STRAßBOURG, an arrondissement of the department of the Lower Rhine, in France. It is a rich district, extending over 523 square miles, is divided into 12 cantons, and these into 162 communes, with a population of 218,839 persons. The chief city, of the same name, is also the capital of the department. It is the see of a bishop, the seat of the Lutheran consistory, and of the courts of law. The city stands in a highly cultivated plain, at the distance of about one mile from the river Rhine, on the river Ill, a small but navigable river. Its waters are distributed in various small canals through the city, and connect it with the Rhine. The streets are narrow, and the buildings for the most part old and massive, many of them very lofty. Strasbourg is strongly fortified, and defended by three powerful fortresses and a strong citadel. Even in the time of peace it usually contains a garrison of 10,000. The cathedral, one of the finest Gothic buildings in France, was begun in 1275 and finished in 1439. Its tower is a most imposing object, 445 feet in height, being the loftiest erection known except the largest of the Egyptian pyramids. Besides six Catholic, there are seven Lutheran, and one Calvinist church. The other public buildings are the royal palace, the prefecture, the town-hall, the mint, and two theatres. Strasbourg is the seat of a university. The population, which in 1836 amounted to 7885, is chiefly of German origin, and most of the people speak that language. The industry of the inhabitants is much exercised in making sail-cloth and other linen goods, woollens of various kinds, and in spinning and weaving cottons. There are tanneries, distilleries, foundries, paper-mills, and glass-houses; and considerable trade is carried on with Switzerland on one side, and with Germany and Holland on the other. Long. 6° 39'. 31. E. Lat. 48° 34'. 56. N.