AUSTRIA

THIS great empire is situated nearly in the centre of Europe, extending from the 44th to the 51st degree of north latitude, and from the 8th to the 26th degree of east longitude. Its configuration is irregular, but its extent corresponds to that of an oblong of fully 600 miles in length from east to west, and above 400 miles in breadth from north to south. Compared with France, the Austrian dominions have a form nearly as compact, but their frontiers are by no means so strongly defined, nor so well guarded by physical barriers. France resembles a five-sided figure, having on three sides the sea, and on the other sides the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Vosges; while in Austria the chief ranges of mountains are in the interior. In extent of surface, the Austrian dominions considerably exceed those of France, for they cover a space of no less than 260,000 square miles. They comprise a remarkable diversity of tribes, and even nations, differing from each other in language, habits, religion, and comparative civilization.

The component parts of this great empire consist of six countries bearing each the name of kingdom, viz. Hungary, Bohemia, Galicia, Lombardy and Venice, Illyria, and Dalmatia; one archduchy, Austria; one principality, Transylvania; one duchy, Styria; one margraviate, Moravia; and one county, Tyrol. We shall begin with an historical notice of this empire, that our readers may have a distinct view of two important subjects; first, of the means by which Austria, at first a small state, progressively rose into importance; and, next, of those resources by which she withstood the reverses sustained in her long contest with revolutionary France.

The cradle of Austrian power was the fertile tract lying along the southern bank of the Danube to the eastward of the river Ens. It is said to have been overrun and partly colonized by Germans under Charlemagne; but be that as it may, after the empire of Germany was constituted in the ninth century, the district in question, afterwards called Lower Austria, was declared a military frontier for repelling the incursions of the Huns and other barbarous tribes to the eastward. It was called Ost-reich, the east country, from its position relatively to the rest of Germany; and its governor received from the head of the empire the title of margrave (in German mark-graf, or lord of the marches), which his descendants bore for centuries without anticipating the future greatness of their house. Towards the middle of the twelfth century their territory received an important accession in the province west of the Ens, which, from its vicinity to the Alps, and the greater elevation of its surface, was called Upper Austria. The governors of this augmented domain were now raised by the emperors of Germany from the humble rank of margrave to that of duke; and it was one of their number, Duke Leopold, who, towards the end of the twelfth century, ungenerously detained our Richard I. in confinement on his return from the Holy Land. It was at this time also that the important province of Styria came to the dukes of Austria by bequest. Hitherto the ducal residence had been in a castle on the high ground of Kahlenberg, near Vienna; but it was now removed to that city. In 1246 the male branch of the ducal line, originally from Bamberg in Franconia, became extinct, and Austria underwent a long interregnum. The reigning emperor of Germany declared both that duchy and Styria to have lapsed to the imperial crown,

and appointed a lieutenant (statthalter) to govern them on the part of the empire. But claims to the succession were brought forward by descendants of the female branch of the Bamberg line; and after various contests, Ottocar, son of the king of Bohemia, was, in 1262, duly invested with the government of Austria and Styria. Carinthia, Istria, with part of Friuli, soon after devolved on Ottocar by succession; but he forfeited all these advantages by his imprudence in refusing to acknowledge as emperor Rodolph of Hapsburg, who had been regularly elected to that high station. Hostilities ensued; the talents of Rodolph prevailed; and, in 1276, Ottocar was obliged to renounce his title to Austria and its appendant states. Notwithstanding this renunciation, Ottocar re-entered Austria with an army, but soon after fell in battle. The ducal throne being then vacant, Rodolph vested the succession to it in his sons; and having obtained the sanction of the electors of the empire to that important act, the reign of the Hapsburg dynasty over Austria commenced in 1282.

In the beginning of the following century the dukes of Austria lost a part of their Swiss territory by the insurrection of the cantons. This they never recovered; but in 1364 they acquired Tyrol; and Austria, hitherto known only as a remote province, little connected with the improved part of Germany, was soon after brought into contact with the general politics of the empire. The rank of emperor of Germany had been held successively by Saxon, Franconian, Suabian, and Bohemian princes, Austria having as yet supplied only one of the number (Albert I.); but, in 1438, another Albert, duke of Austria, was raised to that dignity, and, from close connection with Bohemia and Hungary, the power of Austria became so much greater than that of any other state in the empire, that from 1438 the imperial crown was regularly vested in the chief of the Austrian family. In the latter part of the century of which we are treating (the fifteenth), Maximilian I., an emperor of the Austrian line, made great additions to the power of his house by matrimonial connections, having himself espoused the heiress of the Netherlands, and afterwards married his son to the heiress of the crown of Spain. Of the latter marriage the issue was the well-known Charles V., who held the crown of Spain by inheritance, and the empire of Germany by election. Several years after his election, viz. in 1527, on the death of the king of Hungary and Bohemia, these extensive countries, formerly held by the house of Austria, reverted to it, along with Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, and were all governed by Ferdinand, a younger brother of Charles. Such were the countries directly or indirectly subject to the sovereign who carried on such obstinate conflicts with France, and was accused, like Louis XIV., of aiming at the sovereignty of Europe.

But the dominions of Charles V. did not long remain under one ruler. Spain was made over to his son Philip, along with the Netherlands; whilst Austria, Hungary, and his German states, were vested in his brother Ferdinand. These formed a splendid possession, but their efficiency in a political sense was not at all proportioned to their extent. A long time elapsed before Hungary and the eastern provinces became cordially attached to the imperial family. The treatment they in general experienced from their sovereigns was far from conciliatory, and the vicinity of the Turks afforded a ready support to insurgents.

Meanwhile, in the north of Germany, the religious antipathy of Catholics and Protestants led first to repeated dissensions, and eventually to the obstinate and sanguinary contest known from its duration (from 1618 to 1648) as the Thirty Years' War. On the one side were the Catholic princes of the empire, with Austria at their head; on the other, Saxony and the Protestant states, assisted at one time by Sweden, and subsequently by France. The most distinguished commanders were Gustavus Adolphus on the part of the Protestants, and, on that of the Catholics, Wallenstein the Austrian. Both were greatly superior to the age in which they lived, and evinced, at the battle of Lutzen, fought in 1632, talents not inferior to those displayed on the same fields in 1813. Wallenstein survived his illustrious opponent, but his end was tragical: he met a violent death by order of his imperial master, against whom he had ventured to conspire. The war was at last ended by the peace of Westphalia, by which Austria was obliged to relinquish Lusatia to Saxony, and Alsace to France.

The peace of Westphalia, like that of Utrecht in a subsequent age, restored tranquillity throughout Europe. It continued many years, and might have lasted much longer, had not the ambition of Louis XIV. alarmed the neighbouring states, and obliged them to look for safety in arms. Belgium, held at that time with a feeble hand by Spain, was the prize at stake; and the dread of that fertile and populous country falling into the power of France called forth the greatest efforts on the part of both Austria and Holland, which, from the extent of its financial means, was at that time a power of great influence. Louis was surrounded by able generals and well-disciplined armies. Flattered with the prospect of success, he attempted the conquest of the Netherlands in no less than three wars, in two of which (those begun in 1672 and 1689) Austria bore a principal part. In the last she received the co-operation of England, which then, for the first time, came forward as a principal in continental coalitions, contributing largely both in troops and subsidies. The chief scenes of conflict were the Netherlands and the banks of the Rhine. The French, acting with all the advantage of unity, had frequently the superiority in action; but the allies, numerous and resolute, were never discouraged by defeat. At last, in 1697, came the peace of Ryswick, which left, as peace often does, the contending parties in nearly the same relative positions as at the outset of the contest. They had the satisfaction, however, of having compelled the aspiring Louis to stop short in his encroachments and schemes of aggrandizement.

But with so restless a prince at the head of a population of 20,000,000, peace could not be of long continuance; and, on the death of the king of Spain, Austria, England, and Holland, found it again necessary to take the field. The question now related not merely to the Netherlands, but whether a French or an Austrian prince should succeed to the crown of Spain. Hence the name of War of the Succession, given to this long contest, which, beginning in 1701, lasted no less than twelve years. The superiority in military skill was now for the first time on the side of the allies. The Austrians and other Germans, subsidized by Holland and England, were led to repeated victories by Eugene and Marlborough. France sent forth numerous armies, and showed, in Villars and Vendôme, generals worthy of the better days of Louis; but in Italy and the Low Countries the allies were completely successful; and it was in Spain only that they failed. Such was the state of circumstances in 1711, when the death of the reigning emperor took place unexpectedly, and the election to that dignity fell on his brother, who had been

destined by the allies to the throne of Spain. The prospect of the junction on one head of the crowns of Spain and Austria brought to recollection the ambitious projects of the emperor Charles V., and inclined many who had supported the war from a dread of France, to consider the transfer of Spain to a grandson of Louis XIV. the less dangerous alternative of the two. This, joined to the change of ministry in England, the removal of Marlborough from the command, and the impatience of the Dutch under so long and burdensome a war, led to the peace of Utrecht, to which Austria, after urgent remonstrances with her allies, and fruitless efforts in the field, acceded, by a treaty concluded the year after (1714) at Baden. Well might she give her assent to a treaty which transferred to her not only the Low Countries, but extensive possessions in both the north and south of Italy.

The emperor, anxious to confirm his authority in Hungary and Transylvania, now directed his troops against the Turks. The latter had, during more than a century, been ready to take part with the insurgents in Hungary against the Austrians, and had at one time, in 1683, advanced to the walls of Vienna, whence they were driven by a Polish army under Sobieski. This was the first serious check given to these confident barbarians. At a subsequent date Prince Eugene defeated them in several actions, and the peace concluded with them at Carlowitz, in 1699, secured to Austria a considerable accession of territory on the side of Hungary. Still that country continued divided and of doubtful allegiance to Austria. Eugene led thither, in 1716, a part of the armies with which he had conquered in Italy and the Netherlands, and applied European tactics against the Turks with distinguished success. The result was a series of splendid successes, and a treaty of peace highly favourable to Austria.

Such, however, was not the case in the last scene of the military career of Eugene, when, nearly twenty years after (in 1735), he headed the Austrian armies on the Rhine. The French had taken the field in support of the claims of Spain on the south of Italy. Austria was evidently overmatched in force; and England, guided by the pacific counsels of Walpole, declining to interfere, the result was a treaty, by which the emperor relinquished to Spain the contested territory in Italy.

In 1740 the death of the reigning emperor, Charles VI., brought to a close the male line of the house of Habsburg, the succession devolving on Charles's daughter, Maria Theresa. The death of Charles became the signal for attack on his dominions by almost all the neighbouring powers; by Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and even by France. But England came forward to support the cause of Austria with a liberal subsidy, while the Hungarians, now united and loyal, recruited her armies. The aspect of affairs was soon altered; the Bavarians were driven back; and the French, who had ventured to advance as far as Bohemia, were obliged to retire to the Rhine. Frederick II. of Prussia proved a more obstinate opponent; and, as the interest of England and Holland called the Austrian forces to the Low Countries to maintain the great contest carrying on in that quarter against France, Maria Theresa was induced to subscribe, first in 1742, and afterwards in 1745, a separate treaty with Frederick, by which she ceded to him the chief part of Silesia. But the unprovoked attack of Frederick sunk deep in her mind; she watched an opportunity of revenge; and, in 1756, formed that coalition of powers against Prussia, which gave rise to a war of seven years, and to an extent of devastation such as Germany had not witnessed for more than a century. On one side was the whole Austrian force, aided by 80,000 French, and, at particular periods of the war, by the Russians and Swedes; on the other stood Prus-

sia and England, inferior numerically to their antagonists, but managing their resources, and directing their military efforts, with all the ability belonging to the character of Frederick and Lord Chatham. On the side of the French there appeared no commander of eminence; but on that of the Austrians, Marshals Daun and Laudohn were generals worthy of being opposed to Frederick. After a number of battles and great alternations of success, both sides became tired of the waste of blood; and a contest, waged for a time with a rapidity of movement and an eagerness for conflict almost equal to those displayed in the French revolution, was marked towards its close by the cautious tactics of Turenne. At last, in 1763, a general peace was concluded, and the rival powers were left very nearly in the same position as at the beginning of the war.

From this time Germany enjoyed peace during thirty years. In 1778 the death of the elector of Bavaria gave rise to pretensions on the part of Austria, which drew once more into the field Frederick II., now grown grey in command. Austria opposed to him forces fully equal in number and scarcely inferior in discipline, but happily the campaign proved bloodless, each side anticipating a close of the dispute by negotiation. In that manner, accordingly, it ended: Austria being content with the cession by Bavaria of the frontier district, called the quarter of the Inn.

