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Indiana University Studies 
wider in its scope than the British order had been. The 
Senate Committee felt that Great Britain had purposely left 
her North American possessions open to American shipping 
in order that an indirect trade might exist thru them to the 
British West Indies. The American bill was aimed to cut off 
this indirect trade in which British ships would secure much 
the longer freight. Secondly, not only trade in American and 
British vessels was interdicted, but trade in the vessels of any 
country. The British act of 1825 permitted vessels of foreign 
countries which had met the provisions of that act to clear 
from British colonies to any parts of the world, the British 
dominions and possessions alone excepted. The Senate bill 
provided for absolute non-intercourse with the British colo- 
nies ; otherwise this trade might have been carried on as usual, 
but in foreign vessels. In the third place, the President was, 
authorized to issue his proclamation upon either of two con- 
tingencies. If Great Britain saw fit to revoke her order in 
council and extend the privileges of the act of 1825 to Ameri- 
can ships, he should open the ports of the United States to 
British vessels free from all discriminations. In addition, 
the American acts of 1823, 1820, and 1818 would thereupon 
be repealed. But if Great Britain should open her ports to 
American vessels only on the conditions which had existed 
prior to her act of 1825, i.e., restricting American vessels to a 
direct trade, then the President should likewise restrict British 
vessels to a direct trade. Furthermore, in this case the Ameri- 
can acts of 1823, 1820, and 1818 were not repealed. Lastly, 
the American act provided that Great Britain must recede 
first in order to restore the trade between her colonies and the 
United States and to procure the repeal of the American acts. 
And yet it will be recalled that Canning had explicitly stated 
in his first note to Gallatin that Great Britain could not con- 
sent to treat regarding the British colonial trade so long as the 
pretension recorded in the act of 1823 — that American vessels 
and goods should be admitted into the British West Indies on 
the same terms as British vessels and goods from British terri- 
tory — remained part of the law of the United States. It 
certainly would be questionable whether she would recede from 
her order in council so long as the act of 1823 remained unre- 
pealed. 
See above, pp. 129, 130. 
