at the University of Bonn, 1840-42; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, March 7, 1842. Married, November 3, 1849, to Princess Augusta of Reuss-Schleiz, who died March 3, 1862. Married, in second nuptials, May 12, 1864, to Princess Anna, daughter of the late Grand-duke Ludwig II. of Hesse-Darmstadt, who died April 15, 1865. Married, in third nuptials, July 4, 1868, to Princess Marie, born January 29, 1850, cousin of the reigning Prince Albert of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Issue of the first marriage are:— 1. Prince Friedrich Franz, heir-apparent, born March 19, 1851. 2. Prince Paul Friedrich, born September 19, 1852. 3. Princess Marie, born May 14, 1854. 4. Prince Johann, born December 8, 1857. Issue of the second marriage is a daughter, Anna, born April 7, 1865; and issue of third marriage a daughter, Mathilda, born August 10, 1869.

Brother of the Grand-duke.-Prince Wilhelm, born March 5, 1827; colonel in the service of Prussia; married, Dec. 9, 1865, to Princess Alexandrina, born Feb. 1, 1842, daughter of Prince Albert of Prussia.

Mother of the Grand-duke.-Grand-duchess Alexandrine, born February 23, 1803, daughter of the late King Friederich Wilhelm III. of Prussia; married, May 25, 1822, to Grand-duke Paul Friedrich; widow, March 7, 1842.

The Grand-ducal house of Mecklenburg is the only reigning family in Europe of Slavonic origin, and claims to be the oldest sovereign house in the Western world. In their full title, the Granddukes style themselves Princes of the Vandals; and they trace their descent to Genseric, King of the Vandals, who ravaged Spain and Portugal in the fifth century, and, going over to Africa, took Carthage in 439. The princes of Mecklenburg received the ducal title from the Emperor Charles IV. in 1340, and assumed that of Grand-duke by permission of the Congress of Vienna, in 1815. Previous to 1701, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz formed but one State; but at that date the separation of the latter took place, in favour of a younger son of the reigning duke.

The

The Grand-duke has no civil list, or any other allowance from the country. His income consists of a large part of the revenues of the State domains, and is valued at above 120,000l. per annum.' Grand-duke is also sole proprietor of a line of railway, 55 miles long, from Güstrow to Neu-Brandenburg, which in great part runs through his own property. The court expenditure amounts to above 550,000 thalers, or considerably more than the cost of the whole civil administration of the State. The crown estates altogether comprise nearly one-fifth of the territory of the duchy, and are valued at 80,000,000 thalers, or nearly 12,000,000l. They are looked upon, in all respects, as the private property of the duke.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

6

The political institutions of the Grand-duchy are of an entirely feudal character. The fundamental laws are embodied in the Union' of 1523, the 'Reversales' of 1572 and 1622, and the charters of 1755 and Nov. 28, 1817. Nearly the whole legislative power and part of the executive is in the hands of the proprietors of Rittergüter, or knight's estates, numbering 624. Seldom more than one-fourth of these, however, exert their privileges and take their seats in the Diet. To these representatives of their own property are joined thirty-nine members, nearly all burgomasters, delegated by the municipalities and corporate bodies of a like number of towns. The great bulk of the population is without political rights. The Diet is permanent, being represented, if not in actual session, by a committee of twelve members, presided over by three marshals of the nobility, whose office is hereditary in their families. It is part of the prerogative of the committee to examine the working of the administration, as also to nominate a number of judges at the chief courts of justice. The Diet meets in annual session, alternately at the towns of Sternberg and Malchin, and every two years forms a joint assembly with the states of a part of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in common legislation for both duchies.

The executive is represented in a ministry appointed by and responsible alone to the Grand-duke. There are four departments, called, respectively, the Ministry of the Grand-ducal House and of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of the Interior; the Ministry of Justice, of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs; and the Ministry of Finances. No official budget has ever been published. Unofficial statements of public income and expenditure give the amount of either in recent years at 388,599 thalers, or 58,2851. per annum, but it is put also as high as 3,404,030 thalers, or 510,6041. The public debt is said to amount to 8,843,944 thalers, or 1,326,5917.

