understand, in order to transmit it officially to your department. No such translation, I am informed, has been made or is contemplated: its provisions are deemed merely local in their interest: and the German translation (a copy of which I presume to be in your possession), is thought amply sufficient to accommodate the class of foreign manufacturers and traders whom it concerns. As the ukaze is very long, I could not have even an uncertain translation made without incurring an expense too serious to be borne by the contingent fund of the legation. * I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient servant, G. M. DALLAS. SIR: [EXTRACT.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, In the Journal de St. Petersburg, which I annex, you will perceive that the Imperial Government, by a ukaze of the 14th ultimo, raised the duties upon foreign tobacco, to take effect on the 1st of January, 1839. * * I have the honor to be sir, with great respect, your most obedient servant, G. M. DALLAS. Translated from the Journal de St. Petersburg of January 3 [15], 1839. As the excise upon tobacco manufactured in the interior is now enforced," his majesty, the Emperor, has judged proper to raise the duties on the importation of foreign tobacco into Russia, so as to maintain the balance between these two branches of industry; and his Imperial Majesty has therefore deigned by a ukaze of the 2d of December last, addressed to the directing Senate to sanction the following list of foreign tobaccoes on which the import duty is to be raised; which list has been drawn up by the minister of finance, and examined by the council of the Empire. List of foreign tobaccoes on which the import duty is raised. Tobacco in leaves or bundles, with the stems of all sorts, without excepting Turkish tobacco, as well as tobacco stems, and tobacco in leaves without stems shall continue to pay the same duty as hitherto. Observation.-1. These duties shall be levied with the addition of 12 per cent. from and after the 1st of January, 1839, in all the custom-house offices in which the general tariff for European commerce is enforced; they will be levied, not only on tobacco which may after that day enter from abroad, but also on all tobacco which may then be in warehouse without having paid any duties, inasmuch as the excise duty by means of -is to be enforced from that date. 2. As from and after the beginning of 1839, the tobacco prepared in the interior, and sold in the city of Odessa, shall be subjected to the same excise. Foreign prepared tobacco imported into that city shall also pay the whole import duty; in like manner, for the purpose of equalizing the charges laid upon manufactures, foreign tobacco not prepared shall also pay the whole duty on their importation into Odessa: and not merely the the fifth of the duty, which shall continue to be as before applied to the advantage of that city. 3. Tobacco imported from Finland shall pay the whole duty fixed in the above list. With respect to those coming from Poland, according to the dispositions of the ukaze of November 12, 1831, prepared tobacco of the qualities on which the duty is raised shall pay half of the new duties, and tobacco not prepared shall pay a quarter of the old duties on the same which remain as before. Finally, in the provinces beyond Caucasus, tobacco imported by the Black sea shall continue to pay the same duties as before. Mr. Wheaton to Mr. Forsyth. [EXTRACT.] BERLIN, November 29, 1837. SIR: With a view of ascertaining the disposition of Saxony, one of the principal states of Germany, associated in the commercial union, on the proposed reduction of tobacco duties, I have commenced a correspondence with Mr. Rivinus, our consul at Dresden, copies of which are herewith enclosed. You will perceive, from his letters, that, though the Saxon Government is not unfavorably disposed to our object, it is likely, as anticipated in my former despatches, to encounter serious opposition from Prussia, and some of the other states interested, both in the cultivation of native tobacco, and in the revenue derived from the importation of foreign. Mr. Wheaton to Mr. Rivinus. [CONFIDENTIAL.] BERLIN, November 9, 1837. SIR: You are probably aware that resolutions were passed by Congress, at the last session, requesting the President to open negotiations with the different European powers, for the purpose of endeavoring to procure a reduction of the existing duties on the importation of tobacco, the growth of the United States. With a view to the accomplishment of this object, it becomes desirable to ascertain the dispositions of the different Governments composing the German zoll-verein in respect to it. I have, therefore, to request that you will endeavor to sound, in an informal manner, the Government of Saxony, and ascertain whether it will be disposed to second our overture, upon the ground of the deep interest it has in the American market for Saxon manufactures, the greater part of which are admitted free of duty in the United States, and those articles which are charged with duty, not paying more than 30 per cent. as the highest rate; while our tobaccoes are charged a duty in Germany which amounts to from 46 to 96 per cent. on the original cost, and on stems to 200 per centum. If we are to consume German manufactures, it is desirable that we should be enabled to pay for them in our staple articles, such as tobacco, rice, &c., which we cannot do if the consumption is checked by high duties. 1 should also be glad to know to what extent native tobacco is cultivated in Saxony, what duty it is subjected to, and how far the cultivators are interested in maintaining the present duty on foreign tobacco. It is taken for granted that the interests both of the consumers and manufacturers of tobacco would be promoted by a diminution of the present duties. It would be desirable that the Saxon ministry should communicate its views on this subject to Count Minekwitz, in order that I may be enabled to confer with him respecting it. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, E. S. RIVINUS, Esq., HENRY WHEATON. United States consul, Dresden. Mr. Rivinus to Mr. Wheaton. