56 PROVISIONAL ARTICLES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 1782. ARTICLE III. Right offishe- It is agreed that the people of the United States. shall continue to ‘Y '°°“‘“d· 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. Lawrence, and at all other places in 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 hberty_to ta.ke_fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use (but not to dry or cure the same on that island); and also on the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his Britannic Majesty’s dominions in America; and that the American fishermen shall have liberty_to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours and creeks of Nova—Scotia, Magdalen islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled; but so soon as thesame or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement for that purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors or possessors of the ground. ARTICLE IV. new to 5. It is agreed that creditors on either side, shall meet with no lawful paid. impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money, of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted. ARTICLE V. crmgrmm It is agreed that the Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the
- ¢¤°m¤¤¤¤d **2 legislatures of the respective states, to provide for the restitution of all
{Ego;":?:;:';;: estates, rights and properties, which have been confiscated, belonging mea mms, to real British subjects, and also of the estates, rights and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession of his Majesty’s arms, and who have not borne arms against the said United States. And that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months, unmolested in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights and properties, as may have been confiscated; and that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states a reconsideration and revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation, which on the return of the blessings of peace should universaly prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states, that the estates, rights and properties of such last mentioned persons, shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession, the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights and properties, since the confiscation. And it is agreed, that all persons who have any interest in confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights. ARTICLE VI. No further That there shall be no future confiscations made, nor any prosecug2g5g51E;; ¤¤' tions commenced against any person onpersons for, or by reason of the part which he or they may have taken in the present war; and that no person shall on that account, suffer any future loss or damage, either in his person, liberty or property, and that those who may be in confinement ton such charges, at the time of the ratification of the treaty in America, shall ue immediately set at liberty, and the prosecutions so commenced he discontinued.
