were secularized in the Westphalian peace, and given to Sweden. The Danes conquered both these provinces in 1712, and sold them to the elector of Brunswick-Luneburg, who afterwards purchased the consent of the Swedes, and obtained investiture from the emperor. The district of Hadeln came to the electorate, in 1731, by inheritance, and these 3 districts now form the province of Bremen, which has a surface of about 2,070 square miles. In its circuit lie the bailiwick of Ritzebuttel belonging to Hamburg, the district of Wuhrden belonging to Oldenburg, and the free town of Bremen. The population amounts to 191,060, mostly Lutherans. There is a German saying which compares Bremen to a shabby mantle with a gold lace border; and there is considerable truth in it, for the edge of the district running along the sea, and on the banks of the river, consists of a very rich soil, while the inner land is one immense heath, interspersed with enormous blocks of granite, and a few isolated patches of wood. Agriculture is productive on the whole, notwithstanding the bad soil of a great part of the country; and the rearing of cattle and horses is still more so.-Stade, in the district of Bremen, on the Schwinge, has a population of 4,770 souls.-Verden, on the Aller, has 4,200 inhabitants.

7th. The Province of Osnabruck.] The archbishopric of Osnabruck came, in 1803, as an hereditary property to Hanover, which, since the peace of Westphalia, had enjoyed the right of naming alternately to the bishopric. Its surface is about 1800 square miles, and population 188,655 souls, partly of Frisian race. The majority are Catholics; among the 68,800 Protestants are a considerable number of Calvinists around Lingen. Commerce is very animated in some places; and there is a considerable transit. The chief town is Osnabruck, on the Hase, with 10,000 or 11,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of a Catholic bishop and a Lutheran consistory, and is the most important commercial town of the province. Papenburg, a borough with nearly 4000 inhabitants, is built upon several navigable canals which communicate with the Ems. inhabitants conduct a considerable trade in their own vessels.

The

8th. The Province of Hildesheim.] The extent of this province is about 650 square miles, with 121,816 inhabitants, the majority of whom are Lutherans. This is the most populous province of the kingdom. Agriculture is the principal branch of productive industry. The chief town is Hildesheim, on the Innerste, with 13,000 inhabitants in 1826, of whom about two-thirds are Lutherans. It is the seat of a Catholic bishop. In the cathedral are some fine pictures. Large cattle-markets are held here. Goslar, on the Gose, at the foot of the Rammelsberge, is a very ancient town, with 5,670 inhabitants.

9th. The Province of East Friesland.] This principality fell, in the midst of the 18th century, to Prussia, by right of inheritance, and was ceded to Hanover in 1815. Its extent is above 1,100 square miles, with 127,502 inhabitants, almost all of whom are of Frisish origin, and exhibit many peculiarities in manners and customs. Their language is German, intermixed with Frisian and Dutch words. There are not above 3000 Catholics; the rest are Lutherans, Calvinists, and Jews. Extensive dykes protect the flat coast against the inroads of the sea. Two bays enter the country on the west: namely, the Dollart and the Leisand. The situation of the province is favourable to commerce by sea; and this is more animated than that with the interior of Germany. The most numerous and wealthy class in East Friesland is that of the

peasants. This province has retained its old rights and prerogatives ; and the States have more privileges than in the other provinces. The administration, therefore, differs considerably from that of the other provinces.-Aurich, with 2,660 inhabitants, is the chief town and seat of the government.-Emden, on the mouth of the Ems, has 10,985 inhabitants, and conducts a very animated commerce. Nearly 300 ships belong to this town, which conducts an extensive herring-fishery, producing annually from 12,000 to 13,000 barrels of fish.

10th. The Province of Bentheim.] This province has its own prince; but it is pledged to Hanover, which pays him an annuity. It is about 400 square miles in extent, and contains 24,364 inhabitants, who are partly Calvinists. Though the inhabitants are of German origin, they exhibit Dutch manners, and the Dutch language is spoken in some parts. Agriculture is well carried on, and so is the rearing of cattle. There are no manufactures of any importance. This province has an administration of its own at Bentheim, a borough with 1,328 inhabitants.

11th. The Province of Hohnstein.] The surface of this little district is about 70 square miles, with 6,686 inhabitants, all Lutherans. This province lies in and upon the Harz, and is consequently very mountainous; but there is also on the S. a fine fertile valley called the Golden Vale. The administration has its seat at Ilefeld, a borough on the Bähre, which, with one of the most extensive higher schools in the N. of Germany, contains 540 inhabitants. In the neighbourhood of Appenrode there is a remarkable cave called the Kelle.

CHAP. XII.-THE KINGDOM OF WIRTEMBERG.

THE kingdom of Wirtemberg, or Würtemberg, has its name from an ancient castle, situated on a mountain not far from Unterturkheim, and from the ancient proprietors of which the present dynasty dates its origin. This kingdom has the sixth place in the German Confederacy, with 4 votes in plenum. It lies in the S.W. part of Germany, and is bounded on the N.E., E., and S.E., by Bavaria; on the S. for a small distance by the Lake of Constance; and on the S.W., W., N.W., and N. by Baden. Its superficial extent is, according to Rosch, given at 348 German square miles; others say 358; and a very recent calculation fixes it at 362.15 German, or 7,860 British square miles. The census of 1817 gives the population at 1,397,451; but the annual increase is not below 10,000. Balbi says the population was 1,520,000 in 1826.

