RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 5 Apr. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: see below.

On 2 Apr., at least two New York City newspapers printed PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS of 17–19 Feb. concerning a bill to put into effect the convention recently concluded between Britain and the United States. In a footnote to the published version of his annual message in December, TJ had raised the issue of COUNTERVAILING DUTIES, additional charges that Britain imposed on goods imported in American ships. Reports that Congress was contemplating the removal of U.S. duties that favored American shipping prompted a suggestion in the Commons that the British prepare to suspend the countervailing duties upon receipt of information that the Americans had in fact removed their extra impost charges. Leave was granted for the introduction of a bill in Parliament to carry out that proposal. The New York newspapers had recently published, from the National Intelligencer, a summation of the contents of the convention concerning the sixth article of the Jay Treaty. Newspapers in the city did not publish the text of the convention until 9–10 Apr. (New York Commercial Advertiser, 31 Mch., 2, 9 Apr.; New-York Gazette and General Advertiser, 1, 2 Apr.; New York American Citizen and General Advertiser,10 Apr.; Editorial Note and Document III, Annual Message to Congress, 8 Dec. 1801).