(in Idria and Deux-Ponts), tin (in Bohemia and Saxony), lead, copper, iron, calamine, molybdene, cinnabar, bismuth, arsenic, antimony, alum, vitriol, zinc, sulphur, salt-petre, cobalt, coal, marble, lime, alabaster, gypsum, asbestos, slate, sand-stone, free-stone and pumice-stone, trass, jasper, chalcedony, serpentine, basalt, granite, porphyry, many kinds of precious stones, amber, ochre, clay, the finest porcelain clay, fuller's-earth, marl, peat, petrolium, spring and rock salt, and various kinds of mineral waters. The principal objects of German manufacture are linen, woollen, silk, leather and cotton goods, laces, paper hangings, paper, glass, mirrors, porcelain, delft ware, gold, silver, iron and steel wares, guns and sword blades, musical and other instruments, watches and lackered ware, wooden clocks, vitriol, alum, sugar, tobacco, beer, brandy and cordials, &c. Commerce is carried on by land and sea; internal commerce is discouraged by the many custom-house barriers between the different states. The exports are wood, grain (to the value of $7,500,000), wine, linen (formerly to the amount of $22,000,000), thread, iron and steel wares, philosophical instruments, toys, porcelain, lackered wares, quicksilver, glass, looking-glasses, cattle, particularly draught horses, succory fruits, wool, salt, minerals, Bohemian garnet, amber, smoked and salt meat, potteries, smalt, beeswax, woollen and cotton goods, lace, &c. The imports are wine, cordials, tobacco, tropical fruits, spices, sugar, coffee, tea, silk, cotton, fine woollen, cotton and silk goods, millinery and ornaments. The principal commercial ports are, on the North sea, Hamburg, Altona, Bremen and Embden; on the Baltic, Lubeck, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund, Stettin; and on the Adriatic, Trieste. The commercial cities in the interior are, in North Germany, Leipsic, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Frankfort on the Oder, and Breslaw; in South Germany, Frankfort on the Maine, Nuremburg, Augsburg, Prague, Vienna and Bolzano. The map of Germany, by Reymann (Berlin, 1825 et. seq.), in 342 sheets, is the most complete that has appeared. Hassel's Statist. Uebersicht der 39 Deutschen Bundestaaten (1825), Lichtenstein's Deutschland's Bundestaaten (1825), and, particularly for statistics, the GenealogischHist.-Statist. Almanach (published annually at Weimar), are among the best sources of information on the geographical and statistical state of Germany.

German Commerce. Germany, in the more limited sense, that is, the Germanic

confederation, has a favorable natural situation for commerce. Lying in the centre of Europe, it borders on three seas, and the direction and number of its rivers naturally fit it for a commercial state of the first rank. Since the middle of the 17th century, however, when the Hanseatic cities, and Nuremburg and Augsburg, ceased to be the first commercial places of Europe, it has held, with the exception of the Prussian and Austrian provinces, a subordinate rank among the commercial states. This was a necessary effect of its subdivision into so many small states. At the present time, the secularization of the ecclesiastical estates, and the mediatization (q. v.) of many petty princes, have dimninished the number of political divisions which formerly gave rise to incessant intestine wars; but a struggle of financial parties, and a rage for regulating commerce by political ordinances, have succeeded, and exert a more unfavorable influence on commerce than even the prohibitive system of the neighboring states. Germany can carry on trade by land with France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Hungary; by sea, with France, Spain, Portugal, England, the Northern states, Italy, Turkey and America. Its trade by sea is chiefly with England, and is more injurious than beneficial to the country. Its great rivers, the Danube, Elbe, Weser, Rhine, Oder, &c., afford great facilities for maritime commerce. The principal of the German exports and imports are mentioned in the preceding division of this article, relating to the geography of Germany. German commerce, at present, is suffering from many causes. America supplies many of the former purchasers in the German market. France no longer wants German materials, as her own productions have increased five fold since the revolution. Spain and Portugal are again producing for themselves. The commercial policy also of her own and foreign states, has been very injurious to German commerce. The first step was taken by the British act of navigation. Austria and Prussia followed this example. Bavaria, first among the German states of the second rank, did the same. Some other German governments have imposed restrictions on commerce, for the purpose of increasing their revenue; and this system has had the most ruinous effect. If the commerce of the German states, among themselves, should be made free, and if the restrictive system could be turned against England and Holland, in

