Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-24 00:00:00

per cent. and taken them out of their ships, no one shall
demand or extract from them anything more without their
consent ; aad it is, moreover, expressly commanded that
the English merchants should not be molested or vexed in
manner aforesaid, contrary to the articles of the capitula-
tions." Bat the Treaty on which, as explained by Lord
Palmerston, our commercial relations with Turkey now
rest, is that of Balta Liman, concluded in 1838. This
Convention embraces the capitulations and provisions of
previous treaties, but specifit,,s with more precision, than
its predecessors the amount of duty on imparts and
exports to and from Gre.at Britain and the Ottoman
Empire. By the 4th article of the latter treaty all
articles of Turkish " produce, growth, or manufacture,"
purchased by a British merchant or his agent, are liable
to a fixed duty of nine per cent. ad valorem, besides the
export duty of three per cent.; while on articles imported
from Great Britain and her dependencies there is laid,
by the additional articles of the treaty in question, a fixed
duty of two per cent., besides three per cent. import duty ;
" but all goods [proceeds the article] that have paid the
three per cent. import duty at one port shall be sent to
another free of any further duty, and it is only when
sold there, or transmitted thence into the interior, that
the second duty shall be paid." And it is further stipu-
lated, although not generally supposed to be, that " no
change whatsoever shall be made upon British goods
(such being the growth, produce, or manufacture of
any foreign country, and charged in British vessels,
and belonging to British subjects) passing through the
Straits of the Dardanelles, of the Bosphorus, and of
the Black Sea, whether such goods shall pass through
those Straits in the ships that brought them, or ara tran-
shipped in those Straits, or, destined to be sold elsewhere,
are landed with a view to their being transferred to other
vessels (and thus proceed on their voyage) within a
reasonable time." Ive have thought it advisable thee to
refer to the more important stipulations which govern
our commercial relations with Turkey, and it will be
seen at a glance that they form a very legitimate subject
for deliberation. It may well be doub'ed, nothwith-
standing Lord Palmerston's assertion, whether the levy of
an export duty of nine per cent., and of an import duty of
five—including, of course, the fixed duties in both cases—
on all articles destined for these countries, or coming from
Great Britain and her dependencies, can be said to
place us on the footing of the most favoured nation ;
and there is just as little doubt that the Porte would
do wisely to amend its tariff in favour of Turkey's best
customer, which Great Britain is admitted to be. We
trust, therefore, that so soon as the troublesome question
respecting the Principalities is disposed of, the promised
deliberation on the commercial relations of the Ottoman
Empire will be opened. The facilities for trading with
various parts of that empire might be very much improved ;
the scale of fixed duties (especially on exports) reduced
with decided benefit to the Turkish exchequer, inasmuch as
such a reduction would greatly stimulate the Turkish trade ;
and certain vexatious charges upon British shipping, to
which we have frequently referred, abolished altogether
with the best results. These are questions which will
doubtless be brought before the negotiators; and we have
a right to believe, from the experience of nearly th►ee
centuries, that the Porte will receive any representation
on the part of the British Government in a fair spirit, and
that any engagements it forms will be honourably adhered
to.—Skipping Gazette.