembled.

WHEN in the course of human e­vents, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the politi­cal bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the o­pinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien­able rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.—That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the [Page 4] consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence indeed will dictate, that governments long establish­ed should not be changed for light and tran­sient causes, and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing in­variably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the pati­ent sufferance of the colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former system of government. The history of the present King of Great-Britain, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpati­ons, all having in direct object, the establish­ment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this let facts be submitted to a can­did world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most [Page 5] wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his as­sent should be obtained; and when so sus­pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to ty­rants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them in­to compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses re­peatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large, for their exercise; the state remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the popu­lation of these States; for that purpose ob­structing [Page 6] the laws for naturalization of fo­reigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the con­ditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for e­stablishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military in­dependent of, and superior to, the civil pow­er.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constituti­on, and unacknowledged by our laws; giv­ing his assent to their acts of pretended legis­lation,

For quartering large bodies of troops a­mong us:

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

[Page 7]For imposing taxes on us without our con­sent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the be­nefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tries for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and en­larging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for intro­ducing the same absolute rule into these Co­lonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolish­ing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our govern­ments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and wa­ging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is, at this time, transporting large ar­mies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, al­ready begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most [Page 8] barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections a­mong us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of war­fare is an undistinguished destruction, of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress, in the most hum­ble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their le­gislature to extend an unwarrantable juris­diction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settle­ment here. We have appealed to their na­tive justice and magnanimity and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connection [Page 9] and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consangui­nity. We must, therefore, aquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of man­kind, enemies in war; in peace, friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World, for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly pub­lish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absol­ved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and Independent States, they have full pow­er to levy war, conclude peace, contract alli­ances, establish commerce, and to do all o­ther acts and things which Independent States may of right do. And for the sup­port of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT. Attest. CHARLES THOMSON, Sec'ry.
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TREATIES between the THIRTEEN UNITED STATES of AMERICA and HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY.

TREATY of AMITY and COMMERCE. LOUIS by the Grace of GOD King of France and Navarre,

To all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

THE Congress of the Thirteen United States of North-America, having by their Plenipotentiaries residing at Paris, notified their desire to establish with us and our states, a good understanding and perfect correspondence, and having for that purpose proposed to conclude with us a Treaty of Amity and Commerce: We having thought it our duty to give to the said States a sensible proof of our affection, deter­mining us to accept of their proposals: For these causes, and other good considerations us thereunto moving, we, reposing entire confidence in the abilities and experience, zeal and fide­lity for our service, of our dear and beloved Conrad Alexan­der Gerard, Royal Syndic of the city of Strasbourg, and Se­cretary of our Council of State, have nominated, appointed and commissioned, and by these presents signed with our hand, do nominate, appoint and commission him our Plenipotentiary, giving him power and special command for us and in our name to agree upon, conclude and sign with the Plenipotentiaries of the United States, equally furnished in due form with full powers, such treaty, convention, and articles of commerce and navigation as he shall think proper, willing that he act with the same authority, as we might or could act, if we were [Page 11] personally present, and even as though he had more special command, than what is herein contained; promising in good faith and on the word of a king, to agree to, confirm, and establish for ever, and to accomplish and execute punctually, all that our said dear and beloved Conrad Alexander Ge­rard shall stipulate and sign, by virtue of the present power, without contravening it in any manner, or suffering it to be contravened for any cause, or under any pretext whatsoever; and also to ratify the same in due form, and cause our ratifi­cation to be delivered and exchanged in the time that shall be agreed on. For such is our pleasure. In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our seal. Done at Versailles, this thir­tieth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and the fourth year of our reign.

(Signed)
  • (L. S.) LOUIS. (Underneath) By the King.
  • GRAVIER de VERGENNES.

THE TREATY.

THE Most Christian King, and the Thirteen United States of North-America, to wit, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New York, New-Jer­sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, willing to fix in an equitable and permanent manner, the rules which ought to be followed relative to the correspond­ence and commerce which the two parties desire to esta­blish between their respective countries, states and sub­jects; his most christian majesty and the said united states have judged that the said end could not be better obtained, than by taking for the basis of their agreement, the most perfect equality and reciprocity, and by care­fully avoiding all those burthensome preferences which are usually sources of debate, embarrassment and discon­tent; by leaving also such party at liberty to make re­specting navigation and commerce, those interior regula­tions [Page 12] which it shall find most convenient to itself, and by founding the advantage of commerce solely upon re­ciprocal utility, and the just rules of free intercourse; reserving withal to each party the liberty of admitting, at its pleasure, other nations to a participation of the same advantages. It is in the spirit of this intention, and to fulfil these views, that his said majesty having named and appointed for his plenipotentiary, Conrad Alexander Gerard, royal syndic of the city of Strasbourg, secretary of his majesty's council of state; and the united states on their part, having fully empowered Benjamin Franklin, deputy from the state of Pennsylvania to the general congress, and president to the convention of the said state; Silas Deane, late deputy from the state of Connecticut to the said congress, and Arthur Lee, coun­sellor at law: The said respective plenipotentiaries, af­ter exchanging their powers, and after mature deli­beration, have concluded and agreed upon the following articles.

Article 1. THERE shall be a firm, inviolable and universal peace, and a true and sincere friendship be­tween the most christian king, his heirs and successors, and the united states of America, and the subjects of the most christian king and of the said states, and between the countries, islands, cities and towns situate under the jurisdiction of the most christian king, and of the said united states, and the people and inhabitants of every degree, without exception of persons or places, and the terms herein aftermentioned, shall be perpetual between the most christian king, his heirs and successors, and the said united states.

Art. 2. The most christian king and the united states engage mutually not to grant any particular favour to other nations, in respect of commerce and navigation, which shall not immediately become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same favour freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation, if the concession was conditional.

Art. 3. The subjects of the most christian king shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, ci­ties [Page 13] or towns of the united states, or any of them, no other or greater duties or imposts, of what nature soever they may be, or by what name soever called, than tho [...] which the nations most favoured are or shall be oblig [...] to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberti [...] privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, na [...] gation and commerce, whether in passing from one po [...] in the said states to another, or in going to and from th [...] same, from and to any part of the world, which the sai [...] nations do or shall enjoy.

Art. 4. The subjects, people and inhabitants of the said united states, and each of them, shall not pay in the ports, havens, roads, islands, cities and places under the denomination of his most christian majesty, in Europe, any other or greater duties or imposts, of what nature soever they may be, or by what name soever called, than those which the most favoured nations are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and exemptions in trade, navigation and commerce, whether in passing from one port in the said dominions in Europe, to ano­ther, or in going to and from the same, from and to any part of the world, which the said nations do or shall enjoy.

Art. 5. In the above exemption is particularly com­prised, the imposition of one hundred sous per ton, esta­blished in France on foreign ships, unless when the ships of the united states shall load with the merchandize of France, for another port of the same dominion; in in which case the said ships shall pay the duty above-mentioned, so long as other nations the most favoured shall be obliged to pay it; but it is understood, that the said united states, or any of them, are at liberty, when they shall judge it proper, to establish a duty equivalent in the same case.

Art. 6. The most christian king shall endeavour, by all means in his power, to protect and defend all vessels and the effects belonging to the subjects, people or in­habitants of the said united states, or any of them, be­ing in his ports, havens, or roads, or on the seas is near [Page 14] his countries, islands, cities or towns; and to recover and restore to the right owners, their agents or attornies, all such vessels and effects which shall be taken within his jurisdiction; and the ships of war of his most, christian majesty, or any convoy sailing under his authority, shall upon all occasions, take under their protection all vessels belonging to the subjects, people, or inhabitants of the said united states, or any of them, and holding the same course, or going the same way, and shall defend such vessels, as long as they hold the same course, or go the same way, against all attacks, force or violence, in the same manner as they ought to protect and defend the vessels belonging to the subjects of the most christian king.

Art. 7. In like manner the said united states, and their ships of war sailing under their authority, shall protect and defend, conformably to the preceding arti­cle, all the vessels and effects belonging to the subjects of the most christian king, and use all their endeavours to recover, and caused to be restored, the said vessels and effects that shall have been taken within the juris­diction of the said united states, or any of them.

Art. 8. The most christian king will employ his good offices and interposition with the king or emperor of Morocco or Fez; and the regencies of Algiers, Tu­nis, and Tripoly, or with any of them; and also with every other prince, state or power, of the coast of Bar­bary in Africa; and the subjects of the said king, em­peror, states and powers, and each of them, in order to provide as fully and efficaciously as possible for the be­nefit, conveniency and safety of the said united states, and each of them, their subjects, people and inhabi­tants, and their vessels and effects, against all violence, insults, attacks or depredations, on the part of the said princes, and states of Barbary, or their subjects.

Art. 9. The subjects inhabitants, merchants, com­manders of ships, masters and mariners of the states, provinces and dominions of each party respectively, shall abstain and forbear to fish in all places possessed, or which shall be possessed by the other party, the most [Page 15] christian king's subjects shall not fish in the havens, bays, creeks, roads, coasts or places, which the said united states hold, or shall hereafter hold; and in like manner the subjects, people and inhabitants of the united states, shall not fish in the havens, bays, creeks, roads, coasts or pieces, which the most christian king possesses, or shall hereafter possess; and if any ship or vessel shall be found fishing, contrary to the tenor of this treaty, the said ship or vessel with its lading, (proof being made thereof) shall be confiscated; it is however understood that the exclusion stipulated in the present article, shall take place only so long and so far, as the most christian king or the united states shall not in this respect have granted an exemption to some other nation.

Art. 10. The united states, their citizens and inha­bitants, shall never disturb the subjects of the most christian king in the enjoyment and exercise of the right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, nor in the in­definite and exclusive right which belongs to them on that part of the coast of that island which is designed by the treaty of Utrecht, nor in the right relative to all and each of the isles which belong to his most christian majesty, the whole conformable to the true sense of the treaties of Utrecht and Paris.

Art. 11. The subjects and inhabitants of the said united states, or any one of them, shall not be reputed Aubains in France, and consequently shall be exempted from the Droit d' Aubaine, or other similar duty, under what name soever; they may by testament, donation, or otherwise, dispose of their goods, moveable and im­moveable, in favour of such persons as to them shall seem good, and their heirs, subjects of the united states, residing whether in France or elsewhere, may succeed them, ab intestat, without being obliged to obtain let­ters of naturalization, and without having the effect of this concession contested or impeded, under pretext of any rights or prerogatives of provinces, cities, or private persons; and the said heirs, whether by such particular title, or ab intestat, shall be exempt from all duty called Droit de detraction, or other duty or the same kind; sa­ving [Page 16] nevertheless the local rights or duties, as much and as long as similar ones are not established by the united states, or any of them. The subjects of the most chri­stian king shall enjoy on their part, in all the dominions of the said states, an entire and perfect reciprocity, re­lative to the stipulations contained in the present arti­cle: But it is at the same time agreed, that its contents shall not affect the laws made, or that may be made hereafter in France, against emigrations, which shall remain in all their force and vigour; and the united states, on their part, or any of them, shall be at liberty to erect such laws, relative to that matter, as to them shall seem proper.

Art. 12. The merchant ships of either of the parties, which shall be making into a port belonging to the ene­my of the other ally, and concerning whose voyage and the species of goods on board her, there shall be just grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit, as well upon the high seas, as in the ports and havens, not only her passports, but likewise certificates, expressly shewing that her goods are not of the number of those which have been prohibited as contraband.

Art. 13. If by exhibiting of the above-said certifi­cates, the other party discover there are any of those sorts of goods which are prohibited and declared contra­band, and consigned for a port under the obedience of his enemy, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, or to open any chest, coffers, packs, casks, or any other vessels found therein, or to remove the smallest parcels of her goods, whether such ship belong to the subjects of France, or the inhabitants of the said united states, unless the lading be brought on shore, in the presence of the officers of the court of admiralty, and an inventory thereof made; but there shall be no allowance to sell, exchange, or alienate the same in any manner, until that after due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods, and the court of admiralty shall, by a sentence pronounced, ha­ving confiscated the same, saving always as well the ship itself, as any other goods found therein, which by this [Page 17] treaty are to be esteemed free; neither may they be de­tained on pretence of their being as it were infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated as lawful prize; but if not the whole cargo, but only part thereof shall consist of prohibited or contraband goods, and the commander of the ship shall be ready and willing to deliver them to the captor who has discovered them, in such case the captor having received those goods, shall forthwith discharge the ship; and not hinder her by any means freely to prosecute the voyage on which she was bound. But in case the contraband merchandizes cannot be all received on board the vessel of the captor, then the captor may, notwithstanding the offer of deli­vering him the contraband goods, carry the vessel into the nearest port, agreeable to what is above directed.

Art. 14. On the contrary it is agreed, that what­ever shall be found to be laden by the subjects and inha­bitants of either party on any ship belonging to the ene­mies of the other, or to their subjects, the whole, al­though it be not of the sort of prohibited goods, may be confiscated in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy, except such goods and merchandize as were put on board such ship before the declaration of war, or even after such declaration, if so be it were done without knowledge of such declaration; so that the goods of the subjects and people of either party, whether they be of the nature of such as are prohibited or otherwise, which, as is aforesaid, were put on board any ship belonging to an enemy before the war, or after the declaration of the same, without the knowledge of it, shall no ways be liable to confiscation, but shall well and truly be restored without delay to the proprietors demanding the same; but so as that if the said merchandizes be contraband, it shall not be any ways lawful to carry them afterwards to any port belonging to the enemy. The two contracting parties agree, that the terms of two months being passed after the declaration of war, their respective subjects, from whatever part of the world they come, shall not plead the ignorance mentioned in this article.

[Page 18]Art. 15. And that more effectual care may be taken for the security of the subjects and inhabitants of both parties, that they suffer no injury by the men of war or privateers of the other party, all the commanders of the ships of his most christian majesty and of the said united states, and all their subjects and inhabitants, shall be for­bid doing any injury or damage to the other side; and if they act to the contrary they shall be punished, and shall moreover be bound to make satisfaction for all matter of damage, and the interest therof, by reparation, under the pain and obligation of their persons and goods.

Art. 16. All ships and merchandize of what nature soever, which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates or robbers on the high seas, shall be brought in­to some port of either state, and shall be delivered to the custody of the officers of that port, in order to be resto­red intire to the true proprietor, as soon as due and suffi­cient proof shall be made concerning the property there­of.

