England for about £3,191,000, to assist in the war against the North American colonies. The reign of the next landgrave, William IX., was an important epoch in the history of Hesse- Cassel. Ascending the throne in 1785, he took part in the war against France a few years later, but in 1795 peace was arranged by the treaty of Basel. For the loss in 1801 of his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine he was in 1803 compensated by some of the former French territory round Mainz, and at the same time was raised to the dignity of Kurfiirst or Elector William I. In 1806 he made a treaty of neutrality with Napoleon, but after the battle of Jena the latter, suspecting William’s designs, occupied his country, and expelled him. Hesse-Cassel was then added to Jerome Bona- parte’s new kingdom of Westphalia ; but after the battle of Leipsic in 1813 the French were driven out and the elector restored. By the Vienna congress, where he intrigued in vain to be recognized as a king, several changes in the extent of his dominion were made. On his return to his sovereignty, William promised to grant his people a new and popular constitution ; but just as the draft was realy to become law by his signature, he drew back, dissolved the diet, and continued to rule without again summoning it. His son, William II., who succeeded in 1821, pursued the same Jine of policy, and carried on the government without reference to the diet. The discontent which this conduct excited was intensified by the elector’s shameless connexion with the countess of Reichenbach. Disturbances took place, and the eleetor, after attempting to pacify his people, appointed his son as regent in 1831, and withdrew to Frankfort, where he died in 1847. The regent, becoming Elector Frederick Williain I., startled by the Paris revolution of 1848, made many promises to the people, and carried some of them into effect, but on the reaction of 1850, which spread over all Germany, snatched at the first pretext for returning to the former order of things. He attempted to levy the usual taxes without obtaining the conscnt of his chambers, but the commotion thus caused was so great that he was forced to retire to Wilhelmsbad, along with his very unpopular minis- ter, Hassenpflug. He induced the diet of princes then assembled at Frankfort to support hii, and Austrian and Bavarian troops entered Hesse-Cassel to enforce obedience. Prussia, in alarm, immediately occupied the northern part of the country, and a civil war was barely avoided by arrangement. The elector, however, scarcely changed his policy, and the next sixteen years were occupied with disputes between the chambers and the Government. In 1866 Hesse-Cassel joined Austria against Prussia. Prussian troops immediately over- ran the country, and on the treaty with Austria, the electorate was annexed to the Prussian kingdom. The elector was carried a prisoner to Stettin, and was only released on resigning his claims to the throne of Hesse-Cassel. He died in 1875.
Sce Wippermann, Kurhesscn seit den Freihcitskriegen, 1850 ; Roth, Geschichte von Hessen-Kassel, 1856 ; Grife, Der Verfussungs- kampf in Kurhessen, 1851 ; and works under Hesse.
HESSE-DARMSTADT, Grand-Duchy of, the actual Hesse of the present day, isa state of Germany situated on the Rhine and Main, between Prussia on the north and Baden on the south. It consists of two large and several small detached portions of territory. The more northerly of the large portions forms the province of Oberhessen, and is completely surrounded by Prussia. The other, divided by the Rhine into the provinces of Starkenburg and Rhein- hessen, is bounded on the N. by Hesse- Nassau, on the W. by the Rhine Palatinate and Rhenish Prussia, on the S. by Baden, and on the E. by Baden and Bavaria. The axtent of the duchy is about 2965 square miles. Ober- hessen is mountainous, having the Vogelsberg in the east with Taufstein (2579 feet) as the highest summit in the country, and the Hausberg, a branch of the Taunus, in the south-west. In the south-east of Starkenburg is the Odenwald. Rheinhessen is occupied by fertile hills. The chief rivers are the Rhine, Main, Neckar, Lahn, and Fulda, with their tributaries. There are no lakes, but mineral springs abound in all the provinces. The climate is pleasant anJ mild in the river valleys and plains, but severe on the heights, especially in Oberhessen. Besides the usual domestic animals, deer of various kinds, wild swine, foxes, martens, and otters are found. Agriculture, incluling the breeding of horses and cattle, is actively encouraged by Government, and is the principal