now form Prussia formed part of one great state, comprising all Germany, because her trade with the interior of Germany is now obstructed. The Prussian territory extends 522 miles on the Baltic, and has several bays and ports. Its inland trade is promoted by the rivers Oder, Vistula, Elbe and Saale (the two latter of which are connected by seven canals with the two former), the Rhine, and also the Memel, Pregel, Warta, Netze, Havel, Spree, Weser, Ems, Ruhr, Lippe and Moselle, which either flow through Prussia, or belong entirely to it. There are rich lands along the banks of most of these rivers. The mineral treasures of the country, which are considerable, with the exception of the nobler metals, are much wrought. Amber is found almost exclusively on the coast of Hinder Pomerania and East Prussia. Cattle of all kinds are raised: horses are bred chiefly in East Prussia. Agriculture and the raising of sheep (Prussia has more than 15,000,000 of sheep) have attained a high degree of perfection. Manufactures are carried on in the mountainous part of Silesia, in Ravensberg, the Mark, Berg, and the other Rhenish provinces, chiefly of articles of domestic production; for example, manufactures of linen, amounting, in Silesia, annually to 11,000,000 of Prussian dollars (above 7,400,000 Spanish), of wool (in Silesia, Brandenburg, Saxony, the Lower Rhine, Aix-la-Chapelle, Burtscheid, Stolberg, &c.), and manufactures of various kinds of hardware. Iron and steel wares are largely made at Berlin, Solingen, Remscheid, Iserlohn. The value of all these manufactures was estimated, in 1804, at 51,000,000, and, including all sorts of articles for consumptions, at more than 85,000,000 of Prussian dollars, and this year may be taken as a standard. Dantzic, Stettin, Königsberg, Memel, Elbing, Pillau, Colberg, Stralsund and Swinemünde (q. v.) are seaports, some of them not unimportant. Though Prussia employed many thousand sailors before the introduction of the continental system, yet it has no navy to protect its commerce; and some forced attempts of the government to carry the Prussian flag to distant parts of the world, have by no means tended to the benefit of commerce. By a law of Sept. 21, 1821, a small coin (silver grosh), of which thirty make one Prussian dollar, was introduced. Government gain by it fourteen per cent.Most of the inhabitants of Prussia are Lu

A Prussian dollar is equal to about sixtyeight cents of our money.

therans: the reigning family are Calvinistic. In 1824, the king introduced a new liturgy, which, in 1825, 5343 of the 772 evangelical churches in the Prussian monarchy had accepted. According to the concordate with the pope, in the bull De Salute Animarum, of July 16, 1821. the bishops of Münster, Treves and Paderborn are under the archbishop of Cologne, and the bishop of Culm is under the archbishop of Gnesen and Posen. The bishoprics of Breslau and Ermeland are under no archbishop. The eight chapters elect their bishops; the pope confirms the election, and the chapters inquire, before the election, whether the persons proposed for their votes would be agreeable to the king. The members of the chapters are elected by the pope in the months one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven; in the other months by the bishop. In the first case, respect is paid to the wishes of the king; in the latter, the election is subject to the royal confirmation. The following orders of knighthood exist in Prussia: the order of the Black Eagle, founded in 1701, at the coronation of Frederic 1, consisting of but one class; the order of the Red Eagle, originally an order of the house of Anspach and Baireuth, and confirmed in 1791, by Frederic William II, and, in 1810, divided into three classes: the Louisa order, founded in 1814, for females; the order of Merit, founded in 1740; that of the Iron Cross, with two classes, for those who fought in the canı paigns of 1813-15; the order of St. John, besides various other honorary designations, medals, crosses, &c. In 1823, the king established provincial estates both where they had previously existed, and where they had not. This was to pass for a fulfilment of his promise made in 1815, to give a constitution to his people, but was, in fact, an evasion and a mockery. The estates consisting of nobility, citizens and peasants, have the right to give their opinion when they are consuled, and in questions relating to taxation, they are always to be consulted; but in no case is their opinion binding on the government. Though Prussia is an absolute monarchy, all persons are equally subject to the laws, and justice is impar tially administered (except in the case of accusations for political offences); all are equally bound to do military duty, and the way to office is nominally open to ail Feudal services were abolished or rendered redeemable by the edict of Oct. 9 1807, which must be considered as a consequence of the principles introduced by

