In strict geographical language, Austria is the name of only a large province in the south-east of Germany, but it is commonly used to denote the great empire, composed of the province in question, the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, along with the provinces of Moravia, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol, Transylvania, Galicia, Lombardy, Venice, and Dalmatia. This state has, of late years, undergone fre- quent changes in point of territory and population. At the beginning of the French Revolution, the Austrian dominions were computed to contain a population of nearly 25,000,000. This number would have been materially increased in 1796, by the acquisition of Galicia and other parts of Poland, had not the cession of the Netherlands and Lombardy made a deduction, which kept it at nearly its original amount. The diminution, in fact, would have been considerable, had not the French tempted Austria to a separate peace in 1797, by seizing and transferring to her the territory of one of the oldest states in Europe,—the Republic of Venice. In the next war, the splendid successes of the campaign of 1799 at first promised to give back to Austria a portion of her lost territory; but the withdrawing of Russia from the coalition, and the fatal days of Marengo and Hohenlinden, led, in 1801, to a treaty which occasioned a further reduction of the imperial frontier. The third war, that of 1805, was equally short and disastrous, leading, after the overthrows at Ulm and Austerlitz, to the purchase of peace by the surrender of the Venetian territory, Tyrol, and other provinces, containing in all a population of nearly 3,000,000.

In 1809, the resistance of Spain prompted Austria once more to try her fortune in the field. Her army was numerous, and a large proportion of the French force was in the Peninsula; but Prussia remained neutral, and Russia took part, to a certain extent, against Austria. These circumstances enabled Bonaparte, at the head of a mixed force of French and Germans (of the Confederation of the Rhine), to acquire a superiority in the field, and to enter Vienna a second time as a conqueror. This success was chequered, indeed, by a sanguinary defeat at Aspern; but the victory of Wagram reinstated him in his superiority, and the advance of a Russian force left the Emperor Francis no other alternative than peace. A treaty was concluded on terms less humiliating than was anticipated, the cause of which was unknown at the time, but was soon found to be a consequence of Francis consenting to give his daughter in marriage to his conqueror.

By the peace of 1809, the Austrian empire was reduced to a population of 20,000,000. The diminution of her power was still greater from the cession of her frontier line; and France might, for a considerable time, have overawed and controlled her, had not the extravagant march to Moscow deprived Bonaparte, in a few weeks, of that mighty army which appeared to ensure the subjection of the Continent. The subsequent successes of the allies led, as is well known, to the restoration of Austria in more than her former splendour.

We shall now proceed to give some account of the present state of this empire under the following heads: Population—Climate and physical aspect—Education, Arts and Sciences—National Character—Religion—Government and Laws—Army—Finances—Agriculture—Mines and Manufactures.

Population. 1. The treaty, or act of Congress at Vienna, in 1815, and the subsequent treaty of Paris in the same year, have confirmed Austria in the possession of the following territories:

<table> <tr> <th>Bohemia</th> <td>containing a population of 3,150,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Moravia</th> <td>-</td> <td>1,320,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Austrian Silesia</th> <td>-</td> <td>300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Lower Austria</th> <td>-</td> <td>1,050,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Upper Austria</th> <td>-</td> <td>650,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Salzburg and Berchtesgaden</th> <td>-</td> <td>200,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Styria</th> <td>-</td> <td>800,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Carinthia</th> <td>-</td> <td>280,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Carniola</th> <td>-</td> <td>420,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Friuli and Trieste</th> <td>-</td> <td>106,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Galicia</th> <td>-</td> <td>4,850,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Bukowine</th> <td>-</td> <td>250,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Hungary</th> <td>-</td> <td>7,400,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Transylvania</th> <td>-</td> <td>1,600,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Sclavonia</th> <td>-</td> <td>500,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Croatia</th> <td>-</td> <td>350,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Venetian States</th> <td>-</td> <td>1,650,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Istria</th> <td>-</td> <td>100,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Dalmatia</th> <td>-</td> <td>300,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Tyrol</th> <td>-</td> <td>650,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Lombardy, and other acquisitions in Italy</th> <td></td> <td>2,000,000</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Total</th> <td></td> <td>27,926,000</td> </tr> </table>

Yet this empire, so populous and fertile, wants, in a high degree, that consonance of national manners, and that congeniality of national feeling, which are so essential to ease in governing, and have so long formed the strength of France and Britain. Hungary and Bohemia, which form so large a portion of the imperial dominions, have little connection or conformity with each other, and still less with the remote provinces of Galicia or Lombardy. Add to this, that the Austrian cabinet, while inferior to none in diplomatic finesses, has frequently acted with a blind adherence to old prejudices, which we should little expect in a European state in the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Frederick II, who had such bitter contests with the Austrians, both in the field and cabinet, declares that, in the former, they were unconscious of the value of good generals, while in negotiation they were perfectly untractable, so long as the aspect of affairs justified, in any degree, their exorbitant demands. What better opinion were we at liberty to form in the present age, when we saw their army entrusted to a Mack, and preparations of defence delayed until the French were marching on Vienna? The grand source of future aggrandizement to Austria is to be sought, not in the acquisition of additional territory, but in the improvement and consolidation of her present dominions. This doctrine, applicable to all countries to an extent seldom apprehended by their rulers, is of the most urgent importance to a state, whose deficient instruction, languid intercourse, difference of language, and blind attachment to hereditary usages, all concur to keep so many fellow-subjects in a state of alienation from each other.

It has become customary, particularly of late, to consider Russia as superior in resources to Austria; an opinion sanctioned, among other authorities, by an expression of Lord Grey, in one of the debates which regarded the conduct of our ministry of 1806-7, in respect to foreign affairs. On considering, however, the rigour of the Russian climate, the barrenness of a great proportion of the soil, the inconvenience of vast distances, and the general barbarism of the people, we are disposed to withhold our assent from this opinion, and to look with more confidence to the probable augmentation of the population and power of Austria. The following table will convey an idea of the relative density of the population of her different provinces:

<table> <tr> <th></th> <th>Inhabitants per square League.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Bohemia</td> <td>867</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Austrian Silesia</td> <td>847</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lower Austria</td> <td>766</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Moravia</td> <td>748</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Galicia</td> <td>732</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Croatia</td> <td>637</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Upper Austria</td> <td>554</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Styria</td> <td>504</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hungary</td> <td>495</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Military frontiers of Sclavonia</td> <td>470</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Carinthia</td> <td>453</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sclavonia</td> <td>440</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Transylvania, and its military frontiers</td> <td>437</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Military frontiers of Croatia</td> <td>390</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bukowine</td> <td>318</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Military frontiers of Hungary</td> <td>295</td> </tr> </table>

It is remarkable, that Lower Austria, though highly fertile, is not so well peopled as the manufacturing countries of Bohemia and Silesia. It is still more remarkable, that the mountainous tracts of the latter are found to contain a denser population than the rich plains of Hungary. The average of the whole empire is 579 inhabitants to the square league, a proportion hardly more than the half of that of France and England. Can there be a more striking proof of the improveable powers of the empire, when we consider that, of the countries just mentioned, the latter is, in point of soil and climate, inferior, and the former by no means superior to Austria?

