In this treaty, as at first agreed upon by the negotiators, there was an article, prescribing the terms of our intercourse with the West Indies; but as it was very unfavourable to the shipping of the United States, and degrading to our character as a nation, the senate rejected it; and the treaty was ratified, with the exception of that article. The terms of this article strikingly illustrate the extravagant and peculiar spirit of the British cabinet, respecting the West India trade. The United States were permitted to trade with the British islands in vessels not exceeding 70 tons; and, in consideration of this boon, they agreed not to export from the United States any molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, and cotton, to any part of the world; and British vessels of any burthen were permitted to participate in the same intercourse. The trade between the United States and the British colonies remained in this state, unregulated by treaty, and only occasionally opened by orders in council, and governors' proclamations, (when the pressure of war, or an apprehended scarcity, compelled them to relax the strictness of the naviga. tion acts,) until the late war between the two countries put an end to all commercial intercourse between them. commercial relations of the United States with Great Britain were renewed. A convention was formed July 3d, 1815, establishing the terms of intercourse between the United States and Great Britain; but the British cabinet declined making any arrangement relating to the colonial trade, which, it was asserted, was of a peculiar charac ter. By this convention, the trade with the European possessions of Great Britain was established upon a reciprocal basis, so far as the navigating interest was concerned. The staple productions of the United States were, indeed, placed upon a worse footing than the British staples, by onerous duties imposed by that government, in some instances amounting to a prohibition; but this came under another head of the reciprocal system, not yet fully matured, and did not affect the policy originally adopted, to secure a portion of the carrying trade. The convention secured to the productions of the United States, and of Great Britain, admission into their respective ports, upon as favourable terms as the productions of other countries; and generally provided, that no prohibitions nor restrictions should be applied to the commerce between them, which did not generally extend to the commerce of other Upon the return of peace, the nations. The shipping of the two countries was placed upon an equal footing in the ports of the United States, and in British ports in Europe; and the trade with the colonies was expressly declared, not to be affected by any of the provisions of the convention. In acceding to this treaty, the British government substantially accepted a proposal made on the part of the United States, to all nations, by an act of congress, passed March 3d, 1815, conditionally repealing our discriminating duties. At the same time, it adhered to its system of excluding American vessels from the colonial trade; and persisted in monopolizing, in British shipping, the transportation of all those productions of the West-Indies and of the United States, which, in the ordinary course of things, were so freely exchanged to supply the natural or artificial wants of their respective inhabitants. The direct trade between the United States and Great Britain, was so interwoven with that between the United States and the colonies, that the end which the American government had in view would have been defeated; if, while the European part of the intercourse was placed upon a reciprocal basis, the colonial trade had been monopolized by British navigators. The reciprocity aim. ed at would have been relinquished, because the advantages exclu sively secured to British vessels, by a combination of voyages, in the course of which supplies could be carried to the West Indies, would not be less real and operative in the trade with Europe, than if they were directly given by bounties or discriminating duties. The practical operation of this state of things was so severely felt when the convention took effect, that after various efforts to induce the British government to adjust the collision of interests by amicable negotiation, the government of the United States came to a determination, to put an end to an intercourse in which they were not permitted to share. Before this determination, four fifths of the trade with all the British colonial possessions was monopolized by British shipping, and even the small quantity of American tonnage then engaged in it, was daily diminish. ing. An act was accordingly introduced into congress, which, on the 15th April, 1818, became a law, closing the ports of the United States against British vessels coming from colonial ports, which, by the ordinary laws of navigation, were shut against American shipping, and compelling British vessels clearing from our ports, to give bonds to land their cargoes elsewhere than in a colony closed against American vessels. In order to counteract this law, the British government, upon hearing that such a retaliating measure was contemplated, with great promptitude, authorized, by an act of Parliament, passed 8th May, 1818, the opening of the ports of Halifax and St. Johns to the vessels of friendly powers, for the importation of certain enumerated articles adapted to the West-India market. By making these ports places of deposit, it expected to secure to British shipping the greater share of the carrying trade, by the indirect route to the WestIndies; and with that view, a participation in the intercourse between those ports and the United States was relinquished to the American navigators. Within three weeks after its passage, an order of council, revocable at pleasure, was is. sued, carrying into effect the provisions of the act. This order in council, revocable at pleasure, was not, however, regarded by the government of the United States as modifying the ordinary navigation acts, and their ports continued to be shut against British vessels from those ports, although they were thus tempora. rily opened to American shipping. The British government, finding its object unattainable in this manner, was compelled, by the distresses of the West India islands, to make some advances, for the pur. pose of arranging the terms of intercourse between them and the United States; and on the 6th of the ensuing October, a proposition was made, to allow the