the latter varies from 750 and 900 to from 1,000 to 1,600 dollars per picul, according to quality.-(Crawfurd's Indian Archipelago; Singapore Chronicle; Canton Register.)

The imports of tortoiseshell into Great Britain from all places eastward of the Cape of Good Hope amount to about 40,000 lbs. a year. The duty was reduced in 1842 to 1s. per lb.

TOYS (Ger. Spielzeug, Speilsachen; Du. Speelgoed; Fr. Jouets, Bimbelots; It. Trastulli; Sp. Dijes, Juguetes de ninnos; Rus. Igrushki), include every trifling article made expressly for the amusement of children. How frivolous soever these articles may appear in the estimation of superficial observers, their manufacture employs hundreds of hands, and gives bread to many families, in London, Birmingham, &c. The greatness of the demand for them may be inferred, from the fact, that a manufacturer of glass beads, and articles of that description, has received a single order for 500l. worth of dolls' eyes!(Fourth Report, Artisans and Machinery, p. 314.) Considerable quantities are also imported from Holland; which supplies us with several sorts of wooden toys on more reasonable terms than we can afford to produce them. But of late years, these have been made in greater abundance in England than formerly. The duty on toys, which down to 1842 was an ad valorem one of 20 per cent., produced, in 1840, 4,680, showing that the value of the toys imported for home use amounted to 23,1531. In 1842, the duty was reduced to 10 per cent. ad valorem.

TRAGACANTH, a species of gum, the produce of the Astragalus Tragacantha, a thorny shrub growing in Persia, Crete, and the islands of the Levant. It exudes about the end of June from the stem and larger branches, and soon dries in the sun. It is inodorous; impressing a very slightly bitter taste as it softens in the mouth. It has a whitish colour; is semitransparent; and in very thin, wrinkled, vermiform pieces; it is brittle, but not easily pulverised, except in frosty weather, or in a warmed mortar. It should be chosen in long twisted pieces, white, very clear, and free from all other colours; the brown, and particularly the black pieces, should be wholly rejected. —( Thomson's Chemistry; Dr. A. T. Thomson's Dispensatory; Milburn's Orient. Com.)

The entries of tragacanth for home consumption in 1840 and 1841, were at the rate of 29,435 lbs. a year. TREATIES (COMMERCIAL). By a commercial treaty is meant a treaty between two independent nations, for facilitating, and most commonly, also, regulating the commerce carried on between them.

Origin, Objects, and Policy of modern Commercial Treaties. During the middle ages, and down, indeed, to a comparatively recent period, foreigners resident in a country, whether for commercial or other purposes, were, for the most part, subject to very harsh treatment. At one time, it was usual in England to make aliens liable for the debts and crimes of each other; and the practice, formerly so common, of laying heavier duties on the goods imported and exported by aliens than by British subjects, is not even yet, we grieve to say, altogether abandoned. In France, and some other countries, during the 14th and 15th centuries, a stranger was incapable of bequeathing property by will; and the whole of his personal as well as real estate, fell, at his death, to the king or the lord of the barony. This barbarous law was known by the name of Droit d'Aubaine, and was not completely abolished in France till a very late period. —(Robertson's Charles V. vol. i. note 29.) Previously to last century, the laws with respect to shipwreck, though infinitely more humane than they had been at a more remote period, were calculated rather to promote the interest of the sovereign of the country, or the feudal lords on whose territories shipwrecked vessels might be thrown, than those of the unfortunate owners or survivors. (See WRECK.*) The most serious obstacles were then, also, opposed, by the prevalent insecurity, and the arbitrary nature of the tolls which the lords were in the habit of exacting, to the transit of commodities through the territories of one state to those of another.

