GENEEAL ASPECTS. 167 



from its torpor, and the idea of a United Germany took root in it long before 

 events permitted its realisation. 



The numerous small principalities into which Germany found itself divided 

 deprived the country of all political power. The minor princes, jealous of each 

 other, lent a too willing ear to the foreigner. The small courts, at which it was 

 sought to imitate the splendours of wealthier capitals, became the seats of vice and 

 intrigue. Fortunately the w^hole of Germany w^as not subjected to this demoral- 

 ising rule. There yet remained free cities, the guardians of that public spirit 

 which had so much contributed to their greatness. In course of time fresh centres 

 of art, science, and literature sprang into existence, and the nation slowly 

 recovered from the wounds inflicted by a thirty years' religious war. 



Towards the close of the last century, on the eve of the great Revolution 

 Germans nobly distinguished themselves by their intellectual labours. Goethe 

 and Schiller added their immortal works to those previouslv existing; gifted 

 musicians walked in the footsteps of Mozart, Handel, and Haydn ; and Kant 

 revolutionised ideas. History and its allied sciences have found eloquent inter- 

 preters in Germany ; philology has been developed there into a science ; mathe- 

 matics and the natural sciences have employed some of the ablest minds ; and 

 nowhere else has geography been studied with equal success. The names of 

 Humboldt, E,itter, and Peschel are amongst those which geographers revere most 

 deeply. 



Germany has reconstituted itself politically within the last decade, but already 

 the effects of centralisation are making themselves felt. As long as Germany 

 remained an incoherent congeries of small states, it enjoyed at all events the 

 advantage of having numerous local centres of life and intellectual light. Had it 

 always been a centralized empire, such as France became in the time of Richelieu, 

 it would certainly not now be able to boast of the numerous universities which 

 constitute one of its great glories. Modern imperial Germany certainly tends 

 towards centralization. The provinces are gradually being dejjrived of their 

 autonomy, and although this may further political coherency, a restriction of local 

 liberties must in the end weaken the nation, and reduce its power of initiative. 



