Instruction to Our Trusty and Wellbeloved Arthur Dobbs Esqr. Our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over Our Province of North Carolina in America; or in his Absence to the President of Our Council or Commander in Chief of Our said Province for the time being. Given at Our Court at St. James's the [intentionally blank] day of [intentionally blank] 1763 in the Third Year of Our Reign.

Whereas it hath been represented to Us that great Disputes have arisen and much Mischief and Confusion are likely to ensue amongst Our Subjects on the Frontiers of Our Provinces of North and South Carolina from the want of a certain known Line of Jurisdiction between the said Provinces In order therefore to prevent all further disputes of the like nature and to preserve the Peace and Tranquillity of both Our said Provinces until a perpetual Line of Partition between them shall be finally determined by Us, We have thought fit hereby to signify to you Our Will and Pleasure that the Line already agreed upon, begun and in part set out by Commissioners appointed by both the said Provinces in the Year 1735 in consequence of His late Majesty's Instructions to Gabriel Johnston Esqr., then Governor of North Carolina, shall be the temporary Line of Jurisdiction between Our said Provinces of North and South Carolina. And in case it shall appear that the said Line has not been mark'd out by the said Commissioners so far North as the thirty fifth degree of North Latitude, you are hereby authorized and required to appoint Commissioners to proceed jointly with Commissioners to be appointed by Our Governor of South Carolina, in continuing the said Line in the same direction in which it has hitherto proceeded, to the said thirty fifth degree of North Latitude, and from thence due West until it meets the Eastern Limits of the Lands claimed by the Catawba Indians. And It is Our Express Will and Pleasure that no Settlement whatever be made, nor the Jurisdiction of either Province exercised upon the Lands claim'd by the said Indians, until the said Claims shall be finally adjusted. And Our further Will and Pleasure is, that the Forts which have been erected by either of Our said Provinces, to the Westward of the said Lands so claim'd by the Catawbas, shall be deem'd to belong to and continue to be maintain'd by that Province, at the expence of which they were erected and have hitherto been supported.

North Carolina.
Instruction for the Governor for establishing a Temporary Line of Jurisdiction between North and South Carolina—

Approved in Council
30th March 1763—