AUSTRIA

Austria. UTHIS great empire is situated nearly in the centre of Europe, extending from the 44th to the 51st degree of N. Lat., and from the 8th to the 26th degree of E. Long. Its configuration is irregular, but its extent corresponds to that of an oblong of fully 600 miles in length from E. to W., and above 400 miles in breadth from N. to S. 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, including Cracow, incorporated into the Austrian empire in 1846, 256,958 English 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, Galizia, Lombardy and Venice, Illyria, and Dalmatia; one archduchy, Austria; one principality, Transylvania; one duchy, Styria; one margraviate, Moravia; and one county, Tyrol. After the accession of the present emperor Francis Joseph, the various provinces of the empire received the title of crown-lands, twenty in number, and subdivided into minor districts. This new arrangement, however, must upon the whole be regarded as provisional, since the new constitution, in virtue of which Austria was to be transformed into one uniform empire, was, as will hereafter be seen, abrogated in the year 1861, two years after its promulgation.

We shall begin with an historical notice of this empire, showing, first, the means by which Austria, originally a small state, progressively rose into importance; second, the resources by which she withstood the reverses sustained in her long contest with revolutionary France; next, her condition and policy during the subsequent years of peace; and finally, the manner in which she came through the latest and most dangerous crisis in her history.

History. 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 W. 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 (statholder) 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 Rudolph of Hapsburg, who had been regularly elected to that high station. Hostilities ensued; the fortune of Rudolph 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, Rudolph 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, Swabian, 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. In the third year of his reign (1522), Charles made over the German provinces to his brother Ferdinand I., who, in consequence of his marriage with Anne, sister of Louis II., king of Hungary and Bohemia, succeeded in gaining the crowns of these two countries. In 1556, Charles, whose ambition had appeared insatiable, all at once retired from his worldly career, leaving the German crown to his brother Ferdinand, and his other possessions to his son Philip II. Ferdinand, already king of Hungary and Bohemia, was elected emperor in 1556, and thus became the head of the Austrian Hapsburg line. The formidable power united in one dynasty, was thus split up by the very monarch who was its creator, though, even after its partition, both the Spanish and Austrian branch were still large enough to rank as first-rate powers. In Hungary, Ferdinand found a rival in Zapolya, elected king by the majority of the people; nor during his life could Ferdinand obtain possession of the whole country.

The general rule of the Hapsburgs, and especially the religious persecutions under the reigns of Rudolph II., Ferdinand II., and Leopold I., were productive of protracted and bloody wars, during which time the Turks made them-

Austria. selves masters of the greater part of Hungary, frequently assisting the malcontents against their Austrian masters. Ferdinand was succeeded by Maximilian II., his eldest son, whose successor was the dreamy and bigoted Rudolph II., subsequently compelled to resign his crown to Matthias II. In the year 1618, Ferdinand II., archduke of Styria, succeeded to the throne, after the death of his predecessor without issue. This emperor is well known by his sworn hatred against the so-called heretics, the Protestants, and scarcely had he commenced his reign when his cruelty against the Bohemians gave rise to the Thirty Years' War, one of the most remarkable events in modern history. 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, Duke of Friedland. 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 met a tragic end: having been suspected of treating with the Protestant princes for his own aggrandizement, a suspicion never afterwards verified, he, with some of the chief officers of his staff, was most cruelly assassinated by order of his imperial master. 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 both of Austria and of 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. The allies 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 to 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, assisted 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 affairs in 1711, when the death of the reigning emperor unexpectedly took place, 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 union 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 in 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, who, during the space of 150 years, were in possession of the capital of Hungary, and of the greatest part of its territory, evinced considerable sympathy towards the Hungarians, whom they, on many occasions, proved ready to assist in their struggles against Austria. In fact the impotence of the Austrian rulers, as evidenced by their inability to expel the Turks from Hungary, and their readiness to appease the anger of the sultans by annual tributes, served only to keep alive in the Turks the ambition of rendering themselves masters of the Austrian capital. Accordingly, in 1683, the Mussulman host appeared before the walls of Vienna, and the capital was only saved by the appearance of the intrepid Polish king Sobieski, who would, no doubt, have found the Turks within its walls, but for the singular carelessness with which the vizier carried on the siege. 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, by the intervention of England, secured to Austria a considerable accession of territory on the side of Hungary. Still that country continued divided and doubtful in its 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 skill. 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 1755), 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 Hapsburg, 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

Austria. 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 Prussia and England, numerically inferior to their antagonists, but managing their resources, and directing their military efforts, with all the ability that belonged to the character of Frederick and of Lord Chatham. On the side of the French there appeared no commander of eminence; but on that of the Austrians, Marshals Daun and Laudon 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 the great Frederick, now grown gray 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, having besides set at defiance all the municipal and other authorities of the various provinces, under the pretence that he was the best judge of the wants of the country. He established general toleration in religion, abolished a number of monasteries and convents, dismantled various fortresses, and took steps for new-modelling the existing systems both of law and of national education. But his commercial legislation, based on the prohibition system, gave undoubted evidence of the narrowness of his views as a statesman. Had the public in his dominions been ripe, as in France, for a general political change, Joseph would have perhaps 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, while the arbitrary manner in which his improvements were introduced could not fail to provoke hatred. 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 pro-

duced 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.

Austria. Leopold, the brother and successor of Joseph, had a very short reign, the crown devolving in 1792 on his son Francis II. Francis had hardly succeeded to the throne 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, and Kleber, young in years, but full of enterprize and activity, led to the conquest of the Netherlands, and 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 genius of Buonaparte. Threatened in the end of July by an Austrian army of great strength, but which was imprudently

Austria. 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 headquarters 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 Buonaparte marched to encounter as it advanced towards Verona, using in his despatch to Paris these remarkable words: Il faut frapper 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 Arcolo, 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 blood, 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 despatch with their intended plan of operations, was enabled to make such a disposition of his troops as to ensure 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 in 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 Hohenlinden and Marengo led to the treaty of Luneville, 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 Leipzig 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. It must, however, be observed, that according to the new territorial division, as determined by the Congress of Vienna, the extent of the Austrian Empire was diminished by 400 German square miles. The public debt, as reduced in consequence of the state-bankruptcy of 1811, amounted to something above 500,000,000 florins (or £50,000,000 sterling).

