THE ARCHDUCHY.

The archduchy of Austria consists of two nearly equal parts, viz., Upper and Lower Austria. The river Enns, flowing northward from the Alps to the Danube, intersects the archducal territory nearly in the middle; the country to the E. of the river being Lower, and to the W., Upper Austria. Lower Austria, in particular the fertile tract adjoining the Danube above and below Vienna, formed originally the nucleus of that union of states which now constitutes the Austrian empire. That district is the seat both of the capital and of extensive manufactures, and is, in this respect, after the Italian provinces and Bohemia, the most important. Vienna itself, with its environs, produces silk, the manufacture of which is carried to a degree of considerable perfection, amounting in annual value to more than 12,000,000 florins. The other branches of industry consist principally of woollen, cotton, and hardware manufactures, the yearly value of which, added to the lesser fabrics of hardware, leather, glass, hats, and paper, is computed at three or four millions sterling. In the mountainous part of the province are mines of iron, coal, and rock-salt; but the wealth derived from these is slight compared with that resulting from the agricultural products of the more level part of the country. These consist of wheat, barley, oats, and other cereals raised in England; and in the warmer situations of maize and vines. Advantage is taken here, as in Lombardy, of the numerous streams which flow from the mountains in the S. towards the Danube. They are used for irrigation, the great desideratum of the agriculturist in a warm locality. The produce of the land along the Danube, from Vienna to the Bavarian frontier, has been greatly increased likewise within the last half century by the use of marl. The traveller, in pursuing this track, sees in all directions a quantity of marl-pits, wrought with great activity; but still the crops raised are much smaller than they would be under a system like that of our improved lands.

Upper Austria, or the country W. of the Enns, was added to the sister province in the twelfth century; it is called Upper from its comparative vicinity to the Alps, and its greater elevation of surface. Its wealth consists not in manufactures, but in agricultural produce. It is too cold for the culture of the vine; but the low grounds are productive in corn, while the pasturages are extensive, both in the hills and the valleys. The sides of the mountains are covered with forests, the timber of which finds to a certain extent an outlet by navigable rivers, of which the chief are the Enns, the Salzach, the Traun, and the Trasen. One of the principal sources of employment to the lower orders in the forest-lands consists in felling their timber and conveying it to these rivers, whence it is floated to the towns along their banks, or to the Danube, the great channel for the transport of bulky commodities. Upper Austria, since the acquisition of Salzburg, has an extent (about 7500 square miles) nearly equal to that of Lower Austria; but in population it is far inferior, containing only 856,694 inhabitants, while the lower province reckons 1,494,399.

Population of the Chief Towns.

| Lower Austria | Upper Austria | |---------------|---------------| | Vienna | 431,147 | | Neustadt | 12,862 | | Krems | 8,700 | | Lintz | 26,618 | | Salzburg | 17,009 | | Steyer | 10,350 |

The early inhabitants of Austria are understood to have come partly from among the Germans in the W., partly from the Slavonian tribes in the N. and E. German is now almost the sole language of the inhabitants, but it differs considerably from the German spoken in Saxony. As to religion, almost all the inhabitants are Catholics. Situated to the S.E. of Germany, and comparatively backward in civilization, Austria is considered as rather an outwork than an integral part of the empire; it was not until 1438 that the election to the imperial crown fell almost invariably on the head of the house of Hapsburg.

BOHEMIA.

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

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

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

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

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

The forests of Bohemia are of great extent; and large quantities of timber are annually cut down and shipped in the parts adjoining a navigable river. The Elbe and Moldau are of great use for the conveyance of these as well as of other bulky commodities. The Elbe rises in the E. of the kingdom; but the Moldau, which at their junction is the larger river, rises in the southern extremity of Bohemia, and has a course of above 150 miles, nearly the whole width of the kingdom. The Eger, the river next in size, rises in the W., and has a course of about 100 miles, with a less rapid current than the Moldau.

Bohemia is divided into sixteen circles or counties, varying in course in extent and population, but containing on an average nearly 1300 square miles, and 270,000 inhabitants.

| Population of the Chief Towns | |-------------------------------| | Prague | 118,405 | | Pilsen | 11,486 | | Eger | 11,170 | | Budweis | 12,811 | | Reichenberg | 13,184 | | König-grotz | 7,900 |

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

The manufactures of Bohemia have made considerable progress in the last and present age: they consist chiefly of woollens—which are mainly produced in the town of Reichenberg and its environs,—of linen and leather; but they comprise also cottons, hardware, and glass. The glass-manufactories are principally situated in the mountainous parts of the province, and the largest emporia of these branches of industry are in the towns of Neuwelt, Silberberg, and Georgenthal. Besides the above, Bohemia is remarkable for the large number of its breweries, furnishing, it is said, the third part of all the beer produced in the empire. The annual value of the total industry of Bohemia is computed at 150,000,000 of florins. Great part of the woollen and linen is woven, as in the last age in England, in cottages. The mountains contain ores of iron, lead, tin, cobalt, and silver; but iron alone is extracted on a large scale. The foreign trade of Bohemia with Saxony and the north of Germany is carried on by the Elbe, on which, during the last few years, regular steam communication has been established; and the intercourse with the other Austrian provinces has been greatly extended by means of the different lines of railway recently established in the various parts of the empire.

