The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-01 00:00:00

HANOVER AND THE ZOLLVEREIN.

07 TILI DAILY

HANOVER, Jam 28.
Anything connected with the subject of free trade
cannot fail to interest the readers of the Daily News,
which has not only always advocated that great prin-
ciple with the most perfect consistency, but was one
of the most prominent champions in the attack on
the narrow-minded policy of the antiquated naviga-
tion laws, now happily disposed of, again to be
revived or heard of in England, except in history.
I therefore make no apology for sending you a few
remarks on the present mercantile position of the
kingdom of Hanover, which, co your readers will
remember, was juggled into the Zollverein in a man-
ner that has never been explained to the satisfaction
of the Hanoveriaus, and the thing was dime so very
suddenly that before people had time to think about
the results the whole affair was irrevocably settled.
A more remarkable case of political legerdemain is
not to be found in the history of any nation, and we
certainly may look in vain for its equal in the records
of the nineteeuth century. The late King of Hanover.
it will be remembered, had always,from the very day
of his accession to the throne in 1837, set his face
egainst the Zollverein, and bad sense enough to see
the advantages his subjects would derive from their
maritime position if left in undisturbed possession of
the liberty they had always enjoyed to trade unre-
strictedly with foreign nations, selling their produce
in the dearest market, and purchasing the articles
they wanted for their own consumption in the cheap-
est. And, under this regime, Hanover flourished,
the inhabitants were lightly taxed, trade extended
itself, and no complaints were beard.
In the summer of the year 1811, on tbe resigna-
tion of the Stfive ministry, the Countess Grote—the
royal favourite—used her influence with the old
King, then in his dotage, to make her son-in-law,
Baron Miinchausen—an ominous name, and a dis-
tant relative of the great traveller whose exaggera-
tions are known to every schoolboy, and translated
into every living language—the new prime minister.
Miluchauseo, foreseeing the shortness of his official
greatness, resolved to profit by the great leap from
the obscurity of a clerk in the Woods and Forests
department to the dazzling height of premier, and
make hay while the sun shone, for he was well
aware of the deadly animosity the Crown Prince
and Princess bore towards the Countess Grote, and
that on the accession of the former to the throne he
had no chance of retaining his office. He was there-
fore
easily induced to lend a favourable ear to the
proposals, successively made to every new ministry
in Hanover by the acute Prussian envoy at that
court, General Count von Nostiz, and on the promise
of the Grand Cross of the Prussian Order of the Red
Eagle, undertook to manage the affair as soon as cir-
cumstances permitted.
King Ernest Augustus, then on his death-
bed, and little better than a corpse, was easily
talked over, and signed the celebrated treaty of Sep-
tember, by which Hanover was engaged to join the
Zollverein on the Ist of January, 1854, thus giving
the inhabitants two years and a quarter to make their
preparations for the change. The treaty was scarcely
signed, and the ink dry, when the King died, and
the Crown Prince ascended the„thtsane by the name
of George V.*
Considerable doubts were entertained at Hanover
whether the new king would acknowledge and
ratify the September treaty; but here also the clever
Count Nostiz knew how to play his cards so as to
secure his adhesion. He had foreseen the difficulty,
and taken his measures in time. For some time
before the death of the King the question had been
mooted whether the Crown Prince, labouring under
the affliction of total blindness, could succeed to a
German throne, and it was mainly by the interest of
Prussia that tho question was answered in the
affirmative. Count Nostiz undertook to obtain the
formal guarantee of Prussia to recognise the legality
of the succession, which eased the last moments of
the father, end bound over the son to ratify the
September treaty.
But there was still another difficulty to be over-
come, and that was to obtain the consent of the two
parliamentary chambers of Hanover, representing to
a certain extent the people, more particularly as there
was a money question involved. However, here
again the fertile genius of Count Noetiz did not
desert him, for he bad taken care to make some appa-
rently very great concessions to Hanover, so as to
blind the chambers; amongst which the principal
were-1. an annual payment to Hanover of 500,000
dollars (about 70,0001.) out of the Zoilverein chest,
before the division of the receipts amongst the states
of the commercial union in proportion to the amount
of their respective population; and 2, when the divi-
sion took place, every Hanoverian was to be counted
as one-and-three quarters Prussian—or, in other
words, the three millions of Hanoverians were to
rt ceive as much as five millions and a quarter of
subjects of the other Zollverein states.
I may here observe that, though these conditions
appear, at the first blush, so favourable for Hanover,
they are no adequate compensation to the inhabitants
for the loss of their free trade, as the rapid decline
of their industry clearly shows. Prussia once offered
to the late King of Hanover a much greater conces-
sion as the price of joining the Zollverein: this was,
to construct the great northern railroad on the left
bank cf the Elbe, and through the Hanoverian terri-
tory to Harburg, which would hive proved the coup
de grace for the trade of Hamburg. If the King had
accepted the roble bribe, the present Berlin and
Hamburg railroad would never have In en constructed,
or, if it had been, would never have paid; whereas it
is now in a most flourishing condition.
On the Ist of January last year, then, Hanover and
Oldenburg—which latter, from its isolated position,
could have no commercial plicy of its own, but
necessarily followed Hanover—joined the Zollverein.
and Prussia had the satisfaction of seeing it extended
to the shores of the North Sea. But the result of
the first year proved very dilerent from what was
expected by the sanguine supporters of the extension
in Prussia, and justified the fears entertained by the
Hanoverian,. The deficiency in the receipts of the
Zollverein during the first half ye r amoon'el to no
less than 502,447 dollars, which however was re-;
dnced by more than half (261,216 dollars), owing to
the abolition of the differential duties on Belgian
iron, thus proving practically the truth of the great
free-trade axiom, that low duties increase the con-
sumption and improve the revenue. This is further
demonstrated by a loss of receipts on the Austrian
frontier amounting to 84,000 dollars, owing to the
new differential duties on imports from that state.
This is the more to be regretted as those differential
duties are not borne by the Austrian producers, bat
by the Zollverein consumers.
The define in the revenue bee caused considerable
sensation at Hanover, and the debates in the Second
Chamber on the budget were both long and stormy;
and Dr. Salve, who brought up the report of the
committee, threw some interesting light on they
subject, by stating to the house that the financial
ethics of the kingdom had got into a great entangle-
ment is consequence of their joining the Zollverein,
and it required a deep study of the subject to be able
to take a comprehensive view of the state of affairs.
In explanation of the said entanglement, he told the
house of the difficulties arising from the anomaly of
there being several different systems of customs in
existence at one and the same time in the Zollverein
itself; that there wasone system binding on all the
I states, concerning the import duties in gene-
ra and the intents! excise duties levied on
the production of beet-root sugar and tobacco;
that there was a second system in force, only
in the western states, concerning the import
and transit duties; that there was a special conven-
tion existing between Prussia and Hesse, the states
of Thuringia, Brunswick, and Oldenburg, about the
traosition duties on tobacco, wine, beer, and cider;
a fourth with Oldenburg, Buckeburg, and a part of
Brunswick, relative to the excise duties on spirits; a
filth with Biickeburg and a part of Brunswick as to
the beer duties; and lastly, a sixth with Buckeburg