Under such circumstances, it became of much importance for commercial states to endeavour to obtain, by means of treaties, that protection and security for the persons and properties of their subjects, when abroad, against unjust treatment and vexatious exactions, which they could not have obtained from the laws of the countries in which they might happen to reside. Thus, it was stipulated by Edward II., in 1325, that the merchants and mariners of Venice should have power to come to England for 10 years, with liberty to sell their merchandise and to return home in safety, "without having either their persons or goods stopped on account of other people's crimes or debts.” -(Anderson, anno 1325.) The commercial treaties negotiated during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, are full of similar conditions; and there can be no doubt that by

The practice of confiscating shipwrecked property continued in France till 1681, when it was abolished by an edict of Louis XIV. It was at one time common in Germany, to use the words of M. Bouchaud, "pour les prédicateurs de prier Dieu en chaire, qu'il se fasse bien des naufrages sur leurs côtes ! " -(Théorie des Traités de Commerce, p. 118.) And the fact, that the celebrated jurist Thomasius wrote a dissertation in defence of such prayers, affords, if possible, a still more striking proof of the spirit of the period.

providing for the security of merchants and seamen when abroad, and suspending, with respect to them, the barbarous laws and practices then in force, they contributed materially to accelerate the progress of commerce and civilisation.

Commercial treaties were also negotiated at a very early period for the regulation of neutral commerce during war; and for defining the articles that should be deemed contraband, or which it should not be lawful for neutral ships to convey or carry to either belligerent. These are obviously points that can only be decided by express stipulations.

Instead, however, of confining commercial treaties to their legitimate and proper purposes the security of merchants and navigators, and the facility of commercial transactions they very soon began to be employed as engines for promoting the commerce of one country at the expense of another. For more than 2 centuries, those engaged in framing commercial treaties have principally applied themselves to secure, either by force or address, some exclusive advantage in favour of the ships and products of their particular countries. Hence these compacts are full of regulations as to the duties to be charged on certain articles, and the privileges to be enjoyed by certain ships, according as they were either produced by or belonged to particular countries. It was in the adjustment of these duties and regulations that the skill of the negotiator was chiefly put to the test. It was expected that he should be thoroughly acquainted with the state of every branch of industry, both in his own country and in the country with which he was negotiating; and he was to endeavour so to adjust the tariff of duties, that those branches in which his own country was deficient might be benefited, and those in which the other was superior might be depressed! The idea of conducting a negotiation of this sort on a fair principle of reciprocity is of very late origin; success in circumventing, in over-reaching, or in extorting from fear or ignorance some oppressive, but at the same time worthless privilege, was long esteemed the only proof of superior talent in negotiators.

In an able tract, attributed to Mr. Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, published in 1787 (Historical and Political Remarks on the Tariff of the French Treaty), there is the following outline of the qualifications necessary to the negotiator of a commercial treaty: "Besides a general knowledge of the trade and reciprocal interests of the contracting parties, he ought to be precisely acquainted with their several kinds of industry and skill; to discover their wants, to calculate their resources, and to weigh with nicety the state of their finances, and the proportionate interest of their money: nay, further, he should be able to ascertain the comparative population and strength of each country, together with the price and quality both of first materials, and also of the labour bestowed upon them: for this purpose he should inquire into the operations of every class of merchants and manufacturers concerned in the trade; should consult their expectations on each of its several branches; and collect their hopes and fears on the effect of such a commercial revolution, on the competition of rival nations. A good treaty of commerce, independent of the art of negotiation, is pronounced, by one who well knew the extent and difficulty of the subject, to be a masterpiece of skill.””—(p. 10.)

Had Mr. Eden concluded by stating, that no individual, or number of individuals, ever possessed, or ever would possess, the various qualifications which in his estimation were required in negotiating a "good commercial treaty," he would only have affirmed what is most certainly true. We believe, however, that he had formed a totally false estimate, not only of the qualifications of a negotiator, but of the objects he ought to have in view. It was the opinion of the Abbé Mably-(Droit Publique de l'Europe, tome ii. p. 561.), -an opinion in which we are disposed, with very little modification, to concur, -that when a few general rules are agreed upon for the effectual security of trade and navigation, including the importation and exportation of all commodities not prohibited by law; the speedy adjustment of disputes; the regulations of pilotage, harbour and light-house duties; the protection of the property and effects of merchants in the event of a rupture, &c.; all is done that ought to be attempted in a commercial treaty. It may, indeed, be properly stipulated that the goods of the contracting powers shall be admitted into each other's ports on the same terms as "those of the most favoured nations," that is, that no higher duties shall be charged upon them than on those of others. But here stipulation ought to cease. It is an abuse and a perversion of commercial treaties, to make them instruments for regulating duties or prescribing Custom-house regulations.