the French revolution. The internal or ganization of the state rests on the edict of Oct. 9, 1707, and the administration was settled by the law of April 30, 1815. A general presides over each military division, and a high president (Oberpräsident) over each province. The conduct of public affairs belongs to the governments; the administration of justice to the high courts of the country (Oberlandesgerichte). Each "government" has a president and two chief divisions, the first of which attends to the police, the estates, the military, and the general affairs of the government, and is under the minister of the interior. The second division, under the minister of the police, has the charge of all financial affairs. Each province is divided into circles, superintended by a counsellor (Landrath), the organ of both divisions. The high presidents are permanent deputies of the ministers. To them are intrusted all those matters of political regulation, whose effect cannot be restricted to a single government; in particular, they are the presidents of the consistorial and medical authorities, and, at the same time, presidents of the government in the capital of the province. At the head of the state stands the monarch, who issues through his "privy cabinet" cabinet orders, signed by himself. March 30, 1817, a council of state was established: it is the highest deliberative authority, but has no part in executive business. It examines all plans, proposals, grievances, &c. The king presides, or the chancellor of state, or a member temporarily substituted. In 1819, this council consisted of sixty-six persons, including the princes. Under the "ministry of state" (consisting of the prince-royal, nine ministers of state and six reporting counsellors) stand immediately the privy state and cabinet archives, the high committee of examination, and the board of statistics. The ministry of state consists of, 1. the ministry of the royal household; 2. of foreign affairs; 3. of justice; 4. of finances; 5. of manufactures, commerce and public works; 6. of the army; 7. the interior and the police; 8. of ecclesiastical affairs, education and health; 9. of accounts (Staatsbuchhalterei). Independent of these is the general post-office. The general directory of foreign commerce has formed a separate department since 1820. The same is the case with the chief bank at Berlin. (For the Prussian law, and the administration of justice, see the end of this article.) The Prussian government has fulfilled its pecuniary obligations with

scrupulous exactness: thus it behaved honorably in its new provinces to the public creditors, who were so long ill-treated under the confederation, and acknowledged the whole debt in Westphalia, which had been reduced to a third by the king of Westphalia. The reigning house in Prussia is the house of Hohenzollern. The present king is Frederic William III (q.v.) His son, the prince-royal, Frederic William, was born Oct. 15, 1795. Of the previous kings, Frederic I died 1713, Frederic William I in 1740, Frederic 11 (the Great) in 1786, Frederic William II in 1797.-History of Prussia. The Teutonic knights received, in 1226, a strip of land on the Vistula from Conrad of Masovia (see Poland), in order that they might protect Poland from the heathen inhabitants of Prussia. From 1230 to 1283, they carried on a war of extermination with eleven Prussian tribes. These at last became Christians, and adopted the German customs. The power of the Teutonic knights increased rapidly, and, in the fifteenth century, their territory extended from the Oder, along the Baltic, to the bay of Finland, and contained cities like Dantzic, Elbing, Thorn, Culm, &c. About 1404, they ruled over 2,500,000 of people, and had an annual income of 800,000 marks. But the knights became tyrants, and the nobility and cities had no means of escaping their oppression but by submitting to Poland. A terrible war ensued, from 1454 to 1466, and the country was filled with bloodshed and devastation. In 1511, the knights elected Albert of Brandenburg, son of the margrave of Anspach, to the office of grand master, with a view of strengthening themselves. In 1525, the order was abolished entirely in Prussia, and its territory was converted into an hereditary duchy, under prince Albert and his male descendants or brothers, as a fief of Poland. The republic of Poland acknowledged the sovereignty of the elector of Brandenburg in the duchy of Prussia by the treaty of Welau, Sept. 19, 1657. Towards other powers, and especially Sweden, the great elector Frederic William (q. v.) also maintained a respectable attitude. His son Frederic III placed the royal crown upon his head, Jan. 18, 1701, as Frederic I, thereby elevating Prussia Proper to a kingdom. Vanity probably led him to take this step, but, under hini, the monarchy increased in territory, and a desire for further increase-a necessary consequence of the scattered condition of its component parts-and the assumption of a station which required augmented