The population of the Grand-duchy amounted to 560,618 at the census of Dec. 3, 1867, living on an area of 4,834 English square miles. With the exception of 850 Roman Catholics, and 3,110 Jews, the whole of the subjects of the Grand-duke, in 1867, were Lutherans. Although the country is but thinly populated, emigration is carrying off large numbers of the inhabitants, and the population at several periods has been decreasing. The ownership of the soil is divided between the sovereign, who possesses about two-tenths of the land; the titled and untitled nobility, who possess seven-tenths, and various corporations and monastic institutions for Protestant noble ladies, who possess one-tenth. The agricultural population are little removed from the condition of serfs. At the

meeting of the Diet, in April, 1864, a bill was passed investing all landed proprietors with power to condemn the labourers on their estates for simple 'neglect of service' to a week's imprisonment, and, besides, 'twenty-five blows with a stick.' The bill became law in May, 1864. There are numerous restrictions on marriage, in consequence of which the proportion of illegitimate children is greater than in any other part of Germany.

IV. OLDENBURG.

(GROSSHERZOGTHUm Oldenburg.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Peter I., Grand-duke of Oldenburg, born July 8, 1827, the son of Grand-duke August, and of Princess Ida of Anhalt-Bernburg; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, Feb. 27, 1853; married, Feb. 10, 1852, to Elisabeth, born March 26, 1826, daughter of Prince Joseph of Saxe-Altenburg. Issue of the union are:-1. Prince August, heir-apparent, born Nov. 16, 1852. 2. Prince Georg, born June 27, 1855.

Brother and Sisters of the Grand-duke.-1. Princess Amalie, born Dec. 21, 1818; married, Nov. 22, 1836, to Prince Otto of Bavaria, King of Greece 1832-62; widow July 26, 1867. 2. Princess Friederike, born June 8, 1820, married, Aug. 15, 1855, to Freiherr M. von Washington. 3. Prince Elimar, born Jan. 23, 1844, lieutenant in the service of Russia.

Cousin of the Grand-duke.-Prince Peter, born Aug. 26, 1812, the son of Prince Georg, brother of the late Grand-duke August of Oldenburg, and of Princess Catharine, daughter of the late Čzar Paul of Russia; general of infantry in the service of Russia, and President of the department of Ecclesiastical Affairs iu the Imperial Senate; married, April 23, 1837, to Princess Therese of Nassau, born April 17, 1815. Issue of the union are:-1. Princess Alexandra, born June 2, 1838; married, Feb. 6, 1856, to Grand-duke Nicholas, brother of Czar Alexander II. of Russia. 2. Prince Nicolaus, born May 9, 1840, colonel in the service of Russia; married Sept. 5, 1863, to Marie von Osternburg. 3. Prince Alexander, born June 2, 1844; married Jan. 19, 1868, to Princess Eugenie, born April 1, 1845, daughter of the late Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg. 4.Prince Georg, born April 17, 1848. 5. Prince Constantine, born May 9, 1850. 6. Princess Therese, born March 30, 1852.

The ancient house of Oldenburg, which has given sovereigns to Denmark, Scandinavia, and Russia, is said to be descended from