The population of Bohemia has greatly increased in the last and present age. In 1791 it was considerably below 3,000,000. At present it amounts to 4,347,962. Of these about a third part are of German extraction, the other two-thirds being descended from the aboriginal stock. The ancestors of the Germans settled here from time to time, as mechanics, miners, and traders; employments which the uninstructed natives, like the cottagers of Ireland, were not capable of exercising. At present, even, it is by the German part of the population that whatever relates to public business or to foreign trade is conducted; the Bohemians generally confining themselves to husbandry in the country, or to common labour in towns. The middle classes, in general, speak both German and Bohemian; but the latter, a Slavonic idiom, and quite different from German, is the only language of the lower orders, particularly in remote districts. The power of the sovereigns is as absolute in Bohemia as in any part of the Austrian dominions. The parliament or states consists of four classes of members; the clergy, the great nobility, the nobility of the second class, and the representatives of the chief towns. But their duties are little more than nominal; and the sphere of their vocation and authority does not extend much beyond executing the orders of the chief court of Vienna, and is almost confined to the collection of the taxes imposed upon them by the central government. They deliberate on the measures proposed to them by the royal commissioner, but they have no power to originate a bill. As to public revenue, Bohemia contributes fully two millions to the imperial treasury, and maintains a force in regulars and militia of 50,000 men. A few years before the war of 1848, the feeling of Slavonian nationality began to manifest itself in this province in loud discontent against the Germanizing policy, and the bureaucratic system of the government. These manifestations exhibited themselves without restraint during the year 1848; and, as the government was in open war with Lombardo-Venetia and Hungary, were at first left unchecked, though, as the reader will find from the general history of the late war, the idea of Slavonic nationality and independence was speedily silenced by martial law.

Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, which is now annexed to Moravia, contain an area of 11,000 square miles, with a population of 2,250,594, a degree of density approaching to that of England, and nearly double the average population of Germany. This is owing chiefly to the fertility of the soil; for although chains of mountains cross the country in several directions, the plains and valleys are extensive, yielding in abundance wheat, rye, oats, barley, and, in the warmer situa- Austria.

The pastures also are good, and a number of horses and horned cattle are exported annually. Here, as in Bohemia, the majority of the inhabitants are of Slavonian descent; and the language of the lower orders is not German, but a dialect of the Slavonic. Moravia resembles Bohemia in other respects,—in the religion of its inhabitants, who are chiefly Catholics; and in the limited power of its states or parliament, who deliberate on such subjects only as are proposed to them by the executive government. But it surpasses Bohemia, and every part of the Austrian dominions, except the Vienna district, in the extent of its manufactures and the use of machinery. Woollens, linen, and, since the beginning of the present century, cottons, are here made in large quantities, both for home consumption and export. The chief seats of the manufacture of cloths and other woollen goods are Brünn and Igau. The manufacture of linen fabrics is carried on in Schönberg, Tribau, Sternberg, and Brünn. An article of recent production, and promising much success, is the manufacture of beet-root sugar.

Austrian Silesia has an area of 1900 square miles, with a population of 467,420. It consists of two circles or counties, called, from their respective chief towns, Troppau and Teschen; but, for the administration of justice and other public purposes, Austrian Silesia is considered as united with Moravia. It resembles that country, too, in the activity of its productive industry. The density of its population is owing less to an advanced state of tillage than to extensive manufactures of linen and woollens; the former, as well as the manufacture of thread, obtaining much celebrity. Of no less importance are the iron trade and the manufacture of hardware. The pastures of this country are in general rich, and the export of wool, already considerable, is likely to increase.

THE ALPINE PROVINCES.

The duchy of Styria, one of the earliest acquisitions of the Austrian family, has an extent of nearly 9000 square miles, with a population of 1,023,153, of whom more than half are of German descent, while the remainder are Wends or Slavonians. The inhabitants differ in language, but are agreed in religion, being almost all Catholics. Styria bears a resemblance to the adjoining province of Carinthia, both in soil and climate; Upper Styria being very mountainous, while in Lower Styria the ground has less elevation as it recedes from the Alps. Hence a corresponding difference in temperature and products; the mountainous part being covered with forests, and fit only for pasture, while the plains and valleys produce wheat, barley, oats, rye, and, in the warmer situations, maize. The culture of potatoes, though introduced less than a century ago, has now become general, and has been the means of adding largely to the population. The mines are extensive, particularly those of coal and iron; the steel of Styria is as noted in Germany as the Swedish steel in the north of Europe. Salt also is obtained here in great abundance. Styria produces many articles of iron manufacture, among which may be chiefly noticed its excellent scythes and reaping-hooks; and the government founderies at Maria Zell and St Stephen are deserving of particular mention.

Tyrol bears in official papers no higher name than that of county (in German Grafschaft); but it is by far the largest county in Europe, having an extent of above 15,000 square miles, with a population of 866,078. It is traversed in every direction by mountains, many of them of great height; while the low grounds consist, not of plains of any extent, but of a succession of long valleys to the number of more than twenty. In these the climate is comparatively warm, and the soil in many parts fertile, producing corn in considerable quantity, and, in favourable situations, vines. The ploughs and agricultural implements used in this country are extremely rude; but the inhabitants show both ingenuity and industry in cultivating slopes and summits, wherever there is enough of soil to reward their labour. In this mountainous region waterfalls are frequent, and many of them are made available for the movement of mills and other machinery. Mineral ores are found in Tyrol to an extent that justifies the expectation that they may eventually be made to afford considerable employment and income to the inhabitants; but in a country so rugged in its surface, and so deficient in machinery, little progress has as yet been made in working mines. Manufactures are equally backward; the work required for them, whether spinning, knitting, or weaving, being almost all performed by the hand. Southern Tyrol partakes more of the character of the Italian provinces, and has recently made great progress in the manufacture of silk goods, as also of leather.

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

The language of the Tyrol is German. Like the other provinces of the Austrian empire, it had its states or parliament, composed of deputies from the clergy and nobility, to whom there have been added, for some time past, deputies from the peasantry. It is needless, however, to observe that the functions of these states have always been much more nominal than real.

Carinthia adjoins Tyrol, and, like it, consists of a succession of mountains separated by narrow valleys. It contains a number of lakes, formed, as in the highlands of Scotland and other mountainous countries, by water collecting in hollows, and finding no outlet, except at a considerable height. Tillage is here on a very limited scale; but the pastures are more extensive, and the forests which cover the sides of the mountains would be very valuable, were it practicable to convey the trees to a navigable river. The mines of this province are extensive, particularly those of iron, lead, and quicksilver. The extent of Carinthia is 4000 square miles; its population 316,224. The chief towns are Clagenfurth and Villach. As in the case of Styria, the manufactures of Carinthia consist chiefly of hardware. The most profitable branch of industry, however, is that of sugar-refining, which flourishes most at Laibach.

