BAVARIA,

A country in the south-west of Germany, in former times a margraviate and duchy, afterwards an electorate, and, since 1806, a kingdom of considerable extent. It is situated between the forty-seventh and fifty-first degrees of north latitude, and is of an oblong form, its greatest extent being from north to south. Its breadth is different in different parts, but we may form a tolerably correct idea of the whole by supposing a rectangular tract of country, having 200 miles in length by 140 in breadth. Such a tract would contain a surface equal to the Bavarian territory, exclusive of the distant province on the Rhine: including that province, however, the extent of the kingdom is above 30,000 square miles, or somewhat more than either'Scotland or Ireland.

The name in German, Baiern, is derived, like its old Latin name Boiaria, from Boii, the name of a people of Celtic origin, who were the inhabitants of this country in the reign of Augustus. It then formed part of the Rhaetia Vindelicia and Noricum of the Romans. After the fall of the Roman power, the natives were governed by military chieftains of their own till the era of Charlemagne, who succeeded in subjugating this as well as most other parts of Germany. After his death, Bavaria was governed by one of his grandsons, whose successors bore the title of Margrave, or Lord of the Marches; Bavaria forming the frontier of the empire to the south and southwest, as Austria did to the east and south. In the year 920 the ruling margrave was raised to the rank of duke, which continued the title of his successors for no less than seven centuries. During this long period Bavaria was connected with .Germany, nationally by language, and politically as a trontier province, but in civilization was almost as backward as Austria, and greatly behind Saxony, Franconia, and the banks of the Rhine. At last, in 1620, a formidable insurrection taking place in Bohemia against Austria, the reigning duke of Bavaria sided with the latter, and having rendered great service to her cause, received an important accession of territory, and was appointed one 0 . the nine electors of the empire. His successors continued faithful members of the Germanic body and allies θ Austria until the ambitious projects of Louis XIV. of rance led, in the year 1702, to a close connection between iat monarch and the elector; the object of which was to threaten and even attack Austria, so as to prevent her from co-operating efficiently with England and Holland in their great contest with France. This hostile attitude of Bavaria, joined to the insurrectionary movements in Hungary, bore so hard on tb.e emperor as to induce the duke of Marlborough, in the spring of 1704, to march his army above 300 miles, from the banks of the Maese to those of the Danube and Iser. Bavaria was now invaded, and the elector put under the ban of the empire; but he remained firm to his alliance with Louis, and a French army under Marshal Tallard advanced from the Rhine to his relief. It was over this army, joined to a strong Bavarian force, that Marlborough and Prince Eugene obtained the signal victory of Blenheim, on the 13th August 1704. The result was decisive of the fate of the electorate; the French fled to the Rhine; the elector fled with them, and Bavaria was governed by commissioners appointed by the emperor. This state of things lasted ten years; the elector and his remaining military force serving in the French armies, until the peace of Utrecht, or more properly that of Baden, in 1714, reinstated him in his dominions.

The son and successor of this elector, untaught by the disasters of his father, was induced to renew his connection with France; and, in 1740, on the death of the emperor of Germany, he ventured to come forward as a candidate for the imperial crown. In this he succeeded so far as to be named to that high dignity by a majority of the electors, and to overrun a considerable part of the Austrian territory; but his triumph was of short duration, for the armies of Maria Theresa, aided by English subsidies, came forward in superior numbers, and not only repulsed the Bavarians, but obtained, in 1744, possession of the electorate. The elector died soon after, and his son recovered his dominions only by renouncing the ambitious pretensions of his father.

Bavaria now remained tranquil above thirty years, until 1778, when, by the death of the reigning elector, the younger line of the house of Wittelsbach, the line which had long ruled in Bavaria, became extinct. The next heir was the Elector Palatine, the representative of the elder line of the family of Wittelsbach; but Austria unexpectedly laid claim to the succession, and took military possession of part of the country. This called into the [7:4:458]field, on the side of Bavaria, Frederic II. of Prussia, then advanced in years. The armies on each side were formidable and well commanded; they made many threatening marches and counter-marches, but happily no bloodshed took place; and at last Austria desisted from her pretensions, on obtaining from Bavaria the cession of the frontier district called the Inn-viertel, or Quarter of the Inn.