No country, with the exception of Russia, comprises such a diversity of distinct tribes or races as the Austrian empire. The German part of the population does not extend in considerable numbers beyond the provinces of Upper and Lower Austria, a portion of Moravia, and particular parts of Styria and Carinthia. Bohemia, although surrounded by a German population, contains many districts inhabited only by its aboriginal tribes; while, in Hungary and Austrian Poland, individuals of German extraction are very thinly scattered. The most numerous of the varied races of this empire is the Sclavonian, a generic name now in a great measure lost in the subdivisions of Croats, Rascians, Carniolians, Bosnians, &c. The Rascians, or Illyrians, are descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the vast tract known to the ancients by the name of Scythia. The fate of war has placed them alternately under the Turkish and Austrian dominion; their language is a dialect of Sclavonian mixed with the Illyrian. Some of their tribes lead a pastoral life, and follow the habits of plunder natural to wanderers; while others are stationary, and have made some progress in the ruder kinds of manufactures. Jews are scattered in various directions throughout the Austrian dominions, particularly in Bohemia, Moravia, and Galicia. Without being numerous, they find means, especially in Galicia, to transact most of the mercantile affairs of the country.

Hungary, the most extensive and most fertile of the great divisions of the Austrian Empire, is perhaps the most backward in point of civilization and knowledge. Many a rich tract, capable of supporting a crowded population, is here allowed to remain in pasture, in consequence, partly of the ignorance of the cultivators, and partly of that most absurd law which deprives the peasant of the right of holding landed property. The extent of the evil is most sensibly felt throughout Lower Hungary, the inhabitants of the northern part of the kingdom being accustomed to greater exertion, and being even known to possess occasionally little properties of their own. Another cause of the ignorance and backward state of Hungary, is the difference in point of language, manners, and religion, of various portions of its population. These have settled in it at different times, and from different causes, without becoming blended with each other in the manner that takes place in an industrious and populous community. The majority of the Hungarian tribes are of Sclavonian descent, but they are mixed with a variety of other nations, such as Armenians, Jews, Macedonians, and followers of the Greek church. The few Germans settled in Hungary are originally from the south of the empire, particularly Šuabia and Bavaria.

Bohemia reckons above three millions of inhabitants, the chief part differing, both in language and in national feeling, from their German neighbours. They have even a decided aversion to the latter, and confine their national predilection to the Hungarians, who are said, in return, to esteem them more highly than their other fellow-subjects. The power of the Sovereign is much greater in Bohemia than in Hungary, for it comprises the legislative as well as the executive department. Notwithstanding this strange anomaly, Bohemia is the least backward of the Austrian provinces, whether we look to education or the labours of productive industry. The efficacy of regular habits, and of a compact population, in bringing aid to the executive power, is strikingly exemplified in the number of soldiers raised in Bohemia,—a number almost equal to that which is supplied by the far more extensive territory of Hungary.

2. The difference of elevation of soil causes as great a difference of temperature in the Austrian empire Physical Aspects as in any country in Europe. At Vienna, situated less than 400 feet above the level of the sea, the medium of annual heat is about 51° of Fahrenheit; at Grazt, a degree farther to the south, the medium is only 49°, the elevation being nearly 700 feet. Again, on the eastern frontier, Salzburg, situate in the vicinity of an Alpine range, has an average temperature of only 47°, while at Prague, two degrees farther north, it is 48°. Vienna, situate in a plain, intersected in a variety of directions by the Danube, the waters of which are here slow in their course, would be by no means healthy, were it not for the frequent breezes, which clear the air of unwholesome exhalations.

The Austrian dominions may be divided, in point of climate, into three regions, of which the southern comprises the provinces adjoining to Italy, with a part of Croatia, and extends from N. lat. 42° to 46°. We here find the olive, the myrtle, the vine, the fig-tree, and even the pomegranate. The depth of winter may be compared to the month of March in a northern climate. The middle range extends from the 46th to the 49th of north latitude, comprising Austria, properly so called, a great part of Hungary, and a portion of Moravia and Bohemia. The olive is no longer found to grow in this latitude, but vines and maize thrive in favourable situations. Winter lasts between three and four months; the spring is mild, though rainy; the summer warm but variable; the air is in general healthy, except in the neighbourhood of the marshes of Hungary, which are proverbially fatal to German settlers. The northern region comprises Galicia, a part of Hungary, a great proportion of Bohemia and Moravia, with the whole of Austrian Silesia. Winter is here severe, and lasts fully five months; vines and maize are no longer to be met with, and even wheat requires a choice of situation; but the summer heats, particularly in the valleys, are greater than we are accustomed to in Britain.

If we cast our eyes on a map of the imperial dominions, as, with the exception of the Polish part, they stood before the late annexations, we see them surrounded by a chain of mountains in almost every direction. Hungary is covered by the Carpathian range, which extends all the way to Silesia, and is even connected with the great circular barrier of Bohemia. To the eastward lies an elevated territory, in the direction of Bavaria, while, in the south, the line of discrimination from Italy and Illyrium is drawn with still more marked features. The highest mountains belong to the southern range; those of the north seldom exceeding two or three thousand feet, while those of the south frequently approach to four thousand. In the interior of the empire, and particularly in Hungary, there are levels of great extent, and the average height of many of the hills may be put down at only six or eight hundred feet. Strictly speaking, the whole of the mountains along the southern part of the Austrian dominions, and even those on the north, belong to one great range, extending, under a variety of modifications and names, all the way from the Alps to Russia. The latitude being temperate, or rather warm, these varieties of elevation present a striking difference in vegetable produce; the lower part being covered with vines, or rich crops of corn, while the adjacent elevation exhibits a picture of Norwegian sterility. Some provinces abound with picturesque views, and remind the traveller of the magnificent scenery of Switzerland. Styria, in particular, has its glaciers and perpetual snows, its rumbling cascades, its tremendous avalanches, and its green pasturages, in the region of mist.

