anxious deliberation of the Founders of this Union in the ever memorable Congress of 1776; and as the Declaration of Independence was the fountain of all our municipal institutions, the Preamble to the Treaty with France laid the corner stone for all our subsequent transactions of intercourse with Foreign Nations. Its Principles should be therefore deeply impressed upon the mind of every Statesman and Negotiator of this Union, and the first Four Articles of the Treaty with France contain the practical exposition of those Principles with may serve as models for insertion in the projected Treaty, or in any other that we may hereafter negotiate with any of the rising Republicks of the South. There is, indeed, a Principle of still more expansive liberality, which may be assumed as the Basis of Commercial Intercourse between Nation and Nation. It is that of placing the Foreigner, in regard to all objects of Navigation and Commerce, upon a footing of equal favour with the native Citizen, and to that end, of abolishing all discriminating Duties and Charges whatsoever. This Principle is altogether congenial to the spirit of our Institutions, and the main obstacle to its adoption consists in this: that the fairness of its operation depends upon its being admitted universally. For, while two Maritime and Commercial Nations should bind themselves to it, as a Compact operative only between them, a third Power might avail itself of its own restrictive and discriminating Regulations, to secure advantages to its own People, at the expense of both the Parties to the Treaty. The United States have nevertheless made considerable advances in their Proposals to other Nations, towards the general establishment of this most liberal of all Principles of Commercial Intercourse. On the 3d of March, 1815, immediately after the conclusion of our late War with Great Britain, an Act of Congress (United States Laws, vol. iv, p. 824,) repealed so much of the discriminating Duties of Tonnage and Impost, as were imposed on Foreign Vessels and Merchandise, beyond the Duties imposed on the same in our own Vessels, so far as they respected the Produce or Manufacture of the Nation to which the Foreign Vessel might belong. The Repeal to take effect in favour of any Foreign Nation, whenever The President of The United States should be satisfied, that the discriminating or countervailing Duties of such Foreign Nation, so far as they operated to the disadvantage of The United States, had been abolished. On the 3d of July, 1815, (United States Laws, vol. vi, p. 603,) a Convention was concluded with Great Britain, by the Second Article of which, this Principle was adopted for the Commercial Intercourse between The United States and the British Territories, in Europe, so far as related to Duties and Charges of Tonnage, Impost, Export, and Bounties upon articles of the produce or manufacture of the two Countries, respectively. It was partially admitted for Drawbacks. But the intercourse between The United States and the British Possessions in India was differently regulated by another Article of the same Convention, and that between The United States and the British Colonies in America was expressly excepted from the Convention, leaving each Party to the exercise, in this respect, of its own rights. This Convention, originally limited to four years, was afterwards, by the Convention of 20th October, 1818, (United States Laws, vol, vi, p. 607,) extended for the term of 10 years, from that time. On the 4th of September, 1816, (United States Laws, vol. vi, p. 642,) a Treaty with Sweden and Norway was concluded, and extended to the Swedish Island of St. Bartholomew, in the West Indies; by the Second Article of which, the same Principle is established, of equal Duties and Charges, of Tonnage, Impost, Export, and Prohibition, upon Vessels and their Cargoes, being of the produce or manufacture of the respective Countries, whether in Vessels of the Foreigner or the Native. The duration of this Treaty is limited to the 25th of September, 1826. On the 20th of April, 1818, (United States Laws, vol. vi, p. 344,) an Act of Congress repealed all discriminating Duties of Tonnage and Impost in favour of the Vessels of The Netherlands, and their Cargoes, being of the produce or manufacture of the Territories in Europe, of The King of The Netherlands, or "such Produce and Manufactures as can only be, or most, usually are, first shipped from a Port or Place in the Kingdom aforesaid." Such repeal to take effect from the time the Government of The Netherlands had abolished its discriminating Duties upon the Vessels of The United States, and on merchandise imported in them, being of the produce or manufacture of The United States. By an Act of 3d March, 1819, in addition to the above, (United States Laws, vol. vi, p. 411,) it was extended in all its provisions and limitations, to the Vessels of Prussia, of the City of Hamburg, and of the City of Bremen. This same Act of 3d March, 1819, limited its own duration, and that of the Act to which it was in addition, and the Act of 3d March, 1815, itself, to the 1st of January, 1824. The provisions of the Act of the 3d March, 1815, have been extended by Proclamations of The President of The United States, as follows: 1818, 24th July, to the Free and Hanseatic City of Bremen. (United States Laws, vol. vi, p. 599.) 1st August, to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, p. 600. 1821, 20th August, to the Kingdom of Norway, p. 602. You will observe, that the Acts of 3d March, 1819, admitted the Vessels of Hamburg and Bremen to advantages more extensive than those offered by the Act of 3d March, 1815, and which had already been secured to them by the Proclamations of 24th July, and 1st August, 1818. The same enlargement of the favours offered by the Act of 3d March, 1815, is extended to the Vessels of The Netherlands and of Prussia. While Norway has the double security of the principle offered in the Act of 3d March, 1815, by the Stipulation in the Treaty with Sweden, and by The President's Proclamation under the Act. The Proclamation with regard to Norway was founded on an Act of the Government of that Kingdom, not extending, however, to Sweden, abolishing all discriminating Duties whatsoever, in the Norwegian Ports, between their own Vessels and Vessels of The United States, upon their Cargoes, of whatsoever origin, and whencesoever coming. This is the consummation of the principle of treating the Foreigner, in respect to Navigation and foreign Commerce, upon a footing of equal favour with the Native. The Government of Norway, in adopting this Regulation, required that it should be reciprocally granted to Norwegian Vessels, and their Cargoes, in the Ports of The United States. This, however, could be granted only by an Act of Congress; and the Proclamation could only extend to them under the Law, that to which they were already entitled by the Treaty. The subject was submitted to Congress by a Message from The President, towards the close of the first Session of the 17th Congress, (1st May, 1822,) and the general policy of our Commercial System, with particular reference to the Act of 3d March, 1815, and the