The Express.
London, England, 1860-02-29 00:00:00

THE TREATY OF COMMERCE WITH

FRANCE.

The following is an additional article to the
Treaty of Commerce, concluded at Paris on the 23rd
of January, 1880, stween her ldsjeaty and the
Emperor of the French, signed at Pans on the 26th
of February, 1880, and ratifications exchanged at
Paris on the 28th of February, 1880 :
_ _

_ .
By Article VIII. el the Treaty of Commerce betwrea her
Majesty the Queen el the United Kingdom of Great
Britain sad Ireland sad his 3iLajeary the Emperor of the
French, signed at Parts en the 23rd of January last, her
Britannic Majesty undertook to recommend to parliament
the admission into the United Kingdom of brandies
and spirits imported from France at a duty exactly equal to
the excise duty levied upon home-made spirit., with the ad-
dition of a surtax of 2d. • gallon, which would make the
actual duty payable on French brandies end spirits Be. 2d. •
gallon. Since ttse ratification of the said treaty the govern-
ment of her Britannic Majeety bare ascertained that the
surtax of 2d. • gallon is not sufficient to countervail the
charges with which, in 'consequence of the operation of the
laws of custom and excise, home-m ode British spirits have
now to °attend; and that a surtax limited to the rate of 3d.
a gallon would still leave home-made British spirits sub-
jest to a differential duty In favour of foreign brandies and
spirits.
Consequently, the government of her Britannic Majesty
having represented these circureatances to the government of
his Majesty the Emperor of the French, and his Imperial
Major*, having consented that the amount of the said
surtax shall be increased, the two high contracting partied to
the said treaty of commerce do, by the present additional
article, agree that the amount of such surtax *hall be 3d. •
gallon, and her Britannic Majesty engages to recommend to
parliament the admission into the United Kingdom of
bnutdies and spirits imported from Frew* at a duty exactly
'equal to this excise duty levied upon home-made spirits, with
the addition of a surtax of 61. a Olen.
The present additional article shall have the same form
and validity as If it had been inserted in the treaty of coin-
metee of the 23rd of January last.
It shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be
exchanged at Paris within are days from the date of ha
signature.

la tritons whereof the impieties plenipotentiariea hate
signed the sew, and have affixed thereto the ask of their
UM.

Done at Polio, this 26th day of Fobroary, is the you of
oar Lord 1860. COWLZY.
E. BAIROCHL
E. &Mill.

A Timid letter states that Poerio, who has lately
been very 114 bat la now gabs recovered, will probably be a
cendidata for the representation of Milan in the National
Parliament.

As it is seriously the question of launching the
thunders of Om church against the King of Sardinia if he
should proclaim the incorporation of the Romagn►, it may
not be out of place to give the bishop of Segues definition
of the differecios between the minor and major economic:d-
eadest. In the one nese the name of the person escomathei-
caged le sot publicly mentioned ; in the other it is made
twos to the world. A person who is under the ban major
is forbidden to enter a church, and If be does so the sacred
' edifice Is desecrated, and cannot be used for sword purpose.
until t►e ceremony of reconseeraiion hes been performed
by the bishop. A monarch who dies while under the
anathema of the church cannot be buried in consecrated
tgroosi, sod kb same cannot be inserted in the Liturgy.
Ttoo miter interdict een be removed by a common priest,
but the beerier ben can only be taken off by the Pope or his
legato.

It is dotard by time Paris journals that a aeries of
*apishness, on the art of directing belloons ere to be made
' in the Champ-4144m dosing the sawing string.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(711011 ova owx ooxamsrommorr.)

PARIS, TUZSDAT EVINTNO.
The unhesitating assertion of the In(Upendance
that the news of the famous treaty between Russia
and Austria, given with solemnity and iteration by
the Morning Chronicle, is false, meets with universal
acceptation in Paris this afternoon. The govern-
ment journals of this evening contain communicated
notes, giving the most categorical denial of the news,
which they describe as "altogether a fabrication."
The Italian journals are seized to-day, probably is
. . .

consequence of their comments upon the intelligence
that the Emperor suddenly refuses to permit the an-
nexation of Tuscany to Piedmont.
At the Bourse the Rents opened with much hesi-
tation, and wu for some time quoted 10c. or 16c.
lower than yesterday ; but a strong upward move-
ment occurred in the afternoon, when people felt
quite certain that the news of the Austro-Rnasian
publiihed by the Morning Chronicle, wu
false. There was, moreover, an impression, notwith-
standing the ticklish state of affairs in Italy, that
the Emperor will succeed in giving a eoleur de rose
tint to his speech on Thursday. The Rents closed
very firm at 68fr. 80c. and 68fr. 16c., with a rise of
300. and 36e. Mobilise rose Mr. The Orleans
Railway rose 7fr. 60o.; Lyons, 6fr.260.; Southern,
Mr.; Western and Eastern, 2fr. 60e. each ; and
Northern closed without change. The quotations
of Copula were not received from London, owing to
the telegraph having been damaged by the bad
weather. We have no telegrams of this day's date
from any part of the world.
The Press* says in its weekly commercial review:

Trade Is Ina state of complete stagnation, and this denti-
tion meet be expected to continue for some time. The retail
shops are selling but Mule, and ths nmaufacturen find it dif-
ficult to keep up present prioss. There has been a decided
fall at Mulhouse, Rouen, Rheims, Amiens, Ronbeex, Lyons,
and St. Btleruie. The last custom-house returns chow that
stooks in hand are very low ; but there is as yet no symp-
tom of their being renewed to any extent. There is nothing
surprising in this state of things, which only shows the ne-
cessity for a speedy settlement of the new tariff. The last
advice' from New York are batter than were expected ; goods
are beginning to go off„ and it is hoped that the monetary
crisis whisk was looked for will not break out. Cereals show
a tendency to rise, but In moat sues the higher quotations
are merely nominal. The appearance of the young wheats is
said to be good. Nothing doing in wines.

