Religion, Instruction, Justice, and Crime.

In 1885 Saxe-Weimar contained 301,333 Protestants (96 per cent.), 10,880 Catholics (34 per cent.), 405 other Christians, 1,313 Jews, and 15 unclassified.

The University at Jena (see Germany, p. 528) is common to the four Saxon Duchies. The public schools in the Grand-duchy at the close of 1887-88 were as follows:

Saxe-Weimar contains two Landgerichte, while the district of Neustadt is subject to the jurisdiction of the Landgericht at Gera. The Oberlandesgericht at Jena is a common court of appeal for the four Saxon Duchies, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the two Reuss Principalities, and parts of Prussia. In 1887 1,873 persons, i.e. 83 per 10,000 inhabitants above the age of 12, were convicted of crime in Saxe-Weimar. In 1885 4,198 persons, with 2,601 dependents, received public poor relief, i.e. 21-66 per 1,000 inhabitants.

Production.

Nearly one-half of the population are supported by agriculture, and 224,625 hectares, or nearly two-thirds of the entire area, are cultivated. The number of separate agricultural tenements on June 5, 1882, was as follows:-

These farms supported a population of 132,057, of whom 55,417 were actively engaged in agriculture. The chief crops in 1888 were :—

There were 174 miles of railway on January 1, 1889.

British Minister Plenipotentiary.-Sir Edward Malet, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.

Consul-General. -Baron von Tauchnitz (Leipzig).

SAXONY.

(KÖNIGREICH SACHSEN.)

Reigning King.

Albert, born April 23, 1828; eldest son of King Johann and of Queer Amalie, daughter of King Maximilian I. of Bavaria. Educated for a military career, and entered the army of Saxony 1843 and of Prussia 1867 Commander of the German army of the Meuse in the war against France, 1870-71. Nominated field-marshal in the German army 1871. Succeeded to the throne, at the death of his father, October 29, 1873. Married June 18, 1853, to Queen Caroline, born August 5, 1833, daughter of Prince Gustav of Vasa.

Sister and Brother of the King.

I. Princess Elisabeth, born February 4, 1830; married April 22, 1850, to Prince Ferdinand of Sardinia; widow February 10, 1855.

II. Prince Georg, Duke of Saxony, born August 8, 1832; married May 11, 1859, to Infanta Maria Anna, born July 21, 1843 (died February 5, 1884), daughter of King Ferdinand of Portugal. Nominated field-marshal in the German army June 15, 1888. Offspring of the union are six children-1. Princess Matilde, born March 19, 1863. 2. Prince Friedrich August, born May 25, 1865. 3. Princess Maria Josefa, born May 31, 1867; married October 2, 1886, to Archduke Otto of Austria. 4. Prince Johann Georg, born July 10, 1869. 5. Prince Max, born November 17, 1870. 6. Prince Albert, born February 25, 1875.

The royal house of Saxony counts amongst the oldest reigning families in Europe. It gave an emperor to Germany as early as the beginning of the tenth century; but the house subsequently spread into numerous branches, the elder of which, called the Ernestine line, is represented at this moment by the ducal families of Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Weimar; while the younger, the Albertine line, lives in the rulers of the Kingdom of Saxony. In 1806 the Elector Friedrich Augustus III. (1763–1827), on entering the Confederation of the Rhine, assumed the title of King of Saxony, which was confirmed in 1815. The following were the predecessors of the present King:

:

Exclusive

King Albert has a civil list of 2,940,000 marks per annum. of this sum are the appanages, or dotations of the princes and princesses, amounting to 392,036 marks a year. The formerly royal domains, consisting chiefly in extensive forests, became, in 1830, the property of the State.

Constitution and Government.

The present Constitution of Saxony dates from September 4, 1831; but has undergone alterations and modifications by the laws of June 19, 1846; March 31, 1849; May 5, 1851; November 27, 1860; October 19, 1861; December 3, 1868; and October 12, 1874. According to the terms of the Constitution, the crown is hereditary in the male line; but, at the extinc. tion of the latter, also in the female line. The sovereign comes of age at

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the completed eighteenth year, and, during his minority, the nearest heir to the throne takes the regency. The legislature is jointly in the King and Parliament, the latter consisting of two chambers. The Upper Chamber comprises the princes of the blood royal; the proprietors of mediatised domains, now held by five owners; twelve deputies elected by the owners of other nobiliar estates; ten noble proprietors and five other members without restriction nominated by the king for life; the burgomasters of eight towns; and the superintendents and deputies of five collegiate institutions, of the University of Leipzig, and of the Roman Catholic chapter of St. Peter at Bautzen. The Lower Chamber is made up of thirty-five deputies of towns and forty-five repre sentatives of rural communes. The qualification for a seat in the Upper House, as well as the right of election to the same, is the possession of a landed estate worth at least 3,000 marks a year; which qualification, how ever, is not required by the ex-officio deputies of chapters and universi ties. To be a member of the Lower House, no fixed income is required; and electors are all men above twenty-five years of age who pay three marks annual land tax or other direct contributions, or who own land with a dwelling-house. The members of both Houses, with the exception of the hereditary and certain of the ex officio members, are each allowed 12 marks per day during the sittings of Parliament, and an allowance for travelling ex penses. Both Houses have the right to make propositions for new laws. No taxes can be made, levied, or altered without the sanction of both Chambers.

