Grand-ducal Hesse, consists principally of two large portions of territory, one to the N. and the other to the S. of the River Maine, the latter including the country on both sides of the Rhine, from Worms to Mainz. Three smaller separate portions lie within the territory of Baden; other three separate parcels in Waldeck, and some still smaller in Nassau and Kur-Hessen. The aggregate area is 3232 English square miles; and the separate parcels are united, for administrative purposes, into three provinces, as stated in the following table:

| Province | Area (sq. miles) | Population | |-------------------|-----------------|------------| | Starkenburg.......| 1169 | 319,050 | | Rhenish Hesse.....| 529 | 280,647 | | Upper Hesse.......| 1543 | 309,817 |

3232

In general this territory is rather mountainous; but in the southern division, along both sides of the Rhine, there are extensive plains, rich and fertile; and in the northern province, near the Maine, there are some moderately large valleys. It is generally a well-watered country, its streams pouring themselves into the Rhine and the Weser. Few countries of the same extent have a greater variety of climate. In the neighbourhood of the Rhine and the Maine it is mild and agreeable, the winter is short, the summer warm, and the air generally dry. The hay harvest begins early in June, the corn harvest in the middle of July, and the vintage in the latter part of September. In the Odenwald, on the contrary, the climate is raw and cold, the spring is later, and several weeks more are required to ripen the fruits of the earth. As in Kur-Hessen, here also agriculture employs the bulk of the people. Rye is the chief crop, though some good wheat is grown. Fruit is very abundant, such as apples, pears, plums, almonds, and chestnuts. Wine is, next to corn, the most important product, and its annual value is estimated at about half as much as that of the grain. The breeds of domestic animals are of the usual kinds, and present nothing remarkable. Wood from the forests is an important article of export by the Maine and the Rhine, for the great mart for that commodity in Holland. The mineral wealth consists of the produce of some iron and copper mines; but the quantity produced is insufficient for the consumption. The manufactures consist chiefly in working up the raw materials of wool, flax, and iron into articles of internal consumption; and there are, besides, some manufactures of paper, glass, copper, and iron wares. The chief articles of export consist of barley, wine, tobacco, rape-oil, dried fruits, madder, clover-seed, wood, honey, wax, and feathers. These are exchanged for colonial wares from Holland, and articles of dress and furniture brought from France and Belgium.

In respect of religion the great bulk of the people are Lutherans; and the relative proportions of the different sects are estimated thus:—Lutherans, 397; Reformed, 84; Mennonites and Inspired, 1½; Catholics, 167; Jews, 20. These proportions, however, vary in the different provinces. In Rhenish Hesse the Catholics form the larger half of the population, or 93 to 87; in Upper Hesse, on the contrary, the Protestants number 251 to 12½ Catholics; and in Starkenburg, 178 to 71½. Education is well attended to in the usual sorts of schools, and there is a university at Giessen, with 32 ordinary professors, and about 380 students.

The reigning sovereign is a landgrave of Hesse; but he now bears the higher style and title of His Royal Highness the Grand-Duke. He is feebly limited by the States, the reaction that followed the revolution of 1848 having had as full effect in Darmstadt as in Cassel. The public revenue is estimated at the yearly sum of 8,206,873 florins (£820,687 sterling); and the expenditure is fully as much. The public debt, at the end of 1850, amounted to 3,674,622 florins (£367,462); and the debt incurred in the construction of railways to 11,848,607 florins (£1,184,860). The army amounted in 1855 to 10,514 men, and the contingent to the federal army is 6195.

The capital of the state and seat of government is Darmstadt, in the province of Starkenburg, about 20 miles S. of Frankfort, with about 25,000 inhabitants; but the principal town is Mainz or Mayence, in Rhenish Hesse, on the S. bank of the Rhine, one of the strongest fortresses in Europe, and the bulwark of Germany against France. It is garrisoned by the troops of the Confederation; but the civil administration belongs to the Grand-Duke. The population, including the permanent garrison of 6000 men, exceeds 40,000.

Hesse-Homburg is a very small territory of about 106 square miles, belonging to a prince of the family of Darmstadt, with the title of landgrave. It consists of two principal parts, one on the slopes of the Taunus, N.W. of Frankfort, and the other to the westward of the Rhine, S.E. of Bingen. These form two provinces, of which Homburg, on the N., contained in 1852, 11,166 inhabitants, and Meisenheim in the W., 13,755. Both provinces enjoy a fruitful soil, and a healthful climate, are well cultivated, and yield a surplus of corn, wool, flax, and wood. Meisenheim likewise produces wine and coal, by means of the latter of which the people are enabled to produce some manufactures of glass and ironmongery wares. The majority of the people belong to the Lutheran confession; about 6000 to the Reformed, 3000 Catholics, and 1000 Jews. The public revenue is about £35,000; and the debt amounted in 1854 to £115,270 or thereby. The contingent to the federal army is 333 men. Homburg, a small town, with about 3600 inhabitants, 10 miles N. by W. of Frankfort, is the capital. The landgrave is now 73 years of age (April 1856), unmarried, and without heirs male; so that at his decease, his territory will be annexed to that of Hesse-Darmstadt.