We admit, indeed, that occasions may occur, in which it may be expedient to stipulate for a reduction of duties or an abolition of prohibitions on the one side, in return for similar concessions on the other. But all arrangements of this sort should be determined by a convention limited to that particular object; and a fixed and not very distant term should be specified, when the obligation in the convention should expire, and

There is a good collection of treaties as to this point, in the Appendix to the excellent work of Lampredi, Del Commercio de' Popoli Neutrali. — (See CONTRABAND.)

both parties be at liberty to continue or abandon the regulations agreed upon. Generally speaking, all treaties which determine what the duties on importation or exportation shall be, or which stipulate for preferences, are radically objectionable. Nations ought to regulate their tariffs in whatever mode they judge best for the promotion of their own interests, without being shackled by engagements with others. If foreign powers be all treated alike, none of them has just grounds of complaint; and it can rarely be for the interest of any people to show preferences to one over another. Those, for example, by whom we may be most advantageously supplied with foreign products, require no preferences; and if we exclude them, or give a preference to others, we incontestably injure ourselves: and yet 19 out of 20 of the regulations as to duties in commercial treaties have been founded on this preposterous principle. They have been employed to divert trade into channels, where it would not naturally flow; that is, to render it less secure and less profitable than it would otherwise have been.

A great deal of stress has usually been laid upon the advantages supposed to be derived from the privileges sometimes conceded in commercial treaties. But we believe that those who inquire into the subject will find that such concessions have, in every case, been not only injurious to the party making them, but also to the party in whose favour they have been made. The famous commercial treaty with Portugal, negotiated by Mr. Methuen in 1703, was almost universally regarded, for a very long period, as admirably calculated to promote the interests of this country; but it is now generally admitted, by every one who has reflected upon such subjects, that few transactions have taken place by which these interests have been more deeply injured. It stipulated for the free admission of British woollens into Portugal, from which they happened, at the time, to be excluded; but in return for this concession-a concession far more advantageous to the Portuguese than to us-we bound ourselves "for ever hereafter" to admit wines of the growth of Portugal into Great Britain at 3ds of the duty payable on the wines of France Thus, in order to open an access for our woollens to the limited market of Portugal, we consented, in all time to come, to drink inferior wine, bought at a comparatively high price!-(See WINE.) This, however, was not all: by excluding one of the principal equivalents the French had to offer for our commodities, we necessarily lessened their ability to deal with us; at the same time that we provoked them to adopt retaliatory measures against our trade. It is owing more to the stipulations in the Methuen treaty than to any thing else, that the trade between England and Francea trade that would naturally be of vast extent and importance-has so long been confined within comparatively narrow limits.

It is visionary to imagine that any nation will ever continue to grant to another any exclusive advantage in her markets, unless she obtain what she reckons an equivalent advantage in the markets of the other. And if a commercial treaty stipulating for an exclusive privilege be really and bona fide observed by the country granting the privilege, we may be sure that the concessions made by the country in whose favour it is granted are sufficient fully to countervail it. Those who grasp at exclusive privileges in matters of this sort, or who attempt to extort valuable concessions from the weakness or ignorance of their neighbours, are uniformly defeated in their object. All really beneficial commercial transactions are bottomed on a fair principal of reciprocity; and that nation will always flourish most, and have the foundations of her prosperity best secured, who is a universal merchant, and deals with all the world on the same fair and liberal principles.

The justness of these principles, we are glad to observe, is now beginning to be very generally admitted. Stipulations as to duties and Custom-house regulations are disappearing from commercial treaties; and it is to be hoped that, at no distant period, every trace of them may have vanished.

A good work on the principles, style, and history of commercial treaties is a desideratum. The best we have seen are Mascovius De Foederibus Commerciorum, 4to. Leipsic, 1735; and Bouchaud, Théorie des Traités de Commerce, 12mo. Paris, 1777. But these are principally works of erudition, and were written before the sound principles of commercial policy had been unfolded. There is no good collection of commercial treaties in the English language; but Mr. Hertslet's work is valuable, as containing the recent treaties in an accessible form.

