Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1845-05-08

duties had been accumulated upon it
which perhaps exceeded its value
Moreover, it tool1a very good arithme-
tician to calculate the amount Of the
sum total Of duties which it had incurr-
ed; for every state had not only a sep
arate tariff, but distinct coinage and
monetary system, all ofwhich had TO be
assinilated on the bill Of parcels, by
the merchant to whom the parcel was
consigned. Hence, in Germany, com
merce-which it is necessary to en-
courage by every possible facility Of
! transit--was as complicated a business
as can well be imagined.
Such enormous hindrances to trade
could not, in the nature Of things, be
continued without some efforts towards
amendment; and Prussia being the lar
gest and most powerful of the German
states, was therefore the best able so
set reform on foot; which she did I'M
mediately after the battle of Waterloo
had difused the blessings of peace
throughout Europe. Before however,
beginning to correct the fiscal faults Of
her neighbors, she commenced amen
ding her own. A law was promulga
ted on the Goth Of May 1918, by which
the old commercial restrictions, which
excluded certain foreign articles from
the Prussian market altogether, were
removed, and foreign productions,
whether natural or fabricated, were al
lowed to be freely imported, consumed
and conveyed throughout the whole
breadth and length of the monarchy,
whilst all home produce, whether raw
Or manufactured, however, as Prussia
is to great extent by other territories,
the new law would have been a dead
letter, as regarded the land-camiage of
goods to and from other countries, with
out the concurrence Of neighborng ru-
lers, across one or other ofwhose boun-
diaries merchandise destined for Prus-
STA could have to pass, and to be sub
iected to their custom laws. The
Prussian government therefore sought
to induce them join in inthis scheme;
but so many obstacles supervened, by
complexity Of interests and iealou-
sy of rights, that it was not til, after
several years of incessant negotiation
that the object could be accomplished.
Threats, entreaties, and concessions,
however, prevailed, and at length the
Prussian government was joined in its
commercial scheme by the princes of
Schwharzbourg, Sondershausen, and
Schaizbomg Rudolstadt, the Grand
Duke of Sake Wermar, the Duke of
Anhalt- Bernbourg, the Grand Duke OF
Becklenbourg Schwerm, and the Duke
of Anhalt Dessan. Though none Of
their principalities are by any means
extensive, yet the Governmental Prus-
STA had more trouble and difficulty in
negotiating and haggling with these
petty rulers, than with all the more i'm
portant states which afterwards Joined
the union.
| Prussia, and the small territories
which hang on her skirts, formed then
a nucleus from which to spread the
Zollverein further over the German
continent. The Prussia Government
persevered, and, by 1926, had included
in the union all those countries which
extend on the north, east, and west,
from Memel in the northernmost sea-
port of Prussia, to AK la Chapelle in
Westphalia; and those from north to
south, which lie between Stralsund &
( the Austria frontier, behind Munich in
Bavaria. The boundaries of the con-
federation are as follows: on the east,
Russia and Poland; on the south Aus
tria and Switzerland; on the west,
France; on the northwest, Belgium
ard Holland; and finally. on the north,
Hanover and the other states which
have hitherto declined to join this use
/ full and vast commercial union. AT
present, it takes in about 1898 square
miles, upon which reside population
equal to that Of Great Britain and Ire
Hand, being about twenty-seyen mil
lions. BY the year 1881, the opera
tons Of the league were fully developed.
! The leading effect ofthe Zollvereln
was to render that portion of Germany
which we have indicatedabove as one
country. Throughout its entire extent
a uniform rate Of duty is charged in
(happily for clerks and book. keepers
one sum at either of the boundaries we
have mentioned, after which the goods
thus taxed may be sent from one end
Of the united territories 10 another
from Aix-la- Chapelle 70 Tilslt, and
from Stettin and Dantzic TO the from
1 tiers of Switzerland and Bohemia, with
tout let or hindrance. The whole of