WÜRTEMBERG, a kingdom in the interior of Germany, formed, within the last few years, out of the ancient duchy of the same name, with the addition of several smaller territories progressively combined with it, in the reigns of the last two sovereigns, by an accommodating policy, and a sedulous regard to their own interest during the progress and conclusion of the French revolution. By an armistice made with France in 1796, all the territories on the left bank of the Rhine were ceded to that power; but by the opportune peace of Luneville in 1801, and a separate treaty which followed as a consequence of it, Würtemberg was raised to the dignity of a grand duchy, and obtained several districts which had either been portions of small independent states or ecclesiastical dominions. Among these were the cities of Heilbron, Gmünd, Hall, Rothweil, and some others, with the districts around them. The whole of these acquisitions extended over 633 square miles, and contained 115,000 inhabitants. In December 1805, in consequence of the part taken in the war between France and Austria, the kingly dignity was assumed, and the possession of several other portions was guaranteed by the former power. These acquisitions comprehended several districts on the Danube, whose inhabitants were estimated to be 158,000. In 1806, when the confederation of the Rhine was formed, Würtemberg joined it, and stipulated to contribute to its support 12,000 men; in consequence of which, other considerable additions to its territory were made. Several exchanges of dominion took place with Baden and Bavaria, but rather for the sake of rendering the limits more distinct than to increase possessions. The part taken by Würtemberg in the wars declared by France against Prussia in 1806, and against Austria in 1809, led to a further augmentation; and by choosing the precise moment for deserting the cause of Bonaparte in 1813, the king was enabled, at the subsequent congress of Vienna, to obtain the sanction of all the great European powers to the title which he had assumed, and to the territory which had been acquired. The kingdom of Würtemberg was thus fixed in the condition described in the following pages.

The whole is nearly enclosed between Baden and Bavaria; the former bounding it on the western and northern sides, and the latter on the eastern and southern, except that on one part of its southern frontier the Lake of Constance separates it from Switzerland. It is of an irregular form, extending from 47° 35' to 49° 35' north latitude. On a very small portion of its northern boundary it comes in contact with the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. Its whole extent is 7573 square miles, or 4,846,720 English statute acres.

The ancient divisions of the duchy of Würtemberg were various, according to their position and feudal claims; and the additional territories that had been recently acquired were in very irregular and unequal allotments. Of late, a new division has taken place into circles, which are again subdivided into Oberamts or bailiwicks. Besides these circles, the capital, the city of Stuttgart, forms by itself a separate division, though its inhabitants are included in the population returns of the Neckar circle.

The circles, with their extent and population, are,
[table]

By a subsequent enumeration taken at the end of the year 1835, the result, no account of each circle being given, appears to shew that the males of the kingdom were [7:21:945]786,619, and the females 825,180, making thus 1,611,799. As the increase of the population seems still to be progressive, it may probably at this time (1841) exceed 1,750,000 persons.

This population is found in 130 cities (having or formerly having had walls), 128 market-towns, 1115 parishes, 558 hamlets, 2591 farms, and 269 castles or seats of the nobility. The increase of population, calculated by the excess of births over deaths, has been about 10,000 on an average of several years.

The inhabitants are partly of Swabian and partly of Franconian origin, and retain the peculiar pronunciation of the races from which they are descended. There are likewise some settlements of the Waldenses. The Swabians make use of many words very different from the other German people, and adopt many variations in the idioms not known elsewhere. These may be observed to alter at every ten or twelve miles in travelling through the country.

The prevailing religion in old Wurtemberg was the Lutheran, for which it suffered most severely during the thirty years’ war. No toleration was granted to any other sect except to the Waldenses, and they were confined within prescribed limits, and even in those spots were under some strict regulations, and excluded from the rights of citizenship. Since 1806, the three religious parties have enjoyed the free exercise of their modes of worship, and a participation in all civic rights, with eligibility to all public offices. The Lutherans and Calvinists, now united, are distinguished by the name of the Evangelical Church. Their number in 1833 was 1,087,413, and that of the Romish church 489,025. There are many sectaries, such as Separatists, Baptists, Hernhutters, and others, who are neither favoured nor persecuted by the government. Through the whole of protestant Würtemberg there is a great number of persons distinguished by the appellation of Pietists, who hold their private meetings for devotion, but do not in other respects separate from their churches. The Lutheran church is under the direction of six superintendents, whose dioceses are divided into fifty deaconries, and supplied with 818 pastors. The Catholics are governed by a vicar general, who is assisted by a council consisting of clerical and lay members; the priests under them are about 640. The Lutheran clergy are in general better supported, and taken from a somewhat higher class of people than in most of the other parts of protestant Germany. The Jews, who have established themselves chiefly in the new provinces of Würtemberg, amount to about 10,766 persons.

