Frederick William was at that time intriguing with Turkey, then at war with Austria and Russia. Lucchesini was to rouse Polish feeling against Russia, and to secure for Prussia the concourse of Poland in the event of war with Austria and Russia. All his power of intrigue was needed in the conduct of these hazardous negotiations, rendered more difficult by the fact that Prussian policy excluded the existence of a strong Polish government. A Prusso-Polish alliance was concluded in March 1790. Lucchesini had been sent in January of that year to secure the alliance of Saxony against Austria, and in September he was sent to Sistova, where representatives of the chief European powers were engaged in settling the terms of peace between Austria and Turkey, which were finally agreed upon on the 4th of August 1791. Before he returned to Warsaw the Polish treaty of which he had been the chief author had become a dead letter owing to the engagements made between Prussia and Austria at Reichenbach in July 1790, and Prussia was already contemplating the second partition of Poland. He was recalled at the end of 1791, and in July 1792 he joined Frederick William in the invasion of France. He was to be Prussian ambassador in Paris when the allied forces should have reinstated the authority of Louis XVI. He was opposed alike to the invasion of France and the Austrian alliance, but his prepossessions did not interfere with his skilful conduct of the negotiations with Kellermann after the allies had been forced to retire by Dumouriez’s guns at Valmy, nor with his success in securing the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt’s assistance against France. In 1793 he was appointed ambassador to Vienna, with the ostensible object of securing financial assistance for the Rhenish campaign. He accompanied Frederick William through the Polish campaign of 1793–94, and in the autumn returned to Vienna. His anti-Austrian bias made him extremely unpopular with the Austrian court, which asked in vain for his recall in 1795. In 1797, after a visit to Italy in which he had an interview with Napoleon at Bologna, these demands were renewed and acceded to. In 1800 he was sent by Frederick William III. on a special mission to Paris. Despatches in which he expressed his distrust of Bonaparte’s peaceful professions and his conviction of the danger of the continuance of a neutral policy were intercepted by the first consul, who sought his recall, but eventually accepted him as regular ambassador (1802). He consistently sought friendly relations between France and Prussia, but he warned his government in 1806 of Napoleon’s intention of restoring Hanover to George III. and of Murat’s aggressions in Westphalia. He was superseded as ambassador in Paris in September just before the outbreak of war. After the disaster of Jena on the 14th of October he had an interview with Duroc near Wittenberg to seek terms of peace. After two unsuccessful attempts at negotiation, the first draft being refused by Napoleon, the second by Frederick William, he joined the Prussian court at Königsberg only to learn that his services were no longer required. He then joined the court of Elisa, grand duchess of Tuscany, at Lucca and Florence, and after Napoleon’s fall devoted himself to writing. He died on the 20th of October 1825.
He published in 1819 three volumes, Sulle cause et gli effetti della confederazione rhenana, at Florence, but revealed little that was not already available in printed sources. His memoirs remained in MS. His despatches are edited by Bailleu in Preussen und Frankreich (Leipzig, 1887, Publikationen aus den preussischen Staatsarchiven).
LUCENA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Cordova,
37 m. S.S.E. of Cordova, on the Madrid-Algeciras railway.
Pop. (1900) 21,179. Lucena is situated on the Cascajar, a minor
tributary of the Genil. The parish church dates from the
beginning of the 16th century. The chief industries are the
manufacture of matches, brandy, bronze lamps and pottery,
especially the large earthenware jars (tinajas) used throughout
Spain for the storage of oil and wine, some of which hold more
than 300 gallons. There is considerable trade in agricultural
produce, and the horse fair is famous throughout Andalusia.
Lucena was taken from the Moors early in the 14th century;
it was in the attempt to recapture it that King Boabdil of
Granada was taken prisoner in 1483.
LUCERA, a town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, 1212 m.
