a general tone of simplicity prevails on the surface. The climate is not very favourable, but the surrounding country is beautiful, and its peasants retain many a picturesque relic of the ancient costume. Hamburg entered into the Hanse confederacy in 1241; its celebrated maritime law was established, 1262; and in 1815, it was declared one of the German free towns. Its territory, including its share of Bergedorf, comprises 7.10 German square miles, and contains 150,000 inhabitants, 134,840 of whom are Lutherans, 4050 of the Reformed church, 3060 Catholics, 550 Mennonites, and 7500 Jews. The town of Hamburg itself contains 122,000 inhabitants. There are in the territory, 2 towns, 2 market-towns, 18 churches, 50 villages and hamlets, and 12,651 houses. The form of government is democratic; the supreme power, according to the act of 1712, and other compacts, is divided between councillors and citizens. The council consists of 36 members, of whom 4 burgomasters, and 24 councillors, are in senatu, and have a seat and vote; the other members are 4 syndici, 1 prothonotary, 1 archivarius, and 2 secretaries, who only possess a votum consultivum, and who are de senatu. The contingent to the army of the confederacy, is 1298 men. It has, moreover, a regular army of 1050 men, 185 horsemen, and a civic militia. The revenue is 1,500,000 florins; the public debt 13,500,000. In 1832, about 25,000l. was distributed in weekly relief among registered poor, amounting, on an average, to 2900 individuals, or heads of families. Half of the adult paupers appear to have been foreigners. The want of a workhouse is lamented by some. The number of persons buried in the same year at the expense of the Institution for the Poor, was 459, or nearly one-tenth of the average number of deaths. The poor are extremely numerous, their dwellings are very generally in cellars; but the city abounds. in excellent institutions for the relief of suffering, among which, the General Hospital deserves particular observation, and is usually considered by the medical men of Germany as one of the best, if not the best, of all their institutions for the sick. In the above notices, as well as generally throughout a work so varied in its scope, we have probably committed some unintentional inaccuracies, which the candid, and the best-informed, will be the first to pardon; such errors we shall gladly correct, if another opportunity should present itself. More particularly we beg to apologize to any individual, of whose name a careless, or improper use may have been made; as well as to any members of a government, whose measures we may have misinterpreted. This latter deference will appear ludicrous to some persons, who seem to think that kings and ministers are necessarily void of all feeling or conscience, and that the delicacy which is due to the lowest individual, is thrown away upon the highest. Having uniformly sought to state the truth, without any voluntary admixture of party bias, our picture of Germany is painted with various colours; in some places warmly glowing, and in others deepening into shade; but on the whole, presenting a cheerful prospect. All political partisans will be offended with a book which upholds no exclusive doctrine, and which endeavours to render equal justice to all; but I only seek for the judgment of those who will allow to others, as well as to themselves, that freedom of opinion which is often most loudly demanded by those who are the least disposed to concede it. APPENDIX. No. I. Comparative View of the Proportion of Taxes paid yearly by each individual, taking the average of the various States of Germany, and for the sake of illustration, of the other States of Europe. Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 74 52 512 4 412 4층 3 33 I am indebted for this Table, to the excellent "General Statistik," of Schnabel, vol. ii. p. 210 (1833). By an error of the press he has twice represented Mecklenburg-Schwerin. No. II. Comparative View of the Proportion of the Military to the whole Population in the various States of Germany, and in the other States of Europe. For the above table, we must refer to the authority of Schnabel, in his "General Statistik," vol. ii. p. 257. No. III. Comparative Rate of Agricultural Wages in Germany, and in other States of Europe. For the purpose of comparison the kreutzer, may be calculated as a halfpenny. The above table is from Rau's "Lehrbuch der Politischen Oekonomie," vol. i. p. 194 (1833). |