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fecured by feven locks, the keys of which are kept by the fame number of Hungarian noblemen. No prince is held by the populace as legally their fovereign, till he be crowned with the diadem of king Stephen; and they have a notion that the fate of their nation depends upon this crown's remaining in their poffeffion; it has therefore been always removed in times of danger, to places of the greatest fafety.

Chief Towns.] Prefburg, in Upper Hungary, is the capital of the whole kingdom. It is well built on the Danube, and, like Vienna, has fuburbs more magnificent than itself. In this city the ftates of Hungary hold their assemblies, and in the cathedral church the fovereign is crowned.

Hiftory.] This kingdom is the ancient Pannonia. Julius Cæfar was the firft Roman that attacked Hungary, and Tiberius fubdued it. The Goths afterwards took it; and in the year 376, it became a prey to the Huns and Lombards. It was annexed to the empire of Germany under Charlemagne, but became an independent kingdom in 920. It was the feat of bloody wars between the Turks and Germans, from 1540 to 1739, when, by the treaty of Belgrade, it was ceded to the latter, and is now annexed to the German empire. Formerly it was an affemblage of different ftates, and Stephen was the firft who affumed the title of king, in the year 997. He was diftinguished with the appellation of SAINT, becaufe he first introduced christianity into this country. The prefent fovereign is Leopold II. who fucceeded his brother, the late emperor, Jofeph II.

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Boundaries.] BOUNDED north, by the German Ocean, Denmark,

and the Baltic; eaft, by Poland and Hungary; fsouth, by Switzerland and the Alps, which divide it from Italy; weft, by the dominions of France and the Low Countries, from which it is feparated by the Rhine, Mofelle, and the Meafe.

Divifions.] The German empire is divided into ten circles, viz.

Circles.

Population.

Circles.

Population.

Upper Saxony

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1,880,000

Lower Saxony

2,100,000

Franconia

1,000,000

Weftphalia

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Upper Rhine

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Lower Rhine

1,100,000

Auftria,

4,182,000

Befides

Befides these ten circles there belong alfo to the German empire,

The kingdom of Bohemia, divided into 16 circles
The Marquifate of Moravia, in 5 circles,

The Marquifate of Lufatia, (belonging to the elector of
Saxony)

Silefia, (belonging to the Roman empire)

Population

2,266,000

1,137,000

400,000 1,800,000,

Productions and Commerce.] From the advantageous fituation and the great extent of Germany, from the various appearance of the foil, the number of its mountains, forefts and large rivers, we should be led to ex-, pect, what we actually find, a great variety and plenty of ufeful productions. The northern, and chiefly the north-eastern parts, furnish many forts of peltry, as fkins of foxes, bears, wolves, fquirrels, lynxes, wild-cats, boars, &c. The fouthern parts produce excellent wines and fruits ; and the middle provinces great plenty of corn, cattle and minerals. Salt is found in Germany in greater abundance and purity than in most other countries.

If the Germans are inferior to the English in the manufactures of cloth, hardware, and in the articles of luxury, it must be accounted for from the political fituation of their country: The great number of princes, the variety of the forms of government, the different interests and mutual jealoufies of the petty ftates, operate as checks on the commerce and profperity of the whole; and the difficulty of obtaining their concurrence in meafures of general utility, is frequently the caufe, why there are fo few canals and good roads, to facilitate travelling and inland trade.

Government.] The German empire, which till the year 843, was connected with France, now forms a ftate by itself, or may be confidered as a combination of upwards of 300 fovereignties, independent of each other, but compofing one political body under an elective head, called the Emperor of Germany, or the Roman Emperor. All other fovereigns allow him the first rank among the European monarchs. Eight princes of the empire, called Electors, have the right of electing the Emperor. The elec tors are divided into ecclefiaftical and temporal.

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The emperor, upon his election, engages to protect the Romau Catholic religion and the Holy fee. He is lord Paramount of the Roman em pire, of whom the princes are fuppofed to hold their dominions in feeHe has power to affemble the Diet, over which he prefides in perfon or by his commiffary, and of ratifying their refolutions by his confirmation-He is fupreme judge--has power to confer titles of nobility-to establish post offices thronghout the empire-to give charters to the univerfities, and to

confer

confer academical degrees. The Diet, which is compofed of the emperor and of the immediate ftates of the empire, have power to levy taxes, give laws, make war, and conclude treaties of peace, by which the whole empire is bound. The ftates of the empire. which are differently conftituted and governed, confidered in their feparate capacity, enjoy fovereign power in their respective dominions, limited only by the above mentioncd laws.

Religion.] Since the year 1555, the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, and the Calvinift, generally called the Reformed Religion, have been the establifhed religions of Germany. The first prevails in the fouth of Germany, the Lutheran in the north, and the Reformed near the Rhine.

Capital. VIENNA, on the Danube is the capital of Auftria, and of the whole German empire; and is the refidence of the Emperor.

Improvements.] The Germans can boast of a greater number of useful difcoveries and inventions in arts and fciences than any other European nation. They have the honor of inventing the art of printing, about the year 1450.