The subsequent history of Austria may be divided into two distinct periods. The first of these, beginning with the year 1816, after the definitive settlement of the negotiations of Vienna, and terminating with 1848, was, so to speak, one of comparative peace, especially with regard to foreign powers; the other commenced with intestine commotions and wars, resulting in the complete subversion of the Austrian states-machine, and has left the whole empire in a provisional and unsettled condition up to the present day. These two periods we shall treat separately in their order.

AUSTRIA FROM 1816 TO THE WAR OF 1848.

Prince Metternich, one of the most conspicuous personages among the diplomatists assembled at the Congress of Vienna, became, from this time, the uncontrolled director of the helm of the state. His policy, in which he persevered until the hour when he was hurled from his post by the movement of 1848, was based on the principles of legitimacy and strict conservatism. In conformity with the former, Austria ever proved ready to assist any acknowledged or legitimate prince against revolutionary movements, while her conservative policy rendered her averse to anything like progress or innovation. "The transition from an old state of things to a new is as dangerous as that from a new state to one which no longer exists. Both are productive of disturbances which must be avoided at any price." Such was the doctrine which Metternich proclaimed after the restoration of peace, and which became ever after the basis of the Austrian policy. To follow up this system in all its consequences, the Austrian government established a strict censorship, whose office was to watch over the home press and literature, and to survey the importation of foreign literary productions. The secret police, which received a thorough organization since the year 1820, had to perform the office of censor in the department of social conversation; its reports

Austria. serving to the government as a means of estimating the sentiments of the people. It is needless to observe, that this was not the best method for furnishing the cabinet with correct information as to the state of the public mind; for the people, knowing the system of espionage by which they were surrounded, either avoided conversing on political topics altogether, or, if at all adverting to such subjects, purposely expressed sentiments totally at variance with their real convictions.

At the new territorial division of Europe after the fall of Napoleon, Austria renounced her pretensions to Belgium for the acquisition of the Italian provinces, which she deemed more secure. A few years, however, sufficed to prove the fallacy of this policy. In 1822, when a rebellion broke out in Naples and Sardinia, the movement soon spread to Lombardy-Venetia; and the Austrian government, after having quelled the disturbances in her own provinces, deemed it necessary for her own security to put down, by force of arms, the risings in the other states of the Italian provinces. Ten years later Parma and Modena suddenly rose in rebellion, when, guided by like principles, Austria sent her troops to restore peace in the Romagna. In short, the Italian possessions have proved one of the most vulnerable points of the Austrian Empire.

The French revolution of July 1830, however, was the first external event after the Napoleonic era which deeply affected and embarrassed the commanding attitude of the court of Vienna. The very accession of Louis Philippe to the Bourbon throne was a sort of declaration of war against the principles of legitimacy; and though the recognition of the Orleans king by Great Britain led Austria to acquiesce in the event, and to follow the example of the court of St James, she had soon after to encounter various difficulties directly arising from this French revolution. Her first task was in Poland. Tired of Russian rule, the Poles, hoping to be supported by France, took arms to regain their independence, when Austria aided the Czar in crushing them. The second manoeuvre was in Germany, to which the revolutionary impulse had been communicated from France. Here Austria acted in concert with Prussia in establishing some new restrictive laws with reference to the German Confederacy. But more important was the desire for reform simultaneously manifested in several of her own provinces, which, with the exception of Hungary, had been stripped of all their ancient institutions and ruled by edicts from Vienna. As all the means of expressing public opinion were wanting, the government persevered with seeming confidence in its old policy, without encountering many obstacles; though in Hungary matters looked somewhat different. Deprived, equally with the other provinces, of the liberty of the press, Hungary retained its diets and county assemblies, institutions which gave ample opportunity for the expression of free opinion, and which, at the same time, operated as a check on the grasping power of the crown. The diet of 1832 loudly demanded the redress of old grievances, the states intimating their determination not to vote supplies till their wrongs were removed, and asking, moreover, the introduction of the Hungarian language into the courts of administration and justice instead of the dead Latin. Meanwhile the spirit of nationality awoke in Bohemia, the Czechs or Sclavonian party attempting to defend their nationality against the absorbing superiority accorded to the German element by the government.

In 1835 the Emperor Francis died, leaving the throne to his son Ferdinand. The mental weakness of this good-natured monarch, far from contributing to any change in the maxims of the state policy, served only to allow free scope to the omnipotent prime minister. "On the access-

sion of the Emperor Ferdinand," says Baron Pillersdorf (the successor of Metternich), "the monarchy was not menaced by external dangers. Circumstances permitted an uninterrupted enjoyment of peace, but the necessity for internal ameliorations became, by so long a delay, more urgent, the demand for them more sensible; whilst, owing to the procrastinations of the government, faith and confidence were diminished. It is true that the prosperity of the provinces generally did not decline; on the contrary, many branches of commerce manifested an increase in their development; but in spite of this the situation of the whole empire inspired, in different respects, serious apprehensions, arising from the disordered state of the economy of finance, the yearly augmentation of the public debt, the inefficiency of the measures adopted, and still more from the oppressed disposition of mind of the clear-sighted and intelligent classes of the population. The Austrian Empire was partly surrounded by, and was thrown into manifold relations with, countries in which the constitutional form had developed itself in place of that which had previously existed; and as the defects of our own system had been publicly scrutinized and discussed, the spirit of constitutional freedom was transferred from without to the sentiments of all strata of the people. Contemporaneously with this arose a contrast, the more striking in the empire of Austria (the author here alludes to Hungary), where one-half of the people enjoyed thoroughly, during many centuries, a constitution, and consequently a right to participate in legislation.² These few remarks may suffice to show the state of Austria before the troubles of 1848. Under such circumstances the state of Austria necessarily became perplexed. In Germany she saw the rising influence of Prussia, whose free institutions and superiority in culture and science were gradually raising her to be the leading power of the German Confederacy; which very circumstance induced her to support the German element in her own dominions at the expense of the other nationalities. The non-German population were thus discontented with the court of Vienna for its Germanizing measures, while the Germans knew well that it was not Vienna which represented German learning and civilization. It may be remarked that the aversion of Austria to foster the development of the Sclavonic element in particular, was greatly owing to the apprehensions that it might lead to the ultimate advantage of Russia, which was continually endeavouring to attach to itself all the Sclavonic tribes. No Austrian statesman, in fact, was more alive to the encroaching power of Russia than Metternich. In 1830 Austria accordingly refused to join the rest of the European powers in the protocol which declared the independence of Greece; while ten years later, when Turkey was threatened by Mahomed Ali the pacha of Egypt, whose interests were loudly advocated by France, the court of Vienna readily joined England as an ally of the Porte. Both these instances prove of how much importance the integrity of Turkey appeared to Austrian statesmen with reference to the menacing attitude of Russia.