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

Dalmatia, though dignified with the title of kingdom, is a long, narrow, and, as yet, thinly peopled tract, extending along the east shore of the Adriatic, from Lat. 42° to 45°. It comprises the whole of what was formerly Venetian Dalmatia, along with the smaller territories of Ragusa and Catamaro. Its extent is about 6000 square miles; its population, 418,063. One of the chief occupations of the working population is ship-building. Its agricultural products, maize, vines, olives, and silk, give proof of a climate considerably warmer than in any of the above-mentioned provinces. Here, as in those provinces, the ranges of mountains are extensive; but there are also beautiful and fertile valleys. The iron mines and the marble quarries of Dalmatia are both of great extent; but as yet they are little wrought, on account chiefly of the thinness of the population. Such parts of the forests as adjoin navigable rivers, or have ready means of conveyance to the coast, are made available for ship-building; the Austrian government adopting the views of Buonaparte in considering Dalmatia of great importance towards forming a navy. No part of Europe abounds more with good harbours than the mainland of Dalmatia, and the numerous islands along the coast.

Physical Aspect, Soil, and Climate.

Of the rivers in the Austrian territory, by far the most interesting is the Danube. Before entering the imperial dominions, it receives a number of rivers flowing northward from the Alps, of which the principal are the Inn, the Isar, the Iller, and the Leck. It next receives the Enns, and flows eastward with a full stream, varying in breadth from a quarter to half a mile. It is bordered throughout this part of its course by high grounds or ridges of mountains, the distance of which from the water is generally greater on the south than on the north side. It is of sufficient depth to bear barges and large boats throughout the whole Austrian territory, and in Hungary it admits vessels of considerable size. Its navigation, however, is not easy, its banks being in various parts steep and rocky; while in the level countries, in which its waters are more widely spread, its bed is often encumbered with shoals. In the year 1830 a Danubian Steam-Navigation Company was established, which in 1848, possessed already more than thirty steam-vessels, which gave an unusual stimulus to commerce. The Danube, as connecting Austria with Turkey and the East, countries which produce no manufactures of their own, might undoubtedly be the means of greatly increasing the foreign trade of Austria, were it not for its restrictive and prohibitive commercial system.

The other great rivers in the Austrian dominions are the Save, the Drave, and the Muhl, which convey to the Danube the waters from the eastern face of the Alps. The Marsch or Morava brings to it the tribute of Moravia, while the still larger streams of the Theiss and Maros collect all that flow from the southern side of the Carpathians. All these rivers abound with fish, and are of sufficient depth to be navigable; but flowing through poor and thinly-peopled countries, they have as yet been of little use in a commercial sense. A few years ago the Theiss was in part rendered navigable for steamers, an improvement for which Hungary is mainly indebted to Count Széchenyi.

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

Mountains. The other striking physical features of the Austrian territory are successive chains of mountains, viz., the Alps in the S.W., and the Carpathians in the N.E. of the empire, all of great height and extent. In the bleak climate of Norway the higher parts of mountains present little else than continued sterility; but in the central and southern parts of Austria, Europe vegetation is seen to rise to a great height. The base of a mountain is often covered with vines and maize; the ascent with green pastures, or with wheat, barley, and similar kinds of corn. The trees in the lower and middle region are often the oak, the elm, or the ash; while, in the approach towards the summit, the yew and the fir are chiefly seen to brave the fury of the tempest. Many parts of Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, abound with picturesque views, and recall to the traveller the scenery of Switzerland. Styria, in particular, has, like that country, its cascades, its glaciers, its perpetual snows, and its tremendous avalanches.

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

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

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

From its geographical position, the summer heats in Austria are considerably greater than in the same latitude in England, while the cold of winter is often more intense. In this country, and still more in Ireland, the vicinity of the ocean induces a frequency of rain, with a medium degree of heat and cold in the prevailing winds, which by no means exist in Poland, Austria, or any country in the interior of the continent. But the transitions from heat to cold, and vice versa, are in many parts of Austria as frequent and as remarkable in degree as in this country. In a country covered in so many parts by mountains, the extent of mineral produce can hardly fail to be large. Iron ore is abundant in many parts of Bohemia, Upper Austria, Styria, and Carinthia; and if the quantities of tin or copper hitherto wrought in these provinces be comparatively small, it is owing to the fact, that most of the mountain districts are as yet imperfectly explored. The mines already wrought in Bohemia afford good tin, and those of Hungary excellent copper. In the latter country, particularly at Schemnitz and Kremnitz, are rich mines of gold and silver, partly the property of government and in part of private individuals. The aggregate value of the mines and minerals belonging to government amounts to 4,457,135 florins, and of those which are private property to more than 13,000,000. In this computation Hungary and Transylvania are not included. The respective quantity of the more important metals and minerals belonging to government, as obtained in 1847, was as follows:—Copper, 2753 cwt.; lead, 1418 cwt.; zinc, 3360 cwt.; raw iron, 494,089 cwt.; cast iron, 58,043 cwt.; iron vitriol, 12,136 cwt.; cobalt, 300 cwt.; sulphur, 13,238 cwt.

