Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1823-07-24

indeed from the passing of the Nav;,, 81
on Act, been out policy to impo,.
upon the cargoes. brought in fo,s;"s
vessels, higher duties than those imuos
ed in British bottoms, and also in M,
instances to sllow smaller drawb.cL'
upon articles exported in foreign, thu
those exported 10 British ships. No~
whatever might be thought Of the poli
cy of such a measure, it was all y,,.
we'll SO long as the nations with vhi.t
we traded acquiesced in it. But wb.a
once the attention Of those coun,r..
was called to it. il was not likely th,,
such an inequality could last much Ion
ger Accordingly it was found tia,
the greatest commercial nation in Il.
world after great Britain, and our gre,,
rival in trade-he meant the U. State T
of Notwithstanding the pressure oflh, +
tax. immediately commenced the rs,,.
istory system by imposing duties upop :
all articles imported into that county,
by British ships. The consequence d
this was, that great embarrassment and
| Inconvenience arose in the commerc.
between the two countries. So mueb
so that in cases where the increased6u.
ties sountervailed the freight, it becam.
necessary to have two sets of ships EN-.
ployed, that was, to have British ships
bring home American produce, and 4.
merican ships taking our produce to
that country, each being Of course Oblig.
ed to leave its own port in ballast. W.
however, in order 20 got rid of this in.
convenience were obliged to place A.
merican vessels on the same footing q,
English with respect to duties and
they. acting upon the system of reciprO.
city, did tho same with respect to our
ships. Here Mr.. IL. went on to show
the operation of the retaliatory system
with other nations !
In such state of things it was quite
obvious that we must adopt one of,wS
courses--either we must commence ,
commercial conflict by imposing pro.
tecting duties and prohibitions "a inca.
sure of impolicy which, he believed. no
man would now venture to propose),
or else we must equalize the duties up.
on all ships as now he proposed to do.
lie was sure that those who thought
with him in favor of a reciprocity Of d.
ties, must perceive that under sscha
system each country would receive from
the other the greatest share of advan.
tage in their commercial interourse.-
Another advantage gained by such a
measure would be that of removing tho
several grounds of jealousy and irri,a.
ton which this system naturally gave
rise to. II had been too much the prac.
tice to forget that commerce was no,
the end but the means of promoting the
comfort and enjoyment of mankind
and that any thing which tended to pro-
mote that commerce, tended most t
the advantage OF that country whcs
capital gave it the power of carrying OF
the greatest quantity of comnercis
traffic. 1t nigh perhaps be said. ,ha
this measure would be greatly prejudi
eial to the shipping interest Of tn,
country. In this he answered that tn,
shipping interest had no cause either o
fearor com plant. 1t was said wher
alterations vera made in theNavigatiol
Laws tho shipping interest would be in
jured, whereas it turned out that the,
were benefited by the change. If tn,
present restrictions were continued b,
Us, other countries would, no doubt, q
dept the retaliatory system, and thel
we should, as he had already stated, b,
Obliged to send out our vessels in bal
last, in order to bring home what ",
wanted from other countries. VIVA
he meant TO propose was, that the du
ties and drawbacks should be imposed
and allowed upon ell goods equally
whether imported or exported in Bri
fish or foreign vessels; giving the KinI
in Council, a power to declare that suci
regulations shall extend to all countrie
who were incliuedto act upon syste IN
ofreciprocity, but reserving to the same
authority the power of continuing the
Presentrestrlctlons with respect to thos'
powers who should decline to do so.
MIR. Robertson denied that the Ship
ping Interests Of this country were ia
a Furnishing condition; on the contra
ry, the trade has declined. From 1927
to 1928 there was falling off of l6I
ships and $4,000 tons; for the sam,
period, the difference 10 the NAVY wa,
732 ships l29 900 tons. and 5000 sea
mon. there was not fifth of the trad,
remaining with England and Americs
When concessions had been made BY
this country to America, it was will
much simplicity expected that similar
conc essions would have been made b,
France, but France did not stir a jot
America put on light duties--Franc: