MR. CARTWRIGHTasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he could give any information as to the present position in regard to the pending Treaty of Commerce negotiated with France during the Presidency of M. Thiers; and whether, in presence of the fact that on a recent occasion the Minister of Commerce made a public statement before the French Assembly, in which he directly referred to negotiations with Her Majesty's Government for modifications in that Treaty, he would have any objection to lay before the House any Correspondence 1311 which may have been exchanged on this subject?
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELD,in reply, said, that Her Majesty's Government had not yet received any official communication from the newly constituted Government of France respecting the Treaty of Commerce negotiated with France during the Presidency of M. Thiers, although they had every reason to believe that the subject was engrossing their serious attention. Instructions had been sent to Her Majesty's Representative at Paris with a view to the due protection of British commercial interests; but up to the present moment there had been no Correspondence on the subject which could be presented to Parliament.