WESTPHALIA WESTPHALIA, PEACE OF. 



uniformly distributed than ever before ; and the 

 new constitution afforded advantages to the great 

 body of the people, which they soon began to esti- 

 mate. The government gained in firmness as the 

 prejudices against it diminished. The king, besides 

 liis civil list, had 1,000,000 francs as a French 

 prince. He was much inclined to dissipation, but, 

 at the same time, disposed to do good to his people. 

 In 1809, internal commotions began, occasioned 

 by the war between Austria and France. The 

 eastern frontier of the kingdom was attacked by a 

 corps tinder Schill. In the south, an insurrection 

 broke out among the peasants near Marburg. 

 These circumstances gave rise to severe measures, 

 and the extension of the high police. The king 

 was obliged, by France, to increase his army to 

 30,000 men ; and the taxes were, in consequence, 

 so much augmented that, neither the minister of 

 finances nor the estates of the kingdom knowing any 

 other means to provide for the exigency, the public 

 domains were sold, and the public debt was arbi- 

 trarily reduced, by expunging a certain portion of 

 each man's demand. In 1810, the whole of the 

 former Hanoverian territory was united to West- 

 phaliu ; but hardly had she taken possession of it, 

 when another imperial decree was issued, annexing 

 not only this newly-acquired territory, but also the 

 former provinces of Osnabriick, Minden and part of 

 Ravensberg, to the French empire. It was of no 

 avail that the king strove to prevent this measure 

 by personal representations in Paris ; he was oblig- 

 ed to submit, and, moreover, to adopt the contin- 

 ental system (q. v.) : but this was not so oppressive 

 in Westphalia as in some other countries, the go- 

 vernment mitigating its rigour as much as possible. 

 In 1S12, the king led his army to Poland; but the 

 emperor soon obliged him to leave his troops and 

 return. Of his 24,000 men, but few escaped the 

 disasters which befel the French forces beyond the 

 Niemen. A new army, of 12,000 men, was imme- 

 diately organized, and accompanied the imperial 

 army to Saxony ; but the hearts of the soldiers were 

 with their brethren who stood opposed to them. 

 Even before the battle of Leipsic (q. v.), Czernits- 

 cheff drove the king from his residence, and occu- 

 pied Cassel for three days. The king returned 

 with some French troops, but only to receive the 

 news of the great battle of Leipsic, and to leave his 

 residence and kingdom for ever, after having caused 

 every thing valuable in his palaces, and even a part 

 of the treasures of the museum, to be Carried off. 

 Two days after his departure, the Russians entered 

 Cassel ; and, in a few days, the old governments 

 were re-established almost throughout the king- 

 dom. Oct. 20, 1813, the kingdom of Westphalia 

 ceased to exist. 



5. The Prussian Province of Westphalia was 

 created, in 1815. out of the provinces which Prussia 

 formerly possessed in the Westphalian circle, with 

 the exception of the duchies of Cleves and Berg, 

 and the abbeys of Essen and Werden. It is bounded 

 by the Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, the two 

 Lippes, electoral Hessia, Waldeck, Hesse-Darm- 

 stadt, Nassau, the Lower Rhine, and Juliers-Cleve- 

 Berg. The southern and eastern parts are moun- 

 tainous, yet have some fertile plains ; the northern 

 and north-western parts contain considerable heaths. 

 The climate is generally moderate, but rough in the 

 mountainous parts of the Sauerland. The Weser, 

 Ems, Lippe, and Ruhr, are the most important 

 navigable -rivers. The products are cattle, grain, 

 riax, wood, much iron, copper, ralamine, lead, coals 



salt, minerals water?, &c. The agricultural pro- 

 ducts are not sufficient to supply the inhabitants. 

 The manufacture of linen, and all kind - of iron and 

 >tccl wares, is extensive. Many of the inhabitants 

 of the northern parts go annually to the Nether- 

 lands, to assist, in gathering the harvest, and to dig 

 turf. The whole province contains 7780 square 

 miles, and, with the military, 1,090,000 inhabitants, 

 partly Catholics, partly Protestants, chiefly Lutln- 

 rans. It is divided into three governments, MUns- 

 tci, Minden, and Arnsberg, with capitals of the 

 same names. In Hamm, a periodical called Archives 

 of History and Antiquities is published by a society 

 for promoting the knowledge of the history and 

 antiquities of Westphalia. 



WESTPHALIA, PEACE OF ; the name given to 

 the peace concluded in 1648, at Munster and Osna- 

 briick (both situated in Westphalia), by which an 

 end was put to the thirty years' war (q. v.), and a 

 new political system was established in Europe, 

 which continued till the breaking out of the French 

 revolution. For Germany, particularly, it became 

 the foundation of the whole political system a 

 system unwieldy and oppressive. This peace was 

 not concluded until after seven years of negotiation 

 and preparation. Towards the end of 1641, preli- 

 minaries were agreed upon at Hamburg, having re- 

 ference chiefly to the mode of proceeding in regard 

 to the future peace, and the place where the deli- 

 berations should be carried on. The actual nego- 

 tiations did not commence until 1644, at Osnabriick, 

 between the ambassadors of Austria, the German 

 empire and Sweden ; at Munster, between those of 

 the emperor, France and other powers ; but the 

 articles adopted in both formed one treaty. This 

 division of the members of the diplomatic congress 

 was intended partly to prevent disputes on points 

 of etiquette between France and Sweden, partly 

 because Sweden refused to have any thing to do 

 with the papal nuncio, who was sent to assist in 

 negotiations. Quarrels on points of etiquette, 

 carried to the most ridiculous extreme, prevented 

 the opening of the congress for a long time. The 

 ministers of princes claimed the title of excellency, 

 like those of the electors. A round table was 

 adopted for the sessions, in order to evade other 

 punctilios. Peace was concluded at Mtinster, 

 whither the ministers, who had been at Osnabriick, 

 repaired, after they had also concluded a treaty 

 shortly before, on October 24, 1648. By this peace, 

 the religious and political state of Germany was 

 settled : the sovereignty of the members of the em- 

 pire was acknowledged. They received the right 

 of concluding treaties among themselves and with 

 foreign powers, only not against the emperor and 

 empire. Their consent was made necessary to en- 

 able the emperor to put any of the members under 

 the ban. The electoral family of the Palatinate 

 received back the Palatinate (q. v.) of the Rhine, 

 and the eighth electorship was created for it, with 

 a provision, however, that this should be abolished 

 in case the Bavarian house should become extinct 

 (as actually happened in 1777), since the Palatine 

 house would then recover the Bavarian electorate. 

 The changes which had been made for the advant- 

 age of the Protestants since the religious peace, in 

 1555, were confirmed by the determination that 

 everything should remain as it had been at the be- 

 ginning of the (so called) normal year, 1624. The 

 Calvinists received equal rights with the adherents 

 of the Augsburg Confession, or the Lutherans. 

 The princes of the empire were bound not to pro- 