Lakes are frequent in certain parts of the Austrian dominions. In Upper Styria, they owe, as in the Highlands of Scotland, their formation to the natural collection of water in valleys pent up in all directions; a description, however, which does not apply to the lakes in the level part of Hungary. Those are more properly marshes, and form, as in modern Greece, a striking indication of neglected agriculture. Large tracts are in this manner lost to every useful purpose along the banks of the Danube, the Drave, the Save, and other rivers of less magnitude.

Hungary may be called a vast plain of sandy soil, marked in certain districts by the highest fertility, in others by absolute barrenness. Galicia is less level than Hungary, but may likewise be called, in general language, a sandy plain of great extent. Moravia is marked by more prominent features; and while its soil presents, on the southern slope of its hills, the fertility of Lower Austria,—the northern side is found too cold for the cultivation of the grape. The inhabitants are active, and at a farther distance from primitive simplicity than the majority of their fellow-subjects. But the garden of Austria, and indeed of Germany, is the great valley, extending on either side of the Danube, to a considerable way above Vienna. Unfortunately, the riches of nature have not as yet been adequately improved in this region; the peasantry, though possessed of the greatest honesty and sincerity, being devoid of intelligence or activity. These good and bad qualities are not confined to the country; they form the groundwork of the character of the inhabitants of the capital, although necessarily modified by the habits produced by permanent assemblages in one spot.

The Austrian territory is traversed by a number of rivers, of which by far the most interesting is the Danube. It receives about 40 rivers from north and south, before entering the imperial dominions, and about 100 more flow into it before it falls into the Euxine, after a course of nearly 1500 miles. Its bed becomes perceptibly widened by the influx of the Ens, at some distance above Vienna; and its subsequent breadth, though very various, may be said, in a general way, to be of one, two, or three miles. It is bordered throughout almost its whole course in the Austrian territory by ridges of mountains, the distance of which from the water is generally greater on the right than on the left bank. It is of sufficient depth to bear shipping throughout the whole Austrian dominions, and to admit, in Hungary, of vessels of considerable size. But, unfortunately, this noble stream is not fitted for easy navigation; its banks are often steep and rocky, its current rapid, and its bed encumbered with shoals. The height of the banks and the frequent windings prevent the use of sails to the extent practised on the Rhine and the Vistula. It is necessary, therefore, to tow almost all the way, and the boats, as well as the track along the banks, are as yet in a very rude state. A similar negligence prevails in regard to Canals, in which the Austrians have hitherto made very little progress.

The Austrian rivers, and in particular the Danube, teem with myriads of fish. The same is true of the various lakes scattered in different parts of the coun- try. Some kinds of salmon in the Danube are of so rich a flavour as to enter regularly into the list of presents made by the princes residing in the neighbourhood of its banks to their respective superiors. An attempt was lately made to convey some of this choice breed to the Rhine, by putting them into boats of such a construction as to admit the ingress of the water. The plan was to tow these boats up the Danube, as far as Ulm, and afterwards to reach the Neckar by means of some of the lesser rivers. It failed, however, and the undertakers had the mortification to see most of the fish perish by the way, in consequence, perhaps, of the smallness or improper construction of the boats.

3. There exists, in point of education, a remarkable difference between the North and South of Germany. This difference is owing to the operation of political and moral causes—such as the difference of the form of government; the greater number of free towns in the north, and of public establishments; and, above all, to the predominance of Protestantism. It has long been a point of fashion and competition among the petty princes in the central and northern parts of Germany, to patronize literature. Un homme de lettres is there, as in France, a personage of considerable importance. Attempts have indeed been made, during the last and present age, by Joseph II. and the late Sovereign of Bavaria, to improve the universities, and to found academies, in their respective territories. The Academy of Munich, in consequence of the patronage of the latter, now occupies a prominent rank among literary bodies; and in Vienna, considerable progress has been made in the method of teaching Medicine, Surgery, and Botany. But in other respects, whether we look to schools or universities, the state of instruction in Austria is very imperfect. The innovations of Joseph were too abrupt to last; they have all disappeared except his primary schools. The hereditary states alone possess the means of tolerable education, the great provinces of Galicia and Hungary being in a manner deprived of them. Still there exists throughout this empire a patient and pains-taking industry, which will eventually prove highly favourable to the dissemination of useful knowledge. A stranger, on entering a German school, is struck with the arrangement, the gravity and the silence that prevail throughout. Several towns in Austria have Gymnasia or Academies somewhat similar to the Lycées in France,—calculated for teaching, not so much the classics as the introductory part of Mathematics, Medicine, or Law.

In the Academy of Medicine and Surgery at Vienna, the buildings are spacious, the professors numerous, and well qualified. The access to great Hospitals, to collections of Natural History, and to an extensive Botanical Garden, are all important facilities appended to this seminary. In fact, Vienna has held a distinguished rank in medicine since the days of Van Swieten, the opportunity of practical observation afforded by a large city, and the liberality of the public establishments, rendering this capital the resort of medical students from distant provinces; exactly as Göttingen is the point of attraction for moral and natural philosophy. Chemistry, however, has hitherto been little cultivated at Vienna; natural history more.

Vienna has likewise an Oriental Society, a Veterinary School, and some institutions for teaching the Fine Arts. These, however, are all, except the medical, inferior to correspondent establishments in the north of Germany. Another subject of regret is, that a youth, after making a certain progress at school or college, finds little means of farther advancement from instructive society at Vienna. A thirst for information is little felt among a people occupied only with the tranquil enjoyment of the good things of this life; a people unambitious, unquisitive, and disposed to go over the same tract as their fathers and forefathers. It is in scenes of agitation that the faculties are called forth; they become dormant in a state of general and continued acquiescence. The only feeling likely to stimulate minds of this heavy texture is the desire of acquiring property; and, in fact, trade of one kind or other forms the chief sphere of individual activity throughout the south of Germany. Such is the true cause of that literary apathy ascribed by some foreigners to the restraints imposed by government on the press;—restraints of no great severity, and certainly not intended to check the progress of useful inquiry.

