The Express.
London, England, 1860-04-23 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 23.

GREAT and undeniable as were the advantages
secured to both countries by the definite and posi•
tiro stipulations of the Treaty of Commerce
between England and France, it was remarked, as
soon as that instrument was published, that the
thirteenth article of the Treaty, which reserved
for a supplementary Sonvention the conversion of
rob.reni duties into specific duties, left a wide
field open for • conflict between the Free-
trader and the Protectionist. The time is fast
approaching when the Commissioner of the
two tioverrunents must meet and confer on
the settlement of the French tariff, for,
according to the Treaty, the duties which
remain to be fixed are to come into operation by
the Ist of July. The French "Superior Council
"of Commerce" has been charged with the duty
of ascertaining " the medium prices of Articles
si •
or English manufacture during the six months
" preceding the 23rd of January last"—those prices
forming one of the Treaty bases of the supple-
mentary convention—end also, in the words of the
M with "the teak of fixing the precise
" degree of protection needed by the different
" branches of French manufactures." The
President of this Council is M. Rot- 111:1,
Minister of Commerce, and its Vice-Pre-
sident M. Batocita, President of the Council
of State, the two French negotiators of
the Treaty ; M. MICHILL CERVALIZA has also
been no tided a member. Thus a liberal commer-
cial policy will have powerful advocates in the
Council ; but it is certain that the Protectionist
interest will also be very strong, even if it should
not command a majority of votes in that body, and
will insist that every farthing of the maximum
duty of 30 per cent. must be exacted on English
imports, if the manufacturers of France are to be
saved from certain rain.

But it is not only by excessive rates of duty
that the free trade which every enlightened man
in either country wishes to see established may be
impelled. Whatever imports uncertainty and
delay into the transactions of business, much more
whatever narrows their range, will serve the short-
sighted purpose of the Protectionists. At first
sight it seems as if no fiscal regulation cou'd
better foihil the desire of the merchant for cer-
tainty in fiscal matters than the substitution of
specific for .rd odor. nt duties ; and with regard to
ninny kinds of articles, as raw materials or other ob-
jects, simple in their nature, and varying but little
in thrir description, this is true. But an eminent
manufacturer, whose letter we have lately printed,
has clearly shown that tho same is not
true of manufactured goods, the fancy
textile fabrics, the cutlery, the ironmongery,
and p..ttery, in which our manufacturers seek to
plea.. and stimulate the public taste, by inventions
always directed to novelty and variety. The
eimiteiit manufacturer just mentioned has
p...0t0d out how obstructively these duties would
operate. He says :—" Al regards our
" babies Trough trade, it will be, I think, a
shop-keeping cos of small assorted parcels, a
" large trade in the aggregate. It will, I feel
" confident, very much resemble our own home
" trade, and we ought, if possible, to encourage
" it, by freedom of interchange, to be as rapid.
" In fact, a pack made up in Manchester, with an
" invoice shown at the French custom-house, and
" then passed, ought to be opened out for sale
"in Paris in two lays, and the orders for such
" repeated within a few hours if found to
" meet the taste and the market. This is our
" emboli* here, more particularly in fancy
" gouda Now, any waiting for examine-
,' ties, or for the charging of specific duties,
" would inevitably double the time of
" transit, and naturally limit the trade. Again,
" specific duties require specific goods. A French
" purchaser could not go to a general stock, and I
" purchase according to his fancy. He would be
" restricted to the numbers and qualities paying ,
" the least amount of duty. Perhaps only one
" in ten of the varieties of an article in stock
" might exactly do so, and to that one he '
" would naturally limit himself. An American
" would buy more freely, because not so fettered
"hy hie tariff: The Frenchman, if cramped by
" specific duties, would be fettered. An assorted