proportion to its extent, is probably richer in mineral wealth than the other quarters of the globe. It contains all the metals except platinum; and though it affords gold and silver only in limited quantities, iron, copper, lead, with coal and salt, commodities of greater value to society, are abundant and widely distributed. The mountains, consisting of primitive and transition rocks, are the great depositories of these mineral treasures.
Iron is found in all the chains of mountains in Europe. Iron. The richest mines are in the Dofrines, or Scandinavian Alps. But rich mines are also found in the Alps of Styria, Carinthia, and Bavaria; in the Pyrenees, the Vosges, the Cevennes, the coal district of Britain, the Urals, the Carpathians, the Hartz, and many other places.
Copper is also widely distributed, though less abundant than iron. The richest mines are in Hungary, in the Carpathian Mountains. It abounds also in the Saxon and Bohemian mountains, in the Dofrines, the Urals, the north of England, and the Alps; and it is found in the Vosges, the Pyrenees, and other mountains of Spain, in the north of Germany, and in Tuscany.
Lead exists in the Alps, Carpathians, Pyrenees, Ce-Lendennes, Vosges, the British mountains, and the Uralian chain.
Tin is found only in a few places in Europe. The richest Tin. mines are in Cornwall; next to these are the mines in the Erzgebirge. It is also found in Hungary and Spanish Galicia.
Mercury, like tin, is confined to a few places. The Mercury. mines of Idria, in Austria, which yield 8000 to 10,000 quintals per annum, are the most productive in Europe. There are also considerable mines at Deux Ponts, in the Palatinate; in the Spanish province of La Mancha; and in Transylvania.
Gold is widely diffused through Europe, but generally Gold. in such quantities as not to repay the expense of working. It is wrought, however, in the Carpathians, the Urals, the Dofrines, and the Alps. Anciently there were rich mines of gold in Spain and Greece.
Silver is more abundant than gold, though less widely Silver. distributed. There are productive mines of this metal in the Erzgebirge, the Carpathians, the Urals, the Norwegi-an Dofrines, and in Sardinia. It is found also in the Alps, the Vosges, and the Sierra Morena.
Of coal, the richest mines are found in the north and Coal. west of England. It abounds also on both sides of the south of Scotland; in Ireland; in the Netherlands; in one fourth part of the French territory; and occurs more sparingly in Saxony, Hanover, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Bavaria, Austria, Franconia, Westphalia, Swabia, Catalonia, and some other parts of Spain, in Portugal, and in Sardinia. After Britain, France is the country in Europe best supplied with this mineral. The produce of the French coal mines has increased fourfold within the last forty years.
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1 Young, i. 306; Malte Brun, Précis, ii. 508; Manuscript Travels in Germany. 2 Storch, ii. 209, 244, 304, 370; Von Buch, Ed. Rev., xxii. 163, 171; Crome, Allgemeine Übersicht der Staatskarte von dem Samtlichen Europäischen Reiches und Landern, 1818, p. 103; Malte Brun, Précis de la Géographie Universelle, 1812, ii. 508. Salt is procured from the waters of the ocean, and, in the interior of Europe, from numerous salt mines and salt springs. The most productive salt mines in Europe are those in Poland, on the north side of the Carpathians, and those in Salzburg, on the north side of the Alps, both of which belong to Austria. There are also extensive depositories of mineral salt in Transylvania and Hungary; in Valentia, Navarre, and Catalonia, in Spain; in Cheshire in England; and in Bavaria and Switzerland. Salt springs are numerous along the sides of primitive mountains in most countries of Europe. The most extensive salt mines of Russia are in Asia.
Antimony, cobalt, zinc, manganese, sulphur, alum, and a great variety of other mineral productions, are found in Europe; but it is unnecessary to specify their localities.
It is observed that the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, and other mountain chains which run east and west, are richest in metals on the south side; while the Dofines, Urals, and others which run north and south, are richest on the east side. Of the mountain chains of Europe, the Appenines are the poorest in metals, the Carpathians probably the richest.
The present population of Europe is sprung from a variety of races of inhabitants; but authors differ much as to the number and peculiar characters of the original races. It would serve little purpose to enumerate the contradictory hypotheses which have been advanced on this subject. We shall therefore confine ourselves to an account of those more obvious general characters, founded on language, manners, or physical constitution, which distinguish the different portions of the population of Europe at present.
The nations in the south-west of Europe, the French, Italians, and Spaniards, speak languages in which the Latin idiom predominates. They have generally black hair and black eyes, and are rather inferior in stature to the Gothic nations, but gifted with more imagination and a higher degree of organic sensibility; they are more temperate, more inventive, but less persevering.
The Gothic race includes the English, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Netherlanders, and the various German nations inhabiting the country between the Rhine and the Oder, with the Swiss, Bavarians, and a part of the inhabitants of Bohemia, Moravia, and Austria. These nations are distinguished by fair hair, blue or grey eyes, large stature, and a clear complexion. They have less imagination than the southern nations, are more addicted to pursuits that exercise the understanding, are more thoughtful and serious, and less temperate in drinking.
The Slavonic nations occupy the east of Europe generally, including Russia, Moldavia, Poland, ancient Prussia, with the greater part of Silesia, Hungary, Moravia, Bohemia, Croatia, and Slavonia. They are rather lower in stature than the Gothic race, the countenance is shorter but more animated, and the hair black. The prevailing religion is the Greek Christian, and in the western parts the Roman Catholic. They all speak dialects of the Slavonic language, of which the Russian is one.
The remains of the Celtic tribes are found in the Highlands of Scotland, in Wales, Ireland, Bretagne, and Biscay in Spain. They are rather low in stature, have lively eyes, prominent cheek-bones, red or yellow hair in the north, but sometimes black hair in the south.
The Finns, with the Esthonians, Karelians, and other tribes in the north of Europe, have a language of their own, and the characters of a peculiar race. They have light brown eyes, a pale complexion, cheeks hollow, are of middling stature, but heavy and muscular.
The Samoieds, Laplanders, and other tribes who live within the polar circle, are distinguished by their very low stature, the smallness of the legs and feet, and largeness of the head, prominent cheek-bones, small round black eyes, black and bristly hair, and a swarthy skin. The Laplanders, from intermixture with the Finns, Russians, and Norwegians, have lost in some degree the characteristic traits of the original race.
The modern Greeks and Albanians are supposed to be descended chiefly from the ancient inhabitants of the country, whose language they have preserved. They have a greater resemblance to the Latin nations than to those of the Gothic race. The Turks are an Asiatic tribe.
Europe has been gradually advancing from poverty and barbarism to wealth and refinement since the tenth century; but the progress of the different nations has been very unequal. No single cause has contributed so much to their improvement as commerce; and hence the first advances have always been made by maritime states; and the progress of the different communities has been nearly in proportion to their vicinity to the sea, or the facility of their communication with it. The small republics of Italy and the Hanse Towns were the seats of industry, wealth, knowledge, and freedom; while slavery, ignorance, and rapine, reigned in the countries around them. The tendency of commerce to enrich a country seems to depend on its power to create disposable capital. Though a certain species of opulence exists among the great landholders of agricultural countries, those masses of disposable capital which give vigour to industry, and supply the means of great improvements, are only found in commercial states. Commerce also favours the growth of manufactures, and these two species of industry raise up a middle class, closely allied with the great body of the people. It is among this class that ideas of civil and religious liberty take their rise, and find their firmest supporters; whereas in countries entirely agricultural, liberty means only the domination of the aristocracy. The spirit of liberty once introduced, laws are improved, prejudices hostile to industry extinguished, and new vigour infused into every branch of society. It is thus that freedom and wealth have generally followed in the train of commerce; and that the commercial states have led the way in those improvements which have so much ameliorated the condition of Europe. When the Italian republics flourished, however, Europe was not in a state to be much benefited by the lights their experience afforded. The Dutch republic, which flourished at a later period, gave a more striking demonstration of the advantages of industry, freedom, toleration, and good government, at a time when neither liberty nor toleration were understood even in England, and when industry was in a very low state all over Europe. The example of the Dutch furnished statesmen with new ideas, and had a sensible influence on the policy of England, France, and other countries. The genius of Peter the Great derived from
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1 Adrien Balbi thus classifies the population of Europe into families: 1. The Iberian or Basque family, in Northern Spain and Southern France; 2. The Celtic family, embracing the Scotch Highlanders, the Welsh, and the Bas-Bretons; 3. The Thracian-Pelasgian or Greco-Latin family, embracing the Albanians, Greeks, Italians, Wallachians, part of the inhabitants of France and Spain; 4. The Germanic family, comprehending the Germans, Netherlanders, Danes, Swedes, English and Lowland Scots; 5. The Slavonic family, comprehending the Russians, Poles, Wends, Bohemians, Illyrians, Lithuanians; 6. The Uralian family, including the Finns, Tchoudes, Laplanders, and Magyars of Hungary; 7. The Samoieds. (Abrégé de la Géographie, p. 163, Paris, 1833.) this small republic the seeds of those improvements by which civilization was spread over the vast empire of Russia. The superiority which the Dutch possessed has since been transferred to Britain, and she has acquired with it the privilege of instructing other nations in the sources of public wealth and the science of government.
