ADDENDUM. 



413 



and Brazil. They believe that there is virtue in forbearance, and there- 

 fore pray for such action only, on the part of your honorable bodies, as 

 may secure the free navigation of the Amazon peaceably, and with the 

 consent of Brazil : peaceably if we can — forcibly if we must. 



"To accomplish the former, it is only necessary, in the judgment of 

 your memorialists, to lay down the doctrine which this nation holds 

 upon this subject, and then to remind Brazil of the rights which Ameri- 

 can citizens have upon the headwaters of the Amazon ; of the doctrine 

 which we on this side of the equator have always held as to the naviga- 

 tion rights of riparian States ; and to pass in review, for her edification, 

 the relations of commerce, business, and friendship between the two 

 countries, which it is not the wish of this country, and certainly not the 

 interest of that, to disturb. 



"There are few countries, having friendly dealings with each other, 

 between w r hich commerce is more one-sided in its operations than is our 

 commerce with Brazil. On one side it is all free trade, but on the other 

 it is restrictive in the highest degree. Owing to the illiberal policy of 

 Brazil, our commerce with her is carried on upon very unequal and 

 disadvantageous terms. 



"Coffee, drugs, hides, and India-rubber, are the chief articles that are 

 exported from Brazil and brought to this country, and this country is 

 BraziPs best customer. We take about two -thirds of her whole coffee 

 crop ; we admit her coffee duty free ; and also the other staples enu- 

 merated above are either on the free list, or are admitted at rates merely 

 nominal. 



"On the other hand, the coffee which Brazil sells to us is first taxed 

 with heavy excise duties, and the flour which she receives from us is 

 saddled at her custom-house with enormous charges, thus greatly "re- 

 stricting the consumption of the one and keeping down the demand for 

 the other. 



"We send to Brazil the manufactured article; she gives us in return 

 the raw ; yet so unequal is the trade, that the balance is largely against 

 us. We have to send heavy remittances in bullion to pay for our pur- 

 chases in her markets, and yet we have never threatened her with re- 

 taliatory duties. 



"The annals of commerce among friendly Christian nations may be 

 challenged almost in vain for another case like this — a case where the 

 nation supplying the elaborated article, and receiving in exchange raw 

 produce, finds herself at such odds as to leave the balance, year after 

 year, heavily against her. 



"Nevertheless, we are the friends of Brazil and her best customer, and 

 28 