Bavaria again remained at peace for many years, until the great contest between Germany and France began in 1793, when she was obliged to furnish her contingent as a member of the empire. During three years her territory was untouched, the operations being carried on in the Netherlands and on the Rhine; but in the summer of 1796, a powerful French army under Moreau advancing and occupying her capital, the consequence was a separate treaty with France, and the withdrawing of her contingent from the army of the empire. The next war between France and Austria, begun in 1799, was comparatively short; but ending disastrously for the latter, the influence of France in the empire was greatly strengthened, so that in 1805, when the Austrians, subsidized by England, once more took up arms, Bavaria was the firm ally of France, and for the first time found advantage in the connection. In the short space of three months, the victories of Ulm and Austerlitz enabled Buonaparte to prescribe the conditions of peace, and to confer on his electoral ally the title of king, along with very considerable additions of territory.

These substantial acquisitions rendered Bavaria the willing assistant of France in the invasion of Prussia in the subsequent autumn. The battle of Jena took place, and a further increase of territory to Bavaria followed at the peace of Tilsit. The consequence was, that in 1809, when the absence in Spain of a great part of the French military force encouraged Austria again to try the hazard of war, the Bavarian troops were wholly at the disposal of Buonaparte, and formed a main part of the great army with which he defeated the Austrians at Eckmuhl and Wagram. The peace that ensued gave a further aggrandizement to Bavaria; but a few years more showed how dearly it was purchased, when many thousands of her best troops perished in the disastrous retreat from Russia. This sacrifice of lives, and the horror of Buonaparte’s tyranny, excited in Bavaria, as in the rest of Germany, an ardent wish to throw off his yoke. Nor was opportunity long wanting. In the following year (1813) the allied sovereigns advanced into Saxony, and gave assurance to the king of Bavaria, that, in the event of his co-operating vigorously with them against France, he should be maintained in all his late acquisitions. The king received these assurances with satisfaction, but could not in prudence join the allies for some months; at the end of which the retreat of the French from Dresden, and the probability of their falling back to the Rhine, induced him to make an open declaration of hostility against his former allies, and to march'an army to Hanau, on the Maine, the line of their expected retreat. At Hanau, accordingly, in the latter days of October, several obstinate conflicts took place between the Bavarians and the French; and although the latter forced their way, it was with considerable loss. From that time forward Bavaria took a decided part against Buonaparte, and was confirmed in her extended territory by the definitive treaties of 1814 and 1815. She ceded to Austria her ancient possession of the Tyrol, but received equivalents in Franconia and the vicinity of the Rhine.

We are thus enabled to trace, in the succession of events, the progressive extension of this state from an early age. The duchy of Bavaria, or the country which was subject to the dukes during the middle ages, and before they were raised to the rank of electors, was the southern half of the present kingdom, and lay almost all to the south of the Danube. This is the Bavaria of our old maps, nearly square in its form, extending about 100 miles from the Danube to the Tyrol, and somewhat more from Suabia on the west to Austria on the east. To this limited territory an important addition was made after 1620, at the expense of the elector palatine, who having taken an active part in the great insurrection in Bohemia against Austria, forfeited both his title and his dominions to the duke of Bavaria. His dominions consisted of what was called the Upper Palatinate, a province of full 3000 square miles, situated to the north of the Danube. This country, joined to the duchy of Bavaria, constituted during a century and a half (from 1623 to 1778) the dominions of the elector; their territorial extent being about 15,000 square miles, and their population, in the beginning of that period, less than 1,000,000, but towards its close about 1,500,000. During the seventeenth century this secondary state was in general the ally of Austria, a willing assistant of the head of the empire; but during the eighteenth it ventured, as we have seen, with the aid of France, to enter the lists against its powerful neighbour.