Still Austria is not wholly devoid of names of eminence in literature. Frederick Schlegel is well known by his publications on the language and philosophy of India, and his brother William, by his translation of Shakespeare, and by his admirable works on dramatic criticism. To these are to be added the names of a few poets, and of a greater number of geographical and statistical writers. Hammer, the founder of the Oriental Society at Vienna, has published a translation of a Persian poem of some extent, and, like Wieland, has laboured to transpose into the German language the ornaments of the figurative style of the East. Etymology is a study suited to the laborious habits of the Germans, and on this, as on many other subjects, they have given us, if not finished works, the materials at least of valuable compositions. With the application of a better method, and with rigid compression, a variety of useful treatises might be extracted from the labours of the German literati.

Prague has a university of high antiquity, but of little reputation at the present day. The Catholic clergy are generally educated in humbler seminaries than universities. Without much pretension to literature, they bear the character of conscientious attention to their pastoral charge, in particular the country curates. Oratory forms no part of their studies; a German congregation meets, not for the purpose of being gratified by a pathetic address, but of fulfilling, soberly and tranquilly, a religious duty. Sermons in this country consist, accordingly, of little else than plain moral lessons, deduced from the Sacred Writings; and the reputation of a pastor rests chiefly on his attention to the sick, and the performance of private and unostentatious duties.

Several establishments have been formed of late years in Austria for the education of officers. The principal is the Military Academy of Wienerisch, Neustadt, in the neighbourhood of Vienna, where the teachers are generally Engineer officers, disabled by wounds or otherwise from service. The pupils consist of young officers, or of youths of genteel families, preparing for the service. There are two other military seminaries in the capital, and some smaller establishments in the provincial towns.

As to travelling for the purpose of information, the Austrians have in general much less inclination than the English, or their German brethren in the north. Some examples, however, there are of men of science repairing to distant regions, such as M. Jacquin and Mohs who went to America in quest of plants unknown in Europe. Schultes, Gebhast, Mebzer, and Bremer, have also found means to render their travels instrumental to the diffusion of knowledge.

In mechanical inventions the Austrians have made that progress which may naturally be expected from a people, who, with a deal of patience and perseverance, are not in possession of the advantages of improved machinery. The result of their discoveries is, therefore, rather the gratification of a fancy, than that practical application to a productive purpose, which tends so greatly to cheapen labour in Britain. One German artist frames a machine to perform the functions of a chess player; another makes a head capable of an imitation of the human voice, while a third combines in a panharmonicon the most varied sounds of music. That instrument may, in fact, be called a concert in itself; a number of instruments being made to play simultaneously with the greatest precision.

The fine arts, with the exception of music, have hitherto made little progress in Austria. To find an eminent painter or sculptor there would be a matter of no small difficulty. But when we come to think of music, who can forget that Haydn and Mozart were formed at Vienna? If they are inferior in grace and melody to Italian composers, they are not to be surpassed in the grander powers of music. A foreigner cannot receive a higher gratification at Vienna, than by being present at the Oratorio in commemoration of Haydn. Architecture is still in its infancy in Austria. An Architectural Society has been lately instituted at Vienna, but most of the public buildings have been planned by foreign artists. Engraving, demanding rather patience than exertion, has been cultivated there with considerable success.

4. The Austrian national character is marked by the same features as that of the German nation at large. Sincerity, fidelity, industry, and a love of order, are all conspicuous in them, and would long since have entitled them to fill a distinguished rank in the scale of European civilization, had not their beneficial operation been counteracted by a prejudiced government, a deficient system of education, and an illiterate priesthood. The consequence of these unfortunate drawbacks is the transmission of similar habits from father to son, a blind adherence to old usages, and an extravagant deference to hereditary rank, in the promotion of civil and military officers, which proved one of the great causes of the continued defeats in the late wars with the French.

In Austria, as in Britain, females enjoy a greater degree of freedom before marriage, than it is thought expedient to allow them in France. In domestic life, they act a modest and attentive part; fixing the predilection of their husbands, not, indeed, by the attractions of conversation, but by a mild and steady fulfilment of the duties of a wife and mother. They are thus probably more happy than the fair sex in France, although possessed of much less influence, and occupying a less conspicuous part in society. The lower orders are distinguished by similar virtues. In some districts we may visit village after village, without hearing of a single instance of domestic disquietude. The care of children, the habit of labour, and attendance on Divine worship, occupy all their thoughts. In Vienna, females form the chief attraction of society to a foreigner. Most of them speak French with fluency, and prefer it to the Austrian dialect of German, which is particularly unpleasant, having a slowness of accent and a hissing tone, extremely ungracious, particularly in the mouths of the common people.

The habitual assiduity of the Austrians leads them to cultivate, by preference, those occupations in which straight forward industry affords the means of success. Hence their progress in mechanics, and the flourishing state of many of their manufactures. Another feature in the German character, and one at first somewhat difficult of explanation, is their predilection for music; a passion found to exist in the humblest ranks, and under the least favourable circumstances. We meet here, in villages, with wandering musicians performing on trumpets made of the cherry-tree wood, or on the most grotesque violins. If in vocal music they yield to the Italians, they fully maintain the competition in point of instrumental performances—a taste which prevails as well in the fertile parts of the empire, as in the secluded spots of Tyrol and Carniola; forming a curious example of the results attendant on the continued prosecution of an elegant study by a slow and apparently inanimate people.

No country presents fewer examples of criminal offences than Austria. Year passes after year, without any necessity for the infliction of a capital punishment. Averse as the inhabitants are to Frenchmen, particularly in the shape of military invaders, we know of no example, during any of the late invasions, of those secret assassinations which occurred so frequently in Spain.

