DOCUMENTS BEARING ON TREATY OF 1783. 139 



No. 96. 1788, November 8: Letter, Mr. Strachey (from Calais en 

 route to London) to Mr. Townshend, with enclosures. 



CALAIS 8th November 1782 



SIR The moment I arrive at Dover, I shall dispatch a messenger, 

 with the enclosed new terms of Treaty, as a paper which you will 

 be most anxious to see. It is accompanied with a map, upon which 

 are drawn the boundary line originally sent to you by Mr. Oswald, 

 and two other lines proposed by the American 'Commissioners after 

 my arrival at Paris. Either of these you are to choose. They are 

 both better than the original line, as well in respect to Canada, as 

 to Nova Scotia, though neither of them equal to your hopes. The 

 boundaries, according to the first proposed of these two new lines, 

 are described in an enclosed Paper No. 2. Those, according to the 

 second proposed, are described in the treaty, merely because they 

 are contained in a lesser compass of writing. 



It is unnecessary at present to trouble you with the arguments 

 urged by us, to enlarge the circle of Canada, and to extend Nova 

 Scotia to Kennebeck, or even to Penobscot. The limitation of this 

 Province to the River St. Croix (which is the boundary by the King's 

 Commission to the Governor) being inadmissible under the instruc- 

 tions Lord Shelburne gave me, could not be acquiesced in; and the 

 American Commissioners would not recede from their extension of 

 the Massachusets to that river : nor would they agree to the appoint- 

 ment of Commissaries, unless it were to settle where the River St. 

 Croix really is; for it is not laid down in the same place in all the 

 maps. 



No. 3 is what I contended for, as the proper article concerning the 

 fishery, which I take to be precisely consonant with your intention. 

 After a little dispute, they gave up the point of drying fish on New- 

 foundland ; but they insisted upon a right to fish in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and in all other places, where they and we used formerly 

 to fish; and also to dry on the shores of the Isle of Sables, Cape 

 Sables, the Magdalene Islands (which are said to be uninhabited), 

 and on the shores of any unsettled bay in Nova Scotia. Mr. Oswald 

 is satisfied with the article so expressed, and I enclose (No. 4) his 

 observations upon the subject. 



The recovery of the property of the refugees, and of the debts 

 due to British subjects, before, and since the war, are points which 

 have been obstinately fought for. You will see by the treaty all 

 that could be obtained. The debts prior to 1775, appear to be safe. 

 Those, since that period, were alledged to have been illegal, and there- 

 fore not recoverable, but under the honour of those who contracted 

 them. 



With regard to the refugees, you will observe that something is 

 done in favor of those now under the protection of the British army. 

 But with regard to all others of that description, I see nothing for 

 them, except what you have in Canada and the little piece now added 

 to Nova Scotia, between the original Boundary sent to you by Mr. 

 Oswald, and that now obtained. The written remonstrance, by a let- 

 ter from Mr. Oswald to the American Commissioners (No. 5) was 

 made, in the view of having an authentic proof that every effort 

 had been used, agreeably to my Instructions from Lord Shelburne, 



