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the Chamber of Deputies ; in respect of any other subjects 

 the king determines before which chamber they shall be 

 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 legis- 

 lature ; and the same sanction is required before any new 

 law or any alteration, authentic exposition (authentische 

 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, anew election of deputies 

 must talse place within three months. The ministers, 

 though they are not members of the chambers, have the right 

 of being present at all deliberations. 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 canstitution. 



The Public Administration. At the head of public affairs 

 is a council of state, established by a royal decree of the 

 18th of November, 1S25: 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 

 app ) ; nted ol the council by the sovereign, of the ministers of 

 state, the field-marshal, and six councillors nominated by the 

 sovereign. The executive authority is vested in the heads 

 of thu following five departments, the royal household and 

 _;n affairs, justice, home affairs, finance, 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 con- 

 1 with the financial department. The commissary- 

 general (General commissair) i.s 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. 



The Legislature. The members composing the Cham- 

 ber of Senators are at present fifty- one: thirty attend in 

 ri^'ht of hereditary rank or dignities, or from the nature of 

 their family possessions; and twenty-one have been no- 

 minated by the king either for life (ten) or as hereditary 

 senators (eleven), the latter of whom are always land- 

 holders of noble blood, and must pay at least 144f. (1500 

 florins) clear in land or domanial taxes. St. Behlen observes, 

 that 'there are few noble families by whom this condition 

 is fulfilled.' The number named for life cannot exceed 

 one-third of the whole body of hereditary senators. This 

 chamber, which has a President and Vice- President, cannot 

 open any sitting unless one-half or upwards of the members 

 are present. The qualifications required for a member of 

 the Chamber of Deputies are that the candidate has com- 

 pleted his thirtieth year; that he is a Tree and independent 

 ciiizcn ; that he is a member of either the Roman Catholic, 

 Lutheran, or Reformed- Lutheran church ; that no charge 

 of crime or misdemeanor has been proved against him : 

 and that he pays the house or land-tax on property of the 

 value of 765/. (8000 florins), at the least. This chamber 

 is at picsent composed of 123 members; namely, fourteen 

 landholders, exercising judicial powers on their estates ; three 

 deputies from universities ; eleven from the Roman Catholic 

 ecclesiastical bodies, and five from the Protestant; thirty from 

 cities and towns; and GO from the body of landholders not 

 exercising judicial powers. Its deliberations are conducted 

 under a President and Vice-President. At the commence- 

 iii' at r r.,r-i, -cssion, an accurate account of the state and 

 appropriation of the public income is submitted by the 

 executive : the national debt cannot be increased without 

 the consent of the legislature, and each chamber appoints 

 a commissioner to assist the Board for its liquidation. Con- 

 ditions arc not allowed by the constitution to be coupled 

 with the voting of any fresh taxes ; nor can any subject, 

 as to which the chambers are at variance, be discussed a 



second time at the same sitting. 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 (Gemeinde- 

 Vorsteher) ; a deputy, being the person who pays most 

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

 certain proportion of landholders, tithing-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 

 burthens and district rates equitably in each parish, and 

 to decide all local questions relating to any matter having 

 reference to these burthens and rates : such as their appli- 

 cation in support of establishments for the poor, the sick, 

 Sec., in making roads, &c. 



Finance. The continued state of warfare, in which the 

 consequences of the French Revolution involved the Bavarian 

 dominions, and the sacrifices which were made first, in 

 support of Napoleon, and subsequently in shaking off his 

 yoke, involved the state in great financial embarrassments. 

 At the time of the peace of 1815, the state paper had fallen 

 from forty to fifty per cent, below its nominal value ; many 

 financial accounts were twenty years in arrear; and the 

 public income was not only of a precarious nature, and the 

 receipts subject to all sorts of irregularities, but seriously 

 prejudiced by neglect or obstacles to their collection. This 

 unfortunate state of things was aggravated by the failure of 

 the crops in 1 81 6 and 1817. The change of ministry, which 

 occurred in the last of those years, has proved eminently 

 beneficial to the kingdom in a financial point o view, for it 

 was the signal for the adoption of a series of judicious mea- 

 sures which introduced order and economy and have already 

 produced their natural results. It appears that in 181 9 the 

 excess of the expenditure over the income was 2,007,800 

 florins (about 1 92,4 1 5/.) ; that the national debt amounted to 

 105,740,173 florins (10,133,430/.), and that the surplus fund 

 towards the redemption of this debt was 1,550, COO florins, 

 (148.542/.). In the same year the financial laws enacted by 

 the legislature, fixed the income for the year at 31,126,811 

 florins (2,982,986/.), and the expenditure at 31,017,596 

 (2,972,519/.). The improved administration of the Bavarian 

 finances, however, during the succeeding thirteen years, 

 enabled the government to report to the Chamber of 

 Deputies, in March last (1834), that the surplus revenue for 

 the financial year, 1829 1830, which had been 5,032,353 

 florins (482, 267/.) at the beginning of that year, had 

 increased at the closeof it to 6,697,731 (641,865;.), which 

 surplus had been appropriated subsequently to the current 

 service of the state. They also reported, that in the year 

 1831-1832, the revenues had produced 29,217,009 florins 

 (2, 799,9f>3/.), and that the expenditure had been 27,095,883 

 florins (2,596,688?.), leaving a surplus, inclusive of 3534 

 florins from former years, of 2,124,660 florins (203, 613/.). 

 With respect to the national debt we find, that, between 

 the years 1819 and 1829, it had, from various circumstances 

 affecting the earlier part of this interval, increased from 

 10,133,430^. to 11.392.019/. or 118,873,250 florins ; and the 

 additions, which raised it to 12,595,2762. (131,428,972 

 florins) in the year 1833, have been chiefly occasioned by 

 the extraordinary expenses attendant upon the convulsed 

 state of Germany since the change of dynasty in France, 

 in August, 1 830. The net public income of Bavaria for the 

 third financial period, 18321837*, has been fixed by the 

 legislature at 2,738,656/. (28,577,285 florins) ; the charges 

 of management, both in collecting the taxes and carrying 

 on the crown monopolies (regie-aufwand), being estimated 

 at 971,6564. (10,139,025 florins), and having been previously 

 deducted. The expenses of management amount, therefore, 

 to nearly 26J per cent, on the gross revenue of 3,710,312/. 

 If we assume the population to be 4,200,000, the average 

 amount of revenue contributed by each individual will be 

 found to be 13*. Ojt/. per annum. The expenditure for the 

 same period, with a reserved fund of 52,4 O'jl. (546,840 

 florins), is fixed at a sum exactly corresponding with the 

 income, of which 2,329, 5 18i (24,308,014 florins) are to be 

 appropriated to the general expenditure of the state, and 

 409.138/. (4,269,271 florins) to the budgets of the several 

 circles (kreis-fonds). The subsequent items of receipt are, 

 among others, applied to the purposes of the general ex- 

 penditure : namely, from the immediate property of the 



For Iho second financial period, 18231831. the income had been fixed by 

 the itate at 2,971,840;., or 29, 132,260 florins, and the clpcnditvire at 

 or 23,126,600 Hotini. 