Of the manners of the inhabitants of the mountainous provinces of the empire, we may form an idea by fixing our attention on the Styrians and Carinthians. The middle range of these mountains presents a scanty pasturage; their upper parts are covered with tracts of snow, while the yew and fir are the only trees which are seen to raise their heads amidst the tempest. The inhabitants of these elevated districts are simple, hospitable, and religious; content with the produce of their land and cattle; cheerful and frank as simplicity and moderate desires can make them, they have no wishes beyond the limits of their own territory. The only feeling which prevails among them with any keenness, is religious zeal. They are ardent Catholics, and open to all the idle suggestions of an illiterate priesthood. They are in the habit of undertaking distant pilgrimages, which they are taught to consider as the best means of obtaining the forgiveness of trespasses. Along their roads are scattered mystic chapels, crosses, and other indications of the exercises of devotion. The traveller is often fortunate enough to find beside these religious erections a spring whose waters afford him a delightful refreshment, when pursuing his way along a confined valley. He finds himself here among a primitive race, who are unacquainted with the arts of men in a more civilized state, and are easily guided by an appeal to the heart. Their language is sonorous, and the echo which repeats the call from the mountain side, often proves a useful warning to the stranger when wandering from the path, or when approaching to the brink of a precipice. Often, in the course of his journey, does he meet with inscriptions, in which the hand of a friend or a brother has recorded the name of one who has fallen a victim to the storm or the torrent.

5. Austria has long contained a considerable diversity of religious sects, without having suffered from their contests in any part of her dominions except Bohemia, the country of the well known John Huss, and Jerome of Prague. In the other provinces such excesses have been avoided, partly from the moderate character of the inhabitants, and partly from the tolerant spirit of the Imperial Family. There can be no doubt, however, that, had the Reformation happily made progress in the Austrian dominions, the result, as in the north of Germany, would have been a very material advancement in all departments of productive industry. Trade, manufactures, literature, are all cultivated with superiority in the north; and if the agricultural produce of the south be larger, the cause is to be sought merely in superiority of soil and climate. Toleration, however, existed virtually for a considerable time back in Austria, and it received a formal sanction from a law of Joseph II., which extended indulgence even to Jews and Mahometans. The Archbishop of Vienna is the head of the Catholic clergy in a civil capacity; but the Bishop of St Palten appoints the regimental chaplains, and is accounted the superior of all clergymen doing duty with the army. Church patronage rests with the Sovereign, to the exclusion of the influence of the Pope. Convents, formerly numerous in Austria, have been considerably reduced during the last thirty years; but the church property is still very considerable.

In computing the relative number of different sects, it is common to estimate the Catholics at two-thirds of the whole. Protestants are not numerous; the Austrian people at large being too little enlightened to exchange a worship which dazzles the imagination by its pomp and ceremonies, for one whose chief appeal is to the understanding. The Greek church has no inconsiderable number of votaries scattered throughout Galicia, Hungary, Croatia, and Transylvania. These are superintended by a number of Bishops, some of whom recognise for their head the Archbishop of Leopold, while others, who differ in point of creed, are under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Gran in Hungary. The latter are particularly numerous in Transylvania. The followers of the Greek church, in one part or other of the Austrian dominions, are said to exceed the number of 2,000,000,—a number in a state of gradual increase from the occasional influx of their brethren from Turkey. These new settlers are generally engaged in trade, and pass for possessing no slight share of the address and artifice attributed to the Greek merchants of the present day. Galicia comprises a body of Armenian Catholics; a sect not wholly unknown in Hungary. The Protestants, including both Calvinists and Lutherans, amount, probably, to nearly 3,000,000 throughout the whole empire, of which Bohemia and Moravia contain a very insignificant proportion. The well known association of Herrnhutters or Moravians, owes its origin to an Austrian province, and takes date from the middle of the fifteenth century. The number of Jews under the Austrian dominion may amount to 300,000. Joseph II. took the lead of Bonaparte in an attempt to incorporate them with the mass of his subjects, by extending to them the enjoyment of similar privileges. He found, however, that their habits, if they yield at all, give way but very slowly, and that ages will be required to identify them with their Christian fellow-subjects. In tolerating Mahometanism, Joseph had in view the promotion of commercial intercourse with Turkey, a number of traders of that country being in the habit of travelling, and even of settling in Austria.

6. There exists a great diversity in the constitution of the component parts of this extensive empire. It may be safely assumed, that the disadvantage from want of unity, already noticed, will infallibly continue to a considerable extent, until there be established a greater similarity in point of legislation. At present, each of the great divisions constitutes an unconnected body, and the whole resembles rather a federative association than one compact consolidated state. In the Austrian provinces, the constitution is understood to be founded on a great charter, passed so long ago as 1156. In Bohemia, the principal laws are of more recent date, and hardly go back two centuries. In Austrian Silesia, there exists a great complexity of public regulations, while Galicia, differing still more essentially from the other provinces, traces back the basis of its constitutional dependence on Austria no farther than 1773.

Hungary is wholly distinct from the other divisions of the monarchy, and claims to be governed by laws altogether different. The first of these is traced back so far as the end of the ninth century; others date from the thirteenth, and confirmations of the privileges of the nobility, with limitations of the imperial power, were successively passed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Here the emperor exercises the supreme power, only through the medium of the States or Parliament. He may dispose of the great offices of the kingdom, but under the restriction of giving them not only to natives of Hungary, but to men of a certain rank. In this land of aristocracy, no plebeian, of whatever talents, is entitled to rise in a public office above the humble station of a clerk. The Emperor is accounted the constitutional President of the Diet, but he may delegate a representation to one of his great officers. A general levy, or "insurrection," as it is termed, must, like other measures, proceed from the legislative assembly.

The States, or parliamentary meetings, differ in different provinces of the empire, but are generally divided into four classes; the prelates, the higher nobility, the knights, or gentry, and the deputies of the boroughs. It is a general meeting of these classes that constitutes the Hungarian Diet. The prelates have the right of voting first. The nobility possess not only an exclusive title to public appointments, but the daughters of the less affluent families among them are admitted to an establishment in convents, on proving their rank, or, as it is called, the number of their quarters, in the manner pointed out by law. The Diet of Hungary is generally convened once in three years, and meets at Presburg or Buda. The Prince Palatine, or, in his absence, the noble of highest rank, presides at the Tabula procerum, having on his right the primate, along with the archbishops, bishops, and other dignitaries of the church. The second board, or Tabula inclytorum, has for its president the imperial representative, while the third division of the Diet comprises the deputies of towns, the secretaries, and other inferior officers. The deliberations proceed either on the propositions of the sovereign, or on the bill of grievances of the subjects. The Diet is generally divided into chambers, who discuss business separately, and communicate with each other by the medium of members. In case of non-agreement, the whole are made to constitute one assembly, in which a decision is made by plurality of votes. An act of the Diet receives the force of law when sanctioned by the Emperor, or King, as he is invariably termed in Hungary, and it seldom happens that any serious division takes place between the Diet and the executive power.

