3. Although it is of the utmost importance to the peace and commerce of the United States that Canada and Nova Scotia should be ceded, and more particularly that their equal common right to the fisheries should be guarantied to them, yet a desire of terminating the war has induced us not to make the acquisition of these objects an ultimatum on the present occasion.
5. You are empowered to agree to a cessation of hostilities during the negotiation, provided our ally shall consent to the same, and provided it shall be stipulated that all the forces of the enemy shall be immediately withdrawn from the United States.
6. In all other matters not abovementioned, you are to govern yourself by the alliance between His Most Christian Majesty and these States, by the advice of our allies, by your knowledge of our interests, and by your own discretion, in which we repose the fullest confidence.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR A TREATY OF COMMERCE WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
Sir,
You will herewith receive a commission, giving you full power to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, in doing which, you will consider yourself bound by the following information and instructions.
1. You will govern yourself principally by the treaty of commerce with His Most Christian Majesty, and as, on the one hand, you shall grant no privilege to Great Britain not granted by that treaty to France, so, on the other, you shall not consent to any peculiar restrictions or limitations whatever in favor of Great Britain.
2. In order that you may be the better able to act with propriety on this occasion, it is necessary for you to know, that we have determined, 1st, that the common right of fishing shall in no case be given up; 2dly, that it is essential to the welfare of all these United States that the inhabitants thereof, at the expiration of the war, should continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their common right to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and the other fishing banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the treaties between France and the said States; 3dly, that application shall be made to His Most Christian Majesty to agree to some article or articles for the better securing to these States a share in the said fisheries; 4thly, that if, after a treaty of peace with Great Britain, she shall molest the citizens or inhabitants of any of the United States, in taking fish on the banks and places hereinafter described, such molestation, being in our opinion a direct violation and breach of the peace, shall be a common cause of the said States, and the force of the union be exerted to obtain redress for the parties injured; and 5thly, that our faith be pledged to the several States, that, without their unanimous consent, no treaty of commerce shall be entered into, nor any trade or commerce carried on with Great Britain, without the explicit stipulation hereinafter mentioned. You are therefore not to consent to any treaty of commerce with Great Britain without an explicit stipulation on her part, not to molest or disturb the inhabitants of the United States of America in taking fish on the Banks of Newfoundland and other fisheries in the American seas anywhere, excepting within the distance of three leagues of the shores of the territories remaining to Great Britain at the close of the war, if a nearer distance cannot be obtained by negotiation. And in the negotiation you are to exert your most strenuous endeavors to obtain a nearer distance to the gulf of St Lawrence, and particularly along the shores of Nova Scotia, as to which latter we are desirous that even the shores may be occasionally used for the purpose of carrying on the fisheries by the inhabitants of these States.
In all matters you are to govern yourself by your own discretion, as shall be most for the interest of these States, taking care that the said treaty be founded on principles of equality and reciprocity, so as to conduce to the mutual advantage of both nations, but not to the exclusion of others.