The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-31 00:00:00

GERMAN COMMERCIAL SYSTEM.

The grand commercial revolution in Germany,
which Prussia, with an extraordinary degree of
dexterity and perseverance, has been labouring to
bring about for the last 10 or 12 years, may be re-
garded as now nearly consummated. The Prussian
Government has established, or is about to esta-
blish, a commercial confederation more important
to the prosperity and union of the separate States
of Germany than its existing political league—a
confederation which will join the people in a
closer alliance than their religion or civil insti-
tutions—a confederation which, if successful, will
do more to promote their internal peace,and to con-
solidate their external security, than all their joint
garrisons or military contingents—a confederation
which will level all fiscal barriers among its sepa-
rate members, and protect its grand frontier by
custom-houses instead of fortresses—a confede-
ration, in short, which will give uniform laws
to trade, and remove internal obstacles to
trading intercourse, over an extent of coun-
try, and an amount of population, greater
than those of almost any European kingdom,
reaching from Cologne to Silesia, from Munich to
Konigsberg. The Prussian Government, which
has been the creator or chief promoter, must
become the soul and director of this powerful
comme cial league, and will endeavour to employ
its advantages as instruments for the advance-
ment of its own manufacturing industry or poli-
tical aggrandizement. Besides the 12,000,000
or 13,000,000 of inhabitants which Prussia
herself has brought within its sphere, it already
includes the kingdoms of Bavaria, Wirtemberg,
and Saxony, the Grand Duchy of Baden, the
Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Princi-
pality of Electoral Hesse, Saxe-Weimar, and
nearly all the smaller intervening or bordering
states. The final treaty between Prussia,

r rs:
Pcaaysaserila,,andWHirteesmseb.eprga
tSaxony,a,h,
wasß Baden,
dHteos Hesse-
Cassel,
22d of March, and ratified-on the 28th of
November last. Others are sending in their
adhesion to the union, which must soon cure.
lope the free cities of Hamburg, Lubeck,
Bremen, and Frankfort; together with the
,wenty or thirty little principalities which are
represented in the German Diet. Perhaps it
may ultimately include the Swiss Confederation
whose commercial interests it must materially
affect. At present Germany is separated by as
many lines of Custom Houses as it has separate
Sovereignties, each of which is an obstacle to
its internal trade, having each its own tariff; its
own officers, its own fiscal regulations. The
transit of merchandise is thus subjected to
heavy imposts, to great delay, or to annoying
and vexatious examinations. Each Principality
regards its confederate as an enemy, a rival, or a
smuggler in matters of trade, guarding against
the introduction of a bale of cotton or a bag of
coffee from its neighbour's territory with as much
jealousy as against an invading force or a seditious
proclamation. In passing from Hamburg to
Vienna you may, perhaps, be stopped at ten or
welve lines of Custom Houses. The Diet of
Frankfort, which has shown such an extreme
anxiety to produce an uniformity of political
sentiments, and to establish a general military
organization for external defence, has hitherto
clone nothing to introduce order into this mass
of confusion, or to extend the benefits of trade
by a federal code of commercial law, though an
engagement of this kind composes one of the
fundamental articles of the Confederation.
The necessity of a reform was, however, felt by
-cssi;64sg...d men Loin. the beginning, and the
exertions of individuals or private associations
at last compelled their Governments to act. A
congress of manufacturers and merchants from
different parts of Germany met at Darmstadt
and Tubingen in 1819, and concerted measures
which they endeavoured without effect to press
upon the Diet ; but the Diet was not, probably,

_ .
the best assembly for settling questions in which
every state had such distinct and conflicting
interests. Commercial alliances were therefore
left to the arrangement of neighbouring govern
ments by treaties between themselves, and the
first convention of this kind formed was thi t
-between Prussia and Hesse Darmstadt, con-
cluded in the beginning of 1818. The incon-
veniences which this treaty was intended to
remove were glaring, as Darmstadt was inter-
posed between different provinces of the Prussian
monarchy, and the benefits which Prussia
derived from it presented an additional motive
to extend its range and to negotiate on its
bases with other states. It stipulated for an
entire freedom of internal trade between