The Reformation had a material effect in accelerating the progress of society. It put an end to a multitude of abuses and prejudices adverse to improvement, and inspired the human mind with a new activity. Those countries in which it took no root seemed to have had their progress arrested; while others, less favoured by nature, derived new life and vigour from its influence. Italy and Spain, now so far behind Britain, France, and Germany, were the first countries in Europe for knowledge, wealth, and industry, at the period of the Reformation. The establishment of the Protestant religion has produced a more liberal spirit among the Catholics in those countries where the two churches exist together; but in those countries where Protestantism has never obtained a footing, the dread of its introduction has thrown the government more and more into the hands of the clergy; the clergy, armed with power, have become more jealous and intolerant, and have nearly put an end to all freedom of thought. The literary glory of Spain expired some time after the Reformation; and Italy has been checked in her career. The older writers of these countries breathe a spirit which would not be tolerated at the present day, nor does society there afford the elements out of which such characters could be formed. And thus it happened that the very same event which called forth the powers of the human mind in the north of Europe, extinguished the intellectual activity of the south.
The improved means of internal communication in countries in modern times have had a considerable effect upon the state of society. In ancient times free states were necessarily small, because when neither the press nor the post existed, that union of sentiment necessary to control the conduct of men in power could not be effected among a large population scattered over a wide space. A number of free states sprung up in Greece, because that country, perforated by mountains and arms of the sea, afforded natural means of defence to such small societies as could then exercise the functions necessary to the preservation of freedom. It is a mistake to suppose that, in these states, a greater extent of territory could have been united under one government by adopting the representative system. The resolutions of a body of representatives would command no more respect from a government than those of as many private individuals, if they were not constantly supported by the opinions of the mass of society; and this requires such a rapid and general circulation of intelligence as could not then exist. The small size of the Grecian states was a necessary condition of their freedom; but it was a serious disadvantage, not only because it lessened the commercial intercourse between the different parts of the country, but because such small communities had not strength enough to resist a great force from without; and hence these states fell a prey to the superior power of the Macedonian monarchy. The whole of the south-west of Europe exhibits the physical features of Greece upon a larger scale. Its surface is broken into numerous sections by gulfs and mountains, and abounds in natural barriers. Favoured by these circumstances, the different communities in this quarter of the world in modern times enjoyed a certain degree of independence and security, which hastened their progress in civilization. Russia, which occupies the only large plain in Europe, has been the last reclaimed from barbarism. So long, however, as the means of communication remained very imperfect in modern Europe, free governments were confined to small states, and the larger states were abandoned to feudal tyranny or military despotism; but the science of government has gradually improved, as knowledge, commerce, and the arts have advanced; and at present the admirable inventions of the post and the press give such an electric rapidity to the circulation of public sentiment, that twenty millions of men could be as easily united in defence of their rights as the small population of Attica in the time of Xerxes.
The progress of improvement tends to level all distinctions between states, but those founded on the extent of their natural resources. Capital, skill, intelligence, and all acquired advantages, tend to an equilibrium. When Europe was overrun with barbarism, the city of Venice, by its commercial wealth, was a counterpoise to two or three of the great monarchies of the continent. The discovery of America, and of a passage by sea to the East Indies, gave a new direction to commerce, and undermined the greatness of that city. The Dutch republic rose by its freedom and industry, and was able, in the time of Charles II., to dispute the empire of the sea with the combined powers of England and France. But England increased her commerce, and improved her constitution; and having a larger and more fertile territory, as well as a greater population, she at length obtained an ascendancy over Holland, deprived her of the empire of the sea, and stript her of most of her colonies. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Spain and Turkey were the first powers in the west and east of Europe, and inspired their neighbours with the dread of conquest. Sweden ruled with undisputed sway in the north; and Russia, now so formidable, was scarcely known. Spain, under a better government, might recover a part of her influence; but the Turkish empire seems near its dissolution; and the importance of Sweden and Holland is gone irretrievably, in consequence of the growing strength of the neighbouring powers. The extent of territory and immense natural resources of Russia must, in the end, raise her to a decided superiority over all the other powers of Europe, if the empire does not fall to pieces from its own weight, or get into disorder from the vices of its government. Its progress hitherto has been greatly aided by the personal characters of its sovereigns. If we were to judge merely from the advantages which different states possess for raising and supporting population, we might predict that, in the course of a century and a half, Russia would rule with uncontrolled sway over the old continent, and the United States over the new; and that the other states, which now figure in the first rank in either hemisphere, would then owe their existence, like the small principalities of Europe at the present day, to the forbearance or the mutual jealousy of their powerful neighbours. But in the course of events, many changes may occur to give a different destiny to both continents.
The number of the inhabitants of Europe has been progressively increasing, slowly in the earlier part of the century, but more rapidly as we approach the present times. Apparently it has been least considerable in Spain, Italy, Sweden, France, and Germany; greater in Russia, Austria, and the British isles; and greatest in Prussia. In 1787, Zimmermann estimated the population of Europe at 144,000,000; and in 1833, according to Balbi, it was 227,000,000. The increase of 83,000,000 in forty-six years implies an annual augmentation of 994 upon 100,000, or very nearly one per cent.; and if this ratio were constant, the population of Europe would double itself in seventy years and a half. In 1827 Baron Dupin esti- mated the increase in the principal states of Europe to be as follows:
| Annual Increase on one Million | Period of doubling | |-------------------------------|------------------| | Prussia | 27,027 | 26 | | Britain | 16,667 | 42 | | Netherlands | 12,372 | 56½ | | Two Sicilies | 11,111 | 63 | | Russia | 10,527 | 65 | | Austria | 10,114 | 69 | | France | 6,536 | 105 |
A comparison of the census for 1821 and 1831, the only two which include Ireland, shows that Dupin's estimate for Britain is too high. The annual increment for the three kingdoms scarcely exceeds one seventy-fifth part, or 13,400 upon a million. The increase in Prussia has been so very rapid, we presume, only since the peace in 1815.
The most obvious cause of this increase of population is the increase of production, from the improvement of agriculture and the arts; but part of the effect may be ascribed to the general introduction of potatoes in many countries, by which the same portion of ground is made to support three or four times as many persons as it would under corn. In France, where Mr Young, in 1789, found the cultivation of potatoes extremely limited, it was so much extended in 1819, that, according to Chaptal, the annual produce was nearly 20,000,000 hectolitres, or 55,000,000 bushels; a quantity fully as great in proportion to the population as Mr Colquhoun assigns to Britain and Ireland. This augmentation of numbers does not appear to have been accompanied with any deterioration in the habits of the people. On the contrary, the diminution in the rate of mortality which has taken place in Britain, France, and Sweden, is a decisive proof of an improvement in the condition of these countries; and, by analogy, we may extend the same conclusion to the other parts of Europe. It may be remarked, that the general extension of commerce, and the accumulation of capital, render a season of scarcity, in a particular country, much less destructive now than formerly. In Britain, whose commerce and capital enable her to draw supplies from all parts of the world, the additional mortality, in the most severe scarcity, does not exceed one tenth; but in Sweden, a poor country, it sometimes amounts to one third. (Milne's Annuities, p. 400.) In ancient times, when each country depended entirely on its own produce, the effects of a scarcity were dreadful.
