STATES OF GERMANY. I. PRUSSIA. (KÖNIGREICH PREUSSEN.) Wilhelm I., born March 22, 1797, the second son of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. and of Princess Louise of MecklenburgStrelitz; took part in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 against France; Governor of the province of Pomerania, 1840; Commanderin-Chief of the Prussian troops against the revolutionary army of Baden, June 1849; Military Governor of the Rhine Provinces, 1849-57; appointed Regent of the kingdom during the illness of his brother, Oct. 9, 1858; ascended the throne of Prussia at the death of his brother, Jan. 2, 1861. Commander-in-Chief of the German armies in the war against France, July 1870 to March 1871; proclaimed German Emperor at Versailles, January 18, 1871. Married June 11, 1829, to Augusta, Queen of Prussia, born Sept. 30, 1811, the daughter of the late Grand-Duke Karl Friedrich of SaxeWeimar. Children of the King. I. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, heir-apparent, born Oct. 18, 1831; Field-Marshal in the German army; married Jan. 25, 1858, to Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain, of which marriage there are issue six children:-1. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, born Jan. 27, 1859; married February 27, 1881, to Princess Victoria of SchleswigHolstein-Augustenburg, born May 3, 1860; issue, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, born May 6, 1882; Prince Wilhelm Eitel Friedrich Christian Karl, born July 7, 1883; Prince Adalbert, born July 14, 1884. 2. Princess Charlotte, born July 24, 1860; married Feb. 18, 1878, to Prince Bernhard, eldest son of Duke George II. of Saxe-Meiningen; offspring of the union is a daughter, Feodora, born May 12, 1879. 3. Prince Heinrich, born Aug. 14, 1862. 4. Princess Victoria, born April 12, 1866. 5. Princess Sophie, born June 14, 1870. 6. Princess Margarethe, born April 22, 1872. II. Princess Louise, born Dec. 3, 1838, married Sept. 20, 1856, to Grand-Duke Friedrich of Baden (see page 152). Nephews and Nieces of the King. I. Prince Friedrich Karl, son of the late Prince Karl, brother of the King, born March 20, 1828; Field-Marshal in the German army; married, Nov. 29, 1854, to Princess Maria of Anhalt, by whom he has four children:-1. Princess Marie, born Sep tember 14, 1855; married August 24, 1878, to Prince Hendrik of the Netherlands; widow, Jan. 13, 1879. 2. Princess Elizabeth, born Feb. 8, 1857, and married Feb. 18, 1878, to Prince August, hereditary Grand-duke of Oldenburg. 3. Princess Louise, born July 25, 1860, and married March 13, 1879, to Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught. 4. Prince Friedrich Leopold, born Nov. 14, 1865. II. Princess Louise, born March 1, 1829, and married, June 27, 1854, to the Landgrave Alexis of Hesse-Philippsthal, from whom she was divorced, March 6, 1861. III. Princess Anna, born May 17, 1836, and married, May 26, 1853, to Landgraf Friedrich of Hesse. IV. Prince Albrecht, born May 8, 1837, son of the late Prince Albrecht, brother of the King; Commanding General of the tenth corps d'armée; married April 19, 1873, to Princess Marie, born August 2, 1854, daughter of Duke Ernst of Saxe-Altenburg, by whom he has offspring:-1. Friedrich, born July 15, 1874. 2. Joachim, born Sept. 27, 1876. 3. Friedrich Wilhelm, born July 12, 1880. V. Princess Alexandrine, born Feb. 1, 1842, sister of the preceding, married Dec. 9, 1865, to Prince Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; widow July 29, 1879. Cousins of the King. I. Prince Alexander, born June 21, 1820, the son of the late Prince Friedrich of Prussia. * II. Prince Georg, brother of the preceding, born Feb. 12, 1826. The Kings of Prussia trace their origin to Count Thassilo, of Zollern, one of the generals of Charlemagne. His successor, Count Friedrich I., built the family-castle of Hohenzollern, near the Danube, in the year 980. A subsequent Zollern, or Hohenzollern, Friedrich III., was elevated to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1273, and received the Burgraviate of Nuremberg in fief; and his great grandson, Friedrich VI., was invested by Kaiser Sigismund, in 1415, with the province of Brandenburg, and obtained the rank of Elector in 1417. A century after, in 1511, the Teutonic knights, owners of the large province of Prussia, on the Baltic, elected Margrave Albrecht, a younger son of the family of Hohenzollern, to the post of Grand-Master, and he, after a while, declared himself hereditary prince. The early extinction of the male line of Albrecht brought the province of Prussia by marriage to the Electors of Brandenburg, who, by early adopting Protestantism, acquired a very important position as leaders of the new faith in Northern Germany. In the seventeenth century, the Hohenzollern territories became greatly enlarged by Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector,' under whose fostering care arose the first stand ing army in Central Europe. The Great Elector, after a reign extending from 1640 to 1688, left a country of one and a half millions, a vast treasure, and 38,000 well-drilled troops, to his son, Friedrich I., who put the kingly crown on his head at Königsberg, on the 18th of January 1701. The first king of Prussia made few efforts to increase the territory left him by the Great Elector; but his successor, Friedrich Wilhelm I., acquired a treasure of nine millions of thalers, or nearly a million and a half sterling, bought family domains to the amount of five millions thalers, and raised the annual income of the country to six millions, three-fourths of which sum, however, had to be spent on the army. After adding part of Pomerania to the possessions of the house, he left his son and successor, Friedrich II., called 'the Great,' a state of 47,770 square miles, with two and a half millions inhabitants. Friedrich II. added Silesia, an area of 14,200 square miles, with one and a quarter million of souls; and this, and the large territory gained in the first partition of Poland, increased Prussia to 74,340 square miles, with more than five and a half millions of inhabitants. Under the reign of Friedrich's successor, Friedrich Wilhelm II., the State was enlarged by the acquisition of the principalities of Anspach and Baireuth, as well as the vast territory acquired in another partition of Poland, which raised its area to the extent of nearly 100,000 square miles, with about nine millions of souls. Under Friedrich Wilhelm III., nearly one half of this