In 1778 the succession of the Rhenish branch of the reigning family added to the former territory of Bavaria the palatinate of the Rhine, a district of no great extent, but fertile and populous. By this time the nation, hitherto illiterate and backward, became fit for improved institutions, and was fortunate in the character of two successive rulers. She was thus increasing gradually her productive industry and political weight, when, in 1806, her progress received a sudden impulse from political causes. Buonaparte had long laboured to weaken the ascendancy of the greater over the lesser states of the empire; and in 1806 the overthrow, first of Austria, afterwards of Prussia, enabled him to make a very large addition to the territory of his German allies, above all of Bavaria. This was obtained chiefly in Franconia, a country which, being contiguous to Bavaria, and similar to it in soil and climate, is, in general, more advanced both in agriculture and manufactures. The valuable districts, or circles as they are termed by the Bavarian government, of the Lower Maine and the Rezat, with part of those of the Upper Maine and Upper Danube, were all obtained on this occasion; not to mention the Tyrol, as it was afterwards restored to Austria.
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The dense population of the circles of the Rezat and Lower Maine puts in a striking light the value of the territory acquired in Franconia; while the comparative thinness of inhabitants in the departments of the Regen and Iser proves the inferior soil of the Upper Palatinate, and of the southern or mountainous part of Bavaria. Sinmlār conclusions are suggested by the following sketch of the respective proportions of the soil which lie waste or aı in a state of cultivation.
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The extent of forest land in Bavaria is double that of the forest land of France, and more than six times that of the land under wood in Great Britain. This is owing to various causes; the great extent of hilly and mountainous country, the insufficient population, and the necessity of keeping a given extent of ground in wood for a supply of fuel. There are, besides, many spots and even districts in the forest lands which are under cultivation for flax, corn, and potatoes. The forests are partly public, partly private property; the former, being the portion under the management of the government, is very considerable, yielding a revenue to the state, and enabling many thousand persons to derive a livelihood from the care of them.

The frontier of Bavaria on the north-east, towards Bohemia, consists of a long range of mountains; and there are also very extensive chains in the neighbouring part of Franconia. These, however, seldom exceed the height of 3000 or 4000 feet; but the ridges in a very different part of the kingdom,—we mean those on the south, which separate it from the Tyrol,—partake of all the grandeur of the Alps, several of them being from 9000 to 10,000 feet in height; an elevation approaching to that of Aetna, and more than double that of the highest mountains in Scotland.

There is a number of lakes in Bavaria, particularly in the mountainous parts. In the low country there are several extensive tracts of marshy ground, as in all half-cultivated countries. Of the rivers of Bavaria the most remarkable is the Danube, which, on entering the frontier from Suabia, is of sufficient size to be navigable, and afterwards traverses the whole breadth of the kingdom, making with its windings a course of 200 miles. In this long space it becomes increased by the successive junction of tĥe Iller, the Lech, the Iser, and the Inn, all flowing northward from the Alps. On the north or Franconian side, the Danube receives the Nab, the Altmuhl, and several smaller streams. Though a considerable river even m this the early part of its course, it is not large enough to make the erection of bridges a work of so great labour as after the influx of the Inn; wherefore there are no less than sixteen bridges across the Danube in the course of its passage through Bavaria.

The Inn takes its rise in Switzerland, flows through the 1; r °l> and being early swelled by the mountain streams to the right and left of its course, is navigable before it enters the Bavarian territory. It then holds a north and northeast course, and receives the Salsa, a large river flowing rom Upper Austria; after which their united waters, beween 200 and 300 yards in breadth, fall into the Danube at Passau. The Iser or Isar has its source in the Tyrolese ps, flows in a curved direction nearly north-east, passes umch, becomes navigable, and, after receiving several ι , ι utary streams, falls into the Danube half-way between atisbon and Passau. The Lech has a similar course, but L . ess J en gth. In the northern part of the kingdom the ame is the only river of consequence, either for size or for extent of navigation. It traverses Franconia with a very winding course, and greatly facilitates the trade of that province.

