911 



BAVARIA. 



BAVAKIA. 



942 



in rank arc the 7 lycsea, 34 schools of studies, and 25 gymnasia. The 

 lyctea are attended by about 700 and the gymnasia by above 3000 

 pupils. There are also several pro-gymnasia and preparatory Latin 

 schools, which are attended by between 3000 and 4000 pupils. The 

 number of elementary, mechanics, and Sunday schools exceeds 5000 ; 

 which are attended by upwards of half a million children. Bavaria 

 has 8 seminaries for the education of teachers, and 7 theological 

 seminaries. There are veterinary schools at Munich and Wurzburg ; 

 a royal academy of the arts and sciences, another of the fine arts, 

 a horticultural, and an agricultural society, which distributes annual 

 prizes, all in Munich ; besides in other towns academies of physics 

 . and medicine, natural history ; schools of arts, &c. ; and numerous 

 other associations of a useful character. The largest public library 

 in Bavaria is the 'Central Library' in Munich, which contains 

 upwards of 500,000 volumes, including 16,000 manuscripts; a very 

 large proportion of the volumes however consists of pamphlets and 

 dissertations ; the University Library in the same city has upwards 

 of 160,000 volumes ; that of Wurzburg above 30,000 ; and that of 

 Erlangrn between 40,000 and 50,000 volumes. No printing-press can 

 be established without the previous sanction'of the king. Piracy of 

 books, :is well as the sale of pirated works, is held to be a mis- 

 demeanour ; and every bookseller, dealer in antiquities, owner of a 

 circulating library, printer, and head of a lithographic establishment, 

 is placed under the control of the local police in every town, and 

 liable to be brought under judicial cognisance for any offence against 

 the laws, morals, or public safety. 



Government, Laws, Finance, &c. Most of the states of which the 

 kingdom of Bavaria is composed, namely, the former duchy of Bavaria, 

 the Upper Palatinate, the duchy of Neuburg, and the principalities of 

 Ansbach, Baireuth, Bamberg, and Wurzburg, possessed representative 

 constitutions before their consolidation under one head. But the 

 aristocracy in these territories had succeeded in rendering these repre- 

 sentative constitutions a dead letter ; and in fact they had long been 

 in a state of abeyance previously to being abrogated by the terms of 

 the constitution promulgated by Maximilian Joseph I. on the 1st of 

 M:iy 1808. The convulsions which subsequently affected the whole 

 of Europe rendered the constitution of Maximilian Joseph incompat- 

 ible with the new order of things ; and the same king therefore on 

 the 26th of May 1818 granted the Bavarians a new constitution, 

 which defines and establishes their rights and privileges. Its funda- 

 mental principles are liberty of conscience and freedom of opinion, 

 with the reservation of legal provisions against the abuse of either ; 

 the right of every native-born subject to be employed in the public 

 service, without exception on account of birth or rank in society ; 

 general liability to personal service in the national defence ; equality 

 of all before the law ; the impartial and uninterrupted administration 

 of justice ; general liability to taxes, and an equitable distribution of 

 them ; and a legislature elected by all classes of resident citizens, and 

 enjoying the right of discussing and approving laws, voting the public 

 taxes, and requiring the redress of all infringements upon the rights 

 recognised by the constitution. The kingdom of Bavaria by this 

 charter is declared a ' sovereign monarchical state,' and the legislative 

 power is vested in two chambers, conjointly with the king as head of 

 the state. The succession is limited to the male line, according to the 

 right of primogeniture, with a proviso that on the extinction of direct 

 heirs male, the next male descendants of the female line shall succeed. 

 No offices of high rank in the civil or military service, nor any office 

 under the crown or in the church, nor any ecclesiastical benefice, can 

 be conferred upon any individual who is not a native-born citizen or 

 legally naturalised. 



The legislature consists of two chambers, namely, the Council of 

 the Kingdom (Reichsrath), and the Deputies. The former is composed 

 of the princes of royal blood who have attained their majority, the 

 great officers of the crown, the heads of houses in the cases of such 

 principalities and earldoms as were parts of the Holy Roman Empire, 

 a bishop named by the king, the president of the Protestant General 

 Consistory, and lastly, of those individuals whom the king may 

 create members of the chamber for life or hereditarily. The Chamber 

 of Deputies consists, 1, of such landed proprietors as exercise judicial 

 powers in right of their properties (gutsherrliche Gerichtsbarkeit), 

 provided they have no seat or vote in the upper chamber ; 2, of 

 deputies from the universities ; 3, of ecclesiastics representing the 

 Roman Catholic and Protestant churches; 4, of deputies from cities 

 and market-towns ; and 5, of such landed proprietors as do not come 

 witliin the classes already described. The number of members is 

 in the proportion of one to every 7000 families : of these members 

 i^hth of the whole number must be taken from class 1; one 

 member from each of the three universities ; one-eighth from class 3 ; 

 one-fourth from class 4 ; and two-fourths of the whole number from 

 class 5. The chamber is re-elected every six yearn, except when the 

 king dissolves it, and then the members going out are re-eligible. 