In 1846 the court of Vienna was again frightened from its sense of security by the Poles. Having suppressed this revolution, Austria, in concert with the other two powers which dismembered Poland, determined to blot out Cracow, the last remnant of Polish independence, from the map of Europe. This step, being contrary to the treaties of Vienna, was of course discontenanced by England, and more strongly remonstrated against by France. This disapproval, however, did not prevent the incorporation of that small republic territory with the Austrian empire; but it may safely be assumed that, if the question of the Spanish marriage had not for the time being occasioned a rupture between

² The Political Movement in Austria during the year 1848-9. By Baron Pillersdorf. London, 1850.

Austria. the cabinets of London and Paris, their conjoint interposition would not have been so utterly disregarded by the northern powers. Not satisfied with the advantages gained in Poland, Metternich thought fit to meddle with the internal affairs of Switzerland, which engaged his special attention from the circumstance of its vicinity to the Italian provinces of Austria. This country was at that time agitated by two contending parties, the Sonderbund, a Jesuitical party, and the Liberals. Metternich, who advocated the cause of the Sonderbund, succeeded in gaining over France to his side, coming into direct opposition to England, which gave its support to the party of progress.

THE REVOLUTION OF 1848, AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS.

The French revolution of 24th February, which convulsed almost the whole of continental Europe, caused the Austrian empire to totter to its very centre. Scarcely had the intelligence of the fall of Louis Philippe reached Vienna, when that capital, proverbial for its carelessness about politics, presented all at once a counterpart on a smaller scale of Paris in the last days of Louis XVI. On the 13th of March the whole city was in a state of open rebellion; the populace, forcing the magistracy along with them, broke their way into the imperial palace, and loudly demanded from the Emperor Ferdinand the dismissal of his old counsellors and the immediate grant of a new charter. Three days afterwards an imperial proclamation was issued declaring the abolition of the censorship, the establishment of a national guard, and the convocation of a national assembly.

These measures, however, as well as the nomination of a new ministry, headed provisionally by Count Colowrath, and afterwards by Pillersdorf, (in place of Prince Metternich, who by this time was in full flight towards London,) were far from sufficing to arrest the popular movement, encouraged and led on by the students and other members of the university. The national guard just called into being, along with the academic legion, formed themselves into a permanent committee, and dictated laws to the government. The ministry, unable to resist, promised the convocation of a constituent assembly, while the emperor and the court fled from the capital and retired to Innsbruck (May 17). The old system lay thus in ruins, its supporters or rather creators turned fugitives, while the prospects of a new organization were continually defeated more and more by the condition of the rest of the provinces. The Lombards and Venetians, already half in arms before the Parisian revolution broke out, were afterwards all the more determined to fight out their independence; and after having expelled the Austrian troops from Milan, they found an ally in Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, before whose arms the Austrian force under Radetzky was compelled to retreat. Meanwhile the movement propagated itself into Bohemia, where the Czechs, or Slavonic party, determined to obtain redress against the Germanizing measures of the government. In a petition forwarded to the emperor, they demanded a united and independent national assembly for Bohemia and Moravia, independent municipal institutions, and in the distribution of public offices an equal selection from among the Slavonians and German part of the population. Shortly afterwards the Slavonic party in Prague, already in open collision with their German fellow-citizens, organized a club under the title of Slovanska Lipa, with the object of concerting common measures in the interest of all the Slavonic inhabitants of the Austrian empire. A general summons was accordingly issued to the Slavonians of the different provinces, calling upon them to send representatives to the Slavonic congress to be held in the Bohemian capital. Delegates accordingly arrived, and the congress was opened in the beginning of June.

The people, who hated the Austrian commander, Prince Windischgratz, petitioned the emperor for his removal;

meanwhile, however, a collision ensued between the Slavonic militia and the regular troops, the result of which was the bombardment of the town and the final dispersion and imprisonment of the leaders of the Slavonic party. Nor did matters wear a more peaceable aspect in Hungary. Here the national diet succeeded in carrying a measure for the abolition of feudalism, as well as the appointment of a responsible and independent Hungarian ministry. These reforms soon gave rise to a civil war, commenced by the Slavonians of Hungary, and, to say the least, encouraged by the Austrian government, which disliked to see an independent Hungarian ministry by its side. The imperial dynasty was thus menaced on every side.

In addition to this distracted and threatening state of affairs within the bosom of the empire itself, may be added the terrible blow inflicted upon Austrian influence on the side of Germany. The national assembly which met at Frankfort determined on the reorganization of Germany into one integral empire, excluding the German possessions of Austria from the confederacy, and offering, besides, the imperial crown to the king of Prussia. It was under these circumstances that the constituent assembly, composed of representatives from all the provinces of Austria except Hungary and Lombard-Venetia, was opened at Vienna by the Archduke John (July 22). It may easily be imagined that the Slavonic element, largely preponderating over the German in these provinces, also greatly preponderated in that assembly; a circumstance the more distasteful to the government, in that its influence in Germany had already received so severe a blow, as already related. Notwithstanding, the aspect of affairs in Italy and Hungary, and the desire to flatter the Slavonic population for the sake of its support, induced the government to allow free scope to this assembly in its schemes for the re-organization of the empire. But even whilst the assembly held its sittings, the committee of safety and the academic legion exercised, in many respects, the chief authority in the capital, which was the scene of repeated tumults until the month of October. At this period the people became incensed by the appearance before the walls of Vienna of a Croatian army, led on by the Ban Jellachich, who had previously been foiled in his attempts to advance upon Pesth. The popular fury became concentrated on Latour, the minister of war, who was known to have supplied the Ban with arms and ammunition for the invasion of Hungary. The war office was stormed by the people, after a severe conflict with the troops, when Latour was taken and cruelly murdered, his body stript of its clothes, and suspended to a lamp-post. After this event Windischgratz began to collect a large army, and soon after appeared before Vienna. The defence was carried on under the command of General Bem, a Polish officer, subsequently so distinguished in the Hungarian war. Windischgratz, however, conjointly with Jellachich, succeeded in storming the town (October 30). Among those who suffered death at the instance of Windischgratz was Robert Blum, member of the parliament of Frankfort, who was accused of having incited the people to rebellion. While Prague and Vienna were thus subjected by military power, the fortune of war began also to turn in favour of the Austrians in Italy. The Austrian government, which had been ready a few weeks before to relinquish its claims on Lombardy, and which implored the British cabinet to mediate a peace on the condition of its retaining only Venice, now saw Radetzky repel the Sardinian troops and re-enter Milan (August 1848). See LOMBARDY and SARDINIA. In Hungary, however, matters had now begun to assume a threatening aspect. By an imperial edict the diet met at Pesth (July 2), with the special purpose of providing for the safety of the country, when, on the other hand, it became notorious that the invasion of Hungary by the Croats, under Jellachich, was determined on by the Austrian government. This diet, therefore, after the

