THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1783

On motion of Mr. [James] McHenry, seconded by Mr. [Richard] Peters,

Resolved, That the Secretary at War be, and he is hereby directed to issue to Captain North, aid-de-camp to Major General the Baron Steuben, the brevet commission of major in the army of the United States.

Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the committee on the cession of Virginia; after debate, a motion was made by Mr. [James] McHenry, seconded by Mr. [Daniel] Carroll,

That the consideration of the report on the cession from Virginia, be postponed till Thursday next, in order that notice may be given to the states of New Jersey and Delaware, or those states which it may be reasonably expected can give their attendance.

A motion was made by Mr. [Stephen] Higginson, seconded by Mr. [Samuel] Holten, to strike out what follows the words "Thursday next:" And on the question, shall those words stand? the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Daniel] Carroll,

So it passed in the negative, and the words were struck out.

On the question to agree to the motion as amended, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Theodorick] Bland,

1 On this day, as the indorsement states, was read a letter from John Pierce, Paymaster General, dated Princeton September 11, 1782, respecting his allowances, and referred to Mr. [Hugh] Williamson, Mr. B[enjamin] Huntington and Mr. [William] Ellery. The indorsement further states: "Report of Committee on this passed April 15, 1784." The letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, VIII, folio 172. According to Committee Book No. 191 the report was delivered September 18.

Also, an address of the inhabitants of Germantown inviting Congress to make that town the place of their permanent residence. It is in No. 46, folios 117-121.

On September 12, according to the indorsement and the record in Committee Book No. 186, was read a petition of John Halsted, late Deputy Commissary General in Canada, dated Prince Town, September 12th, 1783. It was referred, on the same day, to Mr. [Thomas] FitzSimons, Mr. B[enjamin] Huntington and Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry, who delivered a report on September 17. The report was acted upon September 20 and Halsted's petition, with its enclosures, was referred on that day to the Superintendent of Finance. The petition is in No. 41, II, folio 142.

i

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1783

A memorial from the honble the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, was read, enclosing a commission of Chevalier D'Annemours, consul general of France, in the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; Whereupon,

The Committee [Mr. Thomas FitzSimons, Mr. James Madison' and Mr. Elbridge Gerry] to whom was referred the Memorial of the Minister of France respecting the Commission of the Chevalier D'Annemours as Consul Genl. for the States of Virginia N. and S. Carolina and Georgia, Report,

That the Secretary be directed to make out the necessary papers, agreeably to the prayer of the Memorial.1

Ordered, That the commission be registered, and that it be recognised, and an exequatur issued in due form.2

Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the committee on the Virginia cession, and the same being amended, a motion was made by Mr. MeHenry [Daniel] Carroll, seconded by Mr. Carroll [James] McHenry, to postpone the further consideration of the report, in order to take up the following:

Whereas by the 6th article of the preliminary articles of peace between his Britannic Majesty, and their Most Christian and Catholic Majesties, signed on the 3d day of November, 1762, and ratified the 10 day of February, 1763, it is stipulated and agreed, that, "the confines between the dominions of Great Britain and France, on the continent of North America, shall be irrevocably fixed by a line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi, from its source as far as the river Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and of the lakes Maurepas and

1 This report, in the writing of Thomas FitzSimons, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 25, II, folio 255. The memorial is in No. 41, III, folio 274. The indorsement shows that it was read and referred, September 12.

2 This order was also entered in the manuscript Secret Journal, Foreign Affairs.

Pontchartrain to the sea"; and to this purpose the Most Christian king cedes in full right and guaranties to his Britannic Majesty the river and port of Mobile, and every thing that he possesses on the left side of the river Mississippi, except the town of New Orleans, and the island on which it is situated, which shall remain to France; provided that the navigation of the river Mississippi shall be equally free to the subjects of Great Britain and France, in its whole breadth and length from its source to the sea, and that part expressly which is between the said island of New Orleans, and the right bank of that river, as well as the passage both in and out of its mouth. And whereas by the nineteenth article of the said treaty, his Catholic Majesty cedes and guaranties in full right to his Britannic Majesty, all that Spain possesses in the continent of North America, to the east or to the southeast of the river Mississippi/ And whereas by the articles of treaty between Great Britain and the United States, done at Paris the 30th day of November, 1782, the boundaries of the United States are set forth, described and agreed to be by the 2d article of the said treaty, viz. "From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz. that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix river to the highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the northwestermost head of Connecticut river, thence down along the middle of that river to the 45th degree 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 lake

Huron; thence through the middle of the said lake to the water communication between that and lake Superior; thence through lake Superior northward of the isles Royal and Philipeaux, 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 northwestern 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 northermost part of the 31st 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 31 degrees north of the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola 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 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."

And whereas by the 6th and 11th articles of the treaty of alliance, eventual and definitive defensive, between the Most Christian King, and the United States, signed at Paris 6th February, 1778, and ratified by the United States in Congress assembled, the 4 day of May, 1778, the Most Christian King renounces for ever the possession of the islands of