New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-05-21

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Of them by the Government of the United States
as sovereign and independent ADDITIONAL ree'
sons for Withholding that acknowledgements nave
been seen il their acceptance OF nominal SOW
ereiguty by the grant Of foreign prince, undee
conditous equivalent 20 the concession by tnem
Of exclusive commercial advantages 20 one nation,
sdRoted sltagether 70 the state OF commercial
vsss,age, ard retaining little Of independence
but the name. Our pleuipOte ntisries will be In
structed 70 present these views to the Assem-,
bly, at Panama; snd should they not be concurred
in, TO decline acceding 90 any Arrangement when
may be proposed upon different principles
Here may De seen at once the petty
and insufficient grounds on which the re-
fusal to recognize Hayti has been put and
the pertinscity with which it has been adj
hered to. The grant and exclusive COM
mercial advantages spoken of by Mr..
Adams were contained in the treaty OF
April II. 1925, made by Boyer with Charles
X. of France, by which that prince rocog-
nized Hsyti; at the same time the island
undertook TO pay France o3O'OOO'OOO In
demnity for the colonists appropriated by
the revolution, and to admit French ships
at half the tunnsge duties levied on those
Of other nations. Whether equal privileges
might not have been obtained at that time
by the United States and every other nation
that should seek them as France had done,
through regular recognition Of the inde-
pendence of the Haytien people is point
on which the President could have spoken
moro Justly after he had made the attempt.
But circumstances forbade" and Mr.
Adams pct forth the above poor sPeci-
men of special pleading. How deeply he
afterwards repented Of this conduct may
be Judged from the efforts he made while
a Member Of Congress to bring about
change.
Still, though circumstances forbade the
acknowledgement by our Government, our
merchants had felt no scruples about max
ing money out of the Haytian trade, and
the Government had been obliged to take
stepS accordingly. As early as 1916, one
Mr.. Taylor was sent out to the island as
Commercial Agent, before any other nation
had an agent there; even the French COM
merce with the island was then carried on
under the Danish flag. In 1918 Com.
Lewis was sent out. He was succeeded
by Andrew Armstrong, who remained till
after the treaty with France, when Boyer,
having been recognized by that Govern
ment, became impatient of the position oc-
cupicd by the United States, and told Mr..
Armstrong that until his Government had
recognized Hayti he could not recognize
him as Commercial Agent, and that the
United States flag could not be allowed to
float from his official residence. Arm
strong applied to President Adams for di-
rections. Mr.. Adams could not dispute
the Justice of Boyer's action, and told Arm
strong if he was not allowed to fly his dag
he must put it in his trunk and come home.
The United States were thus left without
any Commercial Agent in Hayti. But as
this was a serious inconvenience to our
merchants, another person was sent out
with orders to go to Port-au- Prince and
get along the best he could. He accord
ingIy did so, and though not allowed by
the Haytian Government to receive the
registers of ships, like other COnSul9, he
,till managed in a sort of semi-ofiicial
capacity to look after runaway sailors,
and perform other services proper to his
position. In 1880 the place was filled by
Mr.. +. NJ. Dimond, who remained at Port
au-Prince several years. He was sue
cseded BY F. D. Cummins, Joseph C. Lu-
Their, and 9. F. Usher other agents
were also sent to Aux Cages and Cape
Haytien.
As long as France was alone exempted
from the difIerential duties imposed upon
all nations that do not recognize Hayti'
our commerce did not particularly suffer.
But when England made the recognition,
and her ships became freed from those
duties, it began to be folt by our mer-
chants with whom England could now
come into competition at an advantage
on the amount of duties paid on each cargo,
amounting to 10 per cent.
Something must be done to remove this,
and the plain and honorable way was to
recognize Haytian independence. But
e." circumstances forbade" and accordingly
Com. Chauncey was sent out with naval
force to negotiate and make things smooth.
The Government there was assured that it
was not from any i'll will that the recogni-
ton was still withheld; the Northern