The foreign emigrants were chiefly natives of Austria-Hungary, Rusia, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Religion, Justice, and Crime.

On Dec. 1, 1885, Bremen contained 157,944 Protestants (953 per cent.), 6,196 Roman Catholics (3.7 per cent.), 646 other Christians, 840 Jews, and 2 unclassified.'

Bremen contains two Amtsgerichte and a Landgericht, whence appeals lie to the 'Hanseatische Oberlandesgericht' at Hamburg. In 1889, 2,939 persons were convicted of crime-i.e. 56 per 10,000 inhabitants. In 1885, 3,959 persons, with 7,282 dependents, received public poor-relief.

Finance.

In 1889-90 the revenue was 17,621,841 marks, and expenditure 18,910,682 marks, including 5,183,334 of extraordinary expenses. The estimated revenue for 1890-91 is 16,216,500 marks, and expenditure 29,580,700 marks. More than one-third of the revenue is raised from direct taxes, one-half of which is income-tax. The chief branch of expenditure is for interest and reduction of the public debt. The latter amounted, in 1889, to 68,625,200 marks. The whole of the debt, which bears interest at 3, 4, and 4 per cent., was incurred for constructing railways, harbours, and other public works.

Commerce and Shipping.

Next to that of Hamburg, the port of Bremen is the largest for the international trade of Germany. About 65 per cent. of the commerce of Bremen is carried on under the German, and about 28 per cent. under the British flag. The aggregate value of the imports in 1889 was 663,542,639 marks, of which 40,476,359 marks were from Great Britain; and of exports, 628,495,155 marks, of which 30,138,232 marks went to Great Britain.

The number of merchant vessels belonging to the State of Bremen on Jan. 1, 1890, was 342, of 350,320 tons, the number including 130 steamers of an aggregate burthen of 156,067 tons. Of the steamers sailing under the Bremen and German flag, 63 (aggregate tonnage 106,102), mainly built on the Clyde, belong to the navigation company called the North-German Lloyd,' which maintains communication between Bremen and various ports in North and South America, Eastern Asia, and Australia; 20 steamers belong to the 'Hansa' Company, plying to Madras and Calcutta, and 15 to theNeptun' Company, trading with European ports.

British Consul-General.-Hon. Charles S. Dundas (Hamburg).
British Consul.-Herr Rieke (Brake).

British Vice-Consul.-Herr Schwann (Bremerhaven.)

BRUNSWICK.

(BRAUNSCHWEIG.)
Regent.

Prince Albrecht, born May 8, 1837; son of the late Prince Albrecht of Prussia, brother of the first German Emperor Wilhelm I., and Marianne, daughter of the late William I., King of the Netherlands, Field-Marshal in the German army. Married April 19, 1873, to Princess Maria, Duchess of

REGENT-CONSTITUTION

577

Saxony, daughter of Duke Ernst of Saxe-Altenburg. Unanimously elected regent of the Duchy by the Diet, October 21, 1885; assumed the reins of government November 2, 1885. The children of the regent are: 1. Prince Friedrich Heinrich, born July 15, 1874; 2. Prince Joachim Albrecht, born September 27, 1876; 3. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, born July 12, 1880.

The last Duke of Brunswick was Wilhelm I., born April 25, 1806, the second son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm and of Princess Marie of Baden; ascended the throne April 25, 1831, and died October 18, 1884.

The heir to Brunswick is the Duke of Cumberland, excluded owing to his refusal to give up claim to the throne of Hanover. Duke of Cambridge, the nearer agnate heir, also not accepted owing to his refusal to give up his English appointments and residence.

The ducal house of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, extinct on the death of Wilhelm I., was long one of the most ancient and illustrious of the Germanic Confederation. Its ancestor, Henry the Lion, possessed, in the twelfth century, the united duchies of Bavaria and Saxony, with other territories in the North of Germany; but having refused to aid the Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in his wars with the Pope, he was, by a decree of the Diet, deprived of the whole of his territories with the sole exception of his allodial domains, the principalities of Brunswick and Lüneburg. These possessions were, on the death of Ernest the Confessor, divided between the two sons of the latter, who became the founders of the lines of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Elder Line, and Brunswick-Lüneburg, Younger Line, the former of which was represented in the ducal house of Brunswick, while the latter is merged in the royal family of Great Britain.

