Universities; and eight members nominated by the Grand-duke, without regard to rank or birth. The Second Chamber is composed of 63 representatives of the people, 22 of which are elected by burgesses of towns, and 41 by the inhabitants of rural districts. Every citizen not convicted of crime, nor receiving parish relief, has a vote in the elections. To be a deputy, it is necessary to possess tax-paying property to the amount of 16,000 mark, or 800l.; or to hold a public office with a salary of not less than 2,500 mark, or 1257. The elections are indirect; the citizens nominating the Wahlmänner, or deputy-electors, and the latter the representatives. The members of the Second Chamber are elected for eight years. The Chambers have to be called together at least once every two years.

The executive is composed of five departments, headed by the 'Private Cabinet of the Grand-duke,' which office is filled by the chief of the cabinet. The departments are, of the Grand-ducal House; of the Interior; of Justice; of Finances; and of Commerce. The ministers are individually and collectively responsible for their actions, both to the legislature and to every individual citizen who may choose to lodge complaints against them before the 'Oberhofgericht,' or Superior Tribunal of the country.

The budget accounts of revenue and expenditure were as follows in each of the three years from 1873 to 1875:—

The budget estimates, drawn-up for biennial terms, contain, besides the ordinary, extraordinary receipts, as well as disbursements. Adding these, the total estimated revenue for the two years 1874 and 1875 amounted to 68,677,267 mark, or 3,433,8631., and the total expenditure to the same amount. Nearly one-half of the revenue is derived from direct taxation, a fourth from the produce of crown lands, forests, and mines, and the rest from customs and miscellaneous sources. Rather more than one-third of the expenditure is set down under the head of General cost of administration.'

Nearly all the railways of Baden are the property of the State, giving a dividend, on the capital expended, of above 6 per cent. The accounts of the income and expenditure of the State railways, as well as of the Post-office and steam navigation on the Lake of Constance, are not entered in the general budget, but form a special fund. The estimated receipts of this fund in the two years 1874 and 1875 amounted to 129,329,868 mark, or 6,466,4931., and the

disbursements to 161,292,374 mark, or 8,064,6187. The deficit was caused by expenditure in the construction of new lines. The State railways left a profit of 10,259,939 mark, or 512,9967., in the year 1874.

The public debt is, like the budget, divided into two parts, the first called the General debt, and the second the Railway debt. The General debt amounted, at the commencement of 1874, to 85,269,414 mark or 4,263,4701., and the Railway debt, at the same date, to 251,330,028 mark, or 12,566,5017. Nearly the whole of the debt bears interest at the rate of four per cent.

Area and Population.

Baden has an area of 277 geographical, or 5,851 English square miles, with a population of 1,506,531-comprising 734,431 males and 772,100 females-at the census of December 1, 1875. The Grand-duchy is divided into four districts, the population of which was as follows at the enumerations of December 1, 1871 and December 1, 1875:

At the census of December 3, 1867, the population of Baden numbered 1,434,970. The increase of population in the four years from 1867 to 1871 was 26,592, or 185 per cent., being at the rate of 0.46 per cent. per annum. In the four years from 1871 to 1875 the population increased at the rate of 0.76 per cent. per annum. The population decreased from the year 1846 till 1855. From 1846 till 1849, the decrease amounted to 4,712; from 1849 to 1852, to 8,282; and from 1852 to 1855, to the large number of 42,105, or 14,035 per annum. Since 1855, there has been again a gradual but slow increase. The decline of population was chiefly due to emigration.

Two-thirds of the population of Baden are Roman Catholics, and one-third Protestants. There are a great number of small towns dispersed over the Grand-duchy, only two, Mannheim and Karlsruhe, with more than 35,000 inhabitants in 1875.

VI. MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN.

(GROSSHERZOGTHUM

MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Friedrich Franz II., Grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, born February 28, 1823, the son of Grand-duke Paul Friedrich and Princess Alexandrine of Prussia. Studied philosophy and theology at the University of Bonn, 1840-42; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, March 7, 1842. Married, November 3, 1849, to Princess Augusta of Reuss-Schleiz, who died March 3, 1862. Married, in second nuptials, May 12, 1864, to Princess Anna, daughter of the late Grand-duke Ludwig II. of Hesse-Darmstadt, who died April 15, 1865. Married, in third nuptials, July 4, 1868, to Princess Marie, born January 29, 1850, daughter of the reigning Prince Adolph of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Issue of the first marriage are:- -1. Friedrich Franz, heir-apparent, born March 19, 1851. 2. Paul Friedrich, born September 19, 1852. 3. Marie, born May 14, 1854; married Angust 28, 1874, to Grand-Duke Vladimir, second son of Alexander II., Emperor of Russia. 4. Johann, born December 8, 1857. Issue of the second marriage is a daughter, Anna, born April 7, 1865. Issue of the third marriage are:-1. Mathilda, born August 10, 1869; 2. Friedrich Wilhelm, born April 5, 1871; and 3. Adolf, born Oct. 10, 1873.

