The Express.
London, England, 1860-05-17 00:00:00

MR. COBDEN AND THE FRENCH TREATY.

The following letter, addreneed by Mr. Cobden
to an intimate friend in Manchester, has been placed in our
hands for publimains :
" Paris, 82, Rue De Fl'oiversite, May 12.
pe " Myble dear sir. —I will answer your inquiries as briefly as
nd.
am w etmeglyin favour of the principle of ad valorem
duties as any one in Manchester. Bet nearly all the COUR-
tries of Europe have, from motives of convenience, or to
avoid food., preferred specific rates, and the French go-
vernmest caned be induced to take for its rule the ad valo.
rem system. Nor, indeed, is it invariably desirable ;
for instance, in the case of Woo, and some other
articles, the English producer prefers specific rates. Ingoode
of a simple and uniforms nature, admittailifemsy /km
tins, such as yam and plain cottons, ad valorem
duties would he preferable, the, adoption specific rates
will not be attended with
.great• inconvenience. If there
are other articles of so mixed and varied a character as to
defv dassificatioo, the treat has made providon for dealing
with them in. an exoeptioaal manner.
" England is really not in a position to dogmatise on this
'motion. The French government are of course aware that
our owe tariff hardly coati= an ad valorem duty, sad that
even in retest years we have bees engaged in substituting
specific for ad valorem retest At this moment the wine-
growers of Itargimody are holding meetings to protest against
oar specific duties on wine, which, oda( to the alcoholic
test, impose 50 per cant. more duty on their common
meting perhaps half-a-crown a canon, than on the
rarer kinds of claret, which are often worth more than fie. a
bottle in the cellars of the Gironde. My answer to these
complaints is that the evil is inevitable, owing to the
exigencies of our revenue system. The French govern.
meat plead, with equal good faith, the necessities of their '
mistime service in defence of their specific duties.
" With respect to your other inquiry, there is not the
slightest foundation of truth for the reports in question.
The comminermen new sitting in Paris are not m-
Mee!in correcting the initglitlay blunders to which you
We have no mere power lima yourself to negotiate
for the alteration of a seed of the treaty. Our duties are
limited to the carrying oat of the provisions of the 13th
article in the manner contemplated from the first, and by
the only mode in which it could have been scoompiished. The '
task on which the commimion his just entered will call
for the exercise of much patient labour ; and they who
wish to ram a fair t on its conduct will wad for
the result. taps oily of the past, I will say
that from the time when i wee first brought into
communication with the French government, now
mere than six months since, to the present day, I
ham experienced from them nothing but frankness,
dasightiorwardnems, and good faith. They have never
peufesael to carry out at once a free-trade policy to the
advanced stage at which we have arrived in England. They
are rather at the print of departure from which Mr. Hue.
Moen started in IWA' with the great advantage of having
had our expereoce to guide and encourage them, and of
having to deal with protected interests very much
in *deluxe of ours of that time. The French
government has begun with the repeal of duties
on mw material., giving notice that after a certain
time the prohibitive system will cone, and foreign
inaeufacturee he admitted at revenue duties which will
operate ea a protection to home producers. This is ere-
ctility the cones. pursued by Mr. Iluekissos, and we know
with what happy consequences.
"The Preach government have entered upon this new
policy, not for the benefit of England, but from
aa ealighteeed appreciation of the a.letstages it will confer
as the people of Prance ; and were I to doubt the 1112CCets
of the wpari moat, or fear that they will not persevere in
the mew on which they have entered, I should be faith-
hes to those principles, the application of which has
undamped such inesieslable advantages and blessings
MI sty countrymen. presses treaty will inaugurate a
sew ela i the coarawelal intareowse of France and Eag-
lets& end It will ady rapire a few years to develop that
Mate of mintwal which forms the solid basis for
the pore and hmesihip of nations.
"Oan it he true that there ere sinister influences at work
is in giai to mar if ponible this (sir prospect! If so
tree, the mercantile, manufacturing, and trading
intereste of the conntry will prove true to themselves, for
in the present ruse their interests are eminently those of
humanity and civlimation.—Believe me, room wry truly,
"IticiAao COID/Of."