The climate of Bavaria is in general healthy, although the degree of heat, in this as in the neighbouring country of Austria, is very different according to local differences in the elevation of the soil. Hence the cold of Upper Bavaria in the vicinity of the Tyrol, and the warmth of the plains adjoining the Danube and the Maine. On the whole, the temperature of Bavaria is considerably colder than that of England in the winter months, and considerably hotter during the summer and autumn.

The extent of forest land in every province of Bavaria is such as to supply a great quantity of wood for sale; but the transport of it is in many parts difficult, from the badness of the roads, and on account of the distance from navigable rivers. The forests are chiefly on the hills and mountains; and the level country, as well Lower Bavaria extending northwards to the Danube, as the western and middle parts of Franconia, is very productive in wheat, barley, rye, oats; also in hemp, flax, hops, madder, and, in warm situations, in vines. The last are raised chiefly in the vicinity of the lake of Constance, and on the banks of the Maine in the lower part of its course. On the whole, the best cultivated districts are those in which the descent of streams from the high grounds gives facilities to irrigation. Such is the case in the valley of the Danube and in part of the plains of Franconia; but in most other parts of the kingdom a third and upwards of the arable land remains uncultivated. The quantity of potatoes raised annually in the kingdom has been much increased in the last and present age, particularly in the northern provinces. The Spessart, an extensive tract of forest land in Franconia, formerly neglected, is now rendered very productive in that respect; and hence a great increase of population during the last half-century. Yet, that much remains to be done before justice is rendered to the soil, is evident, since, with a climate fully as good as ours, and a soil inferior only in the mountainous parts, the average population of Bavaria is only half that of England. The government has caused a few of the marshes to be drained; but these are merely incipient operations, a small part of what ought to have been performed.

The proportion of land under pasture appears to be nearly the same in one circle or province as another. A late return gives the number in the kingdom, of horses at 330,000; of oxen, cows, calves, hogs, 2,000,000; and of sheep, nearly 1,200,000. Little attention has as yet been given to the improvement of the breed of horses or oxen. But in sheep considerable progress has been made in adopting that improved treatment which has added so largely to the value of the wool of Saxony.

The quantity of salt prepared annually in Bavaria is very considerable, being above 30,000 tons. It is obtained partly from brine springs in the circle of the Iser, partly from saltmines at Halle and other parts; which, like most undertakings of magnitude on the Continent, are and must, from want of capital on the part of individuals, be wrought on account of the government.

In so mountainous a country the quantity of iron ore is naturally very large. The mines are numerous, being 150' in all; but they are on a small scale compared with those of this country, the quantity of iron annually made hardly exceeding 60,000 tons. These mines are found in various parts of the kingdom; in the mountains of Franconia, as well as in those of the south of the kingdom. The coalmines are in like manner numerous, but of small extent compared with ours; the yearly produce of fifty mines in the Bavarian dominions being only from 60,000 to 70,000 tons. The number of blast furnaces and forges in the [7:4:460] whole country is about fifty. ^ Of quicksilver there are several mines, chiefly in the province, of the Rhine.

Manufactures are as yet very backward,, even in articles such as hardware, for which' the raw material is supplied on the spot. Woollens, linens, and in some towns cottons, are made, but of a quality much coarser than the corresponding manufactures of England, or even of the Netherlands. There are a number of mills in Franconia for making paper, in consequence of two very distinct causes, the frequency of water-falls and the cheapness of linen rags. The extent of the forests, and the command of water power, have led to the erection of many saw-mills; there being no less than 2000 in the whole kingdom. Of glass also the quantity annually made is considerable. As to liquor, the climate of Bavaria being in general too cold for the grape, beer is the general drink, and the breweries are very numerous. They, are not, as in England» confined to the large towns; in a country where the means of carriage by water are so limited, they are necessarily established in almost every district. Leather, tobacco, and earthenware, are the other chief articles of manufacture.

