Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, Yr
The right of holding property of their own, which the country people of thefe parts
enjoy, could not of itfelf prevent thefe ftates, which exift entirely by agriculture, from
decay; becaufe the extraordinary fruitfulnefs of the women would in time require fucli
a partition of property, as would not leave enough to each farmer to buy beds for his
children. I believe therefore that it is the emigrations, joined with this, that are to
folve the phenomenon I am endeavouring to explain. Though Suabia is the moft po-
pulous country in all Germany, there is no one of the inhabitants of which migrate ia
fuch large quantities.
Thefe emigrants are of two kinds. ‘The major part are an idle fet, who fell their
property to furnifh themfelves with money to travel into foreign countries, in fearch of
imaginary projects of fortune. ‘The others are young men, who go out to try their for-
tune as mechanics, and when they fucceed, part with their land to their other brothers
for a {mall confideration. By thefe caufes no greater load is thrown upon agriculture
than it is able to bear; and it is well that there is not; for the fole refources of fuch
{mall diftriéts as thofe we are now {peaking of, are in their agriculture. For the limits
of their luxury are too narrow to admit of that variety of employments, and ways of
gain, which diverfify the callings of men fo infinitely in other countries; nor is it pofli-
ble that manufactures fhould thrive among them, whilft they are circumftanced as they
are; that is, furrounded by powerful princes, who lay great duties on their imports, in
order to protect their own eftablifhments, and fituated in a country which fupplies them
with few, if any, of the prime materials for work. They mutt therefore depend entirely
on their agriculture, and they do fo. I donot however mean to fay, that, cultivated as
it is, this country is not fufceptible of a much greater degree of improvement. It cere
tainly is; and much more might be done. : :
Still, what has been done is furprifing 5 nor is the caufe lefs worthy of admiration.
For it is owing to a fteady adminiftration of juftice, and a fet of political regulations
which are to be met with in the fmalleft parts of the country, and which raifed my won-
der as often as I had occafion to confider them, We not only hear nothing here of
the oppreflions of private individuals, but there are inftances in which caufes have been
given again{t the petty lords of the country in their own courts. Indeed they have need
to be careful; for no man who is not {trong enough to bring a force in the field againft
the emperor, to whom there is always an appeal, would be fuffered to go on long with
impunity. Itis but a few years fince, that redrefs was obtained againft a petty prince of
Suabia, who was going to drive his fubjeéts out of their pofleflions, in order to make
way for his flags and wild boars. But it muft be owned, that fuch extreme remedies
as thefe are feldom neceflary. There is an integrity ftill adherent to the German cha-
raéter, and a kind of jovial humour about them, which makes the princes of the country
ftart from the aéts of wanton oppreffion and cruelty, which, with the fame powers, would
no doubt be exercifed in Spain, Italy, and evenin France. Give a German prince but
room and food for his dogs and horfes (for about the welfare of thefe he is uncommonly
folicitous)) and you have little to fear from him ‘in other refpeéts ; — that is as an indi-
vidual, for in the grofs they will clip you as clofe as they can.
There is, however, one objet in which there is great need of reformation, and that
is the adminiftration of criminal juftice. The torture is not yet abolifhed in thefe coun-
tries, and they {till behead, hang, break upon the wheel, and impale /ecundum precepta
legis Caroling. It is not very long fince they burned a woman for being a witch; but
that I believe is over. The civil law too, is not yet reduced to that perfe€l ftate whicli
might be defirable. Not that I am for getting rid of all forms, with your modern phi-
lofophers, and leaving every thing to the wifdom of the judge, under the pretence that
c 2 forms
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
