The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-25 00:00:00

BELGIUM and the ZOLLVEREIN.

On the 19th, the ratifications of the treaty of com-
merce and of navigation, concluded on the Ist of Sep-
tember, between Belgium and the German Zollve-
rein, were exchanged at the office of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs at Brussels. The treaty is as fol-
lows :

"In the name of the Most Holy Trinity!—His
Majesty the King of the Belgians on one side, and
his Majesty the King of Prussia, acting in his own
name as well as for the other countries and portions
of sovereign countries comprised in his system of cus-
toms and imposts, viz.:—The Grand Duchy of Lux-
emburg, the districts (enclaves) of the Grand Duchy
of Mecklenburg, Rossow, Nebzeband, and Schoen-
berg, which are surrounded by the other States; the
Principality of Binkenfield of the Grand Duchy of
Oldenburg; the Duchy of Anthalt-Coethen, of An-
thalt-Dessan, and of Anhault Bernbourg ; the Prin-
cipalities of Waldeck and of Pymont ; the. Priuci-
pality of Lippe and the Grand Bailiwick of aleisen,
heim of the Landgraveship of llesse and of the Ger-
man Commerce (Zollverein), viz., the Crown of Ba-
varia, the Crown of Saxony, and the Crown of Wur-
temburg ; and not only for them, but also for the
Principalities of Hohenzollern-Heckingen, and of
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ; the Grand Duchy of
Baden, the Electorate of Hesse, the Grand Duchy
of Hesse ; and not only for it, but also for the Baili-
H wick of Hombourg, of the Landgraveship of Ilesse,
the States forming the Associations of customs and
commerce of Thuringen, viz.:—The Grand Duchy of
Saxony, the Duchies of Saxe-Meiningen, of Saxe-
Altenbourg, sad of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; the
Principalities of Schwartzburg Rudolstadt and of
Schwartzburg Sonderhausen, of Reuss Greitz, of
Reuss Schliatz, and of Reuse Lobenstein and Ebers-
dorf; the Duchy of Brunswick, the Duchy of
Nassau, and the free city of Frankfort? on the other
part;

" Being equally animated with the desire of quickly
establishing between Belgium and the Zollverein a
state of things comformable to their reciprocal com-
mercial interests, and of establishing their relations
of navigation and of commerce, on lasting bases,
which they reserve to themselves to extend by their
mutual concessions, have, with this end in view,
agreed to enter into negotiations, and have named for
their respective plenipotentiaries, viz.:—his Majesty
the King of the Belgians, Lieutenant-General Count
Goblet d'Alviella, his Aide-de-Camp, and Minister of
State and of Foreign Affairs, &c. ; his Majesty the
King of Prussia, Baron d'Arnim, his Minister
Plenipotentiary at the Court of the King of the Bel -
gians, &c.; who, after having exchanged their full
powers, and found them in due form, have agreed
upon the following articles :
enterl
" A
withrt. l.
ballast Ships
obelonging
into
oth Belgium,
ports
usshs
iaal
or into one of the ports of the other States of the Zoll-
verein, or which shall leave them ; and on the other
side, ships belonging to Prussia, or to one of the
States of the Zollverein, which shall enter, either
with ballast or cargoes, into the ports of Belgium, or
leave the same, whatever may be the place of their
departure or their destination, shall, with respect to
tonnage, flag, port, pilot, anchorage, lighthouse,
sluice canal, quarantine, salvage, brokerage, and
other duties or charges of whatever nature or deno-
mination they may be (imposed in the name, and to
the profit of Government, of public functionaries, of
communes, or of any establishment whatever), be
subjected only to such duties which are at present, or
which may hereafter be, imposed on the national
ships, at their entrance into and during their stay in
those ports, or at their departure therefrom
" Art. 2. For whatever concerns the destination of
ships, their loading and unloading in the ports, roads,
harbours, and basins, and generally for all formalities
and dispositions whatsoever, to which vessels of com-
merce, their crews, and their cargoes, may he sub-
jected, it is equally agreed upon that no privilege or
favour will be granted to the national ships which
shall not be extended to those of the other party, the
wish of the two high contracting parties being that, in
this respect also, their vessels should be treated on the
basis of perfect equality.
_ _ _

" Art. 3. The iepayinent by Belgium of the duty
imposed on the navigation of the Scheldt, by the
Government of the Netherlands (by virtue of the
third paragraph of the 9th article of the treaty of the
19th of April, 1839), is guaranteed to the ships of the
states of the Zollverein.