The exports from Bavaria are such as may be expected in a country chiefly agricultural; they consist of salt, timber, cattle, pigs, corn, and madder. The imports consist of sugar, tobacco, cottons, silks, with some woollens, and linen of the finest qualities. The yearly value of the exports is between three and four millions sterling; that of the imports nearly the same. The government, desirous of removing whatever is pernicious, in established usages, abolished, in 1827, the privileges of guilds and coι> porations; but it must do a great deal more before trade can be raised to a flourishing condition. In the whole kingdom there is only one navigable canal, which extends from the Rhine to the level country of Franconia. The old project of joining the Danube and the Rhine by a canal seems impracticable, from the nature of the ground. The high roads in Bavaria extend in all over 5000 miles; and the conveyance of the mails, though far slower than in England, is not altogether so slow as in most parts of the Continent. The government has also set the example of fitting out boats with sails to navigate the Danube. The same may be done on the Inn, the Iser, and the Maine; and, as fuel is not scarce, steam navigation bids fair to be introduced in all of them. But the greatest national benefit would arise from the opening of roads in remote districts, and improving those at present in use, but which are good only in certain districts, such as the vicinity of Munich, Ratisbon, and Nuremberg.

The increase of the population of Bavaria, though not accurately ascertained, appears to have been regularly and even rapidly progessive since the beginning of the present century. The causes are probably the same as in this country,—improved agriculture, an extended cultivation of potatoes, vaccination, the more comfortable condition of the poor, and better medical treatment generally. The average mortality in Bavaria is as yet imperfectly ascertained, but it appears to be, as in France, about one in forty of the population. In England it is only one in forty-eight. The chief towns of Bavaria are,
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Munich, the capital of the kingdom, though not built with regularity, is on the whole one of the most interest ing towns of Germany. The river Iser flows past it, and. though not large, is of sufficient size to give animation to the town and its environs. The town contains several squares and a number of public buildings, as well as valuable collections of books, paintings, and medals. Here are a university and a military school, a considerable demand for literary works, a manufactory of porcelain, and other establishments, all indicative of much more attention to objects of education and taste than used to prevail in this formerly unenlightened part of Germany.

Augsburg has only half the population of Munich, and, being a very old place, has narrow and crooked streets. It is situated in an extensive plain at no great distance from the Lech, which is here a considerable river. Like Nuremberg, Augsburg has long been one of the chief trading towns in the interior of Germany. It is the seat of several manufactures, and of considerable transactions in bills of exchange. For such business merchants fix on a few places at a considerable distance from each other, but centrally situated in regard to particular districts, ln the south and west of Germany, Vienna, Augsburg, and Frankfort on the Maine, are the chief towns for such busn ness, exactly as Hamburg and Berlin are in the north.

Nuremberg, situated in Franconia, was a place of note as far back as the eleventh century, and, during the middle ages, was the occasional residence of the emperors. The Pegnitz, a considerable but not navigable stream, divides it into two nearly equal parts. Its chief prosperity has arisen from its manufactures, for which it was remarked more than four centuries ago. Among these are toys of all kinds, whether of hardware or wood, most of which are made, not in the town, but in villages situated in the hilly and woody tract between Franconia and Thuringia. The stationary condition of this place and of Augsburg, compared with the rapid growth of manufacturing towns in England, exhibits, in a striking light, our advantages in coal, fuel, and in communication by canals, railways, and turnpike roads, to which there is no parallel in Germany.

Ratisbon, equally ancient with these towns, owed its increase to a different cause, namely, to the navigation of the Danube, which it once possessed exclusively from Ulm as far as Vienna. Timber, corn, salt, and marl, form the chief articles of transport along the river; and the building of large boats for such navigation, and for sale in the lower part of the river, continues to be a considerable branch of business in this place. The Danube expands here to a width of more than 300 yards; its current is consequently weakened, and, there being an island in its channel, the inhabitants of Ratisbon erected a bridge across it several centuries ago,—a time when the art of bridge-building was very little understood. This facilitated the access to the town, which was the place of assemblage for the Germanic diet during a century and a half previous to 1806; the period when the constitution of the empire underwent a great change, and Austria ceased to be at its head.

