The Sun.
London, England, 1809-11-10 00:00:00

KINGDOM OF WESTPHALIA.

MR. EDITOR, .
" Being lately arrived from GermariY, I beg leave
to offer youa slight, but faithful account of the pre.
sent state of some parts-,of that once_ powerful, yet
always ill-constituted country. I shall begin by
that newly created French vassal kingdom, which
Owes its- existence to the fall of Prussia,.. and which
was finally constituted on the 15th of November,
1807 ; .1 mean the Kingdom of Westphalia.
" CoMposed of seventeenditretent
Bishoprics, Abbeys, and Counties, it is now divided
into eight regular Departments; • -
" 1. The Department of the Elbe; which con,
'tains the dis;rias of Magdeburgh,- New Haldensle-
:ben, Stendal, and SAtzwedel.
"2. That of the Fulda, with-the distrias of Cas-
sel, Hover, and Paderborn.
-" 3. That of the -Hartz ; which comprises the
distritas of Heligenstadt, Duderstadt, Nordhausen,
and Osterede.
4.• The :Department of .the Leine; with the
distrias of .Gottiugen and Eimbeck. •
5. That of the Ocker ;* which contains the
districts of Brunswick, Helmstedt, Hildesheim,
and Goslar.

6. The Departttient cif the-Saale; with the dis.
,tries of Halberstadt, Blankeuburg, and Halle.
" 7. That of the Werra ; which comprises the
districts of Osnabruck, Minden, Bielfuld, and Rin-
tein.

8. The whole 'area of the kingdoth presents a .1
surface of 692. German square miles, 1.5 to a degree. I
Its population - amounts to 1,946,343 individuals,
(312000 of whom live in towns.
" This population is an assemblage of Prussians,
Brunswickers, Hanoverians, &c. actuated by chtfe-
rent feelings at-the change.of Governors which they
have experienced; and far, very far from forming a
nation, . united by' the bonds of similar habits, cus.
toms, and • manners. Long, for instance, will the .
former subjects of the late benevolent Duke of
Brunswick: Wolfenbuttel regret the loss of a family
,of Princes, under whose paternal Government they
enjoyed a happiness unknown. in despotic countries
since the' days of Henry IN'. of France ; whilst
,the
Hessians have less cause to lam6nt their new condi-
tion. Even the Westphalian Minister of the Inte-
rior, Monsieur de Semeon, in his first address to
the States, admitted that Brunswick and Hessia had
owed their former political existence, one, to the
selling of her brave soldiers to Foteign Powers ; and
.the other to the wise administration- of her Prince:
but that this was 'a transient happiness, whichcle-
pendeci upon the happiness of an individual. •
" It is, particularly' at -Brunswick, where the in-
habitants have been daily witnesses of the exempla--
ry conduci of their late Prince; that the litxurinufs
life Of their new Sovereign is animadverted upon as
forming a peculiarly striking contrast. An un-
bounded indulgence in licentious pie isnt-es-has so
undermined his feeble constitution, that id order to
support his tottering frame, he is reported to bathe
every morning in a tub of claret. As this becomes
the, perquiiiie of his valet de chambre, the story
goes, that the Wine is bottled off again, and .retailed
at reduced prices, to the inn-keepers and publiCatis
of the place where his decaying Majesty happens io
reside. Hence the reporte3 dread of tasting any
•red wine. at Cassul,.except in respectable private
houses.

"The want of unity of sentiments in. the govern-
ed, is, however,
.more than coMpensated, by the
strong system of Government which holds that mot.-
ley assemblage of people in subjeaion. The military
power of Westphalia is greatly superior to the capa-
bility of: the country to recruit it. The contingent
to the Confederacy of the Rhine is fixed at 2.0,000
men, infantry, 3500 cavalry, arid 1500 artillery ;
but hitherto it has not been able to arm much mote
than hall that number, and France has supplied the
deficiency. The strong garrison of MagdebUrgh is
chiefly composed of French troops'"