Article iii. The citizens of the said United States shall have the liberty of taking fish of every kind on all the banks of Newfoundland, and also in the Gulf of St Lawrence; and also to dry and cure their fish on the shores of the Isle of Sables and on the shores of any of the unsettled bays, harbors and creeks of the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, so long as such bays, harbors and creeks shall continue and remain unsettled; on condition that the citizens of the said United States do not exercise the fishery, but at the distance of three leagues from all the coast belonging to Great Britain, as well those of the continent as those of the islands situated in the Gulf of St Lawrence. And as to what relates to the fishery on the coast of the Island of Cape Breton out of the said gulf, the citizens of the said United States shall not be permitted to exercise the said fishery, but at the distance of fifteen leagues from the coasts of the Island of Cape Breton.
Article iv. It is agreed, that the British creditors shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of such bona fide debts as were contracted by any persons who are citizens of the United States, before the year 1775.
Article v. It is agreed, that restitution shall be made of all estates, rights and properties in America, which have been confiscated during the war.
Article vi. There shall be a full and entire amnesty of all acts and offences, which have been or may be supposed to have been committed on either side, by reason of the war, and in the course thereof; and no one shall hereafter suffer in life or person, or be deprived of his property, for the part he may have taken therein. All persons in confinement on that account, shall immediately on the ratification of the treaty in America, be set at liberty; all prosecutions which may be depending in consequence of any of the said offences, shall cease, and no fresh prosecutions shall at any time hereafter be commenced thereupon.
Article vii. There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between his Britannic Majesty and the said States, and between the subjects of the one, and the citizens of the other; wherefore all hostilities both by sea and land shall then immediately cease; all prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty; and his Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient speed and without causing any destruction, withdraw all his armies, garrisons and fleets from the said United States, and from every port, place and harbor within the same, leaving in all fortifications the American artillery that may be therein. And shall also order and cause all archives, records and papers, belonging to any of the said States or their citizens, which in the course of the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper States and persons to whom they belong.
Article viii. The navigation of the Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and citizens of the United States.
Separate Article. It is hereby understood and agreed, that in case Great Britain, at the end of the present war, shall be, or be put in possession of West Florida, the line of north boundary between the said province and the United States, shall be a line drawn from the mouth of the river Yazoo, where it unites with the river Mississippi, due east to the river Apalachicola.
ARTICLE PROPOSED AND READ TO THE COMMISSIONERS, BEFORE SIGNING THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES.[13]
It is agreed, that his Britannic Majesty will earnestly recommend it to his Parliament to provide for and make a compensation to the merchants and shopkeepers of Boston, whose goods and merchandise were seized and taken out of their stores, warehouses and shops, by order of General Gage and others of his commanders and officers there; and also to the inhabitants of Philadelphia, for the goods taken away by his army there; and to make compensation, also, for the tobacco, rice, indigo, and negroes, &c. seized and carried off by his armies under Generals Arnold, Cornwallis, and others, from the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, and also for all vessels and cargoes, belonging to the inhabitants of the said United States, which were stopped, seized, or taken, either in the ports, or on the seas, by his Governors, or by his ships of war, before the declaration of war against the said States.
And it is farther agreed, that his Britannic Majesty will also earnestly recommend it to his Parliament to make compensation for all the towns, villages, and farms, burnt and destroyed by his troops, or adherents, in the said United States.