Wurzburg, in Franconia, situated on the Maine, is also remarked for its bridge, but its river has only half the width of the Danube. It is the seat of a university, and has a considerable trade; part of which arises from the sale of the wine raised in its neighbourhood. This town, old as it is, must, along with all the places we have mentioned, yield precedence in antiquity to Spires, the cathedral of which contains the ashes of eight of the earlier emperors of Germany, and of as many empresses. Spires was the see of a bishop as early as the fourth century; a time when civilization was unknown on the eastern side of the Rhine, and had reached on the western side only the few towns occupied by the Romans as military stations.

The province or circle of the Rhine is wholly detached [7:4:461]from the rest of the kingdom, being nearly 100 miles to the westward, and having the Rhine on the east, Worms on the north, Alsace on the south, and Lorraine on the w est∙ This province is an oblong of nearly fifty-five miles by forty; its extent is somewhat above 2000 square miles, and its population (see the foregoing table, p. 458) more dense than that of any other part of the kingdom. Its surface is very uneven, for the Vosges Mountains extend over a part of its territory. In these there are extensive pastures, and, in particular spots, mines of iron, coal, and quicksilver. In the low grounds the products are wheat, oats, barley, and, in the warmer situations, vines. This province, equal in extent to two of our middle-sized counties, is divided into four districts; of which the chief towns are Landau and Deux Ponts in the south, Frankenthal and Kaiserslautern in the north. After the great successes of the French in 1794 and 1795, this district, formerly the palatinate of the Rhine, became, along with the whole country to the left of the Rhine, subject to France, and remained so nearly twenty years, until the overthrow of Buonaparte in 1814. At that memorable juncture it was assigned by the congress of Vienna to Austria, and made over by the latter to Bavaria in the subsequent exchanges.

It may be proper to explain here what was meant by the Circle of Bavaria, although, like the other circles of the empire, it has now ceased to have a political existence. It comprised the territories as well of the elector of Bavaria as of a number of petty states contiguous to but independent of him, their respective princes being members of the Germanic body. In addition to Bavaria Proper and the Upper Palatinate, the circle comprised the archbishopric of Salzburg and a number of lesser principalities, which are now mediatized or blended with their greater neighbours; but it contained no part of Franconia, which was a circle by itself. The extent of the circle of Bavaria was about 17,000 square miles, and its capital was Ratisbon. That city was also the residence of the dukes of Bavaria until the fourteenth century, when the acquisition of the upper country towards the Tyrol induced them to fix their residence at Munich.

The public revenue of Bavaria is about L.3,000,000 sterling, arising from almost as great a variety of imposts as in this country.
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The military force of Bavaria consists of about 54,000 men, raised, as in Prussia and most other German states, by conscription, each conscript being subject to five years’ service. They form sixteen regiments of infantry, each of two battalions or twelve companies, with 190 men or upwards in each company; making, with four smaller battalions of chasseurs a pied, above 40,000 infantry. ∙ The cavalry consists of two regiments of cuirassiers and six regiments of light horse; in all 9000. The artillery and engineers consist of four battalions, or twenty-four companies, in number 4000. The total army of Bavaria is thus 53,000 or 54,000 men, but of these in time of peace two thirds are on furlough, leaving for active duty a force of 17,000 men; viz. 13,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, and 2000 artillery.^[1. The numbers here set down very nearly coincide with those given in the article Army, under the head “Bavarian Army” (vol. iii. p. 610), to which we beg to refer, as being at once more detailed and precise. ]

The military school at Munich has a high reputation. Arms and ammunition are manufactured in different towns in the kingdom.
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The exercise of religious worship in Bavaria is altogether free. The Protestants have the same civil rights as the Catholics, and the sovereign may be either catholic or protestant. Civil immunities have not yet been extended to Anabaptists, Moravians, or Jews. The latter follow in this, as in other countries, neither agricultural nor mechanical employments: they are all traffickers in one way or other, the most respectable being merchants, the inferior class brokers and jobbers. Of the catholic church the heads are two archbishops and six bishops; among the protestants the highest authority is the general consistory of Munich.

