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ART. IV.-Germany: the Spirit of her History, Literature, Social Condition, and National Economy; illustrated by reference to her Phy sical, Moral, and Political Statistics, and by comparison with other Countries. By BISSET HAWKINS, M.D., Oxon, F.R.S.

Parker. 1838.

London:

IT has never been our fortune to light upon a book in which such a multiplicity of facts, such a variety of details on every important subject, were brought together within so narrow a compass, or stated with greater clearness and perspicuity. We have here in a single volume of less than five hundred pages, a mass of information which we must have sought for through as many volumes, without having the additional advantage-even should our research prove successful-of finding it sifted, classed, and compared, so as to render it doubly valuable and immediately available. There is not a single feature of Germany-historical, literary, social, or political-which has not been traced by Mr. Hawkins with remarkable brevity and precision. That a work which should place before our eyes the whole German empire, with all the intricacies of its petty subdivisions, was a desideratum in literature nobody who has listened to the conversations of returned tourists, or who has turned over the leaves of their printed inanities, can for a moment doubt ; and it is a matter of no small satisfaction that it has been executed in a very masterly and unpretending style. It may be said, indeed, that it is a mere compilation from other and better works, but it is a compilation judiciously executed-embracing all the most essential subjects which are necessary to give us a clear and comprehensive view of the German empire.

In England our general ideas of Germany are, that it is a romantic land covered with fine old castles and peopled by various races of bookmakers, musicians, and metaphysicians. Besides, it is the manufactory of kings and princes, exporting annually some scores of the latter and the smaller fry of barons and counts, to dazzle the eyes of the "nation of shopkeepers," with their high sounding and unpronounceable names, their red ribands and glittering stars. We laugh at their pretensions while we envy their good fortune. Noble blood is to them Fortunatus's cap; it procures them all that the most ambitious of us islanders would aspire to, and yet we find a curious historical fact related of these high mightinesses, which might leave us at a loss to distinguish them from the descendants of a privileged "swell mob" of the middle ages. In 1215, Frederick Barbarossa exacted an oath from his nobles not to coin bad money, not to levy extraordinary tolls, and not to steal on the highway. A pretty idea of nobility, truly. An oath to coiners and highwaymen that they will neither coin nor rob is a very gentle restraint; but taking into account the religious notions of the

period, we admit that many a man would empty his neighbour's pocket without remorse, who would have shrunk from the idea of superadding perjury to a comparatively trifling offence. In the fourteenth century we find the Bavarian nobles accusing their monarch of conferring court dignities on foreigners, of chicanery towards his own nobility, to whom he was difficult of access, and of depriving them of their ancient rights of hunting. They specify instances in which the members of their own body had been seized and carried off by night, and their daughters forcibly married to foreigners. Heavy charges, certainly, and which give us a pretty fair idea of the relations which then subsisted between the monarch and his nobility. In fact, they lived in a state of open hostility; the monarch using his endeavours to weaken the power of his nobles, the latter leaguing together and attacking their sovereign. In their endeavours to crush the power of the nobles, the kings were powerfully seconded by the knights, between whom and the lords (Herrin) the greatest enmity and jealousy prevailed. In the lesser German states feuds between noble and sovereign were things of common

occurrence.

In 1520 a league of the nobles of the family of Salder was formed against the Bishop of Hildesheim. The adverse armies met at Soltau, and the nobles were defeated after a sharp and bloody contest. About the same period the Bishop of Wurzburg was murdered by some noblemen, incited by their chief, Von Grumbach, who, after a protracted resistance, was at length brought to justice. The accession of the family of Luneburg to the throne of Great Britain was favourable to the power and pretensions of the Hanoverian nobility. From that period they have been celebrated in Germany for their lofty deportment and their attachment to their order. The reason is, that they have had the government almost entirely in their own hands, which the nobles of other German states have been obliged to surrender to their princes. The nobility of Brandenburg was quite lawless and independent before the ascent of the house of Zollern to the throne. They had possessed themselves of the sovereign's domains and of the public revenue, and hence a continued contest was carried on between them for these prizes. During the reign of Joachim, the noblemen who filled offices at court amused themselves with highway robbery during the night. Von Lindenburg, the prince's favourite, was found guilty of this crime, and to the honour of the prince, his influence at court was no protection for his forfeited life. His execution served to irritate the nobles to such a degree, that one of them, Von Otterstaedt, had the audacity to write over the door of the prince's chamber-" Joachim, take care of yourself, for if you fall into our hands, we will hang you.' While attempting to carry his menace into execution, Von Otterstaedt was seized, and underwent the punishment he had promised Joachim.