 The chambers cannot proceed to deliberate unless two-thirds of the 

 deputies are present; and both chambers commence and close their 

 sessions at the same time. All motions respecting the public 

 burdens are in the first place brought under the consideration of 

 thn Chamber of Deputies ; in respect of any other subjects the king 

 determines before which chamber they shall bo first brought. No 

 direct or new indirect taxes can be levied, nor any augmentation or 



alteration of existing taxes be made by the king without the previous 

 sanction of the legislature ; and the same sanction is required before 

 any new law or any alteratiou, authentic exposition (autheutische 

 Erlaiiterung), or repeal of an existing law, affecting the freedom of 

 persons or properties, can take effect. The free right of complaint 

 against violations of the constitution is secured to every citizen or 

 district. The king is bound to call the legislature together once at 

 least in every three years. Its ordinary session lasts two months ; 

 but it may be extended or adjourned, or it may be dissolved, as he 

 may deem expedient : in the last case, a new election of deputies 

 must take place within three months. The ministers, though they 

 are not members of the chambers, have the right of being present at 

 all deliberations. District Assemblies were likewise established in 

 the year 1825 : these consist of the burgomaster, a deputy from 

 each town or place where a market is held ; of the headsman of each 

 parish (Gemeiude-Vorsteher) ; a deputy, being the person who pays 

 most taxes, or a small land proprietor from each parish ; and a 

 certain proportion of landholders, tithiug-men, and farmers, besides 

 a representative for the financial department of the district. A royal 

 commissioner acts as president of these assemblies ; the functions of 

 which are to assess the public burdens and district rates equitably 

 in each parish, and to decide all local questions relating to any 

 matter having reference to these burdens and rates ; such as their 

 application in support of establishments for the poor, the sick, &c., 

 in making roads, &c. The king upon his accession to the throne, 

 swears to "govern according to the constitution and laws of the 

 kingdom ; " and every prince of royal blood, upon attaining his 

 majority, solemnly makes oath that he will rigidly observe the terms 

 of this constitution. 



The Public Administration. At the head of public affairs is a 

 Council of State, established by a royal decree of the 18th of 

 November 1825 ; it is composed of the king ; the crown prince, if of 

 age ; of such princes of royal blood in a direct line as are also of 

 age, resident in the capital, and appointed of the council by the 

 sovereign ; of the ministers of state, the field-marshal, and six coun- 

 cillors nominated by the sovereign. The executive authority is vested 

 in the heads of the following seven departments : the royal house- 

 hold and foreign affairs, justice, home affaire,- worship and public 

 instruction, finance, commerce and public works, and the army 

 whose heads form the cabinet, and are assisted at their meetings by a 

 secretary-general. Each of the eight circles or provinces has a 

 provincial government consisting of two boards : the one called the 

 Chamber of the Interior takes charge of civil concerns, the police, 

 the schools, &c. ; the other termed the Chamber of Finance manages 

 the affairs of the domains of the state, and every matter connected 

 with the financial department. The commissary-general (General- 

 commissair) is president of both boards, and in some circles he is 

 assisted by a vice-president ; each board consists of a director and 

 several members called councillors and assessors. The medical-police 

 department is attached to the Chamber of the Interior ; and a 

 councillor of medicine (Kreis-medicinal-rath) superintends it. Each 

 circle has also its official architect and surveyor. 



By the financial law adopted by the Chamber of Deputies Feb. lst, 

 1852, the net public income and expenditure for each of the four 

 years, 1852-1855, were fixed as follows : Income, 2,898,807/., or 

 34,785,085 florins; expenditure, 3,110,459?., or 37,325,516 florins; 

 leaving a deficit of 211,652?. (2,539,831 florins) to be covered by the 

 profit of the lottery, and by the augmentation of the direct taxes, 

 except upon the interest on the debt. The revenue is derived from 



Direct Taxes 



Indirect Taxes .... 

 Royalties and Public Katablishmcnts 

 Domains ..... 

 Various . . . . . 



. 627,720 



. 1,238,700 



340,883 



615,596 



"5,900 



2,898,805 



The national debt amounted on the 1st of October 1851 to 

 11,416,300?. 



Military Resources. The Conscription Law of the 29th of March 

 1812 rendered every male in Bavaria up to a certain age, with the 

 exception of ecclesiastics and the sous of noblemen, liable to the 

 ballot ; but a new law of the 1st of May 1829 allows every Bavarian 

 to enlist between the ages of eighteen and thirty ; and such as have 

 already served six years may contract a fresh engagement in the 

 service until they reach their fortieth year. Every Bavarian is liable 

 to the Conscription Law after he has completed his twenty-first year ; 

 and from the 1st of January succeeding the ballot by which he has 

 been drawn, his liability to serve in the army if called upon continues 

 during the two following years : the exemptions are confined to the 

 only son of a parent who has already lost two sons in the service, 

 and the surviving sons of every parent who has lost three sons in a 

 similar manner. The period of service is six years ; no Bavarian can 

 settle or marry, or receive any definitive appointment before he has 

 done all that the law requires with regard to his liability to bear 

 arms. Certain exemptions are granted in the case of ecclesiastics and 

 students, as well as in the case of sons without whose aid the sub- 

 sistence of families would become precarious. 



