RASPBERRY. See HORTICULTURE, VOI. xii. p. 276. RASTATT, or RAsTADT, a small town in Baden, is situated on the Murg, 4 miles above its junction with the Rhine and 12 miles south-west of Carlsruhe. It is a fortress of great strength, commanding the passage through the Black Forest. The only notable building is purposes and containing a collection of pictures, antiquities, and trophies from the Turkish wars. The industry of Rastatt is almost confined to local needs, and the town may be said to live on tho garrison, which forms nearlyhalf of its population (1880) of 12,356. Two-thirds of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics.

Previous to the dose of the 17th century Rastatt was a place of no importance, but after its destruction by the French in 3689 it was rebuilt on a larger scale by Margrave Lewis, the well-known imperial general in the Turkish wars, and became the residence of the margraves of Baden down to 1771. In 1714 the preliminary articles of the peace between Austria and France, ending the War of the Spanish Succession, were signed here. The congress of Rastatt in 1797-99 had for its object the re-arrangement of the map of Germany by providing compensation for those princes who had relinquished to France territory on the left bank of the Rhine.

It dispersed, however, without result, war having again broken out between France and Austria. As the French plenipotentiaries were leaving the town they were waylaid and assassinated by Hungaidan hussars. The object and instigators of this deed have remained shrouded in mystery, but the balance of evidence seems to indicate that the Austrian authorities had ordered a violent seizure of the ambassadors' papers, to avoid damaging disclosures with regard to Austrian designs on Bavaria, and that the soldiers had simply exceeded their instructions. The Baden revolution of 1849 began at Rastatt with a military mutiny and ended here a few months later with the capture of the town by the Prussians. Rastatt is now a fortress of the German ernpire.