In 1568 we find Albert Frederick harassed and tormented into insanity by his nobles, and as they allowed him no medical relief, he remained so to the end of his life.

During the Thirty Years' War, which desolated and impoverished Germany, impoverishing the peasants, and reducing the princes to utter insignificance, the nobility alone managed to escape the deluge of misfortune which bore down the other orders of the state. In Prussia, their excesses continued unrestrained until the accession of Frederick the Great in 1640. This prince saw at once that the only remedy for these evils was to be found in a formidable standing army, and he applied himself vigorously and unremittingly to the organization and discipline of such a force, until at length he was at the head of the most effective military establishment in Christendom. The tall grenadiers of this great master of the art of war were an overmatch for the fierce and licentious nobles. He set the diet at defiance, abolished the freedom of taxation which the nobles had hitherto enjoyed, gave the peasants a legal protection against their oppression and caprice, and abolished such of their privileges as were inconsistent with good government. Thus a nobility which but a few years before had trampled upon the sovereign power became slavishly submissive to its will. Being no longer exempt from taxation, they were forced to seek distinction in the civil and military services of the state. In this new capacity their ancient chivalry broke forth in the campaigns against the Swedes and the Turks, on the Rhine and in Poland. The peace of Westphalia made this change general throughout Germany. Standing armies were everywhere introduced, and all the German governments verged towards a purer monarchy.

In addition to the monarchical tendency of the peace itself, in the seventeenth and in the early part of the eighteenth centuries, several princes mounted foreign thrones and brought their newlyacquired power to bear upon insubordination at home. The splendour of the court of Louis XIV began to be felt in the petty courts of Germany, and those nobles who before sought distinction as leaders of armed retainers moltened into silken performers in court ceremonies and pageantries of state. The French language, French manners, and French morals were introduced at all the courts beyond the Rhine. The country nobility (der Hof und der Landadel) held themselves aloof from this invasion of effeminacy. The Gallomania was of short duration. The morality of the Germans was too deeply interwoven with their national character to afford a permanent hold to French example. The latter part of the eighteenth century saw it give way, even in its strong holds, until it ultimately disappeared. Princes ascended the throne whose personal character was strong enough to introduce an effective reform. The nationality of the Germans awoke as from an unhealthy slumber. A new literature was created, and science was cultivated in a new spirit. The

middle classes asserted their rights against the privileges of the nobles in a bold and determined tone. The nobility they said were alone eligible to civil and military posts, they were still in possession of monopolies, and the services exacted from their vassals were incompatible with justice and humanity. These remonstrances the nobility met with indifference and contempt, and in this relation did the two parties stand until the breaking out of the French Revolution.

