WESTPHALIA. 



powder, hoops, charcoal, hams, cattle, sheep, and 

 wool. Population in 1841, 56,454. 



WESTPHALIA; a name, 1. originally given 

 to a large part of Germany ; 2. to a duchy in Ger- 

 many ; 3. to one of the circles of the German em- 

 pire ; 4. to a kingdom ; 5. to a province of Prussia 

 of which we shall treat in the above order. 



1. The name of Westphalia was given in the 

 middle ages, to all the country between the Weser, 

 Rhine, and Ems, while the territory between the 

 Elbe and Weser was called Eastphalia. The lat- 

 ter name was lost in the course of time : the for- 

 mer was retained, and was subsequently given to 

 the circle of Westphalia, and to the Sauerland, or 

 the duchy of Engern. 



2. Duchy of Westphalia. In early times, this 

 formed part of the great duchy of Saxony, and was 

 then called Sauerland, a name which is still in 

 use among the common people of that country, 

 and includes also a part of the former county 

 of Mark. In 1179, when Henry the Lion was 

 put under the ban of the empire, the archbishop 

 of Cologne received it from the empire as a fief, 

 under the name of Westphalia, after which the 

 name passed over to the country. Cologne remain- 

 ed in possession of it until the dissolution of the 

 archbishopric, in 1802, upon which it was given, by 

 way of indemnity, to Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1815, 

 it was ceded by this power to Prussia, and was 

 united with the Prussian province of Westphali:. 

 It then contained 1530 square miles, with 134,715 

 inhabitants. 



3. Circle of Westphalia. This comprised not 

 only the land between the Weser, Rhine, and Ems, 

 but also considerable districts on the left bank of 

 the Rhine ; but the proper duchy of Westphalia, as 

 an appendage of Cologne, was considered as belong- 

 ing to the electoral circle of the Rhine. It had 

 also the official name of the Westphalian Circle of, 

 the Lower Rhine. It was one of the larger circles 

 of the ancient empire. 



