350 



GERMANY. 



marck, and there can be no doubt that it would 

 be of greater advantage to the small German 

 states to have the railway system of Germany 

 controlled by the Imperial Government than 

 by Prussia, as it is now. 



GERMANY, an empire in Europe, formed 

 by the union of the German states, consum- 

 mated on May 4, 1871, when the Constitution 

 of the German Empire replaced the articles 

 of confederation between the North German 

 states and the treaties by which the Grand 

 Duchies of Baden and Hesse and the Kingdoms 

 of Bavaria and Wtirtemberg entered the League 

 during the Franco-Prussian War. This war, 

 and the previous one with Austria, prepared 

 the way for the re-establishment of the Ger- 

 man Empire under the Prussian head, thus 

 realizing the cherished aspirations of the Ger- 

 man people. King Wilhelm I was proclaimed 

 German Emperor from Versailles on the 18th 

 of January, 1871, upon the successful termina- 

 tion of the war with France. He was born 

 March 22, 1797, and ascended the Prussian 

 throne on the death of his brother, January 2, 

 1861. On May 6th a male child was born to 

 his eldest grandson, making the fourth living 

 Hohenzollern in the direct line of succession 

 to the two thrones. The heir- apparent, Fried- 

 rich Wilhelm, was born October 18, 1831. 



The sovereign powers of the confederation 

 of states forming the empire are invested in 

 the Prussian crown and the Federal Council, 

 but the concurrence of the Parliament, or 

 Reichstag, elected by universal suffrage, is ne- 

 cessary to the exercise of certain functions. 

 The popular assembly possesses, also, a limited 

 right of control over the acts of the Government. 



STATISTICS. The area and population of the 

 twenty-five states composing the German Em- 

 pire, and of the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine, 

 as returned at the last two census enumerations, 

 were as follow : 



In 1816, at the end ofthe Napoleonic wars, 

 Germany had a population of 23,103,211. In 

 1837 it was 30,t)10,711, showing an annual in- 

 crease in the thirty years of nearly 1^ per cent. 

 The increase between that date and 1858, when 

 the population stood at 35,334,538, was little 

 more than three fourths of one per cent per 

 annum. In 1867 the total was 38,495,926, 

 showing an increase of only five eighths per 

 cent per annum. Between 1867 and 1871, in 

 which period the great war with France oc- 

 curred, the rate of increase was - 58 per cent ; 

 but, in the period succeeding the war, between 

 1871 and 1875, it rose to 1-01 per cent. In the 

 last census period, between 1875 and 1880, it 

 was again about '58 per cent. 



Of the total population of the empire, 6 

 per cent belong to the Protestant confessions, 

 36 per cent are Catholics, 2 per cent are Chris- 

 tians of other creeds, 1-J- per cent are Israelites, 

 and 1 per cent of other beliefs. The number 

 of Protestants and Catholics in the different 

 states was as follows : 



the following page. 



The total number of vessels entering German 

 ports in 1880 was 55,282, of 7,775,559 aggre- 

 gate tonnage: 40,045, of 3,657,638 tons, car- 

 ried the German flag; 46,130, of 7,095,522 

 tons, were with cargoes; 13,923, of 4,899,648 

 tons, were steamships; of which 7,807, of 

 1,935,882 tons, were German. The total num- 

 ber cleared was 55,021, of 7,763,037 aggregate 

 tonnage: 39,569, of 3,633,628 tons, German 

 ships; 39,097, of 5,475,721 tons, laden; 13,- 

 928, of 4,914,328 tons, steamers; of which 

 7,799, of 1,940,151 tons, were German. 



The German merchant marine consisted at 

 the beginning of 1881 of 4,660 vessels, of 1,181- 

 525 aggregate tonnage; as against 4,777, of 

 1,171,286 tons, in 1880; 4,804, of 1,129,129 

 tons, in 1879 ; 4,805, of 1,117,935 tons, in 

 1878 ; and 4,809, of 1,103,650 tons, in 1877. 

 The number of steam-vessels was 414, of 215,- 

 758 tons, having increased from 318, of 180,- 

 946 tons, in 1877. The crews of the 4,660 

 ships number 39,660 men. Of the total num- 

 ber of ships, 2,749, of 738,260 tons, among 

 them 213 of the steamships, registering 160,- 

 556 tons, belong in North Sea ports; while 

 1,911 ships, of 443,265 tons, including 201 

 steamers, of 55,202 tons, ply the Baltic. 



