Office of the Historian

No. 4
By the President of the United States of America.

a proclamation.

Whereas, upon information received by me from His Majesty the Emperor of the French, that discriminating duties before the date of said information levied in French ports upon merchandise imported from the countries of its origin in vessels of the United States were discontinued and abolished, and in pursuance of the provisions of an act of Congress of the 7th of January, 1824, and of an act in addition thereto, of the 24th of May, 1828. I did, on the 12th day of June, 1869, issue my proclamation declaring that the discriminating duties before that date levied upon merchandise imported from the countries of its origin into ports of the United States in French vessels were thereby discontinued and abolished;

And whereas, upon information subsequently received by me that the levying of such duties on all merchandise imported into France in vessels of the United States, whether from the country of its origin or from other countries, had been discontinued, I did, on the 20th of November, 1869, in pursuance of the provisions of the said acts of Congress, and by the authority in me vested thereby, issue my proclamation declaring that the discriminating duties before that date levied upon merchandise imported into the United States in French vessels, either from the countries of its origin or from any other country, were thereby discontinued and abolished;

And whereas, by the provisions of the said acts of Congress of January 7, 1824, and of the 24th of May, 1828, as well as by the terms of the said proclamations of the 12th of June, 1869, and of the 20th of November, 1869, the said suspension of discriminating duties upon merchandise imported into the United States in French vessels was granted by the United States on condition that, and to continue so long as, merchandise imported into France in vessels of the United States should be admitted into the ports of France on the same terms of exemption from the payment of such discriminating duties;

And. whereas, information has been received by me that, by a law of the French Republic, passed on the 30th of January, 1872, and published on the 3d of February, 1872, merchandise imported, into France in vessels of the United States, from countries other than the United States, is (with the exception of certain articles enumerated in said law) subjected to discriminating duties;

And whereas, by the operation of said law of the French Republic of the 30th of January, 1872, the exemption of French vessels and their cargoes granted by the terms of the said proclmaations of the 12th of June, 1869, and of the 20th of November, 1869, in accordance with the provisions of the acts of Congress aforesaid, has ceased to be reciprocal on the part of France toward vessels owned by citizens of the United States and their cargoes:

Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by an act of Congress of the seventh day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, and by an act in addition thereto of the twenty-fourth day of May, one thousand eight hundred, and twenty-eight, do hereby declare and proclaim that on and after this date the said suspension of the collection of discriminating duties upon merchandise imported into the United [Page 4] States in French vessels from countries other than France, provided for by my said proclamations of the twelfth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, and the twentieth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, shall cease and determine, and all the provisions of the acts imposing discriminating foreign tonnage and import duties in the United States are hereby revived, and shall henceforth be and remain in full force, as relates to goods and merchandise imported into the United States in French vessels from countries other than France, so long as any discriminating duties shall continue to be imposed by France upon goods and merchandise imported into France in vessels of the United States from countries other than the United States.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-seventh.

[seal.]
U. S. GRANT.

By the President:
Hamilton Fish,
Secretary of State.