W.N.W. by rail of Foggia. Pop. (1901) 16,962. It is situated
upon a lofty plateau, the highest point of which (823 ft.), projecting
to the W., was the ancient citadel, and is occupied by
the well-preserved castle erected by Frederick II., and rebuilt
by Pierre d’Angicourt about 1280. The cathedral, originally
Romanesque, but restored after 1300 is in the Gothic style;
the façade is good, and so is the ciborium. The interior was
restored in 1882. The town occupies the site of the ancient
Luceria, the key of the whole country. According to tradition
the temple of Minerva, founded by Diomede, contained the
Trojan Palladium, and the town struck numerous bronze coins;
but in history it is first heard of as on the Roman side in the
Samnite Wars (321 B.C.), and in 315 or 314 B.C. a Latin colony
was sent here. It is mentioned in subsequent military history,
and its position on the road from Beneventum, via Aecae (mod.
Troja) to Sipontum, gave it some importance. Its wool was
also renowned. It now contains no ancient remains above
ground, though several mosaic pavements have been found and
there are traces of the foundations of an amphitheatre outside
the town on the E. The town-hall contains a statue of Venus,
a mosaic and some inscriptions (but cf. Th. Mommsen’s remarks
on the local neglect of antiquities in Corp. Inscr. Lat. ix. 75).
In 663 it was destroyed by Constans II., and was only restored
in 1223 by Frederick II., who transported 20,000 Saracens hither
from Sicily. They were at first allowed religious freedom, but
became Christians under compulsion in 1300. Up to 1806
Lucera was the capital of the provinces of Basilicata and
Molise. (T. As.)
LUCERNE (Ger. Luzern; Ital. Lucerna), one of the cantons of central Switzerland. Its total area is 579.3 sq. m., of which
530.2 sq. m. are classed as “productive” (forests covering
120.4 sq. m., and vineyards .04 sq. m.). It contains no glaciers
or eternal snows, its highest points being the Brienzer Rothhorn
(7714 ft.) and Pilatus (6995 ft.), while the Rothstock summit
(5453 ft.) and the Kaltbad inn, both on the Rigi, are included
in the canton, the loftiest point of the Rigi range (the Kulm)
being entirely in Schwyz. The shape of the canton is an irregular
quadrilateral, due to the gradual acquisition of rural districts
by the town, which is its historical centre. The northern portion,
about 1512 sq. m., of the Lake of Lucerne is in the canton. Its
chief river is the Reuss, which flows through it for a short distance
only receiving the Kleine Emme that flows down through the
Entlebuch. In the northern part the Wigger, the Suhr and the
Wynen streams flow through shallow valleys, separated by low
hills. The canton is fairly well supplied with railways. The lakes
of Sempach and Baldegg are wholly within the canton, which
also takes in small portions of those of Hallwil and of Zug.
In 1900 the population numbered 146,519, of which 143,337 were German-speaking, 2204 Italian-speaking and 747 French-speaking, while 134,020 were Romanists, 12,085 Protestants and 319 Jews. Its capital is Lucerne (q.v.); the other towns are Kriens (pop. 5951), Willisau (4131), Ruswil (3928), Littau (3699), Emmen (3162) and Escholzmatt (3127). The peasants are a fine race, and outside the chief centres for foreign visitors have retained much of their primitive simplicity of manners and many local costumes. In the Entlebuch particularly the men are of a robust type, and are much devoted to wrestling and other athletic exercises. That district is mainly pastoral and is famous for its butter and cheese. Elsewhere in the canton the pastoral industry (including swine-breeding) is more extended than agriculture, while chiefly in and around Lucerne there are a number of industrial establishments. The industrie des étrangers is greatly developed in places frequented by foreign visitors. The population as a whole is Conservative in politics and devotedly Romanist in religion. But owing to the settlement of many non-Lucerne hotel-keepers and their servants in the town of Lucerne the capital is politically Radical.
The canton ranks officially third in the Swiss confederation next after Zürich and Bern. It was formerly in the diocese of Constance, and is now in that of Basel. It contains 5 administrative districts and 107 communes. The existing cantonal