Few parts of Germany have exhibited more or better specimens of knowledge and talent than have been produced from the institutions for education in Würtemberg. The state has, for its population, more means for acquiring learning. The endowed classical schools are fifty-five, from which the theological pupils are transferred to the university of Tübingen, where they are maintained from the funds of the institution. In these establishments the pupils are not confined to mere professional pursuits, but have their attention directed to general knowledge. The university of Tübingen has long been considered one of the best in Germany. There are, besides, the gymnasium at Stuttgart, and seminaries for the protestant clergy at Maulbroun, Schoenthal, Ulm, Heilbron, and Ochriengen; and for Catholics at Rothenburg, Rothweil, and Ellwang. Schools for instructing the poorer classes of the people are amply provided in every part of the kingdom, so that the knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic is almost universal. No village is without its school, and scarcely a market-town without a classical instructor.

The kingdom may be considered as hilly, if not mountainous. On the eastern part is the group of the Swabian Alps, and on the western the Black Forest, a continuation of the Swiss Alps. The highest points of these two groups of elevations are from 2500 to 2800 feet. The eastern are not so lofty as the western ranges of hills, but they are more bleak, raw, and unhealthy. There are no plains, but some extensive and beautiful valleys, highly fruitful, of which that of the Neckar with its branches, and that of the Danube from Tutlingen to Ulm, are the most celebrated. The various smaller valleys, running between the hills, and terminating on the banks of the several rivers, present rich and beautiful prospects. The woods are extensive, and contain almost every kind of forest-tree; but the absence of hedge-rows is a great drawback to the beauty of the country in most parts of the kingdom. The scenery is much indebted to the rivers and the several tributary streams which run through all the valleys. The Neckar rises in the southern extremity of Würtemberg, and, with many windings, leaves the kingdom on its northern frontier, in its course to join the Rhine. It collects the waters of the Kocker, the Jaxt, the Rems, the Ens, the Erms, and the Zaber. The Danube rises in this kingdom, from the mountains of the Black Forest, and leaves it at Ulm, on the frontiers of Bavaria. It is increased by the several streams of the Iller and the Brentz. The Tauber, in the north, is one of those streams which contribute to the waters of the Maine. The Schussen and the Argen are two small rivers that empty themselves into the Lake of Constance. That lake borders a small part of the kingdom. The Feder Lake, about three miles in length and breadth, and those of Laufen and Pfaffen, which are smaller, he within its boundaries.

The land of Würtemberg has been recently classed thus: meadows 640,000, arable 1,620,000, woods and forests 1,520,000, and vineyards 61,000 acres; the remainder is either waste or occupied by the lakes, rivers, cities, and towns. In no part of Germany is so much attention directed to agriculture as in this kingdom, and in no part of it are the practices so generally good. The cultivation of green crops is much diffused. Turnips, but more especially mangel wurzel, are grown to clear the land from weeds, and to a great extent have superseded the former mode of fallowing. Potatoes are very extensively cultivated, and not only form the chief food of the working classes, but are used for the purpose of making brandy, as well as feeding cattle. The rape and poppy plants are grown for making oil; and that which is expressed from the latter is found to be equal, if not superior, for the use of the table, to the oil of olives. Hemp and flax are raised in abundance, the former chiefly in the middle provinces, and the latter most extensively in the district of the Black Forest. The harvests of corn are tolerably productive of wheat, rye, oats, and, in some of the warmer districts, of maize. The supply of grain is estimated for the whole kingdom at about 23,000,000 bushels; of which, as potatoes are extensively used for food, some is every year sent to supply the wants of the neighbouring states. The woods afford more fuel and building materials than are demanded for domestic consumption; and the surplus, by means of the rivers, is conveyed to the countries lower down the several streams. The vineyards produce abundance of wine, and, though generally not of a good quality, and much of it very bad, its culture is found very beneficial. The best wines usually comprehended in the general class of Neckar wine are those made on the hills near the old castle of Wurtemberg, at Uhlbach, Fehlbach, Upper and Lower Turkheim, Lichtenberg, Rosswag, Maulbroun, and Tauberthal. The most productive vineyards are those on the western borders of the eastern Alps, where a single acre has been known to yield more than 2000 gallons; but it more resembles vinegar than wine. It is generally remarked that the Neckar wines have much deteriorated of late years; which is attributed to negligence ir. the choice of the most proper plants, and to attention being principally paid to such as yield much, rather than to such as yield the best wine. The wine made in the year 1811, [7:21:946]as was the case on the banks of the Rhine, and in most parts of Germany, was of an unusually good quality; and such of it as now remains sells for 300 florins the emir, while the wines of later years are not worth more than 139 florins. The annual value of the wines made in the kingdom on an average is L.400,000 sterling.

