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.
292 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
ticularly horfes) the moft neceffary metals, and linen ; and Ruffia is obliged to import
wine, wood, horfes for hard fervice, and various other articles; but Germany has
every thing which thefe two very rich, and in many refpects very different countries
produce, and a great fuperfluity of what they want befides. -
The la{t mentioned and beft provinces of Germany, contain about fix thoufand four
hundred fquare miles. To judge of the population you muft reckon two thoufand
five hundred men for every fquare mile; at leaft a variety of different eftimates agree
in this; and if Bavaria, Heffe, and fome other countries fall fomewhat below this cal-
culation; others, as Auftria, Wirtemberg, the Netherlands, and different parts of the
circle of Upper Saxony, go’beyond it. This part of Germany contains alfo about fix-
teen millions of inhabitants.
‘The other part contains about five thoufand fix hundred fquare miles. It is difficult
to eftimate the population of this part. Some countries, as for inftance Upper Auftria,
have two thoufand fouls in every fquare mile. Magdeburgh, Halberftadt, Minden,
Brunfwick, Hildefheim, and many others have two thoufand five hundred. On the other
hand,the Hanoverian dominions, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, and many
others, have not more than one thoufand men in every {quare mile. _It is my opinion
that in order to eftimate the population of this part of Germany, you muft reckon one
thoufand feven hundred men, for every fquare mile, which will give nine millions five
hundred thoufand for this part, and make the whole twenty-five millions five hundred
thoufand. ~ In his treatife de Ja Litterature Alemande, the King of Pruffia reckons
twenty-fix millions for the whole country, an eftimate which appears to me to come
neareit to the truth. The manifefto which the Emprefs of Ruffia prefented to the
court of Vienna, on account of the laft difturbances about Bavaria, contains thefe re-
‘ markable words. ‘It is the the bufinefs of all the powers of Europe to fee that the
balance of Germany be not difturbed, for if it be, the ftrength of the country and its
fituation will enable it to difturb the peace of all Europe.”? This is an undeniable
truth; France and Italy are the only countries which can viewith Germany in population.
This extenfive country has not yet nearly arrived at the degree of cultivation of which
it is capable, not even at that of France. The peace of Hubertfburg, is the era of
its cultivation ; agriculture and induftry have been univerfal every fince that period.
Germany has taken much larger and quicker ftrides to cultivation than any other
European power. It at once exerted all its ftrength to fill up the gaps which had
been made in it by the deftructive war of thirty years. ‘The very partition of the coun-
try into fo many ftates, prejudicial as it is to the exertion of power for the purpofe of
foreign conquefts, has been of advantage to the internal cultivation. At prefent the
firft princes in Germany contend with each other who fhall make the belt improves
ments in the admini{tration of jultice, in education, and police, and who fhall do moft
for the promotion of induftry and commerce, with as much eagernefs, as they fore
merly contended who fhould be foremoft in pomp and idle magnificence. No where
is there fo thorough a conviction of the value of men and their different occupations,
and no where is there fo great a ftir made to improve them for the advantage of the
whole as in Germany. With refpect to legiflation and the true interefts of a country,
there has been a benevolent light fpread in moft parts of this empire, which does not
only, as in France, point out the gaps, but encourages the-princes and their fervants to
fillthem up. Without a doubt, Germany, as well as the reft of Europe, is much ins
debted to the King of Pruffia, the firft practical philofopher, who, in modern times,
has been feen on the throne. It was he who began the glorious revolution, which
has made fuch changes in Germany during the laft twenty years ; he taught his neigh.
3 bours
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
