II. Princess Katharine, born Aug. 24, 1821; married Nov. 20, 1845, to her cousin, Prince Friedrich of Württemberg; widow, May 9, 1870. Offspring of the union is a son, Prince Wilhelm, born Feb. 25, 1848; married Feb. 15, 1877, to Princess Marie of Waldeck, who died April 30, 1882, leaving a daughter Pauline, born Dec. 19, 1877.

III. Princess Augusta, born Oct. 4, 1826; married June 17, 1851, to Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar, lieut.-general in the service of Württemberg.

Cousins of the King.

I. Prince Alexander, born Sept. 9, 1804, the son of Duke Ludwig of Württemberg, grand uncle of the king; married May 2, 1835, to Claudine, daughter of Count Rhéday of Transylvania, created Countess von Hohenstein; widower, Oct. 1, 1841. Issue of the union are three children:-1. Claudine, born Feb. 11, 1836. 2. Franz, Duke von Teck, born Aug. 27, 1837; married to Princess Mary of Cambridge, June 12, 1866 (see page 203). 3. Amalia, born Nov. 12, 1838; married Oct. 24, 1863, to Baron von Hügel, captain in the Austrian cavalry.

II. Duchess Maria, born March 25, 1818, daughter of the late Duke Eugene of Württemberg; married Oct. 9, 1845, to Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Philippsthal; widow, Feb. 12, 1868.

III. Duke Wilhelm, brother of the preceding, born July 20, 1828; general of infantry in the service of Austria.

IV. Duchess Alexandrine, sister of the preceding, born Dec. 16, 1829.

V. Duke Nicolaus, brother of the preceding, born March 1, 1833; married May 8, 1868, to his cousin, Princess Wilhelmine of Württemberg, born July 11, 1844, daughter of the late Duke Eugene.

VI. Princess Agnes, sister of the preceding, born Oct. 13, 1835; married Feb. 6, 1858, to Prince Heinrich XIV. of Reuss-Schleiz. VII. The late Duke Wilhelm Alexander, the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg; married October 17, 1837, to Princess Marie of Orléans, daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the French. Offspring of the union is a son, Prince Philipp, born July 30, 1838; married January 18, 1865, to Archduchess Marie Theresa of Austria, born July 15, 1845, the daughter of Archduke Albrecht of Austria, of which union there are offspring four children :—1. Prince Albert, born Dec. 23, 1865. 2. Princess Josephine, born Aug. 31, 1871. 3. Prince Robert, born Jan. 14, 1873. 4. Prince Ulrich, born June 16, 1877.

The former duchy of Württemberg was erected into a kingdom by the Emperor Napoleon, by decree of Jan. 1, 1806. Wilhelm I.,

the second king, granted a constitution. The civil list of the king amounts to 1,821,442 mark, or 91,0727., with an additional grant of 316,464 mark, or 15,8231., for the other members of the royal family.

Constitution and Government.

The constitution of Württemberg bears date Sept. 25, 1819. It vests the legislative power in a Diet, or Landtag, consisting of two Houses, called together every three years, or oftener if necessary. The Upper Chamber, or House of Standesherren, is composed of the members of the royal family, the heads of the principal noble families of the country, the representatives of certain territories and estates possessing formerly a vote in the extinct German Diet, and a number of members nominated by the king for life, which number, however, must not exceed one-third of that of the whole House. The second Chamber, or House of Deputies-Abgeordneten-consists of 13 members of the nobility, elected by the Ritterschaft, or landowners of the kingdom; 6 deputies of the Protestant clergy; 6 deputies of the Roman Catholic clergy; the chancellor of the university of Tübingen; and 70 deputies of towns and rural districts elected by the citizens by secret ballot. All the members of the second Chamber are chosen for six years, and they must be thirty years of age; property qualification is not necessary. To be a member of the first Chamber it is sufficient to be of age. The president of both Houses is appointed by the king; for the Upper House without restriction of person, and for the Lower, from among three members elected by the deputies. The debates of the second Chamber are public, and have to be printed and distributed among the various constituencies. Whenever Parliament is not sitting, it is represented by a committee of twelve persons, consisting of the presidents of both Chambers, two members of the Upper, and eight of the Lower House. A special court of justice, called the Staats-Gerichtshof, is appointed guardian of the constitution and of the rights and privileges of the Houses of Parliament. It is composed of a president and twelve members, six of whom, together with the president, are nominated by the king, while the other six are elected by the combined Chambers.

The executive of the kingdom is in a Ministry of State and a Privy Council, composed of six ministerial departments, and presided over by the President of the Ministry of State. The heads of the six departments are the Ministers of Justice; of the Interior; of Public Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs; of War; of Foreign Affairs and the Royal House; and of Finance. There are besides the members of the Ministry a number of Privy Councillors, whom the sovereign has the right to consult on all occasions.

