Campo Formio, the Venetian States | which was issued at double its intrinproving more than a compensation for the loss of the Low Countries.*

sic value; and besides this, there were obligations of various sorts of the government to foreign provinces, bankers, and states. The debt in all was 200,000,000 florins (£16,600,000) in 1789; but at the conclusion of the war, in 1801, it amounted to triple that sum. The treasury had been reduced to the necessity of paying the interest in paper currency, and even compelling forced loans from its own subjects.

8. At the peace of Lunéville, the income of government amounted to 115,000,000 florins, or £9,500,000 sterling a sum equal, at that time, to at least fifteen millions sterling in England; and with this revenue, which was the clear receipt of the treasury, independent of the expense of collection and several provincial charges, they were able to maintain an army of 9. The diversity of surface and na300,000 men, including 50,000 mag- tural features in this, as in all other nificent cavalry. Like most of the countries through which the great other European states, Austria had stony girdle of the globe passes, proves been compelled, during the difficulties an inexhaustible source at once of of former years, to have recourse to a natural beauty, agricultural riches, and paper currency; and the bank of Vi- variety of productions. The Alps of enna, established by Maria Theresa in the Tyrol and Styria, gradually branch1762, was the organ by which this was ing off to those of Carinthia and Daleffected. It was not, however, a paper matia on the one hand, and to the Carcirculation convertible at pleasure into pathian range on the other, traverse gold, but a system of assignats, possess- nearly its whole extent, separated only ing a forced legal currency; and gov-by the valley of the Danube, which cuts, ernment, in 1797, passed a regulation as it were, through this vast natural prohibiting any person from demand- barrier, and rolls its volume of waters, ing exchange in coin for more than swelled on either hand by the numetwenty-five florins, or two pounds ster-rous torrents which descend from the ling. During the course of the war, silver and gold almost entirely disappeared from circulation, and paper billets for two or three shillings assumed their place. A considerable portion of the smaller currency was in brass,

mountain sides, to the Hungarian plains. This noble river is thirteen hundred miles in length, and receives the waters of sixty navigable streams. The clefts and hollows of this immense mountain range exhibit on either side

* The population and superficial area of the several provinces of the Austrian empire stood thus, according to the census of 1834 :

Hungary,
Gallicia,
Bohemia,
Lombardy,

Superficial Area.
sq. geog. leagues,

11,620

4,304

2,649

681

ETH

Population.
11,404,330

1,017

1,339
2,132

3,086

1,970

4,395,339 4,001,852 2,495,929 2,110,141 2,079,588 1,963,435 1,343,652 846,982

Population per
square league.
878
1,087

1,532
2,478
1,582
979

1,114

923,882

793

1,435

827,635

563

Dalmatia, and Littoral,

1,445

1,553,527

960

Military Frontier,

1,695

Moravia and Silesia,
Venetian provinces,
Transylvania,
Austria Lower,
Austria Upper,
Styria,
Tyrol,
Carinthia, Carniola,

1,150

Of this population the military, on full or half pay, amount to 518,950-leaving a civil population of 34,528,583; the annual increase is 311,612, or somewhat more than in the British Islands.-See Census of 1834 for Austria; MALTE BRUN, v. 726, 737; and vii. 282,283; and vi. 592, 752; and TURNBULL'S Austria, ii. 7.

scenes of exquisite beauty, combining | hemiat is a vast natural basin encircled often the grandeur of Swiss or Tyrolese by mountains, which at a remote pescenery, with the close-cut pastures, riod appears to have enclosed a great rich vineyards, and golden harvests of lake, before the Elbe burst through Upper and Lower Austria. Immense the barriers of the Erzgebirge, and woods of pine on all the elevated opened through the precipices of the mountains at once adorn the landscape, Saxon Switzerland a passage for the and furnish inexhaustible supplies of cooped-up waters to the German ocean. fuel for the inhabitants; vast and fer- Its plains, peopled now by four millions tile meadows on the banks of the Da- of inhabitants, are entirely agricultural; nube nourish innumerable herds of but though the produce is great, the cattle, and maintain admirable horses system of cultivation is rude, and hufor the great establishments by which man skill has done little to aid the the Imperial cavalry are mounted. The beneficence of nature. The plains of sunny slopes are covered by vines of Galicia, containing four million three uncommon luxuriance, and their fruit hundred and ninety-five thousand inof the richest flavour; while the spa- habitants, to the north of the Carcious plains which stretch from the pathian mountains, exhibit the rude neighbourhood of the river to the foot agriculture, boundless forests, and genof the mountains on either hand, bring eral misery, which in every age have to maturity noble crops of grain, rye, formed the characteristic of the Polish and potatoes, which maintain in rustic provinces. Silesia and Moravia, threeplenty the numerous and happy in- fourths of the inhabitants of which are habitants.* of Sclavonic origin,‡ exhibit the same † Bohemia contains

