10,357 Christians of other denominations, and 26,089 Jews.

Three

Protestant superintendents and a Roman Catholic bishop direct the ecclesiastical affairs of the population.

V. LICHTENSTEIN.

(FÜRSTENTHUM LIECHTENSTEIN.)

Reigning Sovereign.

Johann II., Prince of Lichtenstein, born Oct. 5, 1840, the son of Prince Aloys and Princess Francisca, daughter of Count Kinsky; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, Nov. 12, 1858. Heir-apparent is the Prince's only brother, Prince Franz, born Aug. 28, 1853.

The princely family of Lichtenstein is said to derive its origin -together with the reigning houses of Great Britain and of Brunswick-from the Longobard Marquis d'Este, who married Cunizza, a Suabian heiress, at the commencement of the eleventh century. Partly on account of this antiquity of the family, and partly because of its immense wealth, the Congress of Vienna, which sequestrated, or mediatised,' territories of much larger extent, left the principality of Lichtenstein a sovereign state, governed by its hereditary rulers. The private estates of the reigning Prince, situated in Bohemia and Moravia, embrace an area of over 2,200 English square miles, with 350,000 inhabitants or thirty-four times the extent, and forty-eight times the population of the principality of Lichtenstein-and are stated to yield an annual revenue of five millions and a half of Austrian florins, or 550,000l. From the principality itself the prince derives no income.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

A constitution was given to the principality on Oct. 15, 1862, by the terms of which the legislative power is vested in a House of Representatives, comprising fifteen members, three chosen by the reigning prince, and the other twelve by the people. The Chamber assembles every year without being summoned by the prince. The latter is bound to reside in the country for part of the year, and to appoint a governor in his absence. The total revenue amounts to about 55,000 florins, or 5,500l., and the expenditure to very nearly the same. Lichtenstein has no public debt. There is neither a militia nor standing army in the principality. The population, according to the census of 1867, numbered 8,320 souls, living on an area of 64 English square miles. Lichtenstein is the smallest sovereign State in Europe.

THE ZOLLVEREIN.

The North German Confederacy is connected with the states of South Germany, besides by military treaties (see p. 98), by the strong tie of common commercial interests. These are embodied in the Zollverein, or Customs' League. As in the formation of modern political alliances tending towards the unity of Germany, so in the earlier attempt of creating commercial and industrial combinations, Prussia took the lead. The first step towards the establishment of the Zollverein was taken in the year 1828, when, by special treaties, the grand-duchy of Hesse and the duchy of Anhalt were brought within the customs' limits of Prussia. Previous to this date the various states of Germany were under complete commercial separation, each having its own tariff of import and export duties, its own line of custom-houses, and in most cases its own system of money, weights, and measures; but the efforts of the Prussian government caused the gradual overthrow of these barriers to mutual intercourse, by the extension of the bond of union inaugurated in the treaties with Hesse and Anhalt. In 1829, the two Saxon duchies of Meiningen and Coburg-Gotha were induced to join the Zollverein, and four years after, in 1833, its boundaries were vastly enlarged by the entrance into it of the kingdoms of Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Saxony. The circle was completed within the next thirty years, during which all the states of Germany, with the exception of the two duchies of Mecklenburg, and the three free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen, were brought into the great commercial union. The two Mecklenburg duchies, together with Lübeck, acceded to it on September 1, 1868; so that, at this date, the whole of both North and South Germany, with the sole exception of the two cities of Hamburg and Bremen-allowed to remain 'free ports' until further agreement were included within the limits of the Zollverein.

The administration of the Zollverein, according to a treaty signed July 8, 1867, and in force from January 1, 1868, till December 31, 1877, is carried on by delegates of the various states composing it, with a central government at Berlin.

There is a twofold representation, that of Governments, in the Zollverein Council, and that of populations, in the Zollverein Parliament, the members of which latter body, elected in the same manner as the deputies to the North German Federal diet, meet in annual session at the beginning of the year. In the

Zollverein Council are vested the chief functions of the executive, while the Zollverein Parliament has legislative, together with some administrative powers. The Council has three committees, sitting in permanence, the taxes and customs committee, the trade committee, and the finance committee.

