VIII. OLDENBURG.

(GROSSHERZOGTHUM OLDENBURG.)

Reigning Grand-duke.

Peter I., Grand-duke of Oldenburg, born July 8, 1827, the son of Grand-duke August, and of Princess Ida of Anhalt-Bernburg; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, Feb. 27, 1853; married, Feb. 10, 1852, to Elisabeth, born March 26, 1826, daughter of Prince Joseph of Saxe-Altenburg.

Children of the Grand-duke.

I. Prince August, heir-apparent, born Nov. 16, 1852; married, February 18, 1878, to Princess Elizabeth, born Feb. 8, 1857, second daughter of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia. (See page 111.) II. Prince Georg, born June 27, 1855.

Cousin of the Grand-duke.

Prince Peter, born August 26, 1812, the son of Prince Georg, brother of the late Grand-duke August of Oldenburg, and of Princess Catharine, daughter of the late Emperor Paul of Russia; general of infantry in the service of Russia, and President of the department of Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Imperial Senate; married, April 23, 1837, to Princess Therese of Nassau; widower, Dec. 8, 1871. Issue of the union are five children :-1. Princess Alexandra, born June 2, 1838; married, Feb. 6, 1856, to Grand-duke Nicholas, brother of Czar Alexander II. of Russia. 2. Prince Nicolaus, born May 9, 1840, married May 29, 1863, to Marie Bulazel, Countess von Osternburg, born July 8, 1845; offspring of the union are a son and a daughter called Count and Countess von Osternburg. 3. Prince Alexander, born June 2, 1844; general in the service of Russia; married, Jan. 19, 1868, to Princess Eugenie, born April 1, 1845, daughter of the late Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg; offspring of the union is a son, Peter, born Nov. 17, 1868. 4. Prince Constantine, born May 9, 1850; captain in the army of Russia. Princess Therese, born March 30, 1852.

5.

The ancient house of Oldenburg, which has given sovereigns to Denmark, Scandinavia, and Russia, is said to be descended from Wittekind, the celebrated leader of the heathen Saxons against Charlemagne. In the fifteenth century, a scion of the House of Oldenburg, Count Christian VIII., was elected King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The main line became extinguished with Count Günther, in 1667, whereupon the territory of the family fell to the King of Denmark, who made it over to Grand-duke Paul of Russia, in exchange

for pretended claims upon Schleswig-Holstein. The Grand-duke then gave Oldenburg to his cousin, Prince Friedrich August of Holstein-Gottorp, with whose descendants it remained till December 1810, when Napoleon incorporated it with the kingdom of Westphalia. But the Congress of Vienna not only gave the country back to its former sovereign, but, at the urgent demand of Czar Alexander I., added to it a territory of nearly 400 square miles, with 50,000 inhabitants, bestowing at the same time upon the prince the title of Grand-duke. Part of the new territory consisted of the principality of Birkenfeld, on the left bank of the Rhine, close to the French frontier, and some three hundred miles distant from Oldenburg. The Grand-duke has a civil list of 125,000 mark, or 6,250l., besides an allowance of 125,000 mark from the public domains, making his total income 12,500l. He draws also a revenue of 6,000l. from private estates of the family in Holstein.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

A Constitution was given to the Grand-duchy Feb. 18, 1849, which, revised by a decree of Nov. 22, 1852, grants liberty of the press, trial by jury, and equality of all citizens in political and social matters. The legislative power is exercised by a Landtag, or Diet, elected for three years, by the vote of all citizens paying taxes, and not condemned for felony by a court of justice. The mode of election is indirect. The first electors choose a delegate, and the delegates of several districts appoint one deputy, the whole number being 33, or one for every 10,000 inhabitants. The executive is vested, under the Grand-duke, in a responsible ministry of three departments.

The budget estimates for the year 1880 were calculated upon a total public revenue of 6,912,200 mark, or 345,6107., and an expenditure of 7,233,700 mark, or 361,6857. In the budget for the year 1881, the receipts were set down at 6,955,800 mark, or 347,7907., and the expenses at 7,386,500 mark, or 369,3251. The chief item of revenue is from the produce of State property; while in expenditure the civil list and the interest of the public debt. take the largest sums. The debt amounted, at the beginning of 1881, to 36,811,318 mark, or 1,840,565l.

The area of Oldenburg embraces 2,417 Engl. square miles, with a population, according to the census of Dec. 1, 1880, of 337,478 inhabitants. At the census of Dec. 1, 1875, the population numbered 319,314, the increase of population amounting to 1.13 per cent. per annum in the years 1875-80, to 0.35 per annum in the years 1871-75, while in the four preceding years, 1867 to 1871, the increase was only 0.05 per annum.

IX. BRUNSWICK.

(HERZOGTHUM BRAUNSCHWEIG.)

Reigning Duke.

Wilhelm I., born April 25, 1806, the second son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm and of Princess Marie of Baden. Undertook provisionally the government of Brunswick in consequence of the insurrection of September 7, 1830, and subsequent flight of his brother, the reigning Duke Karl, October 12, 1830; ascended the throne, April 25, 1831.

