sents the Empire internationally,' and can declare war, if defensive, and make peace, as well as enter into treaties with other nations, and appoint and receive ambassadors. But when treaties relate to matters regulated by imperial legislation, and when war is not merely defensive, the Kaiser must have the consent of the Bundesrath, or Federal Council, in which body, together with the Reichstag, or Diet of the Realm, are vested the legislative functions of the Empire. The Emperor has no veto on laws passed by these bodies. The Bundesrath represents the individual States of Germany, and the Reichstag the German nation. The 58 members of the Bundesrath are appointed by the Governments of the individual States for each session, while the members of the Reichstag, 397 in number (about one for every 131,604 inhabitants), are elected by universal suffrage and ballot, for the term of five years. By the law of March 19, 1888, which came into force in 1890, the duration of the legislative period is five years. The various States of Germany are represented as follows in the Bundesrath and the Reichstag :

Alsace-Lorraine is represented in the Bundesrath by four commissioners (Kommissäre) without votes, who are nominated by the Statthalter.

The total number of electors to the Reichstag inscribed on the lists was 10,628,292, or 21 5 per cent. of the population of 1890, at the general election of 1893, while the number of actual voters was 7,702,265 at the same election, or 72.5 per cent. of the total electors. In 252 districts Protestantism is predominant, and in the remainder Roman Catholicism claims the majority. Of electoral districts with 60,000 of a population and under, there were 4 in 1893; between 60,000 and 80,000, 27; between 80,000 and 100,000, 72; between 100,000 and 120,000, 116; between 120,000 and 140,000, 91; between 140,000 and 160,000, 41; and above 160,000, 46. Of electoral districts with 12,000 voters or less, there were 3 in 1893; 12,000-16,000, 21; 16,000-20,000, 51; 20,000-24,000, 114; 24,000-28,000, 93; 28,000-32,000, 49; above 32,000 voters 66.

Both the Bundesrath and the Reichstag meet in annual session, convoked by the Emperor. The Emperor has the right to prorogue and dissolve, after a vote by the Bundesrath, the Reichstag. Without consent of the Reichstag the prorogation may not exceed thirty days; while in case of dissolution new elections must take place within sixty days, and a new session must open within ninety days. All laws for the Empire must receive the votes of an absolute majority of the Bundesrath and the Reichstag. The Bundesrath is presided over by the Reichskanzler, or Chancellor of the Empire, and the President of the Reichstag is elected by the deputies.

The laws of the Empire, passed by the Bundesrath and the Reichstag, to take effect must be promulgated by the Emperor, and the promulgation, like all other official acts of the Emperor, requires the counter-signature of the Chancellor of the Empire. All the members of the Bundesrath have the right to be present at the deliberations of the Reichstag.

The following are the imperial authorities or Secretaries of State: they not form a Ministry or Cabinet, but act independently of each other, u the general supervision of the Chancellor.

1. Chancellor of the Empire.-Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, March 31, 1819; Ambassador from the German Empire to France, 1874Governor of Alsace-Lorraine, 1885-94; Chancellor of the Empire, Octob 29, 1894.

2. Ministry for Foreign Affairs.-Herr von Bülow.

3. Imperial Home Office and Representative of the Chancellor.'-Dr. von Posadowsky-Wehner.

4. Imperial Admiralty.-Herr Tirpitz. Admiral Commanding-in-Chi von Knorr.

5. Imperial Ministry of Justice.-Herr Nieberding.

6. Imperial Treasury.-Dr. Freiherr von Thielmann.

And, in addition, the following presidents of imperial bureaus :7. Imperial Post-Office.-Gen. Lt. z. D. von Podbielski.

