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the restrictions which provoked this retaliation on the part of the Americans were even partially removed from the trade of the West Indies.
Meanwhile changes had been taking place in other parts of America, which rendered some modification of our law necessary. Under the several Free-port Acts which had from time to time been passed, very considerable pri- vileges had been gradually given to foreign ships, in the way of allowing them to import the produce of their own countries into our colonies; but as it was not intended that the United States should benefit by these advantages, they were always confined to "Colonies in America belonging to a foreign European Sove- reign or State." The disruption of the Spanish and Portuguese Colonial Empires rendered it necessary to adopt some new rule, unless we intended to debar Mexico and Brazil from the trade to which we had admitted them in times past. Notoriously it was rather the policy of this country at that time to encourage intercourse with these new countries. This, then, was one way in which the dissolution of those empires tended to break up our colonial system. Ano- ther was still more important. During the maintenance of the Spanish dominion, foreigners had (to speak generally) been rigidly excluded from the ports of her colonies. The only ways in which we could import their produce, were either through the illicit trade with our West Indies, or through the ports of Spain, from which, under an exceptional proviso in our Navi- gation Law, it was admissible,-contrary, of course, to the general rules of that law. But when the intercourse between the mother-coun- tries and their colonies was interrupted; when the Court of Portugal removed to Brazil, and Spain began to relax her prohibitory system; and when, finally, the colonies came to make themselves independent; a change necessarily took place, we ceased to draw the colonial mer. chandize through the mother-countries, and we began to receive it directly from the place of its production. Thus we opened a new market for produce, which was raised by foreigners in rivalry
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with our own colonists. This made the restric- tions with which we had burdened the latter no longer endurable. They had been endured so long as our colonists had something like a mo- nopoly of our narket; but that monopoly had been secured to them, not only by our legisla tion, but by the legislation of Spain and Portu-
gal. When the Spanish and Portuguese systems broke
up, ours was no longer tenable.*
The stages by which our original rule as to importations from Asia, Africa, and America, was broken down, were as follows. In 1797 iť
was made legal by Act of Parliament for United States' ships to bring the produce of their own country to England. This, however, had been previously permitted by orders in council. 1808, and more fully in 1810, a similar privi- lege was granted to the Portuguese dominions
In
in South America. In 1822, it was extended
to countries in America, being, or having been, under the dominion of Spain. At the first Con- solidation of the Customs Laws in 1825, the exception was converted into the rule, and im- portations from Asia and Africa were placed on a footing similar to that of importations from America.
We must now return to the effect of the Act of 1822 upon the intercourse between the West Indies and the United States. That Act al- lowed a considerable number of articles to be imported into the free ports of the West Indies from any foreign country in America, in ships of such country. It reserved to the King the power of prohibiting such intercourse with any foreign country that might not treat British shipping with equal favour. Shortly before the passing of this Act, the Congress of the United States had empowered the President to open the ports of the United States on equal terms to British as to United States' vessels, when coming from any British port in the West Indies which had been opened to vessels of the United States on equal terms with British vessels.
• See Mr. Huskisson's speech on Colonial Policy, March 21, 1825.
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