Coal mines. A far more important mineral than silver ore, namely coal, has been found in many parts of the Austrian dominions,—in Bohemia, Moravia, Austria Proper, Hungary, and Styria; but the quantity raised is larger only in situations contiguous to a navigable river. One of the main sources of the superiority of England to other countries, has been the ease of conveying coal in former ages by sea, and latterly also by canals and railways, to situations where fuel is of importance for manufactures. But in a country like Austria, which has no coast, where canals are almost unknown, and railways have been heard of only of late, the opportunities of such conveyance are as yet very rare. This, joined to the abundance of wood fuel, has prevented the working of many coal mines; but they bid fair to be a source of general employment to the lower classes, and of advantage to those who manage them, when manufactures shall be conducted on a larger scale, and the communications assimilated to those of England or the Netherlands. The whole amount of coal belonging to government was, according to the official computation of 1847, 158,219 cwt., and that belonging to private individuals exceeded 14,000,000. It may be stated that in Hungary the produce of the government coal pits is nearly fourfold that of all the rest of the empire as above given.

Similar observations apply to the raising and distributing of rock salt, mines of which are found in various parts of the empire. Those of Bochnia and Wieliccka in Galizia are known to be the greatest in Europe. A number of others are found along each side of the great Carpathian range, and may be said to extend with greater or less intervals all the way from Moldavia to Suabia. This very extensive tract comprehends the salt mines of Wallachia, Transylvania, Galizia, Upper Hungary, Upper Austria, Styria, Salzburg, and finally of Tyrol. They are found either at the base or on the ascent of great mountains, the salt extending in horizontal or undulating strata, and alternating with strata of clay. The total produce of salt was in 1847 as follows:—Rock salt, 3,060,850 cwt.; boiled salt, 2,050,362 cwt.; sea salt, 322,726 cwt.; total, 5,633,938 cwt.

Austrian agriculture has made, so to speak, no progress whatever during the last thirty years, and continues in a very backward state in all parts of the empire, with the exception of the Italian provinces and the archdiocese of Austria itself. The reasons of this backwardness are very obvious. While France, likewise an agricultural country, issued from the great Napoleonic war with a free population, feudalism continued in Austria down to the year 1848; a circumstance in itself sufficient to cripple the agricultural produce of the country, and still further enhanced by the protective policy of the government towards manufactures; a policy which, while it tended on the one hand to turn all the capital of the country into the channel of the manufacturing interest, compelled the agriculturist, on the other hand, to purchase home-made implements that might have been procured abroad at a cheaper rate and of a better quality. To these two causes may be added the existence of a large standing army, and the long period of military service customary in Austria, which bereft the rural population of the stoutest of its labourers. Farther, the absence of personal liberty and the right of free discussion, elements the most important towards the increase of national wealth, have also unavoidably contributed to the same result. In addition, it may be stated that the Austrian population have hitherto remained in complete ignorance of the modern scientific and practical improvements in agriculture, adopted by the other nations of Europe. Nowhere, however, is there a fairer field for improved husbandry, for no part of Europe presents a greater extent of good soil. Lower Austria has, like Lombardy, the advantage of extensive plains watered by streams flowing from a range of mountains which form the background of the prospect contemplated by those who travel along the banks of the Danube. Moravia has a similar climate, and almost equal advantages of soil and position. Galizia is likewise fertile, the most so perhaps of any of the Polish provinces; while in the S. and E. of the empire, many of the plains of Hungary and Transylvania might be rendered productive were the population more dense, and acquainted with the method of draining, irrigating, and properly tilling the ground. The land of second-rate fertility is in the Alpine provinces. The slopes of the mountains, up to a certain height, are favourable to pasture, and the raising of oats and other like grain; but in many parts the height is so great as to outweigh the advantage of latitude, and to confine the inhabitants to a scanty return for their labour.

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

| | Great Britain and Ireland | France Empire | |----------------------|---------------------------|--------------| | Land under tillage | 34 | 44 | | Vines, orchards, gardens | 1 | 5 | | Land in grass, whether natural or sown | 40 | 14 | | Forests, plantations, copses | 5 | 17 | | Poor land, as heath, marshes, commons; also land totally unproductive, as rocks, summits of mountains, lakes, beds of rivers, roads | 20 | 20 |

Comparative population.

| | Great Britain and Ireland | France Empire | |----------------------|---------------------------|--------------| | Inhabitants per square mile | 220 | 163 |

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

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

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

| Approximate value, in francs of agricultural produce (not including live stock), in Britain, France, and Austria | 6,900,000,000 | 4,000,000,000 | 3,000,000,000 |

The northern parts of the empire, viz. Bohemia, Galicia, and part of Moravia, are too cold for vines; but in the central part of the empire they are cultivated extensively, and wine is sold in large quantities for home consumption. The prices of the different qualities vary from sixpence to one shilling a bottle. The port is far inferior to that obtained from France, in consequence chiefly of the want of conveyance. Lower Austria and Hungary, the fittest countries for the vine, have navigable rivers only to the eastward, and these lead to countries which either raise wine for their own use, or are too poor to make purchases from their neighbours. The exports from the Austrian states are thus limited to small quantities of choice wines, such as the well-known Tokay, which is raised on the last chain of the Carpathians, near the district of Zemplin. This wine is cultivated along a tract of about 70 square miles: its qualities are various; the richest kind proceeding from the grape with little or no pressure; while the inferior sort is said to be made from the dried grape, reduced into a sort of pap, and mixed with other Hungarian wines. But it by no means follows that all the wine sold under the fashionable name of Tokay is the product of the district in question; for even in Vienna there is not perhaps a tenth of real Tokay among the wines which bear that name.

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

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

All these are manufactures of old date; but cottons are comparatively of recent introduction, and are confined to Vienna and some of the principal towns; as is also the refining of sugar, which has lately received a great impulse. The cheapness of labour is in favour of such undertakings in Austria. One of the chief obstacles, up to a recent date, was the distance which the raw material, whether landed at Trieste or Hamburg, had to be conveyed by land, a disadvantage now partly overcome by the establishment of several lines of railway.

