so that it has a direct communication with the Baltic and with the North Sea. The manufactures carried on in Berlin are in silk, serge, fustian, muslin, camlets and other woollen, linen, and cotton stuffs; also stockings, carpets, embroidery, jewellery, bronze, iron and steel, black and white lead, borax, vitriol, dye-stuffs, tobacco, wax, starch, soap, leather, &c. THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS OF GERMANY, OF AUSTRIA, OF PRUSSIA, &c. The Elbe rises in the mountains of Riesengeberge (or, Giant's Mountains,) between Bohemia and Silesia; it receives the Moldau and Eger in Bohemia, after which it becomes navigable, and entering Saxony, passes through Dresden, Meissen, Torgau, and Wittenburg; near Dessau it receives the Mulda, and afterwards the Saale, &c. and falls into the North Sea, about 70 miles from Hamburg. The Oder rises in Moravia, passes through Breslau in Silesia, Frankfort in Brandenburg, and Stettin in Pomerania; forms the Maritime Lake called the Frische Haff, and runs into the Baltic by three mouths, forming the islands of Usedom and Wollin. It receives the Bober, the Neisse, the Wartha, &c. and communicates by canals with the Elbe, and the Vistula. The Vistula rises in Austrian Silesia at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, runs eastward to Cracow in Poland; at Sandomir it receives the San, and proceeds northward; beyond Warsaw it receives the Bug, it passes Thorn, Culm, &c. and falls into the Baltic at Dantzic. This river is navigable from Cracow to Dantzic. The Memel or Nieman rises near Minsk in Poland, passes Grodno and Kowno, when it receives the Wilna, and falls into Curishe Haff below Tilsit. The Pregel, a river in east Prussia, is formed by the Inster, the Pissa, and the Angerap, and falls into the Frische Haff below Konigsberg. The Weser is formed by the union of the Werra and Fulda, at Munden, in the south of the kingdom of Han over; it runs through Bremen, and falls into the North Sea between the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the pro vince of Bremen. The Ems rises in Prussian Westphalia, near Pader. born; runs through the principalities of Munster and East Friesland, and falls into Dollart Bay in the North Sea, below Embden. The Rhine rises near Mount St. Gothard in Switzerland, passes through the lake of Constance, divides Suabia from Switzerland and from France, runs through the circles of the Rhine in Germany, enters the kingdom of the Netherlands near Cleves*, passes through Leyden, and falls into the North Sea, or the sands near Catwyck, It receives the united streams of the Aar, the Reuss, and the Limmat, from the west and centre of Switzerland; from Germany it receives the Neckar at Manheim, and the Mayne at Mentz; from France, the Moselle at Coblentz. The Danube rises in the Grand Duchy of Baden, it receives the Iser and the Inn, in Bavaria; the Theiss and several other rivers which flow from the Carpathian mountains in Hungary; the Drave to the north of Sclavonia, and the Save near Belgrade; the Morawa to the east of Semendria, the Aluta at Nicopoli, and the Pruth near Galatz. The length of the course of this river, from its source in the Black Forest to its fall into the Black Sea, below Ismael, is about 1800 miles. The Po rises in Piedmont in Italy, separates the Austrian dominions from Parma, Modena, and the states of the church, and falls into the Adriatic Sea. It receives the Ticino near Pavia, and several small rivers which flow from the Alps. The Ticino is the boundary between Austrian Italy and the Sardinian states. The Adige rises in the Tyrol on the borders of Switzerland, flows through Trent and Verona into the Gulf of Venice, north of the Po. The Piave rises on the borders of Carniola, passes See page 151. near Cadore, Belluno, and Feltre, and falls into the Gulf of Venice. POLAND. Poland is situated between 48° and 57° 30′ north latitude, and 16 and 32 degrees of east longitude, being about 660 miles from north to south, and 600 miles from east to west. The surface contains about 284,000 square `miles, with 15 millions of inhabitants. Poland is bounded on the north by the kingdom of Prussia, the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Riga, part of the river Dwina, and Russia; on the east by part of Russia, and the river Dnieper; on the south by the Carpathian mountains, which divide it from Hungary, and by the Dniester which separates it from Moldavia in Turkey; and on the west by Silesia and Upper Saxony. No country in Europe has undergone greater changes of territory than Poland, at different periods of its history. The crown of Poland was elective, the last king was Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, son of Count Poniatowski, the friend and companion of Charles XII. of