Chamber is limited to three years. Every Prussian is eligible to be a member of the second Chamber who has accomplished his thirtieth year, who has not forfeited the enjoyment of full civic rights through a judicial sentence, and who has paid taxes during three years to the state. The Chamber must be re-elected within six months of the expiration of their legislative period, or after being dissolved. In either case former members are re-eligible. The Chamber are to be regularly convoked by the king during the month of November; and in extraordinary session, as often as circumstances may require. The opening and closing of the Chambers must take place by the king in person, or by a minister appointed by him. Both Chambers are to be convoked, opened, adjourned, and prorogued simultaneously. Each Chamber has to prove the qualification of its members, and to decide thereon. Both Chambers regulate their order of business and discipline, and elect their own presidents, vice-presidents, and secretaries. Functionaries do not require leave of absence to sit in the Chamber. When a member accepts paid functions, or a higher office connected with increased salary, he vacates his seat and vote in the Chamber, and can only recover the same by a new election. No one can be member of both Chambers. The sittings of both Chambers are public. Each Chamber, at the proposition of the president or of ten members, may proceed to secret deliberation. Neither Chamber can adopt a resolution when the legal majority of its members is not present. Each Chamber has a right to present addresses to the king. No one can deliver a petition or address to the Chambers, or to either of them in person. Each Chamber can refer documents addressed to it to the ministers, and demand explanations relative to complaints contained therein. Each Chamber has the right to appoint commissions of investigation of facts for their own information. The members of both Chambers are held to be representatives of the whole population. They vote according to their free conviction, and are not bound by prescriptions or instructions. They cannot be called to account, either for their votes, or for opinions uttered by them in the Chambers. No member of the Chambers can, without its assent, be submitted to examination or arrest for any proceeding entailing penalties, unless seized in the act, or within twenty-four hours of the same. All criminal proceedings against members of the Chambers, and all examination or civil arrest, must be suspended during the session, should the Chamber whom it may concern so demand. Members of the second Chamber receive travelling expenses and diet money from the State, according to a scale fixed by law amounting to 20 mark, or one pound sterling, per day. Refusal of the same is not allowed.

The executive government is carried on by a Staatsministerium, or Ministry of State, the members of which are appointed by the

King, and hold office at his pleasure. The Staatsministerium is divided into ten departments, as follows:

1. President of the Council of Ministers.-Prince Otto von BismarckSchönhausen. (See above, page 102.)

2. Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior. Robert Victor von Puttkamer, born May 5, 1828; studied jurisprudence at Heidelberg and Berlin; entered the State service in 1850; Landrath at Demmin, 1860; in the war against Austria, Civil Governor of Mähren at Brünn, 1866; Privy Councillor in the Chancery of the North German Confederation, 1867; President of the government of Lorraine at Metz, 1874-77; member of the Reichstag since the year 1873; Minister of Public Instruction and Ecclesiastical Affairs, July 14, 1879. Appointed Minister of the Interior, 1881; Vice-President of the Council, 1882.

3. Minister of State and Imperial Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.-Count Paul Hatzfeld-Wildenburg, born October 9, 1831; educated for the diplomatic career; ambassador of Germany at Madrid, 1871-75; and at Constantinople, 1875-82. Appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Bundesrath of the Empire, October 16, 1882.

4. Minister of State and Imperial Secretary of State for the Interior-Herr von Boetticher.

5. The Ministry of War.-General Bronsart von Schellendorf, born 1832; attached to headquarters staff 1870-71; and after the War appointed chief of the general staff of the Guards Corps. Appointed Minister of War, March 8, 1883.

6. The Ministry of Public Works.-Dr. August Maybach, born November 22, 1822; studied jurisprudence, and entered the State service in 1845; Director-general of the Railways of Hanover, 1866-71, and of the German State Railways, 1871-78. Appointed Minister of Commerce and Public Works, March 30, 1878.

7. The Ministry of Agriculture, Domains, and Forests.-Dr. Robert Lucius, born Dec. 20, 1835; studied medicine at Heidelberg and Breslau; took part as physician in the Prussian Embassy to China and Japan, 1860-62; officer of cavalry in the campaigns of 1864, 1866, and 1870-71 against Denmark, Austria, and France; member of the Reichstag since 1870; elected Second Vice-President of the Reichstag, 1879. Appointed Minister of Agriculture, &c., July 14, 1879.

8. The Ministry of Justice.-Dr. Friedberg, born 1813; studied jurisprudence, and admitted to the bar 1835; entered the Ministry of Justice, 1854; nominated life member of the Prussian House of Lords, 1872. Appointed Minister of Justice, October 30, 1879.

9. The Ministry of Public Worship, Instruction, and Medicinal Affairs.-Herr von Gossler. Appointed 1881.

10. The Ministry of Finance.-Herr Scholz, appointed July 3, 1882.

11. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry.—Prince Bismarck, who assumed the functions in 1881.

The salary of the President of the Council is 54,000 mark, or 2,700, and that of each of the other ministers 36,000 mark, or 1,8007.

Each of the provinces of the kingdom is placed under the superintendence of an Oberpräsident,' or governor, who has a salary of 21,000 mark, or 1,050l. Each province has also a military commandant, a superior court of justice, a director of taxes, and a consistory, all appointed by the king. The provinces are subdivided into Regierungsbezirke, or counties, and these again into 'Kreise,' or circles, and the latter into 'Gemeinden,' or parishes. Each county has a president and an administrative board or council; and the further subdivisions have also their local authorities. The principal functionaries are all elective; but the elections must be confirmed by the Government.

Church and Education.