Maria Theresa had married Francis duke of Lorraine, who was afterwards elected emperor of Germany, but died in 1765. Their son, Joseph II., was then joined in the sovereign power with his mother; and, on her death in 1780, he became sole ruler. The princes of the house of Austria, disposed rather to follow than to lead, have seldom been the authors of political change; but the emperor Joseph was imbued with all the ardour of a sanguine innovator. He gave a loose to this disposition after 1780, issuing a number of edicts, of which several were praiseworthy in their objects, but abrupt and premature in their operations. He established general toleration in religion, abolished a number of monasteries and convents, dismantled various fortresses, and took steps for new-modeling the existing systems both of law and of national education. Had the public in his dominions been ripe, as in France, for a general political change, Joseph would have been hailed as a subverter of abuses, and as the author of general improvement; but the Austrians, attached to old usages, understood little of his plans, and merely received them with passive acquiescence. The actual effect was thus very limited, notwithstanding the example of new institutions in the United States of America, and soon after in France. But in Belgium the case was different: the contagion of the French revolution spread over the country, and produced a sudden rising against the Austrians. This unexpected revolt, and the chequered success of the war then carrying on against Turkey, are understood to have preyed on the sensitive mind of the emperor, and to have caused his death in 1790.

Leopold, the brother and successor of Joseph, had a very short reign, the crown devolving in 1792 on his son Francis II., the present emperor. Francis had hardly succeeded to it when he found himself involved in a contest with France, the length and vicissitudes of which proved such as to cast into the shade all former wars between that country and Austria. The first important blow was struck in November 1792 at Jemappes, where the numbers and audacity of the French obtained a signal success. Next year the superior efficiency of the Austrian armies secured to them a temporary superiority; but, in 1794, the multitudes of Frenchmen brought forward by the energetic measures of the terrorists, and the talents of commanders such as Pichegru, Moreau,

Kleber, young in years, but full of enterprise and activity, led to the conquest of the Netherlands, and to the retreat of the Austrians beyond the Rhine. France now offered to Austria a separate peace; but England engaging to furnish large subsidies, the emperor declined a treaty that would have involved the cession of Belgium. The French, determined to obtain this cession by force of arms, crossed the Rhine, in the autumn of 1795, with two formidable armies. Prussia had withdrawn from the contest, and allowed the whole weight of it to fall upon the emperor. It was then that the talents of Marshal Clairfayt, as yet known only to military men, became apparent to Europe at large. With numbers inferior to the two French armies collectively, he found means, by rapid movements, to concentrate a force superior to either singly, and drove them across the Rhine with great loss. Next year, however, the French, undismayed by failure, resumed the offensive, and crossed the Rhine again with two armies; one of which penetrated into the heart of Franconia, whilst the other overran Suabia and part of Bavaria. But these armies had not the means of affording each other ready support; they were separated by the Danube, while the Austrians were in possession of the bridges on that river, and could move within a smaller circle. They were thus enabled to repeat their manoeuvre of the preceding year, by detaching a superior force against the French army in Franconia, and thus obliging it not only to evacuate the country it had overrun, but to seek safety beyond the Rhine. Such was also the case with the southern army of the French, although the retreat conducted by Moreau was the subject of general commendation.

But whilst in Germany success inclined to the side of Austria, the case was very different in Piedmont and Lombardy. In Piedmont indeed the war had long been carried on between the French and the allies without decisive success on either side. The opposing forces were nearly equal, and the mountainous nature of the country afforded so many strong positions, that there seemed no means of bringing the contest to a speedy termination. But all this was suddenly changed by the genius of one man. Buonaparte appeared on the scene, and in less than a month after receiving the command, defeated the allies in three engagements; obliged the court of Turin to make a separate peace; and, pouring his forces into Lombardy, drove the Austrians from every position in that country except Mantua. The strength of the latter place, however, bade defiance to the attacks of the French, and enabled the emperor to make repeated attempts for the recovery of Lombardy. No part of the war is more deserving of attention than this campaign; for none displayed in a more striking light the extensive resources of Austria, or the inventive mind of Buonaparte. Threatened in the end of July by an Austrian army of great strength, but which was imprudently advancing in two bodies, he hesitated not a moment in sacrificing his artillery, that by sudden marches he might assail his opponents before they effected a junction. In this he succeeded; but his loss was heavy, and the Austrians were rather repulsed than defeated. Six weeks after, a repetition by Buonaparte of these daring movements was attended with decisive success. When apparently marching against the Austrian troops in Trent, he turned suddenly to the right, and advancing by a valley, reached the head-quarters of their army before they were prepared. The result was a series of actions, which cut off the retreat of their main body, and obliged it to fly for refuge to Mantua. But ere two months had passed the Austrians prepared another army, which, advancing towards Verona, Buonaparte marched to encounter, using in his dispatch to Paris these remarkable words: Il faut frap-

Austria. per l'ennemi comme la foudre, et le balayer dès son premier pas. On this occasion, however, fortune was not favourable to him. He was worsted twice in action (on the 6th and 12th November); yet, far from being discouraged, he conceived the extraordinary plan of quitting his camp at night, and gaining the rear of that army which had twice repulsed him. He reckoned on the effect of a surprise; but his hopes were disappointed by the time unavoidably lost in attacks on the village of Arcole, which stood in his way. The main body of the Austrians had time to advance, and the result was a series of conflicts, attended with great loss on both sides.

Thus ended the campaign of 1796, sanguinary beyond example even in those days of waste of life, and not altogether conclusive in its results. Next year, however, the chances of war were no longer doubtful. The Austrians having reinforced their army, made a final effort to relieve Mantua; but Buonaparte having intercepted a dispatch with their intended plan of operations, was enabled to make such a disposition of his troops as to insure success; and the results were, the victory of Rivoli, the surrender of the force destined to relieve Mantua, and the complete expulsion of the Austrians from Italy. The French now crossed the mountain barrier, and advanced toward the heart of Austria. This, joined to the approach of their armies from the Rhine, obliged the emperor to conclude preliminaries of peace at Leoben, and afterwards a treaty proceeding on these as a basis at Campo Formio. This treaty involved the cession by Austria of Belgium and Lombardy, but gave her, in return, Venice and its dependent provinces, making an absolute loss in population of 1,500,000 souls.

This peace, however, proved only a truce. The absence of a portion of the French armies in Egypt, and the evident misgovernment of the directory, induced England to form a new coalition, and renew the continental contest early in 1799. The Austrian troops took the field, powerful equally in numbers and discipline; and the French, commanded for the first time by inferior leaders, were driven back both in Germany and Italy. The arrival of Russian auxiliaries, and the talents of Suwaroff, bore forward the tide of success, until the autumn of the year, when increased levies on the part of the French, and a better choice of generals, began to turn the scale in their favour. The capricious Paul now withdrew from the coalition, and the Austrians entered on the campaign of 1800 with their own forces only. These proved, as formerly, insufficient to withstand the French, especially when the latter were commanded in Germany by Moreau, in Italy by Buonaparte. Battles, unfortunately too decisive, took place; the victories of Hoherlinden and Marengo led to the treaty of Lunéville, and to the cession by Austria of almost all her Venetian acquisitions.

This peace, though not so short as the preceding, lasted only four years. In 1805 Austria and Russia, provoked by Buonaparte's aggressions, and stimulated by English subsidies, took the field with numerous armies; but the successive overthrows at Ulm and Austerlitz rendered peace again indispensable to Austria. It was obtained (6th August 1806) by the surrender of the remainder of the Venetian territory, of the Tyrol, and of various districts, comprising a sacrifice in all of three millions of subjects. Soon after these reverses, Francis II. renounced the title and authority of emperor of Germany, and assumed the title of emperor of Austria. Taught by repeated disasters, he remained passive in the great contest in 1806 and 1807 between France, Prussia, and Russia; but in 1809 the war in Spain having withdrawn a very large portion of the French force, he ventured once more to try his fortune in the field. The Austrian armies were numerous; but Buonaparte had still

a powerful French force at command, and was aided by all the troops of the confederation of the Rhine. The Austrians, worsted in Bavaria, retreated to Vienna; and although temporary hopes were excited by their success at Aspern (21st and 22d May), they were blasted by the disastrous day of Wagram, and peace was again purchased by a sacrifice of territory containing more than three millions of inhabitants. Austria, now reduced to a population of twenty millions, remained in peace during the years 1810, 1811, and 1812; but when the disasters of the French in Russia once more raised the hopes of Germany, and brought friendly standards into Saxony, Austria took part with the grand alliance, and her troops bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Leipsic and the invasion of France. The definitive treaties of 1814 and 1815 reinstated her in all her former territories, except Belgium, and gave her substantial additions on the side of Italy. Satisfied with these, the Austrian government has ever since wisely abstained from war, directing its attention to the reinstatement of its finances, and the promotion of its productive industry.

Population of the Austrian Empire in 1831; the provinces classified by the comparative density of the inhabitants.

Such are the constituent portions of this great empire. Differing as they do in climate, soil, language, and customs, no general description can possibly apply to the whole. We shall therefore recapitulate the chief characteristics of each in succession, classing them in the following order: The archduchy of Austria; Hungary and the adjacent provinces; Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia; the Alpine Provinces; Lombardy and Venice.

AUSTRIA, THE ARCHDUCHY.

The archduchy of Austria consists of two nearly equal parts, viz. Upper and Lower Austria. The river Danube, flowing northward from the Alps to the Danube, intersects the archducal territory nearly in the middle; the country to the east of the river being Lower, and that to

the west Upper Austria. Lower Austria, in particular the fertile tract adjoining the Danube above and below Vienna, formed originally the nucleus of that union of states which now constitute the second empire in Europe. That district is both the site of the capital and the seat of extensive manufactures. These consist principally of woollens, cottons, and hardware, the yearly value of which, added to the lesser fabrics of hardware, leather, glass, hats, and paper, is computed at three or four millions sterling. In the mountainous part of the province are mines of iron, coal, and rock salt; but the wealth derived from these is slight compared with that resulting from the agricultural products of the more level part of the country. These consist of wheat, barley, oats, and other crops raised in England; and, in the warmer situations, of maize and vines. Advantage is taken here, as in Lombardy, of the numerous streams which flow from the mountains in the south towards the Danube. They are used for irrigation, the great desideratum of the agriculturist in a warm situation. Besides, the produce of the land along the Danube, from Vienna to the Bavarian frontier, has been greatly increased within the last half century, by the use of marl. The traveller, in pursuing this track, sees in all directions a quantity of marl pits, wrought with great activity; but still the crops raised are much smaller than they would be under a system like that of our improved countries.

Upper Austria, or the country west of the Enns, was added to the sister province in the twelfth century: it is called Upper, from its comparative vicinity to the Alps, and its greater elevation of surface. Its wealth consists not in manufactures, but in agricultural produce. It is too cold for the culture of the vine; but the low grounds are productive in corn, while the pasturages are extensive both in the hills and the valleys. The sides of the mountains are covered with forests, the timber of which finds to a certain extent an outlet by navigable rivers, of which the chief are the Enns, the Salzach, the Traun, and the Trasen. One of the principal sources of employment to the lower orders in the forest-lands consists in felling their timber and conveying it to these rivers, whence it is floated to the towns along their banks, or to the Danube, the great channel for the transport of bulky commodities. Upper Austria, since the acquisition of Salzburg, has an extent (about 7500 square miles) nearly equal to that of Lower Austria; but in population it is far inferior, containing only 900,000 inhabitants, while the lower province reckons 1,300,000.

Population of the Chief Towns.

The early inhabitants of Austria are understood to have come partly from among the Germans in the west, partly from the Slavonian tribes in the north and east. German is now almost the sole language of the inhabitants, but it differs considerably from the German spoken in Saxony. As to religion, almost all the inhabitants are Catholics. Situated to the south-east of Germany, and comparatively backward in civilization, Austria was long considered as rather an outwork than an integral part of the empire; it was not until 1438 that the election to the imperial crown fell almost invariably on the head of the house of Hapsburg. The power of the sovereign in the archduchy is almost unlimited, but it is exercised with mildness, and with the concurrence of a parliament or states, composed, as in the other great divisions of the monarchy, of prelates, noblemen, and the deputies from the barons and principal towns.

The most extensive of the great divisions of the Austrian empire, is of an oblong or rather heptagonal form: its length is 370 miles, its general breadth above 300, and its superficial extent, nearly 9000 square miles, is equal to that of Great Britain. For the purposes of administration, Hungary is divided into four circles or provinces, called respectively the circle north of the Danube, the circle south of the Danube, the circle west of the Theiss, and the circle east of the Theiss.

The latitude of Hungary is between 45° and 49° north. The degree of elevation of the surface is very different in different parts, the Carpathian range extending over a great part of the west and north of the kingdom, while the central and south-east divisions consist of a succession of plains. The climate is marked by equal differences, the mountainous districts being cold, while the plains are warm, and, in the summer months, much hotter than in England. The products of the higher grounds are oats, barley, rye; of the lower, wheat, maize; and in the rich alluvial soil adjoining the rivers, rice. But tillage is as yet extremely backward in Hungary, the improvements so familiar to our agriculturists, such as draining, irrigating, and even inclosing, being here almost unknown; while iron being high priced for the means of the farmers, their implements are wretched, and their ploughs do little more than scratch or move the surface of the ground. The poverty of the peasantry in most parts of Hungary is such, that to pay their rent in money is out of the question: they accordingly discharge it partly in produce, partly in personal service.