Bavaria was formerly as backward in regard to educa tion as Austria or any part of the south of Germany; but, in the course of the last and present age considerable efforts have been made to lessen the prevailing ignorance. At Munich there are scientific and literary academies, as well as a university, a lyceum, a gymnasium, and other public schools. The university has a very numerous attendance[7:4:462] of students, namely, about 1800; and there are two provincial universities on a small scale, one catholic at Wurzburg, the other protestant at Erlangen in Franconia. In the kingdom at large there are seven lyceums, eighteen gymnasia, twenty-one pro-gymnasia, and 5000 elementary schools; at which it is computed that nearly half a million of children or young people of both sexes receive instruction in reading and writing. These certainly form a great contrast to the indifference and neglect of former times; and the government continues to evince much solicitude for the diffusion of instruction. But there is still unfortunately a great want of schools above the rank of those merely elementary; they are confined to the larger towns, for in the smaller the inhabitants are hardly able to defray the expense; and the funds appropriated to such a purpose by government are necessarily limited. Much therefore remains to be done before the lower orders in Bavaria can be raised from their general state of ignorance and superstition, or made to approach, in habits of order, diligence, and cleanliness, to the inhabitants of the protestant states of Germany.

Yet the national character of the Bavarians is in general commendable. Like the majority of the population of Austria, they are accustomed to be faithful to their engagements and loyal to their government; but they are credulous, and even superstitious, in matters of religion. In short, the will of their superiors is received by the lower orders implicitly as a law in political as in ecclesiastical affairs. A great deal was said thirty years ago about the masonic and other secret societies said to have been formed in this country at the time of the French revolution, and to have aimed at combining their efforts with similar societies in Prussia for the overthrow of the established governments. Such assertions, if not absolutely false, must have rested on a very slender foundation, no people being less inclined than the Bavarians to join in revolutionary projects, or less capable of conceiving that any advantage could possibly result from them.

The government of Bavaria in the early ages of the German empire did not descend from father to son: it involved an important military trust, and was conferred by the emperor on princes of different families until the thirteenth century. Towards the close of that century Louis, of the house of Wittelsbach, duke of Lower Bavaria, and count palatine of the Rhine, left two sons, Rodolph and Louis, between whom, according to the usage of the age, the father’s dominions were shared, the elder receiving the palatinate of the Rhine, the latter the duchy of Bavaria. Small as the Rhenish palatinate was, its comparative civilization made it the more valuable of the two; and its head had the important privileges of an elector of the empire. From the two princes just mentioned descended the rulers of these respective states during five centuries and upwards; until, in 1770, on the failure of the Bavarian line, Charles Theodore, count of the palatinate, obtained the succession, and removed to Munich, since which the two countries have been governed as one state. Charles Theodore ruled Bavaria above twenty years. He evinced much anxiety for the improvement of his new subjects, but, like his contemporary the emperor Joseph II. of Austria, made no sufficient allowance for their general backwardness, or for their unfitness to comprehend the advantage of many of his proposed changes. He died in 1799, and was succeeded by Maximilian I., a prince of equal philanthropy and greater prudence, who governed Bavaria twenty-six years, and was succeeded in 1825 by his son Louis, the present king.