stead of against each other, Germany, with a population of 34,000,000, and such an extent of territory, could supply her own wants. But her internal commerce is burdened with excessive customs. Situated in the midst of the manufacturing states, and those which are in want of manufactures, Germany appears fitted to be the market of Europe. At the German fairs, business to the amount of more than $24,000,000 annually, is transacted. They collect persons from all parts of Europe. Those of Frankfort and Leipsic are the most important. The bulk of foreign manufactures, which they bring into Germany, is again exported. The trade in French silks is almost exclusively in the hands of German merchants, and the commerce in English manufactures employs many hands, and increases the national revenue. The northern purchasers at the fairs also supply articles which serve as the materials of an intermediate trade with France, Switzerland and Italy. The prospects of German commerce, at present, are discouraging, unless a free intercourse between the states of the federation, a better economy in the governments, so as to leave more capital to the trading classes, and a better system of political regulations with regard to commerce, be established.

German Empire. The German empire was formed by the dismemberment of the Frankish monarchy, by the treaty of Verdun, in 843. Otho the Great added the kingdom of Italy (961), and united the Roman imperial crown with the German empire (962), which was thenceforward called the Holy Roman empire of Germany. The Italian states were not, however, members of the German empire, but merely feudal dependencies. The public deliberations of the emperor with the imperial estates in the diets, produced the fundamental laws of the empire, which, besides immemorial customs, included, 1. the perpetual peace of the empire of 1495; 2. the golden bull (q. v.) of 1356; 3. the decrees of the diets; 4. the electoral capitulations; 5. the treaty of Passau, of 1552, or, rather, the religious peace of Augsburg, founded on that treaty; 6. the peace of Westphalia of 1648. In 1500, Maximilian I and the estates divided Germany into the six circles of Franconia, Bavaria, Suabia, the Upper Rhine, Westphalia and Saxony; which, in 1512, were increased to ten, by the addition of Austria and Burgundy, and the formation of two new circles out of the territories of the four electors on the Rhine and the two Saxon

electors. Lusatia, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, Montbelliard, were not comprehended in this division. Each circle was governed by a prince, who assembled the estates, and was commander-in-chief of the forces. After the death of Charles the Fat (888), Germany became an elective monarchy. The emperors were at first elected by all the estates, spiritual and temporal, in common; but, during the interregnum (1197-1272), the arch-officers of the empire assumed the exclusive right of choice, which was confirmed by the golden bull of Charles IV, in 1356. The elector of Mentz summoned the electoral princes to the election at Frankfort on the Maine. The electors appeared in person, or by ambassadors, but were allowed to be followed only by a small suite. All foreigners, and even foreign ambassadors, were obliged to leave the city on the day of the election. The emperor swore to observe the elective capitulation (see Capitulation), and was then proclaimed. The coronation took place at first in Aix-laChapelle, but afterwards at Frankfort. In case of the decease, minority, or long absence of the emperor, the elector of Saxony and the elector of the Palatinate were vicars over the greatest part of the empire; but Austria and Bavaria could not be governed by a vicar. The estates of the empire, or those immediate members who had a seat and vote in the diet, were either spiritual, viz. the ecclesiastical electors, the archbishops, prelates, abbots, abbesses, the grand master of the Teutonic order, and the grand master of the knights of St. John; or temporal, viz. the secular electors, dukes, princes, landgraves, margraves, burgraves, counts, and the imperial cities. After the peace of Westphalia, the estates were divided into the Protestant and the Catholic (see Corpus Catholicorum). The immediate nobility of the empire did not belong to the estates of the empire. They were divided into the Franconian, Suabian and Rhenish circles, with courts of judicature, and had the right of sending deputies to the diet. The emperor summoned annually two regular diets (besides the extraordinary meetings), which were held at Ratisbon, and, together with the emperor, exercised all the prerogatives of sovereignty,-levying taxes, making laws, declaring war, and making peace. There were three chambers: 1. that of the electors; 2. that of the princes, which was divided into the spiritual and temporal benches (the Protestant bishops of Osnabruck and Lubeck sat on a separate bench). The counts of