The cattle in Würtemberg have been carefully attended to, and the cows especially are of a very good description, which is attributed to the care in improving the breed, and to their being generally stall-fed, or soiled with green food. The butter is excellent, and in many districts good cheese is made, but the last less extensively than with due pains it might be. The sheep have been much improved by constant crossings between the old races of the country and those of the Rousillon and Merino breeds, and now the greater part of the flocks are of the fine-woolled kind. The breed of horses was at one time much improved by the introduction of Holstein and English stallions. Of late years they have been retrograding, but the government has now been induced to take steps, by introducing studs of the best horses, for improving them again. The number of cattle in the year 1820 was thus enumerated: horses 80,870, cows 599,490, sheep 488,940, swine 114,200, goats 16,620, asses 1008. There is however good reason to conclude, from what is known of the prosperous state of the country, that the increase in the live-stock has kept advancing in a degree similar to that of the human beings.

The fisheries are very productive both in the lakes and the rivers. The Lake of Constance affords abundance of salmon trout, perch, carp, and barbel; the other lakes and the rivers yield trout, eels, barbel, pike, and several other kinds of fish; and in the Feder Lake the shad is found of a very large size.

The only mines that are extensively worked are those of iron, at Neuhausen, Fluorn, Neuenberg, Aalen, and Wasseralfingen. The ore from these mines is prepared both by smelting and the hammer, and supplies the manufacturers of Fredicksthal, Christophsthal, Ludwigsthal, Harras, and Heidenheim, with minerals for their cutlery and ironmongery. There are saline springs at Hall, Sultz, Offenau, and Weisbach, from whence are annually made about 8000 tons of culinary salt; and a new spring, lately opened at Kochendorf, promises to afford a more copious supply, so as to dispense with the quantity of that commodity now purchased from the kingdom of Bavaria.

Since the conclusion of war, some valuable mineral springs, before unknown or neglected, have been used for medicinal purposes; and accommodations have been provided in a style of elegance and convenience which attracts to them a great number of visitors in the summer months, when the power of the waters is deemed most efficacious. The principal of these are at Kannstadt, on the right bank of the Neckar, a few miles from Stuttgart. There are more than thirty springs in and about the town. The waters are cold; they contain Glauber, Epsom, and common salts, mixed with a small portion of iron, and are found of great efficacy in curing disorders of the digestive powers. At Wildbad in the Black Forest, nearer to the capital of Baden than to the capital of Würtemberg, the springs are hot, varying from the temperature of 65° to 100° of Fahrenheit. The water is colourless, and has neither taste nor smell, but it gives out much carbonic acid gas. Few ingredients of a medicinal nature have been detected in it; but the use of the baths has been found by experience highly salutary in gouty and rheumatic complaints, and the temperature being nearly the same as that of the human blood, the use of them is highly pleasant to the feelings. The baths are hollows scooped out from the granite rock, some large enough to hold many persons at once, who, however, when bathing in company, have bathing gowns provided for them. The supply of water is so copious that it is constantly flowing, and never allowed to stagnate in the baths. Rippoldsau is also in the Black Forest, and on the confines of Baden, to which duchy it formerly belonged. The accommodations are tolerably settled, and gradually improving, but scarcely yet adapted for more than 150 or 200 visitors. The water is alkali-saline, is pleasant to take as a common drink, and is as effervescent as the celebrated water of the Selzer well.

The chief manufactory of Würtemberg is that of linen. The inhabitants of the eastern Alps and of the Black Forest are employed in this branch of industry. In those districts almost every female is occupied during the winter in spinning, and every peasant is a weaver. Both fine and coarse linen is produced, and also diaper and sail-cloth. In Münsengen there is a manufactory for damask table-linen, which produces most excellent goods. In some parts of the kingdom the females find employment in making a coarse kind of bone-lace. The cloth-manufactures are inconsiderable, and seem to be far from flourishing; and much of the wool clipped within the kingdom is either exported in the raw state, or, after being spun, to the neighbouring countries. Cotton spinning and weaving have been introduced at several places, but those establishments are in a languishing state. Leather, glass, paper, snuff, beer, hardware, cutlery, with oil, pitch, tar, and potash, are all made in different parts of the kingdom. The breweries, and especially the distilleries, are numerous. In the large village of Mossingen there are no less than 280 stills for making brandy and whiskey. This is the country for making wooden clocks; and those works produced in Würtem-berg, or from natives of it who have transferred their labour to other countries, are to be seen in almost every part of Europe.