Art. 17. It shall be lawful for the ships of war of ei­ther party, and privateers, freely to carry whithersoever they please, the ships and goods taken from their enemies, without being obliged to pay any duty to the officers of the admiralty, or any other judges; nor shall such prizes be arrested or seized when they come to and enter the port of either party; nor shall the searchers or other of­ficer of those places search the same, or make examina­tion concerning the lawfulness of such prizes; but they may hoist sail at any time, and depart and carry their prizes to the places expressed in their commissions, which the commanders of such ships of war shall be obliged to shew: On the contrary, no shelter or refuge shall be given in their ports to such as shall have made prize of the subjects, people, or property of either of the par­ties, but if such shall come in, being forced by stress of weather, or the danger of the sea, all proper means shall be vigorously used, that they go out and retire from thence as soon as possible.

Art. 18. If any ship belonging to either of the par­ties, their people, or subjects, shall, within the coasts or [Page 19] dominions of the other, stick upon the sands, or be wrecked or suffer any other damage, all friendly assistance and relief shall be given to the persons shipwrecked, or such as shall be in danger thereof. And letters of safe conduct shall likewise be given to them for their free and quiet passage from thence, and the return of every one to his own country.

Art. 19. In case the subjects and inhabitants of either party, with their shipping, whether public and of war, or private and of merchants, be forced through stress of wea­ther, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other urgent ne­cessity, for seeking of shelter and harbour, to retreat and enter into any of the rivers, bays, roads, or ports belong­ing to the other party, they shall be received and treated with all humanity and kindness, and enjoy all friendly protection and help; and they shall be permitted to refresh and provide themselves at reasonable rates with victuals, and all things needful for the sustenance of their persons, or reparation of their ships, and conveniency of their voyage, and they shall no ways be detained or hindered from returning out of the said ports or roads, but may re­move and depart when and whither they please, without any let or hindrance.

Art. 20. For the better promoting of commerce on both sides, it is agreed, that if a war should break out be­tween the said two nations, six months, after the procla­mation of war, shall be allowed to the merchants in the cities and towns where they live, for selling and transport­ing their goods and merchandizes; and if any thing be ta­ken from them, or any injury be done them within that term, by either party, or the people or subjects of either, full satisfaction shall be made for the same.

Art. 21. No subject of the most Christian King shall apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the said united states or any of them, or against the subjects, peo­ple, or inhabitants of the said united states, or any of them, or against the property of any of the inhabitants of any of them from any prince or state with which the united states shall be at war; nor shall any citizen, subject, or [Page 20] inhabitant of the said united states or any of them, apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arm­ing any ship or ships to act as privateers against the sub­jects of the most christian king, or any of them, or the property of any of them, from any prince or state with which the said king shall be at war; and if any person of either nation shall take such commission or letters of marque, he shall be punished as a pirate.

Art. 22. It shall not be lawful for any foreign priva­teers, not belonging to the subjects of the most christian king, nor citizens of the said united states, who have commissions from any other prince or state, at enmity with either nation, to fit their ships in the ports of either the one or the other of the aforesaid parties, to sell what they have taken, or in any other manner whatsoever to exchange their ships, merchandises or any other lading; neither shall they be allowed even to purchase victuals, except such as shall be necessary for their going to the next port of that prince or state from which they have commissions.

Art. 23. It shall be lawful for all and singular the subjects of the most christan king, and the citizens, peo­ple and inhabitants of the said united states, to sail with their ships with all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made who are the proprietors of the merchandize laden thereon, from any port to the places of those who now are or hereafter shall be at enmity with the most christian king or the united states. It shall like­wise be lawful for the subjects and inhabitants aforesaid, to sail with the ships and merchandizes aforementioned, and to trade with the same liberty and security from the places, ports and havens of those who are enemies of both or either party, without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, not only directly from the places of the ene­my aforementioned to neutral places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy, to another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of the same prince, or under several. And it is hereby sti­pulated, that free ships shall also give a freedom to goods, and that every thing shall be deemed free and exempt, [Page 21] which shall be found on board the ships belonging to the subjects of either of the confederates, although the whole lading or any part thereof should appertain to the enemies of either, contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed in like manner, that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board a free ship, with this effect, that although they be enemies to both or ei­ther party, they are not to be taken out of that free ship, unless they are soldiers and in actual service of the ene­mies.

Art. 24. This liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all kinds of merchandizes, except those only which are distinguished by the name of contraband, the under this name of contraband or prohibited goods shall be comprehended arms, great guns, bombs with their fuses and other things belonging to them, cannon ball, gun-powder, match, pikes, swords, lances, spears, halberts, mortars, pedarts, grenadoes, salt-petre, mus­kets, musket-ball, bucklers, helmets, brest-plates, coats of mail, and the like kinds of arms, proper for arming soldiers, musket-rests, belts, horses with their furniture, and all other warlike instruments whatever. These merchandizes which follow shall not be reckoned among contraband or prohibited goods; that is to say, all sorts of clothes, and all other manufactures woven of any wool flax, silk, cotton, or any other materials whatever, all kinds of wearing apparel, together with the species where­of they are used to be made, gold and silver, as well coined as uncoined, tin, iron, latten, copper, brass, coals; as also wheat and barley, and any other kind of corn or pulse, tobacco, and likewise all manner of spices, salted and smoaked flesh, salted fish, cheese and butter, beer, oils, wines,, sugars, and all sorts of salts, and in general all provisions which serve for the nourishment of mankind and the sustenance of life; furthermore, all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, cables, sails, sail-cloth, anchors and any parts of anchors, also ships-masts, planks, boards and beams of what trees soe­ver, and all other things proper either for building or re­pairing ships, and all other goods whatever, which have [Page 22] not been worked into the form of any instrument or thing prepared for war by land or sea, shall not be re­puted contraband, much less such as have been already wrought up for any other use; all which shall be wholly reckoned among free goods; as likewise all other mer­chandizes and things, which are not comprehended and particularly mentioned in the foregoing enumeration of contraband goods, so that they may be transported and carried in the freest manner by the subjects of both con­federates, even to places belonging to an enemy, such towns or places being only excepted, as are at that time besieged, blocked up or invested.

Art. 25. To the end that all manner of dissentions and quarrels may be avoided and prevented, on one side and the other, it is agreed, that in case either of the par­ties hereto, should be engaged in war, the ships and vessels belonging to the subjects or people of the other ally must be furnished with sea-letters or passports, ex­pressing the name, property and bulk of the ship, as al­so the name and place of habitation of the master or com­mander of the said ship, that it may appear thereby that the ship really and truly belongs to the subjects of one of the parties, which passport shall be made out and granted according to the form annexed to this treaty; they shall likewise be recalled every year, that is, if the ship happens to return home in the space of a year; it is likewise agreed, that such ships being laden are to be provided not only with passports as above mentioned, but also with certificates, containing the several parti­culars of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed, and whither she is bound, that so it may be known whether any forbidden or contraband goods be on board of the same, which certificates shall be made out by the officers of the place whence the ship set sail, in the ac­customed form; and if any one shall think it fit or ad­viseable to express in the said certificates, the person to whom the goods on board belong, he may freely do so.

Art. 26. The ships of the subjects and inhabitants of either of the parties coming upon any coast belonging to either of the said allies; but not willing to en­ter [Page 23] into port, or being entered into port and not willing to unload their cargoes or break bulk, they shall be treated according to the general rules prescribed or to be prescribed relative to the object in question.

Art. 27. If the ships of the said subjects, people or inhabitants of either of the parties shall be met with, either sailing along the coasts or on the high seas, by any ship of war of the other, or by any privateers, the said ships of war or privateers, for the avoiding of any disor­der, shall remain out of cannon shot, and may send their boats on board the merchant ship which they shall so meet with, and may enter her to the number of two or three men only, to whom the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall exhibit his passport concerning the property of the ship, made out according to the form inserted in this present treaty, and the ship, when she shall have shewed such passport, shall be free and at li­berty to pursue her voyage, so as it shall not be lawful to molest or search in any manner, or to give her chase or to force her to quit her intended course.

Art. 28. It is also agreed, that all goods, when once put on board the ships or vessels of either of the two contracting parties, shall be subject to no further visitation, but all visitation or search shall be made be­fore hand, and all prohibited goods shall be stopped on the spot before the same be put on board, unless there are manifest tokens or proofs of fraudulent practice; nor shall either the persons or goods of the subjects of his most christian majesty or the united states, be put under any arrest or molested by any other kind of embargo for that cause, and only the subject of that state to whom the said goods have been or shall be prohibited, and who shall presume to sell or alienate such sort of goods, shall be duly punished for the offence.

Art. 29. The two contracting parties grant mutu­ally the liberty of having each in the ports of the other, consuls, vice-consuls, agents and commissaries, whose functions shall be regulated by a particular agreement.

Art. 30. And the more to favour and facilitate the commerce which the subjects of the united states may have with France, the most christian king will grant [Page 24] them in Europe one or more free ports, where they may bring and dispose of all the produce and merchandize of the thirteen united states; and his majesty will also continue to the subjects of the said states, the free ports which have been and are open in the French islands of America, of all which free ports the said subjects of the united states shall enjoy the use, agreeable to the regu­lations which relate to them.

Art. 31. The present treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of six months, or sooner if possible.

IN FAITH WHEREOF the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles both in the French and English languages; declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally proposed and concluded in the French lan­guage, and they have thereto affixed their seals.

DONE at Paris, this sixth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight.
  • (L. S.) C. A. GERARD.
  • (L. S.) B. FRANKLIN.
  • (L. S.) SILAS DEANE.
  • (L. S.) ARTHUR LEE.

Form of the Passports and Letters which are to be given to the ships and barques according to the twenty-fifth article of this Treaty.

To all who shall see these presents, Greeting.

IT is hereby made known, that leave and permission has been given to [...] master and commander of the ship called [...] of the town of [...] burthen [...] tons or thereabouts, lying at present in the port and haven of [...] and bound for [...] and laden with [...] After that this ship has been visited, and before sailing, he shall make an oath before the officers who have the jurisdiction of maritime affairs, that the said ship belongs to one or more of the subjects of [...] the act whereof shall be put at the end of these presents; as [Page 25] likewise that he will keep and cause to be kept by his crew on board, the marine ordinances and regulations, and enter in the proper office a lift, signed and witnessed, containing the names and sirnames, the places of birth and abode of the crew of his ship, and of all who shall embark on board her, whom he shall not take on board without the knowledge and permission of the officers of the marine, and in every port or haven where he shall enter with his ship, he shall shew his present leave to the officers and judges of the marine, and shall give a faith­ful account to them of what passed and was done during his voyage, and he shall carry the colours, arms and ensign of the king or united states during his voyage. In witness where­of we have signed these presents, and put the seal of our arms thereunto, and caused the same to be countersigned by [...] at [...] day of [...] anno Domini

TREATY OF ALLIANCE. EVENTUAL and DEFENSIVE. LOUIS by the Grace of GOD, King of France and Navarre:

To all who shall see these Presents, Greeting,

THE Congress of the United States of North America, having by their Plenipotentiaries residing in France, proposed to form with us a defensive and eventual Alliance: willing to give the said States an efficacious proof of the in­terest we take in their prosperity, we have determined to con­clude the said alliance. For these causes and other good con­siderations thereto moving, we, reposing entire confidence in the capacity and experience, zeal and fidelity for our service, of our dear and beloved Conrad Alexander Gerard, Royal Syndic of the city of Strasbourg, Secretary of our Council of state, have nominated, commissioned and deputed, and by those presents, signed with our hand, do nominate, commission and depute him our Plenipotentiary, giving him power and special [Page 26] command to act in this quality, and confer, negotiate, treat and agree conjointly with the above mentioned Plenipotentia­ries of the United States, invested in the like manner with powers in due form to determine, conclude and sign such arti­cles, conditions, conventions, declarations, definitive treaty, and any other acts whatever, as he shall judge proper to an­swer the end which we propose; promising on the faith and word of a king, to agree to, confirm and establish for ever, to accomplish and execute punctually whatever our said dear and beloved Conrad Alexander Gerard shall have stipulated and signed in virtue of the present power, without ever con­travening it, or suffering it to be contravened for any cause and under any pretext whatever; as likewise to cause our let­ters of ratification to be made in due form, and to have them delivered in order to be exchanged at the time that shall be agreed upon. For such is our pleasure. In testimony whereof we have set our seal to these presents. Given at Versailles, the thirtieth day of the month of January, in the year of grace one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and the fourth of our reign.

(Signed) (L. S.) LOUIS. By the King. GRAVIER de VERGENNES.

THE TREATY.

THE Most Christian King, and the Thirteen United States of North-America, to wit▪ New-Hamp­shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Ma­ryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, having this day concluded a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, for the reciprocal advantage of their subjects and citizens, have thought it necessary to take into consideration the means of strengthening those en­gagements, and of rendering them useful to the safety and tranquility of the two parties; particularly in case Great-Britain, in resentment of that connection, and of the good correspondence which is the object of [Page 27] the said treaty, should break the peace with France, ei­ther by direct hostilities, or by hindering her commerce and navigation in a manner contrary to the rights of na­tions, and the peace subsisting between the two crowns. And his Majesty and the said United States having re­solved in that case, to join their councils and efforts against the enterprizes of their common enemy.

The respective plenipotentiaries empowered to concert the clauses and conditions proper to fulfil the said inten­tions, have, after the most mature deliberation, conclud­ed and determined on the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

IF war should break out between France and Great-Britain, during the continuance of the present war between the United States and England, his Majesty and the said United States shall make it a com­mon cause, and aid each other mutually with their good offices, their counsels and their forces, according to the exigence of conjunctures, as becomes good and faith­ful allies.

Art. 2. The essential and direct end of the present de­fensive alliance is, to maintain effectually the liberty, sovereignty and independence absolute and unlimited, of the said United States, as well in matters of government as of commerce.

Art. 3. The two contracting parties shall, each on his own part, and in the manner it may judge most pro­per, make all the efforts in its power against their com­mon enemy, in order to attain the end proposed.

Art. 4. The contracting parties agree, that in case either of them should form any particular enterprize in which the concurrence of the other may be desired, the party whose concurrence is desired, shall readily and with good faith join to act in concert for that purpose, as far as circumstances and its own particular situation will per­mit, and in that case, they shall regulate by a particular convention, the quantity and kind of succour to be fur­nished, and the time and manner of its being brought [Page 28] into action, as well as the advantages which are to be in compensation.

