Benns: British West India Carrying-Trade 99 
to continue. An act of Parliament was passed, however, em- 
powering the King in Council to impose or remove discriminat- 
ing duties on vessels and goods of foreign countries according 
as those countries should be disposed, or not, to act with a fair 
reciprocity towards Great Britain.®^ Based on this act, a Brit- 
ish order in council was issued on July 17, 1823, which im- 
posed a duty of four shillings and three pence per ton upon 
all American vessels entering the ports of British colonies in 
America and the West Indies, and 10 per cent discriminating 
duties upon their cargoes.^® 
As a result, therefore, of the act of Congress of March 
1, 1823, and the British order in council of July 17, of the 
same year, British vessels from the British colonial ports en- 
tering American ports were subject to discriminating tonnage 
and import duties, not levied upon American vessels and car- 
goes from the same ports; and vice versa, American vessels 
entering the British colonial ports from the United States 
were subject to similar discriminating duties, not levied upon 
British vessels and cargoes from American ports. If the trade 
had been on an unequal basis before the American act of 1823, 
it was on just as unequal a basis again after the British order 
in council. Nothing had been gained for American shipping 
interests. Rather, as the Norfolk Herald pointed out, the 
American Government had maneuvered itself into an awkward 
position. 
If we take no measure, then we have imposed on our vessels a tonnage 
and duty, in the British colonies, which might have been avoided; if we 
interdict British vessels going to, and coming from her colonies, it will 
follow that our vessels will be in like manner interdicted from the 
colonies, and thus we shall deprive ourselves of a trade highly beneficial.®® 
The American, act of March 1 had aroused no comment 
on the part of American newspapers; the subsequent British 
order in council evoked only a little. Interest in the con- 
troversy had subsided from its high-water mark in 1817 and 
1818. Nevertheless, occasional opinions were expressed by 
scattered papers. A Philadelphia paper believed that the new 
tonnage and countervailing duty would possibly fall more 
heavily upon the British colonist, as the United States sup- 
Am. State Pavers, For. Rel., VI, 246. Annual Register, LXV, Appendix, 238. 
Am. State Papers, For. Rel., V, 535. London Gazette, July 22, 1823, quoted in 
Niles’ Register, XXV, 41. 
Norfolk Herald quoted in Boston Daily Advertiser, Sept. 25, 1823. 