" Art. 4. All the products and other objects of
commerce, the importation and exportation of which
may legally take place in the states of the high con-
tracting parties by means of national vessels, may be
equally imported or exported therefrom by hips be-
longing to either contracting parties. Merchandise
imported into the port of Belgium and the Zollverein
by vessels belonging to either side, may be destined
to be used there, to be passed through, or to be re-
exported, or to be put into bond (entrepot), at the
will of the proprietor or his agents, on the same
conditions, and without being subjected to heavier
duties of warehousing, custody, or such like, than
those to which merchandise brought by national ves-
sels are subjected.
" Art. 5. Merchandise of all kinds, without dis-
tinction as to the place from which it comes, imported
directly from the ports of Belgium into those of the
Zollverein by Belgian vessels, as well as merchandise
which may be directly imported from the ports of
the Zollverein into those of Belgium, by vessels be-
longing to one of the.states of the Zollverein, shall
not in the respective ports pay other or stronger
entrance or exit duties, or undergo any other for-
malities than those to which national vessels are sub-
ject when such imports are made by them. The same
regulation will remain for merchandise of all kinds
exported from the ports of the Zollverein by Belgian
vessels, as well as for those which may be exported
from the ports of Belgium by ships of the Zollverein,
whatever may be their destination.
" Separate Art. The cargoes of the ships of the
Zollverein imported into Belgium by indirect naviga-
tion, being submitted to differential duties, the Bel-
gian vessels which shall import into the ports of the
Zollverein cargoes shipped in a port belonging neither
to Belgium nor the Zollverein, shall pay an extraor-
dinary flag duty not exceeding the half of the actual
tariff of that duty.
" This stipulation will remain in force until the
_ _ _ _

Ist of January, 1848, and beyond that term during
the continuance of the present treaty, if, at the afore-
said term, one or other of the high contracting par-
ties shall not totally change its system of legislation
concerning navigation. In this latter case, the high
contracting parties will consider the means of recon-
ciling the stipulation of the first section of the pre-
sent article with the modifications which may be in-
troduced therein.

" Art. 6. The productions of the soil and of the in-
dustry of the Zollverein, shipped at the ports situ-
ated at the mouths of the rivers from the Elbe to the
Meuse (those two included) on vessels of the Zollve
rein, and imported directly into Belgian ports, shall
be treated in the latter as if they came directly from
a port of the Zollverein.

"In return, the productions of the soil and of the
industry of Belgium, shipped in Belgian vessels in
the port of the Meuse, and those imported direct into
the ports of the Zollverein, shall be treated in the
latter as if they came direct from a Belgian port.
" Moreover, the productions of the soil, and of the
industry of the Zollverein, conveyed by vessels of
the Zollverein, either direct or from ports assimilated
to those of the Zollverein, and designated in the second
paragraph, shall, at their subsequent importation into
Belgium, be treated as if they were imported direct,
and under the flag of the Zollverein into Belgian
ports. Likewise the productions of the soil and of
the industry of Belgium, conveyed in Belgian vessels,
either direct or from the assimilated ports of the
Meuse, into the assimilated ports from the Elbe to
the Meuse, shall be treated at the time of their sub-
sequent importation into the Zollverein as if they
were imported direct and under the Belgian flag into
a port of the Zollverein. The two high contracting
parties reserve to themselves the:power of determining,
with a common accord, the proofs of which are
to be furnished in order to certify the origin of the
wares, as far as such proofs will be requisite.
" rt. 7. The premiums, repayment of duties, or
other advantages of that kind, which are or which
may be granted in the states of one of the high con-
tracting parties to the national vessels or their car-
goes, shall be equally granted, either to the vessels of
the other party, or to the wares imported direct from
the one country into another by ships of either side,
or exported for any destination whatsoever. Never-
theless, an exception must be made to the preceding,
and to the stipulations of the first and fourth articles,
in whatever concerns the advantages of which the
productions of the national fishery and the commerce
of salt are or may be the objects.
" Art. 8. The subjects of each
of the two contract-