, on a revision of these
subjects, nothing will be found in them derogatory from either the
letter or spirit of our treaty, I will add assurances that the United
States will not be behind hand, in going beyond both, when occasions
shall ever offer of manifesting their sincere attachment to this
country.

I will pass on to the observation, that our commercial regulations
are difficult and repugnant to the French merchants. To detail these
regulations minutely, as they exist in every State, would be beyond my
information. A general view of them, however, will suffice because the
States differ little in their several regulations. On the arrival of a
ship in America, her cargo must be reported at the proper office. The
duties on it are to be paid. These are commonly from two and a half to
five per cent, on its value. On many articles, the value of which is
tolerably uniform, the precise sum is fixed by law. A tariff of these is
presented to the importer, and he can see what he has to pay, as well as
the officer. For other articles, the duty is such a per cent, on their
value. That value is either shown by the invoice, or by the oath of the
importer. This operation being once over, and it is a very short one,
the goods are considered as entered, and may then pass through the whole
thirteen States, without their being ever more subject to a question,
unless they be re-shipped. Exportation is still more simple: because,
as we prohibit the exportation of nothing, and very rarely lay a duty
on any article of export, the State is little interested in examining
outward bound vessels. The captain asks a clearance for his own
purposes. As to the operations of internal commerce, such as matters of
exchange, of buying, selling, bartering, &c, our laws are the same as
the English. If they have been altered in any instance, it has been
to render them more simple. Lastly, as to the tardiness of the
administration of justice with us, it would be equally tedious and
impracticable for me to give a precise account of it in every State. But
I think it probable, that it is much on the same footing through all
the States, and that an account of it in any one of them, may found a
general presumption of it in the others. Being best acquainted with its
administration in Virginia, I shall confine myself to that. Before the
Revolution, a judgment could not be obtained under eight years, in the
supreme court, where the suit was in the department of t