10. These are the imposing and captivating features of Upper and Lower Austria, forming the strength and heart of the empire, and comprising by far the richest, best cultivated, and most prosperous part of the imperial dominions in Germany. But besides the valley of the Danube, and its range of adjacent mountains, the Austrian sway stretches into Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and Italy, and, surmounting the crest of the mountains, has extended far on either side of their reverse slopes the domination of the Ostrogoths. Bo

features of the Sclavonic race, modified | eyed, fair-haired, slow but honest and in some degree, in many places, espe- persevering inhabitants, are to be seen cially Silesia, by the industry and per- at this day the genuine characteristics severance of the Germans. Hungary, of the Gothic race. The Bohemians, containing upwards of ten millions of Moravians, and Galicians are of a toinhabitants, presents an immense level tally different character. In their surface interspersed with vast mor- swarthy visages, dark hair, fiery temasses, but abounding with natural agri- perament, and comparatively volatile cultural riches, and capable of nourish- disposition, are to be traced the indeing, in ease and affluence, at least four lible features of the Sclavonic family times its present population.* Tran- of mankind. Daring in war, ardent `sylvania, Illyria, and Dalmatia, sepa- in disposition, impatient of control, rated from Austria and Hungary by attached to freedom, but averse to great ranges of wooded mountains, be- labour, and with little industry, the long to a different region of the globe; Hungarians have in every age betrayed they have borrowed the character of the fierce disposition and warlike pasthe Turkish provinces which they ad- sions which made the Huns in former join; while the Tyrol, Styria, and Car- days the scourge of Europe. They have niola, bedded in the valley of the Alps, ever been the bulwark of the empire, recall to the enchanted traveller the and have been found combating with sublimest features of Swiss scenery; equal heroism, in different ages, their anand the plain of Lombardy transports cient enemies the Turks, seeking to subhim to the delicious sun, watered mea- vert their religion, and their modern dows, and golden harvests of Italy. foes the French, striving to overturn the independence of their country. In the fiery spirit, admirable horsemanship, roving disposition, and predatory inclination of the Croatians, Illyrians, and Transylvanians, it is easy to recognise the influence of Asiatic blood, and the prevalence of those habits which the children of Ishmael have communicated, in an apparently indelible manner, to all their descendants. The handsome countenances, dark hair, and piercing eyes of the Lombards, bespeak their Italian descent, and the predominance of ancient blood; but in their unwarlike habits, pacific enjoyments, and ready submission to conquest, we seek in vain for the traces of the fierce settlers in Cisalpine Gaul, or the indomitable spirit of Roman virtue.

11. An empire of such extent, embracing so great a variety of climates and geographical features, could hardly be expected to possess any uniform and well-defined national character, like the comparatively compact and homogeneous empires of France and England. But this diversity is rendered still more striking by the extraordinary difference in the character and disposition of the races who, at successive periods, have settled in these various provinces. The Ostrogoths, who have given their name, like the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, to the whole empire, settled in Upper and Lower Austria, and spread themselves on either bank of the Danube to the crest of the mountains, and in their blue* Hungary contains

12. Drawn from so vast and varied a population, the Austrian army possesses within itself, if properly directed, the elements of almost every species of military virtue. In the steady valour and unconquerable energy of the Hungarians, the monarchy has in every age found the precious reserve to be brought forth, like the Old Guard of Napoleon, at the decisive crisis, and which has often, in circumstances apparently desperate, recalled victory to its standards. The Croatians, Pandours, and other

warriors, from the military colonies on | consists of eight regiments of cuirassiers, six of dragoons, seven of light horse, twelve of hussars, and four of hulans; in all, thirty-eight thousand men. The artillery, divided into five regiments of field-artillery, one corps of bombardiers, and the garrison artillery, embraces twenty thousand more. In addition to this, the engineers, sappers, miners, &c. and waggon-train, amount to thirty-two thousand five hundred :-in all, three hundred and eighty thousand combatants, nearly the whole of whom are in an excellent state of discipline and equipment. But this is by no means the whole military strength of the nation. The landwehr, established in all the provinces except Hungary, and the "Hungarian Insur

the Turkish frontier, furnish an inexhaustible supply of admirable light horse, scarcely inferior to the Cossacks in activity and enterprise. The Tyrolese are unrivalled for their skill as marksmen, and their constant habit of shooting at targets, and in the mountains, qualifies them in a peculiar manner for the duty of tirailleurs. The native Austrian foot is respectable, and when well led, will fight bravely, though they have not the fire or heroism of the Hungarian grenadiers. But their heavy cavalry, magnificently mounted, and having its officers drawn almost entirely from the nobility, contains some of the most brilliant corps in Europe. Bohemia, Moravia, and Galicia furnish their proportion of hardy and zealous foot-rection of Nobles," which corresponds soldiers for the ordinary regiments of the line. Thus the national character of the various provinces of the empire is adapted, in a remarkable manner, for the different services of the army; and, beyond all question, Austria has the means of raising within its own dominions an array of combatants second to none in Europe in martial vigour and efficiency. Yet the imperial armies, down to the year 1813, were almost uniformly unfortunate; and although, on many occasions, they displayed devoted gallantry in the field, and on all evinced extraordinary patriotic spirit in preparation, yet this appeared rather in the perseverance with which reverses were surmounted, than in the ardour with which success was sought or followed up. No nation ever sustained so many and such dreadful defeats; none has in the end emerged so often victorious from their shock. In the perseverance of the aristocratic body which directs the national councils, joined to the steady patriotic spirit of the people, is to be found the explanation of this remarkable circumstance.