The Brunswick regency law of February 16, 1879, enacts that in case the legitimate heir to the Brunswick throne be absent or prevented from assuming the government, a Council of Regency, consisting of the Ministers of State and the Presidents of the Landtag and of the Supreme Court, should carry on the government; while the German Emperor should assume command of the military forces in the Duchy. If the rightful heir, after the space of a year, is unable to claim the throne, the Brunswick Landtag shall elect a regent from the non-reigning members of German reigning families.

The late Duke of Brunswick was one of the wealthiest of German sovereigns, having been in possession of vast private estates, including the principality of Oels, in Silesia, now belonging to the Prussian Crown, and large domains in the district of Glatz, in Prussia, bequeathed to the King of Saxony.

Constitution.

The Constitution of Brunswick bears date October 12, 1832, but was modified by the fundamental laws of November 22, 1851, and March 26, 1888. The legislative power is vested in one Chamber, consisting, according to the law of 1851, of forty-six members. Of these, twenty-one are elected by those who are highest taxed; three by the Protestant clergy; ten by the inhabitants of towns, and twelve by those of rural districts. The Chamber meets, according to the law of 1888, every two years, and the deputies hold their mandate for four years. The executive is represented by a responsible Staatsministerium, or Ministry of State, consisting at present of four departments, namely-of State and Foreign Affairs, of Justice, of Finance, and of the Interior.

PP

Area and Population.

The Duchy has an area of 1,441 English square miles, with a population of 372,452 inhabitants (186,175 males, 186,277 females), according to the census of December 1, 1885. The increase was at the rate of 1:29 per cent. per annum in the five years 1875-80, and 1·32 in 1880-85. Marriages, 1889, 3,477; births, 14,444; deaths, 9,454: surplus, 4,990. Included in the births are 503 (3.52 per cent.) stillborn, and 1,600 (11:35 per cent.) illegitimate children. Emigrants 1883, 592; 1884, 449; 1885, 279: 1886, 252; 1887, 238; 1888, 322; 1889, 268. Nearly the whole of the inhabitants of the Duchy are members of the Lutheran Church, there being only 12,642 Catholics in 1885.

The capital of the Duchy, the town of Brunswick, or Braunschweig, had 85,174 inhabitants at the census of Dec. 1, 1885.

Finance.

The budget is voted by the Chamber for the period of two years, but each year separate. For the year from April 1, 1890, to April 1, 1891, the revenue and expenditure of the State were made to balance at 12,106,000 marks. Not included in the budget estimates is the civil list of the Duke-1,125,000 marks. The public debt of the Duchy, without regard to a premium-loan repayable in rates of 1,200.000 marks yearly till 1924, at the commencement of 1890 was 26,129,671 marks, four-fifths of which were contracted for the establishment of railways; the productive capital of the State was at the same time 42,490,000 marks, besides an annuity of 2,625,000 marks till 1934, stipulated at the sale of the railways of the State.

Production and Industry.

Brunswick numbered on June 5, 1882, 53,611 agricultural enclosures each under one household, having a population of 113.177, of whom 59.643 were actively engaged on the farms. Of these farms, 34,129 were less than 1 hectare, 14,149 ranged from 1 to less than 10 hectares, 5,168 from 10 to less than 100 hectares, and 165 had an area each of 100 hectares and upwards.

The chief crops are wheat (22,488 hectares in 1888–89), rye (38,503), and oats (28,269).

In 1889 minerals were raised to the value of 2,082,770 marks.
There were 265 miles of railway in 1890.

British Minister Plenipotentiary.-Sir Edward Malet, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
Consul-General.-Hon. C. S. Dundas (Hamburg).

HAMBURG.

(FREIE UND HANSE-STADT HAMBURG.)
Constitution.

The State and Free City of Hamburg is a republic. The present Constitution was published on September 28, 1860, and came into force on January 1, 1861; a revision was published on October 13, 1879. According to the terms of this fundamental law, the government-Staatsgewalt-is entrusted, in commor, to two Chambers of Representatives, the Senate