The states of Europe at present are 62 in number, and, considered with respect to political importance, may be divided into four classes. Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, belong to the first; Spain, Sweden, Turkey, to the second; Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Naples, Bavaria, Sardinia, Denmark, Saxony, Würtemberg, Hanover, and Switzerland, to the third; Baden, Tuscany, and the States of the Church, with the other small states of Germany and Italy, belong to the fourth class. Objections may be made to this classification, but we have not been able to find a better; and a few remarks will explain the principle on which it is founded. The first five powers are the only powers that exercise a decided influence over their neighbours; and it is by their joint counsels that differences among the smaller powers are adjusted, and all questions that concern the general state of Europe decided. The three states of the second class visibly occupy a lower place in the scale of power than those of the first. They have very little exterior influence, but they are not directly controlled by any of the stronger powers; and it is only among them and the states of the first class that wars are now likely to originate. The third class includes those states which are too feeble, and too much under the influence of the great powers, to become principals in war, but are of importance enough to be valued as auxiliaries by states of the first and second classes. The fourth class consists of states which have too little force to maintain any degree of independence, and owe their existence to the justice, the forbearance, or the mutual jealousies of the stronger powers. It is only in Europe that small states exist among large ones; and their existence is the consequence of that equality of power among the great states, which compels each to respect the rights of the others, and to pay a certain degree of deference to public opinion.
A detailed account of the principal European states is given under the proper heads, in their alphabetical order. Our object here is only to bring together such general facts as will afford a comparative view of the internal condition, power, and resources of those larger societies which comprise the greatest part of the population of Europe. With respect to the smaller states, we cannot make room for any further details than what are contained in the table which forms the conclusion of this article.
BRITAIN.
Though much smaller in extent than any of the other states of the first rank, Britain is the most wealthy and powerful of the whole. She has a moderately good climate, a soil less fertile in grain than that of France, but affording better pasture; an extensive line of sea-coast, with numerous harbours; a natural and well-defined frontier; a good commercial position, and the largest fields of coal in Europe. But all these advantages have contributed less to her aggrandisement than the excellence of her laws and constitution. The progress of Britain in commerce, manufactures, and agriculture, within the last century, and especially within the last forty years, has been wonderfully great.
The British isles contain about 76,000,000 acres, of which about 49,000,000 are in cultivation, and 27,000,000, or more than one third, waste or uncultivated. About one half of the waste land is in Scotland, where the cultivated soil forms only twenty-six parts in the 100 of the whole surface of the country; in England it forms eighty-two parts in the 100, and in Ireland sixty-nine. The agriculture of Britain, compared with that of the continent, is distinguished by the farms being generally larger, the plan of cultivation more systematic and skilful, the produce on equal soils greater, the pasture land bearing a higher proportion to the land in tillage, and the breed of animals being superior. In Scotland the pasture land forms about one half of the land in cultivation; in England, four sevenths. The whole annual produce of grain in Britain and Ireland was estimated by Dr Colquhoun in 1812 at 35,000,000 of quarters, excluding seed; of which wheat is supposed to form twenty-six parts in the 100 in quantity, barley seventeen parts, oats forty-nine, rye two, peas and beans five. The value of the annual produce of grain was computed by the same author at L73,700,000;
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1 Dupin, Forces Productives et Commerciales de la France, 1827; tom. i. p. 35. 2 Colquhoun's Treatise on the Wealth, Power, and Resources of the British Empire, 1815, p. 56, 57; Sir J. Sinclair, General Report of the Agricultural State of Scotland, vol. iii. addenda. that of the pasture land at L89,200,000; and the whole gross produce of all the branches of agriculture, including gardens and cattle, at L216,000,000. But as this estimate was made in 1812, when prices were uncommonly high, a third or a fourth should be deducted for the present value. The valued rack-rent of England and Wales, as returned to parliament by the commissioners of taxes in 1810, was L29,503,073; which gives 15s. 6d. as the average of rent of all kinds of land per acre. The rental of Scotland in 1813, according to Sir John Sinclair, was L5,041,779, including mines and fisheries; and deducting L341,000 for these, the rent of land would be L4,700,000, or 4s. 11d. per acre on an average.
The progress of Britain in manufactures has been still more rapid, within a recent period, than in agriculture; and her natural advantages for this species of industry are perhaps more exclusive. She has a good supply within herself of the raw material for all her staple manufactures except cotton; and her means of procuring this article are at least equal to those of her neighbours. The growth of this manufacture in Britain has been unprecedentedly rapid. In 1767, the value of all the cotton goods manufactured did not exceed L200,000, and in 1832 it was estimated at L36,000,000. The produce of the woollen manufactures, in the same year, including the raw material, was estimated at L22,000,000; that of leather at L10,000,000; of linen at L12,500,000. (M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary, 1832.)
The commerce of Britain seems to have increased pretty regularly during the first sixty years of the last century; but from 1760 to 1786 it remained almost stationary. From this period to the present time the increase has been rapid beyond example. The exports of England, about 1700, were L6,045,000; in 1760, L14,694,000; in 1786, L15,385,000. (Chalmers' Hist. View, p. 315.) In 1832, the official value of the exports was L76,071,000, of the imports L44,589,000. The mercantile tonnage in 1832 was 2,618,000 tons, and the number of seamen 161,600. (Parliamentary Papers.) The annual produce of foreign commerce, or the sums derived from it by all classes concerned in it, were estimated, in 1812, at L46,373,478; the gains from inland trade at L31,500,000; and the whole annual produce of industry, from all sources, at L4,430,000,000 (Colquhoun, p. 96–100); an estimate which is certainly exaggerated.
The growing wealth of Britain has had to sustain an increasing weight of public burdens. The public revenue of England, at the Union in 1709, was L5,691,803; of Scotland, L160,000. In 1763 (a year of peace) the net revenue was L9,100,000; in 1790 L15,986,068; and in 1812 it was L64,979,960, of which England furnished L55,905,123, Scotland L4,155,589, and Ireland L4,882,264. (Colquhoun, p. 262.) In the year 1832, the net produce of the revenue was L51,474,000, which was collected at an expense of L6. 13s. 11d. per cent. The nominal amount of the public debt at 5th January 1833 was L754,000,000, the interest L27,703,000. The unfunded debt was L35,373,000. The army in 1832 consisted of 95,800 men, exclusive of 17,200 in India. The number of men voted for the navy was 27,000. (Parliamentary Papers.)
The population of England appears to have doubled in the hundred years ending 1811; that of Scotland appears to have increased one half in the same period; that of Ireland has also increased very rapidly. In the period between 1801 and 1831, the rate of increase in England and Scotland was such as would have doubled the population in forty-six years. This rapid increase of numbers appears not to have been accompanied with any deterioration of condition. In the five years ending 1784, the annual mortality in England and Wales was one in thirty-seven; in the five years ending 1810, it was one in 47-86. Of the population of Britain and Ireland, about thirty-five families in the hundred are employed in agriculture, forty-five in trades, manufactures, and handicrafts, and twenty in other occupations. The total population of Britain and Ireland in 1831 was 24,304,000. To these must be added about 98,000,000 in the colonies, making a total of 122,000,000.
FRANCE.
This country enjoys, upon the whole, greater natural advantages than any other in Europe. Her territory is above one half larger than Great Britain and Ireland, and is superior in soil and climate. She has a greater proportion of arable land than any of her neighbours; the natural means of communication between her provinces are abundant and easy; she is well provided with all the useful metals except tin; and is better supplied with coal than any other country in Europe except Britain. When we add to these advantages the intelligence and activity of her population, and consider that corvees, tithes, feudal services, and most of those abuses which shackled her industry, are now removed; that she is likely to enjoy the benefits of good laws and a free constitution, and is not encumbered with a great national debt; we cannot doubt that, if peace continue for any considerable length of time, she will yet rise to a much higher degree of wealth and prosperity than she ever before possessed. Even during the distractions of the Revolution, though her commerce was annihilated, her agriculture and manufactures extended and improved, her population increased, and its condition was ameliorated. The greatest bar to her progress will probably be the extreme division of property; and, for some time also, the want of capital.
