The first decided infringement of the general principle of confining the trade to British ships took place on the conclusion of the treaty with America, the effect of which has been described. In 1808, when the King of Portugal emigrated to Brazil, the same privileges, as had been granted to the United States, were extended to the inhabitants of the Portuguese possessions in South America, by the Act (48 Geo. III., cap. 11) which allowed the produce of those territories to be imported thence into Great Britain and Ireland in vessels built in those territories, or made prize by Portuguese ships, and owned and navigated by Portuguese subjects resident in the said territories. After the conclusion of the treaty with Portugal in 1810, a further Act (51 Geo. III., cap. 47) extended the above facilities to all Portuguese-built vessels or prizes owned and navigated by Portuguese subjects, without requiring that they should be residents in America. [Sidenote: Absurdity and impotency of these laws.] On the revision of the Customs Laws in 1822 (3 Geo. IV., cap. 43, sect. 3), the principle and the above exceptions in favour of the United States and Portuguese colonies were preserved, and were further extended to countries in America or the West Indies, being, or having been, under the dominion of Spain. It must be remembered that, as respects the principle that the produce of Asia, Africa, and America was only to be imported into England from the place of its origin, the old law recognised the doctrine of the 5th section of the Navigation Act, that goods _manufactured_ in any country should be held to be _the produce of that country_, even though made from materials produced elsewhere. [Sidenote: State of the law before the Declaration of American Independence.] At the commencement of the American War of Independence, the chief regulations as to trade, the operations of which have been already described, were that the Americans could neither import nor export in any but British ships; they could not carry important articles of their own produce to any part of Europe other than Great Britain; and they could not import any goods from any part of Europe other than Great Britain.[51] [Sidenote: Trade with Europe.]