y--advised the
ratification of the treaty, that article excepted which related to the
West India trade.

"An insuperable objection," says Marshall, "existed to an article
regulating the intercourse with the British West Indies, founded on a
fact which is understood to have been unknown to Mr. Jay. The intention
of the contracting parties was to admit the direct intercourse between
the United States and those islands, but not to permit the productions
of the latter to be carried to Europe in the vessels of the former. To
give effect to this intention, the exportation from the United States of
those articles which were the principal productions of the islands was
to be relinquished. Among these was cotton. This article, which a few
years before was scarcely raised in sufficient quantity for domestic
consumption, was becoming one of the richest staples of the southern
states. The senate, being informed of this fact, advised and consented
that the treaty should be ratified on condition that an article be added
thereto, suspending that part of the twelfth article which related to
the intercourse with the West Indies.

"Although, in the mind of the president, several objections to the
treaty had occurred, they were overbalanced by its advantages; and,
before transmitting it to the senate, he had resolved to ratify it, if
approved by that body. The resolution of the senate presented
difficulties which required consideration. Whether they could advise and
consent to an article which had not been laid before them, and whether
their resolution was to be considered as the final exercise of their
power, were questions not entirely free from difficulty. Nor was it
absolutely clear that the executive could ratify the treaty, under the
advice of the senate, until the suspending article should be introduced
into it. A few days were employed in the removal of these doubts; at the
expiration of which, intelligence was received from Europe which
suspended the resolution which the president had formed.

"The English papers contained an account, which, though not official,
was deemed worthy of credit, that the order of the eighth of June,
1793, for the seizure of provisions going to French ports, was renewed.
In the apprehension that this order might be construed and intended as a
practical construction of that article in the treaty which seemed to
favor the idea that provisions, though not generally contraband, might
occasionally become