The entire number of votes therefore in the Germanic diet is, according to this table, sixtynine; but, as it would be evidently improper to give the smaller states an equal voice with the larger, a repartition of votes has been agreed on, in the manner we have more particularly stated in the article DIET. Germany, thus defined, is bounded on the north by Denmark and the Baltic; on the east by Poland; on the south by Hungary, Italy, and Switzerland; and on the west by France and the Netherlands. It is more extensive than either France or Spain, being about 650 miles from north to south, and 600 from east to west; and embraces a surface of 220,000 square miles, with a population of more than 30,000,000 of inhabitants, or about 136 individuals to each square mile. It is physically divided into two principal portions by the Sudetic chain of mountains, which beginning with the Westerwald in Westphalia, and traversing Hesse-Cassel, the south of Saxony, and Silesia, end in the Carpathians, on the frontier of Poland and Hungary. Almost all the country to the north of this range is flat, and the rivers hold a northerly course, without meeting any formidable impediment, until they reach the level of the German Ocean or the Baltic. Southward of this chain Germany is much more d. 48,500 40,000 129,800 120,000 69 30,091,849 18,646,000 versified, consisting in part of extensive plains, but traversed also by vast ranges of mountains, as the Alps, extending from Switzerland on the west to Hungary on the east. In its central part is a great ridge running north-west from the Brisgau to Egra, and forming afterwards, by a semicircular curve, the southern half of the barrier that separates Bohemia from the adjacent countries. The course of the rivers also in southern Germany is less uniform than in the north: the Inn and the other great streams proceeding from the Alps run northward, and are absorbed in the Danube; while other rivers, less both in number and magnitude, flow into the Danube by a southerly course, from Franconia and Moravia; and the Neckar and the Maine convey their waters westward to the Rhine. The inhabitants therefore with great propriety call the southern half Upper, the northern Lower Germany; and for the same reason apply the terms Upper and Lower Saxony, and Upper and Lower Rhine. Sixty navigable rivers are said to penetrate this part of Europe, among which are the DANUBE, the RHINE, the MAINE, the WESER, the ELBE, and the ODER. See those articles. The oldest canal is said to have been begun by Charlemagne in 793, to join the Rednitz and Altmuhl: it is not yet complete. The principal are, the canal of Kiel, which joins the Baltic to the North Sea. That of Traremunde, which goes from Lubeck to Hamburgh; and a few of considerable importance, but not of great length, in the Prussian states. Inland navigation is particularly wanted in Southern Germany. The congress of Vienna enacted that, in the case of navigable rivers running through the states of different powers, commissioners should be named by these powers to regulate all that regarded the navigation, on the principle that such rivers ought to be open to all the nations interested, and that every thing should be done to diminish the obstacles to free intercourse. Other waters are not numerous in Germany; there are a few small lakes in Bavaria, Austria, Pomerania, and Brandenburg; but the principal are in the duchy of Mecklenburg. The lake of Constance belongs partly to Germany and partly to Switzerland. Germany on the other hand contains upwards of 1000 mineral springs and baths, of which the most celebrated are at Carlsbad in Bohemia, at Toplitz in Austria, at Seltzer on the Upper Rhine, at Pyrmont in Westphalia, and at Aix-la-Chapelle. Germany, in point of climate, is as various as in her other great geographical features. It is colder in the north, than in Britain; but the summer, even there, is on the whole warmer than ours. The range of latitude is from 46° to 54° N., and the air is almost every where salubrious. But Vienna and some other northern districts are considered unhealthy, from their marshy position. Sandy plains and barren heaths abound in the north-east, swamps and marshes in the north-west; but many of the interior and south-west parts are very fertile. A large proportion of the Prussian states is of a sandy and unproductive character: Bavaria, Wirtemberg, and the hereditary states of Austria, much diversified; while Saxony is in general fertile. Germany grows wheat, barley, oats, and all our kinds of corn: flax, rapeseed, madder, and hops: but agriculture as a science, particularly in the south, is in a backward state. Valuable tracts lie uncultivated and there are throughout a number of extensive forests, in which wolves, wild boars, lynxes, &c., still hold dominion. The finest pastures are in the north-west, particularly in East Friesland, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, and some parts of Hanover and Holstein. Here also are found excellent cattle and some good breeds of horses. Sheep are general throughout Germany, and the Merino breed, introduced a century ago into Saxony, is said to be equal to the finest of Spain. Our corn laws prohibiting, in fact, the German farmers to export that commodity to Great Britain, have been the means even in the last year (1826) of turning a more decided attention to the improvement of the German