3,000,000l. were from Great Britain; and of exports, 26,595,00ul., of which 1,020,000l. went to Great Britain. It was decided in 1882 to spend 1,500,000l. in widening and deepening the Weser between Bremen and Bremerhaven, a length of fifty miles; it was expected the work would take six years.

There were 65 miles of railway in the State in 1883.
British Consul-General.-George R. L. Annesley (Hamburg).

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 9, 1871, June 20, 1872, June 25, 1873, and July 4, 1879. By Art. of the law of June 3, 1871, it is enacted, the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, ceded by France in the Peace prelimaries 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.

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

Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine.-Field-Marshal Edwin Hans Karl von Manteuffel, born Feb. 24, 1809; entered the Prussian cavalry, 1826; captain, 1843; colonel, 1850; general, 1858; commanderin-chief of the Prussian army in Hanover and Hesse, 1866; commander of the 1st corps d'armée of Germany in the war against France, 1870–71; nominated field-marshal, 1872. Appointed Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine, Aug. 4, 1879; assumed office, Oct. 1, 1879. According to the constitutional law of July 4, 1879, the Emperor appoints the Statthalter, who exercises power as the representative of the Imperial Government, having his residence at Strassburg. A Ministry composed of five departments, with a responsible Secretary of State at its head, acts under the Statthalter, who also is assisted by a Council of State, comprising the General in command of the troops in the province, the Secretary of State at the head of the Ministry, the chief provincial officials, and seven other members appointed by the Emperor. The Statthalter is President of the Council. For the administration of local affairs there is a Provincial Committee, consisting of 58 members.

The budget estimates of public revenue of Alsace-Lorraine in the year ending March 31, 1886, amounted to 38,657,114 mark, or 1,932,8551.; and the estimates of expenditure to the same. For

1884-5 the total expenditure amounted to 40,598,440 mark, or 2,029,9221. Nearly one-half of the total revenue is derived from customs and indirect taxes, while one of the largest branches of expenditure is for public instruction.

Alsace-Lorraine had a debt of 1,440,1757. in 1884.

Area and Population.

The Reichsland has an area of 5,580 English square miles, with a population, in 1875, of 1,531,804, and in 1880 of 1,566,670 (770,108 males, 796,562 females), being 281 individuals per English square mile. Alsace-Lorraine is administratively divided into three Bezirke, or districts, called Ober-Elsass, 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, 1875, and the census of December 1, 1880:

There was a decrease of population during the four years from 1871 to 1875 amounting to 0.23 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. But there were only 158 emigrants in the year 1876, and but 108 in 1877. Between 1875-80 there was an increase of 0.45 per cent. per annum. On the basis of births, deaths, and emigration, the estimated population in 1882 is given as 1,555,835, and shows an apparent decrease of 10,000 since 1880. Marriages, 1882, 10,322; births, 51,423 (1,908, or 3.71 per cent. still-born; 4,061, or 7·90 illegitimate); deaths, 41,393; surplus, 10,030. Emigrants beyond Europe, 1881, 692; 1882, 696; 1883, 872.

At the census of December 1, 1880, there were in the Reichsland 1,218,513 Roman Catholics, 305,315 Protestants, 3,053 members of other Christian sects, 39,278 Jews, and 511 unclassified. 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 Unter-Elsass, Mülhausen in Ober-Elsass, and Metz, capital of Lothringen. At the census of 1880, Strassburg had 104,471, Mülhausen 68,140, and Metz 53,131 inhabitants. ·

The prison population had increased from 16,476 in 1872, to 49,750 in 1882.

Alsace-Lorraine is a great wine-producing country. Of the 1,696 communes, 1,047 have vineyards. The total value of the produce in 1880 was 1,596,730.

There were 815 miles of railway in Alsace-Lorraine in 1884.

Trade, Commerce, and Industry 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' until they themselves demand admittance.' By a treaty with the German Imperial Government, the free-port privileges of Hamburg, formerly embracing the whole State, have now been restricted to the city and port of Hamburg.

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, and those of the Zollverein Council in the Federal Council, and devolves upon 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, beer (malt), salt, sugar manufactured from beet-root, and tobacco.

The imports in 1881 amounted to 149,505,000l., and in 1882 to 158,235,000l.; the exports, in 1881, to 152,000,0007., and in 1882 to 162,235,000l. The total value of the imports and exports of Germany in 1883 is shown in the following table :

The commerce of the German Zollverein was divided as follows in 1883 among the principal countries :—

The total value of the imports of grain and potatoes was 18,499,000l. in 1883; 340,940 tons of potatoes were exported. The total value of raw textile material-woollen, cloth, silk, &c., imported was 26,361,400l. in 1883, and of yarns, 15,499,8001., while the value of the woollen goods exported was 18,827,000l. in 1883. The export of sugar was valued at 7,594,500l. in 1881, and 10,806,3007. in 1883. The gross produce of the Customs in 1883 was 10,489,6757.

The subjoined tabular statement exhibits the amount of the commercial intercourse between Germany and the United Kingdom in each of the ten years 1874 to 1883:

Including colonial produce, the total imports from Great Britain in 1883 amounted to 31,781,3701.

The staple articles of export from Germany to the United Kingdom consist of agricultural produce, chief among them breadstuffs, unrefined sugar, live animals, timber, and bacon and hams. The following table gives the declared value, in pounds sterling, of these four principal articles exported direct from Germany to the United Kingdom, in each of the two years 1882 and 1883:

The exports of breadstuffs from Germany to Great Britain, consisting mainly of wheat and barley, but embracing, besides, wheatmeal and flour, pease, rye, and oats, fluctuated greatly in recent years. The remaining exports embrace a great variety of articles, Until recently nearly all of them the produce of agriculture. potatoes were an important export to Great Britain; in 1880 it was valued at 1,716,4357., in 1882 it had sank to 124,4047., but rose to 601,6691. in 1883.

The principal articles of export of British produce into Germany consist of woollen and cotton manufactures, of iron, wrought and unwrought, herrings, and machinery. The following table gives the value of these articles imported into Germany in 1882 and 1883 :