776 



PRUSSIA. 



governed by the same rule as that of jurisdic- 

 tion in cases of prize, in which he had already 

 decided that he had not jurisdiction. If, how- 

 ever, the court had originally had jurisdiction 

 in these cases in the absence of the Federal 

 court, on which the jurisdiction had been ex- 

 pressly by the act itself conferred, he was quite 

 of the opinion that it did not retain it after the 

 organization of that court, but was thereby di- 

 vested of it. In cases of prize the court de- 

 clined jurisdiction, and in cases of confiscation 

 it doubted its jurisdiction or inclined against 

 it. In no other class of cases was the jurisdic- 

 tion of the court ever questioned. So con- 

 vincing is the argument of necessity to persons 

 present and witnessing its illustrations, that no 

 one was there found to doubt that the military 

 power of the United States, holding that coun- 

 try in military occupation, had ex necessitate rei 

 the right to establish such a tribunal. It was 

 considered that all other powers being sus- 

 pended by a conquest, it followed that what- 

 ever of government the country should have 

 must come from that source. That it should 

 have government from some source no sane 

 man could doubt. That it could in the existing 

 condition of things have it from any other, was 

 plainly impossible. It must, therefore, have it 

 from that, and to refuse it would be not mere- 

 ly a breach of duty in the conqueror, but a 

 violation of one of the first principles and plain- 

 est duties of humanity. On these principles 

 the court was established. Its judgments and 

 mandates were of course to be executed. They 

 would be executed by the same power by which 

 the court was constituted. To this end the 

 military and naval forces were pledged. "With 

 this understood, and with the forces known to 

 be at hand, and to be ample for the pursuit, 

 nothing like resistance or a hesitation has ever 

 been for a moment experienced. 



PRUSSIA, a kingdom in Northern Eu- 

 rope. The present king is William I., born 

 22d of March, 1797. He is a son of King 

 Frederic William III., was appointed Prince 

 Regent of Prussia on the 9th of October, 1858 ; 

 succeeded his brother King Frederic William 

 IV., on the 2d of January, 1861, and was 

 crowned as king of Prussia on the 18th of 

 October, 1861. He was married on the llth 

 of June, 1829, to Mary Louise Auguste Cather- 

 ine, daughter of the late Grand Duke Charles 

 Frederic of Saxe-Weimar. His eldest son and 

 heir to the throne (crown-prince) is Frederick 

 William Nicholas Charles, born 18th of Octo- 

 ber, 1831, and married 25th of January, 1858, 

 to Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain. 



The area of Prussia is 24,465 English square 

 miles ; the population, according to the census 

 of 1861, amounted to 18,491,220, an increase 

 over the population in 1858 of 4.23 per cent. 

 Two of the eight provinces of this kingdom, 

 Prussia and Poseu, together with a population of 

 4,352,416, do not belong to the Germap Confed- 

 eracy, although a majority of the inhabitants 

 of the former, and nearly one half of the inhab- 



itants of the latter, are Germans. The total 

 number of the non-German population amounts 

 to 2,480,609, and consists of 1,950,199 Poles 

 233,379 Mazures, 7,652 Kassubes, 82,232 Wends,' 

 10,324 Bohemians, 48,504 Moravians, 136,990 

 Lets, 414 Courlanders, 10,502 Walloons, and 

 363 Hollanders. As to the religious denomin- 

 ations of the inhabitants, 11,298,294 were mem- 

 bers of the Evangelical Church, 6,906,988 

 Roman Catholics, 13,716 Mennonites, 16,233 

 members of Free Congregations and German 

 Catholics, 254,785 Israelites, 1,202 Greek Catho- 

 lics. The Prussian army in 1863 was com- 

 posed as follows : 



The navy consisted, in 1863, of 31 steamers, 

 with an aggregate of 125 guns ; 8 sailing vessels, 

 with 150 guns ; and 40 vessels with oars (of 

 which 36 are gunboats), with an aggregate of 76 

 guns. Four screw corvettes, with an aggregate 

 of 45 guns, were in the course of construction. 

 The total of all the Prussian vessels afloat and in 

 the course of construction amounted, therefore, 

 to 83 vessels, with an aggregate of 441 guns. 

 The personnel of the marine consisted of one 

 admiral, three sea-captains, five captains of cor- 

 vettes, fifty lieutenants of the first and second 

 class, twenty ensigns, forty cadets, sixty deck- 

 officers of the first and second class, 1,022 sub- 

 altern officers and sailors, and 436 men of the 

 wharf division. The marine troops consisted 

 of one lieutenant-colonel ; four companies of 

 infantry with four captains, four lieutenants, 

 13 second lieutenants, 611 subaltern officers 

 and privates ; two companies of artillery, with 

 two captains, two lieutenants, four second lieu- 

 tenants, and 304 subaltern officers and privates. 



The arrivals and departures at the Prus- 

 sian ports, in 1862, were as follows: 



Vesieli. Measurement. 



Arrivals 11,963 2,009,816 tons 



Departures 12,138 1,588,898 " 



Total 24,101 3,893,214 " 



The merchant navy, in 1862, consisted of 

 1,043 sea-going vessels of 836,832 tons, and 

 10,251 men, and 715 coasting vessels of 18,223 

 tons, and 1,749 men. 



Prussia is a constitutional monarchy, with 

 two Chambers, a House of Lords, and a Cham- 

 ber of Deputies. 