History.] The first notice in history of the lords of Wirtemberg is in the 11th century, and in 1139 we find counts of Wurtumberg, or rather Wirtemberg, as the name of the old castle from which they dated their origin was Wirtinberck or Wirtinberg. From Ulrich, count of Wirtemberg, about the middle of the 13th century, the history of this country runs down in an uninterrupted line to our times. He is the real founder of the present reigning house, and was known as the most enterprising and the most gallant knight in Suabia. Eight times, says an old chronicle, he went to the field, and never was defeated. He died in 1265. His son and successor, Eberhard, reigned above 50 years. He was placed under the ban of the empire by Henry the VII., and driven from his country; but happily for him Henry died in Italy, after which Eberhard returned home, and transferred his residence to Stuttgard, as the castle of

Wirtemberg had been dismantled during his absence. His son, and several of his successors, enlarged their territory, which, after having been for a short time divided under two lines of chiefs, was again united under another count Eberhard, who was raised to the dignity of a duke by the emperor Maximilian I., in 1495, and who gave a kind of representative constitution to the country. Duke Ulrich introduced the Reformation in the middle of the 16th century, and joined the Schmalkaldian league, which led him into a war with Austria. His son Christopher remodelled the legislation and administration of the country. Under his successors, in the 17th century, the reigning house became divided into three lines. That of Stuttgard was continued by Eberhard, or Everhard III. Wirtemberg suffered much in the Thirty Years' war. Duke Charles Alexander, who reigned in 1733, became a Catholic, and ruined the finances by the bad administration of a Jew, Luss Appenheimer, who was at the head of the finance department, and who was hanged by Charles's successor. He left three sons under age, who all reigned one after the other. The last was Frederic Eugene, who had served in the Seven Years' war under Frederic the Great, and educated his children in the Lutheran creed. He was succeeded by his son, duke Frederic II., who, after an increase of territory occasioned by exchanges and acquisition, became an elector. He allied with Napoleon against Austria, and obtained, in the peace of Presburg, an augmentation of territory, and the title of king. He was one of the first German princes who entered the Rhenish confederacy on the 12th of July, 1806, when he again obtained an accession of territory. He was a firm adherent to Napoleon's system, and early after the battle of Leipzig entered into negotiations with the allies. He maintained his country on the statu quo in the congress of Vienna, but joined the German confederacy on the 1st of September, 1815. While the Congress was yet sitting, he summoned the States of his kingdom on the 11th of June, 1815, and laid before them the new constitution he intended to give to his territories. But the resistance of the States of the ancient part of Wirtemberg prevented the adoption of this new constitution; and the king yielded in so far, that the ancient constitution was to remain in Old Wirtemberg, but not to be extended to the new acquisitions. During these transactions the king died suddenly, on the 28th of October, 1816. He was a man of no common talents and information, and of great firmness and strength of mind; but his strong passions often drove him to commit the most despotical actions. His second wife and widow is the sister of the present king of England. He was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm I., born on the 17th September, 1781. A severe education, and several other circumstances, had kept him in a distance from his father. He was married to the princess of Bavaria, but this marriage was again dissolved by mutual consent, upon which the princess married the emperor of Austria, and he married the grand duchess of Russia, sister of the emperor. She died, deeply regretted, in 1819. present queen, his third wife, is his cousin, and a princess of Wirtemberg. He has distinguished himself as a soldier on several occasions. At the age of nineteen he was present at the battle of Hohenlinden; and he afterwards commanded the Wirtemberg troops which accompanied Napoleon in the Russian campaign. During the last French war he always fought with great gallantry and distinction. He began his reign by retrenching many of his personal expenses, and proposed a new

The

constitution on the 3d of March, 1817, which was again rejected by the States, upon which he dissolved the assembly, but promised to reign in the spirit of the new constitution. He abolished bondage, and on the 31st of December, 1818, issued an excellent regulation for the organization of the municipalities, which was to serve as a ground-work for the new constitution. On the 10th of June, 1819, he again summoned the States, and expressed his positive determination to establish the new constitution, as a compact between him and the States. The plan of the constitution had meanwhile been much improved by the labours of the commission established for the purpose, and it was, after some consultation, unanimously accepted by the assembled States, and proclaimed on the 25th September, 1819.

