PARIS, TREATIES OF. The name given to important treaties of peace concluded at Paris in 1763, 1783. 1814. 1815. 1S50, and 1898.
The treaty of February 10. 1763, was con cluded between France and Spain on the one hand. and Great Britain and Portugal on the other. at the end of the Seven Years' War (q.v.). It provided for a cession to Great Britain of Canada, Prince Edward island, Cape Breton, and the region east of the Mississippi River, possessed or claimed by France, except New Gr leans and the isle on which it stood. Great Britain was confirmed in the possession of Nova Scotia. France retained a share in the fisheries of Newfoundland and the Saint Lawrence. tin der certain restrictions, together with the isles of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. In the West Indies, Great Britain restored Martinique and Guadeloupe, and ceded Saint Lucia to France, while France ceded to Great Britain Dominica, Saint Vincent. Grenada, and Tobago (the last previously neutral territory). France ceded Senegal to Great Britain. She re covered possession of Pondicherry. but had to agree not to maintain military settlements in Bengal. In Europe. France relinquished her conquests in Germany. restored Minorca, and engaged to maintain the status quo. By way of compensation for the loss of Florida. which Spain ceded to Great Britain. which had fallen into the hands of that Power, France ceded to Spain the bulk of Louisiana, including New Orleans. The effect of the treaty was to establish the supremacy of Great Britain in America. in India, and on the seas.
The Treaty of Paris of September 3. 17S3. between Great Britain and the United States, marked the close of the American Revolution and recognized the independence of the colonies. Simultaneously with its conclusion Great Britain made peace with France and Spain at Versailles. The four difficult questions upon which the Brit ish and American negotiators labored at great length before reaching a settlement related to (1) the boundaries of the United States; (2) fishing rights on the coast of Newfoundland: (3) payment of private debts due from Americans to British creditors; and (4) compensation of the loyalists. As finally oincluded, the treaty recog
nized the :Mississippi River as the western boun dary from a point west of the Lake of the Woods to the thirty-first parallel of north latitude: thence the boundary was to run due east to the Appalachicola (Chattahoochee) River. thence down the middle of that stream to the Flint River, thence to the head of the Saint Mary's River, and thence along the middle of that river to the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River were recognized as the northern boundary to the forty-fifth parallel. Thence to the Atlantic Ocean the boundary was described as following the highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the Saint Lawrence from those which empty into the At lantic; thence from the highlands to the source of the Saint Croix River; and thence down that stream to its mouth. (See NotrruEvsr imav also NoirrnwEsr Dfs• m-rE.) With regard to the tisherb.s, it was provided that the Americans were to continue to enjoy the same rights of fishery at Newfound land and vicinity which they had enjoNed as Eng lisp colonists, and while they were to be permit ted to dry their fish on other unsettled shore.. they were not allowed to do so on the island of Newfoundland. At the same time they were to have the exclusive right of fishing, on tI eir own coasts. On the third point it was provided that creditors on either side should meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all Luna tide debts contracted before the war. With regard to the loyalists. the American negotiators eonsented that Congress should be asked to relltminenti to the State legislatures to provide for the restitw, tion of contiseated estates, and to all future confiscations and to cease all prosecutions commenced against persons known as loyalists. The navigation of the Mississippi was to be free to the subject, of both nation-. fly the terms Of the Treaty of Versailles. signed on the same day as that of Paris. Great Britain restored Florida and :Minorca to Spain and ee led Tobago to France. Senegal was relinquished to France.