CHAPTER VI.

CONVENTION OF NAVIGATION AND COMMERCE OF 1822 WITH FRANCE.

American and Ottoman Legations only asylums in Paris in 1814-Restoration of Bourbons led to slight suspension in intercourse-Crawford-De Neuville-France unwilling to make a Commercial Convention-Great advantages from state of Trade-French commerce once very extensive-Gallatin-State of Trade causes great uneasiness in United States-Convention-Throws freights into American vessels-Claim under 8th article of treaty of Louisiana—Extraordinary-Account of that business-First employed by France to delay Convention, then to resist Claims-Diplomacy simplified in modern times-Executive men now more important—Argument on the claim under the Louisiana treaty-Remains without settlement-Brown, Minister-Menou, Chargé.

WHEN the allies entered Paris in the spring of 1814, there were, in that splendid and populous capital, but two asylums into which, by the laws of war, their troops could not penetrate. One of these was the hotel, inhabited by the American minister, and the other, that of the Ottoman legation; the representatives of the extreme elements of free and despotic governments;-of a warlike Tartar race, "encamped" on the edge of civilized Europe, holding no sympathy with Christendom either in religion or letters, manners or customs; of all the nations which (to use a term of antiquity) are denominated barbarous, the only one, that has, habitually and for centuries, exchanged, with European courts, the forms and courtesies of diplomatic intercourse ;and of a people, planting in a savage country the best ingredients of society, there developing the principles of a government, never before either attempted or conceived, and, already, with a rapid progress, carrying back civilization to the

shores of the ocean which, in this hemisphere, separates them from its original seats. Such were the spectators of a scene, as extraordinary as any that has taken place, since Constantinople fell into the hands of Mohammed, the second of his name.

William H. Crawford, of Georgia, was, at that time, American minister in France. He arrived there in August of the preceding year, having succeeded Mr. Barlow in that mission; he remained till April 1815.

The overthrow of Napoleon Bonaparte led to a slight suspension in the intercourse of the two countries; but as soon as well founded assurances of the stability of the Bourbon government were received, the United States, without delay, took the necessary steps to renew their diplomatic relations. A minister plenipotentiary, M. Hyde de Neuville, was, also, received from France before October 1814.

Three subjects of negotiation, (one of them extending far back into the relations with France) have occupied the attention of this government since the restoration of the royal family, viz. the settlement of the terms of a commercial convention, a demand on the part of France, under the 8th article of the treaty, constituting the cession of Louisiana, and a protracted discussion of claims on the part of the United States since the first and second years of the French republic. The two topics of a demand under the treaty of Louisiana, and of American claims, having been forced, in the course of negotiation, into an unnecessary and unreasonable union, we shall, for the present, omit an examination of those subjects, and proceed to an account of the convention for the regulation of commerce, concluded April 1822, at Washington.

The French Government manifested an extreme unwillingness to enter into a commercial convention, that should permit a trade on both sides on equal terms. They feared, (and time has shown, that their apprehension was not a groundless one) a competition with our ships and capital. The American ministers in Paris, Messrs. Crawford and Gallatin, successively undertook this business, but they met

either with delay and evasions, so common in diplomacy, or the French government insisted on coupling the subject with their own extraordinary demand under the treaty of Louisiana. In the mean while, the trade was fast falling into their hands. Released, as France was by the treaties of 1814 and 15, from the commercial and maritime bondage, in which she had been held for nearly twenty-five years, the first ports her vessels sought were those of this country. And, in consequence of the charges of French brokers, and an extra duty levied on cotton, brought in American ships, she was engrossing, with alarming despatch, all the trade. No one will suppose, that the traffic of a people, whose commercial skill and enterprise have received from all quarters the highest encomiums, and whose navigation is now conducted with an economy and expedition never surpassed, could have fallen a sacrifice to a fair competition. The golden day of French commerce had passed away before, even, the independence of this country; days, when the richest and most numerous merchant vessels, seen either in the West or East India seas, belonged to a people, that we have been in the habit of considering as destined to every other success, than a maritime one. Least of all did we expect, that our swift and cheap sailing vessels, that had served as the carriers of all continental Europe for those twenty-five years of war, when a French trader on the Atlantic would have been as rare a spectacle as a Chinese junk, would have been the first victims of the commercial reappearance of this people. But the returns of the custom houses, the representations of merchants, and the statements from ministers abroad left, unhappily, no doubt on this head. From 1816 to 1819, French tonnage from France, entered in ports of this country, increased from 6,506 tons to 20,428; while the American, under similar circumstances, had diminished from 44,809 to 28,501; and the system of discriminating duties, adopted here, was so defective, it was quite evident that, in a short time, the whole American shipping would be withdrawn from that commerce.