Such was formerly the extravagance of aristocratic notions in Hungary, that no plebeian, or person engaged in trade, could carry on, in his own name, a law-suit against one of the gentry. It was necessary that the town where the plaintiff resided, should come forward and assume the cause of its citizen. This absurd usage was abolished in 1802. Still, however, a peasant or farmer can seldom bring, in his own name, an action against one of the gentry; he must generally do it through the medium of his superior or landlord. The right of possessing land in Hungary being confined to the privileged classes, it follows that a donation of land by the Sovereign is tantamount to conferring a title of nobility. The land cultivated by the vassal is, of course, altogether the property of his superior; but arrangements are made for allowing the former to reap, as far as that is practicable, in so ignorant a country, the fruit of his labour. The corvees and taxes on the tiers etat, so much complained of in France before the Revolution, prevail here in all their extent. Hence the importance to the boroughs of acquiring the privileges of free towns, and enabling their inhabitants to possess land without a title to nobility.

The Hungarian landholder is exempt from all imposts. Tithes, toll-dues, a tax called the thirtieth penny, the contributions for soldiers, all pass over his head, unless he become pledged to them, along with his brethren, by a specific act of the Dict. In return for all these exemptions, they are bound to rise en masse, and to serve personally under their Sovereign, whenever a war receives the approbation of a General Diet. It will not escape the observation of our readers, that these fiscal privileges, always the subject of boast among the Hungarian noblesse, and, in former years, not unfrequently a ground of quarrel with their Austrian Sovereign, do not amount, in fact, to anything like an entire exemption. Public burdens, however disguised, fall eventually, with a considerable share of equality, on all classes. In Hungary, the inhabitants of the towns are obliged to seek, in the enhanced price of the commodities, sold to the landholders, an indemnity for their greater share of taxation. The late Emperor Joseph II. was disposed to abrogate many of these pernicious usages, but his character was not well fitted, nor did he reign long enough to accomplish the task.

In the hereditary provinces, or Austria Proper, the power of the Emperor is much greater. In the eye of the law, he is the supreme judge, the fountain of dignity, the centre of legislative as well as of executive power. He has a right to impose taxes, to regulate the affairs of the church, and even to modify religious worship, in whatever is not accounted a fundamental article of faith. He may tolerate any religion, oppose the papal bulls, and prohibit the publication of the pastoral letters of bishops. This power, delicate as it is in a Catholic country, has been sometimes exercised by the emperors, when they had occasion to urge political points of importance with the sovereign pontiff. At such times they have not scrupled to forbid their subjects to remit money to Rome, and have been known to interdict all correspondence between the Austrian and foreign convents. A more important prerogative is that which they possess to impose taxes on church property throughout Austria and Galicia.

The executive government of the Austrian empire at large consists of four great departments, and owed its present organization to the counsels of Maria Theresa. One of these establishments regulates all home affairs; foreign affairs are managed by another. Military matters are subjected to the third great department, while the fourth and last regulates the interior administration of Hungary. The name of Aulic is not confined, as is vulgarly imagined, to the Military Board; it is common to several councils, and is given, among others, to the Board of Finance. Another department, sufficiently indicative of the backward state of the science of government in Austria, is that which superintends the working of mines for public account.

In this country, as in France, the attention of government has been lately given to a more easy exposition of the fundamental rules of jurisprudence. A first attempt was made so long as forty years ago, and a code was published in 1767 in eight folio volumes. This performance had two great defects, its size and its want of classification by general rules. While of little use to lawyers, it was wholly unprofitable to the public at large. Instructions were accordingly given to an eminent civilian, Von Horten, to recast it in a condensed and improved form. Considerable progress was made in this before the death of Joseph II.; and in 1794, under the auspices of the present sovereign, the first part of the civil code came forth in a new form. A few years after, the whole appeared in an amended shape, and government appointed several local commissions, with instructions to make reports on its applicability to the different provinces. Printed copies of the code were distributed in all directions, and the universities enjoined to take it into mature consideration. The definitive correction and promulgation of the code were retarded by various causes, and particularly by the unfortunate wars with France, so that its actual adoption did not take place until the beginning of 1812. The criminal code had not been so long withheld; it was promulgated in 1803, and introduced into practice in 1804.

7. In a country where the executive power is not subjected to animadversion, or to the exhibition of official statements, it is a matter of no small difficulty to compute the extent of the military force. It was supposed that, in the campaign of 1805, the Austrians had on foot above 250,000 effective troops, of whom nearly a fifth were cavalry. In that of 1809, this force of regulars was backed by a considerable body of reserve, and by above 100 battalions of militia, known by the name of landwehr; but the state of discipline of the latter was not such as to offer any effectual resistance to the progress of the French. The war establishment, in regular troops, can scarcely be estimated, we apprehend, above 250,000 men; and half this number may perhaps be taken as near the amount of her effective peace establishment.

The irregulars in the Austrian service are drawn, in a great measure, from Croatia and other provinces along the Turkish frontier. About sixty years ago, the greater proportion of the Hungarian troops fell under this description; but the wars with Prussia having taught, by dear bought experience, the value of discipline, the Austrian commanders, in particular, Marshal Lacy, gradually accomplished a change, and converted hordes of flying squadrons into compact and regular regiments.

In the Hereditary States, and we believe in all the empire except Hungary, the levies are made, in the first instance, for militia duty, from which it is no difficult matter, in an absolute government, to accomplish a transition to the line. In Hungary, recruits are levied in virtue of an act of the Sovereign and the States, after the promulgation of which, the different Magnates find means to enlist the requisite number on their estates. The chief disadvantage of the necessity of a legislative sanction in Hungary, is the publicity thus given to the extent of military preparation. The length of service in the Austrian army has undergone alterations during the present age, and it now admits, as in Britain, of limitation by periods. In time of peace, the officers have no difficulty in obtaining a furlough for the greatest part of the year. Veterans and wounded men are entitled to admission at the military hospital of Vienna, or to a small out-pension.

