GERMANY. 



339 



old ones. He has even brought forward 

 several bills that had for their object a di- 

 rect diminution of the influence and indepen- 

 dence of Parliament, which the latter had the 

 courage to reject. It is a question, however, 

 whether future attempts in the same direction 

 will have the same result. Even now the 

 question is frequently heard, "What is the use 

 of a Parliament while the Chancellor, assisted 

 by a commission of experts in the various 

 branches of the government, takes care of the 

 welfare of the people ? But it is thought in 

 Germany that the attacks of Bismarck are 

 directed not so much against the form of the 

 parliamentary system as against its indepen- 

 dence, and this can be prevented by Parlia- 

 ment itself. The relative strength of the par- 

 ties in Parliament, with its Center composed 

 of clerical and distinctive elements, and num- 

 bering about one hundred members, will pre- 

 vent, on the one hand, Prince Bismarck from 

 securing a majority entirely devoted to him 

 and his plans, which would make of Parliament 

 a mere machine to carry out the Chancellor's 

 wishes, while at the same time it will make a 

 real parliamentary government an impossi- 

 bility. It is to be expected that the party 

 strife, which has been a characteristic feature 

 of the German Parliament in the past, will 

 continue in the future. 



GERMANY, an empire in Europe, re-estab- 

 lished January 18, 1871. The Emperor, Will- 



iam I, was born March 22, 1797, and was 

 married June 11, 1829, to Augusta, daughter 

 of the Grand Duke Charles Frederick of Saxe- 

 "Weimar. The heir-apparent, Frederick Will- 

 iam, born October 18, 1831, has the official 

 titles of Crown Prince of the German Empire 

 and Crown Prince of Prussia. He was married 

 January 25, 1858, to Victoria, Princess Royal 

 of Great Britain and Ireland, born November 

 21, 1840, and has six children, viz. : Frederick ] 

 William, born 1859, married in 1881 to Princess 

 Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg; 

 Henry, born 1862 ; Charlotte, born 1860, mar- 

 ried in 1878 to Bernhard, hereditary prince of 

 Saxe- Weimar; Victoria, born 1866; Sophia, 

 borm 1870 ; and Margaretta, born 1872. One 

 son, Waldemar, born in 1868, died March 27, 

 1879. Imperial Chancellor (Reich*kamler\ 

 Otto, Prince von Bismarck-Schonhausen. 



The German Empire consists at present of 

 twenty-six states, of which four are kingdoms, 

 six grand duchies, five duchies, seven princi- 

 palities, three free cities, and one, Alsace-Lor- 

 raine, an imperial province (ReichslanS). The 

 area of the German Empire in 1880 was 540,- 

 497 square kilometres, or 208,687 English square 

 miles. The following table exhibits all the states 

 of the German Empire, the area, the population 

 according to the census of 1880, the number of 

 representatives of every German state in the 

 Federal Council, and the number of deputies 

 who represent each state in the Reichstag : 



In the following table will be found the full 

 exhibit of the governments of the particular 

 states, including the names and the titles of all 

 the sovereign princes, their years of birth and 

 accession to the thrones, and the names of 

 the heirs-apparent. It will be seen that the 

 ducal line of Brunswick is likely to become 

 extinct by the death of the reigning Duke. 



The succession is disputed by the Duke of 

 Cumberland (son of the late King of Hanover) 

 and the Emperor of Germany. It is also in- 

 teresting to notice that the heir-apparent is the 

 son of the reigning sovereign in only thirteen 

 of the twenty-two sovereign houses which be- 

 long to the German Empire ; in the others he 

 is the cousin, brother, or nephew. 



