368 



GERMANY. 



GERMANY. I. The German Nationality. 

 The aspirations of the German nation for polit- 

 ical unity led, in 1866, to the war "between 

 Austria and Prussia, and the dissolution of the 

 old German Diet. The reorganization which 

 followed the war is regarded nowhere as a 

 permanent settlement, but only as a temporary 

 compromise for avoiding new and serious com- 

 plications. The aspirations of the Germans^for 

 a future union, which is to embrace all districts 

 exclusively or predominantly inhabited by Ger- 

 mans, continue. The territory of the German 

 nation embraces at present the following coun- 

 tries : 1. The states of the North-German Con- 

 federation, with a population of. 29,318,722 ; 

 2. The South-German states, 8,517,465 ; 3. 

 Luxemburg, 203,851 ; . 4. Lichtenstein, 7,500 ; 

 5. The German provinces of Austria, which 

 were formerly connected with the German 

 Confederation, numbered upward of 11,000,000 

 inhabitants, but in three of these provinces the 

 Germans were in a minority. It must, there- 

 fore, be regarded as doubtful whether, in case of 

 a reconstruction of Germany, on the principle 

 of nationality, provinces in which the Germans 

 do not form a majority can be secured for a 

 union with Germany. Altogether the number of 

 Germans in Austria is 7,877,675, but not more 

 than four millions of them live in provinces 

 really German. These German provinces are : 



This comprises nearly all the territory that it 

 is intended at present to embrace within the 

 future German empire. It contains at present 

 a population of about 43,000,000. 



Should a time ever come when the national- 

 ity principle shall be fully carried through in 

 Europe, New Germany would also be joined 

 by the larger portion of Switzerland, of whose 

 22 cantons, 17, with an aggregate population 

 of about 2,000,000, are predominantly German. 



In the three Baltic provinces of Russia, 

 Courland, Esthonii, and Livonia, together with 

 a population of about 1,800)000 inhabitants, 

 German has been for centuries the ruling 

 language which is spoken by the nobility 

 and the educated classes generally. But the 

 lower classes, comprising a majority of the total 

 population, still speak the original language of 

 the country. The Russian Government, fully 

 appreciating the important influence of the 

 nationality principle upon the reconstruction 

 of Europe, adopted in 1867 measures for sup- 

 planting the German by the Russian language. 

 These measures produced a great irritation, both 

 in the Baltic provinces and in Germany. 



France has still a German-speaking popula- 

 tion of about 1,100,000, but they speak French 

 as well as German, and, from all indications, 

 appear to be fully satisfied with their forming 

 part of France. 



II. The North- German Confederation. This 

 Confederation, which was established in 1866, 

 consists of Prussia and the German states 

 north of the river Main. The following table 

 exhibits the population of each of these states 

 according to the census of 1864, and the per 

 centage of the Evangelical, Roman Catholic, 

 and other religious denominations : 



The receipts and expenditures of the Con- 

 federation were each fixed for 1867 at 72,158,- 

 243 thalers. 



The fleet of the Confederation, which, since 

 October 1, 1867, carries a black, white, and red 

 flag, consisted, in 1807, of 43 steamers, of 8,366 

 horse-power, with 331 guns; of 8 armed sail- 

 ing-vessels, with 150 guns; and of 36 armed 

 rowing-boats, with 68 guns; altogether, 87 

 armed war- vessels, of 549 guns. 



The array of the Confederation consists of 

 the guard and twelve army corps. The latter 

 form six divisions, each one composed of two 

 army corps. The (army corps of the) guard 

 embraces two divisions of infantry of two 

 brigades each, and one division of cavalry of 

 three brigades. The twelve army corps have 

 each two divisions, with the exception of the 

 eleventh, which has three. Each division has 

 two brigades of yifantry and one brigade of 

 cavalry. Altogether there are (inclusive of 

 the guard) thirteen army corps, twenty-seven 

 divisions, fifty-four brigades of infantry, and 



