746 



GERMANY. 



17. Education. There are six universities in Prussia, at Berlin, Halle, Breslau, Bonn, 

 Koenigsberg, and Greifsvvalde. Those of Berlin, Halle, and Bonn rank among the most ex- 

 cellent institutions of the kind in Europe. The next inferior degree of education, called the 

 secondary education, is liberally provided for by numerous and excellent institutions, such as 

 gymnasiums or classical schools, Real-schulen or schools for instruction in mathematics, sciences, 

 &c. Elementary education is afforded by upwards of 22,000 common or primary schools, to 

 which all the subjects are required by law to send their children, after they reach a certain age. 

 On the whole, there is no country where the system of pubhc education is so extensive and 

 complete as in Prussia. 



18. Government. Army. The government is an absolute monarchy ; the revenue is about 

 35 millions of dollars ; the public debt, 140 millions. The military is composed of the regular 

 troops and the militia or landwehr ; the former amounts to 162,000 men ; the latter to 360,000. 

 Every subject is required to serve three years in the standing army, between the 17th and 23d 

 years of his age, with the exception of those who have received a certain education , these 

 serve but one year. After this term of service, every person belongs, till his 30th year, to the 

 first class of the landwehr, which is drilled every Sunday, and is in active field service for the 

 space of three weeks, once a year. The second class of landwehr, composed of those above 

 30, is exempt from further duty, except in war. Thus the whole nation is essentially military, 

 and Prussia has been called by a lale traveler, "the classic land of barracks and schools." 



19. Inhabitants. Five sixths of the whole Prussian population are Germans. In the pro- 

 vinces of Prussia and Posen, the Sclavonic race is numerous, 

 comprising Poles, Lithuanians, &c. The Wends, in the pro- 

 vince of Brandenburg are likewise Sclavonians. The Jews are 

 numerous in Posen, and there are some French on the west- 

 ern frontiers of the province of the Rhine. The Germans of 

 Prussia are industrious and orderly ; but, though well educated, 

 the lower orders are without that civil and political freedom, 

 which alone can bring their knowledge and talents into activity. 

 The Sclavonic nations are very much behind the Germans in 

 the useful arts, intelligence, foresight, and the comforts of life ; 

 and even when surrounded by a German population, obstinately 

 adhere to their own language and customs. Population of the 

 kingdom, 13,800,000. 



19. History. The present kingdom of Prussia has been 

 formed by various conquests, since the beginning of the 18th 

 century, when it first assumed the rank of a kingdom. Frederic 

 William the First, who reigned from 1713 to 1740, laid the foundation of the military power 

 of Prussia. His son and successor, Frederic the Second, called the Great, augmented his ter- 

 ritory by the conquest of Silesia, and the partition of Poland, and left the kingdom with a high 

 political influence in Europe. The battle of Jena, in 1806, threw the whole kingdom into the 

 hands of Napoleon. From this time, it was little more than a dependency of the French em- 

 pire, till the Russian campaign. After the fall of Napoleon, the kingdom was established upon 

 its present footing, with great accessions of territory, and it is now the fifth of the great Euro- 

 pean powers 



CHAPTER XCVI. GENERAL VIEW OF GERMANY. 



1. Boundaries and Extent. The States of the German Confederacy are bounded north by 

 the German Ocean, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea ; east by Prussia, Posen, Poland, Cracovia, 

 Galicia, Hungary, and Illyria ; south by Istria, the Adriatic Sea, the Lombardo-Venetian 

 kingdom, and Switzerland ; and west by France, Holland, and Belgium. They extend from 

 45° to 54° 40' north latitude, and from 4'^ 50' to 20° east longitude, and contain 246,000 

 square miles, with about 37,000,000 inhabitants. 



The following is a list of the States of the German Confederacy ; besides which, are the 

 duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, now belonging to Denmark ; the duchy of Luxemburg, 

 belonging to the king of the Netherlands ; all the kingdom of Prussia except the Polish and 