All the receipts of the Zollverein are paid into a common exchequer, and distributed, pro rata of population, among the members of the league. The chief sources of revenue are import and export duties, and taxes upon spirits, wine, sugar manufactured from beetroots, and tobacco, that of imports being by far the most important. The gross receipts of the customs of the Zollverein in the year 1865 amounted to 23,991,085 thalers, of which there came from import dues 23,923,365 thalers, and from export dues 991,085 thalers. In comparison with the year 1864 there was a diminution in the receipts from import dues of 445,749 thalers, and from export dues of 95,507 thalers, making a total of 541,256 thalers, or 81,1887. The share of the amount of receipts coming to Prussia, when the division was made, was 10,826,271 thalers, or 1,623,9407. The total receipts from the spirit tax amounted, for 1865, to 11,553,867 thalers, or 1,733,0807., and the transit dues upon spirits, for the same period, to 9,853 thalers, or 1,4787. After deducting for defects of registration, compensations, back payments, &c. there remained for division the sum of 9,145,684 thalers, or 1,871,855l., of which sum Prussia and the states and countries in close union with her received the sum of 7,773,745 thalers, or 1,166,0697. 15s. As regards the production of sugar from beet-roots, there were, in the year 1865, in employment 295 factories, of which 252 were in Prussia; 25,695,694 centners of fresh beet-roots were used, and the tax upon beet-root sugar, inclusive of register defects, deduction of back payments, and expenses of administration, amounted to 6,148,304 thalers, or 922,245l., of which Prussia received 3,252,144 thalers, or 487,8217. The duties levied on wine in the year 1865 amounted to 106,393 thalers, or 15,8097., and those upon tobacco leaves and tobacco manufactures to 120,313 thalers, or 18,0467. The total sum for division was 226,982 thalers, or 34,0471., of which Prussia received 156,886 thalers, or 23,5317. There were used for the cultivation of tobacco in the Zollverein 92,914 Prussian morgen-in Prussia about 28,154 morgen-and the amount of tobacco obtained from the dried leaves was 676,140 centners-in Prussia 185,423 centners. The yields were on an average about 7.28 centner per morgen.

According to an official report upon mines, foundries, and salines, it appears there were produced in the Zollverein in the year 1865, from the coal pits, 388,179,637 centners of coals, 124,078,356 centners of brown coal (Bovey), 52,400,407 centners of iron ore,

703,650 centners of gold and silver ore, 3,398,944 centners of lead ore, 3,122,785 centners of copper ore, 6,265,983 centners of zinc ore, besides other products, making a total of 578,966,407 centners, of which Prussia produced 463,846,947 centners. The total amount

of works was 4,788, of which there were in Prussia 2,313.

In the smelting establishments there were produced 16,162,897 centners of raw iron in streaks or veins, 790,114 centners of raw steel iron, 1,140,150 centners of casting ware from ore, 3,814,737 centners of casting ware from raw iron, 3,286,780 centners of bar iron and rolled iron, 1,386,000 centners of iron plate, 701,342 centners of iron wire, 1,427,179 centners of steel, 84,276 lbs. of gold, 148,689 lbs. of silver, 713,163 centners of lead (Kaufblei '), 74,140 centners of litharge, 15,892 centners of lead plates, 66,768 centners of rose copper, 52,895 centners of wrought copper, 43,402 centners of brass, 1,184,956 centners of sheet or bar zinc, and 349,509 centners of zinc plates, making a total of 37,389,783 centners in 1,744 works, of which 1,177 were in Prussia.

The subjoined tabular statement exhibits the growth of the commercial intercourse between Germany and the United Kingdom, giving the total value of the exports from the states of the Zollverein, including the Hanse towns, to Great Britain and Ireland, and the total value of the imports of British home produce into them, in each of the ten years 1859 to 1868 :

It will be seen from the preceding table that while the exports from Germany to the United Kingdom increased 70 per cent. in the ten years 1859-68, the imports of British produce and manufactures augmented nearly 100 per cent. in value during the same period, or at the average rate of above one million sterling per annum.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures generally in use throughout the whole of Germany, and their British equivalents, are—

Norddeutsche Bundeszeitung. Berlin, 1867-69.

Königlich Preussischer Staats-Kalender für 1869. 8. Berlin, 1869. Preussische Statistik, herausgegeben vom Statistischen Bureau in Berlin. fol. Berlin, 1869.

Jahrbuch für die amtliche Statistik des Preussischen Staates. Herausgegeben vom Königl. Statistischen Bureau. 8. Berlin, 1869.

Uebersichten, stat. über Waaren-Verkehr und Zoll-Ertrag im deutschen Zoll-Vereine für das Jahr 1867. Zusammengestellt von dem Central-Büreau des Zoll-Vereins nach den amtlichen Ermittelungen der Zoll-Vereins-Staaten. fol. Berlin, 1869.

Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Sachsen. Dresden, 1869.

Zeitschrift des Statistischen Bureaus des Königlich Sächsischen Ministerium des Innern. Dresden, 1869.