A M E 
thing in his pAwe'f to relieve him. A duplicate of this 
letter was fent to his lordthip by major Cochran, oh the 
3d of O ft'ober. That gentleman, who was a very gallant 
officer, went in a veffel to the Capes, and made his way to 
lord Cornwallis, 11 ndi (covered, through the whole French 
heet, in an open boat. He got to York-town on the iorh 
of the month ; and, foon after his arrival, had his head 
carried off by a cannon-ball. 
After the return of admiral Graves to New York, a 
council of war was held, in which it was refolved, that a 
large body of troops fiiould be embarked on-board the 
king’s (hips, as foon as they were refitted; and, that the 
exertions of both fleet' and-army fffould be made, in order 
to form a : junftlon with lord Cornwallis. Sir Henry Clin¬ 
ton himfeif embarked on-board- the fleet, with upwards 
of 7000 troops, on the i8rh ; they arrived oft'Cape Charles, 
at the entrance of the Chefapeak, on the 24th, where they 
received the mortifying intelligence, that lord Cornwallis 
had been obliged to capitulate five days before. 
It was on the 19th of Oflober, that lord Cornwallis 
fnrrendered himfeif and his w hole army prifoners of war, 
to the combined armies' of America and France. He made 
a defence fuitableto the character he had before'acquired 
for courage and military (kill; but waS compelled to fub- 
mif to untoward circumft'ances and fuperior numbers. It 
was agreed by the articles of capitulation, that' the Britifii 
troop's were to be prifoners to the United States of Ame- 
rica, and the feanien to the French king, to whofe officers 
alfo the Britifii veffiels found at York-town and Glouteftef 
were to be deli vered up. The Britifii prifoners .amounted 
to more than 6060; but many of them, a f the time of fur- 
render, were incapable of duty. A confidetable number 
of cannon, and a large quantity of military (lores, fell in¬ 
to the hands of the Americans on this occafion. 
As no rational expeftation now remained of a fubjuga- 
tion of the colonies, the military operations that fucceeded 
in America were of little confequence. On the 5th of May, 
1782, Sir Guy Carleton arrived at New York, being ap¬ 
pointed to the command of the Britifii troops in America, 
iri the room of Sir Henry Clinton. Two days after his 
arrival, he wrote to general Waftiington, acquainting him, 
that admiral Digby was joined with himfeif in a coni- 
miffion to treat of peace with the people of America ; 
than fm it ting" to him, at the fame time, fome papers, tend¬ 
ing to ma'nifeft'the'pacific difpofition of the government 
and people of Britain towards thofe of America. He alfo 
defired a paffport for'Mr. Morgan, who w‘as appointed to 
tranfmit a fimilar letter of compliment to the congrefs. 
General Waftiington declined (igning any pdfiport till lie 
had' taken the opinion of congrefs upon that meafure ; and 
by them he was directed to refufe any paffport for Inch a 
piirpofe. However, another letter was fent to general 
Waftiington, dated the 2d of Auguft, and figned by Sir 
Guy Carleton and rear-admiral Digby, in which they in¬ 
formed him, that they were acquainted by authority, that 
n'egociations for a general peace had already commenced 
at Paris ; that Mr. Grenville was invefted with full pow¬ 
ers to treat with all the parties at war, and was then at 
Paris in the execution of his commiffion. They farther 
informed him, that his inajefry, in order to remove all 
obfiacles to that peace which lie fo ardently wiftied to re- 
ftore, had-commanded his miniftersto acknowledge the in¬ 
dependency of tile thirteen provinces the firft infiance, bi¬ 
ll ead of making it the conditibn of a" general treaty. But 
fome jealoufies were (till entertained, that it was the defi'gn' 
of the Britifii court either to difunite them, or to bring" 
them to'treat of a peace feparately from their ally the 
king of France : they therefore refolved, that.any man, 
or body of men, who flitmld prefume to make any fepa- 
rate or partial convention or agreement with the king of 
Great Britain, or with any comniiffioner or comniiffioners 
under the crown of Great Britain, ought to be conlidered 
and treated as open and avowed enemies of the United 
States of America; and alfo that thofe States could not 
with propriety hold any conference or treaty with any com- 
Vot,. I. No. 30. 
