READJUSTMENT AFTER WAR 41 



In the treaty of commerce and navigation of 

 1815, which was, as stated above, a recurrence 

 to ante-bellum conditions, there was one pro 

 vision that proved to be influential in breaking 

 down the ancient system of commercial restric 

 tion. For the first time on record, two nations 

 agreed by treaty to abandon the recourse to 

 discriminating duties, Great Britain limiting 

 her concession to her European territories. 

 Commodities produced in these territories and 

 the United States respectively were to pay as 

 favorable customs duties as were paid by the 

 products of any other nation, and tonnage 

 duties were to be precisely the same on British 

 and American ships in the ports of both powers. 

 As discrimination in duties was a favorite means 

 of carrying out the old restrictive policy, this 

 reciprocal concession of equality was a dis 

 tinct step toward a different system. It be 

 came, in fact, a model for a long line of later con 

 ventions by which the nations advanced in the 

 path of commercial freedom. The treaty of 

 1815 was tentative only, being limited by its 

 terms to four years. It was renewed for ten 

 years by the treaty of 1818, and later was re 

 newed indefinitely. 



It is not to be gainsaid that the motive of 



