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United States pay higher duties and charges in the direct voyage from the United States than in the indirect or circuitous voyage through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, or other intermediate ports; and as the direct trade should not be more restrained in respect to the articles thereof than the indirect or circuitous trade, no article should be allowed to go or come indirectly or circuitously which might go or come directly.

There is nothing in principle or policy that forbids the confining of this trade to articles of the produce or manufacture of the respective countries-that is, of the United States and of the British colonies. Articles of the produce and manufacture of other portions of the British territories coming through these colonies being excluded from the United States as articles not of the produce and manufacture of the United States are excluded from Great Britain, and would be excluded from the British colonies.

As respects the shipping employed in this trade, it must be placed on a footing of practical and reciprocal equality, both as respects duties and charges and the equal participation of the trade. On this adjustment even there will exist an advantage in favor of the English navigation, as it will be exclusively employed in the transportation of articles of the produce and manufacture of the United States between the intermediate colonies aforesaid and the West India colonies, and likewise, in a disproportioned degree, in the distribution of these articles among the British West India colonies.

Furthermore, as the voyage from the United States to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda is a short one, and would yield but little profit. the duties and charges must be as great on the British ships, and the articles of the produce and manufacture of the United States composing their cargoes, arriving in the British West Indies through these intermediate colonies, as on the same ships and articles arriving directly from the United States; otherwise the direct trade will be deserted in favor of the circuitous trade, and thereby the object of the arrangement, an equality in the employment of the shipping of the two countries, will be defeated. So far as the operation of the late navigation law is understood it seems to have been advantageous, and especialy in the increase of the American shipping engaged in the direct trade between the United States and Great Britain, and the corresponding decrease of that of Great Britain; but sufficient time has not yet been afforded satisfactorily to ascertain this point, nor to determine other questions that are in a course of solution.

Perhaps it would be prudent to allow time for this important experiment; and to suffer the negotiation of this subject to remain where it is for the present, it ought not to be forgotten that, without cutting off the trade with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Bermuda, this experiment can not be fairly made. Whether it would be expedient at the present session to adopt this measure is perhaps doubtful.

If the effect of our navigation law, reenforced according to the above suggestion, should prove to be such as it not improbably will be, it might and probably would be our true footing to adhere to the law and decline any convention with Great Britain touching the colony trade.

(Ex. Jour., vol. 3, pp. 175, 176; Am. St. Pap., vol. 5, p. 12; Annals 15th Cong., 2d sess., 250.)

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION.

February 15, 1821.

On the treaty with Spain, Mr. Barbour reported as follows: Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate, having examined the treaty of amity, settlement, and limits between the United States of America and His Catholic Majesty, made and concluded on the twenty-second day of February, eighteen hundred and nineteen, and seen and considered the ratification thereof made by his said Catholic Majesty on the twenty-fourth day of October, eighteen hundred and twenty, do consent to and advise the President to ratify the same.

(Leg. Jour., p. 22; Annals 16th Cong., 2d sess., 20, 1469; Ex. Jour., vol. 3, p. 243.)

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION.

January 22, 1823.

On the commercial convention with France, Mr. Barbour reported as follows:

Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate do advise and consent to the ratification of the convention of navigation and commerce, and the first separate article attached thereto, made and concluded between the United States and the King of France and Navarre on the twenty-fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and twenty-two, at the city of Washington.

Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate do advise and consent to the second separate article attached to a convention of navigation and commerce made and concluded between the United States and the King of France and Navarre on the twenty-fourth day of June, eighteen hundred and twenty-two, at the city of Washington.

(Ex. Jour., vol. 3, pp. 326, 329, 330.)

NINETEENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION.

February 22, 1827.

On the treaty with Mexico, Mr. Sanford reported as follows: Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the Senate do not advise and consent to the ratification of the first additional article of the treaty between the United States and the United Mexican States, concluded at the City of Mexico on the tenth day of July, eighteen hundred and twenty-six.

2. Resolved (two thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the third article of the said treaty, upon condition that the word "inhabitants," being the second word of the said third article, be expunged, and the word citizens be inserted instead thereof.

3. Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the sixteenth and seventeenth articles of the said treaty, upon condition that the six

teenth article be amended by adding to the end of the said sixteenth article the following words: Provided, however, and it is hereby agreed, That the stipulations in this article contained declaring that the flag shall cover the property shall be understood as applying to those powers only who recognize this principle; but if either of the two contracting parties shall be at war with a third and the other neutral, the flag of the neutral shall cover the property of the enemies whose governments acknowledge this principle, and not of others; and without this amendment to the said sixteenth article the Senate do not advise and consent to the ratification of the sixteenth and seventeenth articles of the said treaty.

4. Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the advice and consent of the Senate to the ratification of the said treaty and the several parts thereof, as herein before particularly modified and stated, be, and they are hereby, given upon condition that the said treaty, which by the first clause of the thirty-fifth article thereof is to be in force for the term of twelve years, shall remain in force for the term of six years and no longer, to be computed from the day of the exchange of the ratifications.

5. Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of all the articles of the said treaty, excepting those articles and parts of the said treaty which are hereinbefore particularly rejected or modified. (Ex. Jour., vol. 3, pp. 569, 570.)

