The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-13 00:00:00

TILE TREATY. OF COII4II.ERCE.

Yesterday's Moniteur contains the following re-
port to the Emperor :

" 13th article of the commercial treaty
recent! • c-,nel..ided between France and Great Bri-
tain stipulates tilat w .aupplementary convention
shall fix the ad valorem duties applicable to the
articles of British origin and manufacture which
are enumerated in the first article, and shall con-
vert them into specific duties before the Ist of July
next. The high importance of this convention,
destined to fix the degree of protection necessary
for articles of French fabrication within the limits
laid down by the treaty of January 23, 1860, could
not escape yeur Majesty's attention. You have
therefore willed that the new arrangement that is
to intervene should be preceded by a loyal and con-
scientious inquiry, when the interests, so numerous
and various, which this treaty embraces should be
called upon to make themselves heard. In con-
formity with your orders, sire, I have been engaged
in organising this inquiry, and I now have to sub-
mit to you the measures that appear to me best
adapted for obtaining useful suggestionstherefrom.
" Under previous governments, the mission of
collecting information respecting cigars and iron,
coal, prohibited wares, linen and hempen cloths,
and linen threads, was at successive periods con-
fided to the superior council of commerce.
" Since the decree of Feb 2, 1853, which recon-
stituted it, this council has been called upon to
exercise the same attributes respecting the various
kinds of iron and cotton twist. In 1856, when
your Majesty decided that the question of removing
the prohibitions should be the subject of a supple-
mentary instruction, you deigned to authorise me
to instruct the same council to that effect.
"These numerous precedents, the terms of the
imperial decree of 1853, the legitimate authority
attached to the names of the members composing
this council, appear to me to point it out expressly
to .y our Majesty's confidence for this new mission.
" I have therefore the honour of proposing to you,
sire, to charge the superior council of commerce,
agriculture, and industry with this inquiry. The
project of a decree, which I present for the Em-
peror's signature, defines the threefold object of this
information. The council will have at first to
ascertain the average prices of the English articles
within the six months preceding the date of the
treaty. From this knowledge will be derived the
element by the help of which the maximum limit
will be fixed of 30 per cent., within which the new
tariffs will have their range. It will then have to
collect all the information proper for determining
the degree of protection necessary to each of the
branches of our industry, and for fixing the amounts
of the specific duties to be laid upon the importation
of each English article.

" For the performance of this important mission,
the superior council will have the power not only
of collecting evidence from French Or foreign nren
of business, hut. also of having recourse to the know-
ledge of particular individuals, who will *nligkten
tliinn on teehnis. II points and enable them to solve,
with a full mastery of the subject, the question of
detail; lastly., my administration and. that of the
finance will make it their duty to assist in the per-
formance of its labours with all the :means-at their
disposal.
" I venture, then, sire, to promise to yon, that the
inquiry shall be, as desired by your Majesty, com-

Ect /Ina sincere.
"The eirecnnst;:nce3 require that this inquiry

should he actively carried out, and that its results,
which are to serve as a basis for the new negotia-
tion, may be promptly ascertained.
" It is to satisfy this necessity of the situation, as
also your august solicitude for the industrial classes,
that I think it, my duty to beg your Majcsty
deign to permit me to create, in the Superior Coun-
cil of Commerce, general commissioners specially
empowered to prepare, under my direction, the pro-
gramme of its labours, to collect both in France and

England the information it will be useful to lay
before the council, to summon together the manu-
facturers and merchants of the two con n t ries, whom
the council may have an interest in hearing, to
verify the accuracy of the declarations that will be
made, la,tlv to consign in reports carefully drawn
up the result of those investigations. Should your
Majesty approve of this appointment, which for the
rest will be temporary, like t he commisbion entrusted
to the council itself, I shall have the honour of
designating to you, for discharging the functions of
commissioner-general, M. Herbet, minister plenipo-
tentiary, formerly consul general of France at Lon-
don, whom his Excellency the Minister of Foreign
Affairs has been so good as to place at my disposal.
I further ask of your Majesty the power of appoint-
ing,
organicin decree conformityireoof Fe
v with
ith2?
85 the stipulations
t
tipuo the
lationssuipneter
council, special delegates whom the nature of their
studies have prepared for the discussion of the ques-
tions that concern this or that particular branch of
industry.