The Grand-ducal house of Mecklenburg is the only reigning family in Europe of Slavonic origin, and claims to be the oldest sovereign house in the Western world. In their full title, the Granddukes style themselves Princes of the Vandals; and they trace their descent to Genseric, King of the Vandals, who conquered Spain in the fifth century, and, going over to Africa, took Carthage in 439.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

The political institutions of the Grand-duchy are of an entirely feudal character. The fundamental laws are embodied in the Union' of 1523, the Reversales' of 1572 and 1622, and the charters of 1755 and Nov. 28, 1817. The whole legislative power and part of the executive is in the hands of the proprietors of Rittergüter, or knight's estates, numbering 622. Seldom more than one-fourth of these, however, exert their privileges and take their seats in the Diet. To these representatives of their own property are joined forty members, nearly all burgomasters, delegated by the municipalities and corporate bodies of a like number of towns. The great bulk of the

population is without political rights. The Diet is permanent, being represented, if not in actual session, by a committee of twelve members, presided over by three marshals of the nobility, whose office is hereditary in their families. It forms every two years a joint assembly with the Diet of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for common legislation.

The executive is represented in a ministry appointed by and responsible alone to the Grand-duke. There are four departments, called respectively the Ministry of the Grand-ducal House and of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of the Interior; the Ministry of Justice, of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs; and the Ministry of Finances. There exists no general budget for the Grand-duchy. At the commencement of 1875 the public debt was estimated at 42,000,000 mark, or 2,100,000l., more than one-half of which sum had been raised in loans for the construction of railways.

The population of the Grand-duchy amounted to 553,734— comprising 270,450 males, and 283,284 females-at the census of Dec. 1, 1875, living on an area of 4,834 English square miles. There is no other administrative division than that springing from the ownership of the soil, in which respect the country is divided into Grand-ducal Domains, embracing about one-fifth of the total area of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Knight's Estates-'Rittergüter-comprising two-fifths; Convent Estates Klostergüter'— embracing one-fifth; and Town Estates, comprising the remaining fifth of the land. The Domains contain rather more than one-third of the total population of the Grand-duchy, and the Town Estates another third.

There has been a gradual decrease of population in recent years, although the average density is only 114 inhabitants per English square mile, and the soil moreover very fertile. At the census of December 3, 1867, the population of the Grand-duchy numbered 560,628, and at the next enumeration, of December 1, 1871, the number had fallen to 557,707, being a decrease of 2,921, or onehalf per cent. of the population in the four years 1867-71. At the census of December 1, 1875, the population was found to have further declined to 553,734, being a loss of 3,973, or of 0·18 per cent. per annum. Emigration is carrying off large numbers of the inhabitants.

There exists some commercial intercourse between the Grandduchy and the United Kingdom, but it has been steadily on the decline during recent years.

VII. HESSE.

(GROSSHERZOGTHUM HESSEN.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Ludwig III., Grand-duke of Hesse, born June 9, 1806, the son of Grand-duke Ludwig II. and of Princess Wilhelmine of Baden. Appointed co-Regent of Hesse, in consequence of an attempt at insurrection, March 5, 1848; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, June 16, 1848. Married, Dec. 26, 1833, to Princess Mathilde, daughter of King Ludwig of Bavaria; widower, May 25, 1862.

Brothers and Sisters of the Grand-duke.-1. Prince Karl, born April 23, 1809; married, Oct. 22, 1836, to Princess Elisabeth of Prussia, born June 18, 1815. Offspring of the union are;-1. Prince Ludwig, born Sept. 12, 1837; married, July 1, 1862, to Princess Alice of Great Britain; issue, five daughters and one son, namely, Victoria, born April 5, 1863; Elizabeth, born Nov. 1, 1864; Irene, born July 11, 1866; Ludwig, born Nov. 25, 1868; Alice, born June 6, 1872, and Marie, born May 24, 1874. 2. Prince Heinrich, born Nov. 28, 1838. 3. Prince Wilhelm, born Nov. 16, 1845. -2. Prince Alexander, born July 15, 1823; field-marshal lieutenant in the service of Austria; married, Oct. 28, 1851, to Countess Julia von Hanke, born Nov. 12, 1825, on whom the title of Princess of Battenberg has been conferred. Offspring of the union are four sons and one daughter, called Princes and Princess of Battenberg.-3. Princess Maria, born Aug. 8, 1824; married, April 28, 1841, to Grand duke Alexander of Russia, now Czar Alexander II.

The former Landgraves of Hesse had the title of Grand-duke given them by Napoleon I., in 1806, together with a considerable increase of territory. At the congress of Vienna this grant was confirmed, after some negotiations. The reigning family are not possessed of much private property, and dependent almost entirely upon the grant of the civil list, amounting to 1,314,857 mark, or 65,742., the sum including allowances to the princes and the maintenance of the grand-ducal court.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

The Constitution bears date, Dec. 17, 1820; but was somewhat modified in 1848, and again in 1856. The legislative power is vested, in part, in two Chambers, called the Upper and the Lower