The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-28 00:00:00

THE ZOLLVEKEIN.

The new modifications made by the German Customs
Union in its commercial system, merit same atention from
those nations more particularly affected thereby; while it
is of some importance to ascertain the position taken up by
this great association at the present moment, when the
question of free trade is exciting such lively discussion
throughout Europe. For the better comprehension of
this subject we will first recall the changes introduced
by the Zollvert in into its tariffs during the last few years,
and will afterwards attempt to characterise the nature
and bearing of those recently effected.
The Zollverein has scarcely touched its tariff in the
last quinquennial period, except to aggravate its disposi-
tions ; these augmentations of duties have not, however,
been realised without severe struggles, and pro-
longed opposition. The obstacles that have been en-
countered may be readily conceived, when it is
known that the decisions of the Customs Con-
gress require unanimity, and that it is in the power
of a single State to raise an insurmountable obstacle.
There are in Germany, as in every other country, two par-
ties, the one an advocate of commercial liberty, the
other the partizan of the protective system. Prussia,
which has placed itself at the head of the former, has
long resistd the wishes of the southern States, which
more especially represent the latter party. It has, how-
ever, at last been obliged to give way, for fear of
loosening the bonds by which the association is held
together, and perhaps, some day, seeing a work dissolved,
to the existence of which it justly attaches political in-
Wrests of so much magnitude.
Without going farther back than the year 1842, we
see the Zollverein at that epoch doubling the duties on
jewellery and fancy iron wares, on gilded bronzes,
paper-hangings, and perfumery, &c. In 1844 it im-
posed a duty on raw iron, which was before exempt, and
raised the tariffs on various sorts of iron. The same year
it increased the impart duty on light woollen stuffs by
two-thirds; and, finally, it now raises the duty on cotton
and linen threads.
To judge of these augmentations of duty, we need not
consider them from an abstract point of view ; in the
present state of international relations, it must be al-
lowed that a people need only consider its own industrial
and commercial conveniences for the adjustment of its
tariffs ; but even under this regard all their augmenta-
tions do not seem to us to be dictated by an equally judi-
cious appreciation of the production and wants of
Germany.
Thus the measures directed against the importation of
articles of art, fashion, and luxury are rather opposed
than favourable to the interests of the country.
The German manufacturer does not pique himself
on disputing with France the sceptre of taste and
invention ; he willingly leaves to her the supply
of those varied products which derive their chief
merit from the elegance of their form, the
becoming harmony of their colours, and the finish of
their workmanship. He wisely prefers to apply his re-
sources to the production of those more common wares,
which suit a numerous population, and even" by that
alone enter largely into consumption. The elevation of
the duties on works of art and taste will not give him

what is not in his nature. The cold and serious cha-
racter of his genius will not bend itself to all these bril-
liant fantasies of the imagination. What, then, is the
result of this elevation of duties ? To prevent habits of
comfort and elegance from penetrating into the middle
classes, to oppose the wants inherent to the progress of
civilisation, and to injure national industry, by depriving
it of models by which it might have profited.
The increase of the duties on cast and wrought
iron may be justified much better. Germany possesses
all the necessary elements for the development of
metallurgic industry ; its soil conceals rich mines ;
magnificent forests flourish on the banks of the
Rhine and on the numerous mountains that advance
from the sides of the Alps or the Hereynian Car-
pathians; the working of the beds of coal is extending
more and more every year in the basins of the Ruhr,
Silesia, and Saxony. It was then very natural for the
Zollverein, seeing its metallurgic industry menaced by
English competition, to come to its aid by assuring it
better prices and a more considerable share in the supply
of the national market.

The question of cotton anal linen threads, which has
also been settled on the side of protection, is that
which has been most warmly discussed in the councils
of the Germanic Association ; little was wanting
to set the Zollverein in a blaze. It was brought
forward at the Customs Congress of Stuttgard, in
1842, and reproduced at that of Carlsruhe last year.
The cotton manufacturers, ho Never, saw their demands
rejected, the first time by a refusal, and the second by
an adjournment. It was not until this extraordinary
conference, held at Berlin, that they at last gained their
cause.

