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sels, whether American or European, the trade between the 
British colonies and European countries, other than the do- 
minions of Great Britain. But Lord Stowell, sitting in the 
High Court of Admiralty, decided directly the reverse, declar- 
ing the trade to be confined to the vessels belonging to the 
country for which they should clear out, and based his opinion 
on the express provisions of the act of June 27.^® Judging 
from the actual operation of the British acts later. Canning’s 
stand was the correct one, but as late as October, 1826, the 
British minister at Washington admitted his inability to an- 
swer satisfactorily regarding the meaning of this provision."^^ 
Other uncertainties which arose will be pointed out later. 
One provision which did seem to be clear, however, was 
that Great Britain intended to extend the privileges of trading 
with her colonies only to those nations which granted to her 
some privilege in return, and in doing this, a clear distinction 
was made between those nations which possessed colonies and 
those which did not. The former, to avail themselves of the 
privileges offered by Great Britain in her colonial trade, had 
only to grant Great Britain like privileges in their own colo- 
nies. In order to gain the same privileges the latter, on the 
other hand, were obliged to place the commerce and naviga- 
tion of Great Britain and her possessions abroad “upon the 
footing of the most favored nation” in their ports. With the 
colonial powers the act proposed an exchange of colonial trade 
for colonial trade, exclusive of the trade of the parent country. 
With powers not having colonies it proposed to give the Brit- 
ish colonial trade only in exchange for a trade between those 
powers and both the United Kingdom and its possessions 
abroad.®^ 
According to Clay, this discrimination operated exclusively 
upon the United States. He maintained: 
All the maritime states have colonies, and therefore will be let into the 
trade with the British colonies upon the less onerous conditions. The 
United States are the only Power not having colonies which trades, or 
is ever likely to trade, in any extent with British colonies. And if they 
alone had been named in the second class of Powers described in the 
act, the application of its more burdensome conditions would not, in 
that case, have been more exclusively confined to them.®^ 
Am. Annual Register, 1826-27, p. 57. 
Am. State Pavers, For. Rel., VI, 259. 
so /&?(?., VI, 263. 
^^Ibid., VI, 264. 
