Ernst II., born June 21, 1818, the son of Duke Ernst I. of SaxeSaalfeld-Coburg and of Princess Louise of Saxe-Altenburg. Studied philosophy and political economy at the University of Bonn, 183436; entered into the military service of Saxony, 1836; travelled in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Northern Africa, 1838-40. Succeeded to the throne, at the death of his father, Jan. 29, 1844. Married May 3, 1842, to Princess Alexandrine, born Dec. 6, 1820, the daughter of the late Grand-duke Leopold of Baden. The Duke being childless, the heir-apparent is his nephew, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, born Aug. 6, 1844, the son of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain. The immediate ancestor of the reigning family of Saxe-CoburgGotha, formerly called Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, and previously SaxeCoburg, was Prince Albrecht, second son of Duke Ernst, surnamed the Pious, who died in 1699. A dispute about his heritage lasted through three generations, and was only settled, towards the end of the eighteenth century, by a redistribution of the territories of the Saxon princes. A new division took place in 1826, on the extinction of the line of Saxe-Gotha, and it was then that the house of Saxe-SaalfeldCoburg exchanged its name for that of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The family is in possession of a large private fortune, accumulated chiefly by Duke Ernst I. of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, whom the Congress of Vienna made a present of the principality of Lichtenberg. This principality he sold, Sept. 22, 1834, to the King of Prussia, for a sum of two million thaler, and other advantages. Besides a vast private income, Duke Ernst II. has, as reigning Duke, a civil list of 100,000 thaler out of the income of the Gotha domains, and the surplus of 34,079 thaler 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, Revenue, and Population. The Staatsgrundgesetz, or fundamental law of the duchy, proclaimed May 3, 1852, vests the legislative power in two separate assemblies, one for the duchy of Coburg and the other for the duchy of Gotha. 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 inhabitants. Every man above the age of twenty-five who pays taxes has a vote, and any citizen above thirty may be elected a deputy. New elections take place every four years. The two assemblies meet separately usually every year, and every second year they unite into one Chamber. 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 six years for Coburg, and in the financial State-accounts a distinction is made between Domain-revenue and State-revenue. The joint annual revenue of the two duchies, derived principally from contributions from the imperial exchequer and fees from courts of law, is estimated for the four years 1885-89 at 966,000 marks; the joint annual expenditure for the same period at 1,545,000 marks. The deficiency in the revenue is covered by contributions from the special budgets of the two duchies. The special State-revenue of Coburg for each of the four years 1885-89 is set down at 1,030,500 marks, that of Gotha at 2,120,000 marks. The special domain-revenue of Coburg for each of the six years 1885-91 is counted at 414,000 marks, and the expenditure at 238,000 marks. There is thus an excess of revenue over expenditure to the amount of 176,000 marks. The special domain-revenue of Gotha, again, for each of the years 1885-89, is estimated at 2,052,431 marks, and the expenditure at 1,239,928 marks. The public debt, in 1887, amounted to 3,828,100 marks for Coburg, and to 3,870,308 marks for Gotha, both being largely covered by productive investments. The area of the duchy is 816 English square miles, of which 230 belong to the duchy of Coburg, and 586 to Gotha. At the census of December 1, 1885, the total population numbered 198,829 (95,531 males, 103,298 females), the increase during the five years 1880-85 amounting to 42 per cent. per annum. Marriages, 1885, 1,494; births, 7,053; deaths, 4,810; surplus, 2,243. Among the births were 269 (3.81 per cent.) still-born, and 794 (11.26 per cent.) illegitimate children. Emigrants, 1882, 545; 1883, 771; 1884, 550; 1885, 277; 1886, 217. Nearly the whole of the population are Protestants, there being 2,472 Catholics and 519 Jews. The town of Gotha had 27,802, and Coburg 16,210 inhabitants in 1885. There are no other towns in the duchy. Agricultural enclosures (1882), 26,403, with a population of 65,796, of whom 28,344 were actively engaged on the farms. Of these farms, 12,410 were less than 1 hectare, 10,908 varied in area from 1 to less than 10, 3,015 from 10 to less than 100 hectares each, while the number of farms of 100 hectares and upwards was 70. There were 110 miles of railway in 1887. British Chargé d'Affaires.-Ralph Milbanke. Consul-General.-Baron von Tauchnitz (Leipzig). XV. SAXE-ALTENBURG. Reigning Duke. Ernst, born September 16, 1826, the son of Duke Georg of SaxeAltenburg and Princess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Succeeded to the throne, at the death of his father, August 3, 1853; married, April 28, 1853, to Princess Agnes, of Anhalt-Dessau, born June 24, 1824. Daughter of the Duke. Princess Marie, born August 2, 1854; married April 19, 1873, to Prince Albrecht of Prussia, Regent of Brunswick. Brother of the Duke. Prince Moritz, born October 24, 1829; married, October 15, 1862, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen, by whom he has issue three daughters and a son-1. Maria Anna, born March 14, 1864, married April 16, 1882, to Prince George of Schaumburg-Lippe. 