7G6 



PRUSSIA. 



the importation of many articles was prohibited. 

 The principle of the commercial league is to 

 destroy all the frontier custom houses between 

 the leagued states ; to allow of the freest inter- 

 course between the subjects of all the different 

 states composing the union ; and thus to give to 

 the inhabitants of each the fullest advantage to be 

 derived from a community of interest, and from 

 extending, in a most important degree, their mar- 

 kets for supply, and the field for the exercise of 

 their industry. Duties on the introduction of 

 merchandise from countries not comprised within 

 the union have, since the 1st of January, 1834, 

 been collected at one uniform rate at custom 

 houses established on the exterior boundaries of 

 the frontier states ; and a principle for dividing the 

 amount of the duties thus collected has been 

 adopted between the governments, without any 

 consideration as to which is the country for whose 

 immediate use the importations are intended, or to 

 any circumstance other than the proportionate 

 amount of population. 



The following table exhibits the names of the 

 different states composing the league, the area of 

 each, the number of its inhabitants, and the pro- 

 portionate amount which each is entitled to receive 

 out of the entire collections made in the custom 

 houses of the frontier states 



The districts comprehended in the above ab- 

 stract under the title of Thuringia, comprise : 



Sq. Gernji 

 Miles. 



Saxe Meimngen, 41-72 



Saxe Altenburg 23-41 



Saxe Coburg (fotha, 37-60 



Swarzburg Sondershauseu ( Upper 

 Lordship) 16-90 



Swarzburg Rudolstadt ( Upper 

 Lordship) 19.10 



Principality of Reuss 27-94 



Weimar Eisenach, 66-82 



Districts belonging to Prussia, in- 

 cluded in the area of that country, 



Districts belonging to the Electo- 

 rate of Hesse, 



District of Kaulsdorf, belonging to 

 Bavaria, 



Population. 

 146,324 

 117,921 

 129,740 



23,750 



50,332 

 99,6i6 

 226,064 



89,534 

 25,153 



434 



233-49 SOS.478 



On the supposition that the real and single 

 object of this peaceful confederation is, that which 

 its promoters have put forth to the world, viz., 

 to simplify the fiscal arrangements of the countries 

 by which it is adopted there can hardly be formed 

 two opinions in regard either to its wisdom or to 

 the benign influence which it is calculated to have 

 upon the minds and feelings of those who are 



* The per eentage proportions for the division of the Re- 

 Tenue were fixed before the city of Frankfort joined the league. 

 The sam< proportions are still preserved, but Frankfort's 

 share, calculated upon the same principle, is deducted previous 

 to the apportionment between the other states of the union. 



brought within its operation. It seems, however, 

 to be very generally believed and understood that 

 the object thus avowed is not, so fur at leas-t ;is 

 the chief mover in the plan is concerned, the only 

 or the chief motive which has led to its adoption, 

 but that political views, extending beyond the 

 interests of the present day, and tending to the 

 aggrandisement of Prussia, have been the real 

 incentives to the scheme. This belief is greatly 

 confirmed by the fucts, that, for a time at least, 

 the revenue which Prussia will draw as her share 

 of the duties on importation will not be of as great 

 amount as her previous receipts from the same 

 source ; and that the unlimited competition which 

 is now afforded to the manufacturers of Saxony 

 must act injuriously upon various branches of 

 industry within the Prussian states, which it had 

 previously been the policy of that government to 

 encourage and protect. The obvious conclusion 

 to he drawn from these circumstances is, that 

 Prussia, in consenting to give up a considerable 

 part of her revenue, and to forego the full advan- 

 tages of branches of domestic industry to which 

 she hud previously looked as an element of strength 

 has the certainty of future indemnification to an 

 extent beyond the amount of her present sacrifices; 

 and this indemnification can only he found in the 

 extension of her political influence. 



It may be asked why, if this result be so certain 

 and so obvious, the other states of which the 

 union is formed have been drawn to consent to a 

 scheme, which, although it brings some present 

 profit, will, in the end, be productive of loss to 

 them in the same proportion which Prussia will 

 then realize of gain? It is not possible to go into 

 an examination of the motives by which each of 

 the states has individually been swayed to the 

 course it has adopted, but there are two incentives 

 common to the whole, which have, probably, more 

 than all others, influenced their determination. 

 With the exception of Prussia, all the members of 

 the league would immediately enlarge the sphere 

 of their commercial dealings in different propor- 

 tions, varying from six-fold in the case of Ba- 

 varia to almost seventy-fold in the case of Nassau, 

 and more than four hundred fold in that of the city 

 of Frankfort. The degree of activity which this 

 would give to the population in all their various 

 relations must needs occasion an accession of com- 

 mercial prosperity which would ensure the popular 

 favour to the alteration. This is one of the in- 

 centives, and perhaps the most powerful of the 

 two. Then the increase of revenue by which it 

 would be attended, and still more the mode of the 

 collection of that revenue, would render the exe- 

 cutive governments in so far independent of their 

 " states " or legislative chambers, and could not 

 fail to recommend the system to the rulers at a 

 time when the temper of the mass rendered the 

 absence of collision upon such a subject peculiarly 

 desirable. We may add, to these reasons, the 

 effect that had been produced upon the public 

 mind throughout the smaller states by popular 

 writers, who, in pointing out the unity which the 

 league was to impart to Germany, had flattered 

 the pride of the people by their descriptions of the 

 power and influence which would thence be given 

 to them among the nations of Europe. 



It has been mentioned that the arrangements for 

 establishing the Zoll Verein were in progress dur- 

 ing several years. Conferences upon this subject 

 were held in Darmstadt as early as 1820, between 