power to support it-became an early, and, it may be said, a ruling trait of Prussian policy, and the desire is still strong, for the original motive still remains. Frederic William I (q. v.) received Stettin in 1720, by the peace of Stockholm, and also Prussian Gueldres. He was a tyrannical soldier, but sagacious, a friend of justice when it did not interfere with his caprices or plans. His desire to keep on foot a standing army of 60,000 men, led him to the enlisting of foreigners. He was frugal, and under him began the system so much developed by Frederic II, of making the internal government as much as possible a machine. His love of justice not unfrequently led him to infringe the independence of the judiciary. With many resources which waited only for developement, Prussia came to Frederic the Great, who made it one of the first powers of Europe. Claims upon parts of Silesia were used as a pretext for the invasion of that province. After several wars, he remained in possession of the chief part of it.

East Friesland was united with Prussia in 1743. From the year 1763, Frederic's chief care was directed to the internal government, almost all the branches of which he improved; but the great number of troops which he kept on foot induced him to make the increase of revenue the chief object of his government, and the whole system of internal administration was regulated with a view to make it a productive machine. Square miles and population were then the measure of power and happiness in the policy of the European cabinets; the first partition of Poland, in 1772, was the consequence; and, from that time, Prussia sacrificed Poland to Russia, to secure its aid as an ally against Austria. The monarchy was almost doubled under Frederic the Great. He left to his nephew, Frederic William II, a territory of 71,670 square miles, with 5,800,000 inhabitants, and an army of 220,000 men (which, however, consumed almost four fifths of the revenue of the state), and a treasure of 50 million Prussian dollars (about 34 million Spanish). Frederic the Great had no true love for his nation; his ruling passions were the love of fame and of power. He regarded the Prussian nation as a foreign general regards the army under ls command. More than any other prince he undermined the German empire, which, it must be owned, had become worse than worthless. He separated entirely the army and the citizens- -a system whose natural termination was the punishment

of an insolent nobility on the field of Jena. Under his government industry was encouraged; the press enjoyed considerable liberty; Frederic was, in general, a lover of justice. With him died the principle which had given motion to the whole sys tem, and Mirabeau, in his Histoire secrete, calls Prussia pourriture avant maturile. His successor, Frederic William II, was a profligate and weak man; the country was badly governed; the finances exhausted, and her politics became wavering, because Frederic the Great had elevated her to such a rank among the European states, that she was obliged to take a prominent part in the most important af fairs of the continent; but after she had lost the aid of his genius, she had not sufficient power to act independently. This wavering character continued for a long series of years. With Frederic the Great, also, or, at least, under him, began a siugular contradiction in Prussian politics. While her government promotes with great liberality the diffusion of knowledge, and manifests a real enthusiasm for science, and several of her most eminent public men are among the friends of free institutions, yet history finds her siding with Russia, and, of late, also, with Aus tria, all three opposing with a vain obstnacy the irresistible progress of liberty. At Reichenbach (q. v.), in 1790, Prussia appeared as mediator in the peace with the Porte, and in August, 1791, became connected again with the court of Vienna by the convention of Pilnitz. (q. v.) The profligate extravagance of the court of Frederic William II required large supplies of money; and Prussia and Russis seized upon the remainder of Poland, under the pretext of putting down Jacobin ism, although Frederic William had a sented to the new Polish constitution of May 3, 1791. The cabinet, which surrounded the imbecile king, was without principle; it took possession of the territory of Nuremberg; it shared, in 1793 and 1795, in the partitions of Poland, and made a secret treaty (August 5, 1796) will France. After many inconsistent steps caused by her artificial situation, Prussi resolved upon the maintenance of a strict neutrality, which, in the state of Europe at that time, was impossible. In 18 France occupied Hanover. In 1805, when 3 third coalition was forming against France, Prussia wavered more than ever. The emperor of Russia, Alexander, appeared at Berlin, and brought about the conver tion of Potsdam, Nov. 3, 1805; but, after the battle of Austerlitz, Prussia sought for

