PRUSSIA. 



767 



the agents of Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Baden, Nassau, 

 Saxony, and some other less important states ; and 

 these conferences were renewed from time to time, 

 but were finally broken off in April, 1823. Four 

 years afterwards, a treaty was concluded between 

 Wurtemburg and Bavaria, the same in principle as 

 that subsequently formed between Prussia and the 

 states which comprise the existing Union. Next 

 followed the treaty of Prussia with Hesse, in Feb- 

 ruary, 1828 ; and in the following September, 

 while the former country was endeavouring to 

 make terms with Wurtemburg and Bavaria, and to 

 induce them to adopt her tariff points in which 

 she succeeded a third association, under the name 

 of the Mittel Verein, or middle association, was 

 formed at Cassel between Saxony, Hanover, Hesse 

 Cassel, Brunswick, Hamburg, Weimar, the towns 

 of Frankfort and Bremen, and some of the minor 

 German states. The first and leading conditions 

 of this association will serve to mark the feeling 

 of jealousy with which the designs of the parties 

 to the other two leagues were viewed. It pro- 

 vided that, (luring six years, none of the contract- 

 ing parties should relinquish their commercial alli- 

 ance, nor treat with either the Bavarian or the 

 Prussian league. Prussia soon found means, how- 

 ever, to detach some of its members from the 

 Mittel Verein ; and although the remaining mem- 

 bers entered into a new treaty in 1829, by which 

 they bound themselves to continue in alliance until 

 1840, some of its more important branches fell off 

 from it, and the Mittel Verein was dissolved. 

 The negotiations by which these results were pro- 

 duced occupied some years in their discussion ; and 

 it was not until the 1st of January, 1834, as already 

 stated, that the Zoll Verein took the consistent 

 form which it has since maintained. 



Many of the independent states in the north of 

 Germany have hitherto withstood the temptation 

 offered by Prussia, to bring them within the league: 

 among these are Hanover, Brunswick, Mecklen- 

 burg-Schwerin, Oldenburg, and the free towns of 

 Hamburg and Bremen. 



The tariff of Prussia was more unfavourable to 

 the admission of British goods than that of the 

 jther states with whom she has made this league ; 

 for which reason its progress was watched with 

 considerable jealousy by the merchants and manu- 

 facturers of this country, who feared, with great 

 apparent reason, that their trade would suffer in 

 every case where additional rates of duty were 

 imposed. From the manner in which the trade 

 accounts are kept at our custom-houses, it is not 

 possible to enter upon any minute examination of 

 this question, because they afford us no means for 

 separating the trade carried on with the countries 

 that form the league from that maintained with 

 other parts, of Germany. If we include, as we 

 therefore must do, the shipments of British pro- 

 duce and manufactures made to all Germany, in 

 each of the ten years from 1827 to 1836, it" will 

 be seen that their average annual value has been 

 4,646,862., while their average annual value in 

 the three years subsequent to the commencement 

 of the league on 1st January, 1834, has been 

 4,690,760. The amount in each of the ten 

 years has been remarkably steady, as vvill be seen 

 from the following figures : 





 4,828,956 



1827 



1828 4.573.-M9 



1829 4,662.5i;6 



1830 4,641.528 



1831 3,835,768 



1832 



1833 



1834 



1835 - 

 183G 







5,327,553 

 4,499,7-27 

 4,683,589 

 4,791,239 

 4,624,451 



These figures do not afford any ground for com- 

 plaint, on the part of this country, but it is proba- 

 ble that the full effects of the union in discourag- 

 ing the importation of foreign manufactured goods 

 has not yet been experienced. 



The cotton manufacture of Saxony has already 

 become of twice the extent that it had reached 

 before the union, while the linen and woollen 

 manufactures of that country have not experienced 

 any increase. The reason for this difference is, 

 that the persons engaged in the latter, which are 

 more ancient branches of industry in Saxony, are 

 so far "protected," that it is necessary to serve a 

 regular apprenticeship and to obtain admission into 

 the guilds or corporations established in the manu- 

 facturing towns, before any man is allowed to 

 carry on the business; while the recently established 

 cotton manufacture is without restriction or regu- 

 lation of any kind, so that any person who can 

 purchase or hire a loom is at liberty to become a 

 cotton weaver. 



The manufactures are greatly encouraged by the 

 miserably low rate of wages in Saxony. It is 

 stated on the best authority, that in October, 

 1837, " a man employed in his loom, working very 

 diligently from Monday morning until Saturday 

 night, from five o'clock in the morning until dusk, 

 and even at times with a lamp, his wife assisting 

 him in finishing and taking him the work, could 

 not possibly earn more than twenty groshen, 

 (2s. 6d. sterling) per week, and that another man 

 who had three children aged twelve years and 

 upwards, all working at the loom as well as him- 

 self, with his wife employed doing" up the work, 

 could not earn in the whole more than one dollar 

 eight groschen (5s. 4d.) weekly. 



The wretched manner in which the poorer 

 classes in that country subsist may be inferred 

 from the fact exhibited by official statistical returns 

 that the annual consumption of meat in the princi- 

 pal manufacturing districts, including the town of 

 Chemnitz, does not average more than twenty- 

 eight pounds for each individual of the population, 

 and that at least one half of this quantity consists 

 of pork. If this provision were equally divided 

 among the entire number of inhabitants, it would 

 amount to scarcely more than half a pound weekly 

 for each individual; but as the actual distribution 

 is of course very different from this, it is probable 

 there are many among the labouring artisans who 

 rarely, if ever, taste animal food. The quantity 

 of cotton hosiery made in Saxony has increased 

 immensely of late, and from its cheapness has not 

 only secured the monopoly of the markets afforded 

 throughout the union, but has also been shipped 

 largely to the United States, to the exclusion so 

 far of the goods made at Nottingham. It may be 

 stated, on the respectable authority already quoted, 

 that cotton gloves are furnished by the Saxon 

 manufacturers as low as 6 groschen or 9d. sterling 

 per dozen pairs ; stockings, at 1 dollar or 3s. per 

 dozen pairs; and nightcaps, at 8 groschen or Is. 

 per dozen. Stout cotton caps, which are worn 

 by the carmen and common people in that part of 

 Germany, having stripes in six different colours 

 upon a black ground, cost 12 groschen per dozen, 

 or Hd. sterling each. 



These low prices are not the result of the same 

 cause which has gradually reduced the cost of pro- 

 duction in this country. Hitherto the machinery 

 used in Saxony has been of the commonest sort, 

 so that the cheapness of the manufactured goods 