The surface of France contains within its present limits 52,000,000 hectares, or 128,000,000 acres. From partial surveys, for fiscal purposes, made in each department, it is estimated that the waste land, including roads and rivers, amounts to one eighth of this, or twelve parts in the hundred; the arable land to forty-four parts in the hundred; the woodland to fourteen parts; the pasturage land and meadows to fourteen; the vineyards to four; wild land seven; quarries, buildings, orchards, gardens, olive and other plantations, make up the remaining five parts. (Chaptal, De l'Industrie Francaise, i. 205. Paris, 1819.) In addition to the vegetable productions that grow in England, the climate of France enables her to raise maize, vines, olives, mulberries, and chestnuts; and by some of these a produce is extracted from soil which in England would yield nothing. The whole produce of grain in France is estimated by Chaptal at 143,000,000 hectolitres, equal to 50,000,000 quarters, or 40,000,000 deducting one fifth for seed, which is only 5,000,000 above the produce of Britain and Ireland, as estimated by Colquhoun. Of this produce of grain, wheat forms thirty-six parts in the hundred, rye twenty-one parts, maize four and a half, buckwheat six, barley nine, oats twenty-two, legumes one. The quantity of potatoes (19,800,741 hectolitres) is equal to two thirds of the rye. The produce of 4,000,000 acres planted with vines, in 1608, was 37,600,000 hectolitres of wine. (i. 173,177.) The annual gross produce of the land, which was estimated by Arthur Young at L230,000,000 sterling, is estimated by Chaptal at 4,678,000,000 francs, or L187,000,000 sterling, of which the principal items are,
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1 Reckoning the pound sterling equal to 25 francs. See the article Exchange. The exports of France in the year 1827 amounted in value to 602,000,000 francs (L34,000,000); the imports to 565,000,000 (L22,600,000). The leading articles of exportation were silk goods, raw silk, cottons, linens, wines, and woollens; the leading imports were raw silk, cotton, linen, and coffee.
The population of France, notwithstanding the interruption to industry, and the drains occasioned by the long wars, has increased since the commencement of the Revolution. According to calculations made by the National Assembly in 1791, France contained 26,363,074 inhabitants, and in 1831 it contained 32,560,000 within the same limits. (Annuaire pour l'An 1834.) The annual increase is about 200,000 individuals. The condition of the labouring classes appears to be improved. Wages, which Arthur Young estimated at 19 sous, or 10d. English per day, throughout the kingdom, for all kinds of work, were estimated at 1s. 2d. by Dupin, in 1827. The annual mortality, which was estimated at one in thirty by Neckar before the Revolution, we find stated recently to be one in forty. (Annuaire pour l'An 1834.)
According to returns made in 1815, there were then in France 22,300 primary schools, with 737,379 pupils. There were, besides, 368 secondary schools, thirty-six lycées, and twenty-six universities. In 1833 there were 44,500 primary schools, which were attended by 1,907,000 pupils of both sexes.
The ordinary revenue of France, in the year 1831, was 973,000,000 francs, or L39,000,000. The debt was 5,400,000,000, or L216,000,000, and the annual interest 283,000,000, or L11,300,000. There are about 40,000 parish priests in France, whose pay, with that of the bishops, amounts to L1,200,000.
From the commencement of the Revolution to 1810, France received great accessions of territory. The peace of Luneville left her in possession, in whole or in part, of the Austrian and Dutch Netherlands, the bishoprics of Liège, Cologne, Trèves, Mentz, duchy of Juliers, the Palatinate, Mœurs, Guelders, the department of Mont Blanc, Leman, Maritime Alps, with the Venaissain, Monbéliard, and other enclaves. These various districts comprehended a surface of 27,400 square miles, and a population of 5,025,000.
Between 1801 and 1810 she acquired Piedmont, Genoa, Tuscany, Parma, the Roman States, the Valais, the Illyrian provinces, with Venetian Dalmatia; Holland, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubec, Munster, Osnaburg, and part of Hanover. These districts comprehended a surface of 110,000 square miles, and a population of 16,057,000. With these additions the French empire, in 1812, included an area of 310,000 square miles, and a population of 44,500,000.
If to these we add the states dependent upon France; namely, the Cisalpine Republic, 31,000 square miles, with 6,350,000 inhabitants; the Confederation of the Rhine, 113,000 square miles, with 14,000,000 inhabitants; and Naples, 30,500 square miles, with 4,960,000 inhabitants; we have an aggregate of 486,000 square miles, and a population of nearly 70,000,000. The kings, princes, or chiefs of these dependent states, were in reality nothing more than Napoleon's viceroys; and it may be said with truth, that in 1812 the resources of the vast population of seventy millions now enumerated were at his disposal.
By the peace of Paris in 1815, France was stript of all her conquests, and reduced within her ancient limits, as they stood in 1789, with some inconsiderable variations. not sensibly affecting her whole extent of territory, or amount of population.
**Austria.**
The Austrian empire is one fourth larger than France, and twice as large as Britain and Ireland. Its population consists of a mixed mass of nations, differing in origin, language, religion, and manners, having few common ties, and little intercourse with one another. Austria has but a small extent of sea-coast, and is almost entirely an inland power. The climate is similar to that of France, but subject to greater extremes of heat and cold, the soil not much inferior, the grain and fruits nearly the same. She is richer in mineral wealth than any other state in Europe, and possesses coal, though not in great abundance. Her natural resources are capable of vast improvement; and in the hands of a wise and liberal government, would soon raise her far above the rank she now enjoys. Of the six sections into which her territories are divided, Lombardy is the most populous in proportion to its extent; Bohemia and Moravia are next in population, and are the seats of the chief manufacturers; Austria Proper and Hungary are remarkably rich in mines; and Galicia, though in a low state of cultivation, is fertile in grain, and contains the most productive mines of salt in Europe. Austria has but a slender title to be regarded as a German power; less than one fifth of her population are Germans. The Sclavonic race, who form nearly one half of the population, give a character of ignorance and backwardness to the government. In Bohemia, Hungary, and other provinces where this race predominates, vassalage exists in some of its forms, and cramps the progress of society. The Austrian empire, in truth, consists properly of six separate governments, feebly united under one head. Each of these governments, except that of Lombardy, has a diet or states, composed of the deputies from the nobility, clergy, and towns; but these bodies exercise no real influence over the government, except in Hungary, where the old feudal institutions remain in vigour, and the aristocracy have always maintained a great degree of independence.
The surface of the Austrian monarchy is estimated at 238,000 square English miles. Of this surface, the waste lands, including marshes, mountains, rivers, and ground covered with buildings, are estimated at five parts in twenty-four; and of the useful soil about forty-three parts in the hundred are in tillage, nine parts meadow land, nine parts commons, which support cattle, two parts vineyards, two parts gardens and orchards, and thirty-five parts forest land. The total produce of grain is estimated at 165,500,000 metzen, or about 35,670,000 quarters, consisting of wheat fourteen parts, barley eleven, rye thirty-one, and oats forty-four. In 1804 the net produce of a joch (equal to one acre and a half) of corn land, for the whole Austrian states, was valued by Lichtenstern at five florins (10s.), and of pasture land at two florins (4s.). (Hassel's Stat. obris des Oest. p. 90.) The annual produce of wine in the Austrian dominions is estimated at from 36,000,000 to 40,000,000 of eimers (each equal to fourteen English gallons), of which Hungary furnishes nearly two thirds. This is rather more than one half of the produce of the French vineyards. Galicia is the only province in which there are no vines. Hungary and Sclavonia supply 180,000 centners of excellent tobacco. The Ex-Venetian states furnish yearly 1,200,000 pounds of silk; Milan and the Tyrol nearly as much; and altogether this species of culture employs 400,000 persons. Flax, hemp, hops, and fruits, are also extensively cultivated; and the forests, which cover more than one fourth of the empire, furnish an ample supply of wood. The total produce of the vegetable kingdom is valued at 68,500,000 sterling, a small amount, considering the extent of the country; but agriculture, though there are numerous societies for its improvement, remains in a low state, from the prejudices of the higher classes, and the oppressions to which the peasantry are exposed. The horses in the empire are estimated at 1,800,000, the sheep at 12,000,000, and the horned cattle at 10,000,000. The live stock has greatly diminished within the last twenty-five years. The annual produce of the mines is 3846 marks of gold (the mark is about three fourths of a pound Troy); 486 centners (hundredweights) of silver; 56,000 centners of copper, 30,000 centners of lead, 4890 centners of tin, 1,200,000 centners of iron, and 5300 centners of mercury. About 5,500,000 centners of salt are prepared, the greatest part from salt mines and springs. The annual produce of these minerals in 1802, when it was probably one third less than the above, was valued at L4,700,000.
The leading manufactures are linen, cotton, woollen, silk, leather, and works in metal and wood. The linen manufacture existing in all the provinces, but to the greatest extent in Bohemia and Moravia, is supposed to employ 1,200,000 persons; the woollen manufacture 300,000 persons; the cotton 100,000; about 18,000 or 20,000 centners of cotton were spun by machinery in 1817, which is three times the quantity spun in 1803. The silk manufacture, which is carried on chiefly in Lombardy, employs 110,000 persons. The most considerable manufactures in metal are in Styria, Carinthia, and Lower Austria. The estimate of the annual products of the Austrian manufactures, given by Crome, is too extravagant to deserve any credit. But those of Bohemia, in 1811, were valued at 158,000,000 of florins; and if we add twice as much for all the other states, the whole produce of the Austrian manufactures may, on this ground, be computed at L47,000,000 sterling. Even this is probably above the truth. (Lichtenstern, p. 44; Crome, 173-176.)