2. Elizabeth, born January 25, 1865, married April 17, 1884, to Grand-duke Constantine of Russia. 3. Ernst, born August 31, 1871. 4. Louise, born August 11, 1873. The reigning family of Saxe-Altenburg, formerly called SaxeHildburghausen, dates its origin from the year 1482, when the separation took place between the Ernestine and Albertine lines of Saxony. Up to the year 1826, Saxe-Altenburg formed part of Saxe-Gotha, and was then, by a general exchange of territories among the Saxon princes, made over to the Hildburghausen family. The Duke has a civil list of 143,000 thaler, or 21,450l., amounting to above one-fifth of the revenue of the whole country. Constitution, Revenue, and Population. The Constitution bears date April 29, 1831, but was altered at subsequent periods. The legislative authority is vested in a Chamber composed of thirty representatives, of whom nine are chosen by the highest taxed inhabitants, nine by the inhabitants of towns, and twelve by those of rural districts. The Chamber meets every three years, and the deputies are elected for two sessions. The executive is divided into three departments, namely-1, of the Ducal House, Foreign and Home Affairs; 2, of Justice; 3, of Finance. The budget is voted for three years, the estimates of the last period, 1887-89, exhibiting an annual revenue of 2,735,974 marks, or 136,7981., and an expenditure of 2,725,078 marks, or 136,2541. Two-thirds of the revenue are derived from the State domains, and the remainder from indirect taxes. The public debt in July 1887 amounted to 1,050,766 marks, covered five times over by the active funds of the State. Saxe-Altenburg has an area of 509 English square miles, with a population, according to the census of Dec. 1, 1885, of 161,460 inhabitants (78,572 males, 82,888 females). The increase of population was at the rate of 83 per cent. per annum in the five years 1880-85. Many of the inhabitants of the duchy are of Slavonic origin. The peasants are reputed to be more wealthy than in any other part of Germany, 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. Marriages, 1886, 1,468; births, 6,799 (323, or 4.75 per cent., still-born; 775, or 11.40 per cent., illegitimate); deaths, 5,239; surplus, 1,560. Emigrants, 1883, 217; 1884, 101; 1885, 77; 1886, 76. Except 1,113 Catholics and 39 Jews (1885), the people are Protestants. The capital, Altenburg, had 29,110 inhabitants in 1885. Agricultural enclosures, each under one household, 1882, 16,208, with a population of 54,579, of whom 25,505 were actively engaged on the farms. Of these farms, 8,111 were less than 1 hectare each, 5,547 ranged from 1 to less than 10, 2,509 from 10 to less than 100 hectares, while there were only 41 with an area of 100 hectares and upwards. There were 5 miles of railway in 1887. British Consul-Genera!.-Baron von Tauchnitz (Leipzig). XVI. WALDECK. Georg Victor, born Jan. 14, 1831, the son of Prince Georg Friedrich and Princess Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, under the guardianship of his mother, May 14, 1845; married, September 26, 1853, to Princess Helena, born Aug. 12, 1831, daughter of the late Duke Wilhelm of Nassau. I. Children of the Prince. Princess Pauline, born October 19, 1855; married May 7, 1881, to the hereditary Prince Alexis of Bentheim-Bentheim. II. Princess Emma, born Aug. 2, 1858; married Jan. 7, 1879, to King Willem III. of the Netherlands. III. Princess Helena, born February 17, 1861; married April 27, 1882, to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, son of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain; widow, March 28, 1884. IV. Prince Friedrich, born January 20, 1865. V. Princess Elizabeth, born September 6, 1873. After the war between Austria and Prussia, at the end of 1866, a Treaty of Accession' was signed by the Prince on July 18, 1867, by which he surrendered his chief sovereign rights to King Wilhelin I. for ten years, retaining merely nominal power, and renewed November 24, 1877, for another period of ten years. Constitution and Population. The charter of the principality was granted Aug. 17, 1852. It provided for a legislative assembly of forty-one members, but this number is now reduced to fifteen. On October 22, 1867, the assembly approved the Treaty of Accession' concluded between the reigning Prince and King Wilhelm I., renewed January 1, 1878, which made the administration of the country over to Prussia, restricting the authority of the representatives to purely local affairs. The principality has an area of 466 English square miles, with a population, according to the census of December 1, 1885, of 56,575 (26,901 males, 29,674 females). At the preceding census, of Dec. 1, 1880, the inhabitants numbered 56,522; and at that of Dec. 1, 1871, 56,224. Marriages, 1885, 451; births, 1,966 (79, or 4.02 per cent., still-born, and 127, or 6:46 per cent., illegitimate); deaths, 1,224; surplus, 742. Emigrants, 1883, 282; 1884, 170; 1885, 197; 1886, 100. Except 1,576 Catholics and 854 Jews, the people are Protestants. The residence town, Arolsen, has only 2,442 inhabitants. Agricultural enclosures (1882), 9,455, with a population of 30,378, of whom 11,539 were actively engaged on the farms. Of these farms, 3,743 were less than 1 hectare each; 4,088 ranged from 1 to less than 10; 1,590 from 10 to less than 100 hectares each; while 34 had an area of 100 hectares and upwards. British Chargé d'Affaires.-Ralph Milbanke. |