have [by Commission or Deputation under their hands & seal dated at London the 22d day of May in the first year of our Reign] deputed and impowered Charles Paxton Esquire to be Surveyor & Searcher of all the rates and duties arising and growing due to us at Boston in our Province aforesaid and [in & by said Commission or Deputation] have given him power to enter into [any Ship Bottom Boat or other Vessel & also into] any Shop House Warehouse Hostery or other place whatsoever to make diligent search into any trunk chest pack case truss or any other parcel or package whatsoever for any goods wares or merchandize prohibited to be imported or exported or whereof the Customs or other Duties have not been duly paid and the same to seize to our use In all things proceeding as the Law directs.

THEREFORE We strictly Injoin & Command you & every one of you that, all excuses apart, you & every one of you permit the said Charles Paxton according to the true intent & form of the said commission or deputation and the laws & statutes in that behalf made & provided, [as well by night as by day from time to time to enter & go on board any Ship Boat or other Vessel riding lying or being within or coming to the said port of Boston or any Places or Creeks thereunto appertaining such Ship Boat or Vessel then & there found to search & oversee and the persons therein being strictly to examine touching the premises aforesaid & also according to the form effect and true intent of the said commission or deputation] in the day time to enter & go into the vaults cellars warehouses shops & other places where any prohibited goods wares or merchandizes or any goods wares or merchandizes for which the customs or other duties shall not have been duly & truly satisfied and paid lye concealed or are suspected to be concealed, according to the true intent of the law to inspect & oversee & search for the said goods wares & merchandize, And further to do and execute all things which of right and according to the laws & statutes in this behalf shall be to be done. And we further strictly INJOIN & COMMAND you and every one of you that to the said Charles Paxton Esqr you & every one of you from time to time be aiding assisting & helping in the execution of the premises as is meet. And this you or any of [you] in no wise omit at your perils. WITNESS

THE Ohio and Mississippi valleys, claimed by the French in right of exploration and colonization, were also claimed by the English under early colonial grants and charters; and these conflicting claims the boundary commissioners, appointed under the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, had been unable to reconcile. The Seven Years' war, known in America as the French and Indian war, began two years before the declaration of war by England against France formally opened hostilities in Europe. Washington's unsuccessful expedition against Fort Duquesne, in 1754, was followed in 1755 by the defeat of Braddock and the failure of the contemplated attack upon Canada; but some French forts in Nova Scotia were taken and the Acadians deported. The campaigns of 1756 and 1757 were also without substantial results for the English. The energy of Pitt, whom Newcastle was obliged, in June, 1757, to receive into the ministry as secretary of state, turned the tide. In 1758, Louisburg, Niagara and Fort Duquesne were taken; in September, 1759, Quebec fell; and with the surrender of Montreal, in 1760, the French power in America came to an end. The war in Europe went on for three years longer. In June, 1761, at the instance of France, negotiations for peace were opened; but the signature of the "family compact" between France and Spain, in August, caused them to be broken off. Pitt urged immediate war with Spain; but his views were not supported by the ministry, and he resigned. War against Spain was, however, declared in 1762, and English forces took Havana and Manila. In September, negotiations were resumed; on November 3, preliminaries of peace were signed at Fontainebleau; and on February 10, 1763, the treaty was concluded at Paris. The chief articles relating to America are given in the extracts following. In compensation for the loss of Florida, Spain received from France so much of Louisiana as lay west of the Mississippi river, including both sides of the river at its mouth.

REFERENCES. -Text in Chalmers's Collection of Treaties, I., 467-483.

IV. His most Christian Majesty renounces all pretensions, which he has heretofore formed, or might form, to Nova Scotia or Acadia, in all its parts, and guaranties the whole of it, and with all its dependencies, to the King of Great Britain: more