Art. 5. If the United States should think fit to at­tempt the reduction of the British power, remaining in the northern parts of America, or the islands of Ber­mudas, those countries or islands, in case of success, shall be confederated with, or dependent upon said Uni­ted States.

Art. 6. The Most Christian King renounces forever the possession of the islands of Bermudas, as well as of any part of the continent of North-America, which be­fore the treaty of Paris, in 1763, or in virtue of that treaty, were acknowledged to belong to the crown of Great-Britain, or to the United States, heretofore cal­led British colonies, or which are at this time, or have lately been under the power of the King and Crown of Great Britain.

Art. 7. If his Most Christian Majesty shall think pro­per to attack any of the islands situated in the Gulph of Mexico, or near that Gulph, which are at present under the power of Great-Britain, all the said isles, in case of success, shall appertain to the crown of France.

Art. 8. Neither of the two parties shall conclude ei­ther truce or peace with Great Britain, without the for­mal consent of the other first obtained; and they mutu­ally engage not to lay down their arms, until the indpen­dence of the United States shall have been formally or tacitly assured, by the treaty or treaties that shall termi­nate the war.

Art. 9. The contracting parties declare, that being resolved to fulfil each on its own part, the clauses and conditions of the present treaty of alliance, according to its own power and circumstances, there shall be no after claim of compensation, on one side or the other, what­ever may be the event of the war.

Art. 10. The Most Christian King and the United States agree, to invite or admit other powers, who may have received injuries from England to make common cause with them, and to accede to the present alliance, [Page 29] under such conditions as shall be freely agreed to, and [...] tled between all the parties.

Art. 11. The two parties guarantee mutually from the present time and for ever, against all other powers, to wit, The United States to his Most Christian Majes­ty, the present possessions of the crown of France in America, as well as those which it may acquire by the future treaty of peace; and his Most Christian Majesty guarantees on his part to the United States, their liber­ty, sovereignty and independence, absolute and unlimit­ted, as well in matters of government as commerce, and also their possessions, and the additions or conquests, that their confederation may obtain during the war, from any of the dominions now or heretofore possessed by Great-Britain in North-America; conformable to the fifth and sixth articles above written, the whole as their possession shall be fixed and assured to the said states, at the moment of the cessation of their present war with England.

Art. 12. In order to fix more precisely the sense and application of the preceding article, the contracting par­ties declare, that in case of a rupture between France and England, the reciprocal guarantee declared in the said article, shall have its full force and effect, the mo­ment such war shall break out; and if such rupture shall not take place, the mutual obligations of the said gua­rantee, shall not commence until the moment of the ces­sation of the present war, between the United States and England, shall have ascertained their possessions.

Art. 13. The present treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of six months, or sooner, if possible.

IN FAITH WHEREOF the respective Plenipotentiaries, to wit, on the part of the Most Christian King, Conrad Alexander Gerard, Royal Syndie of the City of Stras­bourg, and Secretary of his Majesty's Council of State, and on the part of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, Deputy to the General Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, and President to the Convention of said States; Si­las [Page 30] Deane, heretofore Deputy from the State of Connecti­cut; and Arthur Lee, Counsellor at Law, have signed the above articles both in the French and English lan­guages; declaring nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally composed and concluded in the French language, and they have hereunto affixed their seals.

DONE at PARIS, this sixth day of February, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight.
  • (L. S.) C. A. GERARD.
  • (L. S.) B. FRANKLIN.
  • (L. S.) SILAS DEANE.
  • (L. S.) ARTHUR LEE
[Page]

The following is a correct Transcript of the TREATY between FRANCE and the UNITED STATES of AME­RICA, together with the RATIFICA­TION of the same by CONGRESS.

THE United States, assembled in Congress, to all who shall see these Presents, GREETING: WHERE­AS, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, our Minister Plenipotentiary, by virtue of the full powers vested in him, has made, with CHARLES GRAVIER DE VERGENNES, Counsellor of the King in all his Councils, Commander of his Orders, Minister and Secretary of State, vest­ed also with full powers by his Most Christian Majesty for that purpose, concluded and sign­ed a contract between his said Most Christian Majesty and the United States of North-A­merica in the terms following:

CONTRACT between the KING and the THIR­TEEN UNITED STATES of NORTH-AME­RICA, concluded by Mr. DE VERGENNES and Dr. FRANKLIN.

AS it has pleased the KING to com­ply with the requests made to him in the name, and on the part, of the UNITED [Page] PROVINCES of NORTH-AMERICA, by assisting them in the war and invasion un­der which they have groaned during several years; and his Majesty, after having conclu­ded a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the said Confederated Provinces, on the 6th of February, 1778, having had the goodness to succour them, not only by his sea and land forces, but also by means of advancing them money as bountifully as in its consequence efficaciously, at a time when their affairs were in a very critical situation; it has been judged proper and necessary to fix the exact amount of these advances, the conditions upon which the King has made them, the different peri­ods, at which the Congress of the United States has agreed to pay them into his Maje­sty's Royal Treasury, and finally to regulate this matter so, that no difficulties may here­after arise to interrupt that good harmony which his Majesty is resolved to support on his part with the United States. For the purpose, therefore, of accomplishing so desi­rable an end, and with a view of strengthen­ing those Bonds of Amity and Commerce which subsist betwen his Majesty and the United States: We Charles Gravier de Ver­gennes, &c. Counsellor to the King, in all his Councils, Commander of his Orders, Minister and Secretary of State of his Com­mand and Finances, vested with full pow­ers [Page 33] by his Majesty; And we Benjamin Frank­lin, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of North-America, vested equally with full powers by the Congress of the said States, after having each communicated our respective powers, have agreed upon the fol­lowing articles:

ARTICLE I. It is agreed upon and certi­fied, that the sums advanced by his Majesty to the Congress of the United States, under the title of a loan, in the years 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, and [...] the present year 1782, amount together to the sum of eighteen millions of livres, of French money, as ap­pears by the twenty-one receipts following, signed by the said Minister of the Congress, and given by virtue of his full powers, name­ly,

1. 28 Feb. 1778. 750,000
2. 19 May 750,000
3. 3 Aug. 750,000
4. 1 Nov. 750,000
    3,000,000
5. 10 June, 1779. 250,000
6. 16 Sept. 250,000
7. 4 Oct. 250,000
8. 21 Dec. 250,000
    1,000,000
[Page 34]9. 29 Feb. 1780. 750,000
10. 27 May 750,000
11. 21 June 750,000
12. 3 Oct. 750,000
13. 27 Nov. 1,000,000
    4,000,000
14. 15 Feb. 1781. 750,000
15. 15 May 750,000
16. 15 Aug. 750,000
17. 1 Oct. 1,00,000
18. 15 Nov. 750,000
    4,000,000
19. 10 April, 1782. 1,500,000
20. 1 July 1,500,000
21. 5 3,00,000
    6,000,000
  Total 18,000,000

By which receipts, the said Minister has promised, in the name of the Congress, on the part of the Thirteen United States, to cause to be paid and reimbursed to the King's Roy­al Treasury, on the first of January 1788, at the house of his principal banker at Paris, the above sum, with the interest due thereon, at the rate of five per cent. per annum.

ART. II. Upon consideration, however, that the payment of so large a capital at one stipulated period, namely, the 1st of Janu­ary, [Page 35] 1788, may be exceedingly inconvenient to the Finances of the Congress of the United States, and that it might perhaps be even im­practicable, it has pleased his Majesty on that account, to release them from the tenor of those receipts given by their Minister for the eighteen millions of livres Tournois, mentioned in the preceding article; and he has consented that the reimbursement of the capital in ready money to his Royal Treasu­ry, shall be made in twelve equal payments, of 1,500,000 livres each, and in twelve years, to begin the third year after the peace.

ART. III. Although the receipts of the Mi­nister of the Congress of the United States mention, that "the 18,000,000 of livres a­bove mentioned, shall be paid into the Roy­al Treasury, with five per cent, interest. His Majesty, desirous of giving a fresh proof to the said United States, of his friendship, has been pleased to make them a present of the arrears of interest to this day, and al­so to remit it from this time to the day of the date of the Treaty of peace; a favour which the Minister of Congress acknowledges as proceeding purely from the King's boun­ty, and which he accepts in the name of the United States with the most profound and lively gratitude.

ART. IV. The payment of the said 18,000,000 of livres shall be made in ready [Page 36] money to his Majesty's Royal Treasury at Paris, in twelve equal payments, and at the period stated in the second article above. The interest on the said sum at the rate of five per cent. to run from the date of the Treaty of Peace; the payment of it shall be made at the time of each of the partial reim­bursements of the capital, and shall diminish in proportion with the reimbursements; the Congress are nevertheless at liberty to free themselves from this obligation sooner, by an­ticipated payments, in case the state of their finances should permit.

ART. V. Although the loan of 5,000,000 of Dutch florins granted by the States Ge­neral of the United Provinces of the Ne­therlands, on the terms of the obligation pass­ed on the 5th of November, 1781, has been made in his Majesty's name, and he has pledged himself for the payment of it; it is nevertheless acknowledged by these pre­sents, that the said loan has been made in re­ality on account of, and for the service of, the United States of North-America; and that the capital, amounting, according to a moderate valuation, to the sum of 10,000,000 livres Tournois, has been paid to the United States, agreeable to receipt given for the payment of the said sum by the undersigned Minister of Congress, on the 7th of last June.

ART. VI. By the said convention of the [Page 37] 5th of November 1781, it has pleased the King to promise and engage himself to fur­nish and to pay to the General Office of the States General of the Netherlands, the ca­pital of the said loan, together with the inter­est at five per cent. without any charge or de­duction whatsoever to the lenders, so that the said capital be entirely reimbursed within the space of five years, the payments to be made at ten equal periods, the first to begin the sixth year after the date of the loan, and from that time, during every year till the final payment of the said sum; but it is likewise acknowledged by the present act, that this engagement has been entered into by the King, on the entreaty of the underwritten Minister of the United States, and upon the promise made by him in the name of the Congress, and on the part of the Thirteen United States, to reimburse and pay into the Royal Treasury of his Majesty at Paris, the capital, interest and expences of the said loan, agreeable to the conditions and terms fixed by the convention of the 5th of Novem­ber, 1781.

ART. VII. It has been agreed upon and regulated in consequence, that the said sum of 10,000,000 of livres Tournois, making, at a moderate estimate, five millions of Dutch florins as above-mentioned, shall be reimbur­sed and paid into his Majesty's Royal Treasu­ry, [Page 38] with the interest at five per cent. in ten equal payments of one million each, and at the several periods, the first of which shall be made on the 5th of November, 1787, and thus from year to year till the final payments of the said sum of ten millions, the interest diminishing in proportion, with the partial payments of the capital. But from the regard which his Majesty bears to the Uni­ted States, he has been pleased to take upon himself the expence of the commission, and of banking, attending the said loan, of which expence his Majesty makes a present to the United States; and their underwritten Mini­ster accepts, with thanks, in the name of the Congress, as an additional proof of his Majesty's generosity, and of his friendship for the United States.

ART. VIII. With respect to the interest on the said loan, as the King had engaged to pay, during the five years preceding the first reimbursement of the capital, four per cent. on the whole, into the General Office of the States General of the Netherlands, annually, from the 5th of November, 1781, agreeable to the convention entered into on that day, the Minister of Congress acknowledges, that the reimbursements of the said interest is due to his Majesty from the United States; and he engages, in the name of the said States, to cause the payment thereof to be made at [Page 39] the same rate, into the Royal Treasury of his Majesty; the interest of the first year to be paid on the 4th of next November, and so on annually during to five years preceding the first payment of the capital, fixed on as above, for the 5th of November, 1787.

The high contracting parties reciprocally bind themselves to the faithful observance of this contract, the ratifications of which shall be exchanged within the space of nine months from the date hereof, if possible. In faith of which, we the said Plenipotentiaries of his Most Christian Majesty, and of the Thir­teen United States of North-America, by virtue of our respective powers, have sign­ed these presents, and have thereto put the seal of our arms.

Given at Versailles, the 16th of July, 1782.
(Signed)
  • C. G. DE VERGENNES. (L. S.)
  • B. FRANKLIN. (L. S.)

Be it known to all and every one, that we the said United States assembled in Congress, penetrated with the most lively ideas of the generosity and affect on manifested by his Most Christian Majesty in the above contract, have ratified and confirmed it; and by these [Page 40] presents we do ratify and confirm the said contract, and every article and clause therein. And we do by these presents authorise our Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Ver­sailles, to remit our present act of Ratificati­on, in exchange for the Ratification of the said contract on the part of his Most Christi­an Majesty.

IN FAITH OF WHICH we have caused our seal to be affixed hereunto, in presence of his Excellency ELIAS BOUDINOT, President, this 22d of January, in the year of Grace, 1783, and the seventh of our Sovereignty and Independence.
[Page]

Authentic Copy of the DECREE of the Queen of Portugal, for opening a Com­mercial Intercourse between her Sub­jects, and those of the United States.
PORTUGAL. Her Majesty has been pleased to order the following De­cree to be transmitted to her Royal Court of Exche­quer, that publication may be made of the same.

WHEREAS by the Declaration of the In­dependence of the United States of North-A­merica, the object intended by the Royal Decree of the 4th of July, 1776, and the publication thereof, by 4th Court of Exchequer, on the 5th of the same month, have ceased to operate, We are therefore pleased to abolish and annul the Decree and publication aforesaid; and do hereby order, that free entrance be granted in all the ports of our dominions, unto all ships and vessels coming from North-America, in the same manner as was formerly had in the admission of those which arrived from the said colonies in the ports afore­said, and that all hospitality and favour be shewn them, which is usually done to other friendly nations.

Our Court of Exchequer will see this performed accor­dingly; and are ordered to cause this Decree to be print­ed and set up in all public places of our city of Lisbon, and of other ports of this kingdom and Algarve, that all persons may have due notice thereof and none plead ig­norance of the same.

GIVEN at Salvaterta de Magos, the 13th of February 1783,
(Signed) With her Majesty's Cypher.
[Page 42]

And in order that all persons may have notice of this royal resolution of our Lady a foresaid, we have caused these presents to be printed, and affixed at all public pla­ces of this city and other parts of this kingdom, agreea­ble to the tenor of the Decree above mentioned.