The commerce of Austria is extremely trifling. She possesses but a small extent of sea-coast, which is remote from the centre of her territories, is destitute of navigable rivers, and rendered difficult of access by mountains. The numerous rivers that water her dominions afford few advantages to her trade, as, excepting in Italy, she does not command the outlet of any one of them. The whole exports of this large empire are only L3,000,000, and the imports L3,200,000. (Lichtenstern, p. 48.)
The population of the Austrian empire, in 1817, was 28,207,886, of which the Sclavonic race amounted to 13,182,000, the Germans to 5,342,000, the Italians to 4,226,000, the Magyars or Hungarians to 4,225,000, the Wallachians to 1,246,000, and the Jews to 487,000. (Lichtenstern, p. 1858.) In 1832 Balbi estimated the population at 32,000,000. There are, besides, considerable numbers of Greeks, Turks, Albanians, and Armenians; so that, except Russia, no state in Europe has such a heterogeneous population. Throughout the Austrian dominions, the nobility and clergy are numerous, and many of them very rich. In Hungary, Galicia, and indeed in the greater part of the empire, these classes are exempt from taxes, and enjoy other pernicious privileges. The Austrian clergy, exclusive of their families, are estimated at 64,000, of whom 56,000 belong to the Catholic church; the nobles
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1 Lichtenstern, Handbuch der Neuest Geogr. der Oest. 1818, p. 33-42. Crome, Allg. Uebersicht, 1818, p. 141-154. Europe of both sexes at 475,000; the civil servants of the government, with their families, at 280,000; the military, men, women, children, and servants, at 80,000; the burghers and tradesmen, with their families, at 2,323,000; the persons engaged in agriculture at 4,005,000 families, or about 20,025,000 individuals. (Lichtenstern, p. 138.) In all the provinces, especially in Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary, there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of the inhabitants. Though the people are poor and ignorant, the government has been at much pains to provide them with the means of instruction; and the numerous schools and academies established must essentially contribute to the improvement of the country. The Catholic religion, though it predominates, nowhere enjoys that exclusive ascendancy which produces such pernicious consequences in Spain and Italy. The other sects, Greeks, Calvinists, Lutherans, form nearly one third of the inhabitants in the provinces beyond the Alps; and this circumstance, by generating a certain freedom of thought and discussion, must prove favourable to the progress of society.
Prussia.
Prussia is the smallest in extent, and enjoys the fewest natural advantages, of all the European states of the first class. Her territory is not much more than two fifths of that of Austria; it is but indifferently fertile; has few valuable mines, few resources for manufactures; she has, however, pretty large extent of sea-coast, and a considerable commerce. Her possessions are straggling and disjointed; they present an extensive frontier, with little depth, and no natural barriers; and are inhabited by people who speak different languages, and have few common ties or interests. Prussia has sustained her rank chiefly in consequence of the superiority of her internal organization. Her government, unlike those of the other monarchies of Europe, being of very recent origin, is not encumbered by those ancient establishments which the change of circumstances has converted into abuses. The frame of her public institutions was much improved by the Great Frederick, who availed himself of all the lights and philosophy which the age furnished. He established a complete toleration in matters of religion; curtailed the oppressive privileges of the nobles; simplified the administration of justice; and introduced order and economy into every department of the government. He left the kingdom to his successor with a large and well-disciplined army, and a high reputation for policy and prowess. After the misfortunes in which Prussia was involved by the battle of Jena, the present king, aided by his enlightened minister Hardenberg, began a series of most extensive reforms, which have raised the oppressed peasantry to the rank of free farmers, or independent proprietors, reduced still farther the privileges of the nobles, released trade from the weight of incorporations, and created the most ample means of instruction for the whole population. The population of Prussia, of whom two thirds are Protestants, is more intelligent than that of Austria; includes a greater proportion of Germans; and altogether she is more of a German power. The large rivers that water her territories have generally a very level course; and being joined by canals, they afford a great extent of inland navigation. Of all the old provinces, Silesia is the most industrious and flourishing. It doubled its population in the seventy-three years between 1742 and 1815. The Westphalian and Rhenish provinces are the most populous; ancient Prussia and the Polish provinces the least. (Russell's Travels in Germany, 1824, vol. ii. p. 110.)
Agriculture has been greatly extended in Prussia, and somewhat improved in recent times. Besides the common species of grain, tobacco, mulberries, vines, flax, and hemp, are cultivated. Great quantities of potatoes are also raised. Horned cattle and sheep are pretty numerous in most of the provinces. M. Krug estimated the mean rent of an arpent of corn land, for the whole Prussian states, at $2\frac{1}{2}$ rix-dollars (about 7s.), and the net produce of an arpent of corn land at two fifths of the gross produce; but of pasture land at one fourth or one fifth only, including poultry and bees. According to returns made from the different provinces to the government, the whole annual produce of grain in Prussia about 1802, when the population was 8,754,000, was 4,500,000 wispel (equal to 9,600,000 quarters); of which wheat formed nine parts in the hundred, rye forty, barley twenty-four, and oats twenty-seven; of this quantity one tenth was exported. The Prussian silver mines yield annually about 20,000 mark of silver; the county of Mansfield alone furnishes 14,588 centners of copper; and Silesia affords 7600 centners of lead, and 405,900 centners of iron. The principal manufactures of Prussia are linen, woollen, cotton, silk, leather, iron, and porcelain, all of which are making progress.
In proportion as the other great states of Europe improve their natural resources, the importance of Prussia must decline. The time is past when the good order of her finances, and the discipline of her armies, could raise her to an equality with France, and Austria, and Russia; and she can only now support her rank by cultivating still further those moral advantages which are the real source of her strength.
In 1791 Prussia acquired the principalities of Anspach and Bayreuth; in 1793 a part of Poland containing 1,136,000 inhabitants; and in 1795 an additional part, containing 860,000. At the peace of Lunéville in 1801, she gave up some possessions on the left of the Rhine, and received indemnities in Germany, leaving a balance in her favour. These various acquisitions added 46,000 square miles to her territory, and 2,836,000 to her population, raising the former to 116,000 square miles, and the latter to 9,100,000 souls. Such was Prussia in 1803. The ruinous campaign of 1806 suddenly deprived her of all her possessions between the Elbe and the Rhine, with four fifths of her share of Poland, reducing her territory and population about one half, the latter being estimated at 4,560,000 in 1808. On the overthrow of Napoleon in 1814, she was restored to more than her ancient splendour. She recovered the greater part of her Polish dominions, gained some districts in Saxony and Lusatia, Swedish Pomerania, and an extensive, rich, and populous country in Westphalia and on the Rhine, including the greater part of the secularised ecclesiastical states, abbey lands, &c. The Prussian monarchy at present embraces an area of 94,000 square English miles, and a population of 12,464,000.
Russia.
Russia occupies very nearly one half of the surface of Europe; and yet her territories in this division of the globe are scarcely more than one fifth of her whole dominions. Three fourths of her Asiatic territories, however, consist of sandy deserts or frozen plains, which yield very little for human subsistence; and her possessions in Europe are at present, and perhaps will always be, the most valuable part of the empire. European Russia consists chiefly of an elevated plain, over which numerous rivers flow with a small declivity, so as to afford a greater extent of inland navigation, probably, than exists in all the rest of Europe. Its superficial extent, including Poland, is about 1,990,000 square English miles, which is about ten times the area of France, or sixteen times Europe.
But of this surface, more than one fourth part, lying beyond the parallel of 50°, is incapable of cultivation, from the rigour of the climate, or the marshy nature of the soil. In the south, also, there are vast sandy plains, the soil of which, destitute of wood and water, and impregnated with salt, is altogether useless for agriculture. The fertile part of Russia consists chiefly of the country lying between the parallels of 50° and 57°, which contains a great proportion of excellent soil, well watered with navigable streams, and comparatively populous and cultivated. The cultivation of wheat is chiefly confined to this region; and here abundant crops are procured with little labour, and by a very rude species of culture. But farther north slender crops are obtained with so much exertion, that a single peasant cannot cultivate more than from seven to ten acres; and these crops are so precarious, that the rye sometimes will not ripen in the neighbourhood of Petersburg. The lands, however, where corn will not grow yield pasture and wood. Trees are found as far as the sixty-seventh degree, beyond which there are only shrubs.