Though, to an English traveller, manufactures would appear to have made little progress in the Austrian dominions, they stand on a footing equal to that of their continental neighbours, and supply government with most of the materials of war. Clothing, arms, ammunition, harness, are all furnished at different stations in Bohemia, Moravia, and the Hereditary States. The horses for the light cavalry are drawn from Hungary and Galicia; those for the heavy cavalry, chiefly from Bohemia and Moravia. The disposition of the inhabitants of most of the imperial territories, is well adapted to a military life. They are generally 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 is but a slight variation from established habits. The fire of the nightly watch is not more uncomfortable than that of their smoky cottages; while a loaf of bread, a slice of coarse pork, and a glass of spirits, supply them with all the nourishment they desire. In point of resources, therefore, Austria is one of the greatest of military powers,—her deficiency has hitherto been in their application. Too much attention is given to the minutiae of individual exercise, without considering how seldom these niceties can be made applicable to collective numbers. Hence an endless list of military instructions, and a complexity of evolution, such as to be hardly practicable in a review, still less in a day of battle. At the same time, there exist very material omissions in regard to the method of moving large bodies of men. Will it be believed, that the Austrian regulations contain no explicit directions for a change from line into column, whether for attack or defence! Hence, in a great measure, the loss sustained at Essling and Wagram by long exposure to the French artillery. Official instructions are given for the manoeuvres of battalions and regiments, but nothing is said of those of brigades, or larger divisions. The consequence is, that the Austrians form their line very slowly, and find, when it is once formed, a deal of difficulty in executing any other movements than those to front and rear. They have very little dexterity in separating, reuniting, or supporting each other at short notice.

The military schools at Vienna having been found highly useful, the government has adopted the plan of establishing them elsewhere. The consequence, it is to be hoped, will be a gradual correction of the defects hitherto attendant on deficient education and blind patronage. Few services are more discouraging than the Austrian to an officer who has not the advantage of rank.

8. In Austria, a country possessed of very little foreign trade, the taxes are chiefly levied on the land, and on objects of interior consumption. Joseph II., desirous of new modelling this as well as other departments, proposed the adoption of a land and poll-tax on a uniform plan. As a necessary preliminary, arrangements were made for a general survey of the landed property of the empire, and several years devoted to that important operation. It was, however, too unskilfully conducted to afford anything like a satisfactory ground to estimate the value of the different properties. No adequate allowance was made for the difference of plain and mountain, of fertile or barren tracts. The consequence is, that the collection of this department of the revenue is still in a very imperfect state, although the tax on land and houses (impot foncier) forms necessarily the chief part of the Austrian revenue. In Bohemia, Galicia, and the Hereditary States, this important tax falls equally on all classes; in Hungary and Transylvania, it is borne, as we have already observed, by the farmers and inhabitants of towns, to the apparent total exemption of the noblesse.

The imperial demesnes form also a considerable branch of the Austrian revenue, particularly in Galicia. This source of income, which would be very great in a country like Holland or Britain, where landholders and farmers of capital would take the land at a rent, and relieve government of all further superintendence, is comparatively inconsiderable in a country where the administration either has not the means or the judgment to throw off its hands, a task which must always be unprofitably managed by servants little interested in the produce of their labour. These crown demesnes are to be carefully distinguished from the personal property of the reigning family, the annual rental of which may amount to L. 100,000 Sterling a-year.

Another branch of revenue is derived in Austria, as in France, from the exclusive manufacture and sale of tobacco. This monopoly extends over the German dominions, but Hungary and Transylvania are not subject to it. Austria has likewise a duty on stamps, hair powder, starch, and various objects of luxury, among others, on the rouge used by the fair sex. Wine, beer, brandy, carriages, pleasure horses, are all subjected to taxation. A considerable income is levied from legacy duties, fees on titles of nobility, china, glass, and even from a toleration tax on the Jews. The financial embarrassments of the country, necessitated, in 1802, an increase of a full third on these duties, along with the imposition of two taxes of a different kind—a poll and an income tax. This rapid augmentation of public burdens made it be calculated, that throughout the empire no less than a fourth of the income of individuals found its way into the public treasury. To compute the total of the revenue is a point of no small difficulty in a country where taxes are complicated, and official accounts either withheld or irregularly published; but we are disposed to think, that L. 18,000,000 Sterling may form a probable approximation to the gross revenue of this empire.

The Austrian, like other governments, has had recourse, in its distress, to the circulation of paper money,—a measure attended with all the bad consequences incidental to immoderate issues on the part of an authority not responsible to its subjects. The public debt exceeds 150 millions Sterling; two-thirds of which, however, being created by the issue of paper, are by no means deemed repayable at their nominal amount. In fact, the repayment of a fifth part of that amount, will be accounted a fair retribution of the debt contracted in this paper at an advanced stage of its depreciation. The rule at the treasury was to raise prices as paper fell, and the eventual adjustment of accounts between government and the stockholder will probably take place in a manner similar to that adopted in France after the death of Louis XIV., under the direction of the brothers Paris, when a regular scale of estimates was formed on a retrospect to the value of government paper at the different periods of its issue.

9. Agriculture is still in a very backward state throughout the Austrian dominions. The large proportion of church and other public lands, with the general want of education, have hitherto prevented the people from extracting an adequate return from their fertile territory. In casting the eye over these rich provinces, an observer is at a loss on which to fix as most favourable to the exertions of the husbandman. The uneven surface of the Hereditary States rivals, in point of fertility, the extensive plains of Hungary and Transylvania. Again, the portion of Poland, acquired by Austria, was perhaps the richest division of that ill-fated country. The following rough estimate has been made of the appropriation of respective proportions of the empire. Taking 70 as the integral, representing the whole surface, we shall have for

<table> <tr> <th>Mountains, heaths, marshes, lakes, roads</th> <td>26</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Land under tillage</th> <td>12</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Meadows and pasturage in an inclosed or improved state</th> <td>7</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Pasturage in a rude state</th> <td>4</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Woods and forests, comprising all uncleared tracts</th> <td>18</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Vineyards and orchards</th> <td>3</td> </tr> <tr> <th></th> <th>70</th> </tr> </table>

The produce of the land along the Danube, from Vienna to the Bavarian frontier, has been greatly increased within the last half century, by the use of marl. The traveller, in pursuing this tract, sees in all directions a quantity of marl pits, wrought with great activity. Bohemia is naturally fertile, but its agriculture is in a very backward state, from the continued prevalence of feudal usages. Moravia has made greater progress, and furnishes an annual supply of corn for export. Hungary is in many parts so fertile as to produce an abundant crop, with very little exertion from the labourer. Here may still be seen the primitive practice of treading out the corn by horses and oxen. Galicia, under a better system, might be rendered productive in the highest degree. The same holds in regard to the adjacent Polish province of Bukowine. Maize is cultivated in Hungary and Transylvania; millet in Hungary, Sclavonia, and Carinthia; and even rice is found to answer in the marshy districts of Temeswar.

