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Indiana University Studies 
duties as appeared consistent with the interests of other parts 
of the British dominions. This point, it emphasized, “should 
be distinctly understood on both sides, in order that no doubt 
should exist of the right of Great Britain to vary those duties 
from time to time, according to her own views of expediency, 
unfettered by any obligation, expressed or implied, towards 
the United States or any other country In other words, 
the American act must be interpreted to provide: first, that 
American vessels could enter the British colonies only direct 
from the United States, and could import articles only the 
produce of the United States; secondly, that British vessels 
from the British North American provinces were to share 
in the privileges offered by the United States to the British 
colonies in the West Indies; and thirdly, that Great Britain 
might still protect various parts of her dominions by discrim- 
inating duties against foreign vessels and produce. If, there- 
fore, President Jackson should give effect to the act of Con- 
gress in conformity with these interpretations of its pro- 
visions, it was admitted that all difficulty on the part of Great 
Britain in the way of a renewal of the trade between the 
United States and the British West Indies would thereby be 
removed.^^ 
As McLane believed it had been the intention of Congress 
to conform its act to the known terms of the American prop- 
osition, and as he feared that any admission that the act did 
vary intentionally from the terms of the proposition he had 
made would entirely defeat any hope of recovering the colonial 
trade, he concurred in the interpretation of the American act 
which had been made by the British Government.^® The way 
was therefore clear for the President’s proclamation opening 
American ports to British vessels from the colonies. 
McLane immediately dispatched a note to Washington, 
notifying the American Government of Great Britain’s will- 
ingness to revoke her order in council. This message reached 
New York about the first of October, whereupon rumors at 
once appeared regarding the successful termination of the ne- 
gotiation. The New York mail containing this dispatch ar- 
rived in Baltimore on Saturday, October 2, on the eve of the 
Maryland state election. A handbill was speedily issued by 
56 Senate Docs., 21 Cong., 2 Sess., I, No. 20, pp. 52, 53. 
^Uhid., 53. 
44. 