It has been computed that the soil incapable of cultivation in European Russia amounts to forty parts in the hundred of the whole surface. The crown forests are estimated at 44,500,000 of desiatines, equal to 240,000 square miles. Rye is the grain most extensively cultivated all over Russia; but barley, wheat, and oats, are also raised. In the southern provinces, maize, rice, vines, and even cotton, succeed; and both in the southern and central parts, vast ranges of pasture ground support numerous herds of cattle, the skins and tallow of which, with the peltries of wild animals, are leading articles of exportation. These pastures are generally commons: the quantity of uncultivated lands, says Storch, is so great, that it would be useless to divide them. The number of sheep in Russia has been estimated at 60,000,000. Flax and hemp, however, are the productions in which the soil of Russia has the greatest superiority, and of these she exports great quantities. Some of the less civilized nations are almost supported by bees, and wax and honey are also among the principal articles of exportation. Russia has rich mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and salt, the best of which are in the Uralian Mountains, and chiefly on the Asiatic side. They employ about half a million of persons.
The manufactures of Russia are inconsiderable, though the government has made great exertions to encourage this species of industry. The principal are those of coarse woollens, flax, iron, leather, silk, glass, and brandies. The manufacturing establishments in 1815 amounted to 3262, of which 181 were for cloth, 150 silk, 1348 leather, 247 soap, tallow, and wax, 184 linen, 295 cotton, 138 glass, 200 metal. (Crome, p. 70.)
If confidence might be put in the lists transmitted to government, the annual mortality in Russia is only one in fifty-eight, the births one in twenty-six, and the annual addition to the population one in forty-nine, so that the period of doubling should be thirty-five years. (Storch, i. 282.) But these extraordinary results are irreconcilable with facts. There are in Russia above eighty nations, who speak more than forty different languages; but the Slavonic race forms seven eighths of the whole European population. According to the official returns in 1783, the peasants belonging to the crown and to the nobles amounted to eighty-three persons in the hundred of the whole population. (Storch, i. 249.) Of all the powers of Europe, Russia is the only one that, during the numerous changes of the last thirty years, has never lost any part of her territories, but has been continually adding to them. Her acquisitions since 1770 are as follows:
| Year | Square Miles | Population | |-----------------------|--------------|------------| | 1772, First partition of Poland | 33,000 | 1,226,000 | | 1793, Second do. | 90,000 | 3,745,000 | | 1795, Third do. | 42,000 | 1,407,000 | | 1774 to 1791, from the Porte | 60,000 | 204,000 | | 1807, District of Bialystock from Prussia | 4,200 | 183,000 | | 1809, District of Tarnopol, ceded by Austria, containing 400,000 inhabitants, but restored in 1815. | 120,000 | 895,000 | | 1809, Finland and Lapmark from Sweden | 13,000 | 230,000 | | 1811, Part of Moldavia and Bessarabia from the Porte | 47,400 | 2,793,000 |
Total acquisitions of Russia since 1770 in Europe: 409,600 square miles, 10,683,000 population.
The success of the Parisian insurrection in July 1830 roused the Poles to make a new effort for independence, which began in November 1830, and was finally crushed in the following year, after a heroic resistance. The consequence was, that Poland was deprived of its separate constitution, and incorporated with Russia as an integral part of the empire in February 1832.
Sweden.
Sweden has sunk in her relative importance in consequence of the rise of Russia; but she still holds a higher place in the scale of power than any other European state with an equal population. Now that Norway is united to her dominions, she has the best military and commercial position of all the northern continental powers. But the soil is poor and rocky; so that, though her territories form one tenth of the surface of Europe, her population amounts to less than one fiftieth. Her principal wealth consists in her rich mines of iron and copper, and in the produce of her forests and her fisheries.
The agricultural produce of Sweden, which does not suffice for her own consumption, consists chiefly of rye, oats, barley, and potatoes; the soil and climate not admitting of wheat, except in the southern parts. Gothland, the most fertile province, contains one half of the population upon less than one fifth of the surface of the kingdom. The soil actually under corn cultivation in 1810 amounted only to 1,091,000 tunnas, or 1,363,838 acres; but the soil capable of cultivation was estimated at 1,818,450 acres, or one sixty-second part of the surface of the country. This is the average of the whole; but in the province of Nordland only one acre in 915 is arable. The lakes cover one eighteenth part. The pasture ground and gardens occupy about twice the quantity of land under corn. The average size of a farm is only about twenty-seven acres. The whole annual produce of grain is estimated at 5,702,835 spans, equal to about 1,482,500 quarters; besides 350,000 quarters of potatoes. The general produce of the crops is about five for one. In Norway, the land in cultivation amounts to less than one acre in a hundred,
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1 Storch, Tableau, i. 4; ii. 209, 229, 231; Crome, Übersicht, 55. Europe. and one fourth of the grain used is imported. Potatoes are extensively cultivated. In times of scarcity bread is made of the bark of trees, and of the Iceland moss, on which the rein-deer feed.
The manufactures of Sweden are of little importance. Sixty or seventy ships are built annually, and sold to foreigners. The distillation of brandy consumes 700,000 spans of corn a year. The manufactures of paper and glass, and works in metal, supply the internal consumption; those of cotton, wool, and silk, are of small extent. The whole produce of manufactures in Sweden (exclusive of Norway), in 1814, was valued, in an official statement, at 5,622,129 dollars banco, or about L800,000. (Crome, 123.)
The exports of Sweden, in 1816, were estimated at seven millions of dollars (exclusive of Norway), and the imports at no less than twenty millions. The supposed national loss arising from this disproportion led to a prohibition of the importation of wine, rum, cotton stuffs, and other articles considered as luxuries. In 1816, Sweden had 1107 merchant ships, whose aggregate burden was 64,000 lasts, or 120,000 tons. (Crome, 122, 125.)
The population of Sweden was estimated at 2,615,800 in 1818; that of Norway, in 1803, was 910,000; and from the probable rate of increase there, must now amount to fully one million. In Sweden about one ninth, and in Norway about one twelfth of the people live in towns. This increase in numbers has been attended with an improvement in the condition of the inhabitants. The annual mortality in Sweden, which Malthus, in 1796, estimated at one in thirty-seven, was, in 1811, according to Akrell, one in forty for the southern parts, one in forty-seven for the northern, and one in forty-three for the whole kingdom. In Norway the mortality has always been smaller than in any other European country. In 1815 the nobles amounted to 1641 families, or 9523 persons; the clergy, including their families, to 15,202; the burghers to 64,755; and the peasants to 1,763,397. Besides these classes, who are represented in the diet, there are about 500,000 persons not represented, consisting of civil and military officers, miners, mechanics, servants, &c. About one fourth of the peasants who are householders, farm their own lands. The established religion is Lutheran, and the number of parochial clergymen in Sweden is 1094, besides 170 prebends, eleven bishops, and one archbishop; and the tithes amount to 283,232 spans, or about 72,500 quarters of corn. Norway has 467 clergymen, including five bishops. (Crome, 96, 116; Thomson's Travels, 418.)
Subsequent to the revolution in 1809, some improvements have been made in the constitution, by enlarging the powers of the diet. The four estates of nobles, clergy, burghers, and peasants, who sit in separate houses, meet necessarily at the end of five years, or oftener if convoked by the king. The consent of three of these houses, with that of the king, gives a proposition the force of law. No taxes can be raised without the authority of the diet, and the persons of the members are inviolable during the session. The conscription, which was introduced in 1809, subjects all males between twenty and twenty-five to military service; and the nobles have been deprived of the exemption they formerly enjoyed from this service and from taxes. The press is declared by the constitution to be free, but is in fact under the control of the police.
In 1809, Sweden lost Finland, Lapmark, and Pomerania, containing 1,015,000 inhabitants, upon a surface of 121,000 square miles. In 1813, she gained Norway from Denmark, with 950,000 inhabitants. This acquisition gave her a better frontier and a more compact territory, and was more than a compensation for her previous losses.
Spain.
The vast natural resources of this country present a striking contrast with its political imbecility. It is nearly as large as France, but contains little more than a third of the population, though its fertile soil and delicious climate yield in abundance the productions both of the temperate and warm regions of the globe. With its great extent of sea-coast, numerous rivers, and excellent position for trade, and its rich and extensive colonies, nothing but extreme misgovernment could have prevented it from becoming the first commercial state in the world.
