§ Mr. Hutt329 wished to put a question to the right hon. Baronet at the head of the Government, of considerable importance, as regarded our commercial relations with the Northern Powers of Europe. He wished to know whether her Majesty's Ministers had acknowledged the right of the crown of Hanover to levy tolls on vessels passing up the Elbe, commonly called the Stade duties, except those allowed by the treaty concluded between Sweden and Hamburgh in 1691, the maximum of which was one-sixteenth per cent. ad valorem.
§ Sir R. Peelreplied that the subject was then under the consideration of her Majesty's Government. A commissioner had lately arrived in this country from Hanover, to arrange the subject with the English Government; it therefore would be premature to make any declaration while negotiations were taking place.