On the subject of the failure of the French Treaty
of Com- merce, too, Lord Hartington made a very clear statement. The Government, he said, had not attempted to haggle and bargain with the French Government. It had taken its stand solely on the ground of Free-trade. To any treaty which would really have increased, on the whole, the freedom of commercial intercourse between the two countries, it would have given its consent, whether the French Government had substituted specific for ad valorem -duties, or not. But to any Treaty which implied retrogression from the status quo, it declined to give its consent, and pre- ferred rather to retain its full freedom. And to that, at last, it had come. Only the French Government, clearly recognising that it would be a calamity to diminish materially the com- mercial intercourse between the two nations, had conceded to the English nation, after May 22nd—till which time the old treaty is prolonged—the advantages of the most-favoured-nation -clause, without in any way interfering with the freedom of action of the British Government in the arrangement of its tariff. He added that the Government hope for a speedy exten- sion of their commercial relations with Spain, and also with other countries.
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