Church and Education.

The census of Württemberg, taken December 1, 1880, stated the religious creed of the inhabitants as follows:-Protestants, 1,364,580; Roman Catholics, 590,290; Dissenters of various denominations, 2,917; and Jews, 13,331. According to the census of 1875, the Protestants formed 69 per cent. of the population, and the Roman Catholics 30 per cent. The Evangelical Protestant' Church of Württemberg was formed in 1823 by a union of the Lutherans and the Calvinists, or Reformers. The administration of the Protestant Church is in the hands of a consistorium of six general superintendents, at Ulm, Ludwigsburg, Reutlingen, Hall, Heilbronn, and Tübingen. In the king is vested, according to the constitution, the supreme direction as well as the guardianship-obersthoheitliche Schutz und Aufsichtsrecht-of the Evangelical Protestant Church. The Roman Catholics, most numerous in the eastern part of the kingdom, comprising the circle of the Danube, are under a bishop, dependent of the Archbishop of Freiburg, in Baden, who has his seat at Rottenburg, but who, in all important matters, has to act in conjunction with a Catholic church-council-Kirchenrathappointed by the government. The Jews likewise are under a special board, nominated by the minister of ecclesiastical affairs.

Education is compulsory in Württemberg, and there must be a public school in every community of 30 families. According to recent official returns, there is not an individual in the kingdom, above the age of ten, unable to read and write. There are about. 2,500 elementary schools, attended by 350,000 pupils; four Protestant and two Roman Catholic training establishments for ministers, and seven colleges, providing a classical education, at Stuttgart, Heilbronn, Ulm, Ellwangen, Ludwigsburg, Hall, and Rottweil. The whole educational system is centred in the university of Tübingen, founded in 1477. (See Germany, p. 105.)

Revenue and Expenditure.

Nearly one-half of the public revenue of the kingdom is derived from domains, including vast forests, and other State property, such as railways, telegraphs, and mines, and one-half from taxes.

The financial year, which formerly ended with the month of June, was changed in 1878 to finish with March. The estimated revenue and expenditure for the financial year 1884-5 were made to balance at 54,060,186 mark. The estimated revenue and expenditure for each of the two years ending March 31, 1886 and 1887, were as follows::

L

The public debt of Württemberg more than doubled within the last twenty years, owing to the establishment of the railway lines of the kingdom, nearly the whole of which are State property. The capital of the public debt was estimated to amount to 428,881,708 mark, or 21,444,0857. on April 1, 1885, of which the bulk bore interest at 4 per cent., and most of the balance 42. For April 1, 1886, the debt, it is estimated, will amount to 426,344,416 mark, or 21,317,2201.

The debt of the kingdom, here enumerated, is divided into two portions—namely, the general debt and the railway debt. The

latter, forming by far the largest portion of the total, amounted to 381,447,452 mark, or 19,072,3727. on April 1, 1885.

The total debt amounts to about 10l. 17s. per head of population, and the interest, &c., for 1884-5 to 10s. per head; but as the net income of the railways, all expenses deducted, and making allowance for wear and tear, amounted to 13,104,632 mark, or 655,2317., in 1884-5, it covers about two-thirds of the interest of the whole public debt.

The total contingent of Württemberg to the Imperial army in 1884-5 is 772 officers, 18,815 men, and 3,441 horses.

Area and Population.

Württemberg has an area of 354 German, or 7,675 English square miles, with 1,971,118 inhabitants-951,600 males, and 1,019,518 females-at the enumeration of December 1, 1880. The kingdom is divided into four Kreise, or circles, the area of which, in English square miles, and number of inhabitants, were as follows at the two enumerations of December 1, 1875, and December 1, 1880:

The increase of population between the two census periods, amounting on the whole to only 0.93 per cent. per annum, varied greatly in the four circles of the kingdom. It was, as will be seen, proportionately largest in the Neckar circle, and least in the Danube. The total increase in the kingdom during the 35 years from 1841 to 1880 was very slight, and at one period, from 1849 to 1855, there was a decline of population. The estimated population at the end of 1882 was 1,974,655. There were in 1882 in Württemberg 12,523 marriages, 78,427 births, and 56,542 deaths, the excess of births over deaths being 21,885. The births included 2,818 still-born, or 3.59 of the total number, and 6,916 illegiti mate children, or 8.91 per cent. of the total. Emigration, chiefly directed to the United States of America, has drawn off large numbers of the people. In the five years from 1873 to 1877, the total number of emigrants was 10,039. But the emigration here, as in other parts of Germany, greatly declined during the period, falling from 4,651 in 1873, to 1,032 in 1877. Emigrants in 1880,