The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-15 00:00:00

AND NAVY.

Sir G. C. LEWIS begged to give notice that the two
supplementary estimates for the army and the navy which
were now upon the table would be taken on Monday next—
first, the supplementary navy vote in committee of supply,
and the army supplementary vote afterwards.
SUPPLY.
Upon the motion for going into committee of supply,
THE MASSACRES AT DAHOMEY.

Lord A. CHURCHILL asked the Under-Secretary for
Foreign Affairs whether it was the intention of her Ma-
jesty's Government to sextk a commissioner to Dahomey to
treat with the King for thic entire abolition of his barbarous
sacrifices of human beings, and for the discontinuance of
the slave trade in his dominions; and further, whether
there was any objection to lay upon the table of the house
any correspondence or memorials that might have been ad-
dressed to the Government on the subject. He was sorry
to say that it appeared from a letter he had lately received
from Dahomey that these massacres were still going on,
although not on so large a scale as formerly.
Mr. CAVE entirely concurred in the object of the noble
lord. At the same time he felt that the barbarous King of
Dahomey could not be brought to understand any argument
except that of force, and would not be bound by any trea-
ties whatever, however carefully constructed. He would
take this opportunity of mentioning one subject to the Go-
vernment, which was in connexion with the question of the
noble lord. He had heard from a highly intelligent corre-
spondent on the West Coast of Africa that the whole of the
United States squadron had lately been withdrawn, with
the exception of one sailing corvette. As a matter of
course, every slaver hoisted American colours, and our
cruisers would therefore now be deprived of even the raise-
rable expedients to which they had hitherto resorted, of
carrying the suspected vessel to an American ship"of war,
to have her papers overhauled. He trusted that some nett
expedient would be devised, but under the present circum-
stances,,wiless the Government could devise some counter
expedient itwas clear we must look for a very large increase
of the slaio trade. He might remind the Government that
the authorities of the Federal States had lately expressed
their determination in the most marked manner to put an
end to the slave trade, and had also given evidence of the
'sincerity of their determination, by condemning to death,
at New York, a slave captain named Gordon.
COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH BELGIUM.

IMr. W. FORSTER, asked the Under Secretary of Slate 1
for Foreign Affairs whether be could inform the house of
the present positiOn of the negotiation with Belginixts for is.
new commercial treaty with that country ; and. if,'in''Conse-
, quence of the commercial negotiations between PrUssinand •
il France, there \Vas a Probability of a revision of the 'duties
levied in the Zollverein on British manufactures. He be-
! lieved there was great doubt felt throughout the manufac•
turing districts as to whether any negotiations was going on
at all. There was also a rumour, founded on statements in
continental and English newspapers, that there was a hitch
in the negotiation for a new commercial treaty, in conse-
quence of the Belgian Government wishing to sell the
Scheldt tolls to us upon terms which they did not intend to
impose upon France. It seemed they were determined, as
a condition of their commercial treaty, that we should capi-
talise those tolls at a price which would astonish the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, and still more astonish the British
tax payer. What he complained of was, that the Belgian
Government had tried to make it a condition with us when
they had not done so with France. It was not the only
occasion when France had been more commercially fa-
voured than England. The former had always been fa-
voured commercially by Belgium, to a much greater ex-
tent than this country had been. The passing of the
French treaty presented a golden opportunity for obtain-
ing 4 similar commercial treaty with Belgium and the Ger-
man Powers; but unhappily that opportunity was lost;
No doubt a deep debt of gratitude was due to,Mr. Cobden,
who had rendered the greatest official service which had
ever been accomplished by an unofficial person; but if he-
had not confined his services to Paris, but had gone I'rom
thence to Brussels and Berlin, we should not 'have to
complain of those difficulties .which obstructed cur com-
merce with Belgium and the Zollverein. Be asked what
was the cause of the apathy ofthe Foreign-office upon such
questions ? For himself, he believed that the fault lay in
the first instance with the defective administration of that
department in commercial matters, and the want of direct
information with regard to them. But perhaps there was a
fault which lay deeper still, and that was that commercial
men did not look sufficiently after their own interests in the
Foreign-office. The French had taken the initiative in con-
tracting commercial treaties, not only in Belgium and with
the Zollverein, but in Austria, Italy, Spain, and Purtugal,
and it behoved her Majesty's Government to follow that
example.
Mr. BAINES assured the Under Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs that the sentiments expressed by his hon.
friend the member for Bradford were strongly held by the
chambers of commerce in the north of England. This was
not only a question, however, as to Belgium and the Zollve-
rein, but a question as to the practicability of some new ma-
chinery being introduced in the Foreign-office, having re-
ference, particularly to the interests of trade. This was an
old grievance,because as far back as 1855 a deputation from
theth Leeds Chamber of Commerce made a representation to
British goods
of the extreme unfairness with which
_':_t_l_l6ll. goods were treated in Belgium and showed that Bel-
'mu:.
in favour
doiffftehreengtoiaoldsduties of betwDeurenin3g3 athned
lastlso tipveer
of France.
years, while the imports front Belgium to this country had
increased 18 Pearertised
eent.,the exports from England to Belgium
had actually decreased
French goods into 130,8 per cent., while the exports of
British manufacturers Belgium
bad increased 17 per cent. The
vance, and in the words o;
,ti°ll.7 considered this a great grie-
vance,
Department,it was a gral: lord at the head of the
utmost pressure which could be put C'fgood faith, and the
upon a friendly Go-