§ MR. FINCHsaid, the House having been informed last Session, on very high authority, that "Prussia was shaken," and the mercantile world having been led to anticipate the concession of very important privileges, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Board of Trade whether there was any immediate prospect of the free admission of British manufactures into the Prussian dominions, or into the States comprehended in the Zollverein?
§ MR. M. GIBSONmust reply to the hon. Gentleman, by saying, that he believed no one was sanguine enough to hope that there was any immediate prospect of the admission of British or any other manufactures free of duty into the Zollverein. There had been an augmentation of duty. He merely stated the fact—an augmentation of duty. The first part of the hon. Gentleman's question referred to expectations that were held out with reference to Prussia; but he would remind the hon. Gentleman, that many other foreign countries had made very material reductions in their tariffs, and admitted manufactures from foreign countries into their consumption.