present preliminary Treaty, shall be renewed and confirmed; and the two courts shall name commissioners to enquire into the state of commerce between the two nations, in order to agree upon new arrangements of trade on the footing of reciprocity and mutual convenience; and the two said courts shall together amicably fix a competent term for the duration of that business.
Art. 8. As it is necessary to assign a fixed epoch for the restitutions and evacuations to be made by each of the high contracting parties, it is agreed, that the King of Great Britain shall cause East Florida to be evacuated three months after the ratification of the definitive Treaty, or sooner if it can be done. The King of Great Britain shall likewise enter again into possession of the Bahama Islands without exception, in the space of three months after the ratification of the definitive Treaty. In consequence whereof, the necessary orders shall be sent by each of the high contracting parties, with reciprocal passports for the ships which shall carry them, immediately after the ratification of the definitive Treaty.
Art. 9. The prisoners made respectively by the arms of his Britannic Majesty and his Catholic Majesty, by sea and by land, shall, immediately after the ratification of the definitive Treaty, be reciprocally and bonâ fide restored without ransom, and on paying the debts they may have contracted during their captivity; and each crown shall respectively reimburse the sums which shall have been advanced for the subsistence and maintenance of their prisoners by the sovereign of the country where they shall have been detained, according to the receipts and attested accounts, and other authentic titles, which shall be produced on each side.
Art. 10. In order to prevent all causes of complaint and disputes which may arise on account of prizes which may be made at sea after the signing of these preliminary Articles, it is reciprocally agreed, that the ships and effects which may be taken in the channel, or in the North Seas, after the space of twelve days, to be computed from the ratification of the present preliminary Articles, shall be restored on each side. That the term shall be one month from the Channel and the North Seas, as far as the Canary Islands, inclusively, whether in the Ocean or in the Mediterranean; two months from the said Canary Islands, as far as the equinoctial line, or equator; and lastly, five months in all other parts of the world, without exception, or other more particular description of time and place.
Art. 11. The ratifications of the present preliminary Articles shall be expedited in good and due form, and exchanged in the space of one month, or sooner if it can be done, to be computed from the day of the signature of the present Articles.