resignation of the Hungarian ministry in consequence of the double dealings of the court, appointed a committee of public safety, having previously voted a national army of 200,000 men. Meanwhile the court, then sitting in Olmütz, determined upon persuading the weak-minded Ferdinand to abdicate his throne in favour of Francis Joseph, son of the Archduke Francis Charles, Ferdinand's brother, and heir-presumptive to the throne. In a manifesto dated December 2, 1848, Francis Joseph announced his accession to the throne, promising to rule on the basis of true liberty, of the equality of the rights of the different populations comprising his empire, and indicating, moreover, his determination to suppress the rebellions then raging throughout his dominions. This announcement, as may be imagined, had the effect of still more powerfully rousing both Lombard-Venetia and Hungary. The former was henceforth the more determined to regain its complete independence, while the latter regarded the abdication of Ferdinand and the accession of his successor as unconstitutional, illegal, and null, inasmuch as it did not take place with the knowledge and consent of the diet. After a levy of recruits had been effected, the new emperor intrusted Windischgratz with the subjugation of Hungary, of which he was nominated civil and military governor. Joined by the Ban, Windischgratz broke into Hungary, and in a few days possessed himself of Budapest, the capital (January 1, 1849); the Hungarian diet meanwhile transferring its seat to Debreczin in Lower Hungary. After a short respite allowed to his troops, the Austrian general marched on towards the new seat of the Hungarian diet, but after the first battle, fought about the end of February, at Kapolna, Windischgratz, instead of advancing, was compelled to prepare for a retreat. The emperor, probably relying too hastily on the success of his arms in Hungary, dissolved the constituent assembly of Vienna which had been transferred to Kremsir, and, rejecting the constitution they were preparing, issued a self-granted (octroyé) so-called constitution (March 4, 1849).

This charter, meant to sweep away all the ancient institutions of the various provinces, proclaimed constitutional liberty, the responsibility of ministers, the liberty of the press, and other safeguards common in constitutional governments, as its groundwork. The establishment of a general diet in Vienna, and of provincial assemblies, and also of courts of central administration in the capital, were likewise among its more prominent provisions.

That Hungary could only see in this charter the abolition of its independent parliaments, and the subversion of all its ancient institutions, will be readily manifest; nor was Lombard-Venetia likely to be reconciled to Austrian rule by the proclamation of such a charter. In Italy, accordingly, the war continued, but very visibly in favour of the Austrian arms; and on the 23d of March 1849 the cause of Italian independence was crushed on the disastrous field of Novara, where the Sardinian forces were completely routed by Radetzky. But although Austria obtained so unexpected and speedy a triumph in Italy, its cause looked sufficiently desperate in Hungary in the spring of 1849. The Austrian army suffered one defeat after another in rapid succession, and were driven back, broken and dispirited, up to the vicinity of Presburg. Emboldened by the successes of its army, the Hungarian diet proclaimed the dethronement of the house of Hapsburg, and nominated Kossuth provisional governor of Hungary (April 24). In this emergency Francis Joseph applied for assistance to the Czar, which the Russian emperor readily granted, and the more so that his interference was objected to neither by France nor England. The Russian army, under the command of Passkiewics, was not long in penetrating into Hungary, and the whole war was at once extinguished by the disgraceful surrender of the Hungarian general Georgei to the Russian commander (August 13). See HUNGARY. Thus did the Haps-

burg dynasty pass through a crisis more formidable than it had ever before experienced; owing its final preservation to the timely assistance of Russia, a power the increasing influence of which Prince Metternich, during his long administration, kept steadily in view and endeavoured to obstruct, but which, from the services it rendered, naturally assumed forthwith towards Austria the attitude of a protector.

To complete the summary of the events resulting from the movement of 1848, a few words must be said on the relation of Austria to Germany, subsequent to the war we have narrated.

Though the king of Prussia declined accepting the imperial dignity, tendered to him in 1848 by the diet of Frankfort, he concluded a treaty with the kings of Saxony and Hanover (May 1849), with the view of forming a strict union with the different states of the German Confederacy, to the exclusion of Austria. To this treaty, which is known by the appellation of the "Treaty of the Three Kings," the majority of the lesser states soon acceded, Prussia proposing, besides, to convene a diet at Erfurt under its own presidency, for the final settlement of the reorganization of Germany. This assembly was accordingly opened (March 1850), and obviously tended materially to raise the influence of Prussia at the expense of Austria, hitherto the leading power in the German Confederacy. But Austria, having now established her authority in her own provinces, began vigorously to counteract the efforts of her rival, and, on her part, invited the different states to send their representatives to Frankfort, where she assumed the lead. The legality of this assembly was at once acknowledged by Bavaria, always jealous of Prussian influence, as well as by Saxony and Hanover, which were subsequently gained over by Austria.

