The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-11 00:00:00

THE COMMERCIAL TREATY.

The following is the Treaty of Commerce between
Her Majesty and the Emperor of the French,
signed at Paris, January 23, 1860, and the ratifi-
cations of which were exchanged at Paris,
February 4, 1860 :--
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland and his Majesty the Emperor of the
French being equally animated with the desire to draw
closer the ties of friendship which unite their two people,
and wishing to improve and extend the relations of com-
merce between their respective dominions, have resolved to
conclude a treaty for that purpose, and have named as
their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say :
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Most Hon. Henry Richard
Charles Earl Cowley, Viscount Dangan, Baron Cowley, a
Peer of the United Kingdon, a Member of Her Britannic
Majesty's Privy Council, Knight Grand Cross of the
Most Hon. Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of the
French, and Richard Cobden, Esq., a member of the
British Parliament.

His Majesty the Emperor of the French, M. Baroche,
Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Legion of
Honour, &c., a Member of his Privy Council, President of
his Council of State, provisionally charged with the De-
partment of Foreign Affairs, and M. Rouher, Graid Officer
of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour, &c.,
Senator, his Minister and Secretary of State for the De-
partment of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works.
Who, after having communicated to each other their re-
spective full powers, found in good and due form, have
agreed upon and concluded the following articles

ARTICLE I.
Hia Majesty the Emperor of the French engages that on
the following articles of British production and manufac •
ture, imported from the United Kingdom into France, the
duties shall in no case exceed 30 per cent. ad valorem, the
two additional decimes included.
The articles are as follows :
Refined sugar.
Turmeric in powder.
Rock crystal worked.
Iron forged in lumps or prisms.
Brass wire (copper alloyed with zino), polished or unpo-
lished of every description.
Chymical productions, enumerated or non-enumerated.
Extracts of dye-woods.
Garancine.
Common soap of every description, and perfumed soap.
Stoneware and earthenware, fine and common.
China and porcelain-ware.
Glass, crystal, mirrors, and plate-glass.
Cotton yarn.
Worsted and woollen yarn of every description.
Yarns of flax and hemp.
Yarns of hair, enumerated or non enumerated.
Cotton manufactures, enumerated or non-enumerated.
Horsehair manufactures, enumerated or non-enumerated.
Worsted and woollen manufactures. enumerated or non-
enumerated.

Cloth list.
Manufactures of hair.
Silk manufactures.
Manufactures of waste and Boss silk.
Manufactures of bark and all other vegetable fibres, enu-
merated or non-enumerated.
Manufactures of flax and hemp.
Mixed manufactures of every description.
Hosiery.
Haberdashery and small wares.
Manufactures of caoutchouo and guttipercha, pure or
mixed.

Articles of clothing, wholly or in part made up.
Prepared Skins.
Articles of every sort manufactured from leather or skins,
included or not under the denomination of small wares, fine
or common.
Plated articles of every description.
Cutlery.
Metal wares, whether enumerated or not.
Pig and cast-iron of every description, without distinction
of weight.
Bar and wrought iron. with the exception of the kinds
specified
in Article XVII.
Steel.
Machinery, tools, and mechanical instruments of every
description.
Carriages on springs, lined and painted.
Cabinet-ware, carved work,.
Brandies and turnery of every descrip-
tion ; worked ivory and wood
spirits including those not distilled from
wineand
cherries, molasses, or rice.

Ships and boats.
With respect to refined sugar and chymical productions
of which salt is the basis, the Excise or Inland duties shall
be added to the amount of the above specified duties.
ARTICLE 11.
His Imperial Majesty engages to reduce the import duties
in France on British coal and coke to the amount of lbc.
for the hundred kilogrammes, with the addition of the two
decimes.
His Majesty the Emperor also engages, within four years
from the date of the ratification of the present treaty, to
establish upon the importation of coal and coke by land and
by sea a uniform duty, which shall not exceed- that which
is fixed by the preceding paragraph.
ARTICLE 111.
It is understood that the rates of duty mentioned in the
preceding articles are independent of the differential duties
in favour of French shipping, with which duties they shall
not interfere.