4. Kingdom of Westphalia. The peace of Tilsit 

 had made Napoleon master of all the Prussian ter- 

 ritory west of the Elbe, and he also kept possession 

 of the territories of the electors of Hesse and Hano- 

 ver, and the duke of Brunswick. He had not then 

 conceived the idea of extending the frontiers of the 

 empire beyond the Rhine ; and he created, out of 

 the countries just mentioned, a kingdom of West- 

 phalia, comprising all the country of Brunswick- 

 Wolfenbiittel, the electorate of Hesse, (except 

 Hanau and Katzenelnbogen), the Prussian pro- 

 vinces of Magdeburg and Altmark west of the Elbe, 

 Halberstadt with Hohnstein, Hildesheim with Gos- 

 lar, Mansfeld, Quedlinburg, Eichsfeld with Tref- 

 furt, Muhlhausen and Nordhausen, Stolberg-Wer- 

 nigerode, Paderborn, Minden, and Ravensberg, the 

 Hanoverian provinces, Gottingen, Grubenhagen 

 with Hohnstein and Elbingerode, and Osnabriick, 

 Corvey, and the county of Rittberg. The area 

 amounted to 1530 square miles, with 1,946,343 in- 

 habitants. November 15, 1807, the kingdom of 

 Westphalia was created, and Jerome, the brother 

 of Napoleon, then only twenty-four years old (see 

 Jerome), was made king, with a constitution form- 

 ed in close imitation of that of the French, which 

 abolished feudalism, and might have done good in 

 various respects, could it ever have gone into full 

 operation free from the weight of foreign influence 

 which continually pressed upon the kingdom.* Je- 



* The emperor Napoleon gave this constitution to the coun- 

 try, as its preamble declares. It stipulates of what the kiiig- 



rome appeared, Dec. 7, in Cassel, and entered on 

 the government, but conducted, as might have been 

 expected, not like a king, but rather like a French 

 prefect. The situation of this new kingdom was de- 

 plorable. All the provinces had been systemati- 

 cally exhausted by the French, before they weie 

 united into a kingdom ; in addition to which, the 

 emperor had retained half of all the domains, or 

 public property, in order to make grants therefrom 

 to his soldiers ; bad stipulated that he should keep 

 12,500 men in Magdeburg, to be supported, cloth- 

 ed, and paid by the people of the country ; and the 

 kingdom was to pay all the contributions which 

 had been imposed upon the several territories com- 

 posing it when they were conquered. Westphalia 

 was, in many respects, but a province, a territoiy 

 of France, without enjoying the advantages which it 

 might have derived from forming an integral part of 

 the empire, and having the additional burthen of a 

 large army and an expensive government. On the 

 other hand, we must not omit to state the advantages 

 which grew out of the intimate connexion of this 

 new kingdom with France. The greatest were, as 

 we have already said, the abolition of feudalism, 

 and an increased estimation of the lower classes, a 

 greater willingness to acknowledge their rights, e. g. 

 in fespect to the administration of justice, the dis- 

 tribution of the public burthens, their participation 

 in the municipal administration, &c. The finances 

 of the kingdom were in great embarrassment when it 

 went into operation, and always remained so during 

 the seven years of its existence, large sums going 

 every year to France without any equivalent, and 

 the kingdom being obliged to take part in all the 

 great movements of the empire. The young inex- 

 perienced monarch had, indeed, counsellors around 

 him, who did the best that could be done under 

 the deplorable circumstances of the kingdom. 

 Within a short time, an army of 16.000 men was 

 formed. The French code, though at first much 

 disliked, gradually began to find less opposition from, 

 the people ; the taxes, though high, were more 



dom of Westphalia is to consist ; that half of all the domains of 

 the former princes shall be at the emperor's disposal, to be given 

 to his officers of the army ; that Westphalia is to form part of 

 the confederacy of the Rhine, with a contingent of 25,000 men, 

 of whom, however, in the " first years," only half are to be 

 raised ; the other half to be furnished by France, and to form 

 the garrison of Magdeburg ; that Jerome Napoleon is to be 

 king, his direct male descendants to succeed him ; the king to 

 remain always subject to the imperial family statutes ; in case 

 of minority. Napoleon, or his descendants, to appoint a regent ; 

 the kins; and his family to have a revenue of 5,000.000 francs, 

 to be raised from the other half of the domains, with additions 

 from the public treasury, if they should fail to yield the requi- 

 site amount. It further provides that there shall be a consti- 

 tution securing the equality of all the subjects and freedom of 

 worship ; that the feudal privileges, and those of corporations, 

 shall be abolished, but the different ranks of nobility are to con- 

 tinue ; one system of taxes to embrace all classes ; th tax on 

 real estate not to exceed a fifth of the revenue ; four ministers 

 to be appointed, and a council of state ; laws respecting the 

 finances, civil and penal legislation, to be drawn up in the coun- 

 cil of state, to be discussed by committees of the chamber, their 

 reports to be discussed by the council of state, and the law, 

 as finally settled by the council of state, under the presi- 

 dency of the king, to be laid before the chamber ; the estates 

 to consist of one hundred members (seventy to be chosen ot 

 owners of real estate, fifteen of merchants and manufacturers, 

 and fifteen of literary men) , a third part to be renewed every 

 three years ; their president to be nominated by the king ; their 

 debates to be secret ; the country to be divided into departments, 

 Nr.. with prefects, &c , and departmental colleges, &c., as in 

 France ; the Code fiapol- on to be adopted January 1, 1808 ; the 

 administration of justice to be public, in penal cases with the 

 aid of juries ; a new system of penal jurisprudence to be adopt- 

 ed July, ), 1808; courts of the peace to be established, with 

 justices of the peace ; the judges to be independent, appointed 

 by the king ; the judges to be removable only by the king, and 

 only after sentence by the court of appeal, on charges present- 

 ed by the royal procurator, or one of its presidents . no enlist- 

 ing of soldiers for money to take place ; the army to be supplied 

 by conscription. Dec. 23, 1808, a supplementary statute tvaa 

 issued, establishing one more minister. 



