816 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



to enforce its provisions according to the plain meaning of the articles 

 of the treaty ; on the contrary, a reference to the eighteenth article of 

 the Washington treaty will show that the contracting parties made 

 the convention the basis of the further privileges granted by the 

 treaty, and it does not allege that its provisions are in any way ex- 

 tended or affected by subsequent legislation or acts of administration. 



Mr. Bayard has referred to the proclamation of President Jackson 

 in 1830, creating " reciprocal commercial intercourse on terms of per- 

 fect equality of flag" between the United States and the British 

 American dependencies, and has suggested that these " commercial 

 privileges have since received a large extension, and that in some cases 

 ' favors ' have been granted by the United States without equivalent 

 'concession,' such as the exemption granted by the shipping act of 

 the 26th June, 1884, amounting to one-half of the regular tonnage 

 dues on all vessels from British North America and West Indies 

 entering ports of the United States." 



He has also mentioned under this head " the arrangement for the 

 transit of goods, and the remission by proclamation as to certain 

 British ports and places of the remainder of the tonnage tax on evi- 

 dence of equal treatment being shown " to United States vessels. 



The proclamation of President Jackson in 1830 had no relation to 

 the subject of the fisheries, and merely had the effect of opening 

 United States ports to British vessels on terms similar to those which 

 had already been granted in British ports to vessels of the United 

 States. The object of these "laws and regulations" mentioned by 

 Mr. Bayard was purely of a commercial character, while the sole 

 purpose of the convention of 1818 was to establish and define the 

 rights of the citizens of the two countries in relation to the fisheries 

 on the British North American coast. 



Bearing this distinction in mind, however, it may be conceded that 

 substantial assistance has been given to the development of com- 

 mercial intercourse between the two countries. 



But legislation in that direction has not been confined to the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States, as indeed Mr. Bayard has admitted in 

 referring to the case of the imperial shipping and navigation act of 

 1849. 



For upwards of forty years, as has already been stated, Canada has 

 continued to evince her desire for a free exchange of the chief prod- 

 ucts of the two countries. She has repeatedly urged the desirability 

 of the fuller reciprocity of trade which was established during the 

 period in which the treaty of 1854 was in force. 



The laws of Canada with regard to the registry of vessels, tonnage 

 dues, and shipping generally, are more liberal than those of the 

 United States. The ports of Canada in inland waters are free to 

 vessels of the United States, which are admitted to the use of her 

 canals on equal terms with Canadian vessels. 



Canada allows free registry to ships built in the United States and 

 purchased by British citizens, charges no tonnage or light clues on 

 United States shipping, and extends a standing invitation for a large 

 measure of reciprocity in trade by her tariff legislation. 



Whatever relevancy, therefore, the argument may have to the sub- 

 ject under consideration, the undersigned submits that the conces- 

 sions which Mr. Bayard refers to as " favors " granted by United 

 States can hardly be said not to have been met by equivalent conces- 