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, SIR: Acknowledging the receipt of your No. 2, dated Berlin, November 15, and post-marked the 16th, I have the honor now to inform you that I yesterday waited upon M. de Zeschen at the foreign office, where I found M. de Bassiere, the French M. de Jordan, the Prussian, and Mr. Forbes, the British minister, arrived before me, who had been successively engaged with the minister on what I understood to be the Hanoverian question, which appears to have set all the German Governments by the ears together. Having already on a former occasion in conversation with the minister, informally alluded to the subject of the excessive duties of the German league, and their particularly oppressive bearing upon our tobacco, I introduced the subject by referring to that conversation, and acquainted him with the substance of your despatch No. 1. He fully and frankly admitted the fact of the oppressive nature of the duties on tobacco; he acknowledged the importance of the American customer to the Saxon manufacturer, and expressed himself sensible of the deep interest which Saxony must ever. have in a wholesome and mutually beneficial intercourse with the United States. For these and other reasons suggested by yourself, he declared himself by no means averse to a reconsideration and reduction of the duties in question, and observed that he would pay due attention to any communication on the subject which you should be pleased to make to his Saxon Majesty's Government through M. de Minkwitz, their accredited minister at the court of Berlin. After expressing himself thus favorably, so far as Saxony is concerned, he proceeded to state the grounds of the opposition which any alteration of the tariff in this respect might probably have to encounter, on the part of Russia and the other states composing the German zollverein. He remarked that by them the duty on tobacco was viewed as a measure of a twofold nature. In the first instance it had been agreed upon as a protective measure in justice to their own agricultural interests, considerable quantities of an inferior tobacco being annually raised in Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, as well as in some provinces of Prussia; and secondly, as a fiscal measure, a large and certain revenue being derived from the consumption of both foreign and native tobacco: the latter, the native, in all the states leagued together, being subject to a uniform octroi or excise duty (and it is with this view that, as I ascertained elsewhere, all the tobacco fields are annually surveyed by order of the Government, and their produce properly entered in books, and registers kept for the purpose). The minister subsequently mentioned to me what is doubtless already known to you, that the existing tariff had been agreed upon for the term of three years, beginning with 1836; that alterations in it could be made only by the states in convention assembled, after giving two months' previous notice to each other respectively; and that at the last annual convention held at Munich, this city had been fixed upon as the place for the next meeting, which, however, he thought would not take place before June or July, 1838. This being the substance of M. de Zeschen's remarks, and perceiving an unequivocal inclination toward the views of our Government, but still not being equally well disposed to cross the adopted policy of Prussia in any way, I deemed the present a fitting opportunity to place our just demand upon higher ground. I called his attention to the principle of reciprocity, which pervades all our commercial treaties with foreign nations, and regretted to find that, in the existing tariff laws of this country, that principle, so far as the United States are interested, had not been responded to. If the manufactures of England, I continued, were highly charged, I could perceive the justice of the measure, because of the almost total prohibition in England of the lumber and bread stuffs of Prussia, while the linen, the silks, the woollens, and the hard ware, of the different German states are admitted in the ports of the United States, duty free, or on a low and liberal scale of duties progressively decreasing from year to year. 1 further told him how I deemed it my duty to inform him that the operation of the present American tariff had resulted so unfavorably for the United States Treasury, that the expenditure of the present year had exceeded its revenue, and that, in the case of the Government finding it expedient to recommend to Congress an increase of duties on certain articles, its experience with some pow ers of the continent of Europe, might induce it to single out such articles, in preference to others of foreign importation, as are the productions and manufactures of those countries, whose tariff laws operate so unjustly and so perniciously upon our agricultural interests. And in that case it might easily be foretold what would be the consequences upon the manufacturing industry of Saxony; and how necessary therefore it was for her in order to avert such an occurrence, not simply to acquiesce, but actually to take the lead, with the whole weight of her influence in advocating a reduction of the duties on tobacco, as soon as the subject should be submitted to the next convention of the states. In conclusion, I observed that the operation of the Prussian tariff on our tobaccoes was, moreover, unequal and unjust, as it makes no difference between the low-priced American tobaccoes and the finer and more valuable descriptions, the growth of Hungary, Turkey, and the South American states, the duty of five and a half rix dollars per cwt., being precisely the same on the one kind as on the others. This being an undeniable fact, I further availed myself of it, to meet the financial objection of the minister, so far as this very inequality of taxation seemed to suggest a fair way of covering any deficiency of the revenue arising from the proposed reduction, by imposing heavier and more proportionate duties on the costlier descriptions of foreign origin. To the latter insinuation he replied, that in order to avoid perplexing discriminations, one duty had been adopted for all and every kind of tobacco; on that point I urged in return, that while justice might be done to a country deserving so well of their utmost consideration, the inconvenience of discrimination could easily be obviated by certificates of their duly accredited consuls abroad. Thus ended a conversation, in the course of which, I believe to have brought the whole subject under the especial notice of M. de Zeschen, and from the manner with which it was by him received and treated, I have reason to be satisfied with the present result, and flatter myself to have left a favorable impression on his mind. Saxony, however, is, after all, but one member of the commercial union of Germany; her influence with the neighboring branches of Saxe Weimar, Gotha, Coburg, &c., may perhaps be of some use; yet all these put together, are but a small item in the political connexion of the German confederacy. The influence of Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg, the two branches of the two princely houses of Hessen, as well as of the kingdom of Hanover, and the dutchies of Brunswick and Oldenburg, must be brought to bear upon the ascendency of Prussia, if our Government intends to accomplish her designs upon Germany. If I can be of any further use in this respect beyond the boundaries of Saxony, my knowledge of Germany, her language and her interests, my experience, my services, in short, are, and shall ever be, at the disposition of the Government of my adopted country, and at your command. With profound respect, I am, sir, your very obedient servant, E. S. RIVINUS, His Excellency HENRY WHEATON, U. S. Consul. E. E. and M. P., United States of America, near the Court of Berlin. |