From existing amities and a spirit of justice it is hoped that
friendly discussion will produce a fair and adequate reciprocity. But
should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with the
Legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities abroad with
countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for the evil in any
other way.
It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British
Parliament anticipating this subject so far as to authorize a mutual
abolition of the duties and countervailing duties permitted under the
treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a spirit of justice and friendly
accommodation which it is our duty and our interest to cultivate with
all nations. Whether this would produce a due equality in the navigation
between the two countries is a subject for your consideration.
Another circumstance which claims attention as directly affecting the
very source of our navigation is the defect or the evasion of the law
providing for the return of seamen, and particularly of those belonging
to vessels sold abroad. Numbers of them, discharged in foreign ports,
have been thrown on the hands of our consuls, who, to rescue them from
the dangers into which their distresses might plunge them and save them
to their country, have found it necessary in some cases to return them
at the public charge.
The cession of the Spanish Province of Louisiana to France, which took
place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make
a change in the aspect of our foreign relations which will doubtless
have just weight in any deliberations of the Legislature connected with
that subject.
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