But this mode of charging the duty upon the weight would ofcourse， for very obvious reasons， affect the trade with theneighbouring German states much more injuriously than the tradewith foreign nations.The second-rate and smaller German states hadnow to bear， in addition to their exclusion from the Austrian，French， and English markets， almost total exclusion from that ofPrussia， which hit them all the harder， since many of them wereeither totally or in great part hemmed in by Prussian provinces.
Just in proportion as these measures pacified the Prussianmanufacturers， was the loudness of the outcry against them on thepart of the manufacturers of the other German states.Add to that，that Austria had shortly before imposed restrictions on theimportation of German goods into Italy， notably of the linens ofUpper Swabia.Restricted on all sides in their export trade tosmall strips of territory， and further being separated from oneanother by smaller internal lines of customs duties， themanufacturers of these countries were well-nigh in despair.
It was this state of urgent necessity which led to theformation of that private union of five to six thousand Germanmanufacturers and merchants， which was founded in the year 1819 atthe spring fair held in Frankfort-on-the-Main， with the object ofabolishing all the separate tariffs of the various German states，and on the other hand of establishing a common trade andcustom-house system for the whole of Germany.
This union was formally organised.Its articles of associationwere submitted to the Diet， and to all the rulers and governmentsof the German states for approval.In every German town a localcorrespondent was appointed； each German state had its provincialcorrespondent.All the members and correspondents bound themselvesto promote the objects of the union to the best of their ability.
The city of N黵nberg was selected as the head-quarters of theunion， and authorised to appoint a central committee， which shoulddirect the business of the union， under the advice of an assessor，for which office the author of this book was selected.In a weeklyjournal of the union， bearing the title of 'Organ des deutschenHandels- und Fabrikantenstandes，'(3*) the transactions and measuresof the central committee were made known， and ideas， proposals，treatises， and statistical papers relating to the objects of theunion were published.Each year at the spring fair in Frankfort ageneral meeting of the union was held， at which the centralcommittee gave an account of its stewardship.
After this union had presented a petition to the German Dietshowing the need and expediency of the measures proposed by theirorganisation， the central committee at N黵nberg commencedoperations.Deputations were sent to every German Court， andfinally one to the Congress of Plenipotentiaries held at Vienna in1820.At this congress so much at least was gained， that several ofthe second-class and smaller German states agreed to hold aseparate congress on the subject at Darmstadt.The effect of thedeliberations of this last-named congress was， first， to bringabout a union between W黵temberg and Bavaria； secondly， a union ofsome of the German states and Prussia； then a union between themiddle German states； lastly， and chiefly in consequence of theexertions of Freiherr von Cotta to fuse the above-named threeunions into a general customs confederation， so that at thispresent time， with the exception of Austria， the two Mecklenburgs，Hanover， and the Hanse Towns， the whole of Germany is associated ina single customs union， which has abolished the separate customslines amongst its members， and has established a uniform tariff incommon against the foreigner， the revenue derived from which isdistributed pro rata amongst the several states according to theirpopulations.
The tariff of this union is substantially the same as thatestablished by Prussia in 1818； that is to say， it is a moderateprotectionist tariff.
In consequence of this unification of customs， the industry，trade， and agriculture of the German states forming the union havealready made enormous strides.
NOTES：
1.The system must necessarily have affected France in a differentmanner than Germany， because Germany was mostly shut out from theFrench markets， while the German markets were all open to theFrench manufacturer.
2.Report of the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures to theHouse of Representatives of the Congress of the United States， Feb.
13， 1816.
3.Organ of the German Commercial and Manufacturing Interests.