peace, and concluded with France the treaties of Dec. 15, 1805, at Vienna, and of Feb. 15, 1806, at Paris. April 1, 1806, she was obliged to occupy Hanover, and was severely reproached by Fox. After Napoleon had concluded the confederacy of the Rhine, Prussia thought herself called upon to form a counterpoise against France; but she could not effect a confederacy of the states of Northern Germany. A war ensued, and a single battle-that of Jena, Oct. 14, 1806-disclosed to the world the rottenness of the system of Frederic the Great (to rest the whole power of the state on the army, and to separate the army as much as possible from the citizens, by taking for soldiers foreigners, and for officers noblemen only, whose arrogance has never been surpassed, and had no solid basis, not even that of large property). The peace of Tilsit, July 9, 1807, reduced Prussia to half its former dimensions, and this half had to support 150,000 French soldiers until December, 1808, and to pay 120 millions of francs; French garrisons remained in the fortresses of Stettin, Küstrin and Glogau. The minister Von Stein (at the head of affairs since Oct. 5, 1807,) strove to regenerate Prussia, and, though he was a most uncompromising enemy of France, established by the edict of Oct. 9, 1807, new relations between the landlords and the cultivators, and introduced several results of the French revolution. The peasants were to be in future free, and might become owners of the soil; and, Nov. 19, 1808, a municipal constitution, called the Städteordnung, was established, by which the minister Stein seems to have intended to lay the foundation of a civil spirit, and to adapt the state of Prussia to the spirit of the age.* In 1808, Stein was obliged to leave Germany, in consequence of the persecutions of the French. June 6, 1810, baron Hardenberg was placed at the head of the government as state-chancellor. His administration is a most important one for Prussia. (See Hardenberg.) The continuance of French oppression, instead of weakening Prussia, strengthened her to a degree which would have been thought impossible. Her energy broke forth with a wonderful effect in 1813, when the king called on "his people" to shake off the French yoke. The nation

The Stadteordnung gives the cities the control of their pecuniary affairs, and, in some measure, of their police. It was revised in 1831, and extended to cities acquired since its introduction. It does not, however, confer much real liberty.

was then in a state of excitement, which the government gladly made use of, but did not understand, or, if it did understand, labored to check as soon as the occasion for turning it to profit had passed by. We have given, in the first division, Statistics, &c. of Prussia, the increase which this monarchy received from the Vienna congress. Its political station is much the same as it was before 1806, though Prussia has become more influential than it was during the reign of Frederic William II, and is closely connected with Austria and Russia, and instead of rallying round her the constitutional portion of Germany, and making herself the champion of order and civil liberty in that country, she shuts her eyes to the noble opportunity, and joins to the barbarous might of Russia and the withering despotism of Austria the light of science and civilization, and thus, in case of a general war, will compel the constitutional states of Germany again to join France.

Administration of Justice in Prussia. At the head of it is the minister of justice, whose office extends to the organization of the whole department, all the appointments in the same, &c., and to decisions in cases unprovided for, and the remedying of what appears defective or contradictory by the authority of the king. Under him, in the ancient Prussian dominions, are the high courts of the country (Oberlandesgerichte); under these the lower courts, particularly the inquisitoriats, which have charge of criminal cases; the country and town courts; royal "justice-offices," courts of the mediatized princes, counts and barons, patrimonial courts; commissioners of justice (advocates) and notaries. There are also ecclesiastical and commercial courts. Since the new organization of justice in Prussia, it has always been the plan to appoint, even for courts of the first instance, several judges with collegiate power, for all cases where the question is one of real legal investigation; whereas, in former times, in Germany, there was but one judge in all the courts of the first instance. The same principle lies at the foundation of the new French organization. judicial system in Prussia is as follows:A. In the German countries between the Rhine and the Weser, the Elbe and Oder, including East Prussia, there is a considerable variety in the courts of the first instance, particularly in Silesia and Westphalia, on account of the many lordships and principalities which have independent