13. The Austrian army consists of sixty-three regiments of the line: twenty battalions of grenadiers, the corps of jagers of thirteen battalions, and the marine battalion on the Danube, numbering in all two hundred and ninety thousand combatants. The cavalry

to it in that extensive kingdom, constitute an armed force of equal amount, which, when called out, gives the state a mass in all of seven hundred and forty thousand combatants. In the year 1814, when the patriotic spirit of the nation was drawn forth to the highest pitch, and its resources strained to the uttermost, nine hundred and seventy thousand men received pay in the armed force, regular and landwehr, of the nation-an astonishing number for an empire not at that period containing six-and-twenty millions of inhabitants, though not so great, in proportion, as in the same year was raised by the British islands, with a population only of eighteen millions.*

14. The military force which Hungary is required to furnish to the general support of the empire, is sixty-four thousand men, including seventeen thousand horse-a force very inconsiderable for a kingdom containing eleven millions of inhabitants, and which demonstrates that, in this respect at least, it has been very leniently dealt with. But on the frontiers of the whole monarchy towards Turkey, the military colonies are placed, the organisation of which is entirely warlike, for the pur

* Great Britain, in that year, had 1,053,000 men in arms; of whom 813,000 were drawn not numbering then above 18,000,000 infrom the population of the British isles, habitants.

15. The mode of obtaining men for the army varies in different parts of the empire. In the Italian provinces all persons, noble or common, at the age of eighteen, are registered for military service, with a very few professional exemptions; and the quotum is selected from that list by the ballot. Substitutes, however, are allowed: the period of service is only for eight years; and there is no landwehr or army of reserve. In the Tyrol the same system prevails. In the German provinces, all males, not noble or clerical, from eighteen to forty-five, are liable to be called on to serve either in the line or landwehr. Those in the first class, which embraces the young men from eighteen to twentyeight, are liable to be balloted for the first service; those in the second, from twenty-eight to forty-five for the landwehr. It is very rarely, however, that the ballot is resorted to for supplying vacancies in the line: in general, they are obtained with ease by voluntary enlistment, or selection of candidates by the local authorities or feudal lords -care being taken, as much as possible, to choose single men and younger sons, to whom it is usually an object of ambition to get into the service.* The period of service is fourteen years, after which the soldier is inscribed on the list of the landwehr, which is never called out except on urgent occasions; and if balloted for there, he is entitled to his discharge at the age of forty years. The articles of war and mili

pose of defence against the perpetual accustomed to a rigid discipline, they hostility of the Osmanlis, and which make excellent soldiers when removed give rise to one of the most singular from home. and interesting spectacles in Europe. The whole surface of this strip of land is divided into seventeen districts, each of which is termed a regiment, and in which the whole land is held by military tenure. The inhabitants of each holding are generally related by blood or marriage, and form what is called a "House communion," which is subject to the rural and domestic control of one chief, usually the oldest of the family. Every male is trained to military service, and liable, from the age of eighteen to sixty, to be at any time called out for the public defence. When doing duty within the confines of their own regiment or district, they receive no pay, and feed themselves; the moment they pass that limit, their whole expenses fall on the crown. About fifty thousand of these hardy borderers are constantly embodied and in arms; but the total number liable to serve, and who may be called out on an emergency, exceeds two hundred thousand. Night and day, five thousand of them are constantly patrolling on guard along the Turkish frontier; and so closely do these videttes approach each other, and so perfect is the system of signals established by firing guns during the day, or lighting beacons at night, that upon the smallest incursion on any point of this immense frontier, above a thousand miles in length, the whole fifty thousand can be almost instantly assembled at their respective points of rendezvous, and in twenty-four hours two hundred thousand warriors are in arms! These military colonies embrace, at this time, above a million of souls, and their numbers are increasing so rapidly as to double in forty years; while in Upper Austria, the duplication is once in a hundred and four years; and, on an average of the whole empire, once in fifty-one. The inhabitants on the military frontier, like the Gauchos of the Pampas in South America, are for the most part indolent and unruly in peace, negligent in their persons, and addicted to intemperance; but in war they are active and enterprising, and being

* So patriotic is the spirit of the people, that when danger threatens the monarchy, no difficulty is ever experienced, even on the shortest notice, in obtaining, by voluntary enrolment, the requisite number of recruits for the public service. In the year 1805, on the eve of the battle of Austerlitz, orders were sent to Prague for the immediate levy of fifty thousand men in Bohemia. Before the evening of the day on which the order was received, summonses for the requisite numbers were despatched to each district and lordship; the levy was forthwith made; and, in seventeen days from the receipt of the orders, the whole fifty thousand were depots in Bohemia and Moravia.-TURNready armed, clothed, and equipped, at the BULL'S Austria, ii. 301, 302.