state and population was taken by Napoleon; but the Congress of Vienna not only restored the loss, but added part of the kingdom of Saxony, the Rhinelands, and Swedish Pomerania, moulding Prussia into two separate pieces of territory, of a total area of 107,300 square miles. This was shaped into a compact state of 137,066 square miles, with a population of 22,769,436, by the war of 1866. Up to within a recent period, the kings of Prussia enjoyed the whole income of the state domains, amounting to about a million terling per annum. Since the establishment of constitutional Government, however, this arrangement has been changed, and the domains have become public property, in so far as the income is paid into the public exchequer, after deduction of certain sums provided for the 'Krondotations Rente,' or civil list. The amount of the civil list was fixed by Art. 59 of the constitution of January 31, 1851; but in 1859 it was raised 500,000 thaler, and in 1868 a further 1,000,000 thaler. At present the total Krondotations Rente,' as far as it figures in the budgets, amounts to 4,500,000 mark, or 225,0007. The reigning house is also in possession of a vast amount of private property, comprising castles, forests, and great landed estates in various parts of the kingdom, known as Fideikomiss-und-Schatullgüter,' the revenue from which mainly serves to defray the expenditure of the court and the members of the royal family. Dating from Elector Friedrich III. of Brandenburg, who, on January 18, 1701, placed the royal crown upon his head, calling himself King Friedrich I. of Prussia, there have been the following SOVEREIGNS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN. The average reign of the seven kings of the House of Hohenzollern, including the present monarch, amounted to 26 years. Constitution and Government. The present constitution of Prussia was drawn up by the government of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV., with the co-operation of a Constituent Assembly, sitting August-December 1849, and was proclaimed January 31, 1850; but subsequently modified by royal decrees of April 30, 1851; May 21 and June 5, 1852; May 7 and 24, 1853; June 10, 1854; May 30, 1855; April 14 and 30, 1856; May 18, 1857; May 17, 1867; January 1, 1872; and April 5, 1873. These fundamental laws vest the executive and part of the legislative authority in a king, who attains his majority upon accomplishing his eighteenth year. The crown is hereditary in the male line, according to primogeniture. In the exercise of the government, the king is assisted by a council of ministers, appointed by royal decree. The legislative authority the king shares a representative assembly, the Landtag, composed of two Chambers, the first called the 'Herrenhaus,' or House of Lords, and the second the 'Abgeordnetenhaus,' or Chamber of Deputies. The assent of the king and both Chambers is requisite for all laws. Financial projects and estimates must first be submitted to the second Chamber, and be either accepted or rejected en bloc by the Upper House. The right of proposing laws is vested in the government and in each of the Chambers. The first Chamber, according to the original draft of constitution, was to consist of princes of the royal family of age, and of the heads of Prussian houses deriving directly from the former empire, as well as of the heads of those families who, by royal ordinance, would be appointed to seats and votes in the Chamber, according to the rights of primogeniture and lineal descent. Besides these here ditary members, there were to be ninety deputies directly elected by electoral districts, consisting of a number of electors who pay the highest taxes to the State; and, in addition, other thirty members elected by the members of the municipal councils of large towns. This original composition of the 'House of Lords' was greatly modified by the royal decree of October 12, 1854, which brought into life the Upper Chamber in its present form. It is composed of, first, the princes of the royal family who are of age, including the scions of the formerly sovereign families of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; secondly, the chiefs of the mediatised princely houses, recognised by the Congress of Vienna, to the number of sixteen in Prussia; thirdly, the heads of the territorial nobility formed by the king, and numbering some fifty members; fourthly, a number of life peers, chosen by the king among the class of rich landowners, great manufacturers, and 'national celebrities;' fifthly, eight titled noblemen elected in the eight provinces of Prussia by the resident landowners of all degrees; sixthly, the representatives of the universities, the heads of chapters,' and the burgomasters of towns with above fifty thousand inhabitants; and, seventhly, an unlimited number of members nominated by the king for life, or for a more or less restricted period. 6 The second Chamber consists of 432 members-352 for the old kingdom, and the rest added in 1867 to represent the newly-annexed provinces; the proportion to the population is 1 to every 66,000. Every Prussian who has attained his twenty-fifth year, and is qualified to vote for the municipal elections of his place of domicile, is eligible to vote as indirect elector. Persons who are entitled to vote for municipal elections in several parishes can only exercise the right of indirect elector, or Urwähler,' in one. One direct elector, or 'Wahlmann,' is elected from every complete number of 250 souls. The indirect electors are divided into three classes, according to the respective amount of direct taxes paid by each; arranged in such manner, that each category pays one-third of the whole amount of direct taxes levied on the whole. The first category consist of all electors who pay the highest taxes to the amount of onethird of the whole. The second, of those who pay the next highest amount down to the limits of the second third. The third of all the lowest taxed, who, together, complete the last class. Each class may be divided into several electoral circles, none of which must, however, exceed 500 Urwähler.' Direct electors may be nominated in each division of the circle from the number of persons entitled to vote indirectly, without regard to special divisions. The representatives are chosen by the direct electors, who at the election of 1882 numbered 98,995, or 0.36 per 100 of population; of these 95,497, or 96 per cent. actually voted. The legislative period of the second |