The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-12 00:00:00

AIR. COBDEN OIV THE FRENCH TREATY.

The Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce having unani-
mously passed a vote of thanks to Mr. Cobden for .b is services
in connexion with the Commercial Treaty between this
country and France, Mr. T. Mallinson, the President of
the Chamber, transmitted the vote of thanks to Mr. Cobden,
accompanying the same with a letter, in which he said :

" It affords me the greatest satisfaction and pleasure to be
the medium of communicating to you the very cordial and
unanimous thanks of the louncil of the Huddersfield
Chamber of Commerce for the untiring zeal and energy with
which you have prosecuted—and that to a successful issue
—the duties devolving upon you in the arrangement of the
tariff under the treaty of commerce concluded between
France and this country ; and to express particularly the
sense which we entertain of the attention which our depu-
tation received from you when in Paris ; and for the consi-
deration which you gave to all their representations on
behalf of the trade of this district: We arc sanguine that
by the best use of the means at our command we shall be
able to produce a class of goods suited toll,e walits of a large
znass of the industrial population of France ; and thus not
only realise the first object of this trea',y, in the shape of
mutual commercial advantages, but shall therein give s-Ifect
—and guarantees of permanence—tit) all those relations
which form the surest safeguar 8 of 'peace and amity."
At a meeting of the Chamber on Monday last the
following letter, which had been riceived from Mr.
Cobden in reply to Mr. Mallinson's communication,
was read :

Paris, Dee. 4.
"My dear Sir,—Pray offer my warmest" acknowledgments
to the Chamber of Commerce over which you preside for
their kind approval Of my services in conu‘ction with Om
French Commercial T rta„aty.

"There could really have never been any difference of
opinion respecting the treaty among those who desire the
extension of free trade principles, if the very name of treaty
had not furnished the ready means of misrepresentation.
Taken with its traditional meaning, a treaty of commerce
implies exclusive dealing and bargaining between two
countries; but I need hardly assure you, with whom I
struggled for seven years for the principle of unconditional
freedom of commerce, that I should be about the last man
to identify myself with so retrograde a policy. All that
England has done in this case has been to carry out in.
practice, towards all the world in respect of some remaining
items of our tariff, that principle of free trade which we have
so loudly professed, and which we had previously applied
to all our most important articles of production. If we have
done this in the form of a treaty, it was solely to enable th
Emperor of the French, by a diplomatic act, and in accord-
ance with the powers vested in him by the constitution, to
make some simultaneous reductions in the tariff of his
country. To have objected to such a proceeding on the
ground of form would have been mere pedantry and not
principle.
" But viewed on its own merits, and apart altogether
from the treaty with France, Mr Gladstone's last reform
of our tariff, by which the whole of the remaining duties on
manufactures have been swept away, is, in a mercantile
point of view, one of the most important in our commercial
annals. It has made England a free port for manufactures,
just as she was previously the mart for wool, indigo, and
other raw materials. And it will Le followed by similar
results. I have already heard of Canadian buyers whe,
were accustomed to pay annual visits to the Continent of
Europe, having intiniat ed their intention of making all their
future purchases hi England, being convinced that uuder
the present free regime every article of continental manu-
facture which can be produced cheaper and better than in
England will be found in the warehouses of London and
Manchester. Yet strange to add, there are still people to
be found who, believing that foreigners—and not English-
men—pay our Customs' duties, blame the Chancellor of the
Exchequer for having made the great reform in the interest
of France. It were useless any longer to argue this ques-
tion. Time will in this, as in other matters, demonstrate
the advantages of freedom.
" Let me assure you how highly I appreciate all the
friendly expressions contained in your letter,which enclosed
a copy of the resolution of your Chamber.
" I am, my dear, sir, very truly yours,
" RICHARD COPIDEN.
"Mr. T. Mallinson, President of the Huddersfield
Chamber of Commerce. _ _ _

The Chamber having included the names of Mr.
Cobden's coadjutors in the vote of thanks, acknow-
ledgments were read from those gentlemen (Mr.
11. A. Ogilvie and M. Louis Mallet).
Mr. OGILVIE expressed his sincere hope that the
negotiations just completed may tend to increase
the prosperity of the trade of the district, and prove
a lasting bond of peace and friendship betweeu the
people of the two nations.

