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 658 SAXONY Elbe is called Saxon Switzerland. The Lusa- tian mountains on the right bank of that river connect the Erzgebirge with the Riesengebirge. The S. W. portion of the country is known as the Voigtland. About three fifths of the sur- face is level or slightly undulating. The prin- cipal rivers are the Elbe and its tributaries the Elster, Mulde, and Spree. The climate is salu- brious, but severe in the mountains. Grain, fruit, and flax are produced in large quantities. Of the total area, 52 - 4 per cent, is under til- lage, 13 per cent, meadows and pastures, 30'5 per cent, forests, and only 4'1 per cent, unpro- ductive. Cattle^are raised in great numbers. Saxony has long been celebrated for its fine wool ; recently the sheep have declined in num- ber, but improved in breed. The value of all private landed property rose from $294,000,000 in 1830 to $490,000,000 in 1858, and $807,000,- 000 in 1874. Minerals abound, including coal, silver, iron, lead, tin, marble, porcelain clay, arsenic, &c. The amount of silver mined in 1870 was 64,000 Ibs. ; iron, 179,000 quintals; lead, 70,000 quintals. Nearly 80,000 persons are employed in mines and smelting. In 1871 there were 681 distilleries and (599 breweries, producing 40,800,000 gallons of beer. More than half the population is engaged in manu- factures, producing fine linen, silk, and wool- len goods, laces and embroideries, tin spoons, paints, straw goods, porcelain, musical instru- ments, iron and tin ware, machinery, and many other articles. The book trade and the fairs of Leipsic and the general commerce of Sax- ony are of great magnitude. (See GERMANY, anil LEIPSIC.) Public education is as well pro- vided for in Saxony as in Prussia. The uni- versity of Leipsic enjoys world-wide celebrity, and there are various academies in Dresden, a celebrated one for mining at Freiberg, and many gymnasiums and normal and special schools, besides the numerous common schools. The kingdom is divided into the districts of Dresden, Leipsic, Zwickau, and Bautzen (in- cluding the main part of Upper Lusatia). Since 1831 Saxony has been a hereditary con- stitutional monarchy. The constitutional and electoral laws were perfected in 1849, 1851, 1860, 1861, and 1868. The king is a Roman Catholic, but 98 per cent, of the people are Protestants, of German race. In 1871 there were 3,357 Jews, and about 50,000 Wends, of Slavic race, almost all in Lustitia. Saxony holds the third rank in the federal council of Germany, having four votes, and is represented by 23 deputies in the Reichstag. The legis- lature consists of an upper chamber composed of royal princes, nobles, prelates, large landed proprietors, and the burgomasters of the eight chief towns (Dresden, Leipsic, Chemnitz, Zwickau, Plauen, Glauchau, Freiberg, and Meerane) ; and of a second chamber with 35 representatives of towns and 45 of rural bor- oughs. The executive government is exercised under the king by a council of state and six heads of departments constituting the minis- try. The Saxon troops form the 12th corps of the German army. The only fortress of Saxony is the impregnable castle of Konig- stein, the commander of which is appointed by the emperor of Germany. (See KONIGSTEIN.) The public debt at the close of 1873 was about $81,000,000. The revenue and expenditures were respectively estimated for 1874-'5 at $11,000,000. The Germanic Hermunduri are considered the original inhabitants of Saxony ; they were followed by the Slavic Sorabs, who during the 9th and 10th centuries were over- powered by the Saxons. The latter founded the margraviate of Meissen (Misnia), which in the 12th century, under the house of Wet- tin, became one of the most nourishing states of Germany. A long intestine conflict was terminated in 1308 by the recognition of the margrave Frederick the Bitten as joint ruler of Meissen and Thuringia. A portion of Fran- conia was subsequently added, and in reward for services in the Hussite war; the house of Wettin in 1423 obtained the electoral dignity, which had been borne by S axe- Wittenberg, one of the fragments of the old Saxon duchy (see SAXOXS), under a branch of the Ascanian family. On the death of Frederick the War- like, the first elector (1428), his sons divided his possessions, which, reunited for a time, were again divided by his grandsons (1485). Ernest received the western portions, including Wittenberg and Thuringia, with the electoral dignity, and Albert the eastern, embracing the main parts of the present Saxony, founding respectively the Ernestine and Albertine lines. Frederick the Wise (1486-1525) and John the Constant (1525-'82), sons of Ernest, were strong protectors of Luther. John Frederick, son of John the Constant, while defending Protestantism as one of the leaders of the Smalcald league, succumbed in the battle of Milhlberg (1547) to an alliance between his cousin Maurice, of the Albertine line, and the emperor Charles V. Maurice succeeded to the electorate, which remained attached to his dynasty, and obtained the larger part of the Ernestine possessions, the remainder of which, subsequently enlarged by cessions, was gradu- ally split up into the various Thuringian states. The elector John George I. (1611-'56), by his vacillating course during the thirty years' war, plunged Saxony into inextricable difficulties. Augustus (Frederick) I. the Strong (16 94-1 733) became a Roman Catholic to qualify himself for the throne of Poland (as such Augustus II.). His warfare with Charles XII. caused Saxony to be invaded by the Swedes. The disrepu- table reign of his son Augustus (Frederick) II. of Saxony and III. of Poland (l733-'63), and the wars with Prussia, especially the seven years' war, entailed still greater disasters upon the country. A better era began under the regency of Prince Xavier (1763-'8), during the minority of Frederick Augustus III. (as elector, 1763-1806; I. as king, 1806-'27), and during the reign of the latter, who was sur-