Hostile feelings in United States against England.
Diplomatic proceedings in Paris.
But while the feelings of the people of the United States were becoming daily more hostile to Great Britain, the American government, under some strange delusion, insisted upon the sincerity of France in the early repeal of her decrees. Quiescent under the outrages committed by the French upon their merchantmen, they were furious against the English. Every little incident was seized upon to inflame the public mind against Great Britain. Indeed the President sent a message to Congress stating “that the continued evidence afforded of the hostile policy of the British government against our national rights strengthens the considerations recommending and urging the preparation of adequate means for maintaining them.” The resolutions for this object were carried by such large majorities in the House of Representatives, that war became unavoidable. Both parties boasted of their moderation and forbearance; both alleged the reason and justice of their cause; nevertheless both were determined by motives of state policy operating respectively upon the interests of each country. In the beginning of the year, in order to leave no pretext for England, the American minister at Paris pressed the French government to issue an official or authentic Act; and at length, on the 10th of May, 1812, he received, as we have seen, a copy of a decree dated 28th April, 1811, by which the Berlin and Milan Decrees were repealed, so that the knowledge of this decree was withheld from the United States for more than a year,[335] and was only brought to light and publicly avowed when Napoleon had so far wrought upon the Americans as to commit them to the unfortunate war with Great Britain.
Convention with Great Britain.
Peace was happily concluded on the 24th of Dec., 1814, and in 1815 a convention was signed in London between the United States and Great Britain to regulate the commerce and navigation between their respective countries.[336] It was framed upon the model of the English reciprocity treaties, which were the first steps taken by her towards a future greater freedom of trade. By the terms of the 2nd article, the equalisation of the duties on tonnage and imports was extended to the vessels of both nations, as far as related to their intercourse with the British dominions in Europe and the United States. By that convention the English confirmed to the United States vessels a free direct communication with their dominions in the East Indies, with liberty during peace to trade in any articles not entirely prohibited.
Pursuant to this convention, the vessels of Great Britain, and the merchandise imported therein, when they entered the ports of the United States were exempted from the payment of extra duties of tonnage and import; provided the vessels arrived from, and the merchandise consisted of the growth, produce, and manufacture of, the British dominions in Europe. The same reciprocity was conferred upon American vessels proceeding to Great Britain laden with merchandise of similar character. But at the end of Article 2 there was a special proviso, that “the intercourse between the United States and his Britannic Majesty’s possessions in the West Indies, and on the continent of North America, shall not be affected by any of the provisions of this Article, but each party shall remain in the complete possession of its rights, with respect to such an intercourse.”[337]
Retaliatory Acts, to be enforced conditionally.
In retaliation, Congress on the 1st of March, 1817, passed an Act providing that “on and after the 30th of June of that year a duty of two dollars per ton” should be paid “on all foreign vessels which should enter in the United States, from any foreign place to and with which the vessels of the United States are not ordinarily permitted to enter and trade.” And it was further enacted, in almost the exact words of the English Navigation Laws, that after the 30th of September, 1817, no merchandise should be imported into the United States from any foreign place except in vessels of the United States, or in “such foreign vessels as wholly belong to the citizens or subjects of that country of which the merchandise is the growth, production, or manufacture, or from which it can only be, or most usually is, first shipped for transportation.” Adding that, “the regulations aforesaid are only applicable to the vessels of such foreign nations as have adopted or may adopt similar provisions;” and providing that “merchandise imported into the United States contrary to the Act aforesaid,[338] and the vessel in which the same is imported, are forfeited to the United States.” It was further determined that “the coasting trade is only allowed in vessels of the United States”; and that “merchandise imported from one port into another port in the United States, in a vessel belonging wholly or in part to a subject of any foreign power, unless such merchandise shall have been imported in such vessel from a foreign port, and that the same shall not have been unladen, is forfeited to the United States.”
Hostile legislation against Great Britain.
In 1818 Congress made their navigation laws still more stringent by enacting,[339] “That from and after the 30th of September next, the ports of the United States shall be and remain closed against every vessel owned, wholly or in part, by a subject or subjects of his Britannic Majesty, coming or arriving from any port or place in a colony or territory of his Britannic Majesty, that is or shall be, by the ordinary laws of navigation and trade, closed against vessels owned by citizens of the United States; and such vessel, that in the course of the voyage shall have touched at, or cleared out from, any port or place in a colony or territory of Great Britain, which shall or may be, by the ordinary laws of navigation and trade aforesaid, open to vessels owned by citizens of the United States, shall nevertheless be deemed to have come from the port or place in the colony or territory of Great Britain, closed as aforesaid against vessels owned by citizens of the United States, from which such vessel cleared out and sailed before touching at and clearing out from an intermediate and open port or place as aforesaid; and every such vessel, so excluded from the ports of the United States, that shall enter or attempt to enter the same in violation of this Act, shall, with her tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with the cargo on board such vessel, be forfeited to the United States.”