The executive is in the King and a Council of Ministers, namely, the Ministers of Justice, of Finance, of the Interior, of War, of Foreign Affairs, of Education, and Ecclesiastical Affairs.

Area and Population.

Saxony has an area of 5,856 English square miles. The following table shows the area and population of the whole and of each of the four Kreishauptmannschaften, or chief governmental divisions :

In 1815, when the Kingdom received its present limits, the population was 1,178,802. The growth of the population since the first satisfactory census is illustrated in the following table :--

Of the total population in 1885, 1,890,842, or 59.4 per cent., live in towns of 2,000 inhabitants and upwards, and the remainder, 40.6 per cent., in rural communes.

The urban population increased in 1871-75 at the rate of 15·1 per cent.; 1875-80, 14.7 per cent. ; and 1880-85, 12.3 per cent. The rural popu. lation increased in 1871-75 at the rate of only 0.8 per cent.; and 1880-85, 0.02 per cent.; in 1875-80 it decreased 0-4 per cent.

The population in 1885 included 1,542,405 males, and 1,639,598 females, i.e. 106-3 females per 100 males. The conjugal condition of the population was as follows:

The division of the population according to occupation is shown in the table on page 523. Besides the German population, Saxony contains (1885) 49,916 Wends, most of them in the district of Bautzen. In 1885 there were (besides other Germans) 48,126 foreigners.

The movement of the population is illustrated by the following table:

The emigration from Saxony, embarking at German and Dutch ports, was as follows:

There were, in December 1885, nine towns with a population of more than 20,000, namely:

Dresden

246,086
170,340

Freiberg
Zittau

27,042 23,215

110,817

42,848

39,243

Religion.

Although the royal family is Roman Catholic in religion, the vast majority of the inhabitants of Saxony are Protestants. The distribution of the different creeds was as follows in 1885:-Protestants, 3,075,961, or 96.6 per cent.; Roman Catholics, 87,762, or 2.76 per cent.; other Christians, 10,263,

or 32 per cent.; Jews, 7,755, or 24 per cent.; unclassified, 262. In 1887 the Kingdom contained 1,286 Moravian Brethren or Herrnhuter, mostly at Herrnhut, the chief seat of this sect. Catholic Apostolics number 2,540 and 'Old Catholics' 2,166. The head of the State (Protestant) Church is the minister de evangelicis.' The chief governing-body is the Landes Consistorium or National Consistory at Dresden; and it also has a representative Synod (Synode) with 29 clerical and 35 lay members. Ecclesiastically the Kingdom is divided into 35 Ephorien, subdivided into 955 parishes.

Instruction.

The Kingdom is divided into 28 school-inspection districts. At the end of 1887 there were in Saxony 2,144 public Protestant and 39 Roman Catholic common schools (Volksschulen), 84 private schools and 1,919 advanced common schools (Fortbildungsschulen), or altogether 4,186 common schools, with a total attendance of 641,070. In addition there were 1 polytechnic at Dresden, 2 Landesschulen, 14 Gymnasia, 10 Realgymnasia, 23 Realschulen, 18 seminaries, and 2 high girls' schools-altogether 70 educational establishments, with a total attendance of 17,739, exclusive of the University and a large number of industrial, commercial, agricultural, musical, and art institutes.

The University of Leipzig, founded in 1409, and attended on the average of recent years by 3,000 students, is the third largest in Germany.

Justice, Crime, and Pauperism.

Saxony has one Oberlandesgericht, at Dresden, 7 Landgerichte, and 103 Amtsgerichte. (See Germany, p. 528.) The Reichsgericht has its seat at Leipzig. In 1887 20,277 persons, or 9 per 1,000 of the population over 12 years of age, were convicted of crime. The number in 1885 was 20,521, and in 1886 20,437, including 16,277 males (796 per cent.) and 4,160 females (20.4 per cent.).

In 1885 53,190 persons, with 35,412 dependents (in all, 2-78 per cent. of the population), received public poor relief.

Finance.

The financial period extends over a term of two years. In the financial accounts, both the revenue and expenditure are divided into ‘ordinary` and extraordinary,' the latter representing disbursements for public works. The budget estimate for the two years 1888-89 was 83,358,314 marks, and was balanced by the expenditure; there was also an extraordinary revenue and expenditure of 28,744,500 marks. More than one-half of the total revenue is derived from domains, forests, and State railways. The total direct taxes in 1888 and 1889 amounted to 20,939,640 marks, or 68. 2d. per head of population. The net revenue from railways alone amounted to 28,012,715 marks. The chief branch of expenditure is that of interest and sinking fund of the public debt, amounting to 30,982,395 marks for the years 1888 and 1889.

The public debt amounted in 1888 to 653,314,490 marks. The debt was incurred almost entirely for the establishment and purchase of a network of railways and telegraphs, and the promotion of other works of public utility. The total capital invested in State railways at the end of 1885 was 612,307,195 marks.

The total income of all classes of the population in 1886 was estimated at 1,236,610,569 marks.