the empire did not vote individually, but they were divided into the Wetteravian, Suabian, Franconian, and Westphalian benches, each of which had one vote. The prelates and abbots, divided into the Suabian and Rhenish benches, had, also, two collective votes. 3. The chamber of the imperial cities was divided into the Rhenish and Suabian benches. Each of the three chambers deliberated separately, but the two first then met together, and decided, definitively, on any proposition, which, when ratified by the emperor, became a decree of the empire. All the decrees of a diet were called a recess of the empire. The declaration of war by the empire, was proposed by the emperor, and decided by a majority of votes. When mercenary troops began to be used, in the time of Sigismund (1411-1437), each state, instead of its former contingent of men, paid twelve florins for every horseman, and four florins for every foot soldier; and these sums, called Roman months (because the first expeditions had generally been to Rome, and the time of the feudal service which the vassals were bound to render on these occasions, had been limited to six weeks, which they called a Roman month), were allowed to the emperor in all extraordinary cases, particularly in the wars of the empire. A Roman month, for the whole empire, consisted of 20,000 infantry and 4000 cavalry, which amounted to the sum of 128,000 florins. The estates, however, might grant troops or money at pleasure. The estates had the right of distributing the taxes, or the right of subcollecture. The judicial tribunals of the empire were the imperial chamber (q. v.), and the Aulic council (q. v.), with the provincial courts of the empire and the Austragal courts. (See the account of the Austragal courts, in the sequel of this article.) In church matters, whether relating to Protestants or Catholics, the imperial chamber and the Aulic council were incompetent to decide. The Protestant states acted, in ecclesiastical affairs, by consistories. The Catholic states were subject to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in the hands of the popes and the bishops, and the rules of the canon law. By the peace of Westphalia, the right of coining money and of working mines was given to all the states of the empire; and the liberty and security of commerce and navigation in all the rivers and ports of the empire, were confirmed to all the members of the empire. Maximilian I established the post-offices, and appointed a postmaster-general of the em

pire. The office continued hereditary in one family till 1747. The imperial revenues were so inconsiderable, that the emperors were obliged to resort to the revenues of their hereditary dominions to support their dignity. Imperial reservations were those prerogatives which the emperors exercised throughout the empire, independently of the states. In respect to the emperor and to the empire, the lands of the estates were in part fiefs, and in part allodial, and were divided into ecclesiastical and secular. By the sovereignty of the states, from the peace of Westphalia, was understood their right of exercising sovereign powers within their own territories, so far as they were not restrained by the laws of the empire, or by treaties. All the electors, and some other estates of the empire, had the jus, or privilegium de non appellando, and others the privilegium electionis fori. (See Privilege.) In ecclesiastical matters, they had the right of reformation (jus reformandi), and could introduce, and tolerate in their territories, either of the three religious parties; yet they could not encroach upon the rights and possessions of any religious party, which existed in their dominions in the Normal year (q. v.) of 1624, and were bound to allow them the right of emigration for five years. The Protestant rulers were, in their own territories, the heads of the church, and the Catholic princes, of their Protestant subjects; but the Catholics were under the jurisdiction of their bishops. As consequences of their sovereignty, the members of the empire had, also, the right of making war and peace, and of concluding alliances, which, however, was limited by laws of the empire. Such were the fundamental features of a constitution, of which something may be said in favor, and much against it. It gave the Germans neither unity nor energy, and made one of the most extensive countries of Europe one of the most impotent. But this very impotence, in regard to foreign politics, and the absence of the excitements of party, in regard to questions of internal administration, led to the ardent pursuit of science. The reformation, too, could not have been successfully carried through, except in a country in which the interests of the princes were so divided. In the introduction of the reformation, Germany sacrificed herself for mankind. No one will doubt this, who considers the horrors of the thirty years' war. (See Thirty Years' War.) The dissolution of the German empire (6th) August, 1806), made way for the confede

ration of the Rhine (q. v.), which was succeeded by the Germanic confederation. (q. v.) (See, also, Elector.)