1 Nathaniel Hatch, one of the clerks of court. - ED.

over, his most Christian Majesty cedes and guaranties to his said Britannic Majesty, in full right, Canada, with all its dependencies, as well as the Island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulph and river St. Laurence, and, in general, every thing that depends on the said countries, lands, islands, and coasts, with the sovereignty, property, possession, and all rights, acquired by treaty or otherwise, which the most Christian King, and the crown of France, have had till now over the said countries, islands, lands, places, coasts, and their inhabitants . . . His Britannic Majesty, on his side, agrees to grant the liberty of the Catholic religion to the inhabitants of Canada: he will consequently give the most precise and most effectual orders, that his new Roman Catholic subjects may profess the worship of their religion, according to the rites of the Romish church, as far as the laws of Great Britain permit. His Britannic Majesty further agrees, that the French inhabitants, or others who had been subjects of the most Christian King in Canada, may retire, with all safety and freedom, wherever they shall think proper, and may sell their estates, provided it be to subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and bring away their effects, as well as their persons, without being restrained in their emigration, under any pretence whatsoever, except that of debts, or of criminal prosecutions: the term limited for this emigration shall be fixed to the space of eighteen months, to be computed from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.

V. The subjects of France shall have the liberty of fishing and drying, on a part of the coasts of the Island of Newfoundland, such as it is specified in the XIIIth article of the treaty of Utrecht; which article is renewed and confirmed by the present treaty (except what relates to the island of Cape Breton, as well as to the other islands and coasts in the mouth and in the gulph of St. Laurence :) and his Britannic Majesty consents to leave to the subjects of the most Christian King the liberty of fishing in the gulph St. Laurence, on condition that the subjects of France do not exercise the said fishery but at the distance of three leagues from all the coasts belonging to Great Britain, as well those of the continent, as those of the islands situated in the said gulph of St. Laurence. And as to what relates to the fishery on the coasts of the island of Cape Breton out of the said gulph,

the subjects of the most Christian King 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; and the fishery on the coasts of Nova Scotia or Acadia, and every where else out of the said gulph, shall remain on the foot of former treaties.

VI. The King of Great Britain cedes the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, in full right, to his most Christian Majesty, to serve as a shelter to the French fishermen: and his said most Christian Majesty engages not to fortify the said islands; to erect no building upon them, but merely for the convenience of the fishery; and to keep upon them a guard of fifty men only for the police.

VII. . . . it is agreed, that, for the future, the confines between the dominions of his Britannic Majesty, and those of his most Christian Majesty, in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence, by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea; and for this purpose, the most Christian King cedes in full right, and guaranties to his Britannic Majesty, the river and port of the Mobile, and every thing which he possesses, or ought to possess, 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, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole breadth and length, from its source to the sea, and expresly that part 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. It is further stipulated, that the vessels belonging to the subjects of either nation shall not be stopped, visited, or subjected to the payment of any duty whatsoever. The stipulations, inserted in the IVth article, in favour of the inhabitants of Canada, shall also take place with regard to the inhabitants of the countries ceded by this article.

VIII. The King of Great Britain shall restore to France the islands of Guadeloupe, of Marie Galante, of Desirade, of Martinico, and of Belleisle; and the fortresses of these islands shall

be restored in the same condition they were in when they were conquered by the. British arms

..

IX. The most Christian King cedes and guaranties to his Britannic Majesty, in full right, the islands of Grenada, and of the Grenadines, with the same stipulations in favour of the inhabitants of this colony, inserted in the IVth article for those of Canada and the partition of the islands, called Neutral, is agreed and fixed, so that those of St. Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago, shall remain in full right to Great Britain, and that of St. Lucia shall be delivered to France.

XIX. The King of Great Britain shall restore to Spain all the territory, which he has conquered in the island of Cuba, with the fortress of the Havana, and this fortress, as well as all the other fortresses of the said island, shall be restored in the same condition they were in when conquered by his Britannic Majesty's

arms

XX. In consequence of the restitution stipulated in the preceding article, his Catholic Majesty cedes and guaranties, in full right, to his Britannic Majesty, Florida, with Fort St. Augustin, and the Bay of Pensacola, as well as all that Spain possesses on the continent of North America, to the east, or to the south-east, of the river Mississippi; and, in general, every thing that depends on the said countries, and lands . . . His Britannic Majesty agrees, on his side, to grant to the inhabitants of the countries, above ceded, the liberty of the Catholic religion: he will consequently give the most express and the most effectual orders, that his new Roman Catholic subjects may profess the worship of their religion, according to the rites of the Romish church, as far as the laws of Great Britain permit: [the Spanish inhabitants to be permitted to remove, or to sell their estates, under conditions as in Art. IV.] It is moreover stipulated, that his Catholic Majesty shall have power to cause all the effects, that may belong to him, to be brought away, whether it be artillery or other things.