§ MR. WODEHOUSErose to put a question to the right hon. Baronet at the head of the Government relating to the German customs tariff, referring more particularly to the letter from the Earl of Westmorland to the Earl of Aberdeen, dated Berlin, November 8, 1842, respecting the increase of import duties on woollen and printed cotton goods, as well as other articles of manufacture, to take effect during the years 1843, 1844, and 1845. He begged to remind the right hon. Gentleman that in his letter the Earl of Westmorland had stated that this tariff would not materially affect the manufactures of this country, and that it was meant as a measure of retaliation against France. He also wished to recall to the memory of the right hon. Baronet, that in a recent discussion he had stated that he had reason to suppose that there was in Prussia an intention to alter the line of commercial policy as to freedom of trade. He wished to know, therefore, whether it were the intention of Government to lay 953 before Parliament any documents of any kind, subsequent to the date of Lord Westmorland's letter, confirmatory of the expectation that the commercial code of Prussia would be relaxed in correspondence with the relaxation in our own?
§ SIR R. PEELwished his hon. Friend had given him more particular notice of his question; as it was printed in the Votes, it applied simply to the letter of the Earl of Westmorland in 1842. It was not his intention to lay upon the Table any communication relating to matters connected with our present relations with Prussia as regarded the customs laws; but he had no objection to produce the customs tariff of the Zollverein, passed last year, for 1846, 1847, and 1848, that it might be compared with the tariff of 1843, 1844, and 1845.