AUTICLE IV.
The duties of ad valorem stipulated in the present treaty
shall be calculated on the value at the place of production
or fabrication of the object imported, with the addition of
the cost of transport. insurance, and commission necessary
for the importation into France, as far as the port of dis-
charge.
For the levying of these duties the importer shall make
a written declaration at the Custom-house, stating the
value and description of the goods imported. If the Cus-
tom-house authorities shall be of opinion that the declared
value is insufficient, they shall be at liberty to take the
goods on paying to the importer the price declared, with
an addition of 5 per cent.
This payment, togethea with the restitution of any duty
which may have been levied upon such goods, shall be
made within 15 days following the declaration.

ARTICLE V.
Her Britannic Majesty engages to recommend to Parlia-

ARTICLE VI.
Her Britannic Majesty engages also to propose to Parlia-
ment that the duties on the importation of French wine be
at once reduced to a rate not exceedinc 3s. ,a gallon, and
that from the Ist April, 1881, the duties on impoitation
shall be regulated as follows :-
1. On wine containing less that 15 degrees of proof spirit
verified by Sykes's hydrometer the duty shall not exceed ls.
a gallon.
2. On wine containing from 15 to 20 degrees the duty
shall not exceed Is, 6d. a gallon.
3. On wine containing from 28 to 40 degrees the duty
shall not exceed 2a a gallon.
4. On wine in bottles the duty shall not exceed 2s. a
gallon.
5. Wine shall not be imported at any other ports than
those which shall be named for that purpose before the pre-
sent treaty shall come into force, her Britannic Majesty re-
serving to herself the right of substituting other ports for
those which shall have been originally named, or of in-
creasing the number of them.
The duty fixed upon the importntion of wine at ports
other than those named shall be 2s. a gallon.
6. ller Britannic Majesty reserves to herself the power,
notwithstanding the provisions of this article, to fix the
maximum amount of proof spirit which may be contained in
liquor declared as wino, without, however, the maximum
being lower than 37 degrees.

ADTICLE VII.
Her Britannic Majesty promises to recommend to Parlia-
ment to admit into the United Kingdom merchandise im-
ported from France at a rate of duty equal to the Excite
duty which is or shall be imposed upon articles of the same
description in the United Kingdom. At the same time the
duty chargeable upon the importation of such merchandise
may be augmented by such a sum as shall be an equivalent
for the expenses which the system of Excise may entail upon
the British producer.

ARTICLE VIII.
In accordance with the preceding article, her Britannic
Majesty undertakes to recommend to Parliament the admis-
sion into the United Kingdom of brandies and spirits im-
ported from France at a duty exactly equal to the Excise
duty levied upon home-made spirits, with the addition of a
surtax of 2d. a gallon, which will make the actual duty pay-
able on French brandies and spirits Bs. 2d. the gallon.
Her Britannic Majesty also undertakes to recommend to
Parliament the admission of ruin and tafia imported from
the French colonies at the same duty which is •r shill' be
levied on these same articles imported from the British
colonies.

Her Britannic Majesty undertakes to recommend to Par.
liament the admission of paper-hangings imported from
France at a duty equal to the excise tax—that is to say, at
14s. per cwt. ; and cardboard of the same origin at a duty
which shall not exceed 15s. per cwt.
Her Britannic Majesty further undertakes to recommend
to Parliament the admission of gold and silver plate, im-
ported from France at a duty equal to the stamp or excise
duty which is charged on British gold and silver plate.

ARTICLE IX.
It is understood between the two high contracting Powers
that if one of them thinks it necessary to establish an excise
tax or inland duty upon any article of home production or
manufacture which is comprised among the preceding enu-
merated articles the foreign imported article of the same
description may be immediately liable to an equivalent duty
on importation.
It is equally understood between the high contracting
Powers that in case the British Government should deem
it necessary to increase the Excise duties levied upon home-
made spirits the duties on the importation of wines may be
modified in the following manner :
For every increase of Is. per gallon of spirits on the
Excise duty there may be on wines which pay 10. 6d. duty
an augmentation not exceeding 11d. per gallon; and on
wines which pay 2s. an augmentation not exceeing 21d.
per gallon.