Lisbon, this 17th of February, 1783.
(Signed)
  • Gonsalo Jose da Silveira Preto,
  • Jose da Consta Ribeiro.

[Printed at Queen's Press.]

[Page]

By the United States in Congress Assembled. A PROCLAMATION.
A TREATY of AMITY and COMMERCE, be­tween their HIGH MIGHTINESSES the STATES-GE­NERAL of the UNITED NETHERLANDS, and the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, to wit, NEW-HAMP­SHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS, RHODE-ISLAND and PRO­VIDENCE PLANTATIONS, CONNECTICUT, NEW-YORK, NEW-JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, NORTH-CAROLINA, SOUTH-CAROLINA and GEORGIA.

WHEREAS in pursuance of a Plenipoten­tiary commission, given on the twenty-ninth day of December, one thousand seven hun­dred and eighty, to the Honourable JOHN ADAMS, Esq. a Treaty of Amity and Commerce between their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America, was, on the eighth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, concluded by the said JOHN ADAMS, with Plenipotentiaries named for that purpose by their said High Mightinesses, the States-General of the United Netherlands: And whereas the said Treaty hath been this day approved and ratified by the United States in Congress assembled, as the same is contained in the words following, to wit.

THEIR High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America, to wit, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, [Page] desiring to ascertain, in a permanent and equitable man­ner, the rules to be observed, relative to the commerce and correspondence which they intend to establish be­tween their respective States, countries and inhabitants, have judged that the said end cannot be better obtained, than by establishing the most perfect equality and reci­procity for the basis of their agreement, and by avoiding all those burthensome preferences which are usually the sources of debate, embarrassment and discontent; by leav­ing also each party at liberty to make, respecting com­merce and navigation, such ulterior regulations as it shall and most convenient to itself, and by founding the ad­vantages of commerce solely upon reciprocal utility, and the just rules of free intercourse, reserving withall, to each party, the liberty of admitting at its pleasure, other nations to a participation of the same advantages.

On these principles their said High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands, have named for their Plenipotentiaries, from the midst of their As­sembly, Messieurs their Deputies for the Foreign Affairs; and the said United-States of America, on their part, have furnished with full powers Mr. John Adams, late Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, heretofore Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts-Bay, and Chief Justice of the said State; who have agreed and concluded as follow, to wit:

ART. I. There shall be a firm, inviolable and uni­versal peace and sincere friendship between their High Mightinesses, the Lords, the States-General of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America; and be­tween the subjects and inhabitants of the said parties, and between the countries, Islands, cities and places, situated under the jurisdiction of the said United Netherlands and the said United States of America, their subjects and in­habitants of every degree, without exception of persons or places.

ART. II. The said subjects of the States-General of the United Netherlands, shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, Islands, cities or places of the United States of America, or any of them, no other nor greater [Page 45] duties or imposts, of whatever nature or denomination they may be, than those which the nations the most fa­voured are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall en­joy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and ex­emptions in trade, navigation and commerce which the said nations do, or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another in the said States, or in going from any of those ports to any foreign port of the world, or from any foreign port of the world to any of those ports.

ART. III. The subjects and inhabitants of the said United States of America, shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities or places of the said U­nited Netherlands, or any of them, no other nor greater duties or imposts of whatever nature or denomination they may be, than those which the nations the most favoured are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemp­tions in trade, navigation and commerce, which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another in the said States, or from any one towards any one of those ports, from or to any foreign port of the world: And the United States of America with their sub­jects and inhabitants, shall leave to those of their High Mightinesses; the peaceable enjoyment of their rights in the countries, islands and seas in the East and West-In­dies, without any hindrance or molestation.

ART. IV. There shall be an entire and perfect liber­ty of conscience allowed to the subjects and inhabitants of each party, and to their families, and no one shall be molested in regard to his worship, provided he submits as to the public demonstration of it, to the laws of the country: There shall be given moreover liberty, when any subjects or inhabitants of either party shall die in the territory of the other, to bury them in the usual burying places, or in decent and convenient grounds to be ap­pointed for that purpose, as occasion shall require: And the dead bodies of those who are buried, shall not in any wise be molested. And the two contracting parties shall provide each one in his jurisdiction, that their respective subjects and inhabitants may hence forward obtain the requisite certificates in cases of deaths in which they shall be interested.

[Page 46]ART. V. Their High Mightinesses the States-Gene­ral of the United Netherlands, and the United States of America shall endeavour, by all the means in their pow­er, to defend and protect all vessels and other effects be­longing to their subjects and inhabitants respectively, or to any of them, in their ports, roads, havens, internal seas, passes, rivers, and as far as their jurisdiction extends at sea, and to recover and cause to be restored to the true proprietors, their agents or attornies, all such vessels and effects, which shall be taken under their jurisdiction: and their vessels of war, and convoys, in cases when they may have a common enemy, shall take under their pro­tection all the vessels, belonging to the subjects and inha­bitants of either party, which shall not be laden with contraband goods, according to the description which shall be made of them hereafter, for places with which one of the parties is in peace, and the other at war, nor destined for any place blocked, and which shall hold the same course or follow the same route; and they shall de­fend such vessels as long as they shall hold the same course or follow the same route, against all attacks, force and violence of the common enemy, in the same manner as they ought to protect and defend the vessels belonging to their own respective subjects.

ART. VI. The subjects of the contracting parties may on one side and on the other, in the respective countries and states, dispose of their effects by testament, donation or otherwise; and their heirs, subjects of one of the par­ties, and residing in the country of the other, or else­where, shall receive such successions even ab intestato, whether in person or by their attorney or substitute, even although they shall not have obtained letters of naturali­zation, without having the effect of such commission con­tested under pretext of any rights or prerogatives of any province, city or private person; and if the heirs, to whom such succession may have fallen, shall be minors, the tutors, or curators, established by the judge domici­liary, of the said minors, may govern, direct, administer, sell, and allienate the effects falling to the said minors, by inheritance, and in general, in relation to the said [Page 47] successions and effects, use all the rights and fulfil all the functions, which belong by the disposition of the laws, to guardians, tutors, and curators: Provided nevertheless, that this disposition cannot take place, but in cases where the testator shall not have named guardians, tutors, cu­rators by testament, codicil, or other legal instrument.

ART. VII. It shall be lawful and free for the subjects of each party, to employ such advocates, attornies, no­taries, solicitors or factors, as they shall judge proper.

ART. VIII. Merchants, masters and owners of ships, mariners, men of all kinds, ships and vessels, and all merchandizes, and goods in general, and effects of one of the confederates, or of the subjects thereof, shall not be seized or detained in any of the countries, lands, islands, cities, places, ports, shores, or dominations whatsoever of the other confederate, for any military ex­pedition, public or private use of any one, by arrests, violence, or any colour thereof: Much less shall it be permitted to the subjects of either party, to take or extort by force, any thing from the subjects of the other party, without the consent of the owner: Which however is not to be understood of seizures, detentions and arrests, which shall be made by the command and authority of justice, and by the ordinary methods on account of debts or crimes, in respect whereof, the proceedings must be, by way of law according to the forms of justice.

ART. IX. It is further agreed and concluded, that it shall be wholly free for all merchants, commanders of ships and other subjects and inhabitants of the contract­ing parties, in every place subjected to the jurisdiction of the two powers respectively, to manage themselves, their own business: And moreover as to the use of interpreters or brokers, as also in relation to the loading or unloading of their vessels, and every thing which has relation there­to, they shall be on one side and on the other, considered and treated upon the sooting of natural subjects or at least upon an equality with the most favoured nation.

ART. X. The merchant ships of either of the parties coming from the port of an enemy, or from their own or a neutral port, may navigate freely towards any port of [Page 48] an enemy of the other ally: They shall be, nevertheless, held, whenever it shall be required, to exibit, as well upon the high seas as in the ports, their sea-letters and other documents, described in the twenty-fifth article, stating expressly that their effects are not of the number of those, which are prohibited as contraband: and not having any contraband goods, for an enemy's port, they may freely and without hindrance, pursue their voyage towards the port of an enemy. Nevertheless it shall not be required to examine the papers of vessels convoyed by vessels of war, but credence shall be given to the word of the officer, who shall conduct the convoy.

ART. XI. If by exhibiting the sea-letters, and other documents described more particularly in the twenty-fifth article of this treaty, the other party shall discover there are any of those sorts of goods, which are declared prohibited and contraband, and that they are consigned for a port under the obedience of his enemy, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches of such ship, or to open any chest, coffer, packs, casks, or other vessel found therein, or to remove the smallest parcel of her goods, whether the said vessel belongs to the subjects of their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Ne­therlands, or to the subjects or inhabitants of the said United States of America, unless the lading be brought on shore, in presence of the officers of the Court of the Admiralty, and an inventory thereof made, but there shall be no allowance to sell, exchange, or alienate the same until after that due and lawful process shall have been had against such prohibited goods or contraband, and the Court of Admiralty by a sentence pronounced shall have confiscated the same, saving always as well the ship itself as any other goods found therein, which are to be esteemed free, and may not be detained on pretence of their being infected by the prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated as lawful prize: But on the contrary when by the visitation at land, it shall be found there are no contraband goods in the vessel, and it shall not appear by the papers that he who has taken and carried in the vessel, has been able to discover any there, he ought [Page 49] to be condemned in all the charges, damages and interest of them, which he shall have caused both to the owner of vessels and to the owners and freighters of cargoes, with which they shall be loaded, by his demerity in taking and carrying them in, declaring most expressly the free vessels shall assure the liberty of the effects with which they shall be loaded, and that this liberty shall extend it­self equally to the persons who shall be found in a free vessel, who may not be taken out of her, unless they are military men, actually in the service of an enemy.

ART. XII. On the contrary it is agreed, that what­ever ill all be found to be laden by the subjects and inha­bitants of either party, on any ship belonging to the ene­my's of the other, or to their subjects, although it be not comprehended under the sort of prohibited goods, the whole may be confiscated, in the same manner as if it be­longed to the enemy, except nevertheless such effects and merchandize, as were put on board such vessel, before the declaration of war or in the space of six months after it, which effects shall not be in any manner subject to confiscation, but shall be faithfully and without delay re­stored in nature to the owners, who shall claim them or cause them to be claimed, before the confiscation and sale, as also their proceeds, if the claim could not be made but in the space of eight months, after the sale▪ which ought to be public: provided nevertheless that if the said merchandizes are contraband, it shall by no means be lawful to transport them afterwards to any port belong­ing to enemies.

ART. XIII. And that more effectual care may be taken for security of subjects and people of either party, that they do not suffer molestation from the vessels of war, or privateers of the other party, it shall be forbidden to all commanders of vessels of war, and other armed vessels of the said States-General of the United Netherlands, and the said United States of America, as well as to all their officers, subjects and people, to give any offence or do any damage to those of the other party: and if they act to the contrary, they shall be upon the first complaint which shall be made of it, being found guilty after a [Page 50] just examination, punished by their proper judges, and moreover obliged to make satisfaction for all damages and interest thereof, by reparation, under pain and ob­ligation of their persons and goods.

ART. XIV. For further determining of what has been said, all captains of privateers, or sitters out of ves­sels armed for war, under commission, and on account of private persons shall be held before their departure, to give sufficient caution before competent judges, either to be responsible for the malversations which they may commit in their cruizes or voyages, as well as for the contraventions of their captains and officers, against the present treaty, and against the ordinances and edicts which shall be published in consequence of, and confor­mity to it, under pain of forfeiture and nullity of the said commission.

ART. XV. All vessels and merchandizes of what­soever nature, which shall be rescued out of the hands of any pirates or robbers, navigating the high seas, without requisite commissions, shall be brought into some port of one of the two states, and deposited in the hands of the officers of that port, in order to be restored entire to the true proprietor, as soon as due and sufficient proof shall be made, concerning the property thereof.

ART. XVI. If any ships or vessels belonging to ei­ther of the parties, their subjects or people shall within the coasts or dominations of the other, stick upon the sands or be wrecked, or suffer any other sea damage, all friendly assistance and relief shall be given to the per­sons shipwrecked, or such as shall be in danger thereof; and the vessels, effects and merchandizes, or the part of them which shall have been saved, or the proceeds of them, if being perishable they shall have been sold, be­ing claimed within a year and a day, by the masters or owners, or their agents or attornies, shall be restored, paying only the reasonable charges; and that which must be paid in the same case; for the salvage, by the proper subjects of the country: there shall also be delivered them safe conducts or passports for their free and safe passage from thence, and to return each one to his own country.

[Page 51]ART. XVII. In case the subjects or people of either party with their shipping, whether public and of war, or private and of merchants, be forced through stress of weather, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other ur­gent necessity, for seeking of shelter and harbour to re­treat and enter into any of the rivers, creeks, bays, ports, roads or shores, belonging to the other party, they shall be received with all humanity and kindness, and enjoy all friendly protection and help, and they shall be per­mitted to refresh and provide themselves at reasonable rates, with victuals and all things needful for the suste­nance of their persons, or reparation of their ships; and they shall no ways be detained or hindered from return­ing out of the said ports or roads, but may remove, and depart when and whither they please, without any let or hindrance.

ART. XVIII. For the better promoting of com­merce on both sides, it is agreed, that if a war should break out, between their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands and the United States of America, there shall always be granted to the subjects on each side, the term of nine months, after the date of the rupture, or the proclamation of war; to the end that they may retire with their effects, and transport them where they please; which it shall be lawful for them to do, as well as to sell or transport their effects and goods in all freedom, and without any hindrance, and without being able to proceed during the said term of nine months, to any arrest of their effects, much less of their persons; on the contrary, there shall be given them, for their vessels and their effects which they would car­ry away, passports and safe conducts, for the nearest ports of their respective countries; and for the time necessary for the voyage, and no prize made at sea shall be adjudg­ed lawful, at least if the declaration of war was not or could not be known, in the last port, which the vessel taken has quitted. But for whatever may have been taken from the subjects and inhabitants of either party, and for the offences which may have been given, them, in the in­terval of the said terms, a compleat satisfaction shall be given them.

[Page 52]ART. XIX. No subjects of their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands, shall ap­ply for, or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships, to act as privateers, against the said United States of America or any of them, or the sub­jects and inhabitants of the said United States or any of them, or against the property of the inhabitants of any of them, from any Prince or State with which the said Unit­ed States of America may happen to be at war; nor shall any subject or inhabitant of the said United States of America or any of them, apply for or take any com­mission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships, to act as privateers against the High and Mighty Lords, the States-General of the United Netherlands, or against the subjects of their High Mightinesses, or any of them, or against the property of any one of them, from any Prince or State with which their High Mightinesses may be at war: And if any person of either nation shall take such commission or letters of marque he shall be punished as a pirate.