The fabrication of cotton is one of those industries
which manufacturing nations show most perseverance in
disputing with England. The products in cotton manu-
factures form, it is known, the chief part of the colossal
total of the exportations of Great Britain. " The cown
trade," said an English orator, " is for us principally an
objact of commerce ; of seven bales which we manu-
facture, only one is intended for domestic consumption;
out of the seven days of the week our workmen employ
six in clothing the foreigner." This cannot, evidently,
be a normal state of things. There is no reason of cli-
mate why England should thus charge itself with
manufacturing cotton for almost the entire universe.
Accordingly every nation possessing an industrial life
is trying to free itself from the British monopoly, and
it the German association has shown so much hesita-
tion in taking a decided part, it is because energetic
resistance has been met in the associated states, arising
from interests formed under the state of things hitherto
in vigour.
The cotton-manufacture has of late been much ex-
tended in Germany. Thus, while she consumed on an
average only from thirteen to fifteen millions of pounds
of cotton wool in the period from 1834 to 1836, she
consumed upwards of thirty-one millions, or more than
double, in the same period from 1843 to 1845. But
the importation of English threads into the States of
the Zollverein, has, nevertheless, continued to increase
in a remarkable proportion ; it rose during tie same
period from less than thirty millions to forty-nine
million pounds weight. It even exceeded that amount
in 1844 and 1845. Tho fact is, that in spite of the
progress she had made in the manufacture of cotton,
Germany, far from being able to compete with England,
is not even on a level with France or Switzerland. The
use of machinery is there of modern date ; the establish-
ments are on a small scale ; the factories of Saxony
have not, on an average, more than four thousand
spindles, and there is not, perhaps, in the whole Zoll-
varein five factories with from twenty to thirty thou,and
spindles. It may be calculated that the spindle of an
English factory produces at least a fourth, and perhaps
a third, more than the spindle of a German factory. how,
then, can the industry of the Zollyerein defend itself
with its own forces alone under such conditions of inferi-
ority ?—Constitutionnel.

INTERCOURSE WITH NEW OR-
LEANS AND TILE GREAT VALLEY OF THE

WEST.
A plan is in the course of execution for improving the
communication of New Orleans, the sole outlet of the
great valley of the Mississippi, with the sea, which,
when executed, will be attended with many advantages
to the rapidly increasing commerce of that city and the
region of which it is the port, and with some especial
advantages to the commercial and personal intercourse of
the Southern sad Western States with this country. The
object of this improvement is to avoid crossing the bar
at the mouth of the river, at Belize, and also to avoid a
tedious and winding voyage of ninety miles from Belize
to New Orleans, by forming a railway from the city
of New Orleans to Cat Island Harbour, a fine well-
sheltered anchorage, which has recently been discovered
at the entrance of Lake Borgne, forty-six miles east of
New Orleans. There is depth of water in this harbour
for ships of war to victual and refit; for steamers of the
size of those of the West India line to enter at all times,
and for large merchant vessels to take in full cargoes of
grain and other heavy goods, none of which things are
practicable at the present harbour of New Orleans.
The greatest advantage of this plan probably is, that
it will render it possible to extend all the advantages of
the safe and rapid mode of communication between Eng-
land and America furnished by the West India mail
steamers to the whole of the Valley of the Mississippi,
as well as to Mobile and other parts of the cotton-grow-
ing States in the Gulf of Mexico. At present these vast
regions furnish 1,000,000 bales of cotton every year, at a
very moderate computation worth 5,000,000/. sterling,
and they are likely in future to supply us with grain,
flour, provisions, and tobacco, to a still greater extent.
This immense trade is every year creating an increase in
the personal and epistolary communication between Eng-
land and New Orleans, and there can be no doubt that it
would be much facilitated and greatly increased, if the
West Indian steamers could proceed toNew Orleans. At
present this is impossible, as they draw too much water to
cross the bar, and are, therefore, unable to approach
nearer than 110 miles of the city, to a point without
a harbour or a road, to New Orleans. They have, in
consequence, giving up calling at that point, after at-
temptine, twice, and thus the people in the great valley
of the West are deprived of the advantages of this cheap
and rapid route to Europe, and the company is deprived
of the profit of carrying them. When the railroad is
completed to Cat Island Harbour, the steamers will be
able to approach within a couple of hours' ride to New
Orleans, and ten hours' sale of Mobile, and to lie there
in a well-sheltered harbour in deep water.
Another great advantage of this place, and one which
would be invaluable in times of European scarcity like
the present, when the chief supply of cora and flour
during the winter months must be derived from the
valley of the Mississippi and the port of New
Orleans, is that it would render vessels of large size
available for the purpose of carrying it to
,Europe.
At present it is useless to send large vessels to New
Odeon, in the hope of their bringing home full
corgi es of corn or flour, as no vessel carrying more than
about 300 tons of heavy cargo can cross the bar at Be-
lize. The consequence is, that the greater part of our
British shipping is unavailable for this purpose. With

light cargo, such as cotton, this is not so much felt ; but
full cargoes, even of cotton, can only be brought out in
vessels of a peculiar build, ill suited for general purposes,
and of which this country possesses few. When once
the railway to Cat Island harbour is completed, grain,
flour, tobacco, pork, lard, and provisions generally, may
be conveyed there, and shipped in vessels of any size, to
the full extent of the vessels' capacity. From the want
of these facilities the shipping of grain and flour at New
Orleans will proceed much more slowly during the pre-
sent winter than is generally expected by those who nre
unacquainted with the peculiarities of the port, and will
continue to do so until the new mode of forwarding the
produce of the Mississippi is completed.—Liverpool
Times.