In addition to silk, tobacco, vines, olives, and all the agricultural productions of France and Germany, Spain produces the orange, citron, sugar-cane, cork-tree, dates, figs, and cotton. Wheat is the grain most extensively cultivated. Barley and rye are next in quantity. Very few oats or potatoes are raised, but considerable quantities of maize and rice. Hemp to the value of a million of piastres is raised yearly, and flax is cultivated on a smaller scale. The vineyards, besides supplying the internal consumption, furnish 10,000,000 or 11,000,000 gallons of wine for exportation, and half as much brandy. Olive oil is exported to the value of L500,000 a year. The annual produce of raw silk is valued at L300,000. But wool is the produce for which Spain is most celebrated. The number of merinos or migratory sheep, which furnish the finest wool, is estimated at 5,000,000; those that are stationary, at 8,000,000; and these 13,000,000 of sheep are supposed to afford yearly 45,000,000 pounds of wool.
The right of pasture which the migratory flocks have over whole provinces is one great obstacle to agricultural improvement. From this and other causes, one third or one half of the kingdom is left entirely waste, and the part in cultivation is wretchedly managed. Nearly the whole land in the kingdom is locked up by entails in the hands of the nobles and the clergy, and the small portions brought into the market sell so high as not to afford more than one and a half per cent. upon their price. Agriculture is entirely in the hands of the peasantry, who are poor and ignorant; men of capital never engage in it; and the grandees, who should support and encourage improvements, all reside in the large towns. In the whole of Spain there is scarcely to be seen a villa or gentleman's seat, except a few that are in ruins. The mines of Spain, like her agriculture, are neglected; but she still derives from her own soil a considerable supply of iron, copper, lead, and mercury. About 5,000,000 centners of salt are annually obtained from mines, springs, or the sea.
The greatest number of the Spanish manufactures are in Catalonia, but a few are scattered through the other provinces. The most considerable are the woollen, silk, linen, cotton, hemp, leather, paper, and metal; but none of them are sufficient for the internal consumption of the country, and all of them are fettered by vexatious taxes, absurd regulations, and the difficulty of intercourse between the provinces. The manufacture of tobacco is a royal monopoly.
It is now pretty well ascertained, that the apparent decline of Spain has been the consequence of the rapid progress of her neighbours; and that, down to the end of the eighteenth century, she was advancing both in industry and population. From a combination of circumstances, the causes which check the progress of society have operated more powerfully there than in any other country of Europe except Turkey. Among the greatest evils in the state of the country may be reckoned the excessive number of the nobility and clergy, with their oppressive privileges, and their pernicious influence upon the other classes. In 1788, when the population amounted to In the early part of the eighteenth century, Germany consisted of about three hundred sovereign states, great and small, which were united into one empire by a very complicated constitution. From time to time some of the smaller principalities have been suppressed, and incorporated with the larger states; but the first radical change in the composition of the Germanic body was made by the treaty of Lunéville, 9th February 1801, when a vast number of bishoprics, abbeys, and free towns, were deprived of their rights of sovereignty, and given as indemnities to princes who had lost their possessions in Belgium and Italy by the French conquests. In 1806 the emperor Francis formally renounced the dignity of head of the empire; the ancient constitution of the empire was dissolved, and a new league formed, with France at its head (see Confederation of the Rhine), comprehending the most considerable states in the south, to which those in the north were afterwards added. This confederation fell to pieces on the overthrow of the French power in 1813, but it has served as the foundation of the new constitution of the Germanic body. The number of states is now reduced to thirty-nine, including Austria, Prussia, Denmark, and the Netherlands; but these four powers rank as members only for a part of their dominions. The ecclesiastical principalities are entirely abolished; and the free towns, of which there were forty-seven or more in 1800, are now reduced to four. The princes who have lost their sovereignty have been reduced to the rank of nobles, and, no longer holding immediately of the empire, are said to be mediatised. The titles of royalty conferred by Bonaparte upon Bavaria, Württemberg, and Saxony, have been confirmed, and Hanover has since been raised to the same rank. The common concerns of this confederacy are managed by a diet, consisting of deputies from thirty-eight states (Hesse Homberg having no vote), who meet at Frankfort. The pecuniary contributions, fixed in proportion to the population of each state, are voted for a period of five years. The military contingents, which are regulated on the same principle, amount to 120,000 men in time of peace, and 301,000 in time of war, the latter being at the rate of one in the hundred of the population. The German states, including two sevenths of Austria, four sevenths of Prussia, besides Holstein and Luxemburg, embrace an area of about 237,000 English square miles, with 32,000,000 inhabitants; of whom about one half are Catholics; two fifths Lutherans; the rest Reformed, Moravians, Greeks, and Jews. The new Germanic constitution, though less complicated than the old, can scarcely be expected to produce any of the effects of a solid union in such a heterogeneous mass. The states are too unequal in strength to have a proper reciprocal influence; and there is not weight enough in the minor members to control the rival interests and jealousies of Austria and Prussia. The confederation may be considered as recognising, and in some degree regulating, the influence which the greatest states must necessarily exercise indirectly over the smaller.
The following table exhibits the result of the various changes since the commencement of the French Revolution, upon the principal members of the confederation; but to enter into particulars would carry us beyond the proper limits of this article. Most of them, except Saxony, have been enriched by the breaking up of the ecclesiastical principalities.
| Before the Revolution | In 1816 | |-----------------------|---------| | Square Miles | Population | Square Miles | Population | | Bavaria | 22,000 | 2,183,000 | 30,000 | 3,560,000 | | Saxony | 14,500 | 2,104,000 | 7,200 | 1,200,000 | | Hanover | 10,900 | 787,000 | 14,400 | 1,305,000 | | Württemberg | 3,200 | 608,000 | 8,200 | 1,395,463 | | Baden | 1,370 | 177,000 | 5,800 | 1,001,700 | | Hesse Cassel | 3,340 | 443,500 | 4,500 | 540,000 | | Hesse Darmstadt | 2,180 | 249,700 | 4,100 | 619,500 | | Oldenburg | 960 | 95,000 | 2,500 | 217,000 |
(Hoeck, Aperçu; Hassel, Europ. Staats, 1816).
The political arrangement of the states of Europe established by the peace of 1815, has since undergone three material alterations. The Greeks rose in arms against the Porte in 1821, and after a struggle of nine years, the independence of their country was acknowledged by the sultan in February 1830. The new state comprises the Morea, Livadia, Negropont, the Cyclades, with one or two other islands, and contains a population, according to Balbi, of only 600,000 souls. Otto, second son of the king of Bavaria, was appointed king of Greece in 1832.
The mutual antipathy which had long existed between the Dutch and Belgians broke out on the part of the latter into a revolutionary movement, which commenced in Brussels in August 1830, and in a few months spread over all Belgium. The independence of the latter country has since been acknowledged by nearly all the great powers; and Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg was chosen king in 1831 by an assembly of the representatives of the people.
The third change has been already noticed, the incorporation of Poland with Russia in February 1832.
