and the rule prevails among them of the youngest son becoming the heir to the landed property of the father. Estates are kept for generations in the same family, and seldom parcelled out. The rural population, however, has been declining in numbers for the last thirty years. There are 102 miles of railway. British Consul-General.-Baron von Tauchnitz (Leipzig). SAXE-COBURG AND GOTHA. (HERZOGTHUM SACHSEN-COBURG-GOTHA.) Reigning Duke.-Alfred, born August 6, 1844, son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria of Great Britain; succeeded his uncle, Ernest II., August 22, 1893; married January 23, 1874, to the Grand Duchess Marie, daughter of the Emperor Alexander II. of Russia. Offspring :-1, Alfred, born October 15, 1874; 2, Marie, born October 29, 1875; married January 11, 1893, to Prince Ferdinand of Roumania; 3, Victoria, born November 25, 1876; 4, Alexandra, born September 1, 1878; 5, Beatrice, born April 20, 1884. The immediate ancestor of the reigning family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was Duke John Ernst, seventh son of Duke Ernst the Pious, who succeeded his brother Albrecht, Ernst's second son, in 1699, in the Duchy of SaxeCoburg, to which he added Saalfeld. John Ernst's two sons ruled in common, under the title Dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; but their single successor Ernst Frederick I. (1764-1800) introduced the principle of primogeniture. On the extinction of the line of Saxe-Gotha in 1826, Ernst III. received Gotha in exchange for Saalfeld, which was assigned to Saxe-Meiningen, and assumed the title of Ernst I. of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The family is in possession of a large private fortune, accumulated chiefly by Duke Ernst I., to whom the Congress of Vienna made a present of the Principality of Lichtenberg. This Principality he sold, September 22, 1834, to the King of Prussia, for a sum of two million thalers, and other advantages. The reigning Duke has a civil list of 100,000 marks out of the income of the Gotha domains, 100,503 marks is paid into the public exchequer, while the rest is divided between the Duke and the State. The Duke further receives one-half of the excess of revenue over expenditure from the Coburg domain lands. Constitution and Finance.-The Staatsgrundgesetz, or fundamental law of the two Duchies, proclaimed May 3, 1852, vests the legislative power in the Duke in conjunction with two separate chambers, one for the Duchy of Coburg and the other for the Duchy of Gotha. For the common affairs of the two Duchies the two Chambers meet in common. The Coburg Chamber consists of eleven, and that for Gotha of nineteen members, chosen in as many electoral divisions, by the indirect vote of all the electors. Every man above the age of twenty-five who pays direct taxes has a vote, and every fully-qualified citizen above thirty may be elected a deputy to the Landtag or Chamber. Deputies resident in Coburg or Gotha receive six marks per diem, the others ten marks per diem and travelling expenses. New elections take place every four years. The two assemblies meet separately, usually in the first and last years of their duration, otherwise when necessary; the United Parliament' meets alternately at the towns of Coburg and of Gotha. The domain budget is voted for the term of four years for Gotha and for Coburg, and in the financial State-accounts a distinction is made between domain-revenue and State-revenue. The annual domain revenue for Coburg 1891-97 is estimated at 420,500 marks, and expenditure 236,500 marks; revenue for Gotha 1893-97, 2,144,226 marks, expenditure 1,182,425 marks. The special State revenue for each year from 1893 to 1897 for Coburg is set down at 812,700 marks, and for Gotha at 1,959,924 marks; while the common State-revenue of Coburg and Gotha is set down at 2,012,182 marks, and expenditure 2,647,190 marks. The public debt, in 1891, . amounted to 3,213,829 marks for Coburg, and to 140,198 marks for Gotha, both being largely covered by productive investments. There are 110 miles of railway. British Chargé d'Affaires.-A. Condie Stephen, C. B., C. M.G. SAXE-MEININGEN. (HERZOGTHUM SACHSEN-MEININGEN.) Reigning Duke.-Georg II., born April 2, 1826; the son of Duke Bernhard I. Succeeded, on the abdication of his father, September 20, 1866. Married, (1) May 18, 1850, to Princess Charlotte of Prussia, who died March 30, 1855; (2) October 23, 1858, to Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, born July 7, 1839, who died February 10, 1872; (3) morganatically, March 18, 1873, to Ellen Franz, Baroness von Heldburg. Offspring (first marriage) :-I. Prince Bernhard, born April 1, 1851; married February 18, 1878, to Princess Charlotte, eldest daughter of the late German Emperor Friedrich Wilhelm ; offspring of the union is a daughter, Feodora, born May 12, 1879. Princess Marie Elizabeth, born September 23, 1853. (Second marriage) III. Prince