Imatges de pàgina
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the revenue; and your majefty may depend upon our beft and steadieft exertions in pursuit of fuch measures as may tend ftill farther to improve the national resources, and to promote and confirm what has ever been the first object of the parental care and attention of your majefty, the welfare and happiness of your people."

and affectionate attachment to your facred perfon, which are deeply rooted in the hearts of all your mas jefty's fubjects.

"We condole with your majefty on the unfortunate death of that moft illuftrious and excellent princels, your majefty's aunt, the Princefs Amelia.

"It is with great fatisfaction we learn that the tranquillity of Europe

His Majefty's most gracious Answer. remains uninterrupted; and that

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The humble Address of the House of Commons to the King, for the foregoing Speech from the Throne, January 25, 1787.

Moft Gracious Sovereign,
E,

WE, your majefty's most

dutiful and loyal fubjects, the commons of Great Britain in parliament affembled, beg leave to return your majefty our humble thanks for your most gracious fpeech from the throne; and to take the earliest opportunity of offering to your majefty, in our own name, and in that of all the commons of Great Britain, our moft hearty congratulations on the prefervation of a life fo juftly dear to your people. We entertain a juft fenfe of the peculiar favour of Providence, in averting the danger to which we were expofed, and rendering it only the occafion of manifefting, in the fullest panner, thofe fentiments of duty

your majefty continues to receive affurances from all foreign powers of their friendly difpofition towards this country.

"We are fenfible of your majefty's goodnefs in having directed the treaty of commerce and navigation with the Moft Chriftian king, and the convention agreed upon with the Catholic king, to be laid before us. Both thefe events, particularly a measure fo important and extensive as a commercial arrangement between this country and France, muft be highly interefting to us and our conftituents; and it will afford us the trueft fatisfaction to concur in any measure calculated for the encouragement of industry, and the extenfion of lawful commerce, and which, by promoting a beneficial intercourfe between the two countries, fhall appear likely to give additional permanence to the bleffings of peace,

"Your majefty may at all times rely on our readiness to make due provifion for the feveral branches of the public fervice; and the ftate of the revenue, fo nearly connected with the national credit and the fafety and profperity of your majefty's dominions, will continue to engage our unremitting attention.

"We thall not fail to take fuch measures as may be neceffary for

the

the tranfportation of convicts, in order to remedy the inconvenience which has arifen from the crowded ftate of the gaols in different parts of the kingdom.

"We fhall diligently apply our felyes to the confideration of any regulations which can be adopted for the ease of the merchants, and for fimplifying the public accounts in the various branches of the reyenue and it will be equally our duty and inclination to use our ut moft exertions in pursuit of fuch objects as may tend ftill farther to improve the national refources, and to fecond your majefty's gracious and parental wishes for the welfare and happiness of your people."

His Majefty's most gracious Anfwer. Gentlemen,

"I thank you for this very loyal

and dutiful addrefs.

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points which had been referved; their Britannick and Molt Chriftian majefties, always difpofed more particularly to confirm the good underftanding in which they are happily united, have named, for that purpofe, their refpective plenipotentiaries, to wit, on the part of his Britannick majefty, William Eden, Efq. privy counsellor in Great Britain and Ireland, member of the British parliament, and his envoy extraordinary and minifter plenipotentiary to his Moft Chriftian majefty; and on the part of his Moft Chriftian Majefty, the Count de Vergennes, minifter and fecretary of ftate for the department of foreign affairs, and chief of the royal council of finances; who, after having communicated to each other their refpective full powers, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

"Their majefties having ftipulated in the 6th article of the faid treaty, that the duties on hardware, cutlery, cabinet-ware, and turnery, and on all works both heavy and light, of iron, fteel, copper, and brafs, fhall be claffed; and that the highest duty fhall not exceed ten per cent, ad valorem," it is agreed, that cabinet that is included under thofe denomiware and turnery, and every thing nations, as alfo mufical inftruments, fhall pay ten per cent. ad valorem.

All articles made of iron or steel, pure or mixed,orworked and mounted with other fubftances,not exceeding in value fixty Livres Tournois, or fifty fhillings per quintal, fhall pay only five per cent. ad valorem; and all othe wares, as buttons, buckles,

*See this treaty, page 266 of the State Papers, in the Annual Register for 1786.

all

knives, fciffars, and all the different articles included under the defcription of hardware and cutlery, as alfo all the other works of iron, fteel, copper, and brafs, pure or mixed, or worked or mounted with other fubftances, fhall pay ten per cent. ad valorem.

If either of the two fovereigns fhould think proper to admit the faid articles, or only fome of them, from any other nation, by reason of their utility, at a lower duty, the fubjects of the other fovereign fhall be allowed to participate in fuch diminution, in order that no foreign nation may enjoy, in this refpect, any preference to their difadvantage. The works of iron, fteel, copper, and brafs above mentioned, are not to be understood to extend to bar iron or pig iron, or in general to any kind of iron, fteel, copper, or brafs, in the state of the raw material.

