King George III Implements Articles of the Peace of Paris, Which Ended the Global Conflict That Was the American Revolution

The original instructions, one each to the Commander in Chief of the army in the East Indies and to the Commander of the British fleet, giving over ports and trade routes in India that fed the global conflict and whose products ended up getting taxed in America

 

September 1783: “A Definitive Treaty of Peace has been signed at Versailles on the 3rd day of this Instant September by Our Minister Plenipotentiary and those of our Good Brother the most Christian King”

 

The King, however, embeds an implicit threat, that should other allies not accede to peace, “neither of the two Courts will directly or indirectly give any assistance… against the ancient Possessions of their respective Allies as they were in the year 1776.”

 

The Treaty of Paris Ending the Revolutionary War, and ramifications for the British and French East India Companies were large

 

Britain guarantees “a safe, free and independent Trade, such as was carried on by the late French East India”

In the fall of 1781, American and British troops fought the last major battle of the American Revolution in Yorktown, Virginia. A combined American and French force, led by George Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau, completely surrounded and captured British General Lord Cornwallis and about 9,000 British troops during the siege. When news of the British defeat at Yorktown reached England, support for the war in America faded in both the Parliament and the public. The British agreed to begin peace negotiations with the Americans to end the Revolutionary War.

After Yorktown, the Continental Congress appointed a small group of statesmen to travel to Europe and negotiate a peace treaty with the British: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens. Franklin, who served as America’s first ambassador to France, had been in Paris since the start of the Revolution and was instrumental in securing French assistance during the war.

In 1782, the newly elected British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne saw American independence as an opportunity to build a lucrative trade alliance with the new nation without the administrative and military costs of running and defending the colonies. As a result, peace negotiations between British and American diplomats were initiated in the spring of 1782 and entered their final stage in October and November of 1782. U.S. negotiators signed a preliminary agreement with British representative Richard Oswald on November 30, 1782. The resulting Treaty of Paris terms were very favorable to the United States with Great Britain making major concessions. The treaty, signed by Franklin, Adams and Jay at the Hotel d’York in Paris, was finalized on September 3, 1783, and would be ratified by the Continental Congress on January 14, 1784. The main terms were:

Great Britain finally gave formal recognition to its former colonies as a new and independent nation: the United States of America.

– Defined the U.S. border, with Great Britain granting the Northwest Territory to the United States.
– Secured fishing rights to the Grand Banks and other waters off the British-Canadian coastline for American boats.
– Opened up the Mississippi River to navigation by citizens of both the United States and Great Britain.
– Resolved issues with American debts owed to British creditors.
– Provided for fair treatment of American citizens who had remained loyal to Great Britain during the war.

The Peace of Paris, Ending the American Revolution on a Global Basis

France and Spain, and their territories around the world, had recognized American independence and were also at war with Britain. The British/American accord would remain informal until the conclusion of a peace agreement between Britain, France, and Spain. A French agreement was particularly important.

When Franklin disclosed the Anglo-American agreement to French minister Vergennes, he had objections to the manner in which it was obtained, but was willing to accept the agreement as a part of broader peace negotiations, and agreed to supply the United States with another loan that Franklin had requested. When Spanish forces failed to capture Gibraltar, Vergennes was able to persuade the Spanish government to agree to peace as well. Negotiators abandoned an earlier complicated plan to redistribute each others’ unconquered colonies to one which largely preserved existing Spanish and French territorial gains. Spanish, French, British, and American representatives signed a provisional peace treaty on January 20, 1783, proclaiming an end to hostilities. The formal agreement was signed at Paris on September 3, 1783, the same day as the agreement with the US. Thus, the Treaty of Paris is also known as the Peace of Paris, because it ended the war on a global basis.

The war in the East Indies played out in a related fashion. By 1776, Britain had a strong hold over India and its commodities, especially cotton, silk, and linen textiles. As the Museum of the American Revolution notes, the British “were not the only European power establishing trade and political relations on the subcontinent. The French East India Company also controlled a few regions, notably the city of Pondicherry, now known as Puducherry. The British and French already used India as a stage upon which to continue their fighting away from Europe, and this would only continue during the Revolutionary War. When France entered the war in 1778 as an American ally, the British East India Company immediately moved to attack France’s Indian colonies, drawing both country’s Indian allies into the fight.” The economic strength of the merchants of the British East India Company took products from India, sent them to places like the American colonies, where an additional heavy tax was levied. In 1782-3, the British Navy, under Commander in Chief of the East Indies military Eyre Coote, and Commander of the Fleet in that part of the world, Edward Hughes, had achieved a series of victories along crucial trade ports. That was short lived as events in the West took primacy.

King George III Sends Formal Notification of the Peace to His Commanders Around the World

In late September, the King notified his commanders worldwide of the treaty and onset of peace. These are two of the original notifications.

