American Vessels and their cargoes in that Island, than are levied on those of Great Britain.

The American Schooner Rising Sun, has just arrived here from Barbadoes, the Captain of which Vessel states that he was informed by the Collector of the Port, that the same duties, &c. were payable alike on British as American vessels and cargoes.

I have the honour to be, &c. The Right Hon. Stratford Canning.

JOHN CRAWFORD.

(Inclosure b.)--Collector of Kingston to Mr. Consul Crawford. Kingston, Jamaica, 21st October, 1822.

SIR,

I AM honoured in receipt of your esteemed favour of 6th ultimo, and I lose not a moment in answering your several queries, which are of the greatest importance to the mercantile World.

I beg to state for your information, that at present no distinction is made in fees to Officers, duties on tonnage, or other Island dues, (i. e. hospital and gunpowder dues,) between British Vessels and those of The United States, coming from the same Countries: Pilotage and Harbour-master's charges are also the same on Vessels of both Nations.

Goods of the growth and production of the United States of Ame. rica, which may be legally imported, are liable to, and pay the same duties, whether brought here in Vessels of Great Britain, or those of the States.

For these reasons, I conceive it will only be an act of justice, that any duties charged on British Ships arriving in The United States, and to which their own Vessels are not subject, should be done away with. I have the honour to be, &c.

J. Crawford, Esq. Baltimore.

H. MACDOWALL.

(6.)-Mr. S. Canning to Mr. Adams.

Washington, 13th January, 1823. THE Undersigned, His Britannick Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, in communicating to the Secretary of State the enclosed Papers, which he has recently received, in further confirmation of the fact, already, as he conceives, established by sufficient evidence, that no discriminating duties are levied under His Majesty's authority, on American Vessels now trading between The United States and the British Colonies in North America and the West Indies, under the provisions of an Act of Parliament, bearing date the 24th of June, 1822, is unable to conceal the impressions with which he observes so many weeks allowed to pass away without a removal of the like discriminating duties from the Vessels of His Majesty's Subjects, when entering the Ports of The United States from the abovementioned Colonies.

In the daily hope of receiving a satisfactory Communication froin the American Government, the Undersigned has abstained for some time from pressing the Secretary of State, further than by transmitting to him such Documents as he has occasionally received in corroboration of his previous statements. He now feels it his duty to express a distinct conviction, that the Government of The United States will see the propriety of enabling him, without further delay, to inform His Majesty's Ministers, and the Colonial Authorities, definitively, whether the discriminating duties to which he refers, are to be withdrawn from British Vessels trading with this Country, in pursuance of the President's Proclamation of August the 24th, and under an expectation, which can hardly be disappointed, without injustice, of being at once admitted to the fair and full operation of such Acts of Congress, including that of March 3, 1815, as appear to have an immediate application to the case. The Undersigned has the honour to repeat, &c.

The Hon. J. Q. Adams.

STRATFORD CANNING.

(Inclosure a.)—The Collector and Comptroller of His Majesty's Customs at Halifax, transmitted by His Majesty's Consul at Baltimore. SIR, Custom House, Halifax, 9th December, 1822.

We have the honour of informing you that we are not aware of any duties or fees authorized by Act of Parliament being received on Foreign Vessels at this Port, other than those directed to be enforced on Vessels belonging to His Majesty's Subjects. We are, &c. THOS. N. JEFFERY, Collector. J. WALLACE, Comptroller.

(Inclosure b.)-The Captain General and Governor of St. Christopher, Nevis, Anguilla, and the Virgin Islands, addressed to His Majesty's Consul General in The United States. (Extract.)

You will perceive, on reference to the accompanying Document, that the American Vessels are received into these Ports, paying the same duties as those to which British Vessels are subject.

(Inclosure c.)-Certificate of Collector at Basseterre. St. Christopher.

WE, the acting Collector and Comptroller of His Majesty's Customs at the Port of Basseterre, do hereby certify, that, agreeably to the Act of 3 George IV. chap. 44, the same fees and duties are payable on British Vessels and Cargoes, as those paid on American Vessels and their Cargoes: and that the American Vessels are placed on the same footing, in every respect, with British Vessels, with regard to Custom House expenses.

Given under our hands and seals of office, at the Custom House, Basseterre, this 22d of November, 1822.

W. L. BIGGER, Act. Col.

SIR,

W. H. MALE, Comptroller.

(7.)-Mr. Adams to Mr. S. Canning.

Department of State, Washington, 18th January, 1823.

I HAVE had the honour of receiving your Note of the 13th instant, with its Enclosures.

It has already been observed, in our preceding Correspondence on this subject, that the repeal of the discriminating duties upon the tonnage of Foreign Vessels, and upon merchandize imported in them, is exclusively within the competency of the Legislative Power.

The Act of Congress of 3d March, 1815, having been enacted exclusively with reference to the modification or mutual abolition of all discriminating or countervailing duties, in the Commerce between The United States and Foreign Nations, has no application to the limited and restricted Intercourse which may, by mutual consent and regulation, be opened between The United States and particular Ports in the Colonies of a Foreign Nation. The Act contemplates a reciprocal abandonment of the discriminating or countervailing duties of the Nation, and not the removal of interdictions to any direct Commercial Intercourse with Colonies. The Act of Parliament of 24th June last, abolishes no discriminating or countervailing duties which existed in the British Colonies to the disadvantage of The United States; it partially opens certains Ports to the admission, in Foreign Vessels, of certain Articles, to which they had been previously closed. The precedent condition, therefore, upon which alone the President of The United States was authorized to act, by virtue of the Act of Congress of 3d March, 1815, does not exist, nor are the provisions of that law applicable to the case.

