No. 74.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. de
Weckherlin.
Washington, April 22, 1887.
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 shipping act approved June 19, 1886, 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 East 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 coining 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 Statesa desire equally cherished by the Government I have the honor to represent, and for the expression of which it provides and seeks every appropriate channel.
[Page 1949]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 be, 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 lighthouse 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 cooperate with the Government of the United States in abolishing all lighthouse 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 appeal 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.,