wools. The wines made along the banks of the Rhine have long been celebrated. Next to these are the wines of the Moselle, and of particular districts in the Austrian provinces. In the latter only, and in a few other parts of the south of Germany, silk is cultivated; and while some of the rivers, particularly the Danube and the Elbe, afford small particles of gold, they hardly repay the expense of washing. The mountains are rich in iron, copper, lead, tin, silver, cobalt, and bismuth, particularly the Erzgebirge chain in Saxony, and the Hartz Mountains, and those of Carinthia and Styria. Bavaria, as well as the duchy of Saltzburg, is also rich in salt mines. The mines of Idria, in Carniola, yield annually 5000 cwt. of quicksilver. Fullers' earth and porcelain clay are found near Dresden, and form the basis of extensive manufactures. Marble is found in various parts; and coal is wrought in Westphalia, Saxony, and other provinces. In . the south the great majority of the coal mines is said to be unwrought. The manufactures of Germany are not confined to any particular districts, as in England. The stock of wool being equal only to the home consumption, and the sheep of Germany which hardly exceed in number those of England (a country of not one-third the extent), being scattered over the country, the woollen manufactures are in like manner diffused on a small scale throughout various towns. But flax being produced in great abundance, and of the best quality, in Northern Germany; the linen made there has been famous for several centuries. It is manufactured in Silesia, Saxony, and Westphalia, not only for home consumption, but also for export. Cotton manufactures are of recent origin here; and a great competition has been introduced between their manufactures and ours. Cheapness of labor is a decided advantage possessed here, but the machinery is inferior and their fuel dearer than ours. In the important branch of hardware the Germans are also inferior to our manufactures, but they excel us perhaps in articles of wood, ivory, toys, &c. The imports of Germany are colonial produce from the East Indies, and America; wine from France and Spain; cottons and hardware from England. The chief commercial cities are Vienna, Hamburgh, Lubeck, Bremen, Frankfort on the Maine, Breslau, Leipsic, Augsburg, Nuremberg; to these are to be added in the second class Stralsund and Stettin on the Baltic, and in the interior Magdeburg, Ulm, and Naumburg. The pride of the educated ranks has proved a great impediment to the extension of commercial undertakings in Germany, the gentry preferring to educate their sons for the army, and allowing commerce to be confined to the inhabitants of the free towns. Navigation and the fisheries are both very limited pursuits, being confined to the shores of the Baltic and North Seas. Several of the southern German states are still Catholic, but toleration prevails in most of them. The Lutheran and Calvinistic churches are chiefly in the north. Under the former constitution, several of the Catholic dignitaries were princes of the empire; but they have happily lost their temporal power, and most of the Catholic bishops receive salaries from the state. Many of the abbeys and monasteries were secularised by the treaty of Luneville, and the chief of those remaining are in Austria. In some of the northern parts of Germany, the Lutherans and Calvinists have agreed to relinquish their distinguishing appellations, and unite in one body, Landshut as the professors of the Evangelical Faith. Jews Paderborn Germany, in its language and literature, presents wide fields of interesting research and attainment. The former embraces a vast number of dialects, and is altogether a barbarous mixture of the Northern and Latin tongues of all ages: the Latin has been very successfully cultivated of late by the learned, and what is called High German, spoken by the superior and educated classes, is a copious and tolerably harmonious language. But the Low German of the North is dreadfully harsh to a foreign ear. German literature presents a large and useful mass of materials; and in the history of literature her writers excel; as indeed in every kind of historical research. But they are abstract in metaphysics; young in politics, and the true doctrine of political liberty; verbal as critics; and sceptical in theology, particularly her modern Protestant divines. Poetry has been said to date in Germany no further back than the middle of the eighteenth century; of course it is undisciplined by taste, and chiefly lyrical. Studying with a view to publish is often the settled object of life here: copyright being unlimited in duration; and authorship considered a source of regular income. The libraries at the chief universities are on a very useful plan, containing an ample supply of recent publications; and booksellers have long acted on a plan of exchanging all new publications among each other. All this, however, leads in Germany to the publication of much of that knowledge which in other countries is not consigned to the press; and often not to paper. In the fine arts the Germans are not backward: engraving is carried in some cities to a pitch of considerable excellence; and painting, particularly of late, has been successfully cultivated; perhaps, however, their greatest progress is in music. In medicine, particularly in surgery, they are