But we from a national point of view say and maintain thatHolland is in reference to its geographical position, as well as inrespect to its commercial and industrial circumstances, and to theorigin and language of its inhabitants, a German province, whichhas been separated from Germany at a period of German nationaldisunion, without whose reincorporation in the German Union Germanymay be compared to a house the door of which belongs to a stranger:
Holland belongs as much to Germany as Brittany and Normandy belongto France, and so long as Holland is determined to constitute anindependent kingdom of her own, Germany can as little attainindependence and power as France would have been enabled to attainthese if those provinces had remained in the hands of the English.
That the commercial power of Holland has declined, is owing to theunimportance of the country.Holland will and must also,notwithstanding the prosperity of her colonies, continue todecline, because the nation is too weak to support the enormousexpense of a considerable military and naval power.Through herexertions to maintain her nationality Holland must become more andmore deeply involved in debt.Notwithstanding her great colonialprosperity, she is and remains all the same a country dependent onEngland, and by her seeming independence she only strengthens theEnglish supremacy.This is also the secret reason why England atthe congress of Vienna took under her protection the restoration ofthe Dutch seeming independence.The case is exactly the same aswith the Hanse Towns.On the side of England, Holland is asatellite for the English fleet -- unite it with Germany, she isthe leader of the German naval power.In her present positionHolland cannot nearly so well derive profit from her colonialpossessions as if they became a constituent part of the GermanUnion, especially because she is too weak in the elements which arenecessary for colonisation -- in population and in mental powers.
Further than this, the profitable development of her colonies, sofar as that has hitherto been effected, depends for the most parton German good nature, or rather on the nonacquaintance of theGermans with their own national commercial interests; for while allother nations reserve their market for colonial produce for theirown colonies and for the countries subject to them, the Germanmarket is the only one which remains open to the Dutch for thedisposal of their surplus colonial produce.As soon as the Germansclearly comprehend that those from whom they purchase colonialproduce must be made to understand that they on their part mustpurchase manufactured goods from Germany under differentiallyfavourable treatment, then the Germans will also clearly see thatthey have it in their power to compel Holland to join theZollverein.That union would be of the greatest advantage to bothcountries.Germany would give Holland the means not only ofderiving profit from her colonies far better than at present, butalso to found and to acquire new colonies.Germany would grantspecial perferential privileges to the Dutch and Hanseaticshipping, and grant special preferential privileges to Dutchcolonial produce in the German markets.Holland and the HanseTowns, in return, would preferentially export German manufactures,and preferentially employ their surplus capital in themanufactories and the agriculture of the interior of Germany.Holland , as she has sunk from her eminence as a commercialpower because she, the mere fraction of a nation, wanted to makeherself pass as an entire nation; because she sought her advantagein the oppression and the weakening of the productive powers ofGermany , instead of basing her greatness on the prosperity of thecountries which lie behind her, with which every maritime statemust stand or fall; because she sought to become great by herseparation from the German nation instead of by her union with it;Holland can only again attain to her ancient state of prosperity bymeans of the German Union and in the closest connection with it.
Only by this union is it possible to constitute an agriculturalmanufacturing commercial nationality of the first magnitude.
Dr Bowring groups in his tables the imports and exports of theGerman Customs Union with the Hanse Towns and Holland and Belgiumall together, and from this grouping it clearly appears how greatlyall these countries are dependent on the English manufacturingindustry, and how immeasurably they might gain in their entireproductive power by union.He estimates the imports of thesecountries from England at 19,842,121 l.sterling of official value,or 8,550,347 l.of declared value, but the exports of thosecountries to England (on the other hand) at only 4,804,491 l.
sterling; in which, by the way, are included the great quantitiesof Java coffee, cheese, butter, &c.which England imports fromHolland.These totals speak volumes.We thank the Doctor for hisstatistical grouping together -- would that it might betoken aspeedy political grouping.
NOTES:
1.Report on the German Zollverein to Lord Viscount Palmerston, byJohn Bowring, 1840.
2.See statement of R.B.Porter, note to p.299.