Two separate documents signed by the King, London, St. James Court, September 30, 1783, being detailed descriptions of the terms of the peace with France and Spain, and ordering the commanders to comply with them, with a cover letter from Lord North sending them. In all 3 pieces. Sending these peace notifications must have been particularly difficult for North, as he had, as the King’s prime minister from 1770 to 1782, been the foremost advocate for the war.

North’s signed cover letter states “The definitive treaties of peace between His Majesty and the Most Christian and Catholic Kings has been signed at Versailles…You will receive from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty the King’s orders for the future…I have only now to send you the enclosed signed manual, which will fully authorize you…to deliver up any places which by the definitive treaty are to be restored to France that may remain under your command.”

Here are the texts of the King’s instructions:

“To Our Trusty and Wellbeloved Sir Eyre Coote, Knight of the Bath, Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of our Land Forces employed in our Service in the East Indies, or to the officer commanding any part of our said Forces, or to the Commanding officer in any Islands or Places which shall have been taken Possession of by our arms.”

“To Our Trusty and Welbeloved Sir Edward Hughes, Knight of the Bath, and Sir Hyde Parker Bar, ts Vice Admirals of the Blues or, in their absence to the Officer Commanding in Chief any part of our Fleet in the East Indies, or to the Commanding Officer in any Islands or Places which have been taken Possession of by our arms.”

“Trusty and Welbeloved We greet you well. Whereas a Definitive Treaty of Peace has been signed at Versailles on the 3rd day of this Instant September by Our Minister Plenipotentiary and those of our Good Brother the most Christian King; and Whereas it is stipulated by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Articles of the said Treaty, that Great Britain shall restore to France all the Establishments which the Crown possessed at the Commencement of the late war on the Coast of Orixa and in Bengal with Liberty to surround Chandemagore with a Ditch for draining the Waters, and that We shall take such measures as may be in our Power for securing to the Subjects of France in that Part of India as also on the Coast of Orixa, Coromandel and Malabar, a safe, free and independent Trade, such as was carried on by the late French East India Company, whether it be carried on by them as Individuals or as a Company; That Pondicherry as well as Karical shall likewise be restored and guaranteed to France: and that We shall procure to serve as a Dependency round Pondicherry, the two Districts of Valanour and Bahour; and as a Dependency round Karical the four contiguous Magans.

“That France shall again enter into possession of Mahe, and of the French Comptoir of Surat; and that the French shall carry on Commerce in this part of India, conformably to the Principles beforementioned. And Whereas it is stipulated by the 16th Article of the said Definitive Treaty by Us and His Most Christian Majesty in conformity to the 16th Article of the Preliminaries that if in the space of four Months the respective Allies of Great Britain and France have not acceded to the present Pacification, or made their separate Reconciliation, that neither of the two Courts will directly or indirectly give any assistance against the British or French possessions, or against the ancient Possessions of their respective Allies as they were in the year 1776.

“And it being further stipulated by the 19th Article of the said Treaty that all the Countries and Territories which may have been or which may be conquered in any Part of the World whatsoever by Our Arms or those of His Most Christian Majesty and which are not included in the present Treaty, either under the Title of Cessions or under the Title of Restitutions shall be restored without difficulty and without requiring Compensation;

“And It being also stipulated by the 20th Article of the said Treaty that France shall be put into Possession of the Towns and Comptoirs which are restored to her in the East Indies and of the Territories which are procured for her to serve as Dependencies round Pondicherry and Kerical, Six Months after the Ratifications of the Definitive Treaty or sooner if it can be done, and that France shall, at the end of the same Term of Six Months restore any Towns and Territories which her Arms may have taken from the English or their Allies in the Fast Indies, which Ratifications were exchanged on the 19th Instant September.

“Our Will and Pleasure is that you do pursuant to the Stipulations above recited deliver or cause to be delivered to such Commissary or Commissaries as shall be named and authorized on the Part of Our said good Brother the most Christian King to receive the same, such of the Towns or Territories or Districts under your command which are to be restored to France agreeably to the Stipulations of the 13th, 14th and 15th Articles of the Definitive Treaty above mentioned; And it is our further Will and Pleasure that you should take the necessary measures with the French Commissaries for the Restoration of any Countries or Territories that France may have conquered from Great Britain in the East Indies during the late War agreeably to the 19th Article of the said Treaty and that the same be restored at the same time that Restitution is made of any Conquests which may have been made by any of Our Forces under your Command upon the French Establishments in the East Indies. And for so doing this shall be your Warrant, Given at Our Court at St. James’s the Thirtieth day of September 1783. In the Twenty Third Year of Our Reign, By His Majesty’s Command.” Signed “North.”

An Extraordinary Memento of the Treaty of Paris

This is the first documentation from the Treaty of Paris that we have ever seen reach the market. That this is an original notification of the Treaty with instructions on compliance makes it all the more interesting.