Office of the Historian

No. 190.
Mr. Hay to Chen Lan Pin and Mr. Yung Wing.

Department of State,
Washington, August 23, 1880.

Gentlemen: Referring to your note of the 9th instant relative to the expected arrival of the Chinese steamer Wo Chung at the port of [Page 305] San Francisco, and to my reply thereto of the 13th, I have now the honor to inform you that the reserved question of the customs duties of importation chargeable upon the cargo which the vessel may bring has received careful consideration.

Like the question of alien tonnage dues, of which my former note treated, the matter of customs duties on cargo entering the ports of the United States from foreign ports is one to be exclusively decided, in the absence of specific and reciprocal exemption by treaty, according to the domestic legislation of the country.

The existing treaties of commerce between the United States and China do not provide for such reciprocal exemption, but stipulate solely “that citizens of the United States shall never pay higher duties” [on merchandise entering China] “than those paid by the most favored nations” The question is, therefore, remitted to the domestic legislation of the United States. That legislation prescribes, in section 2502 of the Revised Statutes, a discriminating duty of ten per centum ad valorem in addition to the regular duties imposed by law on goods imported in vessels not of the United States; but it also provides that this discriminating duty shall not apply to merchandise imported in alien vessels which are entitled by treaty or any act of Congress to enter the United States on the same footing as though imported in vessels of the United States.

An act of Congress, applicable to the case in point, is found embodied in section 4228 of the Revised Statutes, which empowers the President, upon satisfactory proof being given by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or import are there levied upon United States vessels, or upon merchandise carried thither in American bottoms, to issue a proclamation suspending and discontinuing the discriminating duties aforesaid with respect to the vessels and cargoes coming to the United States under the flag of such foreign nation.

In order, however, that the discretionary authority conferred by this enactment should be applied in conformity with its entire spirit as well as its letter, it becomes necessary that the satisfactory proof it contemplates shall cover not merely American imports into China, but the flag under which they enter the empire, on which point the treaty is silent.

It is found practicable, in this view of the question, to join the question of tonnage dues, treated of in my former note, to the question of customs duties now under consideration between us, inasmuch as both matters are within the competence of the President under the above-mentioned section 4228 of the statutes.

I have, therefore, the honor to inquire whether you are prepared to support the request contained in your note of the 9th instant, for the accordance of the most favored nation treatment to the Wo Chung, and consequently to Chinese vessels in general which may enter our ports with cargo, by giving, on behalf of your government, satisfactory proof on the following points:

  • First. Are any other or higher tonnage dues exacted in the open ports of China, from the vessels of the United States resorting thereto, than are paid by Chinese vessels or any foreign vessel engaged in like trade therewith?
  • Second. Are any other or higher customs duties of impost exacted in China from American citizens importing merchandise thither than are paid by Chinese subjects, or the citizens of the most favored power, importing the like merchandise into China?
  • Third. Is there any discriminating or additional customs duty imposed [Page 306] upon merchandise, whether of American or foreign origin, entering the open ports of China in vessels of the United States, which is not imposed upon the like goods entering those ports in Chinese vessels, or in the vessels of any foreign power?

I have thus presented my inquiries in categorical form, in view of the circumstance that the most favored nation treatment which is sought by your note of the 9th, for the Wo Chung and her cargo, is identical with that which a vessel of the United States and her cargo receive on entering the ports of the United States. I have also, as you will perceive, limited my inquiries to the open ports of China, because a Chinese vessel coming from or trading with a port of the empire closed to the commerce of non-Chinese vessels would necessarily have no claim to exemption or favor based upon reciprocity of treatment.

Upon the receipt of your reply to the foregoing inquiries, the Department will be in a position to decide whether and to what extent the case of the Wo Chung and vessels of her class come within the discretionary power of the Presidential proclamation contemplated in section 4228 of the Revised Statutes, both as to tonnage and customs duties.

Accept, &c.

JOHN HAY,
Acting Secretary.