Statute ⅠⅠ.
Chap. XXII.—An Act to regulate the commercial intercourse between the United States and certain British colonial ports.[1]
First, second, and third sections of the act concerning navigation, act of April 18, 1818, ch. 65, and the act of May 15, 1820, ch. 122, suspended as to certain British colonial ports.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, from and after the third day of March next, the first, second, and third, sections of the “Act concerning navigation,” approved on the eighteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and the “Act supplementary to an act concerning navigation,” approved on the fifteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, shall be, and the same are hereby, suspended, for and during the continuance of this act, so far as any of the restrictions or prohibitions therein contained, limit or interdict the intercourse of navigation or commerce between the ports of the United States and the British colonial ports hereinafter mentioned, to wit:
Kingston, in Jamaica. Savannah Le Mar, do. Montegro Bay, do. Santa Lucia, do. Antonia, do. Saint Ann, do. Falmouth, do. Maria, do. Morant Bay and Annotto Bay, do. Saint George, in Grenada. Roseau, in Dominica. Saint John’s, in Antigua. San Josef, in Trinidad. Scarborough, in Tobago. Road Harbour, in Tortola. Nassau, in New Providence. Pitt’s town, in Crooked Island. Kingston, in Saint Vincent. Port Saint George and Port Hamilton, in Bermuda. Any port where there is a custom-house, in Bahamas. Bridgetown, in Barbadoes. Saint John’s and Saint Andrew’s, in New Brunswick. Halifax, in Nova Scotia. Quebec, in Canada. Saint John’s, in Newfoundland. Georgetown, in Demarara. New Amsterdam, in Berbice. Castries, in Saint Lucia. Basseterre, in Saint Kitts. Charlestown, in Nevis. Plymouth, in Montserrat.
The ports of the United States to be open to British vessels directly from such ports.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the said third day of March next, the ports of the United States shall be open to any British vessel coming directly from any of the British colonial ports above enumerated: and it shall be lawful to import in the said vessels, being navigated by a master and three-fourths, at least, of the mariners, British subjects, any articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture, of any of the said British colonies, the importation of the like articles to which, from elsewhere, is not, nor shall not be, prohibited by law, and which may be exported from any of the said enumerated British ports to the United States, on equal terms, in vessels belonging to the said states.
The President may, by proclamation, declare no higher duty to be levied upon British vessels and goods from these ports than upon United States vessels, on certain conditions.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That, on proof being given to the President of the United States, satisfactory to him, that, upon the vessels of the United States admitted into the above enumerated British colonial ports, and upon any goods, wares, or merchandise, imported therein, in the said vessels, no other or higher duties of tonnage or impost, and no other charges of any kind, are levied or exacted than upon British vessels, or upon the like goods, wares, and merchandise, imported into the said colonial ports from elsewhere, it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to issue his proclamation, declaring that no other or higher duty of impost or tonnage and no other or higher duty or charge of any kind, upon any goods, wares or merchandise, imported from the above enumerated British colonial ports, in British vessels, shall be levied or exacted in any of the ports of the United States, (excepting the ports in the territory of Florida,) than upon the vessels of the United States, and upon the like goods, wares, or merchandise, imported- ↑ An open boat is not a ship or vessel within the purview of the statutes of 1820, ch. 122, and 1823, ch. 22, which prohibit commercial intercourse with the British colonies. United States v. An open boat and lading, 5 Mason’s C. C. R. 120. It seems that notwithstanding those statutes, open British boats may visit the United States, if not destined for trade. Ibid. British ships or vessels, excluded from the ports of the United States by those statutes, are such as are owned by British subjects having a British domicil, and sailing under the British flag, and not British ships or vessels owned by British subjects domiciled in the United States. Ibid.