Bavaria, like other German states, has long had its states or parliament, composed of nobility and prelates. Its present form of government is founded partly on long established usage, partly on a constitutional act of great length, passed in May 1818. The country is there declared an integral part of the Germanic confederation, and the monarchy hereditary, with a legislative body of two houses, the Upper and Lower. The title of the sovereign is simply king of Bavaria; that of his presumptive heir is crown prince of Bavaria. The executive power is vested altogether in the king, whose person is declared inviolable: the responsibility rests with the ministers, whose functions are nearly the same as those of ministers in England or France; and they have respectively offices for foreign affairs, for the home department, for the treasury, the army, and the administration of justice. The upper house of the Bavarian parliament comprises the princes of the bloodroyal, the two archbishops, the barons or heads of families of landed property, and any other members whom the kir may nominate, either as hereditary peers or as counsellors for life; but the latter must not exceed a third of the hereditary members. The lower house consists at present (1831) of 115 deputies, elected on a plan a good deal different from ours, for an eighth part must be of the class of nobility, another eighth of the clergy, a fourth part citizens or burghers, and the remaining half landed proprietors. Each of the three universities also names a representative. A general election takes place once in six years, and the number of members bids fair to increase; for the elective law prescribes that there shall be a deputy or member of the lower house for every 7000 families in the kingdom. The king generally convenes the parliament once a year, and by the constitution it is obligatory on him to do so at least once in three years. The direct taxes must be granted anew under the authority of the parliament once in six years.

The adoption of this constitution was accompanied by the abolition of all that remained of personal servitude among the peasantry; for many Bavarians of the lower class were until lately serfs, being paid for their labour, not by wages, but by maintenance. They were consequently very indolent, and the government have not yet thought it advisable to exempt them from such punishments as cudgelling and flogging, or from compulsory labour on the public roads. The political improvements still wanting in Bavaria are a more complete equalization of taxes; publicity in the proceedings of courts of justice; a removal of the restrictions on trade with the neighbouring states; and an amendment of the penal code. The liberty of the press is already complete.

The diplomatic establishment of Bavaria consists of ambassadors, resident in Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, and St Petersburg; and of envoys in the smaller German capitals, such as Weimar, Carlsruhe, and Darmstadt.

No part of Europe, if we except the Netherlands, has been more exposed to invasion than Bavaria, and in none has the painful interest arising from military conflicts been given to a greater variety of places. As long as two centuries ago, both Bavaria and Franconia were laid waste in the Thirty Years’ War between the Catholics and Protestants. It was near Augsburg, on the banks of the Lech, that Gustavus Adolphus obtained, in 1632, a memorable victory over the Austrians and other Catholic allies, commanded by Count Tilly. At Nuremberg the success of the Swedish sovereign was for a time arrested by the talents of Wallenstein; but at Nordlingen, two years after, the death of the king and the injuries of the Protestants were avenged in a dreadful conflict. The French next took part in the war, and carried devastation throughout this part of Germany. In the succeeding age Bavaria was invaded by our countrymen and their allies; and it was at Schellenberg, a strong position near the Danube, that the duke of Marlborough first worsted the Bavarians, [7:4:463]in July 1704, above a month previous to the battle of Blenheim. In the wars of the French revolution both Franconia and Bavaria were repeatedly overrun. It was at Amberg that the archduke Charles stopped the advance of the French in 1796, and at Wurzburg that he finally defeated them; successes repeated with equal effect three ears after, when, in March 1799, he again met their army on Bavarian ground, near the banks of the Lech. The subsequent operations in this country were equally pernicious to it, though very different in their political results. The name of Hohenlinden recalls the triumph of Moreau in 1800; that of Ulm the surrender of the Austrian army under Mack in October 1805. Lastly, it was at Eckmuhl and Ratisbon, in 1809, that Buonaparte obtained over the Austrians victories which compelled them to retreat with heavy loss, and opened to him the gates of Vienna.

Such has been the fate of Bavaria in times past; but the prospect is now happily very different, and the inhabitants may, hope to cultivate their territory in peace. The emperor of Austria having espoused a Bavarian princess in 1816, there prevails the greatest cordiality between the two governments; and a deliberate view of their respective interests will probably render it permanent. On the one hand, France has no longer the power of convulsing the interior of Germany; and on the other, it is evident that no country will profit more largely by continued peace than Bavaria. If we consider its physical advantages in soil, climate, and geographical position, and compare its condition with that of improved countries, such as England or the Netherlands, every impartial observer must admit that its cultivation has not yet been carried to half or nearly half the extent of which it is capable, (μ. μ.)