While these two parliaments were thus playing at cross purposes, disturbances arose in Hesse-Cassel. The marriage invoked the assistance of Austria, while the population, on the other hand, looked to Prussia for support. In accordance with the decision of the diet at Frankfort, Austria determined to march its armies into Hesse, a course of action opposed by Prussia and threatening immediate war between these two powers. (See articles GERMANY and PRUSSIA.) This conflict, which seemed unavoidable, was however averted by the conferences of Olmütz, Austria being represented by the prime minister Prince Schwartzemberg, and Prussia by Manteuffel. These deliberations ended in the entire humiliation of Prussia, which acknowledged the right of Austria to march its troops into Hesse, and even Schleswig-Holstein; a circumstance attributed, not without reason, to the influence of the Czar, with whom the Emperor of Austria and the Prince of Prussia held a conference at Warsaw (October 25, 1850), and who, as may be easily imagined, from his aversion to every species of innovation, pronounced in favour of the policy of Austria to re-establish the old status quo in Germany. About the close of the year 1850, Austria and Prussia convoked a congress of all the German states at Dresden, when the influence of the former so far preponderated, that Prussia, bent all the while on the reorganization of Germany, was fain to propose that the final solution of the affairs of the confederacy should be submitted to the decision of the old Frankfort diet. Having thus achieved so many triumphs over her rival, Austria now proposed to the diet of Frankfort the incorporation into the German Confederacy of all her provinces, including Hungary and Lombard-Venetia. This bold proposal, materially threatening the balance of power in Europe, was met by the remonstrances of the governments of France and England, though its failure may be more directly traced to the policy of Russia, which could not be supposed to look with indifference on the increase of power to the Austrian empire by the success of such a scheme of ambition.

Austria. Population of the Austrian Empire according to the census of 1846: the Provinces classed by the comparative density of the Population.

The increase of the population of the Austrian empire, since 1816, thus amounts to 10 millions. The approximate estimate of the population in 1852 is given by Hain in his last statistical work at 38 millions.

Such is the respective population of the different provinces of the empire. These differ so widely in climate, soil, language, and customs, that any general description cannot apply to the whole; we shall therefore describe the chief characteristics of those which form a part of the German Confederacy; for HUNGARY, LOMBARDY, and VENICE, the reader is referred to the respective heads of each, while Galizia will be found under that of POLAND.

AUSTRIA, THE ARCHDUCHEY.

The archduchy of Austria consists of two nearly equal parts, viz., Upper and Lower Austria. The river Ens, flowing northward from the Alps to the Danube, intersects the archducal territory nearly in the middle; the country to the E. of the river being Lower, and that to the W., 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 constitutes the Austrian empire. That district is the seat both of the capital and of extensive manufactures, and is, in this respect, after the Italian provinces and Bohemia, the most important. Vienna itself, with its environs, produces silk, the manufacture of which is carried to a degree of considerable perfection, amounting in annual value to more than 12,000,000 florins. The other branches of industry consist principally of woollen, cotton, and hardware manufactures, 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 S. towards the Danube. They are used for irrigation, the great desideratum of the agriculturist in a warm locality. The produce of the land along the Danube, from Vienna to the Bavarian frontier, has been greatly increased likewise 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 lands.

Upper Austria, or the country W. of the Ens, 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 Ens, 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 856,694 inhabitants, while the lower province reckons 1,494,399.

Population of the Chief Towns.

The early inhabitants of Austria are understood to have come partly from among the Germans in the W., partly from the Slavonian tribes in the N. and E. 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 S.E. of Germany, and comparatively backward in civilization, Austria is 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.

BOHEMIA.

Bohemia, which ranks immediately after Hungary among the great members of the Austrian union, bears 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 N. Lat.; 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 continued 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 N. and Franconia on the W., 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 such a manner as to disseminate extensively the improvements of their respective countries.

Of the aboriginal inhabitants of Bohemia there are no History. 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

Austria. 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 the martyr reformers, John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who, at a date as yet too early, exposed the errors of the Church of Rome; 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.

Climates and soil. The climate of Bohemia varies greatly, according to the elevation of the ground; the plains and valleys being warm, while the mountains, both in the S. and N., 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 is 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 considerable improvement has been made; 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 E. 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 W., 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 270,000 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.

Austria. The manufactures of Bohemia have made considerable progress in the last and present age: they consist chiefly of woollens,—which are mainly produced in the town of Reichenberg and its environs,—of linen and leather; but they comprise also cottons, hardware, and glass. The glass-manufactories are principally situated in the mountainous parts of the province, and the largest emporia of these branches of industry are in the towns of Neuwelt, Silberberg, and Georgenthal. Besides the above, Bohemia is remarkable for the large number of its breweries, furnishing, it is said, the third part of all the beer produced in the empire. The annual value of the total industry of Bohemia is computed at 150,000,000 of florins. 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, on which, during the last few years, regular steam communication has been established; and the intercourse with the other Austrian provinces has been greatly extended by means of the different lines of railway recently established in the various parts of the empire.

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 4,347,962. 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, a Slavonic idiom, and quite different from German, is the only language of the lower orders, particularly in remote districts. The power of the sovereigns is as absolute in Bohemia as in any part of the Austrian dominions. The parliament or states consists 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; and the sphere of their vocation and authority does not extend much beyond executing the orders of the chief court of Vienna, and is almost confined to the collection of the taxes imposed upon them by the central government. 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. A few years before the war of 1848, the feeling of Slavonian nationality began to manifest itself in this province in loud discontent against the Germanizing policy, and the bureaucratic system of the government. These manifestations exhibited themselves without restraint during the year 1848; and, as the government was in open war with Lombardo-Venetia and Hungary, were at first left unchecked, though, as the reader will find from the general history of the late war, the idea of Slavonic nationality and independence was speedily silenced by martial law.

Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, which is now annexed to Moravia, contain an area of 11,000 square miles, with a population of 2,250,594, 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 situ-

Austria. ations, 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 the extent of its 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. The chief seats of the manufacture of cloths and other woollen goods are Brünn and Iglau. The manufacture of linen fabrics is carried on in Schönberg, Tribau, Sternberg, and Brünn. An article of recent production, and promising much success, is the manufacture of beet-root sugar.

Austrian Silesia has an area of 1900 square miles, with a population of 467,420. 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 former, as well as the manufacture of thread, obtaining much celebrity. Of no less importance are the iron trade and the manufacture of hardware. The pastures of this country are in general rich, and the export of wool, already considerable, is likely to increase.

THE ALPINE PROVINCES.

Styria. The duchy of Styria, one of the earliest acquisitions of the Austrian family, has an extent of nearly 9000 square miles, with a population of 1,023,153, 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. Styria produces many articles of iron manufacture, among which may be chiefly noticed its excellent scythes and reaping-hooks; and the government foundries at Maria Zell and St Stephen are deserving of particular mention.

