E. M. Archibald to Lyons , G. C. B, December 31, 1863

Mr. Archibald to Lord Lyons.

My Lord: The restrictions which have been imposed upon the shipments of general merchandise from this port to those of the Bahamas and Bermuda islands have been heretofore under your lordship’s consideration. I have now to call your lordship’s attention to the very injurious restrictions which are likewise being placed on shipments of flour and provisions to other British colonial ports, especially to those of Newfoundland. Within the last two days I have been called upon by the mercantile firms of Messrs. Robert Dinwiddie & Co. and Messrs. M. E. Greene & Ourrie for advice and assistance in procuring the clearance at the custom-house of vessels destined for ports of Newfoundland, laden with flour and provisions ordered by, and to be consigned to, well-known houses engaged in the fisheries of Newfoundland, and in the legitimate local trade of that colony.

In regard to one of the vessels, the Iona, belonging to the firm of Punton & Micun, of Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, and laden with the following articles, viz: 1,050 barrels flour, 200 barrels pork, 100 kegs butter, and other provisions, the shippers were called upon to enter into securities in double the amount of the invoice, not merely that the goods shall be landed at Harbor Grace, but that no part of them shall directly or indirectly be transshipped to a port in the insurrectionary States, or be in any manner used for the aid and comfort of the insurgents. I give this as the tenor of the obligation, from its recital to me by the gentlemen in question.

The peculiar and oppressive nature of this bond is the requiring one of the sureties to be possessed of real estate of double the value of the invoice. Mr. Greene being fortunately able to swear that he owned real estate to the amount in question, the security of himself and his partner, with that of a third party, was accepted, and the clearance of the vessel was accordingly granted.

In regard to Messrs. R. Dinwiddie & Co., they had loaded the brig Araton, of and belonging to St. John, Newfoundland, with a similar cargo to that of the Iona, and being called upon to enter into a bond similar to that above mentioned, they have felt naturally a great repugnance to comply with the proposal, not merely from the vague nature of the obligation, and the practical impossibility of fulfilling it, but the delicacy and difficulty of procuring a third party possessed of the requisite qualification in real estate to join in the security. In their emergency, and after unsuccessful application by them to the customhouse authorities to dispense with the security, I, at the request of Messrs. Dinwiddie & Co., wrote two notes to the collector, copies of which are herewith enclosed; the second one being written in pursuance of queries by the collector himself, and upon these vouchers, on my part, the vessel has been cleared.

Knowing as I did the highly respectable character, not merely of the shippers, but of the consignees, and parties interested in the shipments in question, who are engaged exclusively in the legitimate trade and fisheries of Newfoundland, I felt that, although I ought not to be called upon to do so, I could safely vouch for the integrity of their proceedings.

But inasmuch as Newfoundland is supplied in a great measure from the ports of the United States with flour and provisions, and as there will be numerous shipments of these articles from this port for that colony, it is obvious that the nforcement of the restriction to which I have adverted will be very serious, if not in some instances prohibitory of the legitimate trade between the United States and Newfoundland. Messrs. M. E. Greene & Ourrie have now three vessels here waiting for cargoes of provisions on account of Newfoundland houses, and Messrs. Dinwiddie & Go. have long been established shipping agents in the same line. Messrs. Dinwiddie & Co. inform me that, to obtain the security of a person possessing an adequate amount of real estate, they are compelled either to solicit a favor very reluctantly granted by a friend, but which can hardly be solicited a second time, or else pay for such security, as they have heretofore done, a commission of 2 1/2 per cent, on the amount of invoice.

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The vague and almost impossible obligation into which shippers are required to enter, the peculiar qualification demanded in regard to the sureties, and the uncertainty as to the nature of the proof requisite for the cancelling of bonds, which may be held indefinitely against the obligors, create burdens serious and oppressive, if not almost prohibitory of the legitimate trade with British colonial ports.

I have, &c., &c.,