Such, then, is the present condition of the trade
that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary
exception, be carried on directly by the vessels of neither. That
exception itself is found in a proclamation of the governor of the
island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin Islands, inviting for three
months from the 28th of August last the importation of the articles of
the produce of the United States which constitute their export portion
of this trade in the vessels of all nations. That period having already
expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The
British Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject,
but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have
precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect
of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors or to accept as
the grant of a favor that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. It
remains to be determined by the respective Governments whether the trade
shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation.
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