as its multiples or fractions in gold or silver, the same course and value throughout the extent of their respective territories.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Belgium.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Almanach Royal Officiel de Belgique, contenant les attributions et le personnel de tous les services publics du royaume. Année 1883. Bruxelles 1883. Annuaire statistique de la Belgique. 3. Bruxelles, 1883.

Documents statistiques, publiés par le départ. de l'Intérieur, avec le concours de la commission centrale de statistique. Bruxelles, 1880.

Moniteur belge. '1883.

Projet de loi contenant le Budget général pour l'exercise 1884. Bruxelles, 1883.

Statistique générale de la Belgique, publiée par le Ministre de l'Intérieur. 8. Bruxelles, 1865-81.

Tableau général du commerce avec les pays étrangers, publiée par le Ministre des Finances. 4. Bruxelles, 1883.

Report of Sir Henry Barron, Secretary of Legation, of the finances and railways of Belgium, dated Brussels, April 10, 1876; in Reports by H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part II. 1876. 8. London, 1876.

Report by Mr. J. Savile Lumley, Secretary of Legation, on the commerce and industry of Belgium, dated Brussels, January 24, 1878; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Secretaries and Legation.' No. I. 1878. 8. London, 1878. Report by Sir Henry Barron, Secretary of Legation, on the finances and railways of Belgium, dated Brussels, April 16, 1880; in 'Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part IV. 1880. 8. London, 1880. Report by Sir Henry Barron on the finances of Belgium, in Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part IV. 1882.

Report by Sir H. Barron on the commerce and industry of Belgium in 1881 and 1882, in Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy.' Part III. London,

1883.

Report by Mr. Consul Grattan on the trade and commerce of Antwerp, in 'Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Part VII. 1882.

Trade of Belgium with the United Kingdom; in 'Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries for the year 1883.' Imp. 4. London, 1883.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annuaire financier de la Belgique. 8. Bruxelles, 1883.

Bavary (Ch. Victor de), Histoire de la Révolution belge de 1830. 8. Bruxelles, 1876.

Janssens (Eug.), Annuaire de la mortalité, ou tableau statistique des causes de décès et du mouvement de la population. 8. Bruxelles, 1883.

Malou (J.), Notice historique sur les finances de la Belgique. Fol. Paris, 1868. Meulemans (Aug.), La Belgique, ses ressources agricoles, industrielles et commerciales. 8. Bruxelles, 1866.

Reclus (Elisée), Nouvelle Géographie universelle. Tome IV. L'Europe du Nord-Ouest. Paris, 1879.

Tarlier (H.), Almanach du commerce et de l'industrie de la Belgique. 8. Bruxelles, 1883.

DENMARK.

(KONGERIGET DANMARK.)

Reigning King.

Christian IX., born April 8, 1818, the fourth son of the late Duke Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and of Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Appointed to the succession of the Crown of Denmark by the treaty of London, of May 8, 1852, and by the Danish law of succession of July 31, 1853. Succeeded to the throne on the death of King Frederik VII., November 15, 1863. Married, May 26, 1842, to Queen Louise, born Sept. 7, 1817, the daughter of Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel.

Children of the King.

I. Prince Frederik, heir-apparent, born June 3, 1843; married July 28, 1869, to Princess Lowisa, daughter of King Carl XV. of Sweden and Norway. Offspring of the union are six children :— 1. Prince Christian, born Sept. 26, 1870. 2. Prince Karl, born August 3, 1872. 3. Princess Lowisa, born Feb. 17, 1875. 4. Prince Harald, born Oct. 8, 1876. 5. Prince Ingeborg, born Aug. 2, 1878. 6. Princess Thyra, born March 14, 1880.

II. Princess Alexandra, born Dec. 1, 1844; married, March 10, 1863, to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. (See page 197.)

III. Prince Wilhelm, born Dec. 24, 1845; admiral in the Danish navy; elected King of the Hellenes, under the title of Georgios I., by the Greek National Assembly, March 31, 1863; married Oct. 27, 1867, to Olga Constantinowna, Grand-Duchess of Russia.

IV. Princess Maria Dagmar (Empress Maria-Feodorovna), born Nov. 26, 1847; married, Nov. 9, 1866, to Alexander III., Emperor of Russia. (See page 380.)

V. Princess Thyra, born Sept. 29, 1853; married, Dec. 21, 1878, to Prince Ernest August, Duke of Cumberland. (See page 198.) VI. Prince Waldemar, born Oct. 27, 1858.

Brothers and Sisters of the King.

I. Princess Frederica, born Oct. 9, 1811; married, Oct. 30, 1834, to Duke Alexander of Anhalt-Bernburg; widow Aug. 19, 1863.

II. Prince Friedrich, born Oct. 23, 1814; married, Oct. 16, 1841, to Princess Adelaide of Schaumburg-Lippe, of which union there are issue five children:-1. Princess Augusta, born Feb. 27, 1844. 2. Prince Friedrich, born Oct. 12, 1855. 3. Princess Louise, born Jan. 6, 1858. 4. Princess Marie, born Aug. 31, 1859. 5. Prince Albert, born March 15, 1863.

III. Prince Wilhelm, born April 10,1816: field-marshal-lieutenant in the service of Austria.

IV. Princess Louise, born Nov. 18, 1820; nominated abbess of the convent of Itzehoe, Holstein, Aug. 3, 1860.

V. Prince Julius, born Oct. 14, 1824; general in the Danish army. VI. Prince Hans, born Dec. 5, 1825, general in the Danish army. The Crown of Denmark was elective from the earliest times. In 1448, after the death of the last male scion of the princely House of Svend Estridsen, the Danish Diet elected to the throne Christian I., Count of Oldenburg, in whose family the royal dignity remained for more than four centuries, although the crown was not rendered hereditary by right till the year 1660. The direct male line of the House of Oldenburg became extinct with the sixteenth king, Frederik VII., on November 15, 1863. In view of the death of the king without direct heirs, the great Powers of Europe, taking into consideration that the maintenance of the integrity of the Danish monarchy, as connected with the general interests of the balance of power in Europe, is of high importance to the preservation of peace, signed a treaty at London on May 8, 1852, by the terms of which the succession to the Crown of Denmark was made over to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and to the direct male descendants of his union with the Princess Louise of HesseCassel, niece of King Christian VIII. of Denmark. In accordance with this treaty, a law concerning the succession to the Danish crown was adopted by the Diet, and obtained the royal sanction July 31, 1853.

King Christian IX. has a civil list of 500,000 rigsdalers, or 55,5551., settled upon him by vote of the Rigsdag, approved Dec. 17, 1863. The heir-apparent of the Crown has, in addition, an allowance of 60,000 rigsdalers, or 6,6667., settled by law of March 20, 1868.

Subjoined is a list of the kings of Denmark, with the dates of their accession, from the time of election of Christian I. of Oldenburg :—

House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

Christian IX., 1863.

The sixteen members of the House of Oldenburg, who filled the throne of Denmark for 415 years, had an average reign of 26 years.

Constitution and Government.

The present Constitution of Denmark is embodied in the charter of June 5, 1849, which was modified in some important respects in 1855 and 1863, but again restored, with various alterations, by a statute which obtained the royal sanction on July 28, 1866. According to this charter, the executive power is in the king and his responsible ministers, and the right of making and amending laws in the Rigsdag, or Diet, acting in conjunction with the sovereign. The king must be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is declared to be the religion of the State. The Rigsdag comprises the Landsthing and the Folkething, the former being a Senate or Upper House, and the latter a House of Commons. The Landsthing consists of 66 members. Of these, 12 are nominated for life by the Crown, from among actual or former representatives of the kingdom, and the rest are elected indirectly by the people, for the term of eight years. The choice of the latter 54 members of the Upper House is given to electoral bodies composed partly of the largest taxpayers in the country districts, partly of deputies of the largest taxpayers in the cities, and partly of deputies from the totality of citizens possessing the franchise. Eligible to the Landsthing is every citizen who has passed his twenty-fifth year, and is a resident of the district. The Folkething, or Lower House of Parliament, consists of 102 members, returned in direct election, by universal suffrage, for the term of three years. According to the Constitution there should be one member for every 16,000 inhabitants. The franchise belongs to every male citizen who has reached his thirtieth year, who is not in the actual receipt of public charity, or who, if he has at any former time been in receipt of it, has repaid the sums so received, who is not in private service without having his own household, and who has resided at least one year in the electoral circle on the lists of which his name is inscribed. The total number of electors in 1880 was 304,585, or 1 in every 7.3 of the population; the actual voters in that year numbered 110,635. Eligible for the Folkething are all men of good reputation, past the age of twenty-five. Both the members of the Landsthing and of the Folkething receive payment for their services, at the same rate.

The Rigsdag must meet every year on the first Monday of October. To the Folkething all money bills must in the first instance be submitted by the Government. The Landsthing, besides its legislative functions, has the duty of appointing from its midst every four years the assistant judges of the Rigsret, who, together with the ordinary members of the Höiesteret, form the highest tribunal of the kingdom (Rigsret), and can alone try parliamentary impeachments. The ministers have free access to both of the legislative assemblies, but can only vote in that Chamber of which they are members.

The executive, acting under the king as president, and called the State Council-Statsraadet-consists of the following seven departments :

1. The Presidency of the Council.-Jacob Bronnum Scavenius Estrup, appointed President of the Council of Ministers, and Minister of Finance, June 11, 1875.

2. Ministry of the Interior.-E. V. R. Skeel, appointed June 15, 1875.

3. Ministry of Justice and for Iceland.-J. M. V. Nellemann, appointed June 11, 1875.

4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.-Otto Ditlev, Baron RosencrnLehn, appointed October 11, 1875.

5. The Ministry of Marine.-N. F. Ravn, appointed January 4, 1879; and Minister of War since October 20, 1881.

6. Ministry of Public Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs.J. Scavenius, appointed August 24, 1880.

The ministers are individually and collectively responsible for their acts, and in case of impeachment, and being found guilty, cannot be pardoned without the consent of the Folkething.

The chief of the dependencies of the Crown of Denmark, Iceland, has its own constitution and administration, under a charter dated January 5, 1874, and which came into force August 1, 1874. By the terms of this charter, the legislative power is vested in the Althing, consisting of 36 members, 30 elected by popular suffrage, and six nominated by the king. A minister for Iceland, nominated by the king and responsible to the Althing, is at the head of the Administration: while the highest local authority is vested in the Governor, called Stiftamtmand, who resides at Reikjavik. Besides him there are three Amtmands for the western, the northern, and eastern districts of Iceland.

Church and Education.

The established religion in Denmark is the Lutheran, which was introduced as early as 1536, the Church revenue being at that time seized by the Crown, to be delivered up to the University, and other religious and educational establishments. The affairs of the national Church are under the superintendence of seven bishops. The bishops have no political character. Complete religious toleration is extended to every sect, and no civil disabilities attach to Dissenters.

According to the census of 1880, there were only 17,678 persons, or less than one per cent. of the population, not belonging to the Lutheran church. Of this number 3,946, or nearly one-third, were Jews; the remainder comprised 3,000 Roman Catholics; 1,363

E