We subjoin copies of the principal commercial treaties and conventions existing at this moment (January 1844) between Great Britain and other powers.

AUSTRIA.

Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between her Britannic Majesty and the Emperor of Austria, signed at Vienna, July 3. 1838.

Article 1. From the date of the ratification of this present treaty, British vessels arriving in or departing from the ports of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and Austrian vessels arriving in or departing from the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and those of all the possessions of her Britannic Majesty, shall be subject to no other or higher duties or charges, of whatsoever nature they may be, than those which are actually or may hereafter be imposed on national vessels, ou their entering into or departing from such ports respectively.

2. All productions of the soil, industry, and art of the states and possessions of his Majesty, the Emperor of Austria, including the said productions which may be exported through the northern outlet of the

Elbe, and the eastern outlet of the Danube, and which may be imported into the ports of the United Kingdom and the possessions of her Britannic Majesty; and also all the productions of the soil, industry, and art of the United Kingdom and possessions of her Britannic Majesty, which may be imported into the ports of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, shall enjoy reciprocally, in all respects, the same privileges and immunities, and may be imported and exported exactly in the same manner, in vessels of the one as in vessels of the other of the high contracting parties.

3. All commodities which are not the productions of the soil, industry, and art of the two respective states or their possessions, and which may be legally imported frem the ports of Austria, including those of the Danube, into the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. of Malta, and Gibraltar, and other possessions of her Britannic Majesty, in Austrian vessels, shall be subject to the saine duties only which would be paid on the same articles, if they were imported in British vessels.

Her Britannic Majesty extends by this treaty to Austrian navigation and trade, the full benefits of the two British acts of parliament passed on the 28th of August, 1833, regulating the trade and navigation of the United Kingdom and British possessions, as well as all other privileges of commerce and navigation now enjoyed, or to be hereafter granted, by existing laws, by orders in council, or by treaties, to the most favoured nations.

4. All Austrian vessels arriving from the ports of the Danube, as far as Galacz inclusively, shall, together with their cargoes, be admitted into the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Irefand and of all the possessions of her Britannic Majesty, exactly in the same manner as if such vessels came direct from Austrian ports, with all the privileges and immunities stipulated by the present treaty of navigation and commerce. In like manner, all British vessels, with their cargoes, shall continue to be placed upon the same footing as Austrian vessels, whenever such British vessels shall enter into or nepart from the same ports.

5. In consideration of British vessels, arriving direct from other countries than those belonging to the high contracting parties, being admitted with their cargoes into Austrian ports, without paying any other duties whatever than those paid by Austrian vessels, so also the productions of the soil and industry of the parts of Asia or Africa situated within the Straits of Gibraltar, which shall have been brought into the ports of Austria, may be re-exported from thence in Austrian vessels directly into British ports, in the same manner, and with the same privileges, as to all manner of duties and immunities, as if these productions were imported from Austrian ports in British vessels.

6. All commodities and articles of commerce which, according to the stipulations of the present treaty, or by the existing laws and ordinances of the respective states, may be legally imported into or exported from the states and possessions of the two high contracting parties, whether under the British or the Austrian flag, shall in like manner be subject to the same duties, whether imported by national vessels or by those of the other state; and upon all commodities and articles of commerce which may be legally exported from ports of either state, the same premiums, drawbacks, and advantages shall be accorded, whether they are exported by the vessels of the one or by those of the other state.

7. All commodities and articles of commerce, which shall be imported, placed in depôt, or warehoused in the ports of the states and possessions of the two high contracting parties, so long as they shall remain in depot or warehouse, and shall not be used for internal consumption, shall be subject, upon re-exportatation to the same treatment and duties, whether that re-exportation shall be made in the vessels of the one or in those of the other state.

8. No priority or preference shall be given, directly or indirectly, by the government of either country, or by any company or corporation, or agent acting on its behalf or under its authority, in the purchase of any article the production of the soil, industry, or art of either of the two states and their possessions, imported into the ports of the other, on account of the nationality of the vessel in which such articles may be imported; it being the true intent and meaning of the high contracting parties, that no difference or distinction whatever shall be made in this respect.

