1 86 GERMANY.
Trade and Commerce.
The Zollverein.
The trade and commerce of the Empire are under the adminis- tration and guidance of special laws and rules, emanating from the Zollverein. or Customs' League. As in the formation of modern political alliances tending towards the unity of Germany, so in the earlier attempt of creating commercial and industrial combina- tions, Prussia took the lead. The first step towards the establishment of the Zollverein was taken in the year 1828, when, by special treaties, the grand-duchv of Hesse and the duchy of Anhalt were brought within the customs' limits of Prussia. Previous to this date the various states of Germany were under complete commercial separation, each having its own tariff of import and export duties, its own line of custom-houses, and in most cases its own system of money, weights, and measures ; but the efforts of the Prussian government caused the gradual overthrow of these barriers to mutual intercourse, by the extension of the bond of union inaugurated in the treaties with Hesse and Anhalt. In 1829, the two Saxon duchies of Mei- ningen and Coburg-Gotha were induced to join the Zollverein, and four years after, in 1833, its boundaries were vastly enlarged by the entrance into it of the kingdoms of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Saxony. The circle was completed within the next thirty years, during which all the states of Germany, with the exception of the two duchies of Mecklenburg, and the three free cities of Hamburg, Liibeck, and Bremen, were brought into the great commercial union. The two Mecklenburg duchies, together with Liibeck, ac- ceded to it on September 1, 18G8 ; so that, at this date, the whole of the states of Germany, with the sole exception of the two cities of Hamburg and Bremen — allowed to remain 'free ports' for a time — were included within the limits of the Zollverein.
The administration of the Zollverein, according to a treaty signed July 8, 1867, and ' in force from January 1, 18G8, till December 31, 1877, is carried on by delegates of the various states composing it, with a central government at Berlin.
There is a twofold representation, that of Governments, in the Zollverein Council, and that of populations, in the Zollverein Parliament, the members of which latter body, elected in the same manner as the deputies to the North German Federal diet, meet in annual session at the. beginning of the year. In the Zollverein Council are vested the chief functions of the executive, while the Zollverein Parliament has legislative, together Avifh some administrative powers. The Council has three committees, sitting in permanence, namely, for finance, for taxes and customs, and for trade.
