GERMANY. 



385 



Rules and regulations were adopted for the 

 better government of the theological semi- 

 naries at Eden, Mo., and Elmhurst, 111. The 

 Board of Education was authorized to take 

 steps for increasing the libraries of the educa- 

 tional institutions of the Synod. A desire ex- 

 pressed by a number of members to have the 

 Catechism translated into the English language 

 was not granted. 



GERMANY, an empire in Central Europe. The 

 control of the military and international aifairs 

 is vested in the Emperor, who has the right 

 to declare war for defensive purposes, but must 

 have the consent of the Bundesrath to make 

 war when it is not purely defensive. This 

 body, containing 62 members, represents the 

 confederated states, and shares the legislative 

 authority with the Reichstag or German Par- 

 liament, composed of 397 delegates, who are 

 elected by universal suffrage. The kingdom of 

 Prussia is represented in the Bundesrath by 

 17 and in the Reichstag by 236 members; the 

 kingdom of Bavaria by 6 and 48, respectively ; 

 the kingdom of Wurtemberg by 4 and 17; the 

 kingdom of Saxony by 4 and 23 ; the grand- 

 duchy of Baden by 3 and 14; that of Meck- 

 lenburg-Schwerin by 2 and 6 ; of Hesse. 3 and 

 9; of Oldenburg, 1 and 3; of Saxe- Weimar, 1 

 and 3 ; of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1 and 1 ; the 

 Duchy of Brunswick by 2 and 3, respectively ; 

 the Duchies of Saxe-Meiningen, Anhalt, and 

 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha each by 1 and 2 members, 

 respectively ; the free town of Hamburg by 1 

 member in the Bundesrath and 3 members in 

 the Reichstag ; the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, 

 the principalities of Waldeck, Lippe, Schwarz- 

 burg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, 

 Reuss-Schleiz, Schaumburg-Lippe, and Reuss- 

 Greiz, and the free towns of Bremen and Lii- 

 beck by 1 member in the Bundesrath and 1 dep- 

 uty in the Reichstag each. The Reichsland 

 ofElsass-Lothringen is represented in the Bun- 

 desrath by 4 commissioners, and in the Par- 

 liament by 15 deputies. The total number of 

 electors to the Reichstag in 1884 was 9,383,- 

 074, or 20 per cent, of the population, of whom 

 5,811,973 voted. The Emperor has the right 

 to prorogue the Reichstag, but not for longer 

 than sixty days, and to dissolve it, but new 

 elections must be held within sixty days, and 

 the new Reichstag must meet within ninety 

 days of the dissolution. All laws of the em- 

 pire must have the votes of a majority in the 

 Bundesrath and in the Reichstag, and the as- 

 sent of the Emperor countersigned by his 

 Chancellor. The Chancellor of the Empire acts 

 as President of the Bundesrath, while the 

 Reichstag elects its Speaker. The ministers 

 of the Imperial Government, who are not re- 

 sponsible to the Reichstag, and act independ- 

 ently of each other, but under the supervision 

 of the Chancellor, are as follow: Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, Count Herbert von Bismarck ; 

 Minister of the Interior and Representative of 

 the Chancellor, Herr von Botticher ; Chief of 

 the Imperial Admiralty, General von Caprivi ; 

 VOL. xxvi. 25 A 



Minister of Justice, Dr. von Schelling ; Secre- 

 tary of the Imperial Treasury, Herr von Bur- 

 chard ; Chief of the Post-Office, Dr. Stephan. 

 The Chancellor of the Empire is Prince Otto 

 von Bismarck-Schonhausen, born April 1, 1815, 

 who became Prussian Minister for Foreign 

 Affairs, and Chief of the Council of Ministers 

 in 1862, Chancellor of the North-German Con- 

 federation in 1867, and Chancellor of the Em- 

 pire in 1871. 



Area and Population. The area of the German 

 Empire is 212,028 square miles. The popula- 

 tion of the several states according to the pre- 

 liminary results of the census of Dec. 1, 1885, 

 with the increase or diminution since 1880, is 

 shown in the following table: 



The number of births in 1883 was 1,749,- 

 874; of deaths, 1,256,177; of marriages, 352,- 

 999 ; the excess of births over deaths, 493,697. 

 In 1884 there were 362,596 marriages, 1,793,- 

 942 births, and 1,271,859 deaths, 68,359 of the 

 births and deaths being still-born; natural in- 

 crease of population, 522,083. The number of 

 emigrants in 1884 was 143,586, of whom 139,- 

 339 went to the United States, 728 to Canada, 

 1,253 to Brazil, 1,276 to other South American 

 countries, 230 to Africa, 666 to Australia, and 

 94 to other countries. The emigrants com- 

 prised 81,089 males and 62,497 females. The 

 number of families was 23,093, including 85,- 

 813 persons, the remainder of the emigrants 

 being single persons. Of the total number of 

 emigrants 93,622 came from Prussia, 14,856 

 from Bavaria, 7,797 from Wurtemberg, 4,636 

 from Saxony, 4,381 from Baden, 4,013 from 

 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 3,175 from Hesse, 2,504 

 from Hamburg, 1,958 from Oldenburg, 1,146 

 from Bremen, and 750 from Elsass-Lothringen. 

 In 1884 there were 1,253 German-born citizens 



