Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part I

No. 557.
Memorandum handed to Mr. Bayard by Sir L. S. Sackville West, March 7, 1888.

[undated].

The object of Article VIII of the draught of convention annexed to the protocol of December 19, 1887, respecting sugar bounties, has not been fully or correctly understood in some quarters.

A copy of this article is annexed. Its object is not, as appears in some instances to have been erroneously held, to exclude certain British colonies and foreign possessions from the convention which Her Majesty’s Government trust will be entered into for the purpose of suppressing bounties on the exportation of sugar. The British colonies mentioned in this article possess responsible government, and it is necessary, and is now the usage of Her Majesty’s Government in concluding treaties of a commercial character to except these colonies in the first instance from the operation of such treaties in terms similar to those employed in the article above referred to. India is also included in the article which reserves the liberty of action of the self-governing colonies, in order to enable the government of the viceroy to consiner the stipulations of commercial treaties, and whether they are applicable to the peculiar circumstances of the Indian empire.

In the sitting of the conference in London, held on the 16th of December last, the under secretary of state for the colonies stated the expectation of Her Majesty’s Government that all the British possessions named in Article VIII of the draught of convention will become parties to its engagements.

[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Article VIII.

The stipulations of the present convention will apply to the colonies and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty with the exception of those named below, to wit:

The East Indies, Canada, Newfoundland, the Cape, Natal, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Southern Australia, Western Australia, New Zealand.

However, the stipulations of the present convention will apply to one of the colonies or possessions above indicated from the date on which the British Government shall notify the other contracting powers of the adhesion of the said colony or possession.

Each one of the colonies or possessions above named which shall have adhered to the present convention maintains the faculty to withdraw in the same manner as the contracting powers.

In case one of the colonies or possessions in question should desire to withdraw from the convention, a notice to this effect shall be given by the British Government to the other contracting powers.