deficient, wanting almost every where hospital practice. in Prussian Westphalia. in Franconia. and two partly Catholic and partly Protestant, viz. Breslau in Silesia, and Bonn on the Rhine; the latter was created in 1818. Wittenberg, Erfurt, Olmutz, and several others, have ceased to be universities. The total number of students at these seminaries is between 8000 and 9000; Gottingen is the most numerously attended, having above a tenth of the whole. Schools, literary societies, and museums, are every where increasing. We now advert to the history of this mighty aggregate of nations in modern times. The extensive empire erected by Charles the Great, which he himself imprudently began to divide among his sons during his own lifetime, was not long enjoyed by his posterity. In France the Carlovingian race continued to reign for 183 years after his death; but in Germany it continued only seventy-four years; producing, within that period, six emperors, viz. Louis I. his son, Lothair I. and Louis II. his grandsons; Charles II., his great grandson; Louis III., son of Charles II., and Charles III., who was deposed in 888. On the deposition of Charles III. the German princes resumed their ancient independence; and, rejecting the Carlovingian race (according to some), elected Arnulph, king of Bohemia. Others, however, say, this Arnulph was the son of Carloman, a descendant of Charlemagne. Be that as it may, he reigned twelve years, and conquered his rival Guido, or Guy, who had been set up in opposition to him, and crowned king of Germany, by pope Formosus in 892; who also, upon the death of Guy, next year, crowned his son Lambert. Arnulph, however, reigned till 899, when he died, and was succeeded by his son Louis IV., whom some style the last of the male line of Charlemagne. Upon his death, in 911, the nobles elected Otho, duke of Saxony, but he, being old, recommended Conrad, duke of Franconia, whom they elected accordingly in 912. Conrad, dying in 920, recommended to their election Henry I., surnamed the Fowler, the son of Otho. Henry conquered the Danes, Hunns, Vandals, and Bohemians; and was succeeded, in 937, by his son Otho I., surnamed the Great; who, after reigning twenty-six years as king of Germany, was crowned emperor in 962. After this he reigned other ten years; and, in 973, was succeeded by his son Otho II., who, dying in 983, was succeeded by his son Otho III., a boy of ten years of age. The reigns of most of these monarchs contain little remarkable, except their contests with the popes. What more immediately merits attention is the progress of government in Germany, which was in a great measure opposite to that of the other kingdoms of Europe. When the empire, erected by Charlemagne, fell asunder, all the independent princes assumed the right of election; and in Mecklenburg Schwerin. those now distinguished by the name of electors in Pomerania. We must add, however, that in the mathematics and mechanics, in astronomy, geography, and chemistry, few countries can boast so long a list of able writers. There are twenty-one universities in Germany (formerly thirty in number), of which thirteen are Protestant, viz. Berlin. Gottingen in Hanover. in Saxony. Leipsic Jena Halle Heidelberg in Baden. Tubingen. in Wirtemberg. Erlangen in Franconia. Marburg in Hesse-Cassel. Giessen in Hesse-Darmstadt. Kiel in Holstein. Rostock Greifswalde Six Catholic, viz. Vienna Prague had no legal or peculiar right to appoint a successor to the imperial throne. They were only the officers of the emperor's or king's household, his secretary, steward, chaplain, marshal, or master of horse, &c. By degrees, however, as they lived near his person, and had independent territories of their own, they increased their influence and authority; and in the election of Otho III., A. D. 984, acquired the sole right of electing the emperor. Thus, while in the other kingdoms of Europe the dignity of the great lords, who were all originally allodial or independent barons, was diminished by the power of the king, as in France, and by the influence of the people, as in Great Britain; in Germany, on the other hand, the power of the electors was raised upon the ruins of the emperor's supremacy, and of the people's jurisdiction. deur of the house of Austria, though upon his death, in 1291, Adolphus of Nassau was chosen emperor; but had not reigned seven years, when he was defeated and slain by Albert of Austria, the son of Rodolph, who was crowned emperor in 1298. Albert I. was equally ambitious and rapacious, but having seized upon the paternal estates of his nephew, John of Suabia, he was assassinated by that prince in 1308. Henry VII. of Luxemburg was then elected, upon whose death, in 1313, an interregnum of a year took place, when Louis V. the son of Louis duke of Bavaria, by Matilda, daughter of Rodolph I., was chosen Upon the death of Otho III., in 1001, an by one party of the electors, and Frederick, the interregnum of four months ensued; after which son of Albert I., by another. But Frederick, the princes elected Henry II., surnamed the being taken prisoner, was obliged to renounce Lame, the grandson of Henry I., who reigned his dignity; and Louis, being killed by a fall twenty-three years. Of this emperor's successors, from his horse in 1347, was succeeded by his till the accession of the house of Austria, it is other competitor, Charles IV., the son of John only