The chief commerce of Wiirtemberg consists in the exchange of its commodities with the adjoining states. It sells to them 18,000 oxen, 12,000 cows, 75,000 sheep and lambs, and 550,000 lbs. of wool, more than it buys. The usual export of corn beyond the import is 80,000 quarters. The corn exported chiefly consists of rye, most of which is sent to Switzerland from the Würtemberg ports of Frede-rickshaven and Mersburg, on the Lake of Constance. The other sales include linens, leather, snuff, pitch, tar, potash, oil. and wood, and wooden toys of various descriptions. The imports are silk, cotton, wool, East and West India productions, flax, hemp, hides, and salt. The balance of payments is usually in favour of Würtemberg.

The government of Würtemberg is at present an hereditary limited monarchy. The king is the sole sovereign, and acts without control by his ministers, in every executive department. He appoints to all offices, makes war and peace, commands the forces, distributes rewards, confers dignities and honours, executes justice, and dispenses pardons. Under the ancient dukes, within the original territories of Würtemberg there existed a feudal constitution. The states, consisting of fourteen prelates and seventy-one deputies from the cities, exercised some legislative authority; but on the assumption of the kingly dignity, and the addition of the acquired provinces in 1806, the monarch assumed unlimited power, until the termination of the war, and the end of the congress of Vienna, when a new constitution was promulgated. Two legislative chambers were instituted. The upper was composed of the mediatized princes, the high nobility, and the prelates of the Protestant and Catholic churches; the lower consisted of the deputies from the cities of Stuttgart, Tubingen, Ludwigsburg, Ellwang, Ulm, Heilbron, and Reutlingen, from the learned institutions, and from the several bailiwicks. The privileges of the nobles were thought by themselves to be invaded, and they did not concur in this constitution. Difficulties arose in reducing to practice the project, and how far it may be realized, or how it may eventually work, cannot[7:21:947] yet be fully ascertained. The citizens and the peasants enjoy equal rights, and the feudal slavery of the latter is universally abolished. All have equal pretensions to public employments, and all the Christian sects enjoy the same rights. The feudal tenures are destroyed, and the estates formerly subject to them are converted into freehold properties.

The administration is executed by six ministers, whose departments are thus denominated: justice, foreign affairs, domestic affairs, war, finance, and police. Each of these ministers is at the head of the board which regulates his own branch of the executive government. The law is founded upon the ancient feudal principles which prevailed in Würtemberg at the earliest period, but in some instances is tempered by the addition or intermixture of the Roman law. The administration of justice in smaller matters is executed by provincial judges. There are four superior courts for the four circles, and a supreme tribunal of appeal and revision is established at Stuttgart.

The finances of the kingdom are in an improving condition. The income, according to the latest budget, amounted to 10,794,114 florins, of which about 4,000,000 are derived from the royal domains, and the remainder from direct and indirect taxes. The expenditure was 9,150,460, thus leaving a surplus of 1,643,654 florins, which was applied to the payment of the interest and to the reduction of the public debt. That debt has been reduced during the long peace, and now amounts to about ‘23,000,000 florins, bearing interest at the average rate of four per cent. The florin there is equal to twenty pence sterling. To the honour of the kingdom, it is to be observed, that the expenditure on the church and on education (chiefly for the iatter object) is greater than for the war department by 350,000 florins.

The army consists chiefly of what may be called skeleton regiments, and, though now not exceeding 5000 men, can be instantly augmented in case of need to 16,000, by calling into service those on furlough. It would then consist of four regiments of cavalry, eight regiments of infantry, a corps of guards, of horse and of foot artillery, a small corps of riflemen, and another of sappers. The contingent to the German league is fixed at 13,955 men.

The cities whose population exceeds 6000 are the following. Stuttgart, including the military, 35,000; Ulm, 12,500; Heilbron, 10,500; Reutlingen, 10,400; Tübingen, 7500; Esslingen, 6500; Hall, 6300; Ludwigsburg, 6200; Rothenburg, 6150; Gmünd, 6050.