The climate of Hungary being sufficiently warm for the vine, its cultivation is carried on extensively, though with much less skill than in France. Hemp, flax, and tobacco, are also raised in considerable quantities. Though artificial grasses are unknown in this country, the natural pastures are good; and horses from Hungary form, as is well known to military men, a large proportion of the Austrian light cavalry,—though small of size, they are swift and active. As to horned cattle, this is perhaps the only country in Europe that can vie with England. The oxen are large and well shaped, and roam over the pasture districts in vast herds: but they are exposed with little or no shelter to the cold of winter and to the heat of summer; and hence at certain seasons there have occurred among them diseases attended with great mortality. The sheep in like manner pass almost the whole year in the open air; and the shepherds may be said to share in this exposure, having no habitations that deserve the name. The quality of the wool, though greatly inferior to that of Saxony, has received improvement in the course of the present age.

Appropriation of the land in Hungary, Sclavonia, and Croatia, exhibited in proportions of 100:—

This shows but too plainly how great a proportion of Hungary and the adjacent provinces is still in a neglected and half-cultivated state. In some parts the extent of sandy plain is so great as to remind the traveller of an African desert, and to fatigue the eye by an horizon without a boundary. The extent of marsh land in Hungary is computed at 3000 English square miles; but there are also large tracts along the banks of rivers lost to cultivation.

Austria. tion, from occasional inundations caused by heavy rains or the melting of snow in the Alps and Carpathians.

The chief towns of Hungary are as follows:—

Such are the only towns containing 10,000 inhabitants or upwards, in a population of nearly nine millions. Four-fifths of the inhabitants of Hungary are scattered over the country in huts; and in fact the towns, with the exception of the three which stand first on the list, are little more than collections of cottages. In a country so deficient in town population, and so backward in other respects, manufactures are necessarily in a rude state. They are limited to coarse woollens, coarse linen, and other articles woven in the cottage of the manufacturer, in the homely manner of our ancestors two centuries ago. Tobacco is raised and manufactured here in large quantities, but it is consumed in the country. There are mines of iron, copper, lead, gold, and silver, but all of limited extent. The foreign trade of Hungary is confined to an annual import of manufactured goods, and an export of wool, hides, and other raw materials. The Danube traverses almost the whole kingdom from west to east, as does the Theiss from north to south; and the depth of both is such as to admit the ready passage of vessels down their streams, but the navigation upwards will be difficult until aided by steam or mechanical power. The chief intercourse in Hungary, whether for produce or merchandise, is consequently carried on by land; and Debretzin owes its comparatively large population (42,000) to its position on one of the very few high roads in this country, where it is a central station for traffic between Transylvania in the east and Hungary in the west.

The name of Hungary (in German Ungarn) is said to be derived, not from the Huns, who entered this country in such numbers under Attila in the fifth century, but from the word Unger, "new comer," applied by the natives to invaders of later date. Be that as it may, the population of Hungary is of a very mixed character, whether we consider their origin, religion, or language. As to religion, the computation is, that the Catholics amount to 5,000,000, the Protestants to above 2,000,000, the Greek church to 1,800,000, and the Jews to 160,000. Germans, or descendants of Germans, reside in most of the larger towns; and whatever can be termed improved husbandry has been introduced from their country, from Austria, Bavaria, and Suabia. The Germans are found chiefly in the west of Hungary, the part nearest to the empire, but they bear a small proportion to the rest of the population. At the head of the latter are the Magyars or Madjars, the descendants of a tribe from the east of the Wolga, who settled in Hungary under a leader of the name of Arpad in the ninth century. They are a comely and spirited race, who prefer agriculture and the tending of cattle to mechanical employments. The aborigines were doubtless of the Slavonian race, and their descendants consist at the present day of various tribes, viz. the Slowacs, the Rascians or Servians, the Reusniacs (from Red Russia), and the Wallachians. The most numerous of these different tribes are the Slowacs. The languages spoken in Hungary are almost as varied as

the descent of the inhabitants. The Magyar is properly the Hungarian language, and is spoken currently by all who bear the name of Magyar; but as it is wholly different from German, Latin, which is generally understood, and even spoken by the upper classes, is made the vehicle, not only of official business, but of newspapers, or whatever is intended for general circulation.

The political connection between Hungary and Austria goes back nearly four centuries, the crown having devolved to the Austrian family in 1437, and having been vested ever since 1527 in the head of that house. A very long time, however, elapsed before the Austrian government became popular in Hungary. On the one side despotic habits and intolerance in religion, on the other the restless spirit of the great barons, were the cause of repeated insurrections, and of coalitions with the Turks, which twice (in 1529 and 1683) brought an Ottoman army to the walls of Vienna. Montecuculi, Sobieski, and Prince Eugene, successively routed these undisciplined hosts; but it was not until the early part of last century (in 1718), when the final victories of Prince Eugene drove the Turks out of Hungary, and the court of Vienna adopted a conciliating course, that the Hungarians, as a nation, became impressed with that attachment to their Austrian sovereigns which has ever since been eminently their characteristic.

In no country is the line more strongly drawn between the upper and the lower classes. The former have an exclusive right to public appointments; and a grant of land by the sovereign to a plebeian must be accompanied by a patent of rank, the right of possessing land in Hungary being confined to the higher classes. They are exempt also from all direct imposts; tithes, toll-dues, and a tax called the thirtieth penny, being all assessed on the peasantry and the inhabitants of towns. The duty of the nobility and gentry in Hungary is of a higher order; it is to serve personally under their sovereign, taking up arms whenever a war has received the approbation of the diet. The emperor Joseph II. was inclined to put his Hungarian subjects on a more equal footing; but he found, on the one hand, that the lower classes were not ripe for the advancement he intended them, and on the other, that what seemed their greatest grievance (an undue share of taxation) was more nominal than real, the peasantry obtaining in their rents, and the inhabitants of towns in the enhanced price of articles, an indemnity for their greater share of the public burdens.

The regular or standing army in Hungary in time of peace is about 50,000 men; in war that number is readily doubled, at the call of the crown, by an extraordinary levy called insurrectio. In the frontier line extending along the Turkish territory, military service is accepted from the inhabitants in lieu of tithe and taxes, so that there is a strong permanent militia in that quarter. The public revenue of Hungary is between L.3,000,000 and L.4,000,000 sterling. It is derived partly from the regalia or rights of the crown, such as the crown-lands, the monopoly of salt, the mines, and assessments on the church lands; partly from taxes voted by the diet, such as a land-tax, a poll-tax, and an impost on cattle. The diet or parliament consists here, as in Bohemia, of four "states" or classes: the Catholic prelates, the magnates or peers, the representatives of the inlyti or landholders, and the deputies from towns. The two first mentioned form the upper, the two last the lower house. The president of the former is the prince palatine, and in his absence the noble of highest rank; in the lower house the imperial, or, as he is here termed, the royal commissioner, is president. The deliberations generally proceed in separate chambers; but in case of non-agreement, the two are

united in one, and questions are decided by a majority of votes. No serious division, however, has for a long time taken place either in the diet or between the diet and the executive government. The power of the sovereign in Hungary, though not so great as in Bohemia or the hereditary states, is very considerable, comprising not only the executive administration, but the proposition of all bills to the diet, and the patronage of the Catholic church. A council of state at Buda, and a higher council at Vienna, constitute what may be termed the cabinets for the affairs of Hungary.

The principality of Transylvania is very extensive, having a territory of considerably more than 20,000 square miles, with a population of nearly two millions. It is situated to the east of Hungary, and its name was given to it on account of the vast forests which separate it from that kingdom. Its surface is very diversified, consisting of alternate mountains and valleys. In so wide a tract of country there is necessarily a number of plains; but few of them are of great extent. The changes of temperature consequent on change of wind are frequent, and, at times, great in degree. The soil, though not deficient in natural fertility, has as yet been little cultivated: the chief products are maize and vines in warm situations; wheat, oats, and barley, on the higher grounds. The forests have long been, and still are, very extensive. There are here a number of mines of the precious metals, which, though less profitable than is commonly supposed, give employment to many thousands of the lower class. The manufactures are generally in a rude state, and can hardly be otherwise so long as the country remains destitute of conveyance by water, or of good roads. The inhabitants are chiefly of Sclavonian descent, and with as many varieties as in Hungary, each tribe adhering to its peculiar customs, though settled in the immediate vicinity of other tribes. The prevailing religion of the Transylvanians is that of the Greek church: it is professed by nearly three fourths of the population, while the Protestants amount to 400,000, and the Catholics to only half the number. To one or other of these belong the descendants of Germans who settled in this country, and who are in number about 400,000. The constitution of Transylvania is nearly the same as in Hungary, the diet or representative body being on a similar footing. The languages spoken here are as various as in Hungary; Latin being used for public papers and communications of importance, the Magyar for personal intercourse. The public revenue is about 500,000 a year.

Croatia, an extensive province to the south-west of Hungary, is marked by physical features similar to those of Upper Austria or Carinthia, being pervaded by mountains in almost every direction. The climate consequently differs according to the elevation of the soil, the degree of cold being in many parts nearly as great as on the Carpathian Mountains; while the tract along the coast of the Adriatic has a comparatively mild climate, as also the plains in the interior. In the latter are raised maize, vines, and the fruits common in the south of Europe. The forests of Croatia are of great extent, consisting of oak, elm, ash, beech, and, in the higher grounds, of fir and pines. The mines, though naturally productive, are as yet very imperfectly wrought, not excepting those of iron. The extent of this province is between 5000 and 6000 square miles. The inhabitants, in number about 600,000, are almost all Catholics: the majority are of Sclavonian descent, and speak the language of their ancestors. The Germans are comparatively few, and are the descendants of those who from time to time settled in this uncivilized quarter to exercise mechanical employments, with which the natives were unacquainted.

Sclavonia, situated to the east of Croatia, is somewhat less extensive, having a surface of about 5000 square miles, with a population of 370,000. The figure of this province is long and narrow; its northern frontier, formed by the Drave and Danube, separating it from Hungary, while the Save, also a large river, divides it on the south from the Turkish territory. From its position under the 45th and 46th degrees of north latitude, its climate would be warm throughout, were it not traversed throughout its whole length by a chain of lofty mountains, covered with forests. The consequence is, that the low grounds alone have a sufficient degree of temperature for the cultivation of maize and the fruits of the south of Europe. The higher districts produce wheat, barley, flax, hemp, and madder. The rivers and streams flowing from the hills often inundate the low country, and leave, as in Hungary, a quantity of stagnant water, the effect of which is very injurious to health. The dwellings of the peasantry are in general mere mud huts; but in the forest tracts they are log-houses covered with slate. This extreme poverty of Sclavonia is to be ascribed to its having been long the seat of war between the Turks and Hungarians; for it was not till the year 1700 that it came definitively into the possession of Austria. The majority of the inhabitants are consequently of the Greek church; the Germans settled here being, as in Croatia, comparatively few.

The Military Frontiers form a long and narrow tract of The Military country, extending several hundred miles, from the Car- pathians in the east to the Adriatic in the west, along the tary Frontiers. confines of Transylvania, Hungary, Sclavonia, and Croatia. The climate, the state of agriculture, and the degree of civilization, are similar to those of the adjoining provinces. After the year 1718, when the successes of Prince Eugene had obliged the Turks to cede this country to Austria, a constitution adapted to a frontier district was framed for it, and has continued in force ever since. Its fundamental principle is to enable the inhabitants to defend themselves by being accustomed to the use of arms, and by giving personal service in the field in lieu of taxes and the rent of land. Every man along this extensive line may be said to be born a soldier; at least in every family one of the males is bound to do military duty, and all are liable to serve when called on. In return they are exempted from tithe and all direct taxes. They have also assigned to them portions of land, which descend from father to son. Even civil affairs in this country are conducted in a military form; the different magistrates bearing the rank respectively of generals, colonels, and captains. The population of this extensive line of country is nearly 1,000,000, the efficient force about 50,000 militia.

Bohemia, which ranks immediately after Hungary Situation among the great members of the Austrian union, bears and extent. the title of kingdom, and is amply entitled to it by its extent, its population, and its progressive improvement. Backward as it still is, its resources, as the imperial government is well aware, are of a nature very different from those afforded by the mountainous provinces of the Alps, or the half-civilized districts on the side of Turkey. It is situated between the 48th and 51st degrees of north latitude; its form is an irregular square; its area, not yet accurately ascertained, is computed at fully 20,000 square miles, or three fourths of the extent of Scotland. It is separated from the surrounding countries by ranges of mountains which encircle it on every side. From this, and from the general appearance of the interior, there seems little doubt that in an early age the chief part of Bohemia was covered with water, and that such conti-

Austria. nued the case until an outlet was opened at the northern and least elevated part of the chain, in the direction by which the Elbe still flows, carrying with it the waters of tributary streams from almost every part of the kingdom.

