XXVII. 1815. invasion and domestic warfare. This progress is in an CHAP. especial manner conspicuous in northern and central Germany. The Brandenburg Gate and palace of Berlin, the cathedral of Cologne, the glorious museum and sumptuous palaces of Dresden, the Glyptothek and Valhalla, and magnificent galleries of Munich, attest at once. how strongly the national mind of Germany has been turned to the fine arts during the long peace, and how large have been the resources which the increasing wealth Personal of the people has put at the disposal of its governments tion. for their encouragement.1 observa It must be added, to their honour, that the rulers of 9. education of the Fatherland have been not less assiduous or successful Universal in their endeavours to promote general education, and the people. inculcate universal instruction, not only as a parental duty of individuals, but as a public concern of the state, which is to be enforced by positive law. The persevering efforts of the German governments in this respect have been attended with results hitherto unexampled in the history of mankind. By establishing schools and seminaries of education at the public expense in every quarter, making it part of the duty of subjects to send their children to them, and detaching their direction from the fatal ingredient of sectarian jealousy, while the great element of religious instruction is sedulously preserved, the governments of Austria and Prussia have succeeded in diffusing elementary education among their subjects to an extent heretofore unknown among mankind. * The proportion of the entire inhabitants at school in Prussia has for the last quarter of a century been 1 in 7, and in Austria 1 in 14; while in England, in 1816, it was only 1 in 16, in Scotland 1 in 11, and in France 1 in 23. There are no less than 21,000 primary * ❝ Aucun individu en Autriche ne peut se marier s'il ne sait lire, écrire, et compter; nul maître ne peut sous peine d'amende employer un ouvrier qui ne sait ni lire ni écrire; et pour répandre les principes de morale, de petits livres rédigés avec beaucoup de soin sont distribués à très-bas prix parmi le peuple des villes et des campagnes."-Malte Brun, v. 646. XXVII. 1815. CHAP. schools in Prussia, and above 1000 academies, where the learned languages, mathematics, and philosophy are taught a proportion to the population more than double that which obtains in Great Britain, notwithstanding the immense efforts to extend public instruction which have been made of late years. It may safely be affirmed that Germany exhibits a mass of general instruction and educated poverty unparalleled in any other age or country.1 1 Malte Brun, v. 280. 10. result of on crime. Philanthropists anticipated, from this immense spread Anomalous of elementary education, a vast diminution of crime, proeducation ceeding on the adage, so flattering to the pride of intellect, that ignorance is the parent of vice. Judging from the results which have taken place in Prussia, where instruction has been pushed to so great a length, this is very far indeed from being the case. On the contrary, though one of the most highly educated countries in Europe, it is at the same time one of the most criminal. On an average of three years, from 1st January 1824 to 1st January 1827, the number of convictions in serious cases was 362 against the person, and 20,691 against property annually, which, as compared with the population at that period, was 1 convicted to 587 inhabitants; whereas in France the proportion in the same years was 1 convicted de M. Balbi to 7285, of which 1 to 32,411 were crimes against the abridged in person, and 1 to 9392 against property. That is, in Malte Brun, Prussia, where the proportion of persons at school to the corrected in entire population was 1 in 7, the proportion of crime to v. 278, note. the inhabitants was twelve times greater than in France, 1 Tableau et Guerry, iii. 786; as Malte Brun, where it was 1 in 23.2* This startling fact coincides * D'après les renseignements qui ont été publiés à ce sujet dans ces dernières années, il y a eu dans toutes les provinces Prussiennes depuis 1824 jusqu'au ler Janvier 1827, 63,159 condamnations pour crimes et délits, dont 1087 contre les personnes, et 26,672 contre les propriétés. La moyenne de ces trois années est de 362 crimes ou délits contre les personnes, et de 20,691 contre les propriétés. Si l'on compare ces nombres au chiffre de la population en 1826, on a 1 crime ou délit en général sur 587 inhabitants: contre les personnes, 1 sur 34,122 habitans; et contre les propriétés, 1 sur 597 habitans. Comparée avec les résultats qu' offre la Justice criminelle en France, cette proportion n'est pas tout-à-fait en faveur de la Prusse, puisqu'en France on compte en général 1 crime sur 7285 habitans: contre les personnes, 1 crime XXVII. 1815. closely with what has been experienced in France itself, CHAP. where the proportion of conviction to the inhabitants is as 1 to 7285; and it has been found that, without one single exception in the whole eighty-four departments, the amount of crime is in the inverse ratio of the number of persons receiving instruction.