The edition consists of official reports written for the Foreign Office by British envoys to the German States in the 19th century, covering the period from the Vienna Congress in 1815 to the dissolution of the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) in 1866. All despatches have been transcribed and annotated for the first time. The following missions are included: Frankfurt (Diet of the German Confederation), Berlin (Prussia), Munich (Bavaria), Stuttgart (Wurttemberg), Dresden (Saxony), Vienna (Austria) and Hanover from 1837. The selection presents the main attitudes to the political, economic, military, cultural, and social situation in the German States described and assessed by British diplomats. Although a relatively homogeneous social group these envoys did not produce a homogeneous image of Germany. Furthermore, the edition provides insights into the activities of the British diplomatic service in the German states over a long period of time.