It may be added, that even the principle of the law is not more applicable than its letter. Discriminating duties, operating to the disadvantage of The United States, still exist in the British Colonies now opened to their Navigation. It is a discrimination, that the Vessel of The United States, which has entered a Colonial Port from The United States, is compelled to return directly to them, and to pay a heavy export duty upon any Cargo which she may take on the return voyage; while the British Vessel, entering the same Colonial Port, also from The United States, has the world before her for her subsequent progress, and pays no export duty upon the Cargo which she takes to any other British Colonial Port, or to Great Britain. The American Vessel, therefore, if entering the Colonial Port upon equal terms with the British, goes out of it charged with heavy duties, from which the British Vessel is exempted. The discrimination is not the less effectual for being indirect.

I avail myself of this opportunity of stating, that numerous complaints have been, and continue to be, received at this Department, of the oppressive and ruinous effect of the construction given to the Act of Parliament of 24th June last, in several of the British Colonies, in the cases of Citizens of The United States who have entered their Ports under the provisions of that Act. The concurring reports of most of the persons who have adventured upon shipments to those Ports, confirm the anticipations entertained by this Government, from the first appearance of the Act of Parliament, that this Intercourse can be definitively regulated to the satisfaction of both Parties, only by concert between the two Governments. To the adoption of this concert, the Government of The United States is, as it has been, prepared to contribute, by a disposition of perfect reciprocity, and the most cordial good will.

Your Note, and its Enclosures, have been communicated to the Committee of the Senate, who have under consideration a Bill for regulating the Commercial Intercourse between The United States and the Ports in the British Colonies, opened to the Shipping of Foreign Nations by the Act of Parliament of the 24th of June last. pray you, sir, to accept, &c. The Right Hon. S. Canning.

SIR,

I

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

(8.)-Mr. S. Canning to Mr. Adams.

Washington, 25th January, 1823. FROM your letter, dated the 18th instant, I learn that Congress alone is competent to the removal of those discriminating duties, to which, by several communications, including my note of the 13th, I have lately had the honour to call your attention, inasmuch as the Act of Congress of March 3d, 1815, was intended to apply to the Commercial Intercourse of Nations, and not to that of Colonies. This declaration, little as it may answer to my own impressions, being accompanied with the information that a Bill directly bearing on this subject is now under the consideration of a Committee of the Senate, to which my representations with respect to the discriminating duties have been communicated, I address you, at this moment, for the sole purpose of noticing two or three points, as stated in your letter, which I think capable of being viewed in a different and more satisfactory light.

You observe, for instance, that no discriminating duties, which existed in the British Colonies to the disadvantage of The United States, are abolished by the Act of Parliament, under which the Trade is now open. Correct as this statement may be in point of fact, the inference to which it leads is not the less erroneous, except it can be shewn that enactments authorizing the eventual collection of such duties, were really in force at the time when the Colonial Trade was open to Foreigners. The silence of the new Act is, otherwise, all that can be

required for any practical purpose. The only essential point is the non-existence of the duties in question; and to the recognition of this reality, it was natural to expect that the American Government would be prepared to hold out every facility.

To prove that discriminating duties, operating to the prejudice of The United States, do actually exist in the British Colonies, you state that an American Vessel, when clearing out on her return from a Colonial Port, is subject to a heavy export duty on her cargo, from which the British Vessel is exempt. Of any such export duty I have no knowledge, beyond what I derive from your Letter; but, taking the fact for granted, I am persuaded that the duty, if levied at all, is equally levied on British and on Alien Vessels, employed in the direct Trade, and ought not, therefore, to be classed with duties imposed on a principle of discrimination. With regard to any indirect advantage which the British Trader may possibly derive from the circumstances of his having a wider range for his export voyage, it is one, which, so long as any commercial restrictions whatever are maintained, must obviously belong to the Native, whoever he may be, in the harbours of his own Country. The Foreigner, in his turn, finds a compensation in the enjoyment of the like advantages when at home. This local disparity, unavoidable in the present or in any probable state of the civilized World, is not peculiar to the Colonial Trade. With some variation in the degree, it exists in all Countries where Commerce is an object of legislative care.

On the subject of any arrangement by Negotiation between the two Governments, agreeably to the suggestion contained in your Letter, it would be idle for me to occupy your time, as you will, doubtless, be apprized of the views entertained by His Majesty's Ministers, directly through the American Envoy at London, by whose channel you mention, in a preceding Letter, that an early communication of the same purport was to be made. I feel, at the same time, that I should hardly do justice to the sentiments of amity and good will which His Majesty's Government have ever been disposed to cherish towards this Country, were I not to express my readiness to bring under their notice those cases, to which you refer, as arising out of a harsh construction of the late Acts of Parliament, and pressing with undue rigour on the interests of American Citizens; though it should not be forgotten that much of those complaints may, perhaps, be found, on inquiry, to proceed from individuals too deeply intent on their Commercial gains to submit with willingness, even to the most indispensable regulations. I beg, Sir, that you will accept, &c. The Hon. J. Q. Adams.

STRATFORD CANNING.