Tyrol bears in official papers no higher name than that 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 866,078. 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 coun-

try 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 for the movement of mills and other machinery. Mineral ores are found in Tyrol to an extent that justifies the expectation that they may eventually be made to afford considerable employment and income to the inhabitants; but in a country so rugged in its surface, and so 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. Southern Tyrol partakes more of the character of the Italian provinces, and has recently made great progress in the manufacture of silk goods, as also of leather.

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 the Tyrolese chasseurs or sportsmen, 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 had 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. It is needless, however, to observe that the functions of these states have always been much more nominal than real.

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 316,224. The chief towns are Clagenfurt and Villach. As in the case of Styria, the manufactures of Carinthia consist chiefly of hardware. The most profitable branch of industry, however, is that of sugar-refining, which flourishes most at Laibach.

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 Sclavonians. Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, and part of Friuli, form the present kingdom of Illyria.

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, 418,063. One of the chief occupations of the working population is ship-building. 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.

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 Isar, 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. In the year 1830 a Danubian Steam-Navigation Company was established, which in 1848, possessed already more than thirty steam-vessels, which gave an unusual stimulus to commerce. The Danube, as connecting Austria with Turkey and the East, countries which produce no manufactures of their own, might undoubtedly be the means of greatly increasing the foreign trade of Austria, were it not for its restrictive and prohibitive commercial system.

The other great rivers in the Austrian dominions are the Save, the Drave, and the Mulir, 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. A few years ago the Theiss was in part rendered navigable for steamers, an improvement for which Hungary is mainly indebted to Count Szécheny.

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, Galizia, 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, and, above all, the countenance of the central government at Vienna; all of which, however, have been hitherto 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 S.W., and the Carpathians in the N.E. of the empire, all of great height and extent. In the bleak climate of Norway the higher parts of mountains present little else than con-

tinued 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 particular, 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 N. Lat., and comprising nearly the whole of Bohemia, with the high-lying parts of Hungary, Moravia, Galizia, 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 Galizia. It extends along the entire length of the empire, and has a surface of fully 150,000 square miles. This vast tract lies between Lat. 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 Lat. 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 S. of Lat. 49°; while Galizia and the interior of Bohemia, though to the N. 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.

From its geographical position, 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.

Mines and minerals. In a country covered in so many parts by mountains, the extent of mineral produce can hardly fail to be large. 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 comparatively small, it is owing to the fact, that most of the mountain districts are 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 rich mines of gold and silver, partly the property of government and in part of private individuals. The aggregate value of the mines and minerals belonging to government amounts to 4,457,135 florins, and of those which are private property to more than 13,000,000. In this computation Hungary and Transylvania are not included. The respective quantity of the more important metals and minerals belonging to the government, as obtained in 1847, was as follows:—Copper, 2753 cwt.; lead, 1418 cwt.; zinc, 3360 cwt.; raw iron, 494,089 cwt.; cast iron, 58,043 cwt.; iron vitriol, 12,136 cwt.; cobalt, 300 cwt.; sulphur, 13,238 cwt.

Coal mines. A far more important mineral than silver ore, namely 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 had 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. The whole amount of coal belonging to government was, according to the official computation of 1847, 158,219 cwt., and that belonging to private individuals exceeded 14,000,000. It may be stated that in Hungary the produce of the government coal pits is nearly fourfold that of all the rest of the empire as above given.

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 Wielicka in Galizia 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 Subia. This very extensive tract comprehends the salt mines of Wallachia, Transylvania, Galizia, 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. The total produce of salt was in 1847 as follows:—Rock salt, 3,060,850 cwt.; boiled salt, 2,050,362 cwt.; sea salt, 522,726 cwt.; total, 5,633,938 cwt.

Agriculture. Austrian agriculture has made, so to speak, no progress whatever during the last thirty years, and continues in a very backward state in all parts of the empire, with the exception of the Italian provinces and the archduchy of Austria itself. The reasons of this backwardness are very obvious. While France, likewise an agricultural country, issued from the great Napoleonic war with a free population, feudalism continued in Austria down to the year 1848; a circumstance in itself sufficient to cripple the agricultural produce of the country, and still further enhanced by the protective policy of the go-

vernment towards manufactures; a policy which, while it tended on the one hand to turn all the capital of the country into the channel of the manufacturing interest, compelled the agriculturist, on the other hand, to purchase home-made implements that might have been procured abroad at a cheaper rate and of a better quality. To these two causes may be added the existence of a large standing army, and the long period of military service customary in Austria, which bereft the rural population of the stoutest of its labourers. Farther, the absence of personal liberty and the right of free discussion, elements the most important towards the increase of national wealth, have also unavoidably contributed to the same result. In addition, it may be stated that the Austrian population have hitherto remained in complete ignorance of the modern scientific and practical improvements in agriculture, adopted by the other nations of Europe. 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 Lombardy, 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. Galizia is likewise fertile, the most so perhaps of any of the Polish provinces; while in the S. and E. 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.

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; and

Austria. above all, the high value of arable land in England, owing chiefly to the density of the population.

Land under tillage. 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 total cultivated soil of Austria amounts, in round numbers, to 54,000,000 hectares, that of France to 38,000,000; while that of Britain is not above 25,000,000; while the estimate of the comparative value of the agricultural produce of the three countries gives the following remarkable result:—

Vints.

The northern parts of the empire, viz. Bohemia, Galizia, 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 70 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.

The total produce of wine is estimated at more than 27,000,000 hecatolitres, of which 22,000,000 are supplied by Hungary alone. This evinces certainly a degree of abundance in that article, though it is much inferior to the quantity raised in France, which is computed as above 40,000,000 hecatolitres.

Manufactures.

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. Silk is most largely manufactured in Vienna and the Italian provinces. 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 celebrated 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. The most important articles of export, however, are corn, wool, wine, and cattle. Paper also is 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; as is also the refining of sugar, which has lately received a great impulse. The cheapness of labour is in favour of such undertakings in Austria. One of the chief obstacles, up to a recent date, was the distance which the raw material, whether landed at Trieste or Hamburg, had to be conveyed by land, a disadvantage now partly overcome by the establishment of several lines of railway.

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 despatch 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 material.

