﻿173 



HESSECASSEL. 



HESSE-DARMSTADT. 



171 



E.&E. from Cassel, has 6000 inhabitants, who manufacture woollen 

 Btuifd, canvass, ribands, needles, iron-ware, and machinery. Among 

 the other towns are Pridar, 20 miles S.W. from Cassel, with an Ursu- 

 line convent and 3000 inhabitanta ; Hofgeismar, a small walled town 

 15 miles N.N.W. from Cassel, population 3500 ; Mehungcn, another 

 walled town on the left bank of the Fulda, 15 miles S. from Cassel, 

 with a castle and about 4000 inhabitants, who manufacture woollen 

 cloth ; Rothenhurg, on the Fulda, 24 miles S.E. from Cassel, with a 

 palace, formerly the residence of the landgrave, 4 churches, and 3600 

 inhabitants ; Rinteln, capital of the detached county of Schaumburg, 

 situated on the Weser, 10 miles S.E. from Minden, population 3200 ; 

 Homberg, on the Efze, 22 miles S. from Cassel, with a population of 

 about 4000, employed in woollen and linen manufactures, brewing, 

 distilling, and in the iron-mines near it. 



Upper Hesse, which comprises the most western part of the elec- 

 torate, is divided into four circles. Its chief town is Mabbubg. The 

 other towns are small ; but among them may be named Fraukenberg, 

 on the Eder, 19 miles N. from Marburg : population, 3300. 



The province of Fulda comprises the south-eistem part of Hesse- 

 Cassel, and consists of — 1, the former duchy of Fulda, chief town 

 Fulda ; 2, the circle of Hersfeld, chief town Hersfeld ; 3, the circle of 

 Hiinfeld ; and 4, of the lordship of Schmalkalden, which lies on the 

 Upper Werra, between Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningeu. This pro- 

 vince and the chief towns in it are noticed under Fulda. 



The province of Hanau comprises the most southern part of the 

 electorate, and lies ea-st of the territory of Frankfurt-am-Main. It is 

 divided into four circles, .ind has for its chief town Hasau, which is 

 noticed in a separate article. 



From the time of William IV. (1592), Hesse-Cassel, though it 

 suffered much in the successive wars which desolated Qermany, did 

 not sustain any loss of territory, but on the contrary it made several 

 acquisitions. After the Thirty Years' War Hessian mercenaries were 

 hired out to foreign powers ; a system which greatly enriched the 

 princes of Hesse. Frederick II., who succeeded to the government 

 in 1760, embraced the Roman Catholic religion, but made no change 

 in the constitntion, and had his children educated Protestants. He 

 let out several thousand men to England in the American war, and 

 received for them, from 1776 to 1784, above three millions sterliug. 

 He died in 1785, and wai succeeded by the landgrave William IX., 

 who in the war of the French revolution not only furnished his con- 

 tingent as a prince of the empire, but had also a body of troops in the 

 pay of England. In the French revolution his dominions on the left 

 bank of the Rhine were seized by the French. In 1803 he assumed 

 the title of Elector as William L In 1806 his territories were seized 

 by Kapoleon, and incorporated with the new kingdom of Westphalia. 

 After the battle of Leipzig (1813) he returned to his capital, and sub- 

 sequently became a member of the Germanic Confederation. He did 

 not live on good terms with his subjects, who were disappointed in 

 their expectations of obtaining a new constitution. He died in 1821, 

 and was succeeded by his son William II., who embroiled himself still 

 more seriously with his subjects by bis connection with the Countess 

 of Reichenbach. In 1830 serious riots broke out; the countess left 

 Cassel ; and on the 9th of Janiuiry in the following year the elector 

 presented his subjects with the long-promised constitution. Fresh 

 disturbances however arose in consequence of the return of the 

 countess ; and the elector was so angry that he also left Cassel, and 

 could not be induced to return. He appointed his son, the electoral 

 prince, regent, who entered on his functions October 1, 1831. 