necessary here to give a brief chronological king of Bohemia, and grandson of Henry VII. list. Conrad II., surnamed Salicus, the son of Her- This prince was a great encourager of learning, man, duke of Franconia, was elected in 1024; and and in his reign the golden bull, establishing after reigning nearly fifteen years, was succeeded, the Germanic constitution, was given by pope in 1039, by his son Henry III.; who, in 1056, Innocent VI. in 1356. Charles, dying in 1378, was succeeded by his son Henry IV., though not was succeeded by his son Wenceslaus, who was without opposition from Rodolph of Suabia, and twice imprisoned by the Bohemians, and at last Herman of Luxemburg. Henry IV., after having deposed in 1400, when Rupert, Prince Palatine, reigned no less than fifty years, was deposed, in was elected. Rupert was succeeded, in 1410, 1106, by his unnatural son Henry V.; on by Jodocus Margrave of Moravia, who, in 1411, whose death, in 1125, Lothaire II., duke of was displaced by Sigismund, king of Ilungary Saxony, was elected. He died in 1137, and next and Bohemia, the son of Charles IV. Albert year the diet chose Conrad III., duke of Fran- II., duke of Austria, having married this moconia, the son of Frederick, duke of Suabia. He narch's daughter, succeeded him in all his was succeeded, in 1152, by his brother, Frederick dominions in 1437, but reigned only two years. I., surnamed Barbarossa, who having embarked His son Frederick III., archduke of Austria, &c. against the infidels, and taken Iconium, was was elected emperor in 1440; and, from this drowned in Syria, in 1190. He was suc- period, the imperial dignity continued in the ceeded by his son Henry VI., who behaved male line of that family for 300 years. His sucso villanously to Richard I. of England, and cessor Maximilian I. married the heiress of who was at last poisoned by his wife Constance, Charles, duke of Burgundy; whereby Burgundy and succeeded by his son Otho IV., in 1197. and the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands But a party of the princes having chosen Philip, were annexed to the house of Austria. Charles duke of Suabia, Henry's brother, a civil war V., grandson of Maximilian, and heir to the ensued, which ended in favor of Otho, Philip kingdom of Spain, was elected emperor, A. D. being assassinated in 1208. But four years after 1519. Under him Mexico and Peru were conOtho was deposed, and Frederick II., his younger quered by the Spaniards; and in his reign hapbrother, then king of Sicily, was elected pened the reformation in several parts of Geremperor, and crowned by pope Honorius III. in many; which, however, was not confirmed by 1220. Having afterwards offended pope Gre- authority till 1648, by the treaty of Westphalia. gory IX., by making peace with the sultan of Babylon, Frederick was excommunicated, which gave rise to the factions of the Guelphs and Gibelines, who, by their inveterate virulence against each other, disturbed the empire for several ages. Conrad IV. was elected emperor on the death of his father Frederick II., in 1250. See CONRAD IV. He died four years after, and was supposed to have been poisoned. His son was still more unfortunate. After an interregnum of two years, Richard, duke of Cornwall, brother to Henry III. king of England, was elected emperor in 1257; but, that prince residing mostly in England, Alphonso X., king of Castile, was elected in opposition to him. At last Rodolph I., count Hapsburg, was elected emperor in 1273. He conquered and killed Ottocar, king of Bohemia, and laid the foundation of the future gran The reign of Charles V. was continually disturbed by his wars with the German princes and the French king, Francis I. Though successful in the beginning of his reign, his good fortune, towards the conclusion of it, forsook him; which, with other causes, occasioned his abdication of the crown. His brother Ferdinand I., who succeeded him in 1558, proved a moderate prince with regard to religion. He caused his son, Maximilian, to be elected king of the Romans in his own lifetime, and died in 1564, having ordered, by his last will, that if either his own male issue, or that of his brother Charles, should fail, his Austrian estates should revert to his second daughter Anne, wife to the elector of Bavaria, and her issue. This gave rise to the opposition afterwards made by the house of Bavaria to the Pragmatic sanction, in favor of the empress queen of Hungary on the death of her father. The reign of Maximilian II. was disturbed with internal commotions, and an invasion from the Turks; but he died in peace in 1576. He was succeeded by his son Rodolph II., who was involved in wars with the Hungarians, and in differences with his brother Matthias, to whom he ceded Hungary and Austria in his lifetime, and by whom he was succeeded in the empire. Under Matthias the Lutherans and Calvinists were so much divided, as to threaten the empire with a civil war. His ambition, however, at last tended to reconcile them; but the Bohemians revolted, and threw the imperial commissaries out of a window at Prague. This gave rise to a ruinous war, which lasted thirty years. Matthias expected to have exterminated both parties; but they formed a confederacy, called the Evangelic League, which was counterbalanced by a Catholic League. Matthias, dying in 1618, was succeeded by his cousin Ferdinand II.; but the Bohemians offered