industry of the people. Forestry and vine-growing are also im- portant, the latter being practised almost exclusively in Rheinhessen. The principal crops are millet, buckwheat, oats, and potatoes; but rape (for oil), hemp, flax, tobacco, and fruit are also cultivated. The manufactures embrace leather (enamelled and coloured), tobacco, cigars, shoes, furniture, pocket-books and similar goods, chemicals, matches, machinery, and various textile fabrics. Mining is carried on chiefly in Oberhessen. Iron, copper, man- ganese, graphite, lignite, salt, marble, and clay are the principal minerals, which are worked for home consump. tion. In 1878 there were produced in Hesse 45,300 tons of lignite, 91,724 tons of iron ore, and 13,200 tons of salt, representing in value about £62,100. Trade is tolerably important in Hesse. The following numbers of persons engaged in the various industries are taken from the industrial census of 1875 :—Horticulturists, 292 ; fishermen, 65; miners, 1553; workers in ston, clay, glass, 4715; in metals, 8266; in machines, instruments, &e., 7202; in chemical industries, 2153; in lighting materials, soap, resins, &c., 1190; in textile industries, 8274; iv paper and leather, 7600; in wood, 11,142; in food and drink, 19,923; in dress and washing, 21,629 ; in building, 1291; in polygraphic industries, 1291; in artistic industries, 412; in mercantile business, 17,593 ; in conveyance, 2273; in lodging and boarding, 6016— total, 134,383. The people are well educated ; of the recruits in 1878-79 only °21 per cent. were unable either to read or write. There is a university at Giessen, and the schools, ordinary, technical, and theological, throughout the country are very numerous. The Protestant religion predominates, theugh the Roman Cathoke faith is also recognized by the state. Darmstadt is the capital ; Offenbach is the chief manufacturing town; Mainz has perhaps the most active trade. ‘The other chief towns are Alsfeld, Lauterbach, Friedberg, Bingen, Bensheim, and Worms. The population in 1875 was 884,218. The government since 1820 has been a constitutional heredi- tary monarchy, assisted by two chambers, modified in 1856—the one of life members, mostly from among the nobility, the other of popular representatives, elected indirectly. The chambers must mect at least once every three years. The ministry of three is responsible to the nation. Hesse is represented in the imperial federal council by 3 votes, and in the reichstag by 9. The annual revenue for the finance-period 1876-78 was £872,379, and the expenditure £872,481. The estimated annual revenue for the period 1879-82 is £1,011,762, and the estimated expenditure £857,124. The public debt in 1879 was £2,041,397, chiefly incurred for railways. For additional statistics see Germany.
George I., youngest son of Philip the Magnanimous, received on his father’s death in 1567 the upper countship of Katzenelnbogen, and, selecting Darmstadt as his residence, became the founder of the Hesse-Darmstadt line. Additions to the territory were made Loth in his reign and in that of his son, Louis V. The landgraviate, as it was at first styled, suffered severely from war and its attendant famines and plagues. The Thirty Years’ War, a war of succcssion with Hesse-Cassel, and the Seven Years’ War dealt heavy blows at its prosperity. Louis X, who succeeded his father in 1790, involved it in further contests. Joining at first the allies against France, he was compelled in 1793 by the latter power to sign a treaty of neu- trality. By the treaty of Lunéville he gave up his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, receiving as compensation a very much larger district on the right bank. From 1805 till 1813 he was compelled to supply Napoleon with a contingent of troops against the other Germans. In 1806, as member of the Confederation of the Rhine, he assumed the title of grand-duke Louis I. of Hesse. After the battle of Leipsic in 1813, when Napoleon was defeated, Louis again joined the allies. By the decision of the Vienna con- gress in 1815 considerable change in his dominions was made ; but though he was forced to recognize the independence of Hesse- Homburg, which since the beginning of the century had been incorporated with Hesse-Darmstadt, his title of grand-duke was confirmed. Within his country a growing desire for political liberty had been making itself apparent, and in 1820 the grand-duke pro- mulgated a new constitution. This was rejected by the people, and attempts were made in vain by successive diets to frame_a consti- tution pleasing alike to the ruler and the ruled. Louis II.