RICA. 40.^ 
niifiloners on the part of Great Britain, unlefsthey fiiould, 
as' a 1 preliminary, thereto, either withdraw their fleets and 
armies', or clfe, in' gofifive Or e'xp refs terms, acknowledge 
the independence of the find States. They likewife re¬ 
folved, that any propofitions .which' might be made by the 
court of Great Britain, in Any manner tending to violate 
the treaty fubfifting between them and the king of France, 
ought t6 be treated with every' mark of indignity' and 
contempt. 
The mod fatisfaffofy' affuninces, however, on the . part, 
of the Britifii chiefs, having been laid before congrefs, an 
immediate celfation of lioftilities took place; and', on the 
30th of November following, the proyifi.oiial' articles of 
peace'and reconciliation between England and America 
was (igjied at Paris, by which Great Britain folemnly ac¬ 
knowledged the' independence' and' fovereign'ty of the Uni¬ 
ted States'. Thefe articles were ratified by a definitive, 
treaty, September 3, 17S3. This peace was negocia-ted 
611 the part of Great Britain by Mr. Ofvvald, and the de¬ 
finitive treaty was ligried by Mr. Hartley ; and on the part 
of the United States by John Adams, and John Jay, Efqrs, 
and Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Holland acknowledged the 
independence of the United States of America on .the 
igthdaVof April, 1782; Sweden, February5, 1783; Den¬ 
mark, the 25 th of February ; Spain in March, arid Kufiia 
in July, 1783. 
Thus ended that long and arduous confliff, in which 
Great Britain’expended near an hundred millions of mo- 
bey, with an hundred thoufund lives, and won nothing: 
and in-which America patiently endured' every diftrefs ; 
loft an infinite number of lives, and much treafure ; but 
eventually delivered herfelf from a foreign dominion, and 
gained a'name Among the nations of the earth. 
ESTABLISHMENT of the UNITED STATES. 
By the definitive treaty of peace between the'king of 
Great Britain and the United States of America, the boun¬ 
daries of thefe ftates are fixed to extend on the north from 
Nova Scotia, acrofs the four great lakes Ontario, Erie, Hu¬ 
ron, and Superior, afligningto the ftates the fouthern half 
of each, and in the latter the iflands Royal and Phillip- 
peaux ; lake Michigan they, poflefs entire: though thefe 
lakes have ever been confidered as making a part of Cana¬ 
da, and no new'regulation of limits has excluded them. 
This boundary is farther extended through the centre of 
the Lake of the Woods to its mod weftern point. It may 
be fuppofed that a want of acquaintance vrith the geogra¬ 
phy of the comitry'has caufed it to be added “ from thehce 
on a due weft courfe to the river Miffiffippi,” for, if the 
boundary is carried due weft, it will reach the Pacific 
Ocean, about one degree of latitude' fouth of Nootka' 
Sound. The line, in order to touch the Miffiffippi, fiiould 
have been carried from the weftern fide of the .Lake of the 
Woods due fouth. In confequence of this inaccuracy, no. 
boundary is fettled throughout a fpace of near three de¬ 
grees of latitude; it being refumed along the middle of 
the river Miffiffippi to thirty-one degrees north latitude, 
where that river begins to divide Weft Florida from Loni- 
fiaiia. The American States are bounded on the fouth by 
the two Floridas. They poflefs all the eaftefh coaft from 
the mouth of the river St. Croix, in the bay of Fundy, to 
St. Mary’s RiVef, which divides Georgia' from Eaft Flo¬ 
rida, and all iflands within twenty leagues of any part of 
the (hores. 
The dates, with whom the king of Great Britain con¬ 
cluded this treaty were, New Hampfiiire, Malladmiett’s 
Bay, Rhode Kland with Providence Plantation, Connec¬ 
ticut,. New York, New Jerfey, Pennfylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and. 
Georgia. 
Thefe ftates, in their fulled extent, comprife eighteen 
degrees of latitude, and thirty-three degrees of longitude; 
they are deferibed as being 1230 miles in length, and 1040 
in breadth : reaching from thirty-one degrees to forty- 
nine degrees north latitude, an'd'froni fifty-one degrees r f 
6 C ■ eighty- 