8. Imperial Railways.-Dr. Schulz.

9. Imperial Exchequer.-Herr von Wolf.

10. Imperial Invalid Fund.-Dr. Rösing.

11. Imperial Bank.-President, Dr. Koch.

12. Imperial Debt Commission.-President, von Hoffmann. Acting under the direction of the Chancellor of the Empire, the 1 rath represents also a supreme administrative and consultative board, such has twelve standing committees-namely, for army and fortification naval matters; tariff, excise, and taxes; trade and commerce; railways,

and telegraphs; civil and criminal law; financial accounts; foreign affairs; for Alsace-Lorraine; for the Constitution; for the Standing orders; and for railway tariffs. Fach committee consists of representatives of at least four States of the Empire; but the foreign affairs committee includes only the representatives of Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, and two other representatives to be elected every year.

Area and Population.

I. PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION.

The following table gives the area and population of the twenty-five States of Germany in the order of their magnitude, and of the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine, as returned at the three census-periods of 1885 and 1890, and Dec. 2, 1895:

The population of the lands now included in the German Empire (without Heligoland) was 24,831,396 in 1816, and 31,589,547 in 1837, showing an average annual increase of nearly 1.3 per cent. The following table shows the actual increase in population at various periods, with the annual rate of increase per cent. The small increase in 1867-71 is explained by the intervention of the war with France.

The increase of population during 1890-95 was greatest in Reuss Younger Branch, Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen, Saxony, Anhalt, Brunswick, and Reuss Elder Branch; and least in Württemberg and Waldeck.

The number of inhabited houses in 1890 was 5,790,689, and of households 10,617,923 (in 1895, 11,256,150). Of the total population in 1895, 49.9 per cent., in 1890 470 per cent. lived in towns of 2,000 inhabitants and above. Of every 100 inhabitants there lived in

1 For the official signification of these names see p. 536.

Of the total population in 1895, 25,661,250 were males and 26,618,651 were females. In 1890 boys under 10 years of age numbered 5,993,681; girls, 5,966,226; men over 80 years of age numbered 90,161; women, 119,289. With respect to conjugal condition, the following was the distribution in

1890:

According to the occupation-census of June 14, 1895, the population of Germany was divided as in the table below. Of the total, 22,913,683 were actually engaged in the various occupations.

P P

919,082 14,494

11,113,794 261,302 12,196,352 3,585,430 658,896 1,671,827 2,002,714 31,490,315 2,601,712 45,953 1,793,541 564,585 45,329 294.748 433,308 5,779,176 540,830 24,469 2,178,273 525,637 45,655 202,065 236,333 3,753,262 723,828

164,815 12,153

110,731

125,559 2,070,662

Baden

112,785 1,719,238

Hesse

366,619 5,300

394,294

123,412 16,396

66,972

59,154 1,032,147

Meckl.-Schwerin

283,269 12,330

606,459

Saxe-Weimar.

124,894 3,846

131,971

32,293 3,807

19,473

22,871

339,155

Meckl.-Strelitz.

369,014

24,897

30,412 435,731

2,752

11,675

9,612

232,942

18,143 2,708

7,821

9,559

178,696

S.-Coburg-Gotha 62,243 3,843

103,412

21,919 2,646

10,970

12,651

217,684

3,333

89,475

4,876 451

3,615

Reuss-Schleiz

23,922 1,950

76,339

14,103

1,295

Schaumb.-Lippe

Lippe

45,210 643

57,761

8,584

837

Lübeck

8,663 730

32,808

23,503

3,394

Total Empire. 18,068,663 432,644 20,253,241 5,966,846 886,807 2,835,014 3,327,069 51,770,284

The bulk of the German population is (on the basis of language) Teutonic; but in Prussia, chiefly in the eastern provinces, there were in December, 1890, 2,922,475 Slavs (Poles, Masurians, and Cassubians), 117,637 Lithuanians, 65,254 Wends, 74,069 Moravians and Czechs; while throughout Prussia were 138,134 Danes, 40,124 Dutch, 10,972 Walloons, and 34,725 English, French, Swedish, &c. The total non-Germanic population was 3,403,390, or nearly 7 per cent. of the whole population. On December 2, 1895, Germany contained 486,190 persons born elsewhere, the birthplaces of whom were as follows:

In 1890 the number of foreign residents was 500,595,