ART. XX. If the vessels of the subjects or inhabi­tants of one of the parties, come upon any coast belong­ing to either of the said allies, but not willing to enter into port, or being entered into port and not willing to unload their cargoes or break bulk, or take in any cargo they shall not be obliged to pay neither for the vessels, nor the cargoes, any duties of entry [...] or out, nor to render any account of their cargoes, at least if there is not just cause to presume, that they carry to an enemy, merchandizes of contraband.

ART. XXI. The two contracting parties grant to each other mutually, the liberty of having each in the ports of the other, Consuls, vice Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries of their own appointing, whose functions shall be regulated by particular agreement, whenever either party chuse to make such appointments.

ART. XXII. This treaty shall not be understood in any manner to derogate from the ninth, tenth, nine­teenth and twenty-fourth articles of the treaty with France, as they were numbered in the same treaty con­cluded [Page 53] eluded the sixth of February, 1778, and which makes the articles ninth, tenth, seventeenth, and twenty-second of the treaty of commerce now subsisting be­tween the United States of America and the crown of France: Nor shall it hinder his Catholic Majesty from acceding to that treaty, and enjoying the advantages of the said four articles.

ART. XXIII. If at any time the United States of America, shall judge necessary to commence negociations with the King or Emperor of Morocco and Fez, and the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, or with any of them, to obtain passports for the security of their navigation in the Mediterranean sea; their High Migh­tinesses promise that upon the requisition which the United States of America shall make of it, they will second such negociations in the most favourable manner, by means of their Consuls residing near the said King, Emperor and Regencies.

ART. XXIV. The liberty of navigation and com­merce shall extend to all sorts of merchandizes, except­ing only those which are distinguished under the name of contraband or merchandizes prohibited: and under this denomination of contraband and merchandizes prohibited shall be comprehended only warlike stores and arms, as mortars, artillery with their artifices and ap­purtenances, fusils, pistols, bombs, grenades, gun-pow­der, salt-petre, sulphur, match, bullets and balls, pikes, sabres, lances, halberts, casques, cutlasses, and other sorts of arms: as also soldiers, horses, saddles and furni­ture for horses. All other effects and merchandizes, not before specified expressly, and even all sorts of naval matters, however proper they may be, for the construc­tion and equipment of vessels of war, or for the manu­facture of one or another sort of machines of war, by land or sea, shall not be judged contraband, neither by the letter, nor according to any pretended interpretation whatever, ought they, or can they be comprehended, under the notion of effects prohibited or contraband: So that all effects and merchandizes, which are not expressly before named, may without any exception, and [Page 54] in perfect liberty be transported by the subjects and in­habitants of both allies, from and to places belonging to the enemy, excepting only the places which at the same time shall be besieged, blocked, or invested, and those places only shall be held for such, which are surrounded nearly by some of the belligerant powers.

ART. XXV. To the end that all dissention and quarrel may be avoided and prevented, it has been agreed, that in case that one of the two parties happens to be at war, the vessels belonging to the subjects or in­habitants of the other ally, shall be provided with sea-letters or passports, expressing, the name, the property and the burthen of the vessel, as also the name and the place of abode of the master or commander of the said vessel, to the end, that thereby it may appear, that the vessel really and truly belongs to subjects or inhabitants of one of the parties; which passports shall be drawn and dis­tributed according to the form annexed to this treaty: each time that the vessel shall return, she should have such her possport renewed, or at least they ought not be of more ancient date than two years, before the vessel has been returned to her own country.

It has been also agreed that such vessels, being loaded ought to be provided not only with the said passports or sea-letters, but also with a general passport, or with par­ticular passports or manifests, or other public documents, which are ordinarily given to vessels outward-bound, in the ports from whence the vessels have set sail in the last place, containing a specification of the cargo, of the place from whence the vessel departed, and of that of her destination; or instead of all these, with certificates from the Magistrates or Governors, of cities, places and colonies, from whence the vessel came given in the usu­al form, to the end, that it may be known whether there are any effects prohibited or contraband on board the vessels, and whether they are destined to be carried to an enemy's country or not. And in case any one judges proper, to express in the said documents, the persons to whom the effects on board belong, he may do it freely, without however, being bound to do it; and [Page 55] the omission of such expression cannot and ought not to cause a confiscation.

ART. XXVI. If the vessels of the said subjects, or inhabitants of either of the parties, sailing along the coast or on the high seas, are met by a vessel of war or privateer, or other armed vessels of the other party, the said vessels of war, privateers or armed vessels for avoid­ing all disorder, shall remain without the reach of can­non, but may send their boats on board the merchant vessels which they shall meet in this manner, upon which they may not pass more than two or three men, to whom the master or commander shall exhibit his passport concerning the property of the vessel according to the form annexed to this treaty; and the vessel, after having exhibited such a passport, sea-letter and other documents, shall be free to continue her voyage, so that it shall not be lawful to molest her, or search her in any manner, nor to give her chace, nor to force her to alter her course.

ART. XXVII. It shall be lawful for merchants, cap­tains and commanders of vessels, whether public, and of war, or private and of merchants, belonging to the said United States of America, or any of them, or to their subjects and inhabitants, to take freely into their service, and receive on board of their vessels, in any port or place in the jurisdiction of their High Mightinesses aforesaid, seamen or others, natives or inhabitants of any of the said states upon such conditions as they shall agree on, without being subject for this to any fine, penalty, pu­nishment, process or reprehension whatever: And reci­procally, all merchants, captains, and commanders, be­longing to the said United Netherlands, shall enjoy, in all the ports and places under the obedience of the said United States of America, the same privilege of engag­ing and receiving seamen, or others, natives or inhabit­ants of any country or the domination of the said States-General; provided, that neither on one side nor the other, they may not take into their service such of their countrymen who have already engaged in the service of the other party contracting, whether in war or trade, [Page 56] and whether they meet them by land or by sea; at least, if the captains or masters, under the command of whom such persons may be found, will not, of his own consent, discharge them from the service, upon pain of being otherwise treated and punished as deserters.

ART. XXVIII. The affair of refraction shall be re­gulated in all equity and justice, by the Magistrates of cities respectively, where it shall be judged that there is any room to complain in this respect.

ART. XXIX. The present treaty shall be ratified and approved of by their High Mightinesses the States-Ge­neral of the United Netherlands, and by the United States of America, and the acts of ratification shall be de­livered in good and due form on one side and on the other, in the space of six months, or sooner if possible, to be computed from the day of the signature.

In faith of which, we the Deputies and Plenipoten­tiaries of the Lords the States-General of the Unit­ed Netherlands, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, in virtue of our respective authorities and full powers have signed the present Treaty, and opposed thereto the seals of our arms. Done at the Hague, the 8th day of October, 1782.
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By the UNITED STATES in Congress Assembled. A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS in pursuance of a Plenipotenti­ary Commission, given on the 28th day of September, 1782, to the Honourable Ben­jamin Franklin, a treaty of amity and com­merce between his Majesty the King of Sweden and the United States of America, was on the 3d day of April, 1783, concluded by the said Benjamin Franklin, with a Minister Plenipotentiary, named for that purpose by the said King: And whereas the said treaty hath been duly approved and ratified by the United States in Con­gress assembled, and a translation thereof made in the words following, to wit,

A TREATY of AMITY and COMMERCE concluded between his Majesty the King of SWEDEN and the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The King of Sweden, of the Goths and Vandals, &c. &c. &c. and the Thirteen United States of North-America, to wit, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Counties of New-Castle, Kent, and, Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Caro­lina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, desiring to establish in a stable and permanent manner, the rules which ought to be observed relative to the correspondence and com­merce which the two parties have judged necessary to establish between their respective countries, states and subjects; his Majesty and the United States have thought that they could not better accomplish that end, than by taking for a basis of their arrangements the mutual interests and advantage of both nations, thereby avoiding all those [Page 58] burthensome preferences, which are usually sources of de­bate, embarrassment and discontent, and by leaving each party at liberty to make, respecting navigation and com­merce, those interior regulations which shall be most con­venient to itself.

With this view, his Majesty the King of Sweden has nominated and appointed for his Plenipotentiary, Count Gustavus Philip de Creutz, his Ambassador Extraordina­ry to his Most Christian Majesty, and Knight, Commander of his orders; and the United States, on their part have fully empowered Benjamin Franklin, their Minister Ple­nipotentiary to his Most Christian Majesty; the said Ple­nipotentiaries, after exchanging their full powers, and after mature deliberation in consequence thereof have agreed upon, concluded and signed the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

There shall be a firm, inviolable and universal peace, and a true and sincere friendship between the King of Sweden, his heirs and successors, and the United States of America, and the subjects of his Majesty and those of the said States, and between the countries, islands, cities and towns, situated under the jurisdiction of the King and of the said United States, without any exception of persons or places; and the conditions agreed to in this present treaty, shall be perpetual and permanent between the King, his heirs and successors, and the said United States.

Art. 2. The King and the United States engage mu­tually, not to grant hereafter any particular favour to other nations in respect to commerce and navigation, which shall not immediately become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same favour freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation, if the concession was conditional.

Art. 3. The subjects of the King of Sweden shall not pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, ci­ties and towns, of the United States or any of them, any other nor greater duties or imposts of what nature soever they may be, than those which the most favoured [Page 59] nations are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall en­joy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, navigation and commerce which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another of the United States, or in going to or from the same, from or to any part of the world whatever.

Art. 4. The subjects and inhabitants of the said United States shall not pay in the ports, havens, roads, islands, cities and towns under the dominion of the King of Sweden, any other or greater duties or imposts of what nature soever they may be, or by what name so­ever called, than those which the most favoured nations are or shall be obliged to pay; and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and ex­emptions in trade, navigation and commerce, which the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether in passing from one port to another of the dominion of his said Majesty, or in going to or from the same, from or to any part of the world whatever.

Art. 5. There shall be granted a full, perfect and en­tire liberty of conscience to the inhabitants and sub­jects of each party, and no person shall be molested on account of his worship, provided he submits so far as re­gards the public demonstrations of it to the laws of the country: Moreover liberty shall be granted, when any of the subjects or inhabitants of either party die in the territory of the other, to bury them in convenient and decent places, which shall be assigned for the purpose: And the two contracting parties will provide each in its jurisdiction, that subjects and inhabitants respectively may obtain certificates of the death in case the delivery of them is required.

Art. 6. The subjects of the contracting parties in the respective States, may freely dispose of their goods and effects either by testament, donation or otherwise in fa­vour of such persons as they think proper; and their heirs in whatever place they shall reside, shall receive the succession even ab intestato, either in person or by their attorney, without having occasion to take out letters of [Page 60] naturalization. These inheritances, as well as the capitals and effects, which the subjects of the two parties, in changing their abode, shall be desirous of removing from the place of their abode, shall be exempted from all duty, called "droit de detraction," on the part of the govern­ment of the two States respectively. But it is at the same time agreed, that nothing contained in this article shall in any manner derogate from the ordinances pub­lished in Sweden against emigrations, or which may here­after be published, which shall remain in full force and vigour. The United States on their part, or any of them, shall be at liberty to make respecting this matter, such laws as they think proper.

Art. 7, All and every the subjects inhabitants of the kingdom of Sweden, as well as those of the United States, shall be permitted to navigate with their vessels in all safety and freedom, and without any regard to those to whom the merchandize and cargoes may belong, from any port whatever, and the subjects and inhabitants of the two states shall likewise be permitted to sail and trade with their vessels, and with the same liberty and safety to fre­quent the places, ports and havens of powers, enemies to both or either of the contracting parties, with­out being in any wise molested or troubled, and to carry on a commerce not only directly from the ports of an enemy to a neutral port, but even from one port of an enemy, to another port of an enemy, whether it be un­der the jurisdiction of the same or of different princes. And as it is acknowledged by this treaty with respect to ships and merchandizes that free ships shall make the merchandizes free, and that every thing which shall be on board of ships belonging to subjects of the one or the other of the contracting parties, shall be considered as free, even though the cargo or a part of it should belong to the enemies of one or both; it is nevertheless provid­ed that contraband goods shall always be excepted; which being intercepted, shall be proceeded against according to the spirit of the following articles. It is likewise agreed, that the same liberty be extended to persons who may be on board a free ship, with this effect, that al­though [Page 61] they be enemies to both or either of the parties, they shall not be taken out of the free ship, unless they are soldiers in the actual service of the said enemies.

Art. 8. The liberty of navigation and commerce shall extend to all kinds of merchandizes except those only which are expressed in the following article and are distinguished by the name of contraband goods.

Art. 9. Under the name of contraband or prohibited goods shall be comprehended, arms, great guns, cannon balls, arquebuses, musquets, bombs, petards, granadoes, saucisses, pitch, balls, carriages for ordinance, musquet rests, bandoliers, cannon powder, matches, salt-petre, sulphur, bullets, pikes, sabres, swords, morions, hel­mets, cuirasses, balbards, javelins, pistols, holsters, belts, bayonets, horses with their harness, and all other like kinds of arms and instruments of war for the use of troops.

Art. 10. These which follow shall not be reckoned in the number of prohibited goods, that is to say, all sorts of cloaths, and all other manufactures of wool, flax, silk, cotton or any other materials, all kinds of wearing apparel together with the things of which they are com­monly made; gold, silver coined or uncoined, brass, i­ron, lead, copper, latten, coals, wheat, barley and all sorts of corn or pulse, tobacco, all kinds of spices, salted or smoaked flesh, salted fish, cheese, butter, beer, oil, wines, sugar, all sorts of salt and provisions which serve for the nourishment and sustenance of man; all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, cables, sails, sail cloth, anchors, and any parts of anchors, ship-masts, planks, boards, beams and all sorts of trees and other things proper for building or repairing ships; nor shall any goods be considered as contraband, which have not been worked into the form of any instrument or thing for the purpose of war by land or by sea, much less such as have been prepared or wrought up for any other use. All which shall be reckoned free goods, as likewise all others which are not comprehended and particularly mentioned in the foregoing article; so that they shall not, by any pretended interpretation be comprehended [Page] among prohibited or contraband goods: on the contrary they may be freely transported by the subjects of the King and of the United States, even to places belong­ing to an enemy, such places only excepted as are be­sieged, blocked or invested, and those places only shall be considered as such, which are nearly surrounded by one of the belligerent powers.

