Chapter 12: Is there such a good thing?

Frankfurt, headquarters of the German Customs Union (provisional).

There is an unwritten rule in this era: whenever there are negotiations, there must be a ball.

Frankfurt is already located in the heart of the German region, and with the boost from trade, its service industry is arguably the best in Germany.

Historically, Frankfurt Cathedral was even the place where Holy Roman Emperors were crowned.

On the stage temporarily erected in the center of the venue, one of the stunning dancers caught everyone's eyes.

Her exquisite dance moves and peerless beauty left the audience intoxicated.

However, the Prussian representative, Friedrich Ancillon, was in no mood to appreciate any of this. He ordered his attendants to give the dance troupe a sum of money to make them stop performing.

Even after the performance ended, the representatives continued to toast one another, seemingly having cast the matter of the meeting to the back of their minds.

The Bavarian representative even started chatting about music with the representative from Württemberg, and in a fit of enthusiasm, they actually began playing a four-handed piano piece.

The Prussian representative had to call a halt to the performance to get the meeting back on track.

If the Union could keep Austria out without giving an answer, he would have been happy to enjoy himself along with these people.

But the letter sent by the Austrians was less of an application and more of an ultimatum.

Austria would open its borders to members of the German Customs Union in one month and would simultaneously dispatch its own merchant caravans.

If the Union could not reach a consensus to explicitly reject Austria's entry, then Austrian goods would enter Germany through Saxony and Bavaria.

As for counting on Saxony and Bavaria to block Austria, that was simply impossible. The Bavarians did not want to invite trouble, and the Saxons were quite happy to see the two powers, Austria and Prussia, contend with each other.

The representative from Brunswick spoke up first: "I object! Austria's scale is too large. What we want is free trade, and the inclusion of the Austrians might affect our freedom."

As a pawn for Prussia's unification of Germany, Brunswick naturally felt duty-bound. In any case, there were still many countries between Brunswick and Austria, and most importantly, Prussia stood among them, which was why he could be so unscrupulous.

"Isn't Prussia's scale large as well? Why don't we expel Prussia from the Union while we're at it?" the Saxon representative quipped.

Saxony had always viewed Prussia as the primary obstacle to leading Northern Germany. Furthermore, because a large portion of its territory had been annexed by Prussia, Saxony would not let any opportunity to make things difficult for Prussia pass by.

"But Prussia has already joined the Union."

"Then they can just withdraw." The Saxon representative was Anckert, the Minister of the Interior of Saxony.

Normally, such a task would never fall to Anckert, a Minister of the Interior. But as luck would have it, both the Saxon Minister of Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were ill, and even the advisors around the King were sick.

His Majesty Anton had a reputation for being a kind and gentle man, so he naturally would not force sick ministers to work overtime. Thus, this difficult errand fell upon him, euphemistically called "the capable do more work."

Although His Majesty Anton often boasted of being the master of the strongest state in Northern Germany, Saxony was no longer what it once was.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Saxony was forced to cede two-fifths of its territory to Prussia. By this time, two-thirds of Saxony's territory and half of its population had fallen into Prussian hands.

Saxony's industry and commerce were well-developed, but since joining the German Customs Union, it could clearly feel that this advantage was disappearing under Prussia's intentional or unintentional suppression, and it was becoming increasingly dependent on Prussia.

Between a declining nation and a king who fancied himself powerful, every diplomatic event was a torment for the Saxon officials involved.

Although the King had announced a constitutional monarchy in 1831, the power to promote and dismiss officials remained firmly in his hands.

The so-called constitutional monarchy was merely for show for the commoners.

Prussian Foreign Minister Friedrich Ancillon was also full of resentment. Hindered by the current gap in strength between Prussia and Austria, as well as Austria's position as the president of the German Confederation, it was impossible for the Prussian side to adopt a hardline stance.

Thus, Friedrich Ancillon was told to prevent the Austrians from joining the German Customs Union, but not to provoke them.

The reason for this internal Union negotiation was that the Prussian government hoped to use a vote to make the Austrians shut up.

Therefore, he needed to win as much support as possible. Through long-term trade, Prussia had already won over the majority of the small states.

However, the strong states within the German Confederation—such as Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Hanover, and Hesse—did not stand on Prussia's side.

They either supported or were attached to Austria, or had their own ambitions.

His Majesty William III was only willing to provide 50,000 thalers in funding, in the spirit of saving wherever possible.

Just now, to make that dance troupe get lost, 2,000 thalers had already been spent.

Friedrich Ancillon decided to reason with these people first before considering bribery.

What he didn't expect was that Anckert of Saxony would be so difficult to deal with.

Even more terrifying was that Anckert's words seemed to resonate within the Union.

One could only blame Prussia itself for this; Prussia did indeed have a first-mover advantage in industry compared to other members of the Union, and the coal and steel of the Rhineland provided Prussia with a resource advantage.

Moreover, many of the rules within the Union were formulated with Prussian participation, so there was bound to be a certain degree of bias.

Added to this, friction was inevitable in trade, and businessmen would be jealous of one another, let alone nations.

Consequently, the representatives in the venue began to recount their grievances, and some even started exposing how the Prussians wanted to monopolize the German Customs Union and exploit everyone else.

At the same time, representatives of several strong states praised the Brunswick representative for his foresight, calling him a true man who pursued freedom and fairness.

Their behavior was self-evident: they wanted to expel both Austria and Prussia, yet they did not want to be hated by either.

By diverting the disaster, a small city-state like Brunswick was simply unable to withstand the wrath of either Prussia or Austria.

The Brunswick representative immediately panicked and looked toward Friedrich Ancillon.

Friedrich Ancillon nodded, then cleared his throat and said

"Representatives, please rest assured. On behalf of the Kingdom of Prussia, I guarantee that Prussia has no ambition to dominate Germany, nor will we ever do so. We welcome any German compatriots to join, but we do not welcome those Hungarians from the Habsburg family's territories."

"The Habsburg family's territories are too complex; there are even tariffs between Austria and Hungary. We cannot accept Austria's unilateral trade protection," another representative added.

The members of the German Customs Union did not really like the presence of Hungary to begin with. After all, most German states at this time were still agricultural, and the entry of Hungarian grain into Germany would inevitably impact the market and cause their incomes to decrease.

Friedrich Ancillon's statement immediately resonated with the crowd. However, Metternich was no fool; he had long since bribed the representative from Thuringia to stand up and speak for Austria when necessary.

"Then let the Austrians draw a line with the Hungarians and keep their tariffs. As long as the Austrians agree, we can still share the entire market. Austria's market and resources will surely inject new vitality into the Union."

"But what if the Austrians don't agree? Or what if they pay lip service to the agreement while violating it? Who can punish the Austrians?"

The two sides supporting Prussia and Austria were now arguing incessantly.

In fact, what they didn't know was that within the Austrian Empire, the Hungarian nobility was firmly opposed to joining the German Customs Union and was gathering in Vienna, begging His Majesty the Emperor to allow Hungary to remain independent of the German Customs Union.

Franz thought, "There's such a good thing?"

(End of chapter)