ARTICLE II. "Their majefties having also ftipulated, in the 6th article, That for the better fecuring the due collection of the duties payable ad vaLorem, which are specified in the tariff, they will concert with each other the form of the declarations to be made, and the proper means of preventing fraud with refpect to the real value of the goods and merchandizes," it is agreed, that each declaration fhall be given in writing, figned by the merchant, owner, or factor, who anfwers for the merchandizes at their entry, which declaration shall contain an exact lift of all the faid merchandizes, and of their packages, of the marks, numbers, and cyphers, and of the contents of each bale or cafe, and fhall certify that they are of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the

kingdom from whence they are im ported, and fhall alfo exprefs the true and real value of the faid merchandizes, in order that the duties may be paid in confequence thereof. That the officers of the custom-house where the declaration may be made fhall be at liberty to make fuch examination as they fhall think proper of the faid merchandizes, upon their being landed, not only for the purpofe of verifying the facts alledged in the faid declaration that the merchandizes are of the produce of the country therein mentioned, and that the statement of their value and quantity is exact, but alfo, for that of preventing the clandeftine introduction of other merchandizes in the fame bales or cafes; provided nevertheless, that fuch examinations fhall be made with every poffible attention to the convenience of the traders, and to the preferva tion of the faid merchandizes.

In cafe the officers of the cuftoms fhould not be satisfied with the valuation made of the merchandizes in the faid declaration, they fhall be at liberty, with the confent of the principal officers of the cuftoms at the port, or of fuch other officer as fhall be appointed for that purpose, to take the faid merchandizes according to the valuation made by the declaration, allowing to the merchant or owner an overplus of 10 per cent. and refunding to him the duties he may have paid for the faid merchandizes. In which cafe the whole amount fhall be paid, without delay, by the custom-house of the port, if the value of the effects in question shall not exceed four hundred and eight livres tourngis, or twenty pounds fterling; and within fifteen days at latoft, if their value fhall exceed that fum.

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And if doubts fhould happen to atife refpecting the value of the faid merchandizes, or the country of which they are the produce, the of ficers of the cuftoms at the port fhall come to a determination thereupon with all poffible difpatch, and no greater space of time thall be employed for that purpose, in any cafe, than eight days, in the ports where the officers who have the principal direction of the cuftoms refide, and fifteen days in any other port whatsoever. It is fuppofed, and understood, that the merchandizes admitted by the present treaty fhall be refpectively of the growth, produce, or manufactures of the dominions of the two fovereigns in Europe.

Tooblige the traders to be accurate in the declarations required by the prefent article, as alfo to prevent any doubt that might arife on that part of the 10th article of the said treaty, which provides that if any of the effects are omitted in the declaration delivered by the matter of the fhip, they fhall not be liable to confifcation, unless there be a manifeft appearance of fraud; it is underftood, that in fuch cafe, the faid effects fhall be confifeated, unless fatisfactory proof be given to the officers of the customs that there was not any intention of fraud.

ARTICLE III. In order to prevent the introduction of callicoes manufactured in the Eaft Indies, or in other countries, as if they had been manufactured in the refpective dominions of the two fovereigns of Europe, it is agreed, that the callicoes manufactured in the faid dominions, for exportation from one country to the other refpectively, thall have at the two ends of cach piece a particular mark, woven VOL. XXIX.

in the piece, to be fettled in concert by the two governments, of which mark the respective government shall give nine months previous notice to the manufacturers; and the faid mark fhall be altered from time to time, as the cafe may require. It is further agreed, that until the faid precaution can be put in execution the faid callicoes mutually exported fhall be accompanied by a certificate of the officers of the customs, or of fuch other officers as fhall be appointed for that purpofe, declaring that they were fabricated in the country from whence they were exported, and alfo that they are furnished with the marks already prescribed in the refpective countries, to diftinguish fuch callicoes from thofe which come from other countries.

ARTICLE IV.

In fettling the duties upon cambrics and lawns, it is understood that the breadth fhould not exceed, for the cambrics, feven-eighths of a yard, English measure (about three quarters of an ell of France); and for the lawns, one yard and a quarter, English meature (one ell of France) and if any fhall hereafter be made of a greater breadth than what is above-mentioned, they fhall pay a duty of ten per cent. ad valorem.

ARTICLE V.

It is alfo agreed, that the ftipulations in the eighteenth article of the treaty fhall not be conftrued to derogate from the privileges, regulations, and ufages already established in the cities or ports of the refpective dominions of the two fovereigns and further, that the twenty-fifth article of the faid treaty thall be conftrued to relate only to fhips fufpected of carrying, in time of war, to the [S]

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ARTICLE VI.

Their majefties having ftipulated, by the forty-third article of the faid treaty, that the nature and extent of the functions of the confuls fhould be determined," and that a convention relative to this point fhould be concluded immediately after the fignature of the prefent treaty, of which it fhould be deemed to constitute a part," it is agreed that the faid ulterior convention fhall be fet. tled within the fpace of two months, and that, in the mean time, the confuls general, confuls, and vice confuls, fhall conform to the ufages which are now obferved, relative to the confulfhip, in the refpective dominions of the two fovereigns; and that they fhall enjoy all the privileges, rights, and immunities be longing to their office, and which are allowed to the confuls general; confuls, and vice-confuls, of the moft favoured nation.

ARTICLE VIL

It fhall be lawful for the fubje&ts of his Britannic majefty to profecute their debtors in France, for the recovery of debts contracted in the dominions of his faid majefty, or elsewhere, in Europe, and there to bring actions against them, in conformity to the practice of law in ufe in the kingdom: provided that there thall be the like ufage in favour of French fubjects, in the

European dominions of his Britannic majesty.

ARTICLE VIII.

The articles of the prefent convention fhall be ratified and confirmed by his Britannic majesty, and by his Moft Chriftian majesty, in one month, or fooner, if it can be done, after the exchange of fignatures between the plenipotenti. aries.

In witness whereof, we the minitters plenipotentiary have figned the prefent convention, and have caufed the feals of our arms to be fet thereto.

Done at Verfailles, the Fifteenth of January, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eightyfeven.

WM. EDEN, (L. S.)

GRAVIER de VERGENNES, (L. S)

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