the two states,—it provided that there should
be a suppression of the custom-houses of
either on those points of their frontiers where
they touched, and it established a uniform tariff,
as against foreigners, on their other frontiers,
-agreeing to levy the duties under their joint
inspection, and to divide them in proper pro-
portion,. Wirtemberg and Bavaria, in order to
remove the same inconveniences, had agreed to
a similat treaty, and in May, 1829, these two
states on one part, and Prussia and Darmstadt
on the other, formed a joint convention, which,
though it differed in some respects from the
former model, was an important step gained in
the progress towards a uniformity of commercial
regulations. The new commercial zone thus
formed emlwaced a considerable portion of
southern and western Germany,and gave Prussia
an extended market for her manufactures and
produce at the expense of other states. The
treaty stipulated that from the Ist of January,
1830, all the indigenous productions of industry
and art. belonging to the subjects of any of the
contracting parties might with few exceptions
be imported duty free from one of their states to
he other. These exceptions are divided into
two classes—those which were to be perma-
nent, and those that were only to be tempo-
rary. The former are unimportant ; such as
playing-cards and other articles of government
monopoly,--the latter include neatly all the ar-
ticles of our staple manufactures or colonial
produce supplied by Great Britain, by France,
or other commercial states, and Prussia shows
the dexterity of her management or the greatness
of her influence by having induced her confede-
rates to admit her productions of the same classes
of merchandise at duties inferior to those levied
on foreigners. Thus cotton-', silks, woollens,
hardware, and all the articles of English manu-
facture, may be imported from Prussia into the
confederate states at 25 per cent. lower than
from foreign countries. This reduction of duty
was to commence in January, 1831, and was
to be diminished 50 per cent. on the remainder
till the whole was abolished, and these
articles could be imported from the country
of the confederates duty free, whatever tariff
might be established as against foreigners. It
is easy to see that Prussia had thus secured a
monopoly of some articles of manufacture or con-
; sumption in the states of her allies. The found-,
ation of the system was thus laid which has since
been extended to other principalities, and on
which is to be erected the magnificent super-
structure to which we have alluded. The object
of this system is to demolish all local or internal
custom-houses—to abolish all the dues, or the
obstructions of transit, except road tolls or canal
dues—to give the whole of this commercial con-
federation one frontier from the confines of Aus-
tria to the verge of France, and from the Swiss
mountains to Poland—to establish only one tariff
along the whole of this line—to employ only one
body of fiscal officers for collecting time duties,
with Commissioners of inspection from the chief
States, if necessary—to secure a perfect freedom
of commercial communication to all within this
extreme limit, and in order to facilitate exchanges
and promote business, to adopt a common system
of money, weight, and measures. The rates of tiro
external uniform tariff still remains to be settled,
and probably will be settled with some difficulty;
the arrangement of the custom-houses, and the mode
in which the duties are to be distributed among the
confederates, will likewise present practical difficul-
ties, and as the object cannot be attained without
the consent of all the intermediate States, the
measure final
may be delayed for some months till
that oent is obtained. But we make no doubt
the special act of the " continental " system
gilit be
finally adopted,—that the approaching
c
Mlnisterial conferences at Vienna will be made
subservient to its completion,—that the smaller
principalities and the free cities which now thrive
by their freedom must conform to its laws or be ex-
cluded from their best markets; and thus, that Prus-
tia may be regarded at the present moment as the
arbiter of the commercial destinies of a large portion
of Europe. 0.1 a future occasion we shall make some
r •marks on the probable results of the great com-
mercial revolution now in progress in Germany-1,
ai it respects the commercial improvement anti
political influence of Prussia; 2, as it respects the
rights and interests of the smaller states; 3, with a
reference to the continuance or diminution of the
trade of England. We have left ourselves no room
if a: the discussion of these topics to-clay.—Times.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

Certain classes of the Dissenters—intelligent,
zealous, and persevering men in their generation
—have shown a great deal of all these qualities
at their political meetings, which have recently
become more frequent and more prominent than
at any former period. It will not, of course, be
considered by that body the slightest reflection
upon their principles or objects, if we say that
the downfall of the Church of England, as a
national establishment, is directly aimed at by
them, and that, under whatever names they may
disguise their meaning, their real and main
grievance is the existence of the Church. At a
meeting of Dissenters of the Independent and
Baptist denominations which took place at Brad-
ford a few days ago, the Rev. Thomas Taylor
is reported to have said, that " Church esta-
blishments are anti-scriptural, and that there
is not in the New Testament any countenance
given to an alliance between the Church and
State ; nor had the Church, in its primitive,
purest, and most flourishing estate, ever been
connected with the existing Governments ; but,
on the contrary, it was persecuted by them."
Now, to us who never have upheld, but have,
on the other hand, strenuously reprobated what-
ever could be fairly described as the abuses of
our Church establishment, such indications of
feeling as the above on the part or Protestant
Dissenters seem rather extravagant. It would
be odd indeed if the New Testament had given
what is absurdly called " countenance to an
alliance between " Church and State," at a
time when the " State" was a military ,c abso-
lute Pagan Government," and the doctrines of
Christianity were preached to a poor, scanty,
humble, forlorn, and fugitive sect. There was
and could be nothing like an Established Church,
in the modern sense of the term, recommended
or enjoined by the author or early teachers of
Christianity, because not only the Roman
empire, but every other state existing in those
days, had already its pagan church and priest-
hood, with the single exception of Judea. The
Christian doctrine is distinguished" above every
antecedent one, by its aiming by more powerful
motives at a more effectual action upon the mo-
rals of human society. To uphold that religion
and its ministers, therefore, must be considered
at least a very useful object by every lawgiver
who can understand the nature of the influence
which it is fitted to exercise over living men.
When, however, some hot-headed zealots pre-
tend to claim a divine origin for that endowed
and legalized body called the church, considered
with reference to its property, its privileges, and
its constituted rights, they assume a principle
by virtue of which every other sect professing
4 Christianity is equally entitled to dispute fur
supremacy, with that called the Church of
England. Each sect of necessity believes its own