The

courts of the first instance: some of them even possess courts of the second instance. In the Catholic parts of the country there are, also, the ecclesiastical courts of the archbishops and bishops. The courts of the second instance comprise sixteen high courts of the country, of which the one at Berlin is called court of the chamber (Kammergericht). These are permanent courts, and all the time in session. Every high court of the country is divided into two senates (three only excepted), of which the second forms generally the court of appeal, and at the same time attends to affairs of guardianship, &c. The division into senates exists also for criminal cases. These high courts of the country consist of 330 presidents, counsellors and assessors (all judges). Above them stands the privy supreme tribunal at Berlin, as a court of revision for important cases. Civil cases, according to the ancient German custom, pass successively through three courts, criminal cases through two; but all decisions in important criminal cases are sent to the minister of justice, and generally are laid by him before the Kammergericht for its opinion. For the conduct of investigations there is a division, called Inquisitorial, in the high courts of the country. This organization exists in East and West Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Silesia, Saxony, Westphalia, and Juliers-Cleves-Berg. B. The province of Posen had, during the existence of the duchy of Warsaw, a judicial organization entirely French, which, with certain modifications, has been retained by the ordinance of Feb. 9, 1817. There are in that province thirty-one courts of the peace, for much the same objects as the French courts of this sort, namely, to effect compromises, to decide in actions for the recovery of small debts, contracts of hire, insults, &c. As courts of the second instance for cases decided by the justices of the peace, and of the first instance for other cases, there are seven "country courts" (Landgerichte), corresponding to the French tribunaux de première instance. In some cases, the oral pleading has been retained in civil cases, but with an extension of the power of the judge, and a curtailing of the irregular writing, which the French process permits to the advocates. (See Process.) For criminal cases there are four inquisitoriats, entirely in the Prussian form. A high court of appeal at Posen, with two presidents and eight counsellors (judges), forms the court of highest in stance in all cases. The first appeal is

made from one country court to another; so that these courts exercise mutually an appellate jurisdiction over each other. The high court of appeal is not merely a court of cassation (q. v.), but goes into a consideration of the whole case, and decides it upon the merits. The courts of the peace consist of a judge and an assessor (assistant). The country courts comprise sixty-two presidents, directors, counsellors and assessors. C. In the province of the Lower Rhine, the French administration has been retained entirely, as well in respect to the organization of the courts as to the nature of the process. (Only the Eastern Rhenish part of the district of the country court of Coblentz has the Prussian organization.) In this province, there are 123 courts of the peace. Above them stand six country courts, with ninety-one presidents, counsellors and asessors. The court of second instance (in regard to courts of the peace the third is the Rhenish court of appeal, with two presidents, twenty-six counsellors, and two assessors. There are in these courts, cojlectively, thirty-three advocates of the crown. At Aix-la-Chapelle, Coblentz, Cologne, Crefeld, Elberfeld and Treves are commercial courts. Appeals of cassation (q. v.) go to the court of cassation at Berlin. D. The principality of Neufchate! and Valingin has its own ancient judicial system. The lower judicial authorities are the mayors and castellans; the higher are two sovereign courts, in which the governor presides, and to which each estate (nobility, officers and communities sends four members. The supreme tribenal at Berlin is the highest court of justie for that part of the Prussian monarchy, in which the Prussian judicial system prevails. It decides only as the highest court of appeal, the court of third instance, i causes in which the amount in dispute is at least 2000 German dollars, with the exception of a few kinds of cases which be long to it, without regard to the amoun. and of some which are excepted from s jurisdiction, without regard to the amour. It acts only on the reports carried up to ¿ from the lower courts, and, whenever = disputed fact remains to be settled, th cause is sent back to the inferior court The numerous other courts, which possess final jurisdiction, have prevented this tr bunal from contributing so much to give completeness and uniformity to the jur prudence of the country, as other supren tribunals in other countries; for exams. the parliament of Paris, the court of cassetion, the court of the imperial chamb