DOCUMENTS BEABING ON TREATY OF 1783. 119 



27 such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the two 

 Countries may be established, as to promise and secure to both, 

 the blessings of perpetual peace and harmony. 



1. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, 

 viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Provi- 

 dence plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pensylvania, 

 Delaware, Marylaiid, 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, relin- 

 quishes all claims to the Government, Propriety, and territorial rights 

 of the same and every part thereof. And that all disputes which 

 might arise in future on the subject of the Boundaries of the said 

 United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, 

 that the folloAving are, and shall remain to be, their boundaries viz. 



The said States are bounded north by a line to be drawn from the 

 northwest angle of Nova Scotia along the highlands which divide 

 those rivers which empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence 

 from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northermost 

 head of Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that 

 river to the forty fifth degree of north latitude, and thence due 

 West in the Latitude forty five degrees north from the Equator 

 to the northwesternmost side of the River St. Lawrence or Cadara- 

 qui, thence straight to the south-end of the Lake Nipissing, and then 

 straight to the source of the River Mississippi; West, by a line to 

 be drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi from its source 

 to where the said line shall intersect the thirty first degree of north 

 latitude. South, by a line to be drawn due east from the termination 

 of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty one degrees north 

 of the Equator to the middle of the River Appalachicola or Cata- 

 houchi, thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the 

 Flint River, thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; and 

 thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic 

 Ocean. And East* by a line to be drawn along the middle of St. 

 John's River, from its source to its mouth in the Bay of Fundy 

 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. 



2. From and immediately after the conclusion of the proposed 

 Treaty, there shall be a firm and perpetual Peace between His Britan- 

 nic Majesty and the said States, and between the subjects of the one 

 and the citizens of the other. Wherefor all hostilities, both by sea 

 and land, shall then immediately cease; all prisoners on both sides 

 shall be set at liberty ; and His Britannic Majesty shall forthwith, and 

 without causing any destruction, withdraw all his Armies, Garrisons 

 and Fleets, from the said United States, and from every Port, Place, 

 and Harbour within the same; leaving in all Fortifications the Ameri- 

 can Artillery that may be therein. And shall also order and cause 

 all Archives, Records, Deeds, and Papers belonging to either of the 

 said States or their citizens, which in the course of the war may have 

 fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and 

 delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they belong. 



