No. 81.] THE NETHERLANDS. No. 70. Mr. Bayard to Mr. Bell. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Soon after the approval of the so-called "Dingley " shipping act of June 26, 1884, the governments of several European countries laid claim to an extension to their commerce of the privilege conceded to neighboring navigation, under the fourteenth section of that act. The correspondence on the subject is printed in the inclosed executive document. The Government of the Netherlands did not then claim the benefits of the act under the most favored nation stipulations of treaty with the United States. On the 19th of June last an amendatory act was approved, by the eleventh section of which reciprocal arrangements with foreign countries were authorized, looking to the reduction or abolition of tonnage dues. Since the passage of that act the Netherlands Government has offered to enter into the proposed reciprocal understandings. Copy of Mr. de Weckherlin's note of the 8th November, 1886, is inclosed for your information. A delay has arisen in making the favorable response which is due alike to the soundness of the Netherlands' request and to the good spirit which has apparently prompted that Government to refrain from a technical demand, and to resort to the channels generously provided by our legislation for drawing closer our commercial relations with other States. It would probably have a good effect if you were to intimate unoffi cially and in conversation to his excellency the satisfaction we feel at the form of the Netherlands' proposal and our hope that an arrangement may be speedily reached. As illustrating the character of the claim preferred by other governments, I inclose for your information copies of recent correspondence on the subject had with the Swedish and Norwegian minister at this capital. I am, etc., No. 71. T. F. BAYARD. No. 214.] Mr. Bell to Mr. Bayard. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The Hague, January 21, 1887. (Received February 3.) SIR: I have the honor to report to you that as soon as a favorable opportunity presented after the receipt of your dispatch No. 81, of January 5, I called unofficially upon his excellency the minister of foreign affairs, to communicate to him the gratification of the Government of the United States at the friendly form of the proposal of His Majesty's Government as presented through Mr. Weckherlin's note of the 8th of November, 1886, respecting a reciprocal arrangement looking to the abolition of tonnage dues in the case of vessels engaged in navigation between the two countries. In compliance with the request contained in your dispatch, I intimated unofficially, in conversation with his excellency, that the Government of the United States was eminently gratified with the good spirit which had apparently prompted the Government of His Majesty in resorting to the channels generously provided by our legislation for drawing closer our relations with other States. I took occasion at the same time to express my confidence that the Government of the United States fully recognized the soundness of the request made by His Majesty's Government, and that an arrangement would doubtless be speedily reached whereby the benefits of the act of June 19, 1886, would be extended to those ports in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and such ports in the Dutch East Indies as fulfill the conditions required by the act in question. His excellency, after having expressed great pleasure at the information which I communicated to him, replied in substance that he was very solicitous for an early adoption of the necessary measures, as he was constantly in receipt of reclamations upon the subject from interested parties. His excellency referred especially to the steam-ship lines plying be tween the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and New York, which he said were now strugging for an existence, and, while adding that every extra expense was very hard for them to bear, expressed considerable anxiety to know when it is likely that the necessary arrangements will be consummated. In conclusion, I may add that my entire interview with his excellency was most cordial, and his expressions of satisfaction were undisguised both at the nature of the communication and the manner of your instructions. I have, etc., No. 72. ISAAC BELL, JR. No. 82.] Mr. Bayard to Mr. Bell. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 10, 1887. SIR: Your dispatch No. 214, of the 21st ultimo, in which you give an account of your recent interview with the Netherlands minister of foreign affairs respecting the subject of the reciprocal abolition of tonnage dues, has been received and read with interest. Referring to my instruction No. 81, of the 5th ultimo, I now trans mit to you herewith, as further illustrating the views of this Govern ment on the subject, a copy of House bill No: 10703, and also of the Department letter of the 14th ultimo to the chairman of the Shipping Committee of the House of Representatives. Adding that your dispatches, numbered from 199 to 214, have been received, I am, etc., T. F. BAYARD. As you are aware, section 11 of the act of Congress approved June 19, 1886 ("Public" No. 85), and entitled "An act to abolish certain fees for official services to American vessels, and the laws relating to shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes," after fixing the rates of tonnage duties to be paid by all vessels entering a port of the United States of America, provides as follows: Provided, That the President of the United States shall suspend the collection of so much of the duty herein imposed on vessels entering from any foreign port as may be in excess of the tonnage and light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed in said port on American vessels by the Government of the foreign country in which such port is situated, and shall, upon the passage of this act, and from time to time thereafter, as often as it may become necessary by reason of changes in the laws of the foreign countries above mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension. Provided further, That such proclamation shall exclude from the benefits of the suspension herein authorized 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 the country in which such port is situated, or on the cargoes of such vessels; and sections 4223 and 4224, and so much of section 4219 of the Revised Statutes as conflict with this section, are hereby repealed. In view of these provisions, I take the liberty to call your attention to the fact that Article I of the law of the Netherlands, which bears date of June 3, 1875, No. 101 (the said law still being in force), abolished light-house and light dues, tonnage dues, and beacon and buoy dues in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I will add that my Government does not impose any other equivalent tax upon foreign vessels, no matter under what flag they may sail. It is probably superfluous for me to remind your excellency 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 duty higher or other than would be payable by vessels of the Netherlands or their cargoes. As to export duties, which are likewise mentioned in the act of June 19, 1886, you know that none exist in the Netherlands. The same is the case in the free ports of the Dutch East Indies, a list of which you will find herewith, and in which not only are vessels subjected to no fiscal tax, but no import or export duties are levied there. My Government thinks, Mr. Secretary of State, that the ports of the Netherlands which I have just mentioned, viz, those in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (in Europe) and the free ports in the Dutch East Indies, fulfill the conditions required by section 11 of the act of June 19, 1886, and I am consequently instructed to beg you to be pleased, with your accustomed kindness, to cause such measures to be adopted that the collection of tonnage dues in the United States of America,may be suspended in the case of vessels coming from the ports in question. Be pleased to accept, etc., 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 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 commer cial and friendly ties between the Netherlands and the United Statesa desire equally cherished by the Government I have the honor to rep resent, and for the expression of which it provides and seeks every ap propriate 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 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 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 Netherlands that no light-house and light dues, tonnage dues, or beacon and buoy dues are imposed in the ports of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; that no other equiva |