This separation from the adjacent countries, particularly from the comparatively improved states of Saxony on the north and Franconia on the west, necessarily operated to the disadvantage of Bohemia, and retarded its advance in civilization. German settlers resorted to it from time to time, but individually or in small parties, never in numerous bodies, or in a manner that enabled them to disseminate extensively the improvements of their respective countries.

History. Of the aboriginal inhabitants of Bohemia there are no distinct accounts; but the name of the country confirms the current tradition that they were the Boii, a well-known Celtic tribe. Christianity appears to have been introduced among them only towards the close of the ninth century, the era of the commencement of their historical records. The ruler or governor then bore the name of grand duke, and the succession under that, as under the subsequent title of king, was for a long time elective. In the thirteenth century Ottocar I., a prince of ability, passed laws similar to those which were enacted in England about the same time by Edward I., exempting the inhabitants of villages from dependence on the neighbouring barons, and enabling them to possess their little properties in security. His son and successor, Ottocar II., followed a similar course; a system of laws was compiled and reduced to writing in German; and Prague, the capital, became a town of importance. Bohemia was, as is well known, the country of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who exposed the fallacies of the church of Rome, but at too early a date; for the public, not then enlightened by the art of printing and the circulation of sound doctrines, misunderstood their views; a civil war burst out, and the result tended to perpetuate the abuses which these well-meaning men had laboured to remove.

The crown of Bohemia, like that of Hungary, had at different intervals been held from marriage connection by princes of the house of Austria; but in 1526 both crowns devolved on the head of that house, and have ever since been held by it in hereditary succession.

Climate and soil. The climate of Bohemia varies greatly, according to the elevation of the ground; the plains and valleys being warm, while the mountains in the south, as in the north, are cold and bleak. The annual fall of rain differs in like manner according to situation; but 20 inches a year is said to be a frequent average. The soil of Bohemia is in general good, but the agriculture extremely backward. The chief products, as in a similar latitude in England, are wheat, barley, rye, oats, potatoes; also hemp, flax, and hops. In some warm situations vines are cultivated, but as yet on a small scale. The pastures, on the other hand, are extensive, and in many parts as good as those of Saxony and Silesia; but the inhabitants are far behind their neighbours in the management of their flocks and the quality of their wool. In the rearing and training of horses the case is otherwise: considerable improvement has been made in both, studs having been established in different parts of the country by the Austrian government, which draws a large proportion of its cavalry from this quarter.

Forests, rivers. The forests of Bohemia are of great extent; and large quantities of timber are annually cut down and shipped in the parts adjoining a navigable river. The Elbe and Moldau are of great use for the conveyance of these as well as of other bulky commodities. The Elbe rises in the east of the kingdom; but the Moldau, which at their junction is the larger river, rises in the southern extremity of

Bohemia, and has a course of above 150 miles, nearly the whole width of the kingdom. The Eger, the river next in size, rises in the west, and has a course of about 100 miles, with a less rapid current than the Moldau.

Bohemia is divided into sixteen circles or counties, varying, of course, in extent and population, but containing on an average nearly 1300 square miles, and 250,000 inhabitants.

Population of the Chief Towns.

Besides these there are about fifteen petty places with 2000, 3000, or 4000 inhabitants each; but altogether the town population, with the exception of the capital, is insignificant. That of the country is very different: it approaches in density to that of Ireland; the farms being small, and the cultivation being carried on almost wholly by manual labour.

The manufactures of Bohemia have made considerable progress in the last and present age: they consist chiefly of woollens, linen, and leather, but they comprise also cottons, hardware, and glass. The value of these different fabrics approaches to an annual total of three millions sterling, a large amount for so poor a country. Great part of the woollen and linen is woven, as in the last age in England, in cottages. The mountains contain ores of iron, lead, tin, cobalt, and silver; but iron alone is extracted on a large scale. The foreign trade of Bohemia with Saxony and the north of Germany is carried on by the Elbe, but with most other parts by land-carriage. The communication now making, partly by canal, partly by railway, from the Moldau to the Danube, will be of great advantage to Bohemia, as will a farther extension of the turnpike roads, which at present hardly exceed 1000 miles in total length, or one twentieth of the roads of England; and nowhere are good roads more wanted than in Bohemia, for business there is still carried on, in a great measure, by itinerant dealers, who pass the summer in conveying their goods to public fairs held periodically at the different towns.

The population of Bohemia has greatly increased in the last and present age. In 1791 it was considerably below 3,000,000. At present it amounts to 3,900,000, and bids fair to rise soon to 4,000,000. Of these about a third part are of German extraction, the other two thirds being descended from the aboriginal stock. The ancestors of the Germans settled here from time to time, as mechanics, miners, and traders; employments which the uninstructed natives, like the cottagers of Ireland, were not capable of exercising. At present, even, it is by the German part of the population that whatever relates to public business or to foreign trade is conducted; the Bohemians generally confining themselves to husbandry in the country, or to common labour in towns. The middle classes, in general, speak both German and Bohemian; but the latter, which is quite different from German, is the only language of the lower orders, particularly in remote districts. The power of the sovereigns is as great in Bohemia as in any part of the Austrian dominions. The parliament or states consist of four classes of members; the clergy, the great nobility, the nobility of the second class, and the representatives of the chief towns. But their duties are little more than nominal. They deliberate on the measures proposed to them by the royal commissioner, but they have no power to originate a bill. As to public revenue, Bohemia contributes fully two millions to the imperial treasury, and maintains a force in regulars and militia of 50,000 men.

Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, which is now annexed to it, contain an area of 11,000 square miles, with a population of 2,000,000, a degree of density approaching to that of England, and nearly double the average population of Germany. This is owing chiefly to the fertility of the soil; for although chains of mountains cross the country in several directions, the plains and valleys are extensive, yielding in abundance wheat, rye, oats, barley, and, in the warmer situations, vines. The pastures also are good, and a number of horses and horned cattle are exported annually. Here, as in Bohemia, the majority of the inhabitants are of Sclavonian descent; and the language of the lower orders is not German, but a dialect of the Sclavonic. Moravia resembles Bohemia in other respects,—in the religion of its inhabitants, who are chiefly Catholics; and in the limited power of its states or parliament, who deliberate on such subjects only as are proposed to them by the executive government. But it surpasses Bohemia, and every part of the Austrian dominions, except the Vienna district, in its extent of manufactures and the use of machinery. Woollens, linen, and, since the beginning of the present century, cottons, are here made in large quantities, both for home consumption and export.

Austrian Silesia has an area of 1900 square miles, with a population of 400,000. It consists of two circles or counties, called, from their respective chief towns, Troppau and Teschen; but, for the administration of justice and other public purposes, Austrian Silesia is considered as united with Moravia. It resembles that country, too, in the activity of its productive industry. The density of its population is owing less to an advanced state of tillage than to extensive manufactures of linen and woollens. The pastures of this country are in general rich, and the export of wool, already considerable, is likely to increase.

Galicia bears the title of kingdom, to which it is well entitled; for its territory, above 32,000 square miles, is greater than that of Scotland, and its population, distinct from that of the Buckowine, exceeds 4,000,000. It is of an oblong form, and is divided for purposes of government into two parts, called respectively East and West Galicia. The name of Lodomeria (in Polish Włodomir) is now obsolete, or used only in diplomatic papers. The whole belonged formerly to Poland; and in its physical aspect Galicia greatly resembles that country, consisting of a succession of plains, with few elevations except in the south, where it is intersected by a part of the Carpathian range. The climate is consequently temperate, and even warm. The chief products are, as in a similar latitude in England, wheat, oats, rye, and barley. The summer heats being much greater than in this country, the culture of the vine is practicable in certain situations, but has not yet been carried to any considerable length. The pastures, on the other hand, are extensive, and supply the Austrian cavalry with a number of good horses. Farming, however, is as backward here as in the rest of Poland, or in the least improved parts of Germany. The peasantry, till lately in a state of servitude, have still the indolent habits of vassals, and must often be driven to their labour by compulsion. The roads in Galicia are in general very bad, and the extent of river navigation is very limited; but the level surface of the country is favourable to the forming of both roads and canals; and were Galicia less distant from the sea, its exports, particularly of corn, would soon become considerable. German is the language for public documents and official business, but Polish is spoken by the people at large. In like manner, as to religion, the Roman Catholic is the established faith; but the majority of the inhabitants, being of Sclavonian descent, are of the Greek church. Here, as in the rest of Poland, the dealers and traffickers are

almost all Jews, whose total number approaches to half a million. Of the backwardness of this country in manufactures and the mechanical arts we may judge by the smallness of the town population; Lemberg, the capital, being the only place which as yet sends deputies to the Galician diet. The members of that assembly consist wholly of prelates and landholders.

Extensive as the portion of Galicia subject to Austria is at present, it was formerly still larger. Russia having taken part against Austria in the disastrous campaign of 1809, the latter power was obliged by Buonaparte to cede to Russia the eastern part of Galicia. Nor was this valuable territory restored in the general adjustment of 1815, because the principle of that adjustment was, that Russia should be indemnified in Poland, as Austria was in Italy, and Prussia on the banks of the Rhine.

The Buckowine is an extensive district, formerly part of Moldavia, but ceded by the Turks to Austria in 1777. Buckowine now forms a circle or county of Galicia, having an area of 3700 square miles, and a population of 260,000. The western part adjoining the Carpathian Mountains is high and barren; but the rest of the country is in general fertile. The forests of oak are here of great extent, and seem to have given name to the country, buckow in Sclavonian signifying an oak.

THE ALPINE PROVINCES.

The duchy of Styria, one of the earliest acquisitions of Styria. the Austrian family, has an extent of nearly 9000 square miles, with a population of 850,000, of whom more than half are of German descent, while the remainder are Wends or Sclavonians. The inhabitants differ in language, but are agreed in religion, being almost all Catholics. Styria bears a resemblance to the adjoining province of Carinthia, both in soil and climate; Upper Styria being very mountainous, while in Lower Styria the ground has less elevation as it recedes from the Alps. Hence a corresponding difference in temperature and products; the mountainous part being covered with forests, and fit only for pasture, while the plains and valleys produce wheat, barley, oats, rye, and, in the warmer situations, maize. The culture of potatoes, though introduced less than a century ago, has now become general, and has been the means of adding largely to the population. The mines are extensive, particularly those of coal and iron; the steel of Styria is as noted in Germany as the Swedish steel in the north of Europe. Salt also is obtained here in great abundance.

Tyrol bears in official papers no higher name than that Tyrol. of county (in German Graf-schaft); but it is by far the largest county in Europe, having an extent of above 15,000 square miles, with a population of 780,000. It is traversed in every direction by mountains, many of them of great height; while the low grounds consist, not of plains of any extent, but of a succession of long valleys to the number of more than twenty. In these the climate is comparatively warm, and the soil in many parts fertile, producing corn in considerable quantity, and, in favourable situations, vines. The ploughs and agricultural implements used in this country are extremely rude; but the inhabitants show both ingenuity and industry in cultivating slopes and summits, wherever there is enough of soil to reward their labour. In this mountainous region waterfalls are frequent, and many of them are made available to the movement of mills and other machinery. Mineral ores are found in Tyrol to an extent that justifies the expectation that they may be made to afford eventually considerable employment and income to the inhabitants; but in a country so rugged in its surface, and so

Austria. deficient in machinery, little progress has as yet been made in working mines. Manufactures are equally backward; the work required for them, whether spinning, knitting, or weaving, being almost all performed by the hand.

The domestic animals in Tyrol are, in general, of a diminutive size. The forests contain wolves, bears, goats, and many other animals in a wild state; hence the number of chasseurs or sportsmen in Tyrol, and their dexterity as sharp-shooters, so frequently evinced in the late wars. The Tyrolese, though of a warlike character, and strongly attached to the house of Austria, dislike the restraints of discipline. They perform, however, militia duty, and are called out for training during several weeks in the year.

The language of the Tyrol is German. Like the other provinces of the Austrian empire, it has its states or parliament, composed of deputies from the clergy and nobility, to whom there have been added, for some time past, deputies from the peasantry.

Carinthia. Carinthia adjoins Tyrol, and, like it, consists of a succession of mountains separated by narrow valleys. It contains a number of lakes, formed, as in the highlands of Scotland and other mountainous countries, by water collecting in hollows, and finding no outlet, except at a considerable height. Tillage is here on a very limited scale; but the pastures are more extensive, and the forests which cover the sides of the mountains would be very valuable, were it practicable to convey the trees to a navigable river. The mines of this province are extensive, particularly those of iron, lead, and quicksilver. The extent of Carinthia is 4000 square miles; its population 300,000. The chief towns are Clagenfurth and Villach.

Carniola. Carniola, the adjacent province, is more populous than Carinthia; because, though mountainous in the north, it has in the south extensive valleys and fertile plains. Here are also a number of mines of iron, lead, and quicksilver. The agricultural products are not merely wheat, rye, and barley, as in Carinthia, but maize and vines, the sure indication of a warmer sun. Of a population of half a million, only a tenth part are of German descent; the rest are Slavonians. Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, and part of Friuli, form the present kingdom of Illyria, which is divided, for purposes of administration, into two great districts or governments, Laybach and Trieste.