HAMBURG-CONSTITUTION-AREA AND POPULATION 579

and the Bürgerschaft, or House of Burgesses. The Senate, which exercises chiefly, but not entirely, the executive power, is composed of eighteen members, one half of whose number must have studied law or finance, while seven out of the remaining nine must belong to the class of merchants. The members of the Senate are elected for life by the House of Burgesses; but a senator is at liberty to retire at the end of six years. A first and second burgomaster, chosen annually in secret ballot, preside over the meetings of the Senate. No burgomaster can be in office longer than two years; and no member of the Senate is allowed to hold any public office whatever. The House of Burgesses consists of 160 members, 80 of whom are elected in secret ballot by the votes of all tax-paying citizens. Of the remaining 80 members, 40 are chosen, also by ballot, by the owners of house-property in the city valued at 3,000 marks, or 1507., over and above the amount for which they are taxed; while the other 40 members are deputed by various guilds, corporations, and courts of justice. All the members of the House of Burgesses are chosen for six years, in such a manner that every three years new elections take place for one-half the number. The House of Burgesses is represented, in permanence, by a Bürger-Ausschuss, or Committee of the House, consisting of twenty deputies, of whom no more than five are allowed to be members of the legal profession. It is the special duty of the Committee to watch the proceedings of the Senate and the general execution of the articles of the Constitution, including the laws voted by the House of Burgesses. In all matters of legislation, except taxation, the Senate has a veto; and, in case of a constitutional conflict, recourse is had to an assembly of arbitrators, chosen in equal parts from the Senate and the House of Burgesses; also to the Supreme Court of Judicature of the Empire (Reichsgericht) at Leipzig. The jurisdiction of the Free Port was, on January 1, 1882, restricted to the city and port by the inclusion of the Lower Elbe in the Zollverein, and on October 15, 1888, the whole of the city, except the actual port and the warehouses connected with it (population 152 in 1885), was incorporated in the Zollverein. The alterations in the port necessitated by this step have involved an expenditure of 6 millions sterling, to which the Imperial Government contributes 2 millions.

Area and Population.

The State embraces a territory of 160 English square miles, with a population, according to the census of December 1, 1875, of 388,618 inhabitants: on December 1, 1880, of 453,869; and December 1, 1885, of 518,620. Included in the census returns were two battalions of Prussian soldiers, forming the garrison of Hamburg. The State consists of three divisions, the population of each of which was as follows on December 1, 1885-City of Hamburg, with suburb, 305,690 (estimate for 1889, 315,993); 15 rural districts (Vororte), 165,737 (estimate for 1889, 224,502); Cuxhaven, Ritzebüttel, &c., 47,193. In the four years from 1867 to 1871 the population of the State increased at the rate of 2:51 per cent. per annum; from 1871 to 1875 at the rate of 3·41, 1875-80 at 3·10, and in 1880-85 at 2:66 per cent. yearly. A large stream of emigration, chiefly to America, flows through Hamburg. Of the population in 1885, 252,853 were males and 265,767 females, i.e. 1051 females per 100 males. There were 13,563 foreigners resident in Hamburg in 1885; of these, 3,060 were Austrians, 2,403 Swedish and Norwegians, 1,825 Danes, 1,735 British, 2,674 other Europeans, 1,531 non-Europeans, and 335 unclassified.

The following table shows the number of emigrants via Hamburg for 1885-89:

Marriages (1889), 5,799; births, 21,566 (666, or 3.06 per cent., stillborn; 2,446, or 11:34 per cent., illegitimate); deaths, 13,584; surplus, 7,316.

Religion, Justice, Crime, and Agriculture.

On December 1, 1885, Hamburg contained 477,936 Protestants (92 per cent.), 15,399 Roman Catholics (3 per cent.), 2,658 other Christians, 16,848 Jews (3.25 per cent.), and 5,778 unclassified.

The State contained three Amtsgerichte, a Landgericht, and the 'Hanseatische Oberlandesgericht,' or court of appeal for the Hanse Towns and the Principality of Lübeck. In 1888, 5,166 persons, i.e. 131-6 per 10,000 inhabitants above twelve years, were convicted of crime. In 1885, 22,738 persons, with 27,351 dependents, received public poor-relief.

The number of separate agricultural holdings in the 'Landgebiet' of Hamburg on June 5, 1882, was as follows:

These farms supported a population of 20,530, of whom 8,736 were actively engaged in agriculture.

Finance.

In the budget for 1890 the revenue was estimated at 51,528,300 marks, and expenditure 52,855,800 marks. The largest source of income is direct taxes, amounting to more than one-third the whole revenue, and next to that the proceeds of domains, quays, railways, &c. The largest item in the expenditure is for the debt, 10,083,000 marks in 1889; for education the expenditure is 5,583,800 marks. The direct taxation amounts to 30 marks per head of population.

The public debt of Hamburg on January 1, 1890, amounted to 236,767,784 marks. The debt was incurred chiefly for the construction of public works.

Commerce and Shipping.

Hamburg is the principal seaport in Germany (comp. table on p. 553). The following table exhibits the imports and exports by sea during the five years 1885-89: