MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN GERMANY. 63 



The form of the municipal government of Berlin is, in 

 general, that prevailing throughout Prussia, as determined 

 by the municipal reform laws created by the great states- 

 men Stein and Hardenberg in 1808 : the laws which have 

 given a general model for the forms of municipal govern- 

 ment now prevailing throughout the German Empire. 



The growth of cities in Germany dates back to the early 

 Middle Ages, when the country gradually took on the 

 modes of civilization. The cities grew up out of the orig- 

 inal Roman colonies and from the populations clustered 

 about the castles of the local rulers. Trading points and 

 market places also grew in importance, and assumed the 

 shape of cities. 



In the Middle Ages there were, in general, three great 

 classes comprising, respectively, the powerful nobility, the 

 dwellers in the towns, and the agricultural population. 

 The cities became so powerful as to hold rank with the no- 

 bility, between whom and the landed population bitter con- 

 flicts often arose. This state of things is pictured in an old 

 German student's song which compares the entire popu- 

 lation to a glass of beer, the nobility being the foam, the 

 burgesses the substantial liquid, and the much oppressed 

 peasantry the dregs. When the peasantry found them- 

 selves too hardly treated by the nobility, they often fled 

 to the cities, and appealed to the latter for protection. 

 Sometimes they could net be received within the city, for 

 the lack of room, or other reasons, and were allowed to 

 settle outside of the walls, where they enjoyed the protec- 

 tion of the city, but were not privileged with the full rights 

 of those dwelling within the walls. In this way were de- 

 veloped the various classes into which the city population 

 was divided : the patricians, the various trade-guilds and 

 the ultra-mural population. The cities, as they grew in 

 power, recognized the advantages that would come from 