H e se e Cassel joined the Prussian Customs Union (ZoUverein) in 

 1832. With the exception of some discontent consequent upon this 

 step, the electorate enjoyed tranquillity till the year 1850. In that 

 year, when re-action set in against the revolutionary doctrines and 

 movements which had kept Germany in commotion since 1848, the 

 chamber of Hease-Cassel was not summoned to meet till the unu- 

 sually late date of August 26, and was then asked to authorise the 

 receipt of taxes till the 30th of September, when a budget would be 

 presented. The assembly voted the receipt of indirect taxes, but 

 refused, in the absence of a budget, to authorise the levy of direct 

 taxes. On the 2nd uf September the assembly was dissolved, and the 

 elector subsequently ordered his subjects to pay the taxes as usual. 

 A system of passive resistance soon developed itself against this 

 arbitrary proclamation ; a decree of the elector followed in a few 

 days declaring his dominions in a state of siege, suppressing the 

 joanutls, and prohibiting popular meetings. The elector on the Hth 

 of September transferred the seat of government from Cassel to 

 Bockenbeim, a small town in the province of Hanau, not far from 

 Frankfurt-am-Main, and claimed the protection of the Germanic 

 Confederation. The Frankfurt diet then sitting passed a resolution 

 condemning the Hessian chamber, and promising to take steps for the 

 re-establishment of legal order in the electorate. Prussia then inter- 

 fered in the qourel, protesting against the jurisdiction of the diet, to 

 which she and several of the German states had refused to send repre- 

 sentatives. Austria, on the other hand, supported the resolution of 

 the diet, as binding upon the states represented, at all events. Angry 

 notes followed between the two powers : the armies of both states 

 were put in motion. Prussia took possession of the military road 

 through Hersfeld with a force under General Groben, with part of 

 which he occupied Cassel and Fulda. Bavarian troops entered the 



territory of Hesse at Hanau, supported by a division of the Austrian 

 army under Field-Marshal Legeditz, who advanced upon Fulda, from 

 which the Prussians retired for (it was said) strategic reasons. Every- 

 thing threatened an angry civil war in Germany, when at a conference 

 held at Olmiitz between Prince Swarzenburg and Barou Manteuffel, 

 it was agreed to settle the affairs of Hesso and of Holstein (for 

 thither also the Austrians were on march to support the federal diet 

 against Prussia) by means of two commissioners, one appointed by the 

 Confederation and the other by Prussia. Accordingly the Prussians 

 withdrew from the military road, and the Federal commissioner, 

 Field-Marshal Count de Linauge, conducted the elector back to 

 Cassel on the 27th of December. 



HESSE-DARMSTADT, a grand-duchy in the west of Germany 

 which is governed by the second main branch of the house of Hesse, 

 was founded in 1567 by George I., youngest sou of Philip the Gener- 

 ous, of whose dominion he obtained one-eighth with Darmstadt, and a 

 small addition on the death of his brother Philip without issue. On 

 the death of George his dominions were divided among his three sons. 

 Louis V. succeeded him in the principal line ; Philip obtained Butz- 

 bach, which reverted on his death to the main line ; and Frederick, 

 the youngest, was the founder of the junior line of Hesse-Darmstadt, 

 namely, that of Hesse-Homburg. Excepting the ruinous etiects of 

 the Thirty Years* War, the reigns of the succeeding princes were on 

 the whole prosperous, and various acquisitions of territory were made. 

 Louis IX., who found the country burdened with debt, which he paid 

 off, left to his son, Louis X., au improved territory with 300,000 

 inhabitants at his death in 1790. Louis X., during his long reign of 

 40 years, acquired very large additions to the extent of his dominions 

 and the number of his subjects by the treaty of Luneville in 1801. 

 In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine, and obtained from 

 Napoleon still further accessionsof territory, with 112,000 inhabitants, 

 and the dignity of Grand-duke, on which he took the title of Louis I. 