TWENTY-FIRST CONGRESS, SPECIAL SESSION.
March 9, 1829.

On the treaty with Prussia Mr. Tazewell reported as follows: Resolved, That the Senate having reexamined the treaty of commerce and navigation concluded at Washington on the first day of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, between the United States and the King of Prussia, do consent thereto, and advise the President of the United States to proceed to the exchange of the ratifications of the same, notwithstanding the expiration of the time stipulated for the exchange by the terms of the treaty.

(Ex. Jour., vol. 4, pp. 4, 9.)

TWENTY-FIRST CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION.

December 28, 1830.

Mr. Tazewell made the following report:

The Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom was referred the President's message of the 9th of December, transmitting a treaty with the Ottoman Porte; and to whom was also referred the President's message of the 20th of December, transmitting certain papers requested by a resolution of the Senate, relating to the negotiation of the said treaty, having had the same under consideration, submit the following resolutions for the consideration of the Senate:

Resolved, That the Senate advise the President of the United States

to ratify, and on their part consent to the ratification of, the treaty concluded between the said United States and the Ottoman Porte on the seventh day of May, eighteen hundred and thirty: Provided, That at the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty between the two high contracting parties the President cause the Ottoman Porte to be distinctly and explicitly informed that, according to our construction of the seventh article of the said treaty, the merchant vessels of the United States will be permitted to pass into and return from the Black Sea, either in ballast or laden with any kind of cargo permitted to the merchant vessels of the most favored nations, whether the same may consist of articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States or of the Ottoman Empire, or of any other country whatsoever: And provided also, That at the same time he cause the Ottoman Porte to be distinctly and explicitly informed that, according to the Constitution and laws of the United States, the Government thereof possesses no authority to compel their citizens to enter into any contract, either with their own Government or any foreign power whatever, or to prescribe the terms upon which such contract, when voluntarily entered into by the citizens of the United States, shall be concluded by them.

Resolved, also, That the Senate advise the President of the United States to exchange, and on their part consent that the ratifications of the said treaty may be exchanged at any time hereafter within months, notwithstanding the period limited for the exchange of the said ratifications may have expired before the same can be effected in conformity with the present provisions of the said treaty. (Ex. Jour., vol. 4, p. 139.)

February 2, 1831.

On the treaty with Austria, Mr. Tazewell reported as follows: Resolved, That the Senate do advise and consent that the President of the United States be authorized to exchange the ratifications of the treaty of commerce and navigation with Austria concluded at Washington on the twenty-seventh of August, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, notwithstanding the expiration of the time designated in said treaty for the exchange of the ratifications thereof.

(Ex. Jour., vol. 4, pp. 150, 151.)

TWENTY-SECOND CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.

April 4, 1832.

On the treaty with Mexico, Mr. Tazewell reported as follows: Resolved, That the Senate do advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican States concluded at Mexico the twelfth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, together with the additional articles thereto, concluded at Mexico the fifth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.

(Ex. Jour., vol. 4, p. 237.)

TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.

June 4, 1836.

On conference on "Act to carry into effect a convention between the United States and Spain," Mr. Clay made the following report: That they have agreed to recommend to the Senate and to the House of Representatives to adopt the following modifications of the bill as it passed the House:

1. To provide for the appointment of one commissioner instead of the three, as proposed in the bill as it passed the House, and instead of the Attorney-General, as proposed by the amendment to that bill, which was adopted by the Senate.

2. To fix the salary of the commissioner at thirty-five hundred dollars instead of three thousand.

3. To limit the period for the execution of the commission to one year instead of eighteen months, as was proposed in the bill; and

4. To leave the appointment of the secretary and clerk attached to the commission to the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as proposed in the bill of the House.

(Leg. Jour., 24th Cong., 1st sess., p. 405.)

TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION.

February 28, 1839.

Mr. Buchanan made the following report:

The Committee on Foreign Relations, to which was referred the message of the President of the United States of the 26th and the 27th instant, and the accompanying documents, in relation to the existing difficulties on the northeastern frontier of the United States, report the following resolutions and recommend their adoption by the Senate: Resolved, That the Senate can discover no trace throughout the long correspondence which has been submitted to them between the Governments of Great Britain and the United States of any understanding, express or implied, much less of any "explicit agreement," such as is now alleged, that the territory in dispute between them on the northeastern boundary of the latter shall be placed and remain under the exclusive jurisdiction of Her Britannic Majesty's Government until the settlement of the question. On the contrary, it appears that there was and is a clear subsisting understanding between the parties under which they have both acted; that until this question shall be finally determined each of them shall refrain from the exercise of jurisdiction over any portion of the disputed territory except such parts of it as may have been in the actual possession of the one or the other party.

Resolved, That whilst the United States are bound in good faith to comply with this understanding during the pendency of negotiations, the Senate can not perceive that the State of Maine has violated the spirit of it by merely sending, under the authority of the legislature, her land agent, with a sufficient force, into the disputed territory for the sole purpose of expelling lawless trespassers engaged in impairing the value by cutting down the timber, both parties having a common right and being bound by a common duty to expel such intruders from a territory to which each claims title, taking care, however, to

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