either with delay and evasions, so common in diplomacy, or the French government insisted on coupling the subject with their own extraordinary demand under the treaty of Louisiana. In the mean while, the trade was fast falling into their hands. Released, as France was by the treaties of 1814 and 15, from the commercial and maritime bondage, in which she had been held for nearly twenty-five years, the first ports her vessels sought were those of this country. And, in consequence of the charges of French brokers, and an extra duty levied on cotton, brought in American ships, she was engrossing, with alarming despatch, all the trade. No one will suppose, that the traffic of a people, whose commercial skill and enterprise have received from all quarters the highest encomiums, and whose navigation is now conducted with an economy and expedition never surpassed, could have fallen a sacrifice to a fair competition. The golden day of French commerce had passed away before, even, the independence of this country; days, when the richest and most numerous merchant vessels, seen either in the West or East India seas, belonged to a people, that we have been in the habit of considering as destined to every other success, than a maritime one. Least of all did we expect, that our swift and cheap sailing vessels, that had served as the carriers of all continental Europe for those twenty-five years of war, when a French trader on the Atlantic would have been as rare a spectacle as a Chinese junk, would have been the first victims of the commercial reappearance of this people. the returns of the custom houses, the representations of merchants, and the statements from ministers abroad left, unhappily, no doubt on this head. From 1816 to 1819, French tonnage from France, entered in ports of this country, increased from 6,506 tons to 20,428; while the American, under similar circumstances, had diminished from 44,809 to 28,501; and the system of discriminating duties, adopted here, was so defective, it was quite evident that, in a short time, the whole American shipping would be withdrawn from that commerce. But In this discouraging state of things, a form of convention was successively proposed by Mr. Gallatin to MM. de Richelieu and de Dessolles, the French secretaries of foreign affairs, on the basis of that of 1815, with England. But those ministers were in no haste to deprive their countrymen of the profitable business, of which they had obtained such easy possession, and which was rapidly and securely augmenting in their hands. In this determination they were supported by the council of commerce of Paris, consisting of eminent merchants and, with the exception of Bordeaux, of all the chambers of commerce, as well as of the shipping interest of the kingdom. In the reports of those bodies it is fully admitted that an equality of duties, tonnage and other charges would, as it respects France, be nothing less than fatal. The United States could not regard this situation of affairs with much patience or composure; the trade was valuable, and (as its chief export) embraced one of the principal staples of the country. But it was not, on that account, the less annoying, that foreign vessels should enjoy such a large proportion of the benefit of it, especially as a system of entire equality would leave them but a small share. The cry, therefore, for retaliation was heard at once. As early as 1820 Mr. Gallatin wrote to the government, that negotiation had become fruitless, nor should it be matter of surprise or complaint that France expressed no desire to disturb the commercial relations existing between the two countries. To the American gov ernment belonged the obvious and necessary duty of placing its own citizens in their own ports, at least, upon as good a footing as the subjects of a foreign state. But this object was not accomplished with all the expedition, that might have been desired. It was not till May 1820, that a law was passed, fixing a new rate of tonnage, &c. on French vessels, -though it had been for some time evident that nothing could be expected from negotiation, and every month furnished fresh proof of the shameful and notorious fact that the exportation of our produce was rapidly passing out of our hands. This law deprived French vessels of all the advantages, their government had adroitly secured for them, and laid the foundation of the convention of 1822, concluded only for two years, but which introduced an entire equality of duties, and charges of every description. The American trade to France needed but this open field, this fair competition to expand itself, at once, with the rapidity and spirit, by which all the commercial enterprises of this people have been signalized. We observe an immediate and gratifying effect upon the exports and imports, showing the perfect justness of the apprehensions of the French merchants. The year, for example, after the signing of the convention, the French tonnage had diminished from the ports of France and the East and West Indies to 4,815 tons, while the American from the same ports had been augmented to the unexpected amount of 74,558 tons. The amount of tonnage, cleared from the same ports from this country was still more favourable to American commerce. In 1826 we find, from the returns of the custom house, 98,855 tons of American shipping arriving from the same ports and of French the increased number of 12,956.