Art. 11. In order to avoid and prevent on both sides all disputes and discords, it is agreed that in case one of the parties shall be engaged in a war, the ships and ves­sels belonging to the subjects or inhabitants of the other shall be furnished with sea-letters or passports, expressing the name, property and port of the vessel, and also the name and place of abode of the master or commander of the said vessel, in order that it may thereby appear that the said vessel really and truly belongs to the subjects of the one or the other party.—These passports which shall be drawn up in good and due form, shall be renewed e­very time the vessel returns home in the course of the year. It is also agreed that the said vessels when loaded shall be provided not only with sea-letters, but also with certificates containing a particular account of the cargo, the place from which the vessel sailed and that of her de­stination, in order that it may be known, whether they carry any of the prohibited or contraband merchandizes, mentioned in the 9th article of the present treaty; which certificates shall be made out by the officers of the place from which the vessel shall depart.

Art. 12. Although the vessels of the one and the other party may navigate freely and with all safety, as is explained in the 7th article, they shall nevertheless be bound at all times when required, to exhibit as well on the high seas as in port, their passports and certificates a­bove-mentioned. And not having contraband merchan­dize on board for an enemy's port, they may freely and without hindrance pursue their voyage to the place of their destination. Nevertheless the exhibition of papers shall not be demanded of merchant ships under convoy of ves­sels of war, but credit shall be given to the word of the officer commanding the convoy.

[Page 63]Art. 13. If on producing the said certificates, it be discovered, that the vessel carries some of the goods which are declared to be prohibited or contraband, and which are consigned to an enemy's port, it shall not how­ever be lawful to break up the hatches of such ships, not to open any chest, coffers, packs, casks or vessels, nor to remove the smallest part of the merchandizes, until the cargo has been landed in the presence of officers appoint­ed for the purpose, and until an inventory thereof has been taken; nor shall it be lawful to sell, exchange or a­lienate the cargo or any part thereof, until legal process shall have been had against the prohibited merchandizes, and sentences shall have passed, declaring them liable to confiscation; saving, nevertheless, as well the ships them­selves, as the other merchandizes, which shall have been found therein, which by virtue of this present treaty, are to be esteemed free, and which are not to be detained on pretence of their having been loaded with prohibited merchandize, and much less confiscated as lawful prize. And in case the contraband merchandize be only a part of the cargo and the master of the vessel agrees, consents and offers to deliver them the vessel, that has discovered them, in that case the latter, after receiving the merchan­dizes which are good prize, shall immediately let the vessel go and shall not by any means hinder her from pur­suing her voyage to the place of her destination. When a vessel is taken and brought into any of the ports of the contracting parties, if upon examination she be found to be loaded only with merchandizes declared to be free, the owner or he who has made the prize shall be bound to pay all costs and damages to the master of the vessel un­justly detained.

Art. 14. It is likewise agreed that whatever shall be found to be laden by the subjects of either of the two contracting parties on a ship belonging to the enemies of the other party, the whole effects, although not of the number of those declared contraband, shall be confisca­ted as if they belonged to the enemy, excepting never­theless such goods and merchandizes as were put on board before the declaration of war, and even six months after [Page 64] the declaration, after which term none shall be presum­ed to be ignorant of it, which merchandizes shall not in any manner be subject to confiscation, but shall be faith­fully and specifically delivered to the owners who shall claim, or cause them to be claimed before confiscation and sale, as also their proceeds, if the claim be made within eight months and could not be made sooner after the sale, which is to be public: provided nevertheless, that if the said merchandizes be contraband, it shall not be in anywise lawful to carry them afterwards to a port belonging to the enemy.

Art. 15. And that more effectual care may be taken for the security of the two contracting parties, that they suffer no prejudice by the men of war of the other party, or by privateers; all captains and commanders of ships of his Swedish Majesty, and of the United States, and all their subjects, shall be forbidden to do any injury or damage to those of the other party, and if they act to the contrary, having been found guilty on examination by their proper judges, they shall be bound to make satisfaction for all damages, and the interest thereof, and to make them good, under pain and obliga­tion of their persons and goods.

Art. 16. For this cause, every individual who is do­sirous of fitting out a privateer shall, before he receives letters patent or special commission, be obliged to give bond with sufficient sureties: before a competent judge, for a sufficient sum to answer all damages and wrongs which the owner of the privateer, his officers or others in his employ may commit during the cruise, contrary to the tenor of this treaty, and contrary to the edicts published by either party, whether by the King of Sweden, or by the United States, in virtue of this same treaty, and also under the penalty of having the said let­ters patent and special commission revoked and made void.

Art. 17. One of the contracting parties being at war, and the other remaining neuter, if it should hap­pen that a merchant ship of the neutral power be taken by the enemy of the other party, and be afterwards re­taken [Page 65] by a ship of war or privateer of the power at war, also ships and merchandizes of what nature soever they may be when recovered from a pirate or sea rover, shall be brought into a port of one of the two powers, and shall be committed to the custody of the officers of the said port, that they may be restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as he shall have produced full proof of the property. Merchants, masters and owners of ships, seamen, people of all sorts, ships and vessels, and in ge­neral, all merchandizes and effects of one of the Allies or their subjects, shall not be subject to any embargo, nor detained in any of the countries, territories, islands, ci­ties, towns, ports, rivers or domains whatever of the other Ally, on account of any military expedition, or any public or private purpose whatever, by seizure, by force, or by any such manner; much less shall it be lawful for the subjects of one of the parties to seize or take any thing by force from the subjects of the other party, without the consent of the owner. This, however, is not to be understood to comprehend seizures, detensions, and ar­rests, made by order and by the authority of justice, and according to the ordinary course for debts or faults of the subject, for which process shall be had in the way of right, according to the forms of justice.

Art. 18. If it should happen that the two contracting parties should be engaged in a war at the same time, with a common enemy, the following points shall be observed on both sides.

1st. If the ships of one of the two nations retaken by the privateers of the other, have not been in the power of the enemy more than twenty-four hours, they shall be restored to the original owner on payment of one third of the value of the ship and cargo. If on the contrary, the vessel retaken has been more than twenty-four hours in the power of the enemy, it shall belong wholly to him who has retaken it.

2d. In case, during the interval of twenty-four hours, a vessel be retaken by a man of war of either of the two parties, it shall be restored to the original owner on pay­ment of a thirtieth part of the value of the vessel and car­go, [Page 66] and a tenth part of it has been retaken after the twen­ty-four hours, which sums shall be distributed as a grati­fication among the crew of the men of war that shall have made the recapture.

3d. The prizes made in manner above-mentioned, shall be restored to the owners after proof made of the property, upon giving security for the part coming to him who has recovered the vessel from the hands of the enemy.

4th. The men of war and privateers of the two nati­ons shall reciprocally be admitted with their prizes into each others ports; but the prizes shall not be unloaded or sold there until the legality of a prize made by Swe­dish ships shall have been determined according to the laws and regulations established in Sweden, as also that of the prizes made by American vessels, shall have been determined according to the laws and regulations esta­blished by the United States of America.

5th. Moreover the King of Sweden, and the United States of America, shall be at liberty to make such regu­lations as they shall judge necessary respecting the con­duct which their men of war and privateers respectively shall be bound to observe with regard to vessels which they shall take and carry into the ports of the two Powers.

Art. 19. The ships of war of his Swedish Majesty and those of the United States, and also those which their subjects shall have armed for war, may with all freedom conduct the prizes which they shall have made from their enemies into the ports which are open in time of war to other friendly nations, and the said prizes, upon enter­ing the said ports, shall not be subject to arrest or seizure, nor shall the officers of the places take cognizance of the validity of the said prizes which may depart and be con­ducted freely and with all liberty to the places pointed out in their commissions, which the Captains of the said vessels shall be obliged to show.

Art. 20. In case any vessel belonging to either of the two States, or to their subjects, shall be stranded, ship­wrecked, or suffer any other damage on the coasts or un­to the dominion of either of the parties, all aid and as­sistance [Page 67] shall be given to the persons shipwrecked, or who may be in danger thereof, and passports shall be granted to them to secure their return to their own country. The ships and merchandizes wrecked, or their proceeds, if the effects have been sold, being claimed in a year and a day by the owners or their attorney, shall be restored, on their paying the costs of salvage, conformable to the laws and customs of the two nations.

Art. 21. When the Subjects and inhabitants of the two parties, with their vessels, whether they be public and equipped for war, or private, employed in com­merce, shall be forced by tempest, by pursuit of priva­teers and of enemies, or by any other urgent necessity, to retire and enter any of the rivers, bays, roads or ports of either of the two parties, they shall be received and treat­ed with all humanity and politeness, and they shall en­joy all friendship, protection, and assistance, and they shall be at liberty to supply themselves with refresh­ments, provisions, and every thing necessary for their sustenance, for the repair of their vessels, and for con­tinuing their voyage; provided always, that they pay a reasonable price, and they shall not in any manner be detained or hindred from sailing out of the said ports or roads, but they may retire and depart when and as they please without any obstacle or hindrance.

Art. 22. In order to favour commerce on both sides as much as possible, it is agreed, that in case a war should break out between the said two nations, which God for­bid, the term of nine months, after the declaration of war, shall be allowed to the merchants and subjects res­pectively on one side, and the other, in order that they may withdraw with their effects and moveables, which they shall be at liberty to carry off or to sell where they please, without the least obstacle; nor shall any seize their effects and much less their persons during the said nine months, but on the contrary, passports which shall be valid for a time necessary for their return, shall be given them for their vessels and the effects which they shall be willing to carry with them. And if any thing is taken from them, or if any injury is done to them by [Page 68] one of the parties, their people and subjects, during the term above prescribed, full and entire satisfaction shall be made to them on that account. The above-mention­ed passports shall also serve as a safe conduct against all insults or prizes which privateers may attempt against their persons and effects.

Art. 23. No subject of the King of Sweden shall take a commission or letters of marque, for arming any vessel to act as a privateer against the United States of Ameri­ca, or any of them, or against the subjects, people or inhabitants of the said United States, or any of them, or against the property of the inhabitants of the said States, from any Prince or State whatever, with whom the said United States shall be at war. Nor shall any citizen, subject or inhabitant of the said United States, or any of them, apply for or take any commission on letters of marque, for arming any vessel to cruize against the subjects of his Swedish Majesty, or any of them, or their property, from any Prince or State whatever with whom his said Majesty shall be at war. And if any person of either nation shall take such commissions or letters of marque, he shall be punished as a pirate.

Art. 24. The vessels of the subjects of either of the parties coming upon any of the coasts belonging to the other, but not willing to enter into part, or being en­tered into port, and not willing to unload their cargoes, or to break bulk, shall not be obliged to do it, but on the contrary shall enjoy all the franchises and exempti­ons which are granted by the rules subsisting with res­pect to that object.

Art. 25. When a vessel belonging to the subjects and inhabitants of either of the parties, sailing on the high sea, shall be met by a ship of war or privateer of the other, the said ship of war or privateer, to avoid all disorder, shall remain out of cannon shot, but may always send their boat to the merchant ship, and cause two or three men to go on board of her, to whom the master or com­mander of the said vessel shall exhibit his passport, stat­ing the property of the vessel, and when the said vessel shall have exhibited her passport, she shall be at liberty [Page 69] to continue her voyage, and it shall not be lawful to mo­lest or search her in any manner, or to give her chace or force her to quit her intended course.

Art. 26. The two contracting parties granted mutu­ally the liberty of having each in the ports of the other Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents and Commissaries, whose functions shall be regulated by a particular agreement.

Art. 27. The present treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in [...] space of eight months, or sooner if possible, counting from the day of the signature.

In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles, and have thereunto affixed their seals.

DONE at Paris, the third day of April, in the year of Our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty three.
(Signed)
  • GUSTAV. PHILIIP Compte de CREUTZ. L. S.
  • B. BRANKLIN. L. S.

SEPARATE ARTICLE.

THE King of Sweden and the United States of North-America, agree that the present Treaty shall have its full effect for the space of fifteen years, counting from the day of the ratification, and the two contracting parties reserve to themselves the liberty of renewing it at the end of that term.

DONE at Paris, the third of April, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and eighty-three.
(Signed)
  • GUSTAV. PHILIP Compte de CRUETZ. L. S.
  • B. FRANKLIN. L. S.

SEPARATE ARTICLES.

Art. 1. His Swedish Majesty shall use all the means in his power to protect and defend the vessels and effects belonging to citizens or inhabitants of the United States of North-America, and every of them which shall be in [Page 70] the ports, havens, roads, or on the seas near the coun­tries, islands, cities and towns of his said Majesty, and shall use his utmost endeavours to recover and restore to the right owners, all such vessels and effects, which shall be taken from them within his jurisdiction.

Art. 2. In like manner, the United States of North-America shall protect and defend the vessels and effects belonging to the subjects of his Swedish Majesty, which shall be in the ports, havens or roads, or on the seas near to the countries, islands, cities and towns of the said States, and shall use their utmost efforts to recover and restore to the right owners all such vessels and effects which shall be taken from them, within their jurisdiction.

Art. 3. If in any future war at sea, the contracting powers resolve to remain neuter, and as such, to ob­serve the strictest neutrality, then it is agreed, that if the merchant ships of either party, should happen to be in a part of the sea where the ships of war of the same nation are not stationed, or if they are met on the high sea, without being able to have recourse to their own convoys, in that case the commander of the ships of war of the other party, if required, shall in good faith and sincerity give them all necessary assistance, and in such case, the ships of war and frigates of either of the pow­ers, shall protect and support the merchant ships of the other, provided nevertheless, that the ships claiming as­sistance are not engaged in any illicit commerce contrary to the principles of the neutrality.

Art. 4. It is agreed and concluded that all merchants, captains of merchant ships, or other subjects of his Swe­dish Majesty, shall have full liberty in all places under the dominion or jurisdiction of the United States of A­merica, to manage their own affairs, and to employ in the management of them whomsoever they please; and they shall not be obliged to make use of any interpreter or broker, nor to pay them any reward unless they make use of them. Moreover, the masters of ships shall not be obliged in loading or unloading their vessels, to em­ploy labourers appointed by public authority for that purpose; but they shall be at full liberty, themselves to [Page 71] load or unload their vessels, or to employ in loading or unloading them whomsoever they think proper, without paying reward under the title of salary to any other per­son whatever; and they shall not be obliged to turn over any kind of merchandizes to other vessels, nor to receive them on board their own, nor to wait for their lading longer than they please, and all and every of the citi­zens, people and inhabitants of the United States of America, shall reciprocally have and enjoy the same privileges and liberties in all places under the jurisdic­tion of the said realm.