The ducal house of Brunswick, now on the point of becoming extinct, the reigning sovereign, only representative of the family, being unmarried, 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. Their 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-Wolfenbüttel and Brunswick-Lüneburg, the former of which is represented at present in the ducal house of Brunswick, while the latter is merged in the royal family of Great Britain.

A law of succession to the throne of Brunswick, sanctioned by the Diet, was promulgated in March 1873. It provides, under guarantee of the German Emperor, that at the demise of the reigning Duke, the Grand-duke of Oldenburg shall assume the regency. If, previous to the throne becoming vacant, the regent refuses the regency, or if the regency becomes inoperative from other causes, the present Duke shall, jointly with the Diet of Brunswick, nominate another regent from among the number of reigning German Sovereigns. A new regent will be proposed to the Diet by the Cabinet in the place of the Grand-duke of Oldenburg in case the regency appointed after the vacation of the throne should from any cause whatever become inoperative.

The present Duke of Brunswick is one of the wealthiest of German sovereigns, being in possession of vast private estates, including the principality of Oels, in Silesia, and large domains in the district of Glatz, in Prussia. It is reported that the Duke has bequeathed the

whole of these estates to the Emperor of Austria. The Duke's civil list, amounting on the average to 1,000,000 mark, or 50,0007., per annum in recent years, is not set down in the budget, but is paid out of a special fund, the 'Kammercasse,' the revenues of which are derived from the State domains, and from the interest of an invested capital of 3,000,000 mark, or 150,000l.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

The Constitution of Brunswick bears date October 12, 1832, but was modified by the fundamental law of November 28, 1851. The legislative power is vested, according to the law of 1851, in one Chamber, consisting of forty-six members. Of these, twenty-one are elected by the highest-taxed landed proprietors; three by the Protestant clergy; ten by the inhabitants of towns, and twelve by those of rural districts. The Chamber meets every three years, and the deputies hold their mandate for two sessions. The executive is represented by a responsible Ministry, consisting of four departments, namely, of State, of Finance, of Justice, and of the Interior.

The budget is voted by the Chamber for the period of three years, but each year separate. For the year 1881 the estimates of revenue were 8,533,700 mark, or 426,6857., with an expenditure of the same amount. Not included in the budget estimates, as already stated, is the civil list of the Grand-duke. The public debt of the duchy, at the commencement of 1881, was 84,152,656 mark, or 4,207,6321., four-fifths of which sum was contracted for the establishment of railways.

The duchy has an area of 1,526 English square miles, with a population of 349,367 inhabitants, according to the census of December 1, 1880. There were 312,170 inhabitants at the census of December 1, 1871, the increase in the four years 1871-75 being at the high rate of 1-26 per cent. per annum, while it was 1.34 in the five years 1875-80. At the census of December 3, 1867, the population numbered 302,801, the increase in the four years 1867-71 being at the rate of 0.73 per cent. per annum. Nearly the whole of the inhabitants of the duchy are members of the Lutheran Church.

The capital of the duchy, the town of Brunswick, or Braunschweig, had 75,038 inhabitants at the census of Dec. 1, 1880.

X. SAXE-WEIMAR.

(GROSSHERZOGTHUM SACHSEN-WEIMAR.)

Reigning Grand-duke.

Karl Alexander, born June 24, 1818, the son of Grand-duke Karl Friedrich and of Grand-duchess Marie, daughter of the late Czar Paul I. of Russia. Succeeded his father, July 8, 1853; married October 8, 1842, to Sophie, born April 8, 1824, daughter of the late King Willem II. of the Netherlands.

Children of the Grand-duke.

I. Prince Karl August, heir-apparent, born July 31, 1844; married August 26, 1873, to Princess Pauline, born July 25, 1852, eldest daughter of Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar, of which union there are offspring two sons, namely, Wilhelm, born June 10, 1876, and Bernhard, born April 13, 1878.

II. Princess Marie, born January 20, 1849; married Feb. 6, 1876, to Prince Heinrich of Reuss-Schleiz-Köstritz, German ambassador at Constantinople; offspring a son, Heinrich, born March 3, 1878. III. Princess Elisabeth, born February 28, 1854.

Sister of the Grand-duke.

Princess Augusta, born September 30, 1811; married, June 11, 1829, to Prince Wilhelm, now Emperor Wilhelm I. of Germany. Cousins of the Grand-duke.

I. Prince Eduard, born October 11, 1823, the son of the late Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar; major-general in the British army; married, Nov. 27, 1851, to Lady Augusta Catherine, born Jan. 14, 1827, daughter of the fifth Duke of Richmond.

II. Prince Hermann, born August 4, 1825, brother of the preceding; married, June 17, 1851, to Princess Augusta, born October 4, 1826, youngest daughter of King Wilhelm I. of Württemberg, of which union there are offspring six children.

III. Prince Gustav, born June 28, 1827, brother of the preceding; major-general in the Austrian army; married, February 14, 1870, to Pierina Marcochia, Countess von Neupurg.

The family of the Grand-duke stands at the head of the Ernestine or elder line of the princely houses of Saxony, which include SaxeMeiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, while the younger, or Albertine line, is represented by the Kings of Saxony. Saxe-Weimar was formed into an independent duchy towards the end of the sixteenth century, when Elector Johann Wilhelin of Saxony divided his territory between his two sons, Friedrich Wilhelm