9. In regard to the commerce to be carried on in Austrian vessels with the British possessions in the East Indies, her Britannic Majesty consents to grant the same facilities and privileges to the subjects of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, as are or may be enjoyed under any treaty or act of parliament, by the subjects or citizens of the most favoured nations; subject to the laws, rules, regulations, and restrictions, which are or may become applicable to the vessels and subjects of any other foreign country enjoying the like advantages and privileges of trading with the said possessions.

10. The present treaty does not include the navigation and carrying trade between one port and another, situated in the dominions of one contracting party, by the vessels of the other, as far as regards the carrying of passengers, commodities, and articles of commerce; this navigation and transport being reserved to national vessels.

11. The vessels and subjects of the high contracting parties shall, by the present treaty, enjoy recipro eally all the advantages, immunities, and privileges, within the ports of their respective states and possessions, which are now enjoyed by the navigation and commerce of the most favoured nations: the effect hereof being to secure, in the United Kingdom and British possessions, to Austrian vessels and subjects, the full and entire advantages of navigation and commerce allowed by the Navigation Act passed in London on the 28th of August, 1933, and by another act of the same date, regulating the trade of the British possessions abroad; or which may be accorded by orders in council or by treaty to other powers: and in like manner British vessels and subjects shall enjoy, in the ports of the states and possessions of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the full and entire advantages of navigation and commerce granted by existing laws, regulations, and ordinances, or by treaty, to foreign powers: and her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, engage reciprocally not to grant any favours, privileges, or immunities whatsoever, in matters of commerce and navigation, to the subjects of any other state, which shall not be also at the same time extended to the subjects of the one or of the other of the high contracting parties, gratuitously, if the concession in favour of the other state shall have been gratuitous, or upon giving as nearly as possible the same compensation or equivalent, in case the concession shall have been conditional.

12. The clause of Article VII. of the convention concluded at Paris the 5th November, 1815, between the courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, relative to the commerce between the states of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty and the United States of the Ionian Islands, shall remain in

force.

13. The present treaty, after being signed and ratified, shall replace the convention of navigation and commerce concluded the 21st December, 1829, in London, between the governments of his Britannic Majesty and of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty; and shall continue in force until the 31st of December, 1848; and further, until the expiration of 12 months after one of the high contracting parties shall have notified to the other the intention to terminate its duration. It is further agreed, that in 12 months after one of the high contracting parties has received from the other such notification, this treaty, and all the stipulations it contains, shall cease to be obligatory upon either party.

14. The present treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Vienna, in the space of one month, or sooner if possible.

In witness whereof, &c. plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals at their arms.

Done at Vienna the 3d day of July, in the year of our Lord 1838.

FREDERIC JAMES LAMB.
METTERNICH.

Declaration signed by the respective Plenipotentiaries on the conclusion of the preceding Treaty. With a view to prevent beforehand all doubt which might hereafter arise with regard to the true sense of the expressions contained in the treaty of commerce and navigation, signed this day between the plenipotentiaries of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the high contracting parties have agreed, by common consent, that the French text of the said treaty shall be considered by the Austrian government as the original text.

In witness whereof, the present declaration has been done in duplicate, and signed by the respective plenipotentiaries.

Vienna, 3d July, 1838.

FREDERIC JAMES LAMB.
METTERNICH.

Declaration made by the Plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty, on the Exchange of the Ratifications of the preceding Treaty.

In proceeding to the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of commerce and navigation, between her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, concluded and signed at Vienna on the 3d of July, 1838, the undersigned plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty is commanded by her Majesty to explain and declare:

1. That in the preamble of the said treaty, the words "the commercial relations of their respective states and possessions" shall be understood to mean "the commercial relations between their respec◄ tive states and possessions," the latter form of words being that adopted in the preamble of the convention of commerce between Great Britain and Austria, signed at London, December 21. 1829.

2. That the stipulations of the third article of the aforesaid treaty of the 3d of July, 1838, relating to goods not the produce of the respective states, shall be understood to be mutual.

3. That by the seventh article of the aforesaid treaty of the 3d of July, 1838, it is understood that goods placed in warehouse shall not be liable to duty unless entered for consuraption; and may be exported on the same terms in the ships of the one as in those of the other country.

