§ MR. HADFIELDsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether (under 14th protocol, page 59 of Conferences of the Plenipotentiaries of Paris, 1856, relative to the Treaty of Peace) there has been a revision of the stipulations which regulate the commercial relations of the Porte with other Powers, or in the position of Foreigners resident in Turkey; and whether (agreeably to the recorded wish of the Plenipotentiaries) a deliberation has been opened at Constantinople since the conclusion of Peace between the Porte and the Representatives of other Powers, with the view of attaining the twofold object in such a manner as to afford entire satisfaction to all legitimate interests; and, if there has been no such revision and deliberation, whether this Country, in its commercial relations with the Porte, ranks amongst the most favoured nations in all commercial transactions, the residence of British Subjects in Turkey, fiscal and other Duties; and whether any beneficial or other change has taken place since the commencement of the War with Russia, or is intended; and are negotiations in progress to facilitate the commerce of this Country with Turkey?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONIt is quite true, Sir, that according to the agreement come to in Paris, there were to be steps taken by the Representatives of the different European Powers with the view of arranging more equitable, or, at least, more equal and more favourable conditions of commerce with Turkey; but the hon. Gentleman must be aware that from the time the Treaty of Paris was signed and ratified down to the present moment there have been a number of questions pending upon which the different parties to that Treaty have entertained differences of 1816 opinion. Some of those questions are still unsettled and under discussion. It therefore appeared to all parties premature to enter, at Constantinople, upon a course of communications which could not be carried to a satisfactory result, unless all the parties who shared in them should come to the negotiations without any difference of opinion upon other matters of considerable importance; nothing, therefore, has yet been done. Whenever the questions to which I have alluded shall have been satisfactorily and finally settled, then will begin those deliberations to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. In the meantime our commercial relations with Turkey rest upon the Treaty of 1838. No change has been made either during the war or in consequence of the war, and I am bound to say that, looking to the amount of the duties payable upon the imports and exports in our commerce with Turkey, the conditions of our commercial relations with that country may be fairly compared with those of any other nation. The conditions of our commerce with Turkey. in point of duties, are more favourable than those of our commerce with almost any other State with which we have commercial transactions.
§ MR. HADFIELDsaid, he wished to know whether we stood on equal terms with Austria or Russia?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONI am not prepared off-hand to state what are the comparative stipulations of Treaties, but my impression is that, as far as commercial transactions go, we stand upon an equal footing with either Austria or Russia.