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British North American ports as well as to those from the 
British West Indies. It was decided also that, altho the restric- 
tion of importations in British vessels to articles of the growth 
or produce of the particular island or colony from which the 
vessel should directly come would be too narrow, such ves- 
sel should be restricted to articles of the British West Indies 
if coming from one of those islands, or to articles of the Brit- 
ish colonies in North America if coming from a port in those 
colonies.2 A proclamation, drafted in accordance with these 
decisions, was finally issued by President Monroe on August 
24, 1822.=^ 
This proclamation, Adams believed, “gave the most liberal 
construction for the benefit of British vessels to the act of 
Congress on which it was founded”. This act had authorized 
the President to open American ports to British vessels com- 
ing from such ports as Great Britain might subsequently open 
to vessels of the United States. The ports of St. Johns and 
Halifax in North America, St. George and Hamilton in Ber- 
muda, and those of the Bahama Islands were open to American 
vessels, however, before the British act of 1822, altho, to be 
sure, American ports were closed to British vessels from these 
same ports. Strictly speaking, therefore, it could not be 
maintained that the British act had opened them. Yet the 
President’s proclamation stretched the meaning of the Ameri- 
can act to include these colonial ports which were already 
open, and in so doing, according to Adams, was much more 
extensive in its operation than the British act itself.^ 
In one respect, however, the President’s proclamation did 
not proceed pari passu with the British act. The latter stated 
that no other charges should be levied on American ships and 
cargoes than were levied on British ships and cargoes engaged 
in the same trade. On the other hand, the President’s procla- 
mation did not remove the one dollar per ton for tonnage 
duties and light money levied on foreign vessels not privileged 
by treaty stipulations. It likewise failed to remove the extra 
discriminating duty of 10 per cent levied on importations of 
goods in such foreign vessels. The circular, sent out by the 
United States Treasury Department, indeed, specifically stated 
that these charges were to be paid by British vessels arriving 
"^Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, VI, 53-56. Writings of John Quincy Adams, VII, 
293, 294. 
3 Richardson, Messages and Papers, II, 184, 185. 
* Am. State Papers, For. Rel., V, 515. 