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, Dec. 11.—There has been very
little doing in yarns, and the demand is quiet for
all markets. Prices are nominally unchanged,
being supported by the very heavy contracts placed
a few weeks ago. There is a telegram from Calcutta
to the 14th, when the market was steady but the
sales small. Prices unchanged, except madapol-
lams, which were one anna higher. Exchanges
2-7ths, being a shade lower. Our market to-day is
quieter. All sorts of printing cloths quieter.
Domestics, long-cloths, and low T-cloths in fair
demand at last quotations :—Messrs. John Slagg
and Co. report :—" The falling off in the demand
fur India goods, reported on Tuesday last, has been
more marked since the receipt of the telegraphic
ac:munts from Chiaa, which arc generally looked
on as unfavourable to trade prospects. Forty-inch
shirtings are nominally 11d. per piece lower than
last week, but at this decline there is nothing
doing. Long-cloths and T-cloths are still in fair
request, and prices steady. For other descriptions
of goods the demand continues very languid, and
prices generally are a shade easier."
LEEDS, 11th.—There was a tolerably good attend-
ance in the cloth halls this morning, and the tone
of the market was firm and healthy. A fair amount
of business in small parcels of a general character
was transacted, and there was some inquiries for
spring goods. Nothing very definite is yet doing
in woollen fabrics for the French markets, as the
new tariff will not come into operation for several
months, but the Leeds Chamber of Commerce are
urging upon the French Government to appoint a
consul at Leeds in order to facilitate the trade be-
tween the two countries as much as possible. The
Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce have also passed
a resolution in favour of a similar official being
appointed for Huddersfield.
ROCIIDALE, 10th.—There has heen a rather quiet
market to-day for flannels. There was a fair at-
tendance of buyers, but they purchased sparingly,
as is usual towards the close of the year. Yorkshire
goods continue in active demand. Manufacturers
are well employed, for there is a strong expectation
of a good trade being done at the commencement
of the new year.

FRENCH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

MM. Delaunay and Leverrier renewed their
conflict at the last sitting. '1 he former gentleman
informed the Academy that his silence at the
preceding sitting was by no means owing to any
embarrassment caused by the force of his opponent's
arguments, but entirely to his resolution not to
have any oral discussion whatever with M. Lever-
rier, who was in the habit of not faithfully repro-
ducing in the Comptes•Rendus hat he had said at
the sitting. M Delaunay then proceeded to deny
that he had made any admission at all in the sitting
in question, and repeated his assertion that the
errors found in M. Leverrier's numbers might have a
very great influence on the value of the lunar in-
equality which lay at the bottom of the discussion.
M. Leverrier, in reply, deplored that a member of
the Academy should be induced to deny to-day
what he had admitted yesterday, and that within
the hearing of all. He (M. Leverrier) had consulted
his fellow academicians, in order to ascertain be-
yond a doubt, although he personally
.was quite
certain of the fact, whether the admission now
r that
r, adopting
denied by M. Delaunay had really been made by
him at the last sitting, and they had cconfirmedthe
ftahcet.opiSnuiocnh
obfeihnigs
ftehieloclre,
M.
members,Lev erconsideredie
henceforth all further discussion was impossible.
M. Becquerel read a paper on the temperature of
the strata of air situated above trees, and at a cer-
tain distance from them, deduced from upwards of
3,000 otmervations, the principal -
results of which
hC [has arranged in tables. The inferior plants
which cover the ground, possessing as they do
great absorbent and emissive powers, contribute
warmth during the day to the starta of air in con-
tact with them, and ou the contraryt
caloric during thenight. so h
very clear weather, thetem temperature
e oft
the sometimesinferiorin
strata of air is sometimes seven or eight degrees
lower than that of the upper strata. M. Becquerel's
experiments tend to show that the foliage of trees
exercises quite a similar influence on the upper
layers of the atmosphere ; but from the Ist of June
to the 30th of November, the mean temperature of,
the air every month is perceptibly the same in the
vicinity of the branches, and at a certain distar.ce.
M. Fournet sent in a series of observations of the
Rhone, taken at the Pont Morand, at Lyons, from
1826 to 1855. From these it appears that the dan-
ger of inundations by that river at Lyons is insig-
nificant in February, May, June, and July, and
most threatening during the storms of August and.
the violent rains of October, November, and De-
cember. The nought or low-water mark at the
scale of the Pont Morand is seldom attained, and
when it is, it occurs at the end of December and in
January. During the 30 years comprised by these
observations, the waters of the Rhone were 1648, and and 1854„
ally low
1836, ten ; and in 1848, 25 days, during which he
theln 1834, in
lolwB3‘4;ateirB3ls;steldB3o6nly two days ;t in
waters fell nearly one toot below low-water mark,
an extremely rare occurrence.

In the Paris corn market during the past week
no great amount of business was transacted, and prices
ao-ain tended downwards. The four marks of flour were
quoted at 59f. the sack of 157 kilos., and wheat at 35f. the
hectolitre and a half. Large quantities of wheat arrived at
Marseilles during the week, which circumstance produced
lower prices in the southern markets. Rye is firm at 22f.
50c. and 23f. the 115 kilos., and oats of first quklity find
purchasers at 32f. the 150 kilos,