The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-15 00:00:00

CHURCH RATES.

A number of petitions were presented against the aboli-
tion of church-rates.

THIRD READING.

On the motion of Lord REDESDALE, the Grand Sur-
rey Docks and Canal Bill was read a third time and passed.
BENEFIT SOCIETIES RULES AMENDMENT
BILL.

This bill passed through committee, and was reported
without amendments.
THE NEW FRENCH TREATY.

Lord HARDWICKE presented a petition from the
Shipowners' Association of Liverpool, complaining of the
omission fu the treaty of any provisions for the satisfactory
regulation of the navigation laws of France.
Lord TAUNTON rose for the purpose of moving that
their lordships agree with the Commons in the address to
her Majesty on the subject of the treaty of commerce with
France, and that the blank in that address be filled up with
the words "lords spiritual and temporal and." The noble lord
said he could have desired that the task he had undertaken
would have been taken by some other person of greater
weight in that house than himself, but he must sayhe never
had a duty to perform more agreeable to his own
feelings. (Hear, hear.) The treaty came before them
under the most favourable circumstances, it hav-
ing received nearly the unanimous sanction .of
the House of Commons, which, he thought, on that occa-
sion. merely reflected the opinions of the constituents of
the kingdom on the subject. In Lancashire and the Pot-
teries it had been received with the greatest satisfaction,
and that feeling would be increased on its ratification. One
of the great objects sought by the treaty was drawing still
closer the bonds of amity between the two nations. (Hear.)
He would not weary the house with any statistics, but he
might state that England exported less to France than it
did to Holland. Mr. Pitt had devoted the powers of his
great mind to enlarge the intercourse, but war and the
event of the French Revolution had prevented his success.
He thought that one of the greatest preventatives against
war was commerce, and the treaty would increase
our commercial intercourse with France, and therefore act
as an additional security for the maintenance of peace. A
short time ago the relations between this country and the
United States were in such a condition that at one time
war seemed inevitable, but that calamity was averted by
the intimacy of our commercial intercourse with that great
country. This fact alone would show the impor-
tance of promoting ax increase of trade with.
France. There had been a strong feeling against the con-
clusion of any commercial treaty, from the fear that when
concessions were once made we should no longer have them
to offer other nations. He fully recognised the fact that the
days for equivalents were gone, but this treaty was not one
that could be objected to on that ground. (Hear.) The prin-
cipal concessions we had made by the new treaty were
necessary for our own sakes. The noble lord here pro-
ceeded to detail the principal points in the treaty, and
proceeded to remark that in the importance of the changes
proposed it was necessary to remember the present state of
the French tariff, by which almost all our manufactures
were heavily taxed with protective duties—a large number
of our staples prohibited altogether. (Hear, hear.)
It had been said that the duty on French wines
and spirits ought not to have been reduced, but he
thought that the admission of French wines for consump-
tion in this country would be attended with most beneficial
results, by bringing within our reach a substitute for
the strong adulterated alcoholic drinks that had for years
been largely consumed in this country. (Hear, hear.)
Without entering at length into the financial results
that would follow the completion of the treaty,
he considered that our finances were in such a state as fully
justified the Chancellor of the Exchequer in sacrificing the
revenue derived from the wine duties for the sake of the bene-
fits their abolition would confer upon England. Heconsi-
dered he ought to touch upon the clause allowing the ex-
portation of coal about which much had been said.
The stipulation in question is not to put an
export duty on coal for the next ten years. He
must confess he did not view such a provision with the
alarm that others had done, as he thought
that circumstance ought to be looked upon simply as
an item in a commercial treaty. It had at one time been
asserted that the exportation of coal would hasten the
exhaustion of that mineral in our own country,
but that notion, he thought, had been entirely
abandoned. Then with respect to shipping, he thought
the stipulations of the treaty were decidedly advantageous
to British shipping, as it placed both British and French
ships upon the same footing. He had no fear that the ship-
ping of this country would suffer in the slightest degree by
the making of this treaty.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS-(THIS EVENING.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills were read a third time and passed :
Belper Water; Liverpool Corporation Water; Llandaff
and Canton District Markets ; Midland Railway (Station
in St. Pancras, &c.) ; Midland Railway (use of railways in
and near London ; Shrewsbury and Welchpool Railway ;
West Somerset Railway ; York Improvement, &c. ; Man-
chester and Buxton Road ; and North Landon Railway.

ELECTION COMMITTEES.
The committee appointed to try the merits of the peti-
tions against the sitting members for the borough of Ber-
wick-on-Tweed were sworn at the table.
CHURCH RATES.
An unusually large number of petitions were presented
in favour of d against the abolition of church rates.
CITY OF NORWICH.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE gave notice that, on Monday next,
he would move for a writ for the election of two burgesses
to serve in Parliament for the city of Norwich.
THE SHIP FAWN, &c.
Lord A. CHURCHILL asked the Secretary to the Ad-
miralty whether her Majesty's ship Fawn, which had re-
cently sailed for Australia, had been sent there as an aug-
mentation t 6 the squadron at present on that station, or for
the purpose of relieving another vessel ordered home ;
whether the attention of the Government had been
called to the fact that France had, within the last
year, reorganised her military and naval establish-
ments at New Caledonia, and had now madelt her princi-
pal station in those seas : and whether it is intended to
place oar naval commanding officers upon a more equal
footing with the French, by creating the Australian station
into an admiral's command ?

Lord C. P.AGET said that the vessel in question was
not sent out for the purpose of augmenting her Majesty's
squadron, but merely to replace another war ship. With
regard to Australia, it was intended to send out a commo-
dore, but not an admiral, to the station in question.

NEWSPAPER PROPRIETORS.
Sir S. NORTHCOTE asked the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer whether newspaper proprietors who may have in
their possession any stamped sheets on the day when the
proposed new-regulations for the abolition of the impressed
stamp take effect, would be allowed to use them, and to re-
tain the privilege of sending them free by post
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
some arrangements would to made to prevent newspaper
proprietors suffering loss under the alteration proposed. In
consequence of the illness of Sir Rowland Hill it was im-
possible to carry out the alteration in question at once, but
it would be shortly effected.
RESTS FOR PORTERS.
Mr. SLA.NEY asked the Secretary of State for the Home
Department if provision could be made for rests for porters
and others carrying heavy burdens, on or near the great
lines of public thoroughfares, in place and in addition to
those removed.
Sir G. C. LEWIS could not 'give any information on
the subject, for neither the Secretary of State nor the police
had any authority in the matter.