COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT OF 1830. 133 



could then be assented to by Great Britain towards admitting The 

 United States to a participation in the trade between them and the 

 Colonies. By this it was proposed to extend to The United States 

 the provisions of their Free Port Acts, which authorized a limited 

 trade with portions of her Colonies to the Colonial Inhabitants of 

 Foreign European Possessions, in Vessels of 1 deck, with some addi- 

 tional provisions in relation to the trade with Bermuda, Turks Island, 

 and the British Territories in North America. 



The terms contained in this proposition were decided by the Gov- 

 ernment of The United States to be inadmissible, and countervailing 

 measures were resorted to. 



The Act of Congress of the 18th of April, 1818, concerning navi- 

 gation was passed. Its object was to counteract Acts of a like char- 

 acter long before existing on the part of Great Britain restrictive of 

 the trade with her Colonies in Vessels of The United States. By 

 that Act, the Ports of The United States were closed against British 

 Vessels coming from any British Colony, which was, by the ordinary 

 Laws of navigation and trade, closed against Vessels of The United 

 States; and British Vessels sailing with cargoes from Ports of The 

 United States were laid under Bonds to land their Cargoes in some 

 Port or place other than a Colony closed against Vessels of The 

 United States. . 



The negotiation was in the same year renewed, and another attempt, 

 equally unsuccessful, was made to open the trade, and establish it 

 upon principles which were claimed by our Government to be those 

 of fair reciprocity. 



The Act of Congress of the 15th of May 1820, supplementary to an 

 Act entitled "An Act concerning Navigation," followed. By it, the 

 Ports of The United States were, after a certain day, closed against 

 British Vessels coming or arriving by sea from any British Colonial 

 Port in the West Indies or America ; and similar Bonds were required 

 from British Vessels sailing from the Ports of The United States, 

 not to land their Cargoes in any British American Colony. Articles 

 of British West Indian and North American produce were allowed 

 by this Act to be imported into The United States, only direct from 

 the Colony of which they were wholly the produce, growth, or manu- 

 facture. T^ us establishing a non-intercourse in British Vessels with 

 all the British American Colonies, and prohibiting the introduction 

 into The United States of all articles the produce of those Colonies, 

 except that of each Colony imported directly from itself. 



Such was the relative state of the intercourse between The United 

 States and the British Colonies, respectively, from September 1820, 

 till the passing of the Act of Parliament of the 24th June, 1822, and 

 the consequent Proclamation of the President. 



By the Act of the 6th of May, 1822, in anticipation of the passage 

 of the British Act last referred to, Congress authorized the President, 

 upon his being satisfied that the British Colonial Ports were opened 

 to the Vessels of The United States, to open their Ports to British 

 Vessels, upon terms of reciprocal advantage. The Act of Parliament 

 of June, 1822, repealed several existing Acts, and opened certain of 

 the Colonial Ports to the admission of American Vessels laden with 

 certain articles of American produce, upon specified conditions, and 

 restricting the intercourse to the direct trade between The United 

 States and the Colonies. The President, by his Proclamation, issued 