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

In her intercourse with foreign countries, Austria experiences all the disadvantages of an inland position, and of a trade very limited access to the sea; the portion of coast belonging to her being in a corner of the empire. Its extent is about 500 miles, comprising the north and east shores of the Adriatic, from the mouths of the Po on the west, to Ragusa and Cattaro on the east. The commercial seaports are Venice, Trieste, and Fiume; the first being the inlet to Friuli and Lombardy, the second to Carniola, and the third to Croatia. From Venice the access to the interior is easy, the country being flat, and admitting of intersection by canals; but Fiume, and still more Trieste, have to the east ranges of mountains, over which the transport of bulky commodities is attended with great labour and expense. It must be remembered, moreover, that the Austrian tariff was the highest in Europe up to the year 1848, and that many articles of manufacture, such as rock-salt, rouge, gold-dust, and tobacco, were entirely prohibited, while the import duty Austria, on other articles of commerce almost effectually prevented their admission. Hence it followed, that the price of many of the most common articles of clothing (as stated in the British and Foreign Review, vol. xii.), was higher from 75 to 100 per cent. than in London. This narrow commercial legislation, coupled with the inland toll, subsisting till 1849, between Hungary and the rest of the empire, could not but materially impede the free development of the commercial resources of the country. In no other department however has so great a progress been perceptible within the last 20 years as in commerce; for we find that in the decade between 1830 and 1840, the value of foreign commerce rose from 170 to 290 millions of florins; while in the year preceding the late war, it increased to upwards of 240 millions. This advance must undoubtedly be attributed in a large measure to the construction of different lines of railway; of which the chief are, the Northern or Ferdinand's Line, touching the Prussian frontier at Oderberg, and bringing Berlin within slightly more than a thirty hours' journey from the Austrian capital, the Cracow-Silesian Line, and the South-Eastern Line, running into Hungary. The most important line, however, by which it is contemplated to unite Vienna on the one hand with Galizia, and on the other with Trieste, and thereby with the Italian provinces, is as yet far from completion. In regard to foreign commerce, the seat of Trieste occupies the foremost place, and owes its flourishing condition to the existence of the Lloyd Company, established in 1833, and three years after taken under government patronage. The steam vessels of this company are nearly forty in number; and, by means of their connection with the German railways, have already rivalled the London Oriental Company by opening up a communication with the East through Trieste. The value of the commerce of Trieste with foreign countries is, according to the latest statistics, 86 millions; that of Venice, 11 millions; and that of Fiume, 4 millions of florins.

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

| Articles | Duty | |---------------------------|------| | Raw coffee | 10 | | Fine spices | 25 | | Tea | 15 | | Refined sugar | 14 | | Woollen and silk manuf. | |

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

| Articles | Value | |---------------------------|-------| | Stone and earthen ware | 25,000,000 | | Glass and mirror manuf. | 15,000,000 | | Hardware | 49,000,000 | | Cotton | 35,000,000 | | Flax and hemp | 57,000,000 | | Silks | 57,000,000 | | Woollens and cloth | 68,000,000 | | Beer and spirits | 44,000,000 | | Sugar | 14,000,000 |

The harbours along the coast of Dalmatia are both numerous and commodious, but their trade must be inconsiderable until the country inland acquire population and wealth. In the northern part of the Austrian empire there are also great obstacles to foreign trade. Bohemia communicates with the sea only by the Elbe, and Galizia with still more difficulty by the Vistula; but these impediments are now almost removed by the establishment of railway communication in both these provinces.

National Income and Finances.

In commercial countries, the public revenue arises principally from the excise and customs; but in a country chiefly agricultural, the case is very different. In Austria the limited extent of foreign trade renders the customs comparatively small; while the small number of towns, and their scanty population, lessen greatly the produce of the excise. An extra share of the public burdens must therefore fall on land, the assessment of which ought from time to time to be altered according to the amount of rents. In England, since the first imposition of the land-tax in 1692, there has been no renewed survey, or attempt to adapt it to the augmented rental; but in France and Austria the absolute insufficiency of other taxes rendered an increase of the land-tax indispensable. In Austria, the Emperor Joseph, among other changes, proposed a land and poll tax on a uniform plan, and attempted a general survey of the empire. Several years were devoted to this great work; but it encountered many obstacles, as well from the difference of value between the plain and mountain territory, as from the difficulty of computing rents in almost any province of the empire, the property of the peasantry obliging them to pay their landlords in produce or in labour instead of money. Since 1815 the Austrian government has endeavoured to correct defects in the existing assessment, but it is still in a very imperfect state. In 1819 a new regulation of the land-tax was established, which underwent material changes after the war of 1848. In the Hereditary States, as well as in Bohemia and Galizia, the land-tax was levied without distinction of class or rank; but in the aristocratic countries of Hungary and Transylvania the noblesse or gentry were exempt from it till 1848.

Public Revenue of Austria.

From the year 1831 to 1841 the average revenue of Austria was 183 millions of florins, which from 1841 down to the time of the last war amounted to an average of 170 millions. This increase, perceptible in the second decade, may be attributed chiefly to the introduction of the stamp-duty and other financial measures by Baron Kibbeck; and it may be remarked that the increase of the indirect taxes by far exceeded that of the direct. From this revenue, which nearly covered the state-expenses, the military establishment alone absorbed in the year 1832, in consequence of the French revolution of 1830, as well as in the year 1846, during the troubles in Poland, more than 60 millions, and was never under 55 millions.

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

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

| Year | Income | Expenditure | Deficit | |------|--------|-------------|---------| | 1848 | 121,519,625 florins | 156,679,486 florins | 35,159,861 florins | | 1849 | 149,617,132 florins | 259,468,045 florins | 110,850,913 florins |

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

The income and expenditure of 1851 were as follow: Austria.