Hiftory, &c.] Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, king of France, was the founder of the German empire, in 800. Leoopld II. the present emperor, was elected upon the death of his brother Jofeph II.

The German empire, when confidered as one fingle power or ftate, with the emperor at his head, is of no great political confequence in Europe; because, from the inequality and weak connection of its parts, and the different nature of their government, from the infignificancy of its ill composed army, and above all from the different views and interests of its mafters, it is next to impoffible its force fhould be united, compact and

uniform.

THE NETHERLANDS, OR FLANDERS.

Miles.

Length 200 Between

Breadth 600 f

{ 49° and 52° North Latitude,

2° and 7° Eaft Longitude.

Boundaries.] BUN DEwen, by France and the English Sea.
Divifions.] This country is divided into ten provinces, named,

OUNDED north, by Holland; eaft, by Germany;

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Inhabitants and religion.] The Netherlands are inhabited by about 1,500,000 fouls. The Roman Catholic is the established religion, but Proteftants and Jews are not molested.

Manufactures.] Their principal manufactures are, fine lawns, cambricks, lace and tapestry, with which they carry on a very advantageous traffic, efpecially with England, from whence, it is computed, they receive a balance of half a million annually in time of peace.

Chief towns.] BRUSSELS is the chief town of Brabant and the capital of Flanders. Here the best camblets are made, and most of the fine laces, which are worn in every part of the world.

Antwerp, once the emporium of the European continent, is now reduced to be a tapestry and thread-lace fhop. One of the first exploits of the Dutch, foon after they fhook off the Spanish yoke, was to ruin at once the commerce of Antwerp, by finking veffels loaded with stone in the mouth of the river Scheldt: thus fhutting up the entrance of that river to fhips of burden. This was the more cruel, as the people of Antwerp had been their friends and fellow fufferers in the cause of liberty.

Hiftory.] Flanders, originally the country of the ancient Belge, was conquered by Julius Cæfar forty-feven years before Chrift; paffed into the hands of France A. D. 412; and was governed by its earls, fubject to that crown, from 864 to 1369. By marriage it then came into the house of Auftria; but was yielded to Spain in 1556. Shook off the Spanish yoke 1572, and in the year 1725, by the treaty of Vienna, was annexed to the German empire.

HOLLAND, OR THE UNITED PROVINCES.

Miles.

Length 180

Breadth 145 Between {51° 20' and 53° 30′ N. Lat.

and 7° Eaft Longitude.

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Boundaries.] Band French Netherlands, weft and north by the Ger

OUNDED east, by Germany; fouth, by the Auftrian

man Ocean. Containing 113 towns, 1400 villages.

Divided

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Country of Drenthe, under the protection of the United Provinces. Lands of the Generality, commonly called Dutch Brabant.

Wealth and Commerce.] The feven United Provinces afford a striking proof, that unwearied and perfevering induftry is capable of conquering every difadvantage of climate and fituation. The air and water are bad; the foil naturally produces fcarcely any thing but turf; and the poffeffion of this foil, poor as it is, is difputed by the ocean, which, rifing confiderably above the level of the land, can only be prevented by ftrong and expenfive dykes, from overflowing a fpot which feems to be ftolen from its natural do. mains. Notwithstanding these difficulties, which might feem infurmountable to a lefs induftrious people, the perfevering labours of the patient Dutchmen have rendered this fmall, and feemingly infignificant territory, one of the richest spots in Europe, both with refpect to population and property. In other countries, which are poffeffed of a variety of natural productions, we are not furprized to find manufactures employed in multiplying the riches which the bounty of the foil bestows. But to fee, in a country like Holland, large woollen manufactures, where there are fcarcely any flocks; numberless artifts employed in metals, where there is no mine; thousands of faw-mills, where there is scarcely any foreft; an immenfe quantity of corn exported from a country where there is not agriculture enough to fupport one half of its inhabitants, must strike every obferver with admiration. Among the most valuable productions of this country may be reckoned their excellent cattle. They export large quantities of madder, a vegetable much ufed in dying. Their fifheries yield a clear profit of many millions of florins. The trade of Holland extends to almoft every part of the world, to the exclufion, in fome branches, of all their European competitors.

Capital.] AMSTERDAM, which is built on piles of wood, and is one of the most commercial cities in the world. It has more than one half the trade of Holland; and, in this celebrated centre of an immenfe commerce, a bank is established of that fpecies, called a Giro bank, of very great wealth and greater credit.

Government.] Since the great confederation of Utrecht, made in the year 1579, the Seven United Provinces must be looked upon as one political body, united for the prefervation of the whole, of which each fingle province is governed by its own laws, and exercifes moft of the rights of a fovereign ftate. In confequence of the union, the Seven Provinces guarantee each others rights, they make war and peace, they levy taxes, &c. in their joint capacity; but as to internal government, each province is independant of the other provinces, and of the fupreme power of the republic. The provinces rank in the order they are mentioned. They fend deputies, chofen out of the provincial ftates, to the general affembly,

called

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