The following statistical table of Europe is part of a larger one published at Paris by Adrien Balbi in 1828, under the title of Balance Politique du Globe. He has reprinted it in his Abrégé de la Geographie, published in 1833, with very few alterations except the insertion of the new states since recognised, namely, Greece and Belgium. It refers to the years 1825-27, his object being not to give the most recent accounts for each state, which must have varied according to the varying dates of our information, but to exhibit the contemporaneous condition of all the states at one common era, for the purpose of comparison. It presents the most correct view of the statistics of Europe within our reach; and what we have mentioned as to the author's mode of compiling it, and his object, will explain the discrepancies between it and some of our previous statements. | States and Titles | Surface in Square Miles | Population | Classification of the Inhabitants according to their Religion | Revenue in Pounds Sterling | Debt in Pounds Sterling | Amy. | |------------------|-------------------------|------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------|------------------------|-----| | French Monarchy | 205,000 | 32,000,000 | Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews. | 40,784,000 | 190,680,000 | 279,900 | | Empire of Austria| 253,000 | 32,000,000 | Catholics, Greeks, Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews, Unitarians, Arminians, &c. | 18,600,000 | 68,206,000 | 271,400 | | Prussian Monarchy | 107,000 | 12,464,000 | Evangelists (Lutherans, Calvinists), Catholics, Jews, Mennonites, &c. | 8,666,000 | 29,968,000 | 162,600 | | Swiss Confederation | 14,900 | 1,930,000 | Calvinists, Catholics, Jews. | 412,000 | | 33,750 | | K. of Bavaria | 29,500 | 4,976,000 | Catholics, Evangelists, Jews. | 3,262,000 | 9,823,000 | 35,300 | | K. of Wurtemberg | 7,600 | 5,520,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Jews, Calvinists. | 900,000 | 2,330,000 | 13,550 | | K. of Hanover | 14,400 | 1,550,000 | Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews. | 1,072,000 | 2,640,000 | 13,054 | | K. of Saxony | 5,780 | 1,490,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Hermutters, Jews. | 1,155,000 | 2,567,000 | 12,000 | | Gr. D. of Baden | 5,970 | 1,130,000 | Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews. | 628,000 | 1,690,000 | 10,600 | | Gr. Duke of Hessen | 3,760 | 700,000 | Luther. Cath. Calv. Jews, Mennonites. | 645,000 | 1,114,000 | 6,185 | | Electoral Hanover | 4,450 | 592,000 | Evangelists, Catholics, Jews. | 630,000 | 272,000 | 1,675 | | Gr. D. of Saxe-Weimar | 1,420 | 222,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinists, Jews. | 203,000 | 672,000 | 2,160 | | Gr. D. of Mecklenb.-Schwerin | 4,770 | 431,000 | Lutherans, Jews, Calvinists, Calvinists. | 247,000 | 1,010,000 | 5,500 | | Gr. D. of Mecklenb.-Strelitz | 770 | 77,000 | Lutherans, Jews. | 54,000 | 124,000 | 715 | | Gr. D. of Holstein-Oldenburg | 2,500 | 241,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinists, Jews. | 160,000 | | 1,650 | | D. of Nassau | 1,925 | 337,000 | Evangelists, Catholics, Jews, &c. | 247,000 | 446,000 | 3,025 | | D. of Brunswick | 1,500 | 242,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinists, Jews. | 200,000 | 330,000 | 2,690 | | D. of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha | 974 | 143,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinists, Jews. | 101,000 | 289,000 | 1,394 | | D. of Saxe-Meiningen | 921 | 132,000 | Lutherans, Jews, Catholics. | 89,000 | 83,000 | 1,265 | | D. of Saxe-Altenburg | 526 | 104,000 | Lutherans. | 63,000 | 105,000 | 1,625 | | D. of Anhalt-Dessau | 347 | 56,000 | Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews, Catholics. | 76,000 | 56,000 | 420 | | D. of Anhalt-Bernburg | 337 | 38,000 | Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews. | 46,000 | 55,000 | 370 | | D. of Anhalt-Kothen | 320 | 34,000 | Calvinists, Lutherans, Jews. | 34,000 | 128,000 | 321 | | P. Schwarz-Rudolstadt | 408 | 57,000 | Lutherans, Catholics. | 35,000 | 39,000 | 330 | | P. Schwarz-Geraerchen | 360 | 45,000 | Lutherans, Catholics. | 21,000 | 15,000 | 441 | | P. Reuss-Greiz | 145 | 23,000 | Lutherans, Jews. | 15,000 | 22,000 | 295 | | P. Reuss-Schleiz | 208 | 28,000 | Lutherans, Hermutters, Jews. | 14,000 | 75,000 | 230 | | P. Reuss Lobenst.-Ebersdorf | 242 | 26,000 | Lutherans. | 26,000 | | 260 | | P. Lippe-Detmoldi | 440 | 72,000 | Calvinists, Lutherans, Catholics. | 53,000 | 75,000 | 690 | | P. Lippe-Schaumburg | 209 | 26,000 | Lutherans, Calvinists, Catholics. | 23,000 | 43,000 | 240 | | P. Waldeck | 462 | 54,000 | Lutherans, Calvinists, Jews. | 43,000 | 125,000 | 515 | | P. Hohenzoll.-Sigmaringen | 330 | 35,000 | Catholics, Jews. | 32,000 | 160,000 | 320 | | P. Hohenzollern-Hechingen | 109 | 13,000 | Catholics. | 13,000 | 53,000 | 145 | | P. Liechtenstein | 33 | 6,000 | Catholics. | 144,000 | 322,000 | 55 | | Landgrav. Hessen-Homburg | 169 | 20,000 | Calvinists, Lutherans, Catholics, Jew. | 19,000 | 43,000 | 290 | | Republic of Frankfort | 92 | 52,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Jews, Calvinists. | 81,000 | 633,000 | 475 | | Republic of Bremen | 68 | 49,000 | Lutherans, Calvinists. | 43,000 | 322,000 | 240 | | Republic of Mecklenburg | 152 | 143,000 | Lutherans, Jews, Calv. Cath. Mennonites. | 231,000 | 1,393,000 | 1,294 | | Republic of Lubeck | 117 | 41,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Jews, Calvinists. | 43,000 | 371,000 | 446 | | Lordship of Kniphausen | 17 | 2,850 | Lutherans. | 16,000 | | 20 | | Republic of Andora (in Spain) | 192 | 15,000 | Catholics. | 2,900 | | 40 | | Republic of San-Marino | 22 | 7,000 | Catholics. | 21,000 | 62,000 | 1,630 | | Duchy of Massa | 94 | 29,000 | Catholics. | 144,000 | | 1,630 | | Duchy of Modena | 2,900 | 330,000 | Catholics, Jews. | 17,000 | 76,500 | 300 | | Principality of Monaco | 50 | 6,500 | Catholics. | 190,000 | 186,000 | 1,220 | | Duchy of Lucca | 416 | 143,000 | Catholics. | 701,000 | | 4,000 | | Duchy of Parma | 2,200 | 440,000 | Catholics, Jews. | 2,500,000 | 4,124,000 | 26,000 | | Grand Duchy of Tuscany | 8,430 | 3,275,000 | Catholics, Calvinists (Waldenses), Jews. | 1,800,000 | 24,742,000 | 6,000 | | Kingdom of Sardinia | 23,000 | 4,360,000 | Catholics, Jews. | 3,464,000 | 26,619,000 | 30,000 | | State of the Church | 14,000 | 2,560,000 | Catholics, Jews. | 7,100,000 | 164,948,000 | 8,540 | | Kingdom of the Two Sicilies | 42,200 | 7,420,000 | Catholics, Jews. | 2,231,000 | 6,598,000 | 45,200 | | Spanish Monarchy | 163,900 | 13,900,000 | Catholics. | 1,732,000 | 8,243,000 | 45,200 | | Portuguese Monarchy | 38,300 | 3,530,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Jews. | 1,650,000 | 11,134,000 | 38,640 | | Norveg.-Swedah Monarchy | 297,000 | 3,966,000 | Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinists, &c. | 3,400,000 | 113,420,000 | 26,000 | | Danish Monarchy | 22,000 | 1,950,000 | Lutherans, Jews, Catholics, Calvinists, &c. | 3,600,000 | 34,000,000 | 47,000 | | Holland | 11,100 | 2,302,000 | Calvinists, Catholics, Lutherans. | 3,400,000 | 113,420,000 | 47,000 | | Belgium | 12,930 | 3,816,000 | Catholics, Calvinists. | 3,600,000 | 34,000,000 | 47,000 | | English Monarchy | 121,200 | 23,400,000 | Anglicans or Episcop. Cath. Presb. Methodists, Mennonites, Quakers, Jews. | 63,000,000 | 833,967,000 | 102,223 | | Russian Empire | 1,997,000 | 52,575,000 | Greeks, Catholics, Lutherans, Mahommedans, Jews, Calvinists, Armenians, Lamists, Hermutters, Fetishists, Mennonites. | 16,495,000 | 55,608,000 | 1,030,000 | | Kingdom of Poland | 48,800 | 3,900,000 | Catholics, Jews, Lutherans. | 36,000 | | 80 | | Total of the Russian Empire | 7,890,000 | 60,900,000 | Greeks, Mahommedans, Jews, Catholics, Armenians, &c. | 10,310,000 | 4,124,000 | 275,000 | | Republic of Cracow (in Poland) | 495 | 114,000 | Catholics, Jews, Lutherans. | 240,000 | 2,900,000 | 11,000 | | European Turkey | 206,000 | 9,500,000 | Greeks, Catholics, Lutherans. | 151,000 | | 1,200 | | Total of Ottoman Empire | 1,200,000 | 21,000,000 | Greeks, Catholics, Lutherans. | | | 11,000 | | Greece (kingdom of) | 15,700 | 600,000 | Greeks, Catholics, Jews. | | | 1,200 | | Republic of the Ionian Islands | 1,000 | 176,000 | Greeks, Catholics, Jews. | | | 1,200 | Euryale, in Mythology, one of the Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys, and a sister of Medusa, who was subject neither to old age nor to death.