Dalmatia. Dalmatia, though dignified with the title of kingdom, is a long, narrow, and, as yet, thinly peopled tract, extending along the east shore of the Adriatic, from lat. 42. to 45. It comprises the whole of what was formerly Venetian Dalmatia, along with the smaller territories of Ragusa and Cattaro. Its extent is about 6000 square miles; its population 340,000. Its agricultural products, maize, vines, olives, and silk, give proof of a climate considerably warmer than in any of the above-mentioned provinces. Here, as in those provinces, the ranges of mountains are extensive; but there are also beautiful and fertile valleys. The iron mines and the marble quarries of Dalmatia are both of great extent; but as yet they are little wrought, on account chiefly of the thinness of the population. Such parts of the forests as adjoin navigable rivers, or have ready means of conveyance to the coast, are made available for ship-building; the Austrian government adopting the views of Buonaparte in considering Dalmatia of great importance towards forming a navy. No part of Europe abounds more with good harbours than the mainland of Dalmatia, and the numerous islands along the coast.

Austrian Italy. We now enter on a very different scene; for nothing can exhibit a stronger contrast than the portion of Italy subject to Austria, and the mountainous provinces which

separate it from the rest of the empire. In treaties and other public acts, this country is styled the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, from its two great divisions, situated respectively to the east and west of the river Mincio, which, flowing from north to south, divides the country into two nearly equal parts. Lombardy, or the western province, is called the government of Milan; while the province to the east of the Mincio is the government of Venice. Each government is further divided into delegations, each of the extent of our middle-sized counties, as follows:

The amount of town population exhibited in this list is far beyond that of any other portion of the Austrian empire; and the same holds in regard to the agriculture and manufactures of this interesting country. Its extent is 18,000 square miles, about two thirds of that of Ireland, and it is level almost throughout; its large and beautiful plains extending with little interruption from the Ticino or Tesin on the western frontier, to Venice on the east, a distance of 200 miles. The soil, naturally rich, is so much improved by centuries of cultivation, that it has been frequently called the garden of Europe. The warmth of the climate makes irrigation the chief desideratum with the husbandman, and his labours for that purpose are greatly facilitated by the number of rivers and streams flowing from the Alps across extensive plains to the Po. Wheat, maize, rice, and vines, are the principal products, to which are to be added silk, flax, and hemp. The pastures also are rich and extensive. The chief exports are corn, cattle, silk, wool, and fruits.

The population of Austrian Italy is nearly four and a half millions. It was under the control of France during eighteen years, from 1796 to 1814. It was then re-occupied by the Austrians, and erected into a kingdom, which, though declared to be inseparable from the Austrian crown, has a constitution of its own, with a prince of the imperial family at its head having the title of viceroy. Its revenue is larger in proportion to its extent than that of any other part of the empire except Vienna and its district. Venice is the city of the north of Italy which has the least partaken of prosperity in the present age; a natural consequence of its loss of sovereignty in 1797. But it is now declared a free port by the Austrian government; and the inhabitants have hopes of recovering, in some degree, the commercial activity of former ages.

After this description of particular portions of the empire, we shall proceed to state what is common to the whole under the following heads:—Physical Aspect, Soil, and Climate; Products, Manufactures, and Trade; National Income; Military Establishment; Religion, Education, and National Character; Government and Laws; Foreign Politics.

Of the rivers in the Austrian territory, by far the most interesting is the Danube. Before entering the imperial

dominions, it receives a number of rivers flowing northward from the Alps, of which the principal are the Inn, the Iser, the Iller, and the Leck. It next receives the Enns, and flows eastward with a full stream, varying in breadth from a quarter to half a mile. It is bordered throughout this part of its course by high grounds or ridges of mountains, the distance of which from the water is generally greater on the south than on the north side. It is of sufficient depth to bear barges and large boats throughout the whole Austrian territory, and in Hungary it admits vessels of considerable size. Its navigation, however, is not easy, its banks being in various parts steep and rocky; while in the level countries, in which its waters are more widely spread, its bed is often encumbered with shoals. The use of sails has not yet been introduced on the Danube to the extent practised on the Rhine and the Vistula; and as the application of steam to navigation on this river is still in its infancy, the alternative in the case of boats going up the stream is to tow them along the banks; but both the towing tracks and the boats are as yet in a very rude state. Unluckily for the commerce of Austria, the course of the Danube is towards countries devoid of mercantile activity, and which offer no encouraging markets for the produce or manufactures it might be made to convey.

The other great rivers in the Austrian dominions are the Save, the Drave, and the Muhr, which convey to the Danube the waters from the eastern face of the Alps. The Marsch or Morawa brings to it the tribute of Moravia, while the still larger streams of the Theiss and Maros collect all that flow from the southern side of the Carpathians. All these rivers abound with fish, and are of sufficient depth to be navigable; but flowing through poor and thinly-peopled countries, they have as yet been of little use in a commercial sense.

Lakes and marshes are both numerous and extensive in the Austrian dominions. In Styria, Tyrol, and other mountainous tracts, they are formed, as in the highlands of Scotland, by water collected in valleys which, from the structure of the ground, are pent up in all directions. In Hungary, Galicia, and other level countries, their origin is different: they are a consequence of neglect of drainage, and of that backward cultivation which prevails in almost all countries until population and agricultural improvement attain a certain height. It was thus that marshes, heaths, and forests covered the surface of England in former ages, and that large tracts are at present lost to every useful purpose along the banks of the Danube, the Theiss, the Drave, the Save, and other rivers in Hungary, which inundate the country, when swelled by heavy rains or the melting of the snow. To drain these low-lying tracts would require skill, capital, and machinery, all of which are wanting in these poor and backward countries.

The other striking physical features of the Austrian territory are successive chains of mountains, viz. the Alps in the south-west, and the Carpathians in the north-east of the empire, all of great height and extent. In the bleak climate of Norway the higher parts of mountains present little else than continued sterility; but in the central and southern parts of Europe vegetation is seen to rise to a great height. The base of a mountain is often covered with vines and maize; the ascent with green pastures, or with wheat, barley, and similar kinds of corn. The trees in the lower and middle region are often the oak, the elm, or the ash; while, in the approach towards the summit, the yew and the fir are chiefly seen to brave the fury of the tempest. Many parts of Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, abound with picturesque views, and recall to the traveller the scenery of Switzerland. Styria, in particu-

lar, has, like that country, its cascades, its glaciers, its perpetual snows, and its tremendous avalanches.

German writers are in the habit of dividing the climate of the Austrian empire into three regions or zones, viz. the northern, situate between the 49th and 51st degrees of north latitude, and comprising nearly the whole of Bohemia, with the high-lying parts of Hungary, Moravia, Galicia, and the Buckowine; the whole extending over a surface of 70,000 square miles. The weather in these countries, though colder in winter and warmer in summer than in England, bears, in its average temperature, a considerable resemblance both to our climate and to that of the north of France. In products also there is a remarkable correspondence; wheat, barley, oats, and rye, forming the great bulk of the yearly crops. The middle region of the Austrian dominions is considerably more extensive; containing the whole of Lower Austria, with the chief part of Upper Austria, Moravia, Hungary, Transylvania, and Galicia. It extends along the entire length of the empire, and has a surface of fully 150,000 square miles. This vast tract lies between latitude 46° and 49°. The summer and autumn heats are here much greater than in England; and, in addition to wheat and other products mentioned above, vines and maize are cultivated in favourable situations, as in the middle part of France. Lastly comes the southern region, extending from latitude 46° to 42°, and comprising Lombardy, the Venetian States, the coasts of Croatia and Dalmatia, with the southern line of Sclavonia, and the Bannat of Temesvar. In these different countries the winter lasts during two or three months only, and the cold seldom exceeds that of our month of March. Here are raised not only maize and vines, but olives, myrtles, and other southern products, as in the south of France. This temperature extends over a surface of from 30,000 to 40,000 square miles.

We have stated these distinctions of climate according to latitude; but it is proper to add, that in no country does there exist greater difference of temperature in the same latitude, in consequence of the very marked differences in the elevation of the soil; one line presenting a succession of mountains, and another of plains and valleys. Thus, the Alpine Provinces, with the extensive tracts adjoining the Carpathian range, and the lofty barrier between Bohemia and Moravia, partake of all the rigour of the north, though situated to the south of latitude 49°; while Galicia and the interior of Bohemia, though to the north of that line, are considerably warmer, because their surface is in general even, and little elevated above the level of the sea.

The average fall of rain is considerably greater in the mountains than in the plains. In Vienna, and the low-lying tracts generally, 28 inches are a frequent average for the year; but in the mountains it often amounts to 40 inches and upwards.

It remains to state how the summer heats in Austria are considerably greater than in the same latitude in England, while the cold of winter is often more intense. In this country, and still more in Ireland, the vicinity of the ocean induces a frequency of rain, with a medium degree of heat and cold in the prevailing winds, which by no means exist in Poland, Austria, or any country in the interior of the continent. But the transitions from heat to cold, and vice versa, are in many parts of Austria as frequent and as remarkable in degree as in this country.

Products, Manufactures, and Trade.

In a country covered in so many parts by mountains, Mines and the extent of mineral produce can hardly fail to be large. minerals. Iron ore is abundant in many parts of Bohemia, Upper Austria, Styria, and Carinthia; and if the quantities of tin or copper hitherto wrought in these provinces be com-

Austria comparatively small, it is owing to most of the mountain districts being as yet imperfectly explored. The mines already wrought in Bohemia afford good tin, and those of Hungary excellent copper. In the latter country, particularly at Schemnitz and Kremnitz, are mines of gold and silver, wrought on the account of government, not from a monopolizing spirit, but because without such aid it would not be practicable to secure continued employment to the natives on the spot, so scanty and uncertain are the returns.

Annual Produce of the Mines of Hungary.

Small as is the quantity of gold obtained, the mines of Schemnitz and Kremnitz are visited by foreigners for instruction in that respect, because gold is so seldom found in the more improved countries of Europe. Saxony is far before Austria in scientific knowledge, but its mines are of silver, not of gold; exactly as those of Cornwall are of tin and copper, to the exclusion of the precious metals. The companies lately formed in England for working the gold mines of Brazil have derived useful information from the mines of Hungary.

Coal mines. A far more important mineral than silver ore, we mean coal, has been found in many parts of the Austrian dominions, in Bohemia, Moravia, Austria Proper, Hungary, and Styria; but the quantity raised is large only in situations contiguous to a navigable river. One of the main sources of the superiority of England to other countries, has been the ease of conveying coal in former ages by sea, and latterly also by canals and railways, to situations where fuel is of importance for manufactures. But in a country like Austria, which has no coast, where canals are almost unknown, and railways have been heard of only of late, the opportunities of such conveyance are as yet very rare. This, joined to the abundance of wood fuel, has prevented the working of many coal mines; but they bid fair to be a source of general employment to the lower classes, and of advantage to those who manage them when manufactures shall be conducted on a larger scale, and the communications assimilated to those of England or the Netherlands.

Salt mines. Similar observations apply to the raising and distributing of rock salt, mines of which are found in various parts of the empire. Those of Bochnia and Wieliecka in Galicia are known to be the greatest in Europe. A number of others are found along each side of the great Carpathian range, and may be said to extend with greater or less intervals all the way from Moldavia to Suabia. This very extensive tract comprehends the salt mines of Wallachia, Transylvania, Galicia, Upper Hungary, Upper Austria, Styria, Salzburg, and finally of Tyrol. They are found either at the base or on the ascent of great mountains, the salt extending in horizontal or undulating strata, and alternating with strata of clay.

Agriculture. To an English traveller agriculture appears in a very backward state, even in the best provinces of Austria. Capital has as yet been applied to it on a very limited scale, while the ploughs and other implements in use are much inferior to those of England. Add to this, that scientific instruction in agriculture, though the subject of various publications in the Protestant part of Germany, is in a manner unknown in Austria and the Catholic countries in the south. Nowhere, however, is there a fairer field for improved husbandry, for no part of Europe presents a greater extent of good soil. Lower Austria has, like Lom-

bardy, the advantage of extensive plains watered by streams flowing from a range of mountains which form the background of the prospect contemplated by those who travel along the banks of the Danube. Moravia has a similar climate, and almost equal advantages of soil and position. Galicia is likewise fertile, the most so perhaps of any of the Polish provinces; while in the south and east of the empire many of the plains of Hungary and Transylvania might be rendered productive were the population more dense, and acquainted with the method of draining, irrigating, and properly tilling the ground. The land of second rate fertility is in the Alpine provinces. The slopes of the mountains, up to a certain height, are favourable to pasture, and the raising of oats and other like grain; but in many parts the height is so great as to outweigh the advantage of latitude, and to confine the inhabitants to a scanty return for their labour.

