prises a territory of 127 square miles, with a population of 56,912, including a Prussian garrison. The city proper had 39,743, and the rural districts, composed of scattered portions of territory surrounded by Prussia and Mecklenburg, 12,415 inhabitants at the date of the census operation. In the four years from 1871 to 1875, the population increased at the rate of 2.18 per cent. per annum, and in the preceding four years, from 1867 to 1871, at the rate of 1.47 per cent. per annum.

Lübeck possessed, at the commencement of 1875, forty-six sea-going vessels, of 8,556 tons, including twenty-four steamers, of 4,453 tons. In the year 1875, there entered the port of Lübeck 1,923 vessels, of 329,700 tons, and there cleared 1,915 vessels, of 329,700 tons. The number of vessels arriving under the British flag in 1875 was 39, of an aggregate tonnage of 10,500. The direct trade of Lübeck is chiefly with Russia, Sweden and Norway, Denmark, and Great Britain. Returns of the extent of commerce of the free city with Great Britain are summed up under Germany. (See pp. 182-85.)

XXV. BREMEN.

(FREIE STADT BREMEN.)

Constitution and Revenue.

The free city of Bremen is governed, under a constitution proclaimed March 5, 1849, and revised Feb. 21, 1854, by a Senate of eighteen members, forming the executive, and the Bürgerconvent, or Convent of Burgesses, of 150 members, invested with the power of legislation. The Convent is returned by the votes of all the citizens, d'vided into classes. The citizens who have studied at a university return 16 members; the merchants 48 members; the common traders and shop-keepers 24 members, and the other tax-paying inhabitants of the Free City the rest. The Convent elects the eighteen members of the Senate, ten of whom at least must be lawyers. Two burgo masters, the first elected for six years and a half, and the second for four years, direct the affairs of the Senate, through a Ministry divided into eight departments-namely, Foreign Affairs, Church and Education, Justice, Finance, Police, Medical and Sanitary Administration, Military Affairs, and Commerce and Shipping. All

the ministers are senators.

The public revenue for the year 1873 amounted to 10,910,631 mark, or 545,5317., and the expenditure to 21,884,457 mark, or 1,094,2237, thus leaving a deficit of 10,973,826 mark, or 548 6921.

The deficit, covered by loans, was caused by large outlay for public works. Very nearly one-half the revenue is raised by indirect taxes; while about the same amount is expended for interest and reduction of the public debt. The latter amounted, in January, 1875, to 75,820,126 mark, or 3,791,0067. The whole of the debt, which bears interest at 3 and 4 per cent., was incurred for constructing railways, harbour, and other public works.

Population and Commerce.

The population of the State amounted, on Dec. 1, 1875, to 142,645, inclusive a Prussian garrison. The increase of population from 1871 to 1875 was larger than in any other State of Germany, amounting to the very high rate of 3.82 per cent. per annum. In the four years from 1867 to 1871, the increase was at the rate of 2.59 per cent. per annum. The state embraces an area of 106

English square miles.

Bremen, with Bremerhaven, is, next to Hamburg, the chief outlet of German emigration. The number of emigrants who left the port, chiefly for the United States, was 63,519 in 1869; 61,877 in 1870; 60,516 in 1871; 80,418 in 1872; 63,167 in 1873; 30,636 in 1874; and 24,199 in 1875. Of the emigrants of 1875, there sailed 17,356 for New York; 5,725 for Baltimore; and 938 for New Orleans. In the same year, 12,938 persons returned to Bremen from transatlantic countries. (See German Emigration, page 109.)

The number of merchant vessels belonging to the State of Bremen on Jan. 1, 1876, was 237, of 185,060 tons, the number including 49 steamers, of an aggregate burthen of 65,070 tons. Nearly all the steamers sailing under the Bremen and German flag belong to the Navigation Company called the North-German Lloyd,' which has a fleet of large ships, mainly built on the Clyde, running between Bremen and various ports in North America; as also some smaller steamers running between Bremerhaven and British ports.

In the year 1875 there arrived at the port of Bremen 2,801 vessels, of 845,798 tons, and there cleared 2,809 vessels, of 755,188 tons. The arrivals included 313 British vessels, of 14,907 tons, and the departures 313 British vessels, of 79,638 tons. Threefourths of the commerce of Bremen are carried on under the German and British flags. The number of German vessels which arrived in 1875, was 2,030, with an aggregate tonnage of 593,945. Next to that of Hamburg, the port of Bremen is the largest for the international trade of Germany.

ALSACE-LORRAINE.

(REICHSLAND ELSASS-LOTHRINGEN.)

Constitution and Revenue.

