The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-02 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND THE ZOLLEREIN.

At a meeting of the Council of the Bradt*Ord
Chamber of Commerce, held on Monday afternoon
last, Mr. Alderman Brown in the chair, the Secre-
tary read the following memorial, addressed to
Lord John Russell, and the reply thereto received
from the Foreign-office :
" To the Right Hon. John Earl Russell, her Majes-
ty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs:-

" The Memorial of the Bradford Chamber of Com-
merce, showeth—

" That your memorialists have read with pleasure
a letter addressed by order of your Lordship to the
President of this Chaniber, dated the 7th of August
last, in which your Lordship states' that her Ma-
jesty's Government had selected Mr. Ward to pro-
ceed to Berlin to assist in watching over the inte-
rests of Great Britain with reference to thepropmd
treaty between the States of the Zollverein and the
Imperial Government of France.

" Your memorialists would respectfullyonce more
impress upon your Lordship the great importance
of her Majesty's Government, and through it the
various chambers of commerce, being continually
informed of the different stages of that treaty.
" In the event of the treaty assuming the form of
the Anglo-French treaty—namely, containing a
tariff and the most favoured nation clause, your me-
morialists consider that great and important inte-
rests in this country might be jeopardised if, in
consequence of that treaty, the same duties should
in all cases be imposed by the Zollverein as they
are by France. The interests of France and Eng-
land are as dissimilar as their productions, and
your memorialists submit that it is impossible for
any public man to possess all the information
required for the variety of articles which
make up the enormous amount of our export
trade. Of public bodies it is only in the dif-
ferent chambers of commerce that this knowledge
is to be found, and it is by thenf only that Her Ma-
jesty's Government can be put in possession of the

•
" Your memorialists would give an instance of
one article in which this district, represented by
your memorialists, is deeply interested—namely,
worsted yarns, of which in the year 1860 there were
exported to the Zollverein an amount above
£2,000,000 in value at a duty of 3f. 75c. per 100
kilograms, and if the French duty were imposed
that duty would amount to from 25f, to 100 f.—on
the average about 401.—a duty which would destroy
that foreign trade which is even more important
than that with the United States of America.

" Your memorialists could multiply instances,
but the one above referred to will be deemed suffi-
cient to warrant the extreme anxiety of your
memorialists that the negotiations should not be
permitted to arrive at a stage when further exer-
tions would be useless in the face of afait acconzpli.
" Your Lordship will perceive the importance of
receiving this information sufficiently early to allow
the different chambers of commerce to be consulted
and your memorialists hope and believe the import-
ance of the question to this district will be a sufficient
apology to your Lordship in your memorialists thus
once more drawing your serious attention to it.
" And your memorialists would venture to suggest
that Her Majesty's Government adopt the same
means which enabled the Belgian Government to
be immediately informed of every phase and detail
of the treaty then in progress between this country
and France, which was effected by means of the
Belgian Government asking and obtaining permis-
sion from the French Government to be daily made
acquainted with the progress of the negotiations
between this country and France,
" Signed on behalf of the Council of the
Bradford Chamber of Commerce,
"11. W. RIPLEY, President."
" Foreign-office, Sept. 20, 1861.
Sir,—l am directed by Lord Russell to acknow-
lege the receipt of the memorial which you for-
warded to me from the Bradford Chamber of Com-
merce, expressing the wish of that body to be kept
informed of the progress of the negotiations with
Prussia for a treaty between this country and the
States of the Zollverein, and I am to state to you, in
reply, that Mr. Ward, who has been instructed
assist in these negotiations, has also been directed
to communicate with the different chambers of com-
merce, as regards any alterations which are to be
most obedient humble servant,
madecg i n the tariff.
I am,Sir,
yourrff.

~ H. W. Ripley, Esq.

" A. H. LAYARD."

In the course of a conversation,
Mr. JACOB BEHRENS complained of the vague-
ness of the answer to the memorial, and said that
Mr. Ward did not go the right way to get informa-
tion, nor was he sent to Berlin to negotiate a treaty
but simply to hear what was doing, and report what
he heard, and as he did not hear anything he had
come back without anything to report. So he (Mr.
Behrens) had been informed. This brought in a
question of the very highest importance, which was
first mooted by the Leeds Chamber of Commerce,
that of having a proper officer to attend to the
trade of this country. The present Ministry of
Commerce, the Board of Trade, was, he believed,
actuated by the best intentions, but had no power ;
and from the Foreign-office chambers of commerce
got such letters as that just read, saying nothing at
all, and showing utter ignorance of trade. He (Mr.
Behrens) thought it would be the duty of all the
chambers of commerce in the kingdom, in the next
Session of Parliament, to see that they had a
overpro-
perof th s country.
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A rumour Was in circulation yesterday in Paris
of the death ofithe Rev. Father Lacordaire. The report,
weunderstand, is premature, but no hope are entertained
og auintatc recovery,