their crown to Frederick, the elector Palatine, the most powerful Protestant prince in Germany, and son-in-law to king James I. That prince was so imprudent as to accept of the crown; but he lost it, being entirely defeated by the duke of Bavaria and the imperial generals at the battle of Prague; and he was even deprived of his electorate, the best part of which was given to the duke of Bavaria. The Protestant princes in Germany, however, had among them, at this time, many able commanders, who were at the head of armies, and continued the war with wonderful obstinacy. Among these were the margrave of Baden Ďurlach, Christian duke of Brunswick, and count Mansfield. Christian IV., king of Denmark, declared for them; and Richelieu, the French minister, was not fond of seeing the house of Austria aggrandised. The emperor, on the other hand, had excellent generals; and Christian, having put himself at the head of the Evangelic League, was defeated by Tilly, an Imperialist of great military reputation. The Protestants formed a fresh confederacy at Leipsic, of which the celebrated Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, was the head. An account of his victories will be found under the article SWEDEN. At last he was killed at the battle of Lutzen in 1632. But the Protestant cause did not die with him. He had brought up a set of heroes, such as the duke of SaxeWeimar, Torstenson, Banier, and others, who shook the Austrian power; till, under the mediation of Sweden, a general peace was concluded among all the belligerent powers, at Munster, in 1648: which formed the basis of the subsequent political system of Europe. Ferdinand III. succeeded his father; but died in 1657, and was succeeded by his son Leopold I., a severe, unamiable, and not very fortunate prince. He had two great powers to coutend with, France and the Turks, and was a loser in his wars with both. Louis XIV. had the two celebrated generals, Condé and Turenne, in his service. The latter had already distinguished himself by great exploits against the Spaniards; and, on the accession of Leopold, the court of France had taken the opportunity of confirming the treaty of Munster, and attaching to her interest several independent princes of Germany. The tranquillity which now too place, however, was not established upon any permanent basis. War with Spain was resumed in 1668; and the great successes of Turenne in the Netherlands excited the ambition of the prince of Condé to attempt the conquest of Franche Compté, then under the protection of the house of Austria. This was accomplished in three weeks but the rapid success of Louis had awakened he jealousy of his neighbours to such a degree, that a league was formed against him by England, Holland, and Sweden; and the French monarch, dreading to enter the lists with such formidable enemies, consented to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; by which, among other articles, Franche Compté was restored. The flames of war were soon renewed by the insatiable ambition of Louis XIV., who, having entered into an alliance with Charles II. of England, aimed at the total overthrow of the Dutch republic. The events of that war will be found related under the article UNITED PROVINCES. The misfortunes of the Dutch excited the compassion of the emperor and king of Spain, who openly declared themselves their allies. Turenne was opposed by the prince of Orange and the celebrated general Montecuculi, whose artful conduct eluded even the penetrating eye of Turenne, and he sat down suddenly before Bonne. Here he was joined by the prince of Orange, who had likewise eluded the vigilance of the French generals. Bonne soon surrendered, and several other places in Cologne fell into the hands of the allies; who likewise cut off the communication between France and the United Provinces; so that Louis was soon obliged to recal his armies, and abandon all his conquests with greater rapidity than they had been made. In 1674 he was deserted by his ally Charles II. of England, and the bishop of Munster and elector of Cologne were compelled to renounce their allegiance to him; but, notwithstanding these misfortunes, he continued every where to make head against his enemies, and even meditated new conquests. With a powerful army he again invaded Franche Compté in person, and, in six weeks, reduced the whole province. In Alsace, Turenne defeated the imperial general at Sintzheim, and ravaged the palatinate, surprised 70,000 Germans, cut in pieces a considerable detachment at Mulhausen, routed the elector of Brandenburg, who had been entrusted with the chief command, near Colmar; gave a third body a similar fate at Turkheim; and obliged the whole German forces at last to evacuate the province, and repass the Rhine. In consequence of these disasters, Montecuculi was recalled to act against Turenne. The military skill of the two commanders seemed to be nearly equal; but, before the superiority could be adjudged to either, Turenne was killed by a cannon ball, in reconnoitreing a situation for erecting a battery. By his death the Imperialists obtained a decided superiority. Montecuculi penetrated into Alsace; and the French, under de Lorges, nephew to the deceased general, were happy in being able to avoid a defeat. Part of the German army now sat down before Treves, where they were opposed by Mareschal Crequi; but his negligence exposed |