Wittekind, the celebrated leader of the heathen Saxons against Charlemagne. In the fifteenth century, a scion of the House of Oldenburg, Count Christian VIII., was elected King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The main line became extinguished with Count Günther, in 1667, whereupon the territory of the family fell to the King of Denmark, who made it over to Grand-duke Paul of Russia, in exchange for pretended claims upon Schleswig-Holstein. The Grand-duke then gave Oldenburg to his cousin, Prince Friedrich August of Holstein-Gottorp, with whose descendants it remained till December 1810, when Napoleon incorporated it with the kingdom of Westphalia. But the Congress of Vienna not only gave the country back to its former sovereign, but, at the urgent demand of Czar Alexander I., added to it a territory of nearly 400 square miles, with 50,000 inhabitants, bestowing at the same time upon the prince the title of Grand-duke. Part of the new territory consisted of the principality of Birkenfeld, on the left bank of the Rhine, close to the French frontier, and some three hundred miles distant from Oldenburg. In 1854, Grand-duke Peter sold a district of 5,000 Morgen, or 3,154 acres, on the North Sea, with the harbour of Jahde, destined for a naval port, to Prussia, for the sum of 500,000 thalers, or 74,800l. The Grand-duke has a civil list of 85,000 thalers, or 12,750l., besides an allowance of 85,000 thalers from the public domains, making his total income 25,500l. He draws, moreover, a revenue of nearly 6,000l. from private estates of the family in Holstein.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

A Constitution was given to the Grand-duchy Feb. 18, 1849, which, revised by a decree of Nov. 22, 1852, grants liberty of the press, trial by jury, and equality of all citizens in political and social matters. The legislative power is exercised by a Landtag, or Diet, elected for three years, by the vote of all citizens paying taxes, and not condemned for felony by a court of justice. The mode of election is indirect. Every 300 electors choose a delegate, and the delegates of twenty districts, representing 6,000 electors, appoint one deputy. No property qualification is required to become a member of the Diet. The executive is vested, under the Grand-duke, in a responsible ministry of three departments, called, respectively, the Ministry of the Grand-ducal House, and of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of the Interior; and the Ministry of Finances.

The budget, according to the terms of the Constitution, must be granted by the Diet from year to year. For the year 1865, the public revenue amounted to 2,387,231 thalers, or 358,0841., and the expenditure to 2,386,110 thalers, or 357,9167., leaving a surplus

of 1,121 thalers. The budget estimates for 1869, on the other hand, based on about the same amount of revenue and expenditure, exhibited a deficit of 167,000 thalers. The chief item of revenue is from customs, and next to it, from the produce of State property; while in expenditure the army, the civil list, and the interest of the public debt cost the largest sums. The debt amounted, at the beginning of 1869, to 7,969,000 thalers, or 1,195,3507.

The area of Oldenburg embraces 2,417 square miles, with a population, according to the census of Dec. 3, 1867, of 315,622 inhabitants. Of these, 241,381 were Protestants, 72,077 Roman Catholics, and 1,527 Jews. Emigration carries off annually large numbers of the inhabitants of the Grand-duchy.

V. BRUNSWICK.

(HERZOGTHUM BRAUNSCHWEIG.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Wilhelm I., Duke of Brunswick, born April 25, 1806, the second son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick, and of Princess Marie of Baden. Undertook provisionally the Government of Brunswick in consequence of the insurrection of September 7, 1830, and subsequent flight of his brother, the reigning Duke, October 12, 1830; ascended the throne, April 25, 1831.

Brother of the Duke.-Duke Karl, born October 30, 1804, the eldest son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick; succeeded his father, under the guardianship of the Prince-Regent, afterwards King George IV. of Great Britain, June 16, 1815; ascended the throne October 30, 1823. Fled the duchy on the breaking out of a riot at the city of Brunswick, September 8, 1830; was declared ' regierungsunfähig,' or 'unfit to govern,' by a resolution of the German Diet, December 2, 1830.

The ducal house of Brunswick, now on the point of becoming extinct, the two only representatives of the family being unmarried and sexagenarians, was long one of the most ancient and illustrious of the Germanic Confederation. Its ancestor, Henry the Lion, possessed, in the twelfth century, the united duchies of Bavaria and Saxony, with other territories in the north of Germany; but having refused to aid the Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in his wars with the Pope, he was, by a decree of the Diet, deprived of the whole of his territories with the sole exception of his allodial domains, the principalities of Brunswick and Lüneburg. Their possessions were, on the death of Ernest the Confessor, divided between