to be the " genuine" faith—to be that which
most strictly represents the doctrine delivered
by our Saviour. It will be seen, therefore,
with how much alacrity those, whose object
is to pull down the Church, seize upon that
false assumption of its more inconsiderate
members-, and treat it as if sober and reflecting
churchmen had no foundation whereon to rest
the defence of an establishment, but one which
common sense and knowledge of Christian his-

tory repudiates. While, therefore, we reject
the imputation of these Dissenters, who would
accuse the advocates of an Established Church
of attempting to defend it on grounds which are
utterly untenable, we at the same time willingly
acknowledge that if the temporal church be so.
overrun with corruptions as to be rendered by
them incapable of fulfilling the political and
moral ends for which it was made, the corrup-
tions mnst be cleared away, or the Church itself
must (and inevitably will) be utterly subverted
and annihilated. From our view of the ques-
tion, it will at once be perceived how widely
we dissent from the Rev. Mr. Taylor, when
he says that an Established Church is posi-
tively " injurious to religion." There is, indeed,
one church which, wherever it has been esta-
blished, has proved itself directly injurious, both
to religious feeling and to civil liberty, because
of the systematic, unremitting, and unblushing
efforts of its ministers to obtain by the most re-
volting means an absolute power over all ranks
of men in their temporal and social relations.
The Romish Church (though all modes of faith
must be tolerated) cannot be established any-
where without danger to those objects which
other churches are calculated to promote, viz.—
the influence of law, good government, and
morals. If the majority of a nation were
Quakers, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents,
or any other form or denomination of Pro-
testants, we should be comparatively satisfied to
see their church established, because their tenets
or their discipline do not arrogate a power over
the actions of mankind as members of
political society. It is not so with that com-
munion where auricular confession, excommuni-
cation, and the prohibited exercise of private
judgment, place such tremendous, though per-
haps d-...savowed authority, in the hands of the
active priesthood. For reasons purely political
we should be averse 'to see Popery established in
any portion of these realms. From the discus-
sion of any other characteristics of that church,
we respectfully and cautiously abstain. There
is in this day's Times a letter, signed " A
ChurcliMan," which comes from a formercor-
resPondent of ours, and which treats the ques-
tion both of church establishments and church
revenues with an ability which will powerfully
recommend itself to our readers. Let it not,
however, from any part which we have felt it our
duty to take on behalf of the thing called an
;, Established Church," be inferred, that we
stand up as champions for any of its abuses.
We hope and trust, that the whole course
of our observations, in former numbers, will
have relieved us from such a surmise.'
Pluralities, after the commutation of tithes, are
the first great evil in the practice of the
Church to be abolished. It is perfectly
monstrous that a man should receive the
emoluments of two or more livings, when he can
earn the salary of but one; as it is that the
abomination of sinecures should exist, whereby
the subsistence due to the cure of many souls is
sacrificed to the care of one man's worldly inte-
rests. But there ate likewise other obligations
resting on the supreme power of this country,
on the effectual discharge of which must de-
pend the success and stability of the Church
of England. We subjoin a few- Clergymen
must be more profoundly taught, and be sub-
jected to a more rigorous examination as to
fitness and capacity before they are ordained.
Great and
,prodigally endowed bishoprics must
be cut down, and a moderate (we do not
say an . average , income establish-
ed. In our opinion, except for three or
four dioceses, 4,000/..per annum would .suf-
fice. No bishop should be capable of translation
but to Canterbury, York, or London.- Pluralities

ought to be absolutely abolished, and incum-
bents enjoined to a strict residence on their
livings for at least two-thirds of the year. The
revenues now held by Deans and Chapters ought
to be reduced to what would keep the cathedrals
in repair, and pay proper incomes to a necessary
number of officiating clergymen. All tithes
(nay Parliament is pledged to it) ought to be
forthwith commuted for a land tax on landed
property, and, as among the Bishops, a less
unequal distribution of clerical emoluments
ought to be diligently aimed at. We hope and
believe, that however some descriptions of Non-
Conformists might be disposed to murmur at
the inadequacy of such remedial measures for
the evils acknowledged in the existing Church,
three-fourths at least of the British nation would
cheerfully accept and abide by them.—Times.