In this discouraging state of things, a form of convention

was successively proposed by Mr. Gallatin to MM. de Richelieu and de Dessolles, the French secretaries of foreign affairs, on the basis of that of 1815, with England. But those ministers were in no haste to deprive their countrymen of the profitable business, of which they had obtained such easy possession, and which was rapidly and securely augmenting in their hands. In this determination they were supported by the council of commerce of Paris, consisting of eminent merchants and, with the exception of Bordeaux, of all the chambers of commerce, as well as of the shipping interest of the kingdom. In the reports of those bodies it is fully admitted that an equality of duties, tonnage and other charges would, as it respects France, be nothing less than fatal. The United States could not regard this situation of affairs with much patience or composure; the trade was valuable, and (as its chief export) embraced one of the principal staples of the country. But it was not, on that account, the less annoying, that foreign vessels should enjoy such a large proportion of the benefit of it, especially as a system of entire equality would leave. them but a small share. The cry, therefore, for retaliation was heard at once. As early as 1820 Mr. Gallatin wrote to the government, that negotiation had become fruitless, nor should it be matter of surprise or complaint that France expressed no desire to disturb the commercial relations existing between the two countries. To the American government belonged the obvious and necessary duty of placing. its own citizens in their own ports, at least, upon as good a footing as the subjects of a foreign state. But this object was not accomplished with all the expedition, that might have been desired. It was not till May 1820, that a law was passed, fixing a new rate of tonnage, &c. on French vessels, -though it had been for some time evident that nothing could be expected from negotiation, and every month furnished fresh proof of the shameful and notorious fact that the exportation of our produce was rapidly passing out of our hands. This law deprived French vessels of all the advantages, their government had adroitly secured for them, and

laid the foundation of the convention of 1822, concluded only for two years, but which introduced an entire equality of duties, and charges of every description. The American trade to France needed but this open field, this fair competition to expand itself, at once, with the rapidity and spirit, by which all the commercial enterprises of this people have been signalized. We observe an immediate and gratifying ef fect upon the exports and imports, showing the perfect justness of the apprehensions of the French merchants. The year, for example, after the signing of the convention, the French tonnage had diminished from the ports of France and the East and West Indies to 4,815 tons, while the American from the same ports had been augmented to the unexpected amount of 74,558 tons. The amount of tonnage, cleared from the same ports from this country was still more favourable to American commerce. In 1826 we find, from the returns of the custom house, 98,855 tons of American shipping arriving from the same ports and of French the increased number of 12,956.-The proportion of French increase is here greater than the American, but it is to be observed, that already in 1823, the greater part of the trade had fallen into the hands of the Americans, and, if on the original amount of that year, the French bad increased 8,000, the American has increased 24,000 tons.

It is to be observed that the principle of a fair competition was not recognised in this treaty to its full extent, but

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* "The United States of America and his Majesty the King of France and Navarre, being desirous of settling the relations of navigation and commerce between their respective nations, by a temporary convention reciprocally beneficial and satisfactory, and thereby of leading to a more permanent and comprehensive arrangement, have respectively furnished their full powers in manner following, that is to say: The President of the United States to John Quincy Adams, their Secretary of State: and his most Christian Majesty to the Baron Hyde de Neuville, knight of the royal and military order of St. Louis, commander of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the royal American Order of Isabella the Catholic, his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the United States; who, after exchanging their full powers, have agreed on the following articles: