of Prussia being elected Emperor; this Empire includes all the German-speaking people except 9,000,000 in Austria and 1,500,000 in Switzerland.

The rise of the Kingdom of Prussia within Germany is a separate story. The Elector of Brandenberg got a large increase of territory in A.D. 1648 at the end of the Thirty Years' War, and became an important power. Continual accessions of territory ensued, and in A.D. 1701 the Elector of Brandenberg took the title of King of Prussia. In A.D. 1740 Frederick II. seized Silesia and kept it. Prussia got large slices of Poland by the partitions of 1772, 1793, 1795. In the re-formation of Europe at the peace of 1815 Prussia got Westphalia.

Out of the 41,000,000 people of the German Empire 24,000,000 are subjects of the King of Prussia, the remaining 17,000,000 are divided among several States, of which again several are appendages of Prussia. The Empire of Germany is thus at present dragged at the tail of the Prussian monarchy.

282. PRESENT CONSTITUTION. The affairs of the German Empire are (under the constitution of 1871) to be transacted by the Emperor, the Federal Council, and the Federal Diet. The Emperor has the direction of foreign policy and of military matters for the whole Empire; but Bavaria has a right reserved of sending her own political agents to foreign courts. The Federal Council contains 59 members and represents the States of the Empire. The Federal Diet of 397 members is popularly elected, 236 of the members are returned by Prussia.

For Prussia as a separate kingdom there is an altogether separate constitution of the King, a Chamber of Lords, and a Chamber of Deputies. The Deputies are elected by a double election; every 250 voters choose an "Elector," and these "Electors" afterwards choose the Deputies.

283, RELIGION. In North Germany two-thirds of the people are Protestant, in South Germany two-thirds are Roman Catholic; but much the larger population is north of the Main, so that on the whole it is reckoned that there are

25,000,000 Protestants and 15,000,000 Roman Catholics in Germany.

The Protestants are sub-divided; the most numerous are the Lutherans; the Calvinists are much fewer.

284. LANGUAGE. 38,000,000 people speak German; 2,500,000 speak Polish, a Sclavonic language.

285. ANIMALS. The animals of Germany are nearly the same as of Britain, a few others being added. The stag, roebuck, fallow-deer, and wild-cat are still in the forests; and moreover, the wild boar. The otter is found in many of the rivers, and very rarely (in Bavaria) a beaver. The chamois is met with on the Bavarian Alps. The wolves are very nearly exterminated. The last lynx killed was in 1846, and the last bear killed was in 1835, both in the Bavarian Alps. It may be doubted whether a bear or a lynx is now alive wild in Germany.

286. PLANTS. The wild plants of Germany comprise nearly every plant found wild in England; but there are many others, of the same nature pretty much, added. The oak and beech prevail in the low-level forests, firs of several kinds form the woods of Swabia, and also prevail wherever the soil is sandy.

The cultivated plants are, as in England, wheat, barley, oats, rye; green crops of turnips and mangold; and grass. Besides these, owing to the hotter, drier summers, wine can be grown to a profit in a considerable area of Germany; not merely in the southern warmer valley of the Rhine, the centre of the hock country is north of the Main.

Germany also grows large quantities of potatoes, tobacco, beet-root, and flax.

287. MINERALS. Germany is rich in iron, also in numerous coal mines, but the coal is not generally of the first quality. There are two mining centres, at both of which nearly all the metals, including gold and silver, have been found, viz., the Hartz mountains, and Freyburg in Saxony. But neither of these centres is so rich now as formerly. A large value of lead is still exported from Germany.

(1) Prussia is made up of a number of separate provinces,

viz. :

(a) Brandenberg, in the centre round Berlin, the ancient Duchy, the nucleus around which the Empire has agglutinated.

(b) Posen and much of Prussia proper, obtained from Poland. (c) Silesia, the valley of the Upper Oder, seized from Austria; one of the most flourishing provinces of Prussia, with some manufactures.

(d) Prussian Saxony, round Magdeburg as the capital. (e) Hanover, overrun and annexed in 1866.

(f) Westphalia, or the Rhenish Provinces, in the centre of which are Cologne and Dusseldorf.

(2) Mecklenburg, divided into two separate States. In the larger of these the Duke is landowner of the greater half of the State as well as Prince.

(3) Oldenburg, a thinly-peopled sandy plain.

(4) Brunswick, now tacked on to Oldenburg.

(5) Hamburg, Lubeck, Bremen, three of the old Hanse or Free Towns that have preserved their independence to the present day.

(6) Saxony, an ancient kingdom, greatly reduced in 1815 for having clung to the fortunes of Napoleon; and all but absorbed by Prussia in 1866 for having clung to the fortunes of Austria; must now be reckoned a subsidiary province of Prussia.

(7) Hesse, a fine territory, may be reckoned the centre of the Fatherland.

(8) Among the twelve smaller States is Saxe-Coburg, which has the same area and population as Cambridgeshire. (9) Alsace-Lorraine is the province ceded by France in 1871 it is Imperial Territory of the Emperor of Germany. The people of Alsace are largely German-speaking.

(10) Bavaria consists of two separate pieces; viz. the Palatinate on the left bank of the Rhine, and the larger Bavaria on the Danube and Main. It is the chief southern German State, but no counterpoise to Prussia.

(11) Wurtemberg, a small kingdom, chiefly on the Neckar, undulating and fruitful.

(12) Baden, the warmest and richest province in Germany, reaches back from the Rhine to the Black Forest.

289. TOWNS. In Prussia:

(1) Berlin, population 625,000; the capital, and a manufacturing town.

(2) Konigsberg, population 100,000, a chief port of the Baltic, in Prussia proper.

(3) Dantzig, population 90,000, another large grain port on the Baltic, in Prussia proper.

(4) Breslau, population 165,000, the capital of Silesia; on the Elbe.

(5) Hanover, population 80,000, the capital of the former kingdom of that name.

(6) Cologne, population 122,000, the capital of the Rhine provinces ; a great railway centre; its cathedral one of the most celebrated in Europe.

(7) Elberfeld with Barmen, population 100,000, a little east from Dusseldorf, is the chief centre in Germany for manufacture of cotton and silk.

Among the Free Towns:

(8) Hamburg, population 250,000, at the mouth of the Elbe, is the principal port of northern continental Europe. In Saxony:

(9) Dresden, population 145,000, the capital. Its picture galleries are considered unsurpassed in the world.

(10) Leipsic, population 85,000, celebrated as a centre of the European book trade.

In Alsace-Lorraine :

(11) Strasbourg, population 80,000, on the Rhine, a maņufacturing town.

In South Germany :

(12) Munich, population 165,000, the capital of Bavaria, with celebrated picture galleries.

Besides the above no town in Germany contains 75,000 souls.

GERMANY (Abstract).

MOUNTAINS. Bavarian Alps, Black Forest, Hartz. RIVERS. Rhine, Moselle, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, Danube. LAKE. Constance.

DIVISIONS. Prussia, Saxony, Alsace-Lorraine, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden.

TOWNS (with their populations).—Berlin, 625,000; Hamburg, 250,000; Munich, 165,000; Breslau, 165,000; Dresden, 145,000; Cologne, 122,000.

Sect. XIV. BELGIUM.

290. EXTENT. Belgium is twice as large as Yorkshire and contains rather more than twice as many people; but deserves consideration beyond its size, being of all countries in Europe that most nearly on a par with England.

291. BOUNDARIES. On the North, Holland; on the North-west, the German Ocean; on the South-west, France; on the East, Luxembourg, Prussia, and Holland.