Comparative culture of Great Britain, France, and Austria, exhibited in proportions of 100.

Comparative population.—

This table suggests several conclusions of importance. First, the proportion of land altogether uncultivated is nearly equal in the three countries; the mountains of Scotland, the bogs of Ireland, and the commons of England, containing a surface corresponding to that of the high mountains in the Alpine provinces of Austria, and the marshes and sandy levels of Hungary. But the proportion of land covered with forests, and thus lost to useful cultivation, is far greater in France, and still more in the Austrian empire, than in this country. The inducement to convert such land into pasture is far greater in Britain and Ireland, in consequence of our numerous population, and the high price of butcher-meat, wool, and hides. To this is to be added a very different consideration, viz. that the facility with which all our large towns are supplied with coal makes it quite unnecessary to keep up forests, as on the continent, for the purpose of fuel.

Next, as to the land under tillage, the great proportion of such in France is owing to the lower orders living almost wholly on bread and vegetables, to the exclusion of animal food. In Austria the proportion of land in tillage is equal to that in Great Britain; but there is the greatest difference in the nature of the cultivation, the produce in even the best districts of Lower Austria being thirty per cent. less than would be obtained from similar soils in this country. In the nature of the produce there is a considerable resemblance, the bulk of it in either country consisting of wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas, beans, potatoes, along with flax and hemp. Of rye, the proportion raised is larger in Austria; that of potatoes much smaller. Maize is raised in the southern provinces of Austria, as of France, and is said to yield much more nourishment for either

men or horses than could be obtained from wheat on a similar soil.

The northern parts of the empire, viz. Bohemia, Galicia, and part of Moravia, are too cold for vines; but in the central part of the empire they are cultivated extensively, and wine is sold in large quantities for home consumption. The prices of the different qualities vary from sixpence to one shilling a bottle. The port is far inferior to that obtained from France, in consequence chiefly of the want of conveyance. Lower Austria and Hungary, the fittest countries for the vine, have navigable rivers only to the eastward, and these lead to countries which either raise wine for their own use, or are too poor to make purchases from their neighbours. The exports from the Austrian states are thus limited to small quantities of choice wines, such as the well-known Tokay, which is raised on the last chain of the Carpathians, near the district of Zemplin. This wine is cultivated along a tract of about seventy square miles; its qualities are various; the richest kind proceeding from the grape with little or no pressure; while the inferior sort is said to be made from the dried grape, reduced into a sort of pap, and mixed with other Hungarian wines. But it by no means follows that all the wine sold under the fashionable name of Tokay is the product of the district in question; for, even in Vienna, there is not perhaps a tenth of real Tokay among the wines which bear that name.

Manufactures have in the last and present age received considerable extension in the Austrian dominions. They are still, however, on a footing very different from those of our country. In England they are generally conducted on the plan of particular towns or districts restricting themselves to specific branches; as Manchester to cottons and Birmingham to hardware. Hence our minute division of employment, our nicety in workmanship, and the surprising quantities produced. But in Austria the case is different: woollens, linen, hardware, and of late years cottons, are made in almost every place of considerable population; a sure proof that their establishments are on a small scale, and that they avail themselves very imperfectly of local advantages or of the division of labour. In many parts, indeed, weaving and other sedentary work is performed in cottages, as was the case in England a century ago. Spinning wool and flax has from time immemorial been the habitual employment of the lower class of females in Germany; and still continues to be so, notwithstanding the competition of machinery. Linens are woven in every province of the empire; but the finest qualities are made in Lower Austria, Moravia, and certain parts of Bohemia. These countries supply little for export beyond the limits of the empire, but a great deal to the adjacent provinces. Woollens also are a very general manufacture throughout the empire. As to hardware, the mines in the mountainous districts supply an ample store of materials, the manufacture of which takes place partly on the spot, partly in the larger towns, such as Vienna, Prague, and Karlsbad. Bohemia is remarked for the number of its glass works, a consequence of fuel being cheap in several districts which have the advantage of water conveyance. Hungary, Transylvania, and the Buckowine, having extensive pastures, as well as forests containing vast herds of cattle in a wild state, hides are an article of export from the same cause as in the thinly-peopled provinces of Russia or the wilds of Buenos Ayres. A very different object of trade, paper, is also made to a considerable extent in the Austrian states, in consequence of the cheapness of linen rags.

All these are manufactures of old date; but cottons are comparatively of recent introduction, and are confined to Vienna and some of the principal towns. The cheapness

of labour is in favour of such undertakings in Austria; the obstacles to it are the distance which the raw material, whether landed at Trieste or at Hamburg, must be brought by land, as well as the inferiority of the machinery to that of England.

Comparing these different manufactures with those of an improved country like England, we find the foreign articles generally higher in price and more homely in appearance, but at the same time more durable than ours. This distinction is found to hold in regard to fabrics the most different in their nature; the muskets made in Germany and France being heavier, exactly as their woollens, cottons, and linens, are thicker than ours. Lightness of workmanship and dispatch in completing an article are the result of long practice: the comparatively limited experience of foreigners, and their imperfect subdivision of work, require both longer time and a larger consumption of raw materials.

In her intercourse with foreign countries, Austria experiences all the disadvantages of an inland position, and of a very limited access to the sea; the portion of coast belonging to her being in a corner of the empire. Its extent is about 500 miles, comprising the north and east shores of the Adriatic, from the mouths of the Po on the west, to Ragusa and Cattaro on the east. The commercial sea-ports are Venice, Trieste, and Fiume; the first being the inlet to Friuli and Lombardy, the second to Carniola, and the third to Croatia. From Venice the access to the interior is easy, the country being flat, and admitting of intersection by canals; but Fiume, and still more Trieste, have to the east ranges of mountains, over which the transport of bulky commodities is attended with great labour and expense. Roads to the interior have been made at the public charge; and it is said that the canal now making from Vienna to the southward may perhaps be continued until it connect the Danube with the Adriatic; but that must be the work of a future age, and of means far greater than can be applied to it by any mercantile association, the distance being fully 300 miles along a line on which, if the mountains be avoided, it would be indispensable to erect aqueducts over the numerous rivers that flow from them. The expense of so vast a work could be defrayed only by the government; who, aware that improved roads are more useful for military purposes than canals, are likely to prefer that mode of employing the funds of the public.

Venice was made a free port by the Austrian government in 1830, and the inhabitants have hopes of recovering in some degree their former prosperity. Trieste is a port of considerable activity; the shipping belonging to it exceeds 100,000 tons, manned by about 6000 seamen.

The harbours along the coast of Dalmatia are both numerous and commodious, but their trade must be inconsiderable until the country inland acquire population and wealth. In the northern part of the Austrian empire there are also great obstacles to foreign trade. Bohemia communicates with the sea only by the Elbe, and Galicia with still more difficulty by the Vistula. Here there are vast tracts of level country, alike favourable for canals and for improved roads; but the distance to the sea from even the northern line of the Austrian territory is great,—almost 200 miles to the Baltic, and 300 to the German Ocean.

National Income and Finances.

In commercial countries, like England and Holland, the public revenue arises principally from the excise and customs; but in a country chiefly agricultural, such as France, and still more Austria, the case is very different. In these the limited extent of foreign trade renders the customs comparatively small; while the small number of towns, and

Austria. their scanty population, lessen greatly the produce of the excise. An extra share of the public burdens must therefore fall on land, the assessment of which ought from time to time to be altered according to the amount of rents: In England, since the first imposition of the land-tax in 1692, there has been no renewed survey, or attempt to adapt it to the augmented rental; but in France and Austria the absolute insufficiency of other taxes rendered an increase of the land-tax indispensable, and the foncière in France is now collected on a valuation made so lately as 1815. In Austria, the emperor Joseph, among other changes, proposed a land and poll-tax on a uniform plan, and attempted a general survey of the empire. Several years were devoted to this great work: but it encountered many obstacles, as well from the difference of value between the plain and mountain territory, as from the difficulty of computing rents in almost any province of the empire, the property of the peasantry obliging them to pay their landlords in produce or in labour instead of money. Since 1815 the Austrian government has endeavoured to correct defects in the existing assessment, but it is still in a very imperfect state. In the Hereditary States, as well as in Bohemia and Galicia, the land-tax is levied without distinction of class or rank; but in the aristocratic countries of Hungary and Transylvania the noblesse or gentry are exempt from it.

Public Revenue of Austria.

The cost of collecting the revenue, which in England is not quite five per cent. on the amount, is in Austria ten per cent.

The Austrian government has not yet, like the English and French, adopted the plan of giving their finance accounts to the public. There are thus no satisfactory means of estimating the amount of national income, even that arising from the rent of land and houses throughout the empire; but as the two together can hardly amount to thirty millions sterling a year, perhaps not to twenty-five millions, it follows that of all income in Austria arising from real property, L.20 in L.100 are paid, even in time of peace, to the public treasury. The poll-tax on the Jews is a toleration tax. The next head in the list, viz.

the inland customs, arises chiefly from the difference in taxation between Hungary and the Hereditary States. Dues are consequently collected on the transit of certain articles from one to another, as was the case between different provinces in France before the revolution. The duty on salt, though not high, is injurious both to agriculture and manufactures, by limiting the consumption. As to tobacco, there is no duty in Hungary and Transylvania; but in the rest of the empire the government, like that of France, keeps in its own hands the exclusive manufacture and sale.

The tax on liquors, slight in its rate, is small in its produce, from the limited population of the towns: in country parts, where the population is thin, the excise does not repay the expense of collecting. But nothing in the fiscal list is more interesting to a statistical inquirer than the net receipts from the post-office, which in this country are L.1,200,000 a year; in France L.600,000; in Austria only L.100,000. What can show more clearly the limited correspondence and the scanty traffic of this great empire, or that the badness of the roads is productive of an expense which more than balances the low wages and general cheapness in the post-office establishment?

The imperial demesnes or crown lands yield about L.200,000 to the treasury, a sum to be carefully distinguished from the personal property of the reigning family, of which the yearly rental amounts to about L.100,000.

Among the lesser imposts in Austria, not specified in the above table, are those on carriages, pleasure-horses, hair-powder, starch, as well as legacy-duties, and fees on titles of nobility. The list of taxes, in short, is nearly as long in Austria as in England, and the complaint of their pressure almost as general. What, then, are the causes that, with so fertile a soil and so numerous a population, the public revenue of Austria should be so inferior to that of France? The inquiry is interesting, and the causes are briefly as follow.

In manufacturing and commercial countries, such as England or the Netherlands, agriculture is conducted with the benefit of capital and machinery; and the labour of 30 or 40 persons in 100 is sufficient to raise subsistence for the community at large. But in the other countries of Europe the case is very different, the labour of half or of more than half the inhabitants being required to raise the needful subsistence. Thus in France, a great part of which is more backward than an untravelled Englishman can readily conceive, between 50 and 60 persons in 100 are and must be employed in country work, in consequence of the great inferiority of their agriculture, their farms being small, their ploughs and other implements miserably defective, their capital scanty, and machinery, such as threshing-mills, in a manner unknown. Hungary, Transylvania, and the southern frontier along the Danube, being still more backward than any part of France, more destitute of capital, and more deficient in machinery, the consequence is, that of the average population of the Austrian empire, the labour of not fewer than between 60 and 70 persons in 100 is needed for raising provisions; thus reducing to a comparatively small number the population of the towns, the persons disposable for trade and manufacture. This is at once apparent from a comparison of the town population in these different countries. If we make it between France and England, we shall obtain a result decidedly favourable to England; but a comparison of France and Austria exhibits, in almost every case, a greater number in the towns of France. Thus,

The twelve largest Towns in France.

The twelve largest Towns in the Austrian Dominions.

Of the twelve places cited above for the Austrian dominions, no less than five are in Italy, so deficient is the rest of the empire in town population. Of the total number of its inhabitants (33,000,000), it is computed that three fourths, or 25,000,000, reside in the open country.

Another very important point in estimating the resources of different countries, is the degree of density in the population generally. In England, by the census of this year (1831) it is nearly 220 persons to a square mile; in France, about 165; in the Austrian empire, under 130. Now it almost always happens that in a thickly-peopled district the wages are better and the consumption of taxed articles greater, per head, than in one that is thinly peopled; and hence the contribution to the public treasury is larger. Thus the inhabitants of Lombardy, Bohemia, and the Vienna district, pay considerably more per head than those of Hungary, Carinthia, or Upper Austria. Add to this, in the third place, that while England has all the benefit of an insular situation, and France possesses an extensive line of coast, with considerable trade, the maritime provinces of Austria are both limited in extent, and but recently acquired; in short, the empire may be said to have as yet wanted almost entirely the stimulus to industry arising from communication by water. In the fourth and last place, in the remote provinces of the Austrian empire, particularly on the side of Turkey, the contributions of the subjects to their sovereign are made, not in money, but in military service.