1. Direct Taxes.

| Description | Amount | |----------------------|--------------| | Land tax | 55,684,661 | | House tax | 7,371,944 | | Inheritance tax | 130,063 | | Income tax on trades | 3,925,869 | | Property tax | 3,704,957 | | Direct taxes of Cracow | 156,771 | | Other direct taxes | 104,574 |

Total: 74,078,890

2. Indirect Taxes.

| Description | Amount | |----------------------|--------------| | Tax on consumable articles | 25,055,640 | | Customs | 19,918,315 | | Salt monopoly | 28,677,167 | | Tobacco monopoly | 13,532,438 | | Stamps and taxes on processes | 15,753,968 | | Lottery | 3,663,907 | | Post | 132,829 | | Turnpike tolls | 2,291,271 | | Other taxes | 388,619 |

Total: 109,419,174

3. Income from State property.

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

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

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

It is thus seen that the revenue of Austria is surprisingly small if compared with England and France. This however is explained by the mere consideration of the manner in which human labour is employed. In manufacturing and commercial countries, such as England, agriculture is conducted with the benefit of capital and machinery; and the labour of 30 or 40 persons in 100 is sufficient to raise subsistence for the community at large. But in other countries of Europe the case is very different, the labour of half or more than half the inhabitants being required to raise the needful subsistence. Thus in France, a great part of which is more backward than an untraveller Englishman can readily conceive, between 50 and 60 persons in 100 are and must be employed in country work; in consequence of the great inferiority of their agriculture, their farms being small, their ploughs and other implements miserably defective, their capital scanty, and machinery, such as threshing-mills, in a manner unknown. Hungary, Transylvania, and the southern frontier along the Danube, being still more backward than any part of France, more destitute of capital, and more deficient in machinery, the consequence is, that of the average population of the Austrian empire, the labour of not fewer than between 60 and 70 persons in 100 is needed for raising provisions; thus reducing to a comparatively small number the population of the towns, the persons disposable for trade and manufacture. This is at once apparent from a comparison of the town population in these different countries, which, as is evident, is by far the least in Austria. The largest towns in the latter besides Vienna, are Milan, Venice, Prague, and Pesth, each with a population above 100,000, which, taken together, does not much exceed the population of Paris alone, not to mention the immense population of London and other large towns in Britain.

Another very important point in estimating the resources of different countries is the degree of density in the population generally. In England, by the census of the year 1851, it was 4835 persons to a German square mile; in France, 3678; while in Austria it was only 3150, though its territory by far surpasses that of France. As to the comparative density of the town and agricultural populations, no satisfactory result has hitherto been obtained by the statistical writers; the prevailing opinion, however, is, that the population of the towns is in the proportion of 1 to 7 in comparison with the remainder. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that the population of those towns which number less than 2000 inhabitants is generally classed among the agricultural. Now, it almost always happens that in a thickly-peopled district the wages are better and than in one that is thinly peopled; and hence the contribution to the public treasury is larger. Thus the inhabitants of Lombardy, Bohemia, and the Vienna district, pay considerably more per head than those of Hungary, Carinthia, or Upper Austria. Add to this, in the third place, that while England has all the benefit of an insular situation and liberal institutions, and France possesses an extensive line of coast, with considerable trade, the maritime provinces of Austria are both limited in extent, and but recently acquired; in short, the empire may be said to have as yet wanted almost entirely the stimulus to industry arising from communication by water, from a universally established steam-communication, and, above all, from a liberal commercial legislation.

Military Establishment.

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

The French, in the wars of the revolution, were remarkable for celerity of movement in collective bodies, but bestowed comparatively little attention on the minutiae of discipline. The Austrians were charged with following a con- Austria.

In former times the Austrian government, conscious of the deficient education of its subjects, gave important commands to Italian officers, amongst whom the most remarkable were Montecucculi and Prince Eugene. At present there are military schools at Vienna and several of the provincial towns. Up to the year 1848 the Austrian army, though by far inferior in general instruction to those of Prussia and France, was, in a strictly military point of view, and in discipline, held equal to any in Europe. Its prestige was, however, entirely lost during the war of 1848, when a large part of the army, and especially the Hungarians, deserted from the imperial standard to rally round their national colours; a circumstance which led to the complete military demoralization of the whole army. At the conclusion of the war, many of the revolutionary troops were forcibly enrolled into the imperial ranks, a policy which can only serve to infect the whole military force with new ideas, and an anti-dynastic spirit.

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

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

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

The limited revenue of Austria, and her equally limited credit in a financial sense, prevent her from making a great military exertion at short notice. She cannot, unless when aided by foreign subsidies, equip for offensive operations, or send to a distance, armies of any very considerable force. Hence her power in attack is restricted so as to form a remarkable contrast to the extent of her means for continuing a contest by filling up the blanks in her regiments, year after year, by fresh levies. In her long and arduous struggle with France, the losses of each campaign appeared to be supplied without making a serious impression on her numbers, or distressing her productive industry. The causes of this are obvious. A country like England, possessing monied capital, can at short notice embody an army, and send it to a distance, amply equipped and provided; whilst an agricultural nation like Austria is limited in its extent of exertion at the moment, but, from the amount of its population, almost indefinite in its resources. The long duration of several of her wars is to be ascribed to two causes; her inability, on the one hand, to overpower her opponents by a great effort; and her power on the other, to keep up a certain degree of exertion for a long period. It was thus that Austria carried on the religious war in Germany during thirty years, and persisted in the war with France in 1713, after England and Holland had withdrawn. Maria Theresa would have done the same towards Prussia in 1763, had she not been forsaken by her allies; whilst, in the wars with revolutionary France and Bonaparte, we have seen Austria, worsted in five successive contests, return as often to the charge. At present, however, the whole condition of Austria, in regard to her resources, has been altered in consequence of the late internal revolutions, and the unceasingly disaffected condition of the various nationalities, many of which only await the embroilment of Austria in a foreign war in order to free themselves for ever from her dominancy.

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

Religion, Education, National Character.

