W

that you may be clear in future orders. be clear in future orders. I see in one of the estimates sent me, that a quarter's salary of a minister is reckoned at 14,513 livres, in the other it is reckoned 16,667 livres, and the bill for 9,756 w livres, is mentioned as intended to pay a balance due on the remittance of the 68,290 livres. Being unacquainted with the state of your exchanges, I do not well comprehend this, and therefore leave the whole for the present as I have said above. Permit me only to hint for your consideration, whether it may not be well hereafter to omit mention of sterling in our appointments, since we have severed from the country to which that denomination of money is peculiar; and also to order the payment of your ministers in such a manner, that they may know exactly what they are to receive, and not be subject to the fluctuations of exchange. If it is that which occasions the difference between 14,583 for the first quarter, and the 16,667 for the second, it is considerable. I think we have no right to any advantage by the exchange, nor should we be liable to any loss from it. Hitherto we have taken 15,000 for a quarter, (subject however to the allowance or disal. lowance of congress) which is lower than the medium between those two extremes.

The different accounts given of lord Shelburne's character with respect to sincerity, induced the ministry here, to send over M. de Rayneval, secretary of the council, to converse with him, and endeavor to form by that means a more perfect judgment of what was to be expected from the negociations. He was five or six days in England, saw all the ministers, and returned quite satisfied that they are sincerely desirous of peace, so that the negociations now go on with some prospect of success. But the court and people of England are very changeable. A little turn of fortune in their favor sometimes turns their heads; and I shall not

w Note of Mr Livingston. N. B. This is not merely to pay a balance, bus an excess on account of contingencies.

think a speedy peace to be depended on, till I see the trea ties signed. I am obliged to finish.

With great esteem, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

SIR,

To the same, introducing Baron de Kermelin.

Passy, November 7, 1782.

THE baron de Kermelin, a Swedish gentleman of distinction, recommended strongly to me by his excellency the embassador of that nation to this court, as a person highly esteemed in his own; purposes a journey through North America, to view its natural productions, acquaint himself with its commerce, and acquire such information. as may be useful to his country, in the communication and connection of interests that seems to be growing, and probably may soon become considerable between the two nations. I therefore beg leave to introduce him to you, and request that you would present him to the president of congress, and to such other persons as you shall think may be useful to him in his views, and I recommend him earnestly to those civilities which you have a pleasure in shewing to strangers of merit.

I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.

To the same.

SIR,

Passy, December 4, 1782.

WE detain the Washington a little longer, expecting an English passport for her in a few days, and as possibly some vessel bound for North America may sail before her, I write this line to inform you, that the French preliminaries with England are not yet signed, though we hope they may

be very soon. Of ours I enclose a copy. The Dutch and Spain have yet made but little progress, and as no definitive treaty will be signed, till all are agreed; there may be time for congress to give us farther instructions if they think proper. We hope the terms we have obtained will be satisfactory, though, to secure our main points, we may have yielded too much in favor of the royalists. The quantity of aid to be afforded us remains undecided. I suppose something depends on the event of the treaty; by the Washington you will be fully informed of every thing, With great regard, I have the honor to be, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

PROVISIONAL ARTICLES WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

ARTICLES agreed upon by and between Richard Oswald, Esq. the commissioner of his Britannic majesty, for treating of peace with the commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said majesty, on the one part, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, four of the commissioners for the said states, for treating of peace with the commissioners of his said majesty, on their behalf, on the other part; to be inserted in, and to constitute the treaty of peace, proposed to be concluded between the crown of Great Britain and the said United States; but which treaty is not to be concluded, until terms of a peace shall be agreed upon between Great Britain and France, and his Britannic majesty shall be ready to conclude such treaty accordingly.

Whereas reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience are found by experience to form the only permanent foundation of peace and friendship between states; it is agreed to form the articles of the proposed treaty on such principles of liberal equity and reciprocity, as that partial advantages (those seeds of discord) being excluded, such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the two countries may

be established, as to promise and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony.

Article 1. His Britannic majesty acknowleges the said United States, to wit, New Hampshire, Massachusettsbay, 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, property, and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof; and that all disputes which might arise in future, on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States, may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries, viz.

Article 2. From the north west angle of Nova Scotia, to wit, that angle which is found by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix river, to the high lands, along the said high lands, which divide these rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Laurence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the north westermost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river to 45° of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence along the middle of said river into lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and lake Erie ; thence along the middle of said communication into lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the lake Huron; thence through the middle of said lake, to the water communication between that lake and lake Superior; thence through lake Superior, northward of the isles Royal and Phillipeaux 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 until it shall intersect the northernmost part of 31° of north latitude.

South by a line to be drawn due east from the termination of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of 31° north of the equator, to the middle of the river Appalachicola, or Catahouche; 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.

East by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from it mouth on the bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid high lands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic ocean, from those which fall into the river St. Laurence; comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia, on the one part, and east Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the bay of 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.

Article 3. 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. Laurence, and at all other places on 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 and 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