Germanic Confederation. After the German empire, which, during the 18th century, had been the mere shadow of a political body, was dissolved, in 1806, the confederation of the Rhine (q. v.), reunited many of the German states, under the protection of Napoleon, who allowed the members full sovereignty in the interior, and enlarged their territorial possession, at the expense of the interior German princes. With the fall of Napoleon, the confederation of the Rhine was dismembered, Bavaria, and the other members successively, joining the allies against their former protector,—and was succeeded by the Germanic confederation, formed June 8, 1815, according to the words of the instrument, to secure the independence and inviolability, and to preserve the internal peace, of the states. Germany thus presents again the semblance of a political whole, which in reality possesses no strength, even in time of peace, as many instances show. It is only necessary to mention the fruitless decrees of the Germanic diet, respecting the arbitrary ordinances of the elector of Hesse-Cassel against the holders of the old domains, the excesses and follies of the duke of Brunswick, and the want of any general system for promoting the internal navigation of the country. In time of war, its inefficiency must be still more apparent. There is only one circumstance to console the heart of a German, whose patriotism extends beyond the narrow boundaries of the part of the country in which he happens to be born-that there are now only thirty-eight members of the confederation, whilst formerly there were several hundred. This shows that some progress has been made towards the great object, for which Germany, as well as Italy, has sighed for centuries-the unity and independence of their respective countries; each of which, to use the language of the great Dante, has hitherto been di dolore ostello (the dwelling of sorrow). But, at present, the Germanic confederation can be considered only as an imperfect union, directed chiefly by the two most powerful members, Austria and Prussia, which entered into it reluctantly, withholding several of their provinces from the confederacy. It needs no prophetic eye to foresee, that the time will come, when Germany will sustain that struggle which England and France ended long ago; will become united, and

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rest from the bloody conflicts, in which, for centuries, Germans have slain Germans, and which have wasted their wealth, checked their industry, impeded the developement of public law, and extinguished m their literature that manliness, which is so striking a feature in that of a neighboring nation, partly descended from them-conflicts most fully exhibited in that heart-rending tragedy, the thirty years' war. It may be asserted, without paradox, that union is at present more necessary for Germany than liberty; at least, give her the former, and the latter will soon follow. Peace has been for a long time, and still is, the policy of the European cabinets, that the commotions of late years, caused by the indestructible spirit of growing liberty, may subside into the (so called) "legitimate" level. But, whenever the interests of any of the continental powers shall change this peace into a general war there is little doubt that the Germanic con federation will fall to pieces as inglorious ly as the German empire; and every un prejudiced German would wish that it might. The less powerful members would unite with foreigners, to be able to withstand the more powerful ones.-The constitution of the confederation is as follows:-Thirty-four monarchical states, of very unequal extent, and four free cities, enter into a confederation, as equal sovereigns. They are, 1. Austria; 2. Prussia; 3. Bavaria; 4. Saxony; 5. Hanover: 6. Würtemberg; 7. Baden; 8. Hesse-Cassel; 9. Hesse-Darmstadt; 10. Denmark (for Holstein and Lauenburg); 11. the Netherlands (for the grand-duchy of Luxemburg); 12. Mecklenburg-Schwerin ; 13. Nassau; 14. Saxe-Weimar; 15. SaxeCoburg-Gotha; 16. Saxe-Meiningen; 17. Saxe-Altenburg; 18. Brunswick; 19. Mecklenburg-Strelitz; 20. Holstein-Oldenburg; 21. Anhalt-Dessau; 22. Anhalt-Bernburg; 23. Anhalt-Cothen; 24. Schwartzburg-Sondershausen; 25 Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt ; 26. Hohenzol lern-Hechingen; 27. Lichtenstein; 28. Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; 29. Waldeck; 30. Reuss, elder branch; 31. Reuss, younger branch; 32. Schaumburg-Lippe; 33. Lippe-Detmold; 34. Hesse-Homburg; 35, 36, 37, 38, The four free cities, Lubeck, Frankfort (on the Maine), Bremen, Hamburg. The house of Saxe-Gotha became extinct in 1825, and its vote in the diet now belongs to the three lines of the house of Gotha. The organ and representative of the confederation is the diet of plenipotentiaries, which is permanent, and as