 In 1809 his troops acted against Austria, and the peace brought him 

 new accessions of territory. In 1813 he let his troops serve with the 

 French ; but after the battle of Leipzig he joined the allies, on their 

 engaging to let him retain his newly-acquirud provinces. In 1815 the 

 grand-duke joined the German Confederation. By the decision of the 

 congress at Vienna he indeed made large cessions on the right bank of 

 the Rhine, with 1 85,000 inhabitants, to suit the convenience of Prussia 

 and other states, but obtained on the left bank a part of the then late 

 French department of Mout-Touu^re, with Bingen, Mainz, and other 

 towns, containing altogether 203,834 inhabitants; so that he gained au 

 addition of above 18,000 subjects. 



The grand-duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt consists of two largo portions, 

 which are separated from each other by a long strip of laud, extend- 

 ing from east to west, belonging to He.^se-Cas3el and the city, of 

 Frankfurt The grand-duchy from Wimpfen, a small detached portion 

 surrounded by Wiirtemberg, to Bingen- its most western point, is 

 situated between 49° 12' and 51° 20' N. lat, 7° 50' and 9° 40' E. long. 

 The northern portion is bounded W. by Prussia and Nassau; N.E. 

 and S. by Hesse-Cassel. The southern portion is bounded N. by 

 Nassau, Frankfurt, and Hesse-Cassel ; and on the other sides by 

 Bavaria and Baden. The area of the whole is 3231 square miles, and 

 the population, according to the census of 1851, was 854,314. 



Divi»i<m>. — The grand-duchy is divided into 3 provinces : — 



1. Ober-IIasen, or Upper Uetse, has au area of 1542 square miles, and 

 a population of 309,617 ; chief towns, Giessen, the provincial capital 

 [Qiessen], Friedbei-g (3000 inhabitants), Biibingen (2700 inhabitants), 

 Alsfeld (3700 inhabitants), Lauterbach (3100 inhabitants), Sohlitz 

 (3200 inhabitants), biedenkopf, on the Lahn (3200 inhabitants). 



2. Starkenburg has an area of 1159 square miles, and a population 

 of 319,050; chief towns, Darmstadt the capital of the grand-duchy 

 [Dahmstadt], Pfuugstadt (3000 inhabitants), Griesheim (2900 inhabit- 

 ants), Bensheim (4000 inhabitants), Heppenheim (4100 inhabitants), 

 Gernsbeim (2900 inhabitants), Lampertheim (3000 inhabitants), 

 Dieburg (3000 inhabitants), and Olfeubach-am-Maiu (10,000 inhabit- 

 ants. Near Heppenheim is the castle of Starkenburg, which gives 

 name to the province. Offenbach, 4 miles S.E. from Frankfurt, stands 

 on the left bank of the Main, which is here crossed by a bridge of 

 boats. It has a castle the residence of the princes of Isenburg- 

 Birstein, several churches and schools, and important manufactures 

 of hosiery, carpets, cotton and woollen stuffs, carriages, pipes, musical 

 instruments, and jewellery. 



3. R/tein-I/esseii, or Rhenish Ileise, has an area of 529 square miles, 

 and a population of 225,647 ; chief towns, Oppenheim (2400 inhabit- 

 ants), Mainz, the greatest fortress of the German confederation 

 [Mainz] ; Worms (9500 inhabitants) [Worms], Alzey (4500 inhabit- 

 ants) ; and Bingen on the left bank of the Rhine at the mouth of the 

 Nahe, population about 5000. 



To the province of Upper Hesso belongs the entirely detached 

 district of Wohl, or Itter, the most northern part of the grand-duchy, 

 a wild sterile country, surrounded by the territory of Waldeck. 



The grand-duchy of Hesse, as a member of the German Confe- 

 deration, is the ninth in rank, has three votes in the full council 

 and one in the minor council, furnishes a contingent of 6195 men, 

 anil contributes 1500 florins annually to the treasury of the Con- 

 federation. 



Ober-Hessen is traversed by the railway from Frankfurt-am-Main to 