* 11. education in Austria. In Austria, where primary instruction is in some provinces nearly as generally diffused as in Prussia, Statistics of the results are not by any means so disheartening. † and crime The proportion of convicted crime to the entire population is there much less considerable it is not a fourth part of what is found in Prussia. The difference of this result from that which obtains in Prussia, where general instruction is more universally dif fused, appears at first sight startling, but in reality it can easily be explained, and is in fact just what experience contre 32,411 habitans; et contre les propriétés, 1 sur 9392 habitans;-c'est-à dire, qu'en Prusse sur une population égale, on commet contre les personnes et les propriétés plus de 12 fois autant de crimes et de délits qu'en France; que contre la personne on compte à la vérité en Prusse un peu plus de crimes qu'en France à peu près dans la proportion d'un dix-neuvième. Mais que sur les propriétés seules la Prusse est le Théatre de plus de 15 fois autant de crimes et de délits que la France."-MALTE BRUN; Géographie Universelle, v. 277, 278.-The Author referred to this singular and startling fact in his first volume of this work, chap. I, § 47, and it was violently assailed in several periodical journals as being incorrect. The authority for the statement is therefore now given from a statistical writer of the first authority. Several other facts of a similar description, and directly adverse to common opinion, are given in the introductory chapter, the proof of which is reserved for those parts of the work which come abreast of them, in order not to overload an introductory sketch with a mass of distracting proofs and illustrations. XXVII. 1815. CHAP. tells us might be expected under the different circumstances of these different states. Austria is an educated, but not an enlightened nation; Prussia is both the one and the other. In Austria there is little commerce or manufactures; the capital even only contains 411,000 inhabitants; there are few great towns. The industry of the country is mainly agricultural. Secluded on their little domains, of which they for the most part enjoy the property, the peasants read nothing but the little books prepared for their use by the clergy or government authorities. This is not eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. For good or for evil, its effects will not appear there. In Prussia and Northern Germany, where the great bulk of the inhabitants are Lutheran, the innumerable works which issue annually from the press of the Fatherland are devoured. It is when general instruction coexists with a free press, and not till then, that its effects appear. In Northern Germany the press is far from being generally free in relation to present events, but it is completely so in regard to past or general literature ; and thence its powerful influence, both in unfolding genius, stimulating thought, enhancing desires, and multiplying crime. 12. content aris ing out of this very prosperity. One might naturally have been led to imagine that the Seeds of dis- complete protection, unbroken peace, and general prosperity which Germany has enjoyed from 1815 to 1848, would have had the effect of inducing universal contentment, and that the Fatherland would have exhibited the pleasing spectacle of unanimity and concord springing out of social happiness. It was just the reverse. Peace cast not the olive branch, but a firebrand into its bosom; and the universal protection which was enjoyed, and stillness which prevailed, proved but the harbinger of future strife and desolation. None but the inexperienced can be surprised at this result; for such is the constitution of human nature, and such the provision made by the Almighty for mingling suffering with joy in this scene of probation, that XXVII. 1815. 13. which this it is hard to say whether sorrow springs more com- CHAP. monly from prosperity, or felicity from care; and in the attainment of the very objects for which men contend most strenuously at one time, is found the secret spring of adversity at another. Germany was no exception to this universal law; on the contrary, her social situation was such, after the war of liberation terminated, as too surely foreshadowed a war of distractions in future times. That terrible strife was brought to a successful issue by an unparalleled warlike effort-by the universal arming of Manner in the people; by exciting in all ranks, to the very utter was brought most, the ardent and enthusiastic feelings of the heart. about. In the poems of Körner, as in a mirror, we may see reflected the feelings which then shook to the centre every heart in the Fatherland. Such was the strength of France and the power of Napoleon, that deliverance could be effected in no other way. The effort proved successful; the victory was gained; but it was gained at a cost which cast the seeds of interminable future discord into the bosom of the community. For as much as the power of the great military monarchies forming part of the Confederation was enhanced by the prodigious development of the military spirit in their inhabitants, and augmentation of the military strength in their governments, was the thirst for liberal institutions, and the desire of exercising a sway in the administration of affairs, spread among their people. This effect was universal and inevitable; it was felt even among the distant nobles of Russia, and induced the terrible military revolt of 1825. How much more must it have been felt, therefore, among the educated youth of Northern Germany-among those whose hearts had warmed at the songs of Körner, whose souls had been inspired by the poetry of Schiller, and who had struck for the Fatherland in the belief that they were cementing with their blood not only its external independence, but its internal freedom! It cannot be said that any express promise was made |