importation and exportation of certain enumerated articles, in American vessels. This article, however, extended only to such West India ports as should be open to the vessels of other foreign nations; and such distinctions were established, respecting the kind of productions to be admitted into the different colonies, as to secure to British shipping a decided advantage in the trade. The proposition gave to the vessels of the United States no privileges in the ports of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which they did not already enjoy, and admitted the British vessels to a participation in that trade, from which they were then excluded, by the existing navigation laws of the two countries. It diminished their privileges in the Bermuda trade, as established by act of parliament, by excluding from the enumerated articles, all live stock, which they were then permitted to import; although it added to the exportable articles, molasses, cocoa nuts, ginger, and pimenta, all productions of the West Indies. As these regulations were obviously intended to secure to the British islands supplies of indispensable necessity, which could not be easily obtained elsewhere; and aimed at making Bermuda, St. Johns, and Halifax, places of de. posit, for the supply of the West Indies, with the view of monopo. lizing, in British vessels, the longer voyage in the indirect route; the American government refused to accede to them, and proposed as a counter project, that the intercourse should be established upon the following terms:-1st. That the list of admissable articles should be the same for the West Indies, Bermuda, and for the North American provinces. 2dly. That the duties should be equalized, and particularly, that no higher duties should be charged upon the productions of the United States, than upon similar articles, when imported from any other country or place. This proposal was rejected, on the alleged ground, that the British government must continue to protect the productions of her northern colonies against foreign competition. It was, however, easy to be seen, that under that pretence, the productions of the United States might be forced, by colonial regulations, to obtain admission into the West Indies, through the ports of the northern colonies, and under the character of colonial productions. A high discriminating duty in their favour, would make it the interest of the American merchant to send his cargo to Halifax, or Bermuda, to be there re-shipped to the West Indies in British bottoms. The rejection of this proposition, consequently, left the United States no option, but to relinquish the trade to British shipping, or to meet the British navigation system by similar restrictions. They chose the latter, and on the 15th of May, 1820, a law was passed prohibiting all intercourse in British vessels, with any colony, and also, the importation of all colonial productions, except produced in the colony itself from which they were imported. This closed the intercourse between the United States and the West Indies, and shut the produce of the British West Indies from the American market. The operation of these retaliatory measures upon the British islands was severely felt, both by the inhabitants of the colonies, and by the British capitalist, whose property was invested in plantations, or in the West India trade. The vast amount of British capital invested there, estimated at 70,000,000 sterling, recommended the condition to which the islands were reduced by our navigation system, to the attention of the ministry, and after permitting them to endure its effects for two years, an act was introduced into parliament for their relief. By this act, passed June 24th, 1822, certain enumerated articles were authorized to be imported into certain colonial ports, in vessels of the country where those articles were produced, and the exportation of colonial produce and British manufactures was also permitted in foreign vessels, bonds being given, that such cargoes be landed in the country to which such vessel belonged. On bread stuffs, live stock, and lumber, articles of the first necessity to the West Indies, when imported from any foreign country, an average duty of ten per cent. was imposed, for the purpose of encouraging their importation from the British provinces in North America. To British vessels, the same privileges were given as to foreign, and they were permitted, in addition, to trade from the islands with any of the British possessions in America or Europe. This provision was intended, to give them the advantages to be derived from the circuitous voyage. After thus prescribing the terms of intercourse, the act went on to authorize the king, by order in council, to prohibit this trade to the vessels of all countries, where the privileges granted by that act to fo reign shipping, were not allowed to British vessels trading with those countries. This threat of prohibition, made it necessary for the American government to consider attentively the provisions of the British act t; so that while on one hand it granted to British vessels trading with the colonies, privileges similar to those allowed to its / own vessels, on the other, it might not depart from that system of reciprocity, to which it had adhered from its first organization. According to the navigation laws of the two countries, after the passage of the above mentioned act, the intercourse between the United States and the British colonies stood upon the following basis, viz : American vessels might trade with certain enumerated ports in the West Indies, and were allowed to import directly from the United States, certain articles produced there of indispensable necessity to the British islands. Upon these cargoes, however, duties averaging ten per cent. were laid by act of parliament, to which similar cargoes, from the North American colonies, were not liable; and heavy discriminating duties were imposed, in addition, by various colonial legislatures, so as to give a decided advantage to British vessels, and to encourage the exportation of the produce of the United States, through Canada, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda. Besides this advantage to the shipping of Great Britain, there was a still greater, given by the regulations concerning the return cargoes. American vessels, upon giving bonds to land their cargoes in the United States, were allowed to load with colonial produce or British manufactures, paying an ad valorem export duty of 4 or 5 per cent. British vessels, |