PRUSSIA. 



191 



Prutsi*- 



From this enumeration, there are, it is evident, ten 

 provinces, exclusive of Neufchatel, which acknow- 

 ledges the sovereignty of Prussia, but retains its own 

 laws and usages, and which amounts to 50,000 inha- 

 bitants. Eacn of these provinces, it is also apparent, is 

 subdivided intotwoor more governments,making twen- 

 ty-eight in all ; and the governments contain severally 

 eight, ten, or twelve districts, or even more, termed 

 circles. The object of these subdivisions is the prompt 

 and correct administration of justice. Minute as these 

 divisions may appear, there are yet other divisions of a 

 different kind, namely, for military purposes ; a depart- 

 ment which the successive Prussian monarchs have cul- 

 tivated with great ardour and success. These are five 

 in number, Prussia; Brandenburg and Pomerania; 

 Silesia and Prussian Poland ; Saxony ; Westphalia and 

 the Lower Rhine. 



The population of the Prussian dominions, though 

 ' it varies in density in the several divisions, has been 

 ascertained with considerable minuteness. The follow- 

 ing is the result of the last census arranged according 

 to the amount of each province : 



Provinces. 

 Silesia, 

 Brandenburg, 

 Saxony, 

 Westphalia, 

 Lower Rhine, 

 Juliers, Cleves and Berg, 

 East Prussia, 

 1'osen, 

 Pomerania, 

 West Prussia, 



Population. 

 1,992,598 

 1,297,795 



1,071,079 

 972,724 

 935,040 

 919,580 

 847,800 

 700,766 

 581,970 



Total population, 10,536,571 



From this table it appears that, in proportion to their 

 extent, Juliers, Cleves and Berg, the Lower Rhone, 

 and Silesia are the most populous ; and East Prussia, 

 West Prussia, Pomerania, and Posen, are the least so. 

 We found above, that the whole Prussian territories 

 embrace an area of 104,656 square miles, and from the 

 calculations last stated, the number of inhabitants 

 amounts to 10,536,571, averaging about 99 to a square 

 mile. But so widely different is the ratio of population 

 in the different provinces, that while Juliers, Cleves 

 and Berg, contain 255 to each square mile, East 

 Prussia does not exceed 58, and some of the other pro- 



vinces, as specified above, are not much above that 

 number. Of this population, the males are 5,944,308, 

 and the females, 5,292,623. In 1740, Prussia, though 

 thru possessed of part of Silesia, and of extensive 

 territories in the north of Germany, contained only 

 3,000,000 ; but since that time, partly by acquisition, 

 and partly by an augmentation of numbers in the old 

 states, she has considerably more than tripled her po- 

 pulation. She is now, in this respect, superior to 1 

 land and European Prussia, inferior by a third to 

 France, and by a half to England and Ireland. 



The physical appearance of territories so extensive Phyiei 

 is less varied and striking than one could eakily con- ppari*- 

 jecture. In Pomerania, so slight is the slope towards 

 the sea, that the land would be inundated to a great 

 extent by the tide, were it not protected by a long range 

 of sand hills or artificial dikes. The rivers, both in Po- 

 merania and the other provinces, often inundate the 

 neighbouring country in consequence of the levelness 

 of the surface, or expand into lakes, some of which are 

 of considerable dimensions. A level surface is the ge- 

 neral predominating character, and though there may 

 be occasionally some diminutive eminences, there is 

 nothing in the whole of Prussia that can, properly 

 speaking, be denominated a mountain. There are, 

 however, various mountain ridges connected with it, 

 such as the Hartz in Saxony, the Riesengebirge, and 

 other large mountains in Silesia, the Westerwald in 

 Westphalia, and the Hundsruck in the Lower Rhine; 

 but these, as they merely form the outskirts or the 

 boundaries of the kingc^ m, may be regarded as belong- 

 ing as much to other states as to Prussia. But though 

 Prussia is devoid of mountains, there is a variety in 

 other respects that deserves not to be overlooked. In 

 every quarter of the kingdom, particularly in the eastern 

 parts of it, lakes of every degree of magnitude are 

 more common than in any other country on the conti- 

 nent. The woods and forests, the latter of which, from 

 the remotest date, seem to have distinguished this por- 

 tion of Europe, are calculated to cover above seventeen 

 millions of acres. Brandenburg, Westphalia, and other 

 places, abound in large plains of sand, or are covered 

 with heath. Silesia, though extremely fertile, is mark- 

 ed more than any other province by gentle inequali- 

 ties ; and the whole Prussian territories are beautifully 

 diversified by the great number of canals, and of large 

 rivers that intersect them in all directions. 



Prussia possesses one advantage peculiar to herself, Uivers. 

 with the exception of Holland and probably of Eng- 

 land; namely, her internal communication by water, and 

 her ready communication with the sea by means of 

 large navigable rivers. The shores of the Baltic also 

 are, more than those of any other sea, indented with 

 large and capacious bays, extremely accessible, and fa- 

 vourable to all the purposes of commerce for places in 

 the vicinity. And the more remote parts of the king- 

 dom have a direct communication with the sea by 

 means of majestic rivers, which are not only numeru 

 but situated at so regular a distance from each other as 

 to answer almost in an equal degree every district of 

 the country. Of these rivers, -the Elbe (the Albit ot 

 the ancients, and the Labbeof the Bohemians) deser 

 first to be mentioned. It rises in the Giant Mountains, 



Pomeranfa was formerly possessed partly by Sweden and partly by Prussia. In 1814, Sweden baring obtained Norway, ceded Pome- 

 rania, with the Island of Uugen to Denmark, in lieu of that country which she had lost. But the King of Denmark, finding that Pome. 

 rauja lay at too great a distance from his other dominions, bartered it with Prussia for the duchy of Lauenburg, in Lower Saxony, and * 

 certain sum of money. 