ITALY

--o-
SARDINIA.

(reox OVIL OWN COIII2OIPONDENT.)
TURIN, FHB. 26.
Since my last letter the carnival has noisily ex-
pired at Turin and is playing off its last pranks at
Milan, where the King is being still feted as if he
had jest arrived there. You see by this that it was
not against monarchy the Italian people rose, but
against tyranny and foreign oppression. This was
shrewdly remarked by your representative here, Sir
J. Hudson, in a most correct despatch of his, wherein
he aliuded to the misfortunes of Central Italy. Well,
the question of Central Italy has now assumed a new
aspect, both internally and externally, and it well
deserves your moat diligent attention.
As regards the home part of the question, the
present condition of the country may be thus stated.
Central Italy demands absolutely the annexation,
and Piedmont is still determined to support her vote,
by force of arms if necessary, is case it should be, as
there is no meson to doubt, favourable to the union.
Baron liettino Ricasoli for some time refused
diplomacy its desire to see the vote repeated,
because the request appeared to him to imply
a suspicion injurious to the preceding vote.
He has now not only yielded, however, but has re-
cently communicated to our government the exact
mode in which he has decided that the new vote is
to be given. He does not intend it to take place ac-
cording to the Piedmon tette electoral system, because
then the relative number of voters would be too
small, and the adversaries of the people might be in
consequence furnished with a plausible pretext for
saying that the opinion of the majority had not
been expressed. The vote is to be given by "Yee"
or " No," which will be written in a public book
in each commune under the eyes of everyone, so
that there can be no doubt respecting its fairness.
In this way Ricasoli believes he shall best meet the
objections made by France and England. Alter the
vote has been given the elections will be made ac-
cording to the Piedmontess electoral law. F.srini
will adopt the same plan in the /Emilia.
At this point the new complication as regards the
foreign relations of the country begins. Although
all that France desires may have been done, and
although her government may say she is satisfied,
nevertheless, within the last fortnight, if I am
rightly informed, the French government has
become cooler and has raised unexpected ob-
jections. What can possibly be the reason of this
singular change? Certain confidential communisa-
tions made to me, and some letters—incautiously
written, it must be confessed, by certain friends of
Prince Napoleon from Pans—lead us to suspect the
motive to be as follows : This cousin of the Em-
peror's, who has hitherto been of no manner of use
to the empire—who, on the contrary, during the
Crimean and the Italian wars, has been rather inju-
rious than otherwise to the fame of the Napoleonic
dynasty—is highly ambitions of wearing a crown,
notwithstanding his affectation of democratic princi-
ples. It appears, then, that he has been again beg-
ging his imperial cousin to let him try the experi-
ment in Tascany. Accordingly, instructions have
been sent off from the Prince's palace to the
friends of his highness to hold forth against the
annexation and, what is of far more disastrous a
nature, foreign diplomatists have been studiously
prompted to resist and oppose the formation of a
new Italian kingdom containing eleven or twelve
millions of inhabitants. Austria, naturally enough,
pretends that she is not disinclined to accept a
Bonaparte in Central Italy, for she hopes the pre-
sence there of such a sovereign may rouse the
jealousies of the other powers, and be the means of
securing Venetia to herself. It is grievous that
Napoleon should suffer himself to ba led in
this way by a cousin, always more injurious
than serviceable to his cause, and that he should lose
this opportunity of showing himself a politician of
enlarged views. But however grievous the case may
be, it is only too true, and our government, I have
been assured, has already been, so to say, officially
informed that, should the annexation be effected
without taking previous counsel of diplomacy, not-
withstanding a new vote, the French government
might possibly abandon Piedmont, by withdrawing
its troops and leaving entire freedom of action to
Austria. I believe oar government has replied
with much dignity to this communication,
that it would pain it much to see itself
abandoned, through no fault of its own,
by an ally, to whom it has on every occasion shown
the moat respectful deference, bet that its condition
is such that it is prevented by a sense of de-
corum and self-respect from taking a retrograde
course, that it would bear with all the patience it
could this unexpected abandonment, and would reso-
lutely incur alone the hazard of a fresh war.
Of coarse you have received from various sources the
confirmation of what I wrote to you concerning a letter
Isom the Pope to our King, and his Majesty's reply.
That letter was previous to the date fixed for the
anticipated assembling of a congress. His Holiness
invited the King " to defend at the congress the
rights of the Church, and not permit the seam-
less vesture of Christ to be divided among
thieves." The King pondered for a long time
whether he should send an answer or not, and in
the mean time political events succeeded one
another, and a change of ministers ensued. Having
taken counsel with Count Cavour, be wrote an answer,
and sent it to the Pope through the medium of his
court chaplain, Stellardi, an astute member of the
priesthood, who can be band when it is expedient,
for he hopes to become a bishop, and ;,fill one of the

r nineteen vacant episcopal sees of Piedmont. The
King's letter—respectful, of course, to the spiritual
head of the church—was frank to the temporal
prince, and represented to him that the Routines
were u good as lost ; that the Marches could not be
saved if the Roman government did not imbibe the
spirit of the times, and if his Holiness did not rule
those peoples as an enlightened Italian prince ought
to do. This letter was ill received by the Pope, who
has no objection to preach to others, bat does not like
to be preached to in return. His Holiness made a
harsh rejoinder, and there the matter dropped.