Her Britannic Majesty's ratification of the aforesaid treaty of commerce and navigation is exchange under the explicit declarations and understandings above mentioned. Done at Milan, the 14th day of September, 1838.

FREDERIC JAMES LAMB.

Counter Declaration made by the Austrian Plenipotentiary.

In consequence of the declaration presented this day by his Excellency, Sir Frederic Lamb, Ambassa. dor of her Britannic Majesty to his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, on the occasion of the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of commerce and navigation, concluded and signed at Vienna on the 3d of July, between the plenipotentiaries of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and of her Britannic Majesty, which declaration is conceived in the following terms:

1. That in the preamble of the said treaty the words "the commercial relations of their respective states and possessions" shall be understood to mean "the commercial relations between their respective states and possessions," the latter form of words being that adopted in the preamble of the convention of commerce signed at London on the 21st of December, 1829, between Austria and Great Britain.

2. That the stipulations of the 3d article of the aforesaid treaty of the 3d of July, 1838, relating to goods not the produce of the respective states, shall be understood to be mutual.

3. That by the 7th article of the treaty of the 3d of July, 1838, it is understood that goods placed in warehouse, shall not be liable to duty, unless entered for consumption; and may be exported on the same terms in the ships of the one as in those of the other country.

The undersigned, chancellor of court and state, is authorised by his Majesty the Emperor, his august master, to accede, in every particular, to this declaration presented by his Excellency the Ambassador of her Britannic Majesty.

Done at Milan, the 14th of September, 1838.

CHINA.

METTERNICH.

Treaty between Her Majesty and the Emperor of China, signed, in the English and Chinese Languages, at Nanking, August 29. 1842. Ratifications exchanged at Hong-Kong, 26th June, 1843. Article 1. There shall henceforward be peace and friendship between her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and his Majesty the Emperor of China, and between their respective subjects, who shall enjoy full security and protection for their persons and property within the

dominions of the other.

2. His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees, that British subjects, with their families and establishments, shall be allowed to reside, for the purpose of carrying on their mercantile pursuits, without mo lestation or restraint, at the cities and towns of Canton, Amoy, Foo-chow-foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai; and her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c. will appoint superintendents, or consular officers, to reside at each of the above-named cities or towns, to be the medium of communication between the Chinese authorities and the said merchants, and to see that the just duties and other dues of the Chinese government, as hereafter provided for, are duly discharged by her Britannic Majesty's subjects.

3. It being obviously necessary and desirable that British subjects should have some port whereat they may careen and refit their ships when required, and keep stores for that purpose, his Majesty the Emperor of China codes to her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c. the island of Hong-Kong, to be possessed in perpetuity by her Britannic Majesty, her heirs and successors, and to be governed by such faws and regulations as her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, &c. shall see fit to direct.

4. The Emperor of China agrees to pay the sum of six millions of dollars, as the value of the opium which was delivered up at Canton in the month of March, 1839, as a ransom for the lives of her Britannic Majesty's superintendent and subjects who had been imprisoned and threatened with death by the Chinese high officers.

5. The government of China having compelled the British merchants trading at Canton to deal exclusively with certain Chinese merchauts, called Hong merchants (or Co-Hong), who had been licensed by the Chinese government for that purpose, the Emperor of China agrees to abolish that practice in future at all ports where British merchants may reside, and to permit them to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever persons they please; and his Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to the British government the sum of three millions of dollars, on account of debts due to British subjects by some of the said Hong merchants, or Co-Hong, who have become insolvent, and who owe very large sums of money to subjects of her Britannic Majesty.

6. The government of her Britannic Majesty having been obliged to send out an expedition to demand and obtain redress for the violent and unjust proceedings of the Chinese high authorities towards her Britannic Majesty's officer and subjects, the Emperor of China agrees to pay the sum of twelve millions of dollars, on account of the expenses incurred; and her Britannic Majesty's plenipotentiary voluntarily agrees, on behalf of her Majesty, to deduct from the said amount of twelve millions of dollars, any sums which may have been received by her Majesty's combined forces, as ransom for cities and towns in China. subsequent to the 1st day of August, 1841.