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

| Catholics | 26,357,172 | |-----------|------------| | Calvinists | 2,161,785 | | Greek Church | 3,694,596 | | Unitarians | 30,541 | | Non-united Greeks | 3,118,605 | | Jews | 729,005 | | Lutherans | 1,286,799 | | Other religions | 2,350 |

Austria, as is known, was the hereditary foe of Protestantism in the seventeenth century, cruelly persecuting the population of Bohemia, the country of the unfortunate John Huss and Jerome of Prague. In Hungary the struggle of the Protestants against the Hapsburgs continued into the eighteenth century; nor have they ever been permitted the enjoyment of the liberties so often stipulated to them. In more recent times no actual persecutions have taken place, but the Catholic faith has always remained the predominant and privileged religion of the empire. The north and west of Germany frequently exhibit Catholic and Protestant communities in the same vicinity; and nowhere are the superior industry and intelligence of the latter more strongly marked. The traveller who passes from Saxony into Bohemia cannot fail to regret that the Reformation should not have made its way into the Austrian dominions; the result would doubtless have been a very decided advancement in science and productive industry. Literature, manufactures, trade, would then have been cultivated in the south and east of Germany with the same zeal, and probably with the same success, as have marked their progress in the south and west.

In Austria, as in France, the Catholic clergy are generally educated in humbler seminaries than universities. Oratory forms no part of their studies, and would, in fact, be misplaced before a German congregation, which meets for the purpose of fulfilling, soberly and tranquilly, a religious duty. Sermons, therefore, are, in almost all parts of the Austrian dominions, little more than plain moral lessons, deduced from the sacred writings; and the reputation of a clergyman, particularly in country parts, rests chiefly on his attention to the sick, and the performance of private and unostentatious duties. The sovereigns of Austria have in general resisted the pretensions of the popes; reserving to themselves several important rights, such as the imposing of taxes on church property, the nomination of bishops and

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1 The variation between some of the numbers in this estimate and in the article Army, will be understood by reference to the fact that the strength of the Austrian military establishment fluctuates with the chances of peace or war. archbishops, and the option of restricting or even preventing the circulation of papal bulls. After the late war, however, the Austrian emperor surrendered his right in spiritual affairs to the pope.

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

A deficiency in national education has long been a subject of reproach to the Austrians; and their apathy in regard to literature and politics may undoubtedly be ascribed to the strict censorship, tending to stifle all liberal and useful inquiry. Always surrounded by the police and by secret spies, the Austrians, and especially the Viennese, have at last naturally become totally disused to anything like serious conversation in public, and appear seemingly satisfied to make up for this deficiency in the enjoyment of the other pleasures offered by life. The desire of acquiring property is of course as strong, or nearly as strong, in this as in other countries; but the inhabitants have still to acquire that intellectual activity which stimulates so largely to exertion in England and France, and, above all, in the Protestant part of Germany; a consummation, however, not to be brought about under absolute rule. Saxony is the centre of literature for that country; and the society which is within the reach of a youth at the university of Vienna is not to be compared to that of Dresden or Leipzig. The Austrian dialect of Germany is unpleasant, having a slowness of accent and a hissing tone, particularly in the mouths of the lower orders. Hence French is the language used, not only at court, and by diplomats, but by genteel society generally. The universities in the Austrian empire are as follow:—Vienna, Prague in Bohemia, Pesth in Hungary, Lemberg in Galizia, Innspruck in Tyrol, Grätz in Styria, Olmütz in Moravia, and Padua and Pavia in Lombardy; in all, 9 universities, attended by more than 12,000 students. There are besides 43 academies, 33 lycceums or high schools, and 266 gymnasia or Latin schools. Of military schools there are in all 10 in the empire; the two principal in Vienna, the others in provincial towns. The primary or elementary schools throughout the empire correspond in some measure to the parish schools in Scotland. They were greatly increased half a century ago in the reign of Joseph II., and in the Austrian provinces they appear to be adequate to the wants of the population; but in Hungary and the remote parts of the empire there are still great deficiencies in the provision even for this, the first stage of education. The university of Vienna dates from the middle of the thirteenth century, the time when the residence of the court, being fixed in that city, began to give importance to it, and to call for improvements in public education. It was long under the management of the clergy, who, in the middle ages, were the only men of letters; but a century ago Van Swieten, the celebrated physician, induced the government to take it into their own hands, and to give a great extension to the medical department; Vienna, from the number of its inhabitants and the extent of its hospitals, being much fitter for a medical school than any other city in Germany. The consequences of Van Swieten's representations were the fitting-up of a botanical garden, an anatomical theatre, a military hospital, and, at a subsequent date, a veterinary school. The university of Vienna is now at the head of the medical schools in Germany. It contains also public classes for law, theology, classics, philosophy, and general literature, in most of which the reputation of the professors is respectable, though not greater than in other universities, such as Göttingen, Leipzig, and Halle. The number of students at the Vienna university in 1848 was 3215. Vienna contains also an academy for the fine arts, a seminary for the Eastern languages, and facilities for the study of modern Greek. Among the military institutions are a school for cadets, and of late years a polytechnic school for engineers. This capital has also several normal seminaries for training teachers for provincial towns and villages. The imperial library at Vienna is very extensive, as is the collection of medals and coins. The university of Prague is of old date, and well attended by Bohemians, but it does not rank high in the scale of German seminaries. Pesth, Lemberg, Grätz, and the other universities, are of importance only to the population of their respective towns, and their vicinity.

In travelling for instruction, the Austrians, like the French, are far behind our countrymen, in consequence partly of the want of pecuniary means, partly of their unambitious and uninquiring character. Individuals, however, may be cited among the Austrians, who, like Baron Humboldt among the Prussians, have traversed remote regions in quest of information; but their number is small when compared with the extent and population of the empire. Still Austria can boast of several names of eminence in literature, though the greater part of its distinguished writers, and in particular the poets, have always thought it safer to exchange Vienna for some town of Germany. The most eminent poets of whom the Austrian capital can boast are, Anastasius Greun, and the well-known humourist M. G. Saphir. Hammer, the founder of the Oriental Society at Vienna, has long been known for his acquaintance with Persian literature; while there are many able writers on natural philosophy and geography, connected with the various Academies of Science in the empire.

