§ MR. LIDDELLasked the President of the Board of Trade whether any Commercial Treaty or Treaties (other than that recently ratified) are in force between this country and France; and, if so, whether there is any objection to lay copies of the same on the Table, with the dates at which they were entered into?
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONsaid, he had to state in reply to the hon. Gentleman that there was a treaty, or rather a convention, in force between England and France relating to commerce and navigation, and bearing the date of January, 1826. It related almost exclusively to the direct trade, and under its provisions each nation agreed to place the ships of the other on the same footing as national vessels. But there could be no necessity for placing that-treaty upon the table of the House, as it was already published in Hertzlet's Collected Treaties, a copy of which would be found in the library of the House. He might add that there was also a French decree of the year 1854, consequent upon the repeal of the English navigation laws, which made certain relaxations in favour of our vessels engaged in the indirect trade.