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 seaports 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. It must be remembered, moreover, that the Austrian tariff was the highest in Europe up to the year 1848, and that many articles of manufacture, such as rock-salt, rouge, gold-dust, and tobacco, were entirely prohibited, while the import duty

Austria, on other articles of commerce almost effectually prevented their admission. Hence it followed, that the price of many of the most common articles of clothing (as stated in the British and Foreign Review, vol. xi.), was higher from 75 to 100 per cent. than in London. This narrow commercial legislation, coupled with the inland toll, subsisting till 1849, between Hungary and the rest of the empire, could not but materially impede the free development of the commercial resources of the country. In no other department however has so great a progress been perceptible within the last 20 years as in commerce; for we find that in the decade between 1830 and 1840, the value of foreign commerce rose from 170 to 290 millions of florins; while in the year preceding the late war, it increased to upwards of 240 millions. This advance must undoubtedly be attributed in a large measure to the construction of different lines of railway; of which the chief are, the Northern or Ferdinand's Line, touching the Prussian frontier at Oderberg, and bringing Berlin within slightly more than a thirty hours' journey from the Austrian capital, the Cracow-Silesian Line, and the South-Eastern Line, running into Hungary. The most important line, however, by which it is contemplated to unite Vienna on the one hand with Galizia, and on the other with Trieste, and thereby with the Italian provinces, is as yet far from completion. In regard to foreign commerce, the seaport of Trieste occupies the foremost place, and owes its flourishing condition to the existence of the Lloyd Company, established in 1833, and three years after taken under government patronage. The steam vessels of this company are nearly forty in number; and, by means of their connection with the German railways, have already rivalled the London Oriental Company by opening up a communication with the East through Trieste. The value of the commerce of Trieste with foreign countries is, according to the latest statistics, 86 millions; that of Venice, 11 millions; and that of Fiume, 4 millions of florins.

In the year 1851, considerable alterations were effected in the Austrian tariff, the object of the government being to form a union with the German Zollverein; though it will be seen by a few examples that the duty on many articles of manufacture still amounts to a virtual prohibition. The import duty per cwt. on the following articles stand thus:—

Woollen and silk manufactures are taxed in the same ratio as the foregoing.

The aggregate value of Austrian manufactures is, according to the last official return, estimated at 795 millions of florins. In this computation the following are the more important branches, and their respective value is thus stated:—

The harbours along the coast of Dalmatia are both numerous and commodious, but their trade must be considerable 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 Galizia with still more difficulty by the Vistula; but these impediments are now almost removed by the establishment of railway communication in both these provinces.

National Income and Finances.

In commercial countries, the public revenue arises principally from the excise and customs; but in a country chiefly agricultural, the case is very different. In Austria the limited extent of foreign trade renders the customs comparatively small; while the small number of towns, and 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. 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 1819 a new regulation of the land-tax was established, which underwent material changes after the war of 1848. In the Hereditary States, as well as in Bohemia and Galizia, the land-tax was levied without distinction of class or rank; but in the aristocratic countries of Hungary and Transylvania the noblesse or gentry were exempt from it till 1848.

Public Revenue of Austria.

From the year 1831 to 1841 the average revenue of Austria was 133 millions of florins, which from 1841 down to the time of the last war amounted to an average of 170 millions. This increase, perceptible in the second decade, may be attributed chiefly to the introduction of the stamp-duty and other financial measures by Baron Kükbeck; and it may be remarked that the increase of the indirect taxes by far exceeded that of the direct. From this revenue, which nearly covered the state-expenses, the military establishment alone absorbed in the year 1832, in consequence of the French revolution of 1830, as well as in the year 1846, during the troubles in Poland, more than 60 millions, and was never under 55 millions.

The public debt, which, as already observed, amounted, at the end of the war with Napoleon, to 500 millions of florins, was augmented to 800 millions, up till the date of the war of 1848. The interest alone of this debt amounted to 33 millions of florins. From this general view, the reader will understand the resources of Austria at the eve of a war which, while for two years it materially diminished her income, caused on the other hand a great addition to the public debt by reason of the vastly increased expenditure it occasioned. With the end of the war, the system of taxation and the rules in respect to states-revenue and expenditure in general, underwent fundamental alterations.

The injurious effect of the war upon the finances may be gathered from the following statement:—

The year 1850 showed a considerable increase of income, which, including the direct and indirect taxes, rose to 195,000,000 florins, while the expenditure amounted to 250,000,000.

The income and expenditure of 1851 were as follow:—

Total income, in round numbers, including the indemnification paid by Sardinia, 223,000,000 florins.

The total expenditure of this year amounted, in round numbers, to 278,000,000 florins. Deficit for 1851, 55,000,000 florins.

It may be observed that the year 1852, the financial statement for which has not yet been made public, promises a continued increase in the revenue; though the state of the provinces, as well as the general aspect of Europe, do not entitle us to calculate upon a reduction in the chief item of expenditure, viz. the army, which, in 1851, of itself absorbed more than 111,000,000 florins. The public debt amounted, in 1852, according to the estimate formed by the judicious and accurate Otto Hubner, in his Jahrbuch für Volkswirtschaft und Statistik, to 1200 millions of florins, or at the rate of 32 florins per head.

It is thus seen that the revenue of Austria is surprisingly small if compared with England and France. This however is explained by the mere consideration of the manner in which human labour is employed. In manufacturing and commercial countries, such as England, 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 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, which, as is evident, is by far the least in Austria. The largest towns in the latter besides Vienna, are Milan, Venice, Prague, and Pesth, each with a population above 100,000, which, taken together, does not much exceed the population of Paris alone, not to mention the immense population of London and other large towns in Britain.

Comparative density of population. 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 the year 1851, it was 4835 persons to a German square mile; in France, 3678; while in Austria it was only 3150, though its territory by far surpasses that of France. As to the

comparative density of the town and agricultural populations, no satisfactory result has hitherto been obtained by the statistical writers; the prevailing opinion, however, is, that the population of the towns is in the proportion of 1 to 7 in comparison with the remainder. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that the population of those towns which number less than 2000 inhabitants is generally classed among the agricultural. 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 liberal institutions, 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, from a universally established steam-communication, and, above all, from a liberal commercial legislation.

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. It is now 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 connaissez," 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, Slavonians, 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 bestowed comparatively little attention on the minutiae of discipline. The Austrians were charged with following a con-

Austria. trary 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.