The product of the Vinc, though far short of what it might be rendered, is a source of considerable wealth to Austria. The well known tokay is raised on the last chain of the Carpathian range, in the neighbourhood of the country of Zemplin. The district where it is cultivated is of the extent of 60 or 70 square miles; its qualities are various, the richest kind proceeding from the grape, with little or no pressure, while the inferior sorts are said to be made of the dried grape, reduced into a sort of pap, and mixed up with other Hungarian wines. We must not take for granted, that all the wine sold under the name of tokay is the product of the district just mentioned. The dealers find this fashionable name a very convenient passport for the produce of the adjacent districts, so that even in Vienna there is not a tenth of real tokay among the wines sold under that designation.

Tobacco is cultivated to a great extent in Hungary and other parts of the empire. Hops are raised in Moravia and Hungary, but more particularly in Bohemia, where in some districts they are said to approach in quality to those of England.

The stock of horned cattle is said to have decreased of late years in the Austrian empire, in consequence of the introduction of large numbers of sheep. It has been computed, on a rough calculation, that the Austrian dominions comprise about two and a half millions head of cattle, above five millions of sheep, and about one million of horses. The Hungarian horses are small, but active, and capable of great fatigue. Many of them are accustomed, in their early years, to wander in a wild state along their vast pastures, and are caught only when of an age to become fit for service in the field. Galicia and Moravia contain a large proportion of the above mentioned number of horses. The remainder are chiefly in Lower Austria; for neither Bohemia, nor the mountainous tracts on the south of the Hereditary States, contain any considerable number. There are four public establishments for the purpose of training horses in Austria, the principal of which is at Mezahegyes in Hungary. In this, unquestionably the greatest institution of the kind in Europe, there are no less than 800 mares, of German, Bessarabian, Moldavian, Spanish, or Hungarian extraction.

10. Hungary and Transylvania possess mines both of gold and silver. They have also what is much more favourable to the increase of their productive industry, excellent mines of copper. The tin of Bohemia is compared to that of Cornwall, as the iron of Styria is to that of Sweden. These metallic treasures are not confined to a single province, but sufficiently scattered to diffuse the means of employment throughout various parts of the empire. Another mineral product of the highest importance is coal, which is found in various spots of Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary. Thirty mines are already ascertained to exist in the latter country, although so backward is the application of capital to useful purposes, that only two of them are as yet wrought. In Bohemia, Styria, and Lower Austria, this important branch of industry has been somewhat more cultivated, in consequence of the vicinity of the coal to iron ore.

Mines of rock salt are found in various parts of the Empire. Those of Bochnia and Wieliccka in Galicia are known to be the greatest in Europe. A number of others are found along each side of the great Carpathian chain; nay, they extend, with greater or less intervals, all the way from Moldavia to Swabia, along a tract which, including a variety of windings, is not short of 2000 miles. This tract comprehends the salt mines of Wallachia, Transylvania, Galicia, Upper Hungary, Moldavia, 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, in which the saline substance is frequently observed to have made its way.

Manufactures have of late years been considerably on the increase throughout Austria. Few countries are more abundant in the supply of raw materials, and this substantial advantage received a powerful, though ill-judged, co-operation on the part of Joseph II., who thought it expedient to resort to a prohibition of several kinds of foreign manufactures. Linen and hemp may be called the staples of the Hereditary States and of Bohemia. Different qualities are fabricated in different places, Moravia having generally the coarse stuffs, while certain parts of Bohemia carry the fabric to a point of great nicety. The ruder provinces of Galicia, Hungary, and Transylvania, have made little progress in these branches of industry, or in the manufacture of cotton cloths, which is considerably diffused through Bohemia and the Austrian states. Spinning machines have been introduced from England, but the price of the raw material is necessarily enhanced by the distance of land carriage. Woolen cloths are made throughout the empire, particularly in Moravia, but the quality in the remote provinces is very inferior.

No country is better adapted to excel in hardware manufactures than Austria. The mines in Bohemia, Styria, Carinthia, and Upper Austria, supply an abundant store of excellent materials. The steel of Carinthia and Styria is known and highly prized in England. Vienna, Prague, and Karlsbad, contain manufactures of this metal, and arms are made in great abundance in more than a dozen of different towns. Glass has long been made in great quantities in Bohemia and the neighbouring provinces; but the long continuance of the late wars was unfavourable to the ornamental species of this manufacture.

The course of recent events has thus unexpectedly restored, and, in fact, more than restored, Austria to her high station among European potentates. The long continued exertions of Britain, the unsparring sacrifices of Russia, and, more than all, the extravagant attempts of Bonaparte, have redeemed the past errors of the cabinet of Vienna, and enabled her to reap the richest harvest of any of the allies from the spoils of the French empire. Her influence over the south of Germany is strengthened, and her ascendancy over Italy, formerly one of her weakest sides, is materially increased. The Low Countries, however rich and fertile, were at too great a distance from her other dominions, and too little connected with her by manners or national feeling, to form a first rate object of her policy. It is not too much to say, that the loss of them is fully compensated by the consolidation given to her Italian acquisitions by the incorporation of the Venetian States.

In the present state of France, there seems no likelihood of a renewal of a military contest with Austria, for many years. Italy is now doubly fortified against invasion; and the present generation of Frenchmen will listen to no enterprises of ambition beyond the Rhine. Austria may thus enjoy profound peace, if she be not deluded into projects of aggrandizement on the side of Turkey, or alarmed into a struggle with Russia on account of her possessions in Poland. The writers upon Austrian Statistics are very numerous; but we shall content ourselves with referring in this place to the lately published and instructive Work of M. Marcel de Serres, entitled Voyage en Autriche, ou Essai statistique et geographique sur cet Empire. Paris, 1814. 4 vols. 8vo.