-The proportion of French increase is here greater than the American, but it is to be observed, that already in 1823, the greater part of the trade had fallen into the hands of the Americans, and, if on the original amount of that year, the French had increased 8,000, the American has increased 24,000 tons. It is to be observed that the principle of a fair competition was not recognised in this treaty* to its full extent, but * "The United States of America and his Majesty the King of France and Navarre, being desirous of settling the relations of navigation and commerce between their respective nations, by a temporary convention reciprocally beneficial and satisfactory, and thereby of leading to a more permanent and comprehensive arrangement, have respectively furnished their full powers in manner following, that is to say: The President of the United States to John Quincy Adams, their Secretary of State: and his most Christian Majesty to the Baron Hyde de Neuville, knight of the royal and military order of St. Louis, commander of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the royal American Order of Isabella the Catholic, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the United States; who, after exchanging their full powers, have agreed on the following articles: it was agreed, that at the expiration of two years from the 1st October 1822, when the convention went into operation, "ART. 1. Articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture, of the United States, imported into France in vessels of the United States, shall pay an additional duty, not exceeding twenty francs per ton of merchandise, over and above the duties paid on the like articles, also of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States when imported in French vessels. "ART. 2. Articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of France, imported into the United States in French vessels, shall pay an additional duty, not exceeding three dollars and seventy-five cents per ton of merchandise over and above the duties collected upon the like articles, also of the growth, produce, or manufacture, of France, when imported in vessels of the United States. "ART. 3. No discriminating duty shall be levied upon the productions of the soil or industry of France imported in French bottoms into the ports of the United States for transit or reexportation: nor shall any such duties be levied upon the productions of the soil or industry of the United States, imported in vessels of the United States into the ports of France for transit or reexportation. "ART. 4. The following quantities shall be considered as forming the ton of merchandise for each of the articles hereinafter specified : "Wines four 61 gallon hogsheads, or 244 gallons of 231 cubic inches, American measure. "Brandies, and all other liquids, 244 gallons. "Silks and all other dry goods, and all other articles usually subject to measurement, forty-two cubic feet, French, in France, and fifty cubic feet American measure, in the United States. "Cotton 804 lb. avoirdupois, or 365 kilogrammes. "Ashes, pot and pearl, 2,240 lb. avoirdupois, or 1,016 kilogrammes, "Rice, 1,600 lb. avoirdupois, or 725 kilogrammes; and for all weighable articles, not specified, 2,240 lb. avoirdupois, or 1,016 kilogrammes. "ART. 5. The duties of tonnage, light money, pilotage, port charges, brokerage, and all other duties upon foreign shipping, over and above those paid by the national shipping in the two countries respectively, other than those specified in articles 1 and 2 of the present convention, shall not exceed in France, for vessels of the United States, five francs per ton of the vessel's American register; nor for vessels of France in the United States, ninety-four cents per ton of the vessel's French passport. "ART. that (unless notice was given that the convention had expired) a reduction of one fourth should take place in the duties, to be yearly continued, till all discriminating imposts had ceased. The convention not having terminated, (in consequence of the notification of either party) French and American vessels, laden with the produce of their respective countries, are now received into the ports of each other on the same and equal terms. This arrangement was temporary, but there were some points of difference between the two nations of a trifling nature, from the settlement of which a mutual and great benefit could be derived. Being limited to two years, the convention was consented to by one of the parties in the light of an experiment. And France, never having given the notice, the convention permitted it to do, having suffered all discriminating duties to expire by the silent operation of the instrument itself, undoubtedly enjoys advantages from this trade, more than counterbalanced by a circumstance, unavoidable in the present state of French navigation, that a "ART. 6. Consuls and Vice Consuls of either nation, in the other, may cause the arrest of deserters, and detain them for three months. "ART. 7. The present temporary convention shall be in force for two years from the first day of October next, and even after the expiration of that term, until the conclusion of a definitive treaty, or until one of the parties shall have declared its intention to renounce it ; which declaration shall be made at least six months before hand. "And in case the present arrangement should remain without such declaration of its discontinuance by either party, the extra duties specified in the 1st and 2d articles, shall, from the expiration of the said two years, be, on both sides, diminished by one-fourth of their whole amount, and, afterwards, by one fourth of the said amount from year to year, so long as neither party shall have declared the intention of renouncing it as above stated. "ART. 8. Ratification in one year. To take effect from October 1, 1822. "The extra duties levied on either side before the present day, by virtue of the act of congress of 15th May, 1820, and of the ordinance of 26th July of the same year, and others confirmative thereof, and which have not already been paid back, shall be refunded." |