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. Up to the year 1848 the Austrian army, though by far inferior in general instruction to those of Prussia and France, was, in a strictly military point of view, and in discipline, held equal to any in Europe. Its prestige was, however, entirely lost during the war of 1848, when a large part of the army, and especially the Hungarians, deserted from the imperial standard to rally round their national colours; a circumstance which led to the complete military demoralization of the whole army. At the conclusion of the war, many of the revolutionary troops were forcibly enrolled into the imperial ranks, a policy which can only serve to infect the whole military force with new ideas, and an anti-dynastic spirit.

The whole army, including the landwehr, is computed at 500,000 men, and consists of 63 infantry regiments of the line, 20 grenadier battalions, 14 frontier regiments, and 24 rifle battalions; the cavalry consists of eight regiments of cuirassiers, 7 of dragoons, 12 of hussars, and 11 of lancers, besides the different corps of artillery, and the sappers and miners.¹

In most of the provinces of the Austrian empire the levies were at first made for militia service (landwehr), and the regular regiments were kept up by successive draughts from that force; while in Hungary the diet voted the respective contingents. Since the end of the last war, however, one uniform system of arbitrary recruiting has prevailed throughout the whole empire.

The horses for the Austrian light cavalry are drawn from Hungary and Galizia; 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. For further details connected with the Austrian military establishment, see ARMY.

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 foreign 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, al-

most 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 religious war in Germany 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. At present, however, the whole condition of Austria, in regard to her resources, has been altered in consequence of the late internal revolutions, and the unceasingly disaffected condition of the various nationalities, many of which only await the embroilment of Austria in a foreign war in order to free themselves for ever from her dominancy.

The Austrian navy is as yet merely in an incipient state, Ships of and is only entitled to notice because the possession of Venice, Trieste, and the fine harbours along the coast of Dalmatia, gives great facility for the creation of a maritime power. At present it consists of 4 frigates, 6 corvettes, 11 brigs, and 6 schooners; in all 27 sailing vessels; besides 10 steamers, the largest of which does not exceed 300-horse power.

Religion, Education, National Character.

The population of the Austrian empire, classed according to their respective creeds, will stand thus:—

Austria, as is known, was the hereditary foe of Protestantism in the seventeenth century, cruelly persecuting the population of Bohemia, the country of the unfortunate John Huss and Jerome of Prague. In Hungary the struggle of the Protestants against the Hapsburgs continued into the eighteenth century; nor have they ever been permitted the enjoyment of the liberties so often stipulated to them. In more recent times no actual persecutions have taken place, but the Catholic faith has always remained the predominant and privileged religion of the empire. 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 with the same success, as have marked their progress in the south and west.

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. The sovereigns of Austria have in general resisted the pretensions of the popes; reserving to themselves several important rights, such as the imposing of taxes on church property, the nomination of bishops and

¹ The variation between some of the numbers in this estimate and in the article ARMY, will be understood by reference to the fact that the strength of the Austrian military establishment fluctuates with the chances of peace or war.

Austria. archbishops, and the option of restricting or even preventing the circulation of papal bulls. After the late war, however, the Austrian emperor surrendered his right in spiritual affairs to the pope.

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.

National education. A deficiency in national education has long been a subject of reproach to the Austrians; and their apathy in regard to literature and politics may undoubtedly be ascribed to the strict censorship, tending to stifle all liberal and useful inquiry. Always surrounded by the police and by secret spies, the Austrians, and especially the Viennese, have at last naturally become totally disused to anything like serious conversation in public, and appear seemingly satisfied to make up for this deficiency in the enjoyment of the other pleasures offered by life. 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 and France, and, above all, in the Protestant part of Germany; a consummation, however, not to be brought about under absolute rule. 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 diplomats, but by genteel society generally. The universities in the Austrian empire are as follow:—Vienna, Prague in Bohemia, Pesth in Hungary, Lemberg in Galicia, Innsbruck in Tyrol, Grätz in Styria, Olmütz in Moravia, and Padua and Pavia in Lombardy; in all, 9 universities, attended by more than 12,000 students. There are besides 43 academies, 33 lycœums or high schools, and 266 gymnasia or Latin schools. Of military schools there are in all 10 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 Van 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 Van 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 now 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 in 1848 was 3215. 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 normal seminaries 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, Grätz, 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, though the greater part of its distinguished writers, and in particular the poets, have always thought it safer to exchange Vienna for some town of Germany. The most eminent poets of whom the Austrian capital can boast are, Anastasius Grün, and the well-known humourist M. G. Saphir. Hammer, the founder of the Oriental Society at Vienna, has long been known for his acquaintance with Persian literature; while there are many able writers on natural philosophy and geography, connected with the various Academies of Science in the empire.

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. This is equally the case 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,—

Besides Jews, Armenians, and Gypsies, forming a comparatively small number.

The Slavonians (called in Latin Slavi or Sclavi, and in their own language Slovaces) 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. Upon the whole, they form the most uncivilized portion of the population of the empire—a circumstance to be partly accounted for by the comparatively small number of their nobility, these having been in the course of time absorbed into the German or Magyar populations. The Wallachians are almost equally backward; but the Magyars are a spirited race, averse to sedentary work, accustomed to exercise in the open air, and

Austria. prompt in obeying a summons to military duty, and, above all, ever ready to join their nobles in the defence of the country.

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 praiseworthy. 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—a circumstance which rendered the more remarkable the impetuous movement of 1848. This general equanimity and aversion to change produces as its natural consequence 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—a remark which applies to the upper as well as to the lower classes.

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.

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. 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 twelve millions, her quota in time of war is nearly 100,000 men; that of Prussia is 80,000. It has been seen how Austria desired to enter, with all her provinces, into the German confederacy, and how this scheme failed, in consequence of the remonstrances of the other powers of Europe.

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. At present, however, all the provinces are governed by the same central jurisdiction and the same organic laws. In these the authority of the emperor is almost uncontrolled. He is the head not only of the executive power, but of the church, and virtually of the legislature.

The judicial body in Austria is far more numerous than Law. In this country, the difficulty in travelling requiring that there should be courts of justice in a great number of provincial towns. Their scale of remuneration, however, is much below ours, being so small as to disincline even the most eminent pleaders from relinquishing their practice. 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. Most of all these, however, were swept away by edicts issued since 1849.

Of the radical changes the Austrian empire has undergone in consequence of the war of 1848, the following are the most important:—Formerly, the different provinces of the empire were more or less governed by laws proper to