The enthusiasm which was kindled throughout Germany by the first successes of the democratic party, was soon quenched in the deluge of blood which succeeded them. These saturnalia were fatal to the cause of freedom. The most upright and purest friends of emancipation from feudal thraldom, were startled at the price of blood and crime at which it was to be purchased. The nobles became the defenders of the throne, and the prince would listen to no accusation against them. But the French invasion precipitated then at once down the precipice they so much dreaded. The left bank of the Rhine was annexed to France, and the nobles of course lost all their privileges. The peace of Luneville abolished at a blow the diets in all the states which it concerned. The Rheinish confederacy were further empowered to deal as they pleased with the privileges of the nobles; a power, of which all but the King of Saxony and the Dukes of Mechlinburg thought proper to avail themselves. The religious endowments, with the single exception of those of Austria, were everywhere confiscated. The nobility were deprived of their privileges, and even rendered subject to conscription. In Prussia the necessity of making head against the invader, forced the government into the adoption of similar changes of policy. Servitude was abolished, the plebeian was allowed to purchase the estates of the noble, the latter was declared liable to conscription, and birth was declared no longer necessary for promotion in the army. After the peace of 1814, the nobility fondly hoped to recover their lost power and importance, but the middle classes had risen into importance, to retrograde was impossible. The absolute monarch supported by his army and beloved by his people, was no longer disposed to admit the aristocracry to a share of power; and the Congress of Vienna contented itself with securing to the latter all the privileges which it could exercise without prejudice to the other classes of society, and without infringing on the Sovereign power. Their present position and numbers are thus estimated by Mr. Hawkins:

same.

"The ordinary nobility in the different German states, is subjected to the respective sovereign powers. In no two countries is its position the It has almost everywhere lost its exemption from taxation, and its remaining privileges are rather forms than solid advantages. In the constitutional states, however, it takes part in the government as a legislative chamber, and in several it still continues to administer justice in minor affairs on its own domains, and to exercise the right of church-presentation,

On the whole, however, its position is rather to be ascribed to the respect which it inspires, than to the privileges to which it is legally entitled.

"The king of Prussia, and, I believe, some other German potentates, now require an university education, and certain preliminary tests from all candidates for office; this circumstance alone will probably tend to elevate the character of the German nobility, because they will be compelled to undergo a regular educational discipline, and to sustain competition; but they have also a still more difficult trial to endure in Prussia, in a struggle against increasing poverty.

"The number of noble idinviduals in Austria was estimated by Lichenstern at 475,000. But Hassel believes that this calculation falls far short of the truth. In 1785, the nobility of Hungary alone were estimated at 162,495; and in 1816, the male nobles of Milan were reckoned at 3,859. The number of nobles in Prussia was computed by Hassel, in 1822, at about 200,000. Spain has been estimated to possess the most numerous nobility; Poland, probably, is at least equal in this respect; Austria and Prussia follow, then Russia, then France, next Sweden, and England stands, perhaps, last; Italy is less known."

From the foregoing estimate, it appears that Germany is rich enough in all conscience in noble blood, sufficiently so indeed to furnish a supply of that commodity to the other States of Europe. We are no longer amazed at the crowds which it sends forth to glitter for a while in our beau monde, like the swallows that come to revel in the sunshine of our summer. It is not our intention to follow Mr. Hawkins through his masterly chapter on the literature of Germany. In our Review of Mr. Taylor's powerful "Survey" we have already treated the subject at ample length. The various periodicals have, moreover, devoted a large portion of their columns to the work of popularizing the best productions of the several German schools, and of making the public acquainted with every point of interest connected with their writers. Those who have not had access to those sources of information, will find in the rapid sketch given in the present work all that is most deserving of attention. The exposition is clear, and the criticisms impartial and acute, for Mr. Hawkins is as judicious a critic as he is a careful and accurate statistic. As men of letters the Germans are pre-eminent. As Theologians they are not to be regarded with such cordial respect. In the cultivation of systematic geography, and of statistics, they are unrivalled. Busching, Hassel, Stein, Ritter, Crome, Meusel, Malthus, and a long array of celebrated names, have won honourable distinction in this field of science. Political philosophy and state economy have been cultivated with similar ardour, and the names of Schubert, Politz, Von Rotteck and Welcker, and not a few others, have become illustrious by their success. In no country is the philosophy of legislation more sedulously investigated, and nowhere are more learned lawyers to be found, while in all that relates to the literature of their science the German medical men are confessedly the best read men in Europe. In the branches of forensic medicine, medical police and