No. 537.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. de Weckherlin.

Sir: I had the honor on the 10th of November last to receive your note of the 8th of the same month, in which you were pleased to advert to section 11 of the shippings act, approved June 19, 1880, and, after citing its provisions, to advise me that neither in the Kingdom of the Netherlands nor in the free ports of the Dutch colonies, of which you append a list, are any light dues, tonnage dues, or beacon or buoy dues imposed, neither is any other equivalent tax here imposed upon foreign vessels; and, further, that no export duties exist in the Netherlands or their free ports, and that where an import duty is levied on cargo brought by foreign vessels it is no higher or other than would be payable by vessels of the Netherlands or their cargoes. In view of this recital, you state it to be the opinion of your Government that the European ports of the Netherlands and the free ports in the Dutch Bast Indies (mentioned in your aforesaid list) “fulfill the conditions required by section 11 of the act of June 19, 1886,” and consequently, under your instructions, you request me “to cause such measures to be adopted that the collection of tonnage dues in the United States may be suspended in the case of vessels coming from the ports in question.”

Circumstances have (as I have stated to you in verbal conferences) interfered to prevent an earlier consideration of your note, but I beg you to believe that the delay has been due to no want of appreciation of the good-will which prompts the offer, and of the evident desire of the Royal Government to develop in every possible way the commercial and friendly ties between the Netherlands and the United States— a desire equally cherished by the Government I have the honor to represent, [Page 907] and for the expression of which it provides and seeks every appropriate channel.

I am happy to inform you that the President, accepting the declaration contained in your note as a satisfactory notification of entire reciprocity of treatment in the ports of the Netherlands, has, in the exercise of the authority conferred upon him by the said eleventh section of the statute of June 19, 1886, issued his proclamation (copies of which are herewith inclosed for your information) suspending the collection of the whole of the duty of 6 cents per ton imposed by said section on vessels entering the “ports of the United States from any port of the Netherlands in Europe, or from any free port of the Dutch colonies named in the list appended to your note; but, in equal obedience to the statute named, excluding from the benefits of such suspension in favor of vessels coming from said ports the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any nature imposed on vessels of the United States or the import or export dues on their cargoes are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which such port is situated, or on the cargoes of such vessels.

It has afforded me great pleasure to observe that the proposal of the Government of the Netherlands adheres to the principle of reciprocity which pervades the treaties between the two countries, and which it has ever been the equal aim of the respective Governments to follow.

The twelfth section of the statute of June 19, 1886, provides—

That the President he, and hereby is, directed to cause the governments of foreign countries, -which at any of their ports impose on American Vessels a tonnage tax or light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, or any other fees, charges, or dues, to be informed of the provisions of the preceding section, and invited to co-operate with the Government of the United States in abolishing all light-house dues, tonnage-taxes, or other equivalent tax or taxes on, and also all other fees for official services to, the vessels of the respective nations employed in the trade between the ports of such foreign country and the ports of the United States.

The declarations made in your note of the 8th ultimo would’ appear to remove the Netherlands from the class of foreign governments the invitation of which is contemplated by the statute, but inasmuch as it is not clear from your note that the appended list comprises (with the European ports of the Netherlands) all the ports under the administration of the Dutch Government with which vessels of the United States may trade, and moreover, as the section in question proposes the mutual abolition of “all other fees for official services to the, vessels of the respective nations,” it is proper that I should extend, as I now hereby do, the authorized invitation in the name of the Government of the United States to the Royal Netherlands Government, in order that such an understanding may be conventionally reached as may insure the absolute reciprocity and equality of the respective navigation between the two countries in the ports of the other, as to all official charges of any nature whatsoever.

Accept, etc.,

T. F. Bayard.
[Inclosure.]

By the President of the United States.

a proclamation.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been given to me by the Government of the Nether lauds that no light-thouse and light dues, tonnage dues, or beacon and buoy clues are imposed in the ports of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; that no other equivalent [Page 908] tax of any kind is imposed upon vessels in said ports, under whatever flag they may sail; that vessels belonging to the United States of America, and their cargoes, are not required, in the Netherlands, to pay any fee or due of any kind, or nature, or any import due higher, or other than is payable by vessels of the Netherlands or their cargoes; that no export duties are imposed in the Netherlands; and that in the free ports of the Dutch East Indies, to wit, Riouw (in the island of Riouw), Pabean, Sangrit, Loloan, and Tamboekoes (in the island of Bali), Koepang (in the island of Timor), Makassar, Menado, Kema, and Gorontalo (in the island of Celebes), Amboina, Saparoa, Banda, Ternate, and Kajeli (in the Moluccas); Oleh-leh, and Bengkalis (in the island of Sumatra), vessels are subjected to no fiscal tax, and no import or export duties are there levied;

Now therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 11 of the act of Congress entitled, “An act to abolish certain fees for official services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,” approved June nineteenth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, do hereby declare and proclaim that from and after the date of this my proclamation shall be suspended the collection of the whole of the duty of six cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum (which is imposed by said section of said act) upon vessels entered in the ports of the United States from any of the ports of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe, or from any of the above-named free ports of the Dutch East Indies:

Provided, That there shall be excluded from the benefits of the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of such foreign country, or their cargoes, or of the fees, dues, or duties imposed on the vessels of the country in which are the ports mentioned in this proclamation, or the cargoes of such vessels.

And the suspension hereby declared and proclaimed shall continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and their cargoes, shall be continued in the said ports of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe and the said free ports of the Dutch East Indies, and no longer.

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


[seal.]
Grover Cleveland.

By the President:

T. F. Bayard,
Secretary of State