No. 475.
Mr. Evarts to Mr. Mantilla.

Sir: I have had the honor to receive the note you were pleased to address to me under date of the 19th instant, wherein you adduce considerations [Page 807] and arguments which, in your judgment, show that the present system of levying and collecting tonnage duties on foreign vessels entering the ports of the United States works hardship to Spanish vessels, which you regard as already exempted by law from the collection of any extra tax above that charged upon vessels of the United States, or, if not so exempt, you claim that they should be exempted, as an act of reciprocity, by reason of the absence of any discriminating or countervailing tonnage duties upon vessels of the United States in the ports of Spain. And in proof of the statement that no such discrimination is made against American shipping in Spanish ports, you inclose evidence to show that vessels of the United States enter Cuban ports on terms of equality with Spanish vessels.

In reply, I have to state that the law of March 1, 1869 (section 4231 of the Revised Statutes), to which you appeal in support of the arguments adduced in your note, requires equally with the law of the 27th of February last the establishment to the satisfaction of the President of the United States of the fact that no discriminating or countervailing duties upon tonnage are collected from vessels-of the United States in Spanish ports, as the indispensable condition to the admission of Spanish shipping into ports of the United States upon the same terms as national vessels enjoy.

The Government of the United States, which has so keenly at heart the fostering and development of friendly and beneficial relations of commerce between its own shores and those of foreign countries, cannot but be desirous that the shipping trade between the United States and Spain should rest on a basis of reciprocal favor and exemption.

If, therefore, the government of His Majesty the King of Spain, which you so worthily represent, shall give such assurance as will satisfy the President of the United States that no discriminating or countervailing duties of tonnage are now levied on vessels of the United States in ports of the dominions of Spain, this government will direct its collectors of customs to exact no higher tonnage duties than those to which vessels of the United States are subjected under the law of 27th of February last.

Accept, sir, &c.,

WM. M. EVARTS.