Absolute religious liberty is guaranteed by the constitution. Nearly two-thirds of the population are Protestants, and one-third Roman Catholics. At the last census, taken December 1, 1880, the Protestants numbered 17,633,279, being 64.64 per cent. of the total population of the kingdom, and the Roman Catholics 9,206,283, or 33.74 per cent. At the census of 1875 the Catholics numbered 8,625,840, or 33 per cent., while the Protestants have increased about one million in the same period. The number of Jews was 363,790, or 1.334 per cent. of the population, at the date of the census; in 1875 it was 339,790, or 1.32 per cent. In the provinces of Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Nassau, and Saxony, the great majority are Protestants; while in Posen, Silesia, Westphalia, and Rhenish Prussia, the Roman Catholics predominate. There are a few members of the Greek Church, mostly immigrants from Russia, and 22,006 without creed.' Jews are to be found in all the provinces, but principally in Posen, Silesia, Berlin, Rhine Province and Hesse-Nassau. At the census of Dec. 3, 1864, there were in the kingdom, as then constituted, 11,736,734 Protestants, being 60.23 per cent. of the total population, and 7,201,911 Roman Catholics, equal to 36·81 per cent., besides 262,001 Jews, and about 52,000 adherents of other creeds. The annexation

of the new provinces, after the war of 1866, altered the proportion in favour of the Protestant ascendency, the former kingdom of Hanover adding 1,682,777 Protestants, and only 226,009 Roman

Catholics; Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg 990,085 Protestants and 1,953 Roman Catholics; and Electoral Hesse, Nassau, Homburg, and Frankfort, 905,605 Protestants and 336,075 Roman Catholics.

The Protestant Church is governed by 'consistories,' or boards appointed by Government, one for each province. There are also synods in most circles and provinces, and general synods representing the old provinces only. The constitution of the Catholic Church differs in the various provinces. In the Rhenish provinces it is fixed by the concordat entered into between the Government and Pope Pius VII. But in every other part of the monarchy, the Crown has reserved to itself a control over the election of bishops and priests. There were in 1880 9,146 Protestant ministers, and 8,800 Roman Catholic priests, besides 300 monks and 4,600 nuns. The higher Catholic clergy are paid by the State, the Prince Bishop of Breslau receiving 1,700l. a year, and the other bishops about 1,135l. The incomes of the parochial clergy mostly arise from endowments. In the budget of 1883-4 the sum of 127,8367. is set down as expenditure in Evangelical Churches, and 129,0901. for the Catholic Church.

Education in Prussia is general and compulsory. Every town, or community in town or country, must maintain a school supported by the taxes, and administered by the local authorities, who are elected by the citizens, and called Aldermen or Town Councillors. All parents are compelled to send their children to one of these elementary schools, whether they can pay the school fees or not. The fees are one groschen, or rather more than a penny a week in villages, and ten groschen, or a shilling per month in towns. The money thus raised goes towards maintaining the schools, and any deficiency is made up from the local taxes. No compulsion exists in reference to a higher educational institution than elementary schools, but parents who send more than one child to any school supported by the community have a reduction made in the charge, and a limited number of pupils whose parents cannot afford to pay the full rate enjoy either this reduction or are admitted entirely free, at the discretion of the authorities. Thus the higher schools, as the commercial or colleges, are not established merely for the rich, but are likewise open to the poorest, the fee being 6 thaler, or 18s., a quarter, while reductions are made to large families or poor persons. The school age is from 6 to 14 years. In Prussia in 1882 there were 33,040 elementary schools, with 59,917 teachers, and 4,339,729 pupils, being 159 pupils per 1,000 inhabitants, the largest proportion of any country; 196 normal schools, with 13,705 students; 549 high schools of all kinds, with 7,333 teachers, and 133,753 pupils; 3 technical high schools, with 162 professors, and 1,693 students;

besides many industrial, trade, and other special schools. The number of children of school age (6-14) at the census of 1880 was 4,713,698.

The difference between the elementary schools of the villages and those of towns consists in the greater variety of subjects studied. In the former, reading and writing are taught, with geography and history of Germany, and the four first rules of arithmetic; in the latter, general geography, history of the world, fractions, rule of three, and the chain-rule, are added.

Prussia has ten Universities, namely, Berlin, Bonn, Breslau, Göttingen, Greifswald, Halle, Kiel, Königsberg, Marburg, and Münster. The studies at the University last from three to four years, at an expense of 157. a year for the lectures. The Universities are maintained and administered by the Government, while all the other scholastic institutions are supported by the community, under control of the Government. (For number of professors, teachers, and students at each of the ten Universities of Prussia in 1883, see Germany, p. 105.)

The whole of the educational establishments in Prussia are under the control of the Minister of Public Instruction and Ecclesiastical Affairs, but there is a local supervision for every province. The administration of each of these, as far as regards the RegierungsBezirke, is vested in a President, who is the head of the Civil Government (Regierung). But as far as provinces are concerned, the administration of the affairs of the Protestant Church is vested in the hands of the Consistorium; while the management of the higher (secondary) schools belongs to the Provincial SchulCollegium, under the supervision of the Ober-Präsident, who is the head of the Civil Government of the province. The Consistorium and the Provincial Schul-Collegium are separate provincial authorities, not sections of the same authority. As a general rule, the administration of school funds provided by the State is under the control of the Civil Government, which likewise takes upon itself nearly the whole management of the lower and elementary schools, while the Schul-Collegium is responsible for the higher schools, for the general system of instruction and discipline, the proper selection of school books, the examination and appointment of masters, and the examination of those who leave school for the Universities.

According to the constitution of 1850, all persons are at liberty to teach, or to form establishments for instruction, provided they can prove to the authorities their moral, scientific, and technical qualifications. But private as well as public establishments for education are placed under the superintendence of the Minister of Public instruction, while all public teachers are considered State

servants.