" Constituted on these bases, the inquiry will
surely and promptly attain the object assigned for
it by the wisdom of your Majesty. It will conduce,
with the various measures already initiated by your
Governmentrto the abridgment of that inevitable
period of uncertainty and that partial stoppage of
commercial activity induced by the transition from
one system to another, and will give all the desir-
ableth e ego
mu aprlaenmt ee enst
at
royt
negi
ointereststhat
hasc o ntcoe rbne ecdairn.
ried on with Great Britain.
"Death has made in the superior council, since
its reconstruction, some regretable vacancies. I
beg your Majesty's permission to fill them up, by
calling on Messrs. Dumas and Michael Chevalier,
senators, to replace Messrs. the Count of Argout
and Gauthier.
I have, moreover, the honour of proposing to you
for the vice-presidentship, rendered vacant by the
resignation which his Excellency M. Billault ad-
dres=sed to me at the time of his appointment to the
Ministry of the Interior, his Excellency the Presi-
dent of the Council of State, who, notwithstanding
his numerous and important occupations,w ill kindly
share with me the direction of these great economic
discussions.

" I am with profound respect, sire, your Majesty's
most faithful and obedient servant and subject, the
Minister Secretary of State for the Department of
Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works,
" E. ItounEtt."

THE lONIAN ISLANDS.—A letter from Corfu,
dated April 3, says :—" The Lord High Commissioner, Sir
Henry Storks, has gone on his tour to the Southern Islands
in the lonian, with the squadron at present stationed hero
as his escort, viz , the Exmouth, London, and Liffey."
SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.
m N ing
—An accident, attended with considerable loss, occurred
near thoDefford station of the Midland Railway, on Wrd-
nesday. The ordinary goods train from Eristol left Wor-
s at
cester at half-past one o'clock a.m., and on a . _
Deffinil commenced shunting on to the up:line, to allow of
the:.i.2
from 4maitipass. While so doing the express goods
train Derby and Birminghata, preceding the twit,
:::ang,nii:gailtidanbdt' f'sleveirtaclooufl titil;vstacgegsneeotnitski(lie)
the
nth ,„ ~,,i,,. 10.1,0 I:T.
(~,. r ilia; 'l'l,,d. ran clean through
rani ,tra.equhiel
driver and stoker, as we (Di,•milightnn Post) are informed,
igdinoceititnatime, and so saved their lives.
jumped from the en
have been a defect in the sigy
:1-trt'il.iirlisgwthr:whole of the day. The cause i,, said to
e'l,'lltiei
nici,l
iiltalti; heFc,lll?.thiriiisi.aaten:yl
Itiloiep,f,'lrilslocnn
was injured,
ed aittlile°ril ih,
thti,,lhi very g
logsttheree,a7pany, in the shape
of damag nn
LADvERTisEmENT.] Holloway's Pills. Disturbed
Digestion, !Aliens Disorders.--The piercing- winds, alterna-
ting with bright genial days, arc sad enemies to comfort and
to health. Look to the liver and stomach —keep their func-
tions regular, and a tong train of ailments will be avoided,
even though this present spring be as capricious as its prede-
cessors. When digestion is impaired, or well marked symp-
toms show a disordered liver, let Holloway's rills be in-
stantly procured ; if these be taken according to the instruc-
tions the patient will soon be himselt again, and more serious
attacks will be repelled. A few doses of these inestimable
Pills will thoroughly clear the head, elevate the spirits, and
restore the general energy—in tact, they will confer health on
mind and InclY.