PRUSSIA. 



579 



The receipts of the Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions for 11 months were over $20,000. The 

 missionary force will consist of 16 missionaries, 

 and 14: assistants, including women and native 

 helpers. The missions are, to the Choctaws, 

 in Brazil, China, and Italy. There is a boys' 

 and girls' school at Hanchow, China. 



The receipts of the Committee on Education 

 were $11,548.71 ; expenses, $12,211.23. There 

 were 83 applicants for aid. Students for the 

 ministry, 245. Contributions were reported to 

 Davidson, Stewart, Kings, and Hampton Sid- 

 ney Colleges, and to Columbia Theological Sem- 

 inary. The whole contribution of the Church 

 to education was not less than $33,000. 



PRUSSIA,* a kingdom in Europe. King, 

 Wilhelm I, born March 22, 1797; succeeded 

 his brother Friedrich Wilhelm III. on Febru- 

 ary 2, 1861. Heir-apparent, Friedrich Wil- 

 helm, born October 18, 1831. The ministry, 

 in 1868, consisted of the following members : 

 Count Otto von Bismarck-Schonhausen, Presi- 

 dency and Foreign Affairs (appointed in 1862) ; 

 Baron von der Heydt, Finance (1866) ; Gen- 

 eral Dr. von Roon, War (1859) and Navy 

 (1861); H. Count von Itzenplitz, Commerce 

 and Public Works (1862); Dr. von Mtihler, 

 Worship, Instruction, and Medical Affairs 

 (1862); Leonhard, Justice (December, 1867); 

 Yon Selchow, Agriculture (1862) ; F. A. Count 

 zu Eulenburg, Interior (1862). Ambassador 

 of the United States at Berlin, George Ban- 

 croft (1867) ; Prussian ambassador in Washing- 

 ton, Baron von Gerolt. 



The area of Prussia, inclusive of the new 

 territory acquired in 1866, and of the duchy of 

 Lauenburg, is 135,806 square miles. The total 

 population, according to the census of Decem- 

 ber 3, 1867, was 24,043,296. This includes 

 18,228 soldiers who at that time were located 

 in the other States of the North- German Con- 

 federation. The population of each of the 

 old provinces, and of the new territories, in 

 1867, was, according to the official census, as 

 follows : 



OLD PROVINCES. 



Prussia 3,090,960 



Posen 1,537,338 



Brandenburg 2,716,022 



Pomerania 1,445,635 



Silesia 3,585,752 



Saxony 2,067,066 



Westphalia 1,707,726 



Ehine provinces 3,455,358 



Hohenzollern 64,632 



Jade 1,748 



NEW TERRITORY 



Hanover 1,937,637 



Schleswig-Holstein 981,718 



Hessen-Nassau 1,379,745 



Lauenburg 49,978 



Garrisons outside of the kingdom. 18,228 



Total 24,039,543 



The population of towns of more than 2,000 

 inhabitants is 6,894,478 ; of towns and ham- 



* For statistics of the religious denominations, of the 

 nationalities, and of industry, see AMERICAN ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPAEDIA for 1S68. 



lets of less than 2,000 inhabitants, 561,872 : 

 total population of towns, 7,456,350. 



The Prussian Diet, sitting in the beginning 

 of 1869, was closed on March 6th, by a speech 

 from the throne, read by Count Bismarck, in 

 which the results of the Diet's deliberations 

 and enactments, as well as the policy of the 

 Prussian Government, are expressed as fol- 

 lows: 



The Government can assert that it has succeeded 

 in reconciling opinions which, though contradictory, 

 were equally to be respected, and that it has, in. fact, 

 triumphed over one of the difficulties inseparable 

 from parliamentary existence in carrying a measure 

 which gives -decisive evidence of our progress in 

 constitutional development. 



After carefully examining the budget passed by the 

 Diet, the Government of his Majesty sanctions it 

 almost without alteration, and the Government has 

 granted the extraordinary credits necessary for com- 

 pletely meeting the expenditure. 



The Government will proceed with conscientious 

 solicitude and economy with the regulation of the 

 budget, and will take as the basis of the next finan- 

 cial proposals the necessity of reestablishing the 

 balance between receipts and expenditures. 



The Government expresses to you the thanks of 

 his Majesty for the attention you have devoted to 

 the law regulating the difficulties pending between 

 the state and the town of Frankfort, and which, con- 

 sequently, has enabled the Government to settle that 

 matter in conformity to the paternal sentiments of 

 his Majesty, and in an amicable manner. 



The proposals relative to the improvement of the 

 judicial functions, and for the introduction of ju- 

 ridical uniformity throughout all parts of the mon- 

 archy, have been partially approved by the two 

 Chambers. 



So far as concerns the ulterior reforms which it is 

 equally desirable to carry out, the Government be- 

 lieves that it can calculate upon the realization of a 

 common understanding. 



Thanks to your constant efforts, it has been pos- 

 sible to introduce notable ameliorations in the legis- 

 lation for isolated provinces. 



The desire of the Government to take into con- 

 sideration the wishes of these provinces, and at the 

 same time the general public interest, has met with 

 the warm support of the two Chambers of the Diet. 



If the discussions on public instruction have not 

 been productive of any definite result, the Govern- 

 ment will from that fact discover a motive more 

 fully to utilize the time until next session, in thor- 

 oughly elucidating the question, so as to be in a posi- 

 tion to lay a more complete scheme before the Diet. 



So far as concerns the development of our cor- 

 porative institutions, the Government has not yet 

 been able to present the complete proposition to the 

 Diet, but the preliminary confidential discussions 

 which have been deemed necessary, while consider- 

 ing the vast range of this question, and the manifold 

 difficulties attendant upon its satisfactory solution, 

 justify the hope that an understanding upon it will 

 be arrived at which will be in accordance with the 

 interests of the country. 



Notwithstanding this apparent good under- 

 standing between the Prussian Government and 

 the deputies, the financial question continued 

 to be agitated with a degree of animosity, es- 

 pecially when Count Bismarck retired for the 

 summer, ostensibly to restore his health, and 

 when the administration was intrusted to 

 Count Eulenburg and Von Muhler, who were 

 regarded as uncompromising reactionists. 



A new session of the Diet was opened, 