All these reasons tend to one point: they account for the money payment in name of taxes and all public burdens in Austria not exceeding twelve shillings a head, whilst in France it is double; and for the net revenue of the Austrian empire not exceeding thirteen millions sterling, while that of France is above thirty millions. Accordingly, in forming a bona fide estimate of their resources, we have to make an addition on the side of Austria on two grounds: first, for the greater value of money in that country; and next, for the frontier provinces discharging their contribution to the state by military service in lieu of taxes. It follows, that in estimating the financial means of the two countries, we shall not materially err in assuming them to bear the proportion of twenty to thirty; in other words, that were the total contribution of the subjects of the emperor to be discharged in money, and in money of the value borne by the circulating medium of France, it would amount to about twenty millions sterling a year.

Austria, like England, has a sinking fund, and one of which the operations are equally vaunted; but in either country the only true sinking fund is the extension of the national industry, and a reduction of the interest of the debt consequent on continued peace, and on a general abatement in the interest of money.

Military Establishment.

Austria has taken so prominent a part in the wars of the last and of the present age, that the nature and extent of her military means are subjects of great interest. The disposition of the inhabitants of Hungary, and of the more remote provinces of the empire, is well adapted to a military life. They are accustomed to pass their time out of doors, to indulge in active exercise, to follow the chase, and to occupy themselves with the care of horses. To such men marching and encamping are but a slight deviation from their established habits. The fire of the nightly watch is not more uncomfortable than that of their smoky cottages; whilst a loaf of bread, a slice of coarse pork, and a glass of spirits, are all the food and drink they desire. But to accustom these rude combatants to the restraints of discipline was found no easy task: still the Austrian government judged it indispensable to their meeting on equal terms the armies of France and Prussia. It is now somewhat more than a century since the Prussians began to take a lead in military discipline, the father of Frederick II. having carried both the manual and platoon exercise to a nicety unattempted by almost any other tactician. He left a highly disciplined army of nearly 80,000 men to his son, who, on the death of the emperor Charles VI. in 1740, conceived that such a force would soon enable him to accomplish the conquest of Silesia. He lost no time in making preparations for war. The court of Vienna, alarmed, sent a special envoy to dissuade him from it; but Frederick was not to be deterred by any remonstrances, however urgent. The envoy advertising, on the one hand, to the careful training of the Prussians, and on the other to the recent practice of the Austrians in the field, declared to the king, "Vos troupes, Sire, sont belles, mais les nôtres ont vu le loup." "Vous convenez," replied the king, "que mes troupes sont belles, je vous ferai convenir qu'elles sont bonnes." The words of the king were made good; the events of the war which ensued, as well as of the more arduous contest begun in 1756, having proved, on many trying occasions, the great advantage of a high state of discipline. This led the Austrian generals and war ministers to follow the example of the Prussians, as well by carefully training their infantry, as by new-modelling the "free corps" of horsemen, Croats, Sclavonians, and Hungarians, who had hitherto been left to their national mode of fighting. By dint of perseverance, Marshal Lascy and other military men in Austria succeeded at last in bringing these half-civilized combatants under the discipline of regular cavalry.

The French, in the wars of the revolution, were remarkable for celerity of movement in collective bodies, but discipline bestowed comparatively little attention on the minutiae of discipline. The Austrians were charged with following a contrary system; with too much care as to details, and too little as to general movements. Their lines are said to have suffered on various occasions, in particular in the dreadful conflicts at Essling and Wagram, from continued exposure to the field-pieces of the enemy; and their infantry was said to be slow in executing most movements except those from front to rear. Their own officers, however, did not admit this inferiority; and whatever may have been the case in the last age, there is reason to believe that the Austrians have now attained that celerity of movement which has so long distinguished their rivals in

Austria. France and Prussia, and which became so conspicuous in our own troops after their first campaigns in Spain.

Military education. In former times the Austrian government, conscious of the deficient education of its subjects, gave important commands to Italian officers, amongst whom the most remarkable were Montecuculi and Prince Eugene. At present there are military schools at Vienna and several of the provincial towns; and as these have of late been much improved, another generation will probably witness the removal of the charge of deficient instruction from the Austrian armies.

It is unnecessary here to enter into any particulars regarding either the absolute numerical strength, or the relative apportionment and distribution of the Austrian military establishment, at the present time, seeing that these subjects have been already treated of under the proper head in the article Army, where detailed information, derived from the most authentic sources, is given respecting the constitution, organization, discipline, divisions, and numbers of this establishment, as well as of its different branches or arms separately. In referring to the above article, however, it is proper to add, that recent events, particularly the contest in Poland, coupled with the actual state of affairs in France, Italy, and the Netherlands, have produced a considerable augmentation of the disposable military force of Austria. (June 1831.)

Mode of recruiting. In most of the provinces of the Austrian empire the levies are at first made for militia service (landwehr), and the regular regiments are kept up by successive draughts from that force. But in Hungary, recruits are raised at once for the regular service, the emperor proposing a specific number to the diet, who deliberate on the demand; and on its being assented to, the magnates or great landholders undertake to levy their respective proportions on their estates.

Horses and equipments. The horses for the Austrian light cavalry are drawn from Hungary and Galicia; those for the heavy cavalry chiefly from Bohemia and Moravia. Clothing, arms, ammunition, and harness, are all furnished at different stations, in Bohemia, Moravia, and the Hereditary States. The duration of military service in Austria was long unlimited; but in the early part of the present century it was reduced, as in this country, to specific periods. For invalids and veteran soldiers there is a provision similar to what is made for our military; they are either received into hospitals or allowed small out-pensions.

Magnitude of the resources of Austria. The limited revenue of Austria, and her equally limited credit in a financial sense, prevent her from making a great military exertion at short notice. She cannot, unless when aided by English subsidies, equip for offensive operations, or send to a distance, armies of any very considerable force. Hence her power in attack is restricted so as to form a remarkable contrast to the extent of her means for continuing a contest by filling up the blanks in her regiments, year after year, by fresh levies. In her long and arduous struggle with France, the losses of each campaign appeared to be supplied without making a serious impression on her numbers, or distressing her productive industry. The causes of this are obvious. A country like England, possessing monied capital, can at short notice embody an army, and send it to a distance, amply equipped and provided; whilst an agricultural nation like Austria is limited in its extent of exertion at the moment, but, from the amount of its population, almost indefinite in its resources. The long duration of several of her wars is to be ascribed to two causes; her inability, on the one hand, to overpower her opponents by a great effort; and her power, on the other, to keep up a certain degree of exertion for a long period. It was thus that Austria carried on the contest in Germany about religion during thirty years, and persisted in the war with France in

1713, after England and Holland had withdrawn. Maria Theresa would have done the same towards Prussia in 1763, had she not been forsaken by her allies; whilst, in the wars with revolutionary France and Buonaparte, we have seen Austria, worsted in five successive contests, return as often to the charge.

The Austrian navy is as yet merely in an incipient state, but is entitled to notice, because the possession of Venice, Trieste, and the fine harbours along the coast of Dalmatia, hold out a prospect of its being, in course of time, considerably increased. At present it is confined to a few ships of the line, dismantled or cut down, eight frigates, as many corvettes, and about twenty brigs and sloops. Venice is the naval station.

Religion, Education, National Character.

The population of the Austrian empire, classed according to their respective creeds, will stand thus: Catholics 26,000,000, Protestants 3,000,000, Greek church 3,000,000, Jews 500,000, other religions 500,000.

Although Austria took, two centuries ago, so decided a part against the Protestants in the north of Germany, her internal tranquillity was never disturbed by religious contests except in Bohemia, the country of the unfortunate John Huss and Jerome of Prague. Her sovereigns have been tolerant from character, if not from conviction; and during the last half-century indulgence to Protestants and other dissenters has existed in a liberal form. The north and west of Germany frequently exhibit Catholic and Protestant communities in the same vicinity; and nowhere are the superior industry and intelligence of the latter more strongly marked. The traveller who passes from Saxony into Bohemia cannot fail to regret that the reformation should not have made its way into the Austrian dominions: the result would doubtless have been a very decided advancement in science and productive industry. Literature, manufactures, trade, would then have been cultivated in the south and east of Germany with the same zeal, and probably the same success, as have marked their progress in the south and west. At present we can hardly flatter ourselves with any considerable number of converts to Protestantism. The Catholic clergy are in general assiduous in the discharge of their duties: they possess the attachment of their flocks; and the Austrian people at large are too little enlightened to exchange a worship which dazzles the imagination by its pomp and ceremony for one which appeals chiefly to the understanding.

In Austria, as in France, the Catholic clergy are generally educated in humbler seminaries than universities. Oratory forms no part of their studies, and would, in fact, be misplaced before a German congregation, which meets for the purpose of fulfilling, soberly and tranquilly, a religious duty. Sermons therefore are, in almost all parts of the Austrian dominions, little more than plain moral lessons deduced from the sacred writings; and the reputation of a clergyman, particularly in country parts, rests chiefly on his attention to the sick, and the performance of private and unostentatious duties. But while the country curates and other inferior clergy are thus assiduous and unassuming, the conduct of the heads of the Roman church has often been very different. Protestants who have not lived in a Catholic country can hardly conceive the extent of the pretensions made by the popes in former ages, or which they are still disposed to make in the less enlightened parts of Europe. These the sovereigns of Austria have in general resisted; reserving to themselves several important rights, such as the imposing of taxes on church property, the nomination of bishops and archbishops, and the option of restricting or even preventing the circulation of papal bulls.

The extent of landed property in Austria belonging to the Catholic church is very considerable, as may be inferred from the number of abbeys and convents. Though a good deal reduced within the last half-century, there are still nearly 300 abbeys and above 500 convents in the empire. The head of the Austrian church is the archbishop of Vienna; but the bishop of St Polten appoints the regimental chaplains, and is the superior of all clergymen doing duty with the army.

The followers of the Greek church are chiefly in Galicia, Hungary, Croatia, and Transylvania, forming a total of 3,000,000. They are in a state of gradual increase, as well by the progress of population as by arrivals of their brethren from Turkey. Galicia comprises a body of Armenian Catholics, and there are a few of that sect in Hungary. The well-known association of Hernhuters or Moravians took their origin from that province in the middle of the eighteenth century. The emperor Joseph, in his ardour for toleration, extended it to Jews, and even to Mahometans; but he found that the Jews were hardly in a state to be incorporated with the rest of his subjects, or to take advantage of the privileges held out to them. Their old habits and prejudices remain; so that ages will be required in Austria, as in Poland and other backward parts of Europe, before they can be identified with their Christian neighbours. In tolerating Mahometanism, Joseph had in view the vicinity of Turkey, and the importance of inducing traders from that country to travel and settle in his dominions.

A deficiency in national education has long been a subject of reproach to the Austrians, and their apathy in regard to literature and politics is often ascribed by foreigners to restraints on the press. But these restraints, slight in their nature, are by no means intended to check useful inquiry. The truth is, that the majority of the Austrians are occupied with the tranquil enjoyment of the good things of life: they are unambitious, uninquisitive, and, in general, satisfied with following a beaten track, with going over the same routine as their fathers and forefathers. The desire of acquiring property is, of course, as strong or nearly as strong in this as in other countries; but the inhabitants have still to acquire that intellectual activity which stimulates so largely to exertion in England, in France, and, above all, in the Protestant part of Germany. Saxony is the centre of literature for that country; and the society which is within the reach of a youth at the university of Vienna is not to be compared to that of Dresden or Leipzig. The Austrian dialect of Germany is unpleasant, having a slowness of accent and a hissing tone, particularly in the mouths of the lower orders. Hence French is the language used not only at court and by diplomatists, but by genteel society generally. The universities in the Austrian empire are as follow: Vienna, Prague, Pesth in Hungary, Lemberg in Galicia, Innsbruck in Tyrol, Gratz in Styria, and Padua and Pavia in Lombardy; in all eight universities, attended by nearly 7000 students. There are seven academies, and thirty lyceums or high schools. Of military schools there are in all ten in the empire; the two principal in Vienna, the others in provincial towns. The primary or elementary schools throughout the empire correspond in some measure to the parish schools in Scotland. They were greatly increased half a century ago in the reign of Joseph II., and in the Austrian provinces they appear to be adequate to the wants of the population; but in Hungary and the remote parts of the empire there are still great deficiencies in the provision even for this, the first stage of education. The university of Vienna dates from the middle of the thirteenth century, the time when the residence of the court, being fixed in that city, began to

give importance to it, and to call for improvements in public education. It was long under the management of the clergy, who in the middle ages were the only men of letters; but, a century ago, Von Swieten, the celebrated physician, induced the government to take it into their own hands, and to give a great extension to the medical department: Vienna, from the number of its inhabitants and the extent of its hospitals, being much fitter for a medical school than any other city in Germany. The consequences of Von Swieten's representations were the fitting up of a botanical garden, an anatomical theatre, a military hospital, and, at a subsequent date, a veterinary school. The university of Vienna is thus at the head of the medical schools in Germany. It contains also public classes for law, theology, classics, philosophy, and general literature, in most of which the reputation of the professors is respectable, though not greater than in other universities, such as Göttingen, Leipzig, and Halle. The number of students at the Vienna university is from 1200 to 1500. Vienna contains also an academy for the fine arts, a seminary for the eastern languages, and facilities for the study of modern Greek. Among the military institutions are a school for cadets, and of late years a polytechnic school for engineers. This capital has also several seminaries like the Ecole Normale at Paris, for training teachers for provincial towns and villages. The imperial library at Vienna is very extensive, as is the collection of medals and coins. The university of Prague is of old date, and well attended by Bohemians, but it does not rank high in the scale of German seminaries. Pesth, Lemberg, Gratz, and the other universities, are of importance only to the population of their respective towns and their vicinity.