6

The fundamental laws, under which the Reichsland, or Imperial Land, of Alsace-Lorraine is governed, were voted by the Reichstag of Germany June 3, 1871, June 20, 1872, and June 25, 1873. By Art. 1 of the law of June 3, 1871, it is enacted, the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, ceded by France in the Peace preliminaries of February 26, 1871, under limits definitely fixed in the Treaty of Peace of May 10, 1871, shall be for ever united with the German Empire.' The Constitution of the German Empire was introduced in Alsace-Lorraine on the 1st of January 1874. An annual report has to be made to the Reichstag on the general affairs of the provinces and the development of the administration. receive the assent of the Imperial government.

All laws must

The administration of Alsace-Lorraine is under a governor-general, bearing the title of Oberpräsident.

Oberpräsident of Alsace-Lorraine.-Eduard von Möller, born at Minden, Westphalia, 1814; studied jurisprudence at Heidelberg and Berlin; Oberpräsident of the government district of Cologne, 1848-66; Oberpräsident of the province of Hesse-Nassau, 1866–71; appointed Oberpräsident of Alsace-Lorraine, Nov. 1871.

Under the Oberpräsident of Alsace-Lorraine are three district governors, bearing the title of Bezirksprasidenten, resident at Strassburg, Colmar, and Metz.

The revenue of Alsace-Lorraine in the year 1874, amounted to 34,228,993 mark, or 1,711,4497.; the ordinary expenditure to 27,048,422 mark, or 1,352,4217.; and the extraordinary expenditure to 7,186,570 mark, or 359,0281. Nearly one-half of the total revenue was derived from customs, which produced 15,079,755 mark, or 753,987, while the largest item of expenditure amounting to 6,669,831 mark, or 333,4911., was for public education.

Area and Population.

The Reichsland has an area of 263 21 geographical, or 5,580 English square miles, with a population, in 1875, of 1,529,408, being

227 individuals per English square mile. Alsace-Lorraine is administratively divided into three Bezirke, or districts, called OberElsass, Unter-Elsass, and Lothringen, the first of which is subdivided into seven, and the other two each into eight Kreise, or circles. The following table gives area, in English square miles, and the population of each of the districts at the two last enumerations, the census of December 1, 1871, and the census of December 1, 1875:

The decrease of population during the four years from 1871 to 1875 amounted to 0.33 per cent. per annum. During the preceding five years from December 1866 to December 1871, there was a decrease of population at the rate of 0.84 per cent. per annum, ascribed partly to the war and partly to emigration.

At the census of December 1, 1871, there were in the Reichsland 1,234,588 Roman Catholics, 271,198 Protestants, 2,863 members of other Christian sects, and 40,938 Jews. According to an official estimate, 200,000 of the inhabitants are of French origin (Sprachstamme), and 1,350,000 of German origin.

The three principal towns of the Reichsland are Strassburg, capital of Ober-Elsass, Mühlhausen, capital of Unter-Elsass, and Metz, capital of Lothringen. At the census of 1871, Strassburg had 85,654, Mühlhausen 52,825, and Metz 51,332 inhabitants.

Trade and Commerce of Germany.

The trade and commerce of the Empire are under the administration and guidance of special laws and rules, emanating from the Zollverein, or Customs' League which embraces the whole of the states of Germany, with the exception of the two cities of Hamburg and Bremen. The privilege of Hamburg and Bremen to remain 'free ports,' conceded in 1868, was ratified in the Imperial Constitution of April 16, 1871, the 34th article of which enacts that the two Hanse towns shall remain 'outside the common line of customs-ausserhalb der gemeinschaftlichen Zollgrenze-until they themselves demand admittance.' The administration of the

Zollverein, according to a treaty signed July 8, 1867, and in force from January 1, 1868, till December 31, 1877, is at Berlin.

There was, previous to the year 1871, a twofold representation of the Zollverein, that of governments, in the Zollverein Council, and that of populations, in the Zollverein Parliament, the members of which latter body were elected in the same manner as the deputies to the North German Federal diet, and met in annual session at the beginning of the year. Under the constitution of April 16, 1871, the functions of the Zollverein Parliament merged in the Reichstag of the Empire. The Zollverein Council has three committees sitting permanently, namely, for finance, for taxes and customs, and for trade. All the receipts of the Zollverein are paid into a common exchequer, and distributed, pro rata of population, among the states of the Empire. The chief sources of revenue are customs duties, mainly on imports, and taxes upon spirits, wine, sugar manufactured from beet-roots, and tobacco.

The subjoined tabular statement exhibits the growth of the commercial intercourse between Germany and the United Kingdom, giving the total value of the direct exports f om all the states of the Empire, including the Hanse Towns, to Great Britain and Ireland, and the total value of the direct imports of British home produce in to them, in each of the ten years 1866 to 1875:

The annual sums here given do not represent the total value of the commercial intercourse between Germany and Great Britain, but only that of the direct trade. There are no returns showing the value of the exports and imports passing in transit, chiefly by way of the Netherlands, between Gerinany and the United Kingdom. (See page 333).

The following table gives the declared value, in pounds stirling, of the principal articles exported direct from Germany to the United Kingdom, in each of the two years 1874 and 1875: