GERMANY. 



((institutional A men dm cuts. Four con- 

 stitutional amendments were submitted to the 

 l*-op|e a! tin- < October election, and wen- adopted. 



'lli.' tir-i amendment restores the annual ses- 

 si. >ns of tin- Legislature, \vhicli were abolished 

 by tin- amendments of 1S77. when tin- sessions 

 made Itienilial. 



The secmid amendment, which limits the term 

 >f I lie session, reads : 



M'ssion of tin- (ieiierul Assembly shall continue 

 tliiin tit't\ days, j.rovuled, that if an inmeiu-h- 

 iul he i.eililili^ at the end of tit't y da\ s, the ses- 

 sion may he prolonged till the completion of said triul. 



The third amendment provides that on the 

 fir>t and second reading of local bills and rail- 

 road and bank charters the title only shall be 

 read, unless said bill is ordered to be engrossed. 



The fourth amendment provides that charters 

 for banks, insurance companies, railroad com- 

 panies, etc., shall be issued by the Secretary d 

 State in such manner as shall be prescribed by 

 law." 



I'nder the new system, the Legislature will 

 convene once a year,' on the fourth Wednesday 

 in October. 



GERMANY, an empire in central Europe, 

 founded on treaties concluded at the close of 

 the Franco-Prussian War between the North 

 Herman Confederation, the kingdoms of Bavaria 

 and Wlirtemberg, and the Grand Duchies of 

 and Baden. The empire was proclaimed 

 Jan. 18, 1871, in Versailles, in the presence of 

 all the reigning princes of Germany. The title 

 of Deutscher Kaiser was conferred upon the 

 King of Prussia, and made hereditary in the 

 !lhenzollern family. The Constitution, dated 

 April 16, 1871, provides for the union of all the 

 states of Germany for the protection of the em- 

 pire and the care of the welfare of the German 

 people. The Emperor is the head of the mili- 

 tary forces; he can declare war, if defensive, and 

 make peace, as well as enter into treaties. He 

 has the power to appoint and receive ambassa- 

 dors. A declaration of war, not defensive, must 

 have the consent of the Bundesrath or Federal 

 < 'ouncil. The legislative functions are vested in 

 the Reichstag and Bundesrath, which latter 

 body frames the measures and submits them to 

 the former. The Emperor has no veto power 

 over measures passed by these bodies, but in or- 

 der to make them effective he has to sign them, 

 and they have to be countersigned by the Chan- 

 cellor. The Bundesrath represents the individ- 

 ual states of the empire, and the Reichstag the 

 Herman nation. The former has 58 member-. 

 who are appointed by the governments of the 

 individual states for each session; the latter 

 consists of 397 members, elected by universal 

 suffrage for the term of five years. 



Alsace-Lorraine is represented in the Bundes- 

 rath by four commissioners, without votes, who 

 are nominated by the Statthalter. 



The I5unde<rath and the Reichstag are con- 

 voked annually by the Emperor, who ha .; also 

 power to prorogue and dissolve the Reichstag 

 with the assent of the Bundesrath. The proro- 

 gation of the Reichstag can not exceed thirty 

 days without their consent ; while in case of dis- 

 solution new elections must l.e held within thirty 

 days, and the new session must open within 

 ninety days. The Bundesrath is presided over 



by the Chancellor of the empire, and the 

 lent of the Reichstag is elected by the Dej.iit ies. 

 Tin- secretaries of state act independently of each 

 oilier, under the supervision of the Chancellor. 



The following is the representation of tin- 

 various slates in Hunde.srath and Reichstag re- 

 spectively : 



STATES OF THE EMPIRE. 



Kingdum of Prussia 



Bavaria 



WiirU'mberg. .. 



" Saxony 



Grand Duchy cf Baden 



Mecklenbu 



Hesse 



" Oldenburg 



Barn-Weimar 

 Mc-cklenburg 



1 udiy of Hrunswick 



" Saxe-Meiningen 



" Anhalt 



" 8axe-t'oburg-(iotba 



" baxo- A Itenburg 



rrincipality of Wuldeck 



Lippe 



8chwarzburg-I 

 8chwarzburg-S 

 Reuss-Schleiz. . 

 ISchaumburg- Lippe 

 Reuss-Greiz... 



Free town of Hamburg. 



" " Lubeck 



' " Bremen 



Rclcbsland of Alsace-Lorraine 



Total. 



The reigning Emperor is Wilhelm II, born 

 Jan. 27, 1859, who succeeded his father, Frie- 

 derich III, as King of Prussia and German Em- 

 peror on June 15, 1888. The Chancellor of the 

 empire is General Count Georg von Caprivi, ap- 

 pointed March 20, 1890. The other Secretaries 

 of State at the beginning of the year 1892 were : 

 Minister for Foreign Affairs, Freiherr Marschall 

 Bieberstein ; Imperial Home Office and Repre- 

 sentative of the Chancellor, Dr. von Botticher; 

 Imperial Admiralty, Herr Ilollmann ; Admiral 

 Commander-in-Chief, Freiherr von der Goltz; 

 Imperial Ministry of Justice, Dr. Bosse; Im- 

 perial Treasury, Freiherr von Maltzahn ; 1're-i- 

 dent of the Imperial Bureau of the Post Office, 

 Dr. von Stephan : of the Bureau of Railways. 

 Herr Thielen : of the Kxche.jiier liureau. Herr 

 von Stunzner; of the Invalid Fund Bureau, Dr. 

 Roesing ; of the Imperial Bank. Dr. Koch; of 

 the Imperial Debt Commission, Herr Meinecke. 



Area and Population. The ana of the em- 

 pire is 906,788 square miles. The population on 

 Dec. 1, 1885, was 4<i>.V>.7<>l. The return- of 

 the census taken Dec. 1, 1890, which are partly 

 provisional, show a population of 49.410.4 ?('. 

 Prussia has an area of iy4.4(i:5 square miles, with 

 a population of -Jli.iCi.VJXl ; Havana follows with 

 an area of 29,282 square miles, and r..X9.::*2 pop- 

 ulation : Wiirtemberg, with an extent of 

 square miles, contains 2.<i:>.">.44:t people; Baden, 

 with an area of 5,821 square miles, has a popula- 

 tion of 1.056,817: and Saxony, with an a- 

 .V>; square miles, has :!.><>< ..")i:! inhabitaiiis. 

 The imperial province of ANace-Lorraine. with 

 an area of 5,(i(iS square miles, has H population 

 of 1.(i(i:j,9^7. Then follow the grand duchies, 

 duchies, principalities, and free towns, which 

 h;:\e a population as follow: Mecklenburg- 