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

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

| National Origin | Number | |-----------------|--------| | Of Slavonian origin, including the Poles | 15,282,248 | | Croats, and Serbs | 7,917,195 | | Of German | 5,418,773 | | Of Magyar | 5,049,225 | | Of Italian | 2,640,492 |

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

The Slavonians (called in Latin Slavi or Selari, and in their own language Slovenes) inhabited, in remote ages, a part of the vast tract of country known to the ancients by the name of Scythia. Their descendants are widely spread; for their language and habits are to be traced in the Illyrian provinces, in Hungary, Poland, the east of Germany, and even in the western frontier of Russia. Upon the whole, they form the most uncivilized portion of the population of the empire—a circumstance to be partly accounted for by the comparatively small number of their nobility, these having been in the course of time absorbed into the German or Magyar populations. The Wallachians are almost equally backward; but the Magyars are a spirited race, adverse to sedentary work, accustomed to exercise in the open air, and Austria, prompt in obeying a summons to military duty, and, above all, ever ready to join their nobles in the defence of the country.

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

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

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

A striking feature in the national character of the Austrians is a continued equanimity, a general good humour and forbearance, as if they had little or no cause for complaint in regard either to individual circumstances or public affairs—a circumstance which rendered the more remarkable the impetuous movement of 1848. This general equanimity and aversion to change produces as its natural consequence a blind adherence to old usages, and a disinclination to almost every kind of innovation. Hence their stationary condition, their backward agriculture, their slowly improving manufactures, and their extravagant deference to hereditary rank—a deference often dearly paid for in war, when men of inferior talents have been intrusted with important commands.

On the whole, it must be admitted, that no country in Europe stands more in need than Austria of the benefits arising from the diffusion of knowledge—a remark which applies to the upper as well as to the lower classes.

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

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

Since the abrogation of the imperial form in Germany, the "Circle of Austria" is no longer an official designation; but the name of "Hereditary States," so often used, has reference to the same provinces, viz., Austria Proper, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, which during five centuries and upwards have belonged to the house of Hapsburg by hereditary descent. At present, however, all the provinces are governed by the same central jurisdiction and the same organic laws. In these the authority of the emperor is almost uncontrolled. He is the head not only of the executive power, but of the church, and virtually of the legislature.

The judicial body in Austria is far more numerous than in this country, the difficulty in travelling requiring that there should be courts of justice in a great number of provincial towns. Their scale of remuneration, however, is much below ours, being so small as to discline even the most eminent pleaders from relinquishing their practice. The administration of justice in Austria long took place, as in this country, by reference to ancient usage, and to a multitude of decisions, without much system or consideration of general principles. The perplexity attendant on this vague and undefined course being doubly felt in a country where individuals were in general ignorant, and the press inefficient, the government became aware, so long ago as the middle of last century, of the necessity of publishing the laws in a collective form. Accordingly, in the year 1767, a code was published in eight folio volumes. This was a first step towards improvement; but the work, from its bulk and its deficient arrangement, proving of little use, instructions were given by the government to an eminent civilian named Von Horten, to recast it in a condensed and improved form. This was necessarily a work of great time and labour, and it was not till 1794 that the first part of the civil code came forth in an improved shape. The remainder followed in a few years, when printed copies were distributed in all directions, and local commissions appointed to report on its applicability to the usages of the different provinces of the empire. At last, in 1812, the civil code was definitively promulgated, and applied to practice. With the criminal code a similar course had been adopted somewhat earlier; it had been promulgated in 1803, and introduced into practice the year after. Most of all these, however, were swept away by edicts issued since 1849.

Of the radical changes the Austrian empire has undergone in consequence of the war of 1848, the following are the most important:—Formerly, the different provinces of the empire were more or less governed by laws proper to themselves, being, however, with the exception of Hungary, dependent on the central Board of Vienna in regard to their general administration; but since the new state of affairs, all the provinces, without exception, are ruled by uniform laws, promulgated by the emperor, and all are alike under the immediate jurisdiction of the ministry at Vienna. The governors and district-commissaries of the various parts of the empire are the direct nominees of the emperor, who, in a manifesto dated December 31, 1851, abrogated the octroyed constitution of March 4, 1849, declaring also the nullity of the responsibility of ministers, whom he decreed to be responsible to himself alone. Thus did the emperor formally belie his repeated and solemn assurances of transforming Austria into a constitutional monarchy, and the value of the equally solemn assurances in regard to the equalization of the different nationalities of the empire, appears to have amounted up to the present time (1853) to nothing more than that all should alike be subjected to the arbitrary regulations of the emperor and to martial law.

To all that has been said we must only add, in conclusion, that, up to the year 1848, Austria in her foreign policy followed an entirely independent course, acting frequently in concert with England, and, upon the whole, in amicable relations with the Ottoman Porte; while a certain coolness subsisted between her and France from the time of the accession of Louis Philippe. Now, however, the belief prevalent in the Austrian cabinet that the foreign policy of Britain encouraged the late popular movements in Italy and Hungary, has led to an alienation of feeling, undiminished to the present day; and a like feeling has been created towards Turkey, from the refusal of the latter to give up the Hungarian refugees who took shelter in her dominions at the end of 1849. Austria, therefore, is now more than ever influenced by the counsels of the cabinet of St Petersburg, and the more so, in consequence of the armed assistance so readily afforded by the Czar in the crisis of 1849. It would be out of place here to speculate on the probable future of Austria. It may, however, be safely asserted, that the unabated and abiding discontent in the Italian provinces and Hungary, which, now four years after the restoration of peace, are only kept down by force of arms; as well as the disaffected condition of the Slavonic population, with whom Austria, after having in part used them as an instrument for her own purposes, has never fulfilled the promises she had held out,—cannot inspire much hope of a consolidation of the empire, or afford a reasonable guarantee of any lengthened internal tranquillity.

(A. L.—E.) (E. S.—D.)