Art 5. It is agreed that when merchandizes shall have been put on board the ships or vessels of either of the contracting parties, they shall not be subjected to any examination; but all examination and search must be before lading, and the prohibited merchandizes must be stopped on the spot before they are embarked, unless there is full evidence or proof of fraudulent practice on the part of the owner of the ship, or of him who has the command of her. In which case only he shall be re­sponsible and subject to the laws of the country in which he may be. In all other cases neither the subjects of either of the contracting parties, who shall be with their vessels in the ports of the other, nor their merchandizes shall be seized or molested on account of contraband goods, which they shall have wanted to take on board, nor shall any kind of embargo be laid on their ships, subjects or citizens of the State whose mer­chandizes are declared contraband, or the exportation of which is forbidden, those only who shall have sold or intended to sell or alienate such merchandize, being li­able to punishment for such contravention.

Done at Paris, the third day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand, seven hundred and eighty-three.
(Signed)
  • GUSTAV. PHILIP Compte de CREUTZ, L. S.
  • B. FRANKLIN, L. S.
[Page 72]

NOW therefore, to the end that the said treaty may with all good faith be performed and observed on the part of these States, all the citizens and inhabitants thereof, and more especially all officers and others in the service of the United States, are hereby enjoined and required to govern themselves strictly in all things according to the stipulations above recited.

Done in Congress at Princeton, this twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and of our Sovereignty and Independence the eighth.
  • ELIAS BOUDINOT, President.
  • CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.
[Page]

By the UNITED STATES in Congress Assembled. A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS definitive articles of peace and friendship, between the United States of A­merica and his Britannick Majesty, were con­cluded and signed at Paris, on the third day of Septem­ber, 1783, by the Plenipotentiaries of the said United States, and of his said Britannick Majesty, duly and re­spectively authorized for that purpose: which definitive articles are in the words following:

In the Name of the Most Holy and Undi­vided Trinity.

IT having pleased the divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the Most Serene and Most Potent Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburgh, Arch Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, &c. and of the United States of America, to forget all past mis­understandings and differences that have unhappily inter­rupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a be­neficial and satisfactory intercourse between the two countries, upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience, as may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony: and having for this desir­able end already laid the foundation of peace and recon­ciliation, by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782, by the commissioners em­powered on each part, which Articles were agreed to be inserted in, and to constitute the Treaty of Peace propos­ed [Page 74] to be concluded between the Crown of Great-Britain and the said United States, but which Treaty was not to be concluded until terms of Peace should be agreed upon between Great-Britain and France, and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such Treaty accord­ingly; and the Treaty between Great-Britain and France having since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to the tenor thereof, have constituted and appointed, that is to say, his Britannick Majesty on his part, David Hart­ley, Esq Member of the Parliament of Great-Britain, and the said United States on their part, John Adams, Esq late a Commissioner of the United States of Ame­rica at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts, and Chief Justice of the said State, and Minister Plenipotentiary of the said Unit­ed States to their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands; Benjamin Franklin, Esq late Delegate in Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, President of the convention of the said State, and Mini­ster Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the Court of Versailles; and John Jay, Esq late Pre­sident of Congress, Chief Justice of the State of New-York, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the said United States at the Court of Madrid, to be the Plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present Definitive Treaty; who after having reciprocally communicated their respective full powers, have agreed upon and con­firmed the following Articles:

Art. 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, [Page 75] property, and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof.

Art. II. 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. 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. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the north-western-most 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 Irriquois or Cataraqui; thence along the middle of the said river into Lake Ontario; through the middle of the 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 through the middle of said Lake to the water communication between that Lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior, north­wards 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 north-western 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; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said River Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 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 Catahouche; [Page] thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the said 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 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 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.

Art. 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 Gulph of St. Lawrence, and 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 others 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.

[Page 77]Art. IV. It is agreed that the 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.

Art. V. 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 borne arms against the United States; and that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts 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 earnestly recommend to the several States are consideration 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 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, 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 no lawful impedi­ment in the prosecution of their just rights.

Art. 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 [Page 78] damage, either in his person, liberty or property: all 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.

Art. 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 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 ar­chieves, 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 state and persons to whom they belong.

Art. VIII. The navigation of the river Mississippi, 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.

Art. IX. In case it should so happen that any place or territory belonging to Great-Britain, or to the United States, should have been conquered by the arms of either from the other, before the arrival of the said Provisional Articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be restored without difficulty, and without requiring any compensation.

Art. X. The solemn ratifications of the present trea­ty, expedited in good and due form, shall be exchanged between the contracting parties in the space of six months, or sooner, if possible, to be computed from the day of the signature of the present treaty. In witness [Page 79] whereof we the undersigned, their Ministers Plenipoten­tiary, have in their name, and in virtue of our full pow­ers, signed with our hands the present Definitive Treaty, and caused the seals of our arms to be affixed thereto.

Done at Paris, this 3 d day of September, in the year of our Lord One Thousand seven hundred and Eighty Three.
  • (L. S.) JOHN ADAMS.
  • (L. S.) DAVID HARTLEY.
  • (L. S.) B. FRANKLIN.
  • (L. S.) JOHN JAY.

GEORGE R. George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenbourg, Arch-Treasurer, and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, &c. To all to whom those presents shall come Greeting.

WHEREAS for the perfecting and establishing the peace, friendship, and good understanding, so happily commenced by the Provisional Articles, signed at Paris, the thirtieth day of November last, by the Commission­ers of us and our good friends, the United States of Ame­rica, viz. New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Penn­sylvania, the three Lower Counties on Delaware, Ma­ryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, in North-America, and for opening, promot­ing, and rendering perpetual, the mutual intercourse of trade and commerce between our kingdoms and the do­minions of the said United States, we have thought pro­per to invest some fit person with full powers on our part to meet and confer with the Ministers of the said United States, now residing at Paris, duly authorized for the accomplishing of such laudable and salutary pur­poses. Now know ye, that We reposing special trust [Page 80] and confidence in the wisdom, loyalty, diligence, and circumspection of our trusty and well-beloved David Hartley, Esq. (on whom we have therefore conferred the rank of our Minister Plenipotentiary) have nominat­ed, constituted, and appointed, and by these presents, do nominate, constitute and appoint him our true, cer­tain, and undoubted Commissioner, Procurator, and Plenipotentiary, giving and granting to him all and all manner of faculty, power, and authority, together with general as well as special order (so as the general do not derogate from the special, nor on the contrary) for us and in our name, to meet, confer, treat and conclude with the Minister or Ministers furnished with sufficient powers on the part of our said good friends the United States of America, of and concerning all such matters and things as may be requisite and necessary for accom­plishing and completing the several ends and purposes herein before mentioned; and also for us, and in our name, to sign, such Treaty or Treaties, Convention or Conventions, or other instruments whatsover, as may be agreed upon in the premises; and mutually to deli­ver and receive the same in exchange, and to do and perform all such other acts, matters, and things, as may be any ways proper and conducive to the purposes above mentioned, in as full and ample form and manner, and with the like validity and effect, as we ourself, if we were present, could do and perform the same; engag­ing and promising, on our Royal word, that we will accept, ratify, and confirm, in the most effectual man­ner, all such acts, matters, and things, as shall be so transacted and concluded by our aforesaid Commissioner, Procurator, and Plenipotentiary; and that we will ne­ver suffer any person to violate the same in the whole or in part, or to act contrary thereto. In testimony and confirmation of all which, we have caused our Great Seal of Great-Britain to be affixed to these presents, signed with our Royal Hand.

Given at our Palace at St, James's, the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand se-hundred and eighty-three, and in the twenty-third year of our reign.
[Page 81]

I David Hartley, the Minister above-named, certify the foregoing to be a true copy from my original Com­mission, delivered to the American Ministers this 19th day of May, 1783.

(Signed) DAVID HARTLEY.

The United States of America, in Congress Assembled.

To all whom these Presents shall come, send Greeting.

WHEREAS these United States, from a sincere desire of putting an end to the hostilities between his Most Christian Majesty and these United States on the one part, and his Britannic Majesty on the other, and of terminating the same by a peace founded on such so­lid and equitable principles as reasonably to promise a permanency of the blessings of tranquility, did hereto­fore appoint the Hon. John Adams, late a Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Ver­sailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Mas­sachusettes, and Chief Justice of the said State, their Minister Plenipotentiary, with full powers general and special to act in that quality, to confer, treat, agree, and conclude with the Ambassadors or Plenipotentiaries of his Most Christian Majesty, and of his Britannic Ma­jesty, and those of any other Princes or States whom it might concern, relating to the re-establishing of peace and friendship: And whereas the flames of war have since that time been extended, and other nations and States are involved therein: Now know ye, that we still continuing earnestly desirous, as far as depends upon us, to put a stop to the effusion of blood, and to convince the powers of Europe, that we wish for nothing more ardently than to terminate the war, by a safe and honourable Peace, have thought proper to renew the [Page 82] powers formerly given to the said John Adams, and to join four other persons in commission with him; and having full confidence in the integrity, prudence, and abilities of the Hon. Benjamin Franklin, our Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Versailles, and the Hon. John Jay, late President of Congress, and Chief-Justice of the State of New-York, and our Minister Plenipo­tentiary at the Court of Madrid, and the Honourable Henry Laurens, formerly President of Congress, and commissioned and sent as our Agent to the United Pro­vinces of the Low-Countries, and the Honourable Tho­mas Jefferson, Governor of the Commonwealth of Vir­ginia, have nominated, constituted, and appointed, and by these presents do nominate, constitute and appoint the said Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Lau­rens, and Thomas Jefferson, in addition to the said John Adam, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Thomas Jefferson, or the majority of them, or such of them as may assemble, or, in case of the death, absence, indisposition, or other impediment of the other, to any one of them, full power and au­thority, general and special, conjunctly and separately, and general and special command to repair to such place as may be fixed upon for opening negociations for peace, and there for us and in our name, to confer, treat, agree, and conclude with the Ambassadors, Com­missioners Plenipotentiaries of the Princes and States whom it may concern, vested with equal powers re­lating to the establishment of Peace; and whatsoever shall be agreed and concluded, for us, and in our name to sign, and there upon make a Treaty or Treaties, and to transact every thing that may be necessary for com­pleating, securing, and strengthening the great work of pacification, in as ample form, and with the same effect, as if we were personally present, and acted therein, hereby promising in good faith that we will assent, ra­tify, fulfil, and execute whatever shall be agreed, con­cluded and signed, by our said Ministers Plenipotentia­ry, or a majority of them, or of such of them as may [Page] assemble, or in case of the death, absence, indisposition, or other impediment of the others, by any one of them; and that we will never act nor suffer any person to act contrary to the same, in whole or in any part. In wit­ness whereof, we have caused these presents to be signed by our President, and sealed with his seal▪

Done at Philadelphia, the fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, and in the fifth year of our Inde­pendence, by the United States in Congress as­sembled.
(Signed)
  • SAM. HUNTINGTON, President.
  • CHA. THOMPSON, Secretary.

WE certify, the foregoing copies of the respective full powers to be authentic.

Paris, Sept. 3, 1783.
(Signed)
  • GEO HAMMOND, Secretary to the British Commission.
  • W. T. FRANKLIN, Secretary to the American Commission.

AND we the United States in Congress assembled, having seen and duly considered the Definitive Articles aforesaid, did [...] a certain act, under the seal of the United States, bearing date this 14th day of January, 1784, approve, ratify and confirm the same and every part and clause thereof, engaging and promising that we would sincerely and faithfully perform and observe the same, and never suffer them to be violated by any one, or transgressed in any manner as far as should be in our power: and being sincerely disposed to carry the said articles into execution truly, honestly and with good faith, according to the intent and meaning hereof, we have thought proper by these presents, to notify the pre­mises to all the good citizens of these United States, hereby requiring and enjoining all bodies of magistracy, legislative, executive and judiciary, all persons bearing office, civil or military, of whatever rank, degree or [Page 84] powers, and all others the good citizens of these States of every vocation and condition, that reverencing those stipulations, entered into on their behalf, under the au­thority of that foederal bond, by which their existence as an independent people is bound up together, and is known and acknowleged by the nations of the world, and with that good faith, which is every man's surest guide within their several offices, jurisdictions and voca­tions, they carry into effect the said Definitive Articles, and every clause and sentence thereof, sincerely, strictly and completely

GIVEN under the Seal of the United States, Witness his Excellency THOMAS MIF­FLIN, our President, at Annapolis, this four­teenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America, the eighth.
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.
[Page]

His Excellency GENERAL WASH­INGTON's Circular LETTER to the different GOVERNORS of the re­spective STATES.

Head Quarters, Newburgh, June 11, 1783.
SIR,

THE great object for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of my coun­try being accomplished, I am now preparing to resign it into the hands of Congress, and to return to that domestic retirement, which, it is well known, I left with the greatest reluctance—a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh, through a long and painful ab­sence, and in which (remote from the noise and trouble of the world) I meditate to pass the remainder of life in a state of undisturbed repose: But before I carry this re­solution into effect, I think it a duty incumbent on me, to make this my last official communication—to con­gratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favour; to offer my sen­timents respecting some important subjects, which appear to me to be intimately connected with the tranquility of the United States; to take my leave of your Excellency as a public character; and to give my final blessing to that country, in whose service I have spent the prime of my life; for whose sake I have consumed so many anxious days and watchful nights; and whose happiness being extremely dear to me, will always constitute no inconsi­derable part of my own.

Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this pleasing occasion, I will claim the indulgence of dilating the more copiously on the subject of our mutual felicitation. When [Page 86] we consider the magnitude of the prize we contended for, the doubtful nature of the contest, and the favour­able manner in which it has terminated, we shall find the greatest possible reason for gratitude and rejoicing: This is a theme that will afford infinite delight to every benevolent and liberal mind, whether the event in con­templation be considered as the source of present enjoy­ment, or the parent of future happiness—and we shall have equal occasion to felicitate ourselves on the lot which Providence has assigned us, whether we view it in a na­tural, political, or moral point of light.

The citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, comprehending all the various soils and cli­mates of the world, and abounding with all the necessa­ries and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satis­factory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of ab­solute freedom and independency: They are from this period to be considered as the actors on a most conspi­cuous theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and fe­licity. Here they are not only surrounded with every thing which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment, but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favoured with. Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly, than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances, under which our republic as­sumed its rank among the nations. The foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but at an epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined than at any former period; the researches of the human mind, after social happiness have been carried to a great extent; the treasures of knowledge, acquired by the la­bours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislators, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of government; the free cul­tivation [Page] of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing libe­rality of sentiment, and above all, the pure and benign light of revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind, and encreased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period the United States came into existence as a nation, and if their citizens should not be complete­ly free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.

Such is our situation, and such are our prospects; but notwithstanding the cup of blessing is thus reached out to us; notwithstanding happiness is ours if we have a disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own; yet it appears to me, there is an option, still left to the United States of America, that it is in their choice, and depends upon their conduct, whether they will be re­spectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation. This is the time of their political probation; this is the moment when the eyes of the whole world are turned upon them: This is the moment to establish or ruin their national character for ever; this is the fa­vourable moment to give such a tone to our foederal government as will enable it to answer the ends of its institution; or this may be the ill-fated moment for re­laxing the powers of the union, and annihilating the ce­ment of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play one state against another to prevent their growing importance, and to serve their own interested purposes; for, accor­ding to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their con­firmation or lapse it is yet to be decided, whether the revolution must ultimately, be considered as a blessing or a curse— a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn mil­lions be involved.

With this conviction of the importance of the present crisis, silence in me would be a crime; I will therefore speak to your Excellency the language of freedom and of sincerity without disguise; I am aware, however, that those who differ from me in political sentiment may [Page 88] perhaps remark, I am stepping out of the proper line of my duty, and they may possibly ascribe to arrogance or ostentation, what I know is alone the result of the purest intention; but the rectitude of my own heart, which disdains such unworthy motives, the part I have hither­to acted in life, the determination I have formed of not taking any share in public business hereafter, the ardent desire I feel, and shall continue to manifest, of quietly enjoying in private life, after all the toils of war, the benefits of a wise and liberal government, will, I flat­ter myself, sooner or later convince my countrymen, that I could have no sinister views in delivering, with so little reserve, the opinions contained in this address.

There are four things which I humbly conceive are essential to the well-being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as an independent power,

1st. An indissoluble union of the States under one foede­ral head.

2dly. A sacred regard to public justice.

3dly. The adoption of a proper peace establishment. And,

4thly. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States, which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and po­licies, to make those mutual concessions which are re­quisite to general prosperity, and in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the community.

These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independency and national character must be sup­ported: Liberty is the basis; and whoever would dare to sap the foundation or overturn the structure, under whatever specious pretexts he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execrations and the severest punishment which can be inflicted by his injured country.

On the three first articles I will make a few observa­tions, leaving the last to the good sense and serious con­sideration of those immediately concerned.

[Page 89]Under the first head, although it may not be necessa­ry or proper for me in this place to enter into a particu­lar disquisition of the principles of the union, and to take up the great question which hath been frequently agitated, whether it be expedient and requisite for the states to delegate a larger proportion of power to Con­gress, or not—yet it will be a part of my duty and that of every true patriot, to assert without reserve, and to insist upon the following positions: That unless the states will suffer Congress to exercise those prerogatives they are undoubtedly invested with by the constitution, every thing must very rapidly tend to anarchy and con­fusion: That it is indispensable to the happiness of the individual states, that there should be lodged somewhere, a supreme power, to regulate and govern the general concerns of the confederate republic, without which the union cannot be of long duration: That there must be a faithful and pointed compliance on the part of every state, with the late proposals and demands of Congress, or the most fatal consequences will ensue: That what­ever measures have a tendency to dissolve the union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and inde­pendency of America, and the authors of them treated accordingly: And Lastly, that unless we can be enabled by the concurrence of the States, to participate of the fruits of the revolution, and enjoy the essen­tial benefits of civil society, under a form of govern­ment so free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the danger of oppression, as has been devised and adopt­ed by the articles of confederation; that it will be a subject of regret that so much blood and treasure have been lavished for no purpose, that so many sufferings have been encountered without compensation, and that so many sacrifices have been made in vain. Many other considerations might here be adduced to prove, that with­out an entire conformity to the spirit of the union, we can­not exist as an independent power—it will be sufficient for my purpose to mention but one or two, which seem to me of the greatest importance: It is only in our [Page 90] united character as an empire, that our independence is acknowledged, that our power can be regarded, or our credit supported among foreign nations. The treaties of the European powers with the United States of Ameri­ca, will have no validity on a dissolution of the union —we shall be left nearly in a state of nature; or we may find by our own unhappy experience, that there is a na­tural and necessary progression from the extreme of anar­chy to the extreme, of tyranny, and that arbitrary power [...] most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

As to the second article which respects the perfor­mance of public justice, Congress have, in their late address to the United States, almost exhausted the sub­ject: —They have explained their ideas so fully; and have enforced the obligations the states are under to ren­der compleat justice to all the public creditors, with so much dignity and energy, that in my opinion no real friend to the honor and independency of America, can hesitate a single moment respecting the propriety of com­plying with the just and honourable measures proposed: If their arguments do not produce conviction, I know of nothing that will have a greater influence; especially when we recollect that the system referred to, being the result of the collected wisdom of the continent, must be esteemed, if not perfect, certainly the least objectionable of any that could be devised, and that if it should not be carried into immediate execution, a national bankruptcy, with all its deplorable consequences, will take place be­fore any different plan can possibly be proposed and adopted. So pressing are the present circumstances! and such is the alternative now offered to the states!

The ability of the country to discharge the debts which have been incurred in its defence, is not to be doubted—an inclination, I flatter myself, will not be wanting; the path of our duty is plain before us: Ho­nesty will be found, on every experiment, to be the best and only true policy; let us then as a nation be just, let us fulfil the public contracts, which Congress had un­doubtedly a right to make for the purpose of carrying on [Page 91] the war, with the same good faith we suppose ourselves bound to perform our private engagements; in the mean time, let an attention to the cheerful performance of their proper business as individuals, and as members of society, be earnestly inculcated on the citizens of Ame­rica; then will they strongthen the hands of government; and be happy under its protection; every one will reap the fruit of his labours; every one will enjoy his own acquisitions without molestation and without danger.

In this state of absolute freedom and perfect security, who will grudge, to yield a very little of his property, to support the common interests of society, and ensure the protection of government? Who does not remember the frequent declarations at the commencement of the war, that we should be compleatly satisfied, if at the ex­pence of one half we could defend the remainder of our possessions; Where is the man to be found who wishes to remain indebted for the defence of his own person and property, to the exertions, the bravery and the blood of others, without making one generous effort to repay the debt of honor and of gratitude? In what part of the continent shall we find any man, or body of men, who would not blush to stand up and propose measures purposely calculated to rob the soldier of his stipend and the public creditor of his due? And were it possible that such a flagrant instance of injustice could ever hap­pen, would it not excite the general indignation, and tend to bring down upon the authors of such measures, the aggravated vengeance of Heaven? If after all, a spi­rit of disunion or a temper of obstinacy and perverseness should manifest itself in any of the states; if such an un­gracious disposition should attempt to frustrate all the happy effects that might be expected to slow from the union; if there should be a refusal to comply with the re­quisitions for funds to discharge the annual interest of the public debts; and if that refusal should revive again all those jealousies, and produce all those evils which are now happily removed. Congress who have in all their transactions shewn a great degree of magnanimity and justice, will stand justified in the sight of God and man; [Page 92] and the state alone which puts itself in opposition to the aggregate wisdom of the continent, and follows such mistaken and pernicious councils, will be responsible for all the consequences.

For my own part, conscious of having acted, while a servant of the public, in the manner I conceived best suited to promote the real interest of my country; having in consequence of my fixed belief, in some measure pledged myself to the army, that their country, would finally, do them compleat and ample justice; and not wishing to conceal any instance of my official conduct from the eyes of the world, I have thought proper to transmit to your Excellency the enclosed collection of papers relative to the half-pay and commutation granted by Congress to the officers of the army; from these com­mutations, my decided sentiments will be clearly com­prehended, together with the conclusive reasons which induced me, at an early period, to recommend the adop­tion of this measure in the most earnest and serious man­ner. As the proceedings of Congress, the army and my­self, are open to all, and contain, in my opinion, suf­ficient information to remove the prejudices and errors which may have been entertained by any, I think it un­necessary to say any thing more, than just to observe that the resolutions of Congress now alluded to, are un­doubtedly as absolutely, binding upon the United States as the most solemn acts of confederation or legislation. As to the idea, which I am informed has in some in­stances prevailed, that the half-pay and commutation are to be regarded merely in the odious light of a pension; it ought to be exploded forever—that provision should be viewed, as it really was, a reasonable compensation offered by Congress, at a time when they had nothing else to give, to the officers of the army for services then to be performed—it was the only means to prevent a total dereliction of the service; it was a part of their hire; I may be allowed to say, it was the price of their blood and your independency; it is therefore more than a common debt: It is a debt of honor; it can never be [Page 93] considered as a pension or gratuity, nor can be cancelled until it is fairly discharged.

With regard to a distinction between officers and sol­diers, it is sufficient that the uniform experience of every nation of the world, combined with our own, proves the utility and propriety of the discrimination: Rewards in proportion to the aids the public derives from them, are unquestionably due to all its servants. In some lines, the soldiers perhaps have generally had as ample a compen­sation for their services, by the large bounties which have been paid to them, as their officers will receive in the proposed commutation: In others, if besides the donation of lands, the payment of arrearages of cloathing and wages (in which articles all the component parts of the army must be put upon the same footing) we take into the estimate the bounties many of the soldiers have re­ceived, and the gratuity of one year's full pay, which is promised to all, possibly their situation (every circum­stance being duly considered) will not be deemed less eli­gible than that of the officers; should a farther reward, however be judged equitable, I will venture to assert, no one will enjoy greater satisfaction than myself, on seeing an exemption from taxes for a limited time (which had been petitioned for in some instances) or any other ade­quate immunity or compensation, granted to the brave defenders of their country's cause: But neither the adop­tion or rejection of this proposition will in any manner affect, much less militate against the act of Congress, by which they have offered five years full pay, in lieu of the half pay for life which had been before promised to the officers of the army.

Before I conclude the subject of public justice, I can­not omit to mention the obligations this country is under to that meritorious class of veteran non-commissioned of­ficers and privates, who have been discharged for inability, in consequence of the resolution of Congress of the 23d of April, 1782, on an annual pension for life; their pecu­liar sufferings, their singular merits and claims to that provision, need only be known, to interest all the feel­ings [Page 94] of humanity in their behalf—nothing but a punctual payment of their annual allowance can rescue them from the most complicated misery—and nothing could be a more melancholy and distressing sight, than to behold those who have shed their blood, or lost their limbs in the service of their country, without a shelter, without a friend, and without the means of obtaining any of the necessaries or comforts of life, compelled to beg their dai­ly bread from door to door; Suffer me to recommend those of this description, belonging to your state, to the warmest patronage of your Excellency and your Legis­lature.

It is necessary to say but a few words on the third to­pic which was proposed, and which regards particularly the defence of the republic: As there can be little doubt but Congress will recommend a proper peace establish­ment for the United States, in which a due attention will be paid to the importance of placing the militia of the union upon a regular and respectable footing—if this should be the case, I would beg leave to urge the great advantage of it in the strongest terms: The militia of this county must be considered as the palladium of our secu­rity, and the first effectual resort in case of hostility—it is essential therefore, that the same system should pervade the whole; that the same formation and discipline of the militia of the continent should be absolutely uniform, and that the same species of arms, accoutrements and mi­litary apparatus, should be introduced in every part of the United States: No one who has not learnt it from experience, can conceive the difficulty, expense and con­fusion, which result from a contrary system, or the vague arrangements which have hitherto prevailed.

If in treating of political points, a greater latitude than usual has been taken in the course of this address, the importance of the crisis and the magnitude of the object in discussion, must be my apology. It is, however, nei­ther my wish or expectation, that the preceding observa­tions should claim any regard, except so far as they shall appear to be dictated by a good intention, consonant to [Page 95] the immutable rules of justice, calculated to produce a liberal system of policy, and founded on whatever expe­rience may have been acquired, by a long and close at­tention to public business: Here I might speak with the more confidence from my actual observations, and if it would not swell this letter (already too prolix) beyond the bounds I had prescribed myself, I could demonstrate to every mind open to conviction, that in less time, and with much less expence than has been incurred, the war might have been brought to the same happy conclusion, if the resources of the continent could have been proper­ly brought forth; that the distresses and disappointments which have very often occurred, have, in too many in­stances, resulted more from a want of energy in the con­tinental government, than a deficiency of means in the particular states; that the inefficacy of measures, arising from the want of an adequate authority in the supreme power, from a partial compliance with the requisitions of Congress in some of the states, and from a failure of punctuality in others; while it tended to damp the zeal of those which were more willing to exert themselves, served also to accumulate the expences of the war, and to frustrate the best concerted plans; and that the dis­couragement occasioned by the complicated difficulties and embarrassments, in which our affairs were by this means involved, would have long ago produced the dis­solution of any army, less patient, less virtuous, and less persevering, than that which I have had the honour to command: But while I mention these things, which are notorious facts, as the defects of our foederal constitution, particularly in the prosecution of a war, I beg it may be understood, that as I have ever taken a pleasure in grate­fully acknowledging the assistance and support I have de­rived from every class of citizens, so shall I always be happy to do justice to the unparalleled exertions of the individual States on many interesting occasions.

I have thus freely disclosed what I wished to make known before I surrendered up my public trust to those who committed it to me. The task is now accomplished, [Page 96] I now bid adieu to your Excellency as the chief magi­strate of your State: At the same time I bid a last fare­wel to the cares of office and all the employments of pub­lic life. It remains then to be my final and only request, that your Excellency will communicate these sentiments to your Legislature at their next meeting, and that they may be considered as the legacy of one who has ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his country, and who, even in the shade of retirement, will not fail to im­plore the divine benediction upon it.

I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citi­zens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have suffered in the field; and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that chari­ty, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed re­ligion, and without an humble imitation of whose exam­ple in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.

I have the honor to be, with esteem and regard, Sir, Your Excellency's most obedient servant, G. WASHINGTON

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