In travelling for instruction, the Austrians, like the French, are far behind our countrymen, in consequence partly of the want of pecuniary means, partly of their unambitious and uninquiring character. Individuals, however, may be cited among the Austrians, who, like Baron Humboldt among the Prussians, have traversed remote regions in quest of information; but their number is small when compared with the extent and population of the empire. Still Austria can boast of several names of eminence in literature. Of this class are the two Schlegels, one of whom, Frederick, has long been known by his publications on the language and philosophy of India; while his brother has acquired reputation by his translation of Shakespeare and his works on dramatic criticism. Hammer, the founder of the Oriental Society at Vienna, has long been known for his acquaintance with Persian literature; but the majority of Austrian writers have given their attention less to works of imagination than to classics, geography, and statistics. These studies, requiring rather continued attention than vivacity or power of imagination, are best suited to the laborious habits of the Germans.

In painting and sculpture, as in architecture, the Austrians have as yet made no great figure; but the case is very different in regard to music. Haydn and Mozart were both formed at Vienna; and it has been said with truth, that a foreigner can hardly receive a higher gratification than by being present at the oratorio at Vienna in commemoration of Haydn. If in vocal music the Germans are inferior to the Italians, they fully maintain the competition in instrumental performance. In short, the passion for music exists here in the humblest ranks, and under circumstances apparently the least favourable to it. The traveller, in passing through villages, observes wandering musicians performing on the most homely and imperfect instruments. He finds this equally in the populous districts adjoining the Danube, and in the secluded spots of Tyrol and Carniola.

Statistical writers class the population of the Austrian empire according to national descent, thus,

The Sclavonians (called in Latin Slavi or Sclavi, and in their own language Slowacs) inhabited, in remote ages, a part of the vast tract of country known to the ancients by the name of Scythia. Their descendants are widely spread; for their language and habits are to be traced in the Illyrian provinces, in Hungary, Poland, the east of Germany, and even in the western frontier of Russia. They form the most backward and uninstructed portion of the population of the empire; being generally employed on common country labour, and many of them being still in a state of servitude. The Wallachians are almost equally backward; but the Magyars, though illiterate, are a spirited race, averse to sedentary work, accustomed to exercise in the open air, and prompt in obeying a summons to military duty.

In Styria, Carinthia, and other mountainous tracts, the manners of the inhabitants are very primitive. Content with the produce furnished by their lands and cattle, and as cheerful and frank as moderate desires can make them, they seem to have no wish beyond the limits of their native districts. They are, it must be allowed, very ignorant and superstitious; being still blindly attached to traditional usages, and among others, to that of making pilgrimages to a distance as the best means of obtaining forgiveness for trespasses.

The character of the Germans in the Austrian dominions is in general entitled to praise. Sincerity, industry, and habits of order, are all conspicuous in them; and the number of criminal offences committed among them is remarkably small. In many extensive districts year after year passes without a necessity for capital punishment. The French soldiers, who, in marching through Austria, were very often lodged in detached cottages, and at the mercy of the inhabitants, bore a favourable testimony to their humanity; and there scarcely occurred, either there or elsewhere in Germany, any example of those secret assassinations which were unfortunately so prevalent in Spain.

The habits of the females in Austria, in the large as in the small towns, are very domestic. Without taking so active a part as French women in either business or conversation, they claim regard for a steady fulfilment of the duties of wives and mothers. The lower orders have similar habits; and a traveller may visit village after village without hearing of a single instance of domestic disquietude. The care of children, the performance of their daily tasks, and punctual attendance on divine worship, seem to occupy all their thoughts.

A striking feature in the national character of the Austrians is a continued equanimity, a general good humour and forbearance, as if they had little or no cause for complaint in regard either to individual circumstances or public affairs. This fortunate disposition seems the result of various causes; of an habitual acquiescence under their superiors; an unacquaintance with the state of other countries; and in fertile districts, such as the banks of the Danube, of a general abundance of provisions, and an exemption from penury.

But as in national character almost every good quality has a corresponding drawback, that habitual content, and aversion to change, which has kept the Austrians tranquil amidst the convulsions of other countries, is connected

with a blind adherence to old usages, and a disinclination to almost every kind of innovation. Hence their stationary condition, their backward agriculture, their slowly improving manufactures, and their extravagant deference to hereditary rank—a deference often dearly paid for in war, when men of inferior talents have been intrusted with important commands. On the whole, it must be admitted, that no country in Europe stands more in need than Austria of the benefits arising from the diffusion of knowledge. This applies to the upper as well as to the lower classes. In former times the government partook of the national prejudices, and exhibited strong indications of it in their conduct both in the cabinet and the field. This is forcibly stated in the memoirs of one who had long and arduous contests with them; we mean Frederick II. of Prussia. The court of Vienna was, he said, altogether untractable in negotiation, after obtaining even a partial success in the field, or whenever it had any prospect of success; at the same time that it evinced no discrimination in the choice of its general officers. In the campaign of 1744 Frederick entered Bohemia with a strong army, and soon overran the whole country; but the veteran Marshal Traun being sent against him, found means, with an inferior force, so to straiten the Prussian army as to oblige it to quit one position after another, until it evacuated the whole kingdom. "Yet this man," says Frederick, "whom I have ever since regarded as my master in the art of war, the court of Vienna removed next year from the chief scene of operations, and sent to Italy with an inferior command." In our own days similar dis-appointments have been but too often caused by the Austrian cabinet; in 1796, when Marshal Clairfayt was led to resign, after a very brilliant campaign; and in 1805, when a great army was intrusted to General Mack, who, far from having acquired a reputation, had failed in almost every thing he had attempted.

We should, however, err greatly were we to suppose the apparent slowness of the Austrians indicative of deficiency of invention. On the contrary, their tranquil and sedate habits are more favourable to original combinations than the sprightliness of the French. But in Austria, as in other parts of Germany, mechanical ingenuity is often applied rather to make a display of skill, or to gratify a fancy, than to accomplish a useful purpose. In one part of a journey through that country a traveller finds a machine so framed that, with a slight impulse, it performs the functions of a chess-player; in another part he sees a head which may be made to imitate the human voice; and in a third place, an instrument uniting the most varied sounds of music. In machinery, as in politics, the speculations of the Germans often bear evidence of considerable ingenuity, but at the same time of the absence of practice and experience.

Government and Laws.

Having described the constitutions of Hungary and the other countries under their respective heads, it remains merely to state the part of the political system which is referable to the empire at large. The executive administration for the whole of the Austrian dominions is vested in the emperor, and is exercised at Vienna in nearly the same manner as that of France and England in their respective capitals. At Vienna, as in London and Paris, the chief public offices are the treasury, the home department, the foreign affairs, and the army; to which are to be added, the boards for the affairs of Hungary, and for the general superintendence of the mines. The name of Aulic is not confined, as is generally supposed, to the military board; it is given to several councils or boards, among others to that of the treasury.

The Germanic confederation bore, as is well known, during many centuries, the name and form of an empire, consisting of a number of separate states, of which Austria was by far the greatest. Her dominions in Germany comprised Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, in addition to the circle of Austria, which contained Austria Proper, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola; hence the successive election, during nearly four centuries, of the head of the house of Austria to the rank of the emperor of Germany. This dignity being renounced by Francis II., the present sovereign, in 1806, the connection of Austria with the rest of Germany on the previous footing was dissolved; nor was it renewed in the final adjustments of 1815, by which the Germanic body was declared a confederation, but not an empire; for it has no longer an acknowledged head, questions affecting the confederation at large being discussed in the diet or assembly of deputies from the different states, and determined by a majority of votes. Each confederate state is pledged to supply, when required by the diet, a military force proportioned to its population. Austria having in Germany a population of ten millions, her quota in time of war is nearly 100,000 men; that of Prussia is 80,000.

Since the abrogation of the imperial form in Germany, the "Circle of Austria" is no longer an official designation; but the name of "Hereditary States," so often used, has reference to the same provinces, viz. Austria Proper, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, which during five centuries and upwards have belonged to the house of Hapsburg by hereditary descent. In these the authority of the emperor, though exercised with mildness, is almost uncontrolled. He is the head not only of the executive power, but of the church, and virtually of the legislature. The Hereditary States have parliaments, composed, as in Hungary and Bohemia, of the Catholic prelates and the nobility, with deputies from the landholders and free towns; but they meet seldom, and never fail to give a ready assent to the propositions of the sovereign.

There exists considerable diversity in the constitutions of the component parts of the Austrian empire, particularly in regard to their origin and date. The constitution of Lower Austria is founded on a charter granted so long ago as the year 1156. Hungary claims to be governed by laws of still older date, the first going back to the ninth century, others dating from the thirteenth; while in Bohemia, confirmations of the privileges of the nobility, and restrictions on the executive power, were enacted so lately as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Galicia, differing in several respects from these countries, traces part of its political constitution no farther back than its annexation to Austria in 1773. Notwithstanding all these discrepancies, it is in one quarter only, we mean Italy, that the sovereign of Austria has to apprehend deficient loyalty on the part of his subjects. In the other states of his empire, however remote from each other, however different in language or national manners, the prevailing feeling is attachment to the government and aversion to change. Nothing could show this more clearly than the steady loyalty of the people during the repeated invasions of the French, and their ready assent to the levies which year after year filled up the blanks in the imperial regiments, caused by a contest at all times sanguinary, and often unsuccessful. And even as to Italy, although the mountains which separate it from the north are as lofty and rugged on the side of Austria as of France, there are in the former no intermediate states like Switzerland and Piedmont; and hence the ease with which an army may march from Germany to Lombardy, and the promptitude with which it may put down insurrection.

The judicial body in Austria is far more numerous than

in this country, the difficulty in travelling requiring that there should be courts of justice in a great number of provincial towns. Their salaries are greatly below our scale, the profits of pleaders being too small to disincline even the most eminent from relinquishing their business. The administration of justice in Austria long took place, as in this country, by reference to ancient usage, and to a multitude of decisions, without much system or consideration of general principles. The perplexity attendant on this vague and undefined course being doubly felt in a country where individuals were in general ignorant, and the press inefficient, the government became aware, so long ago as the middle of last century, of the necessity of publishing the laws in a collective form. Accordingly, in the year 1767, a code was published in eight folio volumes. This was a first step towards improvement; but the work, from its bulk and its deficient arrangement, proving of little use, instructions were given by the government to an eminent civilian named Von Horten, to recast it in a condensed and improved form. This was necessarily a work of great time and labour, and it was not till 1794 that the first part of the civil code came forth in an improved shape. The remainder followed in a few years, when printed copies were distributed in all directions, and local commissions appointed to report on its applicability to the usages of the different provinces of the empire. At last, in 1812, the civil code was definitively promulgated, and applied to practice. With the criminal code a similar course had been adopted somewhat earlier; it had been promulgated in 1803, and introduced into practice the year after. Fortunately, the number of criminal offences in Austria is small compared with the magnitude of the population.

Foreign Politics of Austria.

We shall conclude this account of Austria with a few remarks on her situation in regard to the great powers who are her neighbours. To begin with France: It is now about three centuries since Austria, by the definitive acquisition of Bohemia and Hungary, became equal to France in extent of territory, and ventured to contend with her for ascendancy both in Italy and the Netherlands. In fertility of soil Austria is fully equal to her rival, but in other respects France has had and still has great advantages. Her people all speak the same language, and the country is to a certain degree maritime; main points in facilitating intercourse, and in promoting civilization, trade, and national wealth. Hence the greater increase of the towns; a more general diffusion of education; and a larger proportion of intelligent public officers, of able statesmen and commanders. Add to this, that while France was relieved from intestine troubles so early as the year 1600, or the reign of Henry IV., Austria did not obtain the complete attachment of her subjects in Hungary and the eastern provinces until 1720, more than a century later. The consequence of all this was, that with a few exceptions, such as the brilliant reign of the emperor Charles V., or the still more brilliant age of Marlborough and Eugene, the balance of success inclined to the side of France; and Austria lost first Alsace, afterwards the Netherlands, and for a time Lombardy.

The adjustments of territory by the general treaties of 1815 are certainly more favourable than any former arrangement to the maintenance of peace between France and Austria. By these treaties Austria definitively relinquished Belgium, which had so long been a ground of quarrel between the two countries; and Prussia became the power to which England and Holland look for co-operation in the event of war in the Netherlands. It was with this view that Prussia received an extension of ter-