Physical Features.] The surface of the country is mountainous; on the E. runs the Suabian Alb, and on the western edge the Black Forest; and from both several branches run in all directions into the country. The Alb is not so high as the Black Forest, but of a rougher aspect; it presents limestone and sandstone. Several remarkable caves are found in it. None of the mountains in Wirtemberg reach the line of snow; the highest point of that part of the Black Forest lying in Wirtemberg is the Katzenkopf, or Cat's Head,' 3,603 feet in height, and the highest point of the Alb is the Sternberg, 2,776 feet above the level of the sea. There are no plains, but large fertile valleys, of which those of the Neckar and Danube are the principal. The principal rivers are the Neckar, which receives the Kocher, the Jaxt, and the Enz; the Danube, which receives the Iller and the Blau; the Tauber; the Schussen; and the Arzen. The two latter fall into the lake of Constance, which is the only large lake in the kingdom. The climate is mild and healthy, though in the higher parts the winters are very severe.

Soil and Produce.] A few small tracts excepted, Wirtemberg is one of the most fertile and well-watered countries in Germany. It generally consists of champaigne lands, and pleasant well-watered vales; abounding in every necessary of life. Its fertility is such, that much more grain is raised than suffices for internal consumption, and hence considerable quantities are exported. But this grain is chiefly that species denominated spelt; rye and wheat being much less cultivated here. Of all the other sorts of grain, there is even however a sufficiency. Flax and hemp are also cultivated. The vallies-which are some of them 8 miles in length are almost covered with forests of fruit-trees, which are also abundant in other parts of the country, cider and perry being the liquors drunk by the peasants when wine happens to be scarce and dear. Their mountains are rich in minerals and covered with vines. In 1826 there were in this kingdom 597 vineyards, comprising 82,729 acres. The total wine produced was estimated at 184,380 kilderkins-value 3,990,831 florins. Their wines are rich, palatable, and wholesome; and are gene rally denominated Neckar wines: though each has a peculiar name of its own, received from the part where it is produced. Cherries are grown in great quantity in the districts of the Alb and the Black Forest, and used for making the celebrated strong liquor called kirschwasser. Game and poultry are abundant, and large herds of horned cattle are reared in various parts of the country. In the neighbourhood of Ulm, a particular branch of industry is the feeding of snails: millions of these animals are fattened here in autumn and sent to Vienna and Italy.

Minerals.] Wirtemberg is by no means deficient in minerals. Its

mountains abound in marbles of variegated hues, some of which are esteemed as equal to those of Italy; and remarkably transparent alabaster, agate, crystalline pebbles, black amber, and fine millstones, are found here. The other minerals are, salt, cobalt, sulphur, coal, and porcelain-earth. The salt-works at Sulz produce salt sufficient to supply the kingdom. There are mines of silver and copper near Freudenstadt and at Konigswart; of silver at Konigstein, and of copper at Gullach, near Hornberg. Iron is also found, but this useful mineral was generally brought from Montbelliard, now belonging to France. There are many warm-baths and medicinal springs. Among the former, the most celebrated are those of Wildman. Heilbron is famous for its medicinal springs. There are also large salt-works, in the territory of Suabian Hall, lately ceded to Wirtemberg.

Manufactures and Commerce.] Wirtemberg is an agricultural and not a manufacturing country; only in a few towns are established manufactures of any extent. Several branches of industry, however, such as spinning, weaving, and lace-making, are carried on in this country, besides agriculture. Distilleries and oil-mills of great extent are found in several towns. The balance of exportation and importation stands in favour of Wirtemberg. The articles of exportation are cattle, fat oxen, corn, wood, tar, potash, oil, and a few articles of industry; those of importation are colonial wares, silk, and different articles of foreign manufacture.

Inhabitants.] The inhabitants are-with the exception of 8,319 Jews, and some families of Waldenses, and other colonists-all of German descent, speaking partly the Franconian, and partly the Suabian dialect. There were, in 1817, about 950,632 Lutherans, 432,616 Catholics, 2,308 of the Reformed creed, and 500 or 600 of other sects; the proportions of the different denominations remain, in all probability, much the same still, although the gross population has considerably increased. There is no established religion. The king himself may profess any Christian creed.

State of Education.] Wirtemberg is one of the most enlightened countries in Germany; it has produced a number of scholars, and two of the most celebrated modern poets of Germany. Wieland and Schiller were natives of this country. Perhaps no country in Germany, of the same extent, has produced so many distinguished scholars,-an honour for which it is indebted to the excellent establishments for education which have always existed here. There is one university, a number of gymnasiums, lyceums, and high schools, and several seminaries for Protestant and Catholic clergymen, and schoolmasters. Almost every village has its own school, which is carefully inspected, and provided with well-informed schoolmasters from the seminary at Eslingen. A special law directs that every child must attend school from 6 to 14 years of age, so that, in ancient Wirtemberg at least, there is scarcely one individual who cannot read and write.

Government.] Wirtemberg is a constitutional monarchy. The constitution acknowledges equal civil and political rights in every citizen of the State. None can be excluded by birth from any employment of the State. Personal liberty, security of property, and perfect freedom of conscience, is guaranteed to every citizen, besides liberty of emigration.50

Emigrations, for a long time past, have been both frequent and numerous from Wirtemberg. These have been to Prussia, the Cape of Good Hope, but especially to the United States of North America. For such emigrations, no satisfactory reasons have yet been assigned by any writers: and Nicolai, the Berlin journalist, has sufficiently proved, that excess of numbers in that country, cannot account for the exten