subsequent measures resulting from it, had been reviewed in the Message of 5th December, 1821, at the commencement of the same Session. The principle offered by the Norwegian Government could not, however, then, have been accepted, without great disadvantage to The United States. Our direct Trade with the British Colonies in America was interdicted by our own and British Laws. That with France was under countervailing Regulations of both Parties, equivalent to interdiction. To have granted then to Norwegian Vessels, unrestricted admission into our Ports, upon the same terms with our own, would in fact have granted them privileges, which our own did not, and could not enjoy; our own being under the operation of Restrictions and Prohibitions, ordained by Britain and France, from which the Norwegian Vessels would have been exempt. Our direct Trade with the British American Colonies has since been opened, and that with France has been restored; both, however, shackled with countervailing Restrictions and Regulations, burdensome to those by whom it may be carried on. As the Act of Congress, of 3d March, 1815, and all the Regulations founded upon it, will expire on the 1st of January next, the whole subject will again be before that Body at their next Session, for revisal. In this state of things it may be, perhaps, most prudent, in the Commercial Negotiations with the Republick of Colombia, to adhere to the principle of equal favour to the most friendly Nation, leaving that of equal favour with the Native, for future consideration and concert between the Parties. To the same extent, however, as we are already bound by Treaty with Great Britain, until October, 1828, and with Sweden, until September, 1826, you may safely proceed: "taking the Second Article of each of those Compacts for a model, and forming an Article, embracing the Stipulations of both. Thus far we may safely go with any one or more Foreign Nations, without endangering, by the liberality of our Engagements with them, the interests of our own Country, to be affected by the restrictive Ordinances of others. An exception must be made with regard to the Ports of St. Augustine and Pensacola, where, by the 15th Article of the late Treaty with Spain, Special Privileges are secured to Spanish Vessels, until the 22nd of May, 1833. Among the usual objects of Negotiation in Treaties of Commerce and Navigation, are the Liberty of Conscience, and of Religious Worship. Articles to this effect have been seldom admitted in Roman Catholic Countries, and are even interdicted by the present Constitution of Spain. The South American Republicks have been too much under the influence of the same intolerant spirit; but the Colombian Constitution is honourably distinguished by exemption from it. The 10th and 11th Articles of our Treaty with Prussia, or Articles to the like effect, may be proposed for insertion in the projected Treaty; and after setting the first example in South America, of a Constitution unsullied by prohibitions of Religious Liberty, Colombia will deserve new honours in the veneration of present and future Ages, by giving her positive sanction to the Freedom of Conscience, and by stipulating it in her first Treaty with these United States. It is, in truth, an essential part of the System of American Independence. Civil, Political, Commercial, and Religious Liberty, are but various modifications of one great Principle, founded in the unalienable Rights of human nature, and before the universal application of which, the Colonial Domination of Europe, over the American Hemisphere, has fallen, and is crumbling into dust. Civil Liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason, which will not at the same time demonstrate the right to Religious Freedom. The tendency of the spirit of the Age is so strong towards Religious Liberty, that we cannot doubt it will soon banish from the Constitutions of the Southern Republicks of this Hemisphere, all those intolerant Religious Establishments, with which they have hitherto been trammelled. Religious and Military Coercion will be alike discarded from all the Institutions framed for the protection of human rights, in civil society of Independent Nations; and the freedom of opinion and of faith, will be guaranteed, by the same sanction as the rights to personal liberty and security. To promote this event, by all the moral influence which we can exercise, whether of example, of friendly counsel, or of persuasion, is among the duties which devolve upon us in the formation of our future relations with our Southern Neighbours; and, in the intercourse which is hereafter to subsist between us, as their Citizens, who may visit, or transiently reside with us, will enjoy the benefit of a religious freedom in its utmost latitude, we are bound to claim for our Countrymen, who may occasionally dwell for a time with them, the reciprocal exercise of the same natural rights. In the present imperfect state of our information with regard to the existing Commerce between the two Countries, and the uncertainty what its future and permanent relations may be, it would be useless to enter into any further detail of Articles, which it may be proper to propose for the intended Treaty of Commerce. The Republick of Colombia, if permanently organized to embrace the whole Territory which it now claims, and blessed with a Government, effectually protective of the Rights of its People, is undoubtedly destined to become hereafter one of the mightiest Nations of the Earth. Its central position upon the surface of the Globe, directly communicating at once with the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, north and south, with the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, brings it into relations of proximity with every other part of the World, while the number and variety of its Ports, on every Sea by which it is surrounded, the magnitude and extent of its navigable Rivers, three of which, the Amazon, the Orinoco, and the Magdalena, are among the largest in the World, intersecting with numberless tributary streams, and in every direction, the Continent of South America, and furnishing the means of water-communications from every point of its circumference, to every spot upon its surface; the fertility of its soil, the general healthiness and beauty of its climate, the profusion with which it breeds and bears the precious, and the useful metals; present a combination of elements unparalleled in the location of the human race, and relieve at least from all charge of enthusiasm, the sentiment expressed by the late Mr. Torres, that this Republick appeared to have been destined by the Author of Nature, "as the Centre and the Empire of the human family." But it is to Man, placed in a Paradise like this, that nature with her loudest voice exclaims: God to thee has done His part-do thine," and the part of Man so gifted, and so endowed, is to enjoy, and to communicate the bounties of Providence, so largely lavished upon him; and not to fancy himself destined to the Empire of the human family. If the natural advantages bestowed upon the Colombian Terory, were to be improved by its Inhabitants, only for purposes of |