570 THE BRITISH TREATY. [CHAP. VIII. Thompson Mason, one of the Senators from Virginia, felt himself warranted in sending a copy of it to the leading opposition paper published in Philadelphia, on which arose one general burst of popular indignation and complaint. In the temper then felt by a large portion of the American people towards Great Britain and France respectively, it is probable that no treaty could have been made which would have given general satisfaction; but when the one which had been negotiated fell so far short of the just claims of the United States when it conceded so much and obtained so little, the popular clamor and discontent were proportionally loud and vehement. Meetings were held in all the cities of the Union, and in many other places, to denounce it as an abandonment of the nation's dearest rights; and the press, seconding these expressions of popular indignation, reviled the treaty, and redoubled its censures on the appointment of Mr. Jay as its negotiator. After this first tempest of opposition had somewhat subsided, less numerous meetings were also got up by the friends of the treaty, and it was defended in pamphlets and the periodical press with zeal and ability. Mr. Hamilton was the author of a very full and ingenious vindication of it,' and public expectation was on tiptoe to see whether the President, who had suspended his decision till after his return from a visit to Mount Vernon, would finally give it also his sanction. The treaty professed to have the three-fold purpose of settling the existing disputes between the two countries, both recent and ancient; to determine some points of national law, particularly on the relative rights of belligerents and neutrals; and to regulate the future com 1 Under the signature of Camillus, in answer to a series of papers signed Decius, and written by Brock holst Livingston. 1795.] THE BRITISH TREATY. 571 mercial and other important relations between the two countries. With a view to the first object, provision was made for ascertaining the boundary lines both on the north-east and the north-west. Great Britain agreed to surrender the military posts which she still held within the United States, reserving certain rights to British settlers near them, and to pay American citizens for recent illegal captures on the high seas, whenever compensation could not be obtained in the regular course of judicial proceedings. The United States, on their part, agreed to compensate British creditors for all damages sustained by them in the recovery of their debts, from legal impediments, and to pay for all captures of British property within the jurisdiction of the United States. These several provisions were to be executed by three mixed commissions. Under the second head, it was stipulated that neutral vessels, having contraband articles on board, should be carried to the most convenient port; should not be liable to confiscation, on entering a blockaded port without previous notice; that provisions, when, by the modern law of nations, they became contraband, should be paid for, and the neutral be indemnified for detention; neutral property, found in a besieged place, to be restored; commanders of privateers to be responsible for damages done to neutrals, for which purpose they should be required to give bond and security. In behalf of the belligerents, it was stipulated that every article used in the equipment of vessels, except fir planks and unwrought iron, should be deemed contraband; ships-of-war of one nation to be entitled to hospitable reception in the ports of the other; all prizes to have free admission into the ports of either nation, without examination, fee, or detention; the citizens or sub 572 THE BRITISH TREATY. [CHAP. VIII. jects of one nation not to engage in hostilities against the other. Privateers of a third party not to arm or to sell their prizes in the ports of either, nor, when they had made prizes on the other, to receive shelter, except from stress of weather; the neutral to permit no property to be captured within his jurisdiction. In case of war, there should be no confiscation of private property; the merchants of one nation, residing within the territories of the other, might, under certain conditions, continue to reside there; and reprisals were never to be made without a demand of satisfaction, and proof of injury. Under the third head the parties agreed to permit a free trade and intercourse, on either side of their common boundary (the limits of the Hudson's Bay Company excepted), and to the Indians within their respective limits; the mutual navigation of their inland waters was permitted, with the following exceptions: American vessels were not to enter any British seaport, or any river below the highest port of entry (with a single unimportant exception), and British vessels were not to enter any river of the United States above the highest port of entry, except that every port and place on the Mississippi should be open to both parties. Between the British territories in Europe and all the territories of the United States, the terms of commercial intercourse were entirely reciprocal, with the exception of the twelfth article above mentioned. Each party was admitted into the ports of the other on the same terms as the most favored nation, both as to duties and prohibitions; and the United States were restricted from increasing their discriminating duties in favor of American vessels; and to Great Britain was reserved the right of countervailing those which then existed. A trade to the British settlements in India, in articles 1795.] OBJECTIONS TO THE TREATY. 573 not prohibited, was also permitted to American vessels on their paying the same tonnage duties and charges as British vessels; but the United States agreed to carry the products of those settlements only to their own ports. They were not to engage in the coasting trade, and their citizens were not to reside in those settlements. Provision was made for the appointment of consuls by both parties, and for the surrender of persons charged with murder or forgery. The twenty-first article prohibited the citizens and subjects of either party from accepting commissions, or engaging in hostilities against the other. The articles concerning boundary, interior commerce, and confiscation, were made perpetual. The other articles were limited to twelve years, or to two years after the termination of the present war, at the option of either party. In this treaty, now that the passions and prejudices of the time have passed away, it must be admitted that the advantage of a stronger power, in its negotiations with a weaker, were very strikingly exhibited. Thus, while British creditors were indemnified for the losses sustained in consequence of legal impediments, no compensation was made either for the negroes carried off by the British, contrary to the treaty of peace, nor for the detention of the western posts. The navigation of the Mississippi was conceded to the British by the treaty of 1783, on the ground that as a part of their territory in North America touched that river, they had a right to an outlet to the ocean; and that right was now renewed when it was believed that their dominions nowhere touched that river. But the navigation of the St. Lawrence was not granted to the 574 OBJECTIONS TO THE TREATY. [CHAP. VIII. United States, though the natural outlet to the whole north-western frontier of New York. By the third article, which gave to both parties a mutual right of inland navigation, American vessels were not allowed to enter any port or river below the highest port of entry (except between Montreal and Quebec), while British vessels had not a correspondent exclusion from American rivers. The special exclusion of British vessels from any place above the highest port of entry was altogether nugatory. By extending the list of contraband articles, Great Britain, as a belligerent, was benefited, and the neutral commerce of the United States was proportionally abridged. This was especially the case in extending the list to provisions, of which they were most extensive producers, as well as the neutral carriers. While British vessels are admitted into all the ports of the United States, the vessels of the latter are excluded from all the British colonies in America with whom their trade would be most advantageous both from their vicinity, and from each country furnishing the commodities which the other most wanted. The trade which was vital to their West India colonies they insisted on monopolizing, with the exception of that restricted trade permitted by the twelfth article, which was confined to shipping too small for the lumber trade, or to enter into competition with larger vessels in any branch of commerce. By restricting the United States from further discrimi nating duties, they were deprived of the only means they possessed of countervailing the colonial monopoly. No provision whatever was made for the most grievous and vexatious of national wrongs sustained in the impressment of American seamen. Even in those articles which had the show of entire reci |