Ernst, born September 27, 1859; married morganatically Sept. 20, 1892, to Katharina Feusen, Baroness von Saalfeld. IV. Prince Friedrich, born October 12, 1861; married April 25, 1889 to Adelheid, Countess of Lippe Biesterfeld, offspring two daughters and a son, Georg, born October 11, 1892. II. The line of Saxe-Meiningen was founded by Duke Bernhard, third son of Ernst I. of Saxony, surnamed the Pious, the friend and companion in arms of King Gustaf Adolf of Sweden. The Duchy was only one-third its present size up to the year 1826, when, by the extinction of the ancient family of Saxe-Gotha, the territories of Hildburghausen and Saalfeld fell to the father of the present Duke. The Duke has a civil list of 394,286 marks paid out of the produce of the State domains. Besides these he receives the half of the surplus, which is estimated for the financial year 1893 at 390,450 marks. Constitution and Finance.-The charter of the Duchy bears date August 23, 1829, and is supplemented by the laws of 1870 and 1873. It provides for a legislative organization, consisting of one Chamber of twenty-four representatives. Four of these are elected by those who pay the highest land and property tax, and four by those who pay income tax on an income of 3,000 marks or more; sixteen by all other inhabitants. The Chamber meets as often as necessary, and in any case for the arrangement of the budget every three years, and new elections take place every six. The budget for the financial year 1893 stated the revenue at marks, and the expenditure at 6,601,470 marks. More than one-third of the revenue is drawn from State domains belonging to the ducal family. The chief items of expenditure are Matrikularbeitrage (or contributions) for the Empire (estimated to 1,551,490 marks), the interest of the public debt, 530,000 marks, and the expenses for the administration of the State. The debt in 1892 amounted to 11,788,074 marks. Most of the debt is covered by productive State capital. There are 157 miles of railway. British Consul-General.-Baron von Tauchnitz (Leipzig). SCHWARZBURG-RUDOLSTADT. (FÜRSTENTHUM SCHWARZBURG-RUDOLSTADT.) Reigning Prince.-Günther, born August 21, 1852, succeeded his cousin Prince Georg, Jan. 19, 1890; married December 10, 1891, to Princess Anna Luise of Schönburg-Waldenburg. The Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt line is a younger branch of the house of Schwarzburg, being descended from Albert VII., 1605, who died in the middle of the seventeenth century. The present sovereign has a civil list of 291,817 marks, exclusive of the revenue of the State domains, which are the property of the reigning family. Constitution and Finance.-The fundamental law of the Principality is the Constitution of March 21, 1854, modified November 16, 1870. For all legislative measures the Prince has to obtain the consent of a Chamber of Representatives of sixteen members, four of whom are elected by the highest assessed inhabitants, and the rest returned by the general population. The deputies are elected for three years. There are triennial budgets. For the period 1891-93 the annual public income and expenditure were settled at 2,542,950 marks each. There is a public debt of 4,018,688 marks, half of which is covered by productive investments. There are 19 miles of railway. SCHWARZBURG-SONDERSHAUSEN. (FÜRSTENTHUM SCHWARZBURG-SONDERSHAUSEN.) Reigning Prince.-Karl Günther, born August 7, 1830; succeeded his father, Prince Günther Friedrich Carl II., July 17, 1880; married, June 12, 1869, to Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, born June 28, 1845. Brother and Sisters of the Prince.-I. Princess Elisabeth, born March 22, 1829. II. Prince Leopold, born July 2, 1832. III. Princess Marie, born June 14, 1837. The princes of the house of Schwarzburg belong to a very ancient and wealthy family. The small territory of the house was left undisturbed at the Congress of Vienna. The civil list of the Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen amounts to 500,000 marks, being nearly one-fourth of the revenue of the country. The Prince is, moreover, in possession of a very large income from private estates in Bohemia and Mecklenburg. Constitution and Finance.-The Principality has a Constitution, granted July 8, 1857, under which restricted legislative rights are given to a Diet composed of fifteen members, five of whom are appointed by the Prince, five elected by certain highly-taxed landowners and others, and five elected by the inhabitants in general. The sole executive and part of the legislative power is in the hands of the Prince, who exercises his authority through a Government divided into five departments. The budget accounts are settled for the term of four years. In the period 1892-95 the annual revenue was estimated to amount to 2,764,455 marks, and the annual expenditure to the same. There is a public debt (1893) of 2,723,444 marks. There are 49 miles of railway |