Sweden; he was raised to the throne in 1764, in the 22d year of his age. In 1770 Poland was visited by the plague, which gave the Prussians, the Austrians, and Russians, a specious motive for stationing troops in the kingdom, contiguous to their own dominions, to prevent the spreading of the infection, In 1772 the three powers above mentioned entered into an alliance to divide and dismember the kingdom of Poland; nothing could exceed the injustice and ingratitude of this alliance. Prussia was formerly in a state of vassalage to Poland; the house of Austria in 1683 was delivered by John Sobieski, king of Poland, from the greatest danger it ever experienced, and the throne of Russia and its capital were in the possession of the Poles, under Sigismond III. The partition of Poland between the Prussians, the Austrians, and Russians took place at three distinct periods, viz. 1772, 1793, and 1795. In the last of these years Prussian Poland contained about 52,000 square miles, Austrian Poland 64,000, and Russian Poland 168,000. At the congress of Vienna in 1815, the allotment to Prussia was about 29,000 square miles; to Austria 30,000 square miles; to Russia 178,000 square miles, and to the kingdom of Poland 47,000 square miles. THE KINGDOM OF POLAND. The Kingdom of Poland is bounded on the north by east Prussia; on the east by the Bug river, which divides it from Russian Poland; on the south by Austrian Poland. or Galicia; and on the west by Posen and Silesia. Palatinatės. * Chief Towns. Rivers, &c. Masovia... Podlachia..................Siedlice.................. SWarsaw............ Vistula. Augustow............... Augustowo........N.W. of Grodno. Plock...... ........................... ..................................Plock or Plotzk.. Vistula. Kalish.... ...... Lublin............ ..Kalisz...............Prosna. Sandomir.................. Sandomir............Vistula and San. Cracow...... .....Cracow...... Cracow formerly the capital of Poland, and where the Kings were elected and crowned, is now a free city. The trade consists in Hungarian wine, wax, honey, and linen cloth. The Palatinate of Sandomir is remarkable for its fertility; it also contains iron, lead, copper, and zinc. Poland is almost every where level, and in many places marshy; the rivers in general run in shallow channels, and overflow their banks. Warsaw was formerly the capital of all Poland, but in 1794 it was nearly destroyed by the Russians under General Suwarrow; at the final partition of Poland in 1795, the palatinate of Masovia fell to the share of Prussia, and Warsaw then became merely the capital of a province. After the battle of Jenat in 1806, when Bonaparte overthrew the power of Prussia, the central part of Poland was formed into an independent state, called the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and confirmed by the treaty of Tilsit in 1807. In November 1815 the Grand Duchy *The Palatinates annexed to Russia are given at pages 140, 14], and 142, those annexed to Prussia at pages 172 and 173 and to Austria page 158. † See page 174. + See page 145. of Warsaw had peculiar privileges granted by the Em. peror Alexander, and is now entitled the kingdom of Poland, of which Warsaw is the capital. The emperor of Russia is king of Poland, but the government is quite distinct from that of Russia. There are now, as formerly, a king, a senate, and a diet; the regal dignity is vested in the emperor, represented by a viceroy, in whom, and in a cabinet of ministers, the executive government resides. SWITZERLAND. Switzerland lies between 6 degrees and 101 degrees of east longitude, and between 45 degrees and 48 degrees of north latitude. It is bounded by Alsace in France, and Suabia in Germany on the north; by the Lake of Constance and the Austrian dominions on the east; by Piedmont and the Milanese on the south; and on the west by France. The length and breadth are not easily ascertained on account of the irregularity of its surface. Switzerland was formerly divided into thirteen cantons, and during the sway of Bonaparte into nineteen departments, but after the annihilation of his power into 22 cantons. Cantons. Schweitz....... Chief Towns. Rivers, &c. .....Schweitz.............Near Lake Lowerz. Uri..................... Altorf.................Near the Reuss. Underwalden.........Stantz...... Berne.................. Berne..................Aar. Zurich.................Zurich....... .............................. ..............Limat and Lake Zu Lucerne...... rich ....Lucerne..... ..Reuss and Lake of Glaris.......... ..Glaris..................Linth. Zug........ Lucerne. ....Zug.....................Lake of Zug. Appenzelle.. Appenzelle........... Setter. leure................Soleure ...............Aar. Basil or Basle.......Basle.......... ..Rhine. |