464 must not exceed 00 days, and in case of dissolution new elections must be ordered within 60 days, and the new session opened within 90 days. All laws for the regu- lation of the empire must, in order to pass, receive the votes of an absolute majority of the federal council and the reiehstag. The subjoiued table. gives the number of votes which the separate states have in the federal council. 1-I-.1ch state may appoint as many members to the federal council as it has votes. The table also gives the number of the deputies in the reichstag. The official order of pre- cedence of the 26 states is given in a former table (see p. 45.3) ; here they are arranged in the order of the number of their inhabitants. I.’rprcscntatz'on in Fctlrral C'ouncz'l and I.'cichsla_r/. S t ‘ I H I E . . _d I»,,,,,,],,fi0n' 'ot_(-is the I)C])ll,fl.tE8 in M 00191110‘; l’i.l‘p]iil-:tiifr1(.n or 1.475. y “W ‘]a‘lE'.‘h5' 1. 1--1~'; . ............... .. 2-',“4-2,404 1" 236 2. ................ .. 5.021390 0 48 3. Saxony ................. .. 2,760,586 4 23 4. 'iirtembcrg .......... 1,881,505 4 17 5. .lsace-Lorraine ....... .. 1,531,804 0 15 6. Baden .................. 1,507,119 3 14 7. Hesse ................... ..' 884,218 3 9 8. Meek]enburg-Schwerin' 553,785 2 6 9. Hamburg .............. ..' 388,618 1 3 10. Brunswick ............. ..' 327,493 2 3 11. Oldenburg ............. .. 319,314 1 3 12. Saxc-'ein1ar .......... .. 292,933 1 3 13. Anhalt ................. .. 213,565 1 2 14. Saxe-Meiningen ...... .. 194,494 1 2 15. Saxe-Coburg-Gotlia 182,599 1 2 16. Saxe-Altenburg ....... .. 143,844 1 1 17. Bremen ................ .. 142,200 1 1 1s. Lippe ................... .. 112,452 1 1 19. M kl b -St" l't 9',6"3 1 1 20. 1:e°.T...ec':‘e.-35'....Tfff. 93,39, 1 1 21. Sehvarzburg-Rudol- .. .. stadt ................. .. ' 6’6' 6 1 1 22. Sc1l11::y1:p(:1l)11rg-Sonders- £ 67,480 1 1 23. Liibeck . ................ .. 56,912 1 1 24. 'aldeck ................ .. 54,743 1 1 25. Reuss-Grciz ........... .. 46,985 1 1 26. Sehaumhurg-Lippe . 33,133 1 1 Total ....... 42,727,360 58 397 The federal council is presided over by the chancellor of the empire (Reichskanzler). Imperial measures, after passing the federal council and the reiehstag, must obtain the sanction of the emperor in order to become law, and must be countersigned, when promulgated, by the chancellor of the empire. All members of the federal council are entitled to be present at the deliberations of the reichstag The federal council, acting under the direction of the ch_meellor of the empire, is also a supreme adminis- trative and consultative board, and as such it has nine standing committees, viz.:——for army and fortresses; for naval purposes; for tariffs, excise, and taxes ; for trade and commerce; for railways, posts, and telegraphs ; for civil and criminal law ; for financial accounts; for foreign affairs; anl for Alsace-Lorraine. Each committee includes repre- sentitives of at least four states of the empire. For the several branches of administration a considerable number of imperial offices have been gradually created. All of them, however, either are under the immediate authority of the chancellor of the empire, or are separately managed under his responsibility. The most important are the chaneery office, the foreign office, and the general post and telegraph oflice. But the heads of these do not form a cabinet. By the electoral law of 31st May 1869 every German of twenty-one years of age is entitled to be an elector, and every one who has completed his twenty-fifth year, G E R M A N Y [cove r..'. s:'r. and has resided for a year in one of the federal states, is eligible for election. The deputies are unsalaried, but during the session they have the right of travelling free by rail. The following table shows the political composi- tion of the reichstag after the four elections from 1871 to 18782- l‘:u'tics. 1<.'1_ | 1.574. is-77. - ms. ‘ Conservatives ......................... .. 50 21 -4 0 I 6 1 Dcutsche lteichs-partei (l.ibcral- I ' Const-rvati'es) .................. .. 38 31 I 38 I 51 l'ational Liberals ................... ..| 116 150 ‘ 12-3 111 Fortschritts-partci (Progressists). .. 4 4 l 49 33 25 Social Democrats ................... 2 9 . 12 9 Centruln (Clerical) .................. .. 57 l 94 90‘ ‘.'‘.| Poles .................................. .. 13 13 14 1 4 Other parties ........................ ..| 62 30 3.5 ‘ 27 . l Total ............. ..i 332 I 397 . 397 397 All the German states are constitut.ional, except Alsace- Lorraine and the two grand-duchies of M ecklenburg. The six larger states have adopted the two-chamber system, but in the composition of the houses great differences are found. The following table gives analyses of the member- ship for the sessions of 1878. As regards the lower house, (30,000 inhabitants elect one deputy in Prussia, 33,000 in Bavaria, 35,000 in Saxony, 20,000 in l'iirte1nberg, 24,000 in Baden, 18,000 in Hesse. I ' l ' F 5- V 3: "S E J): 3 ; E ! : Illcmbcrs of l'ppcr Ifuuscs. ' Royal princes of age heads of the . .. .' ‘ mediatized princely: houses, &c... l 04 53 I 30 10 32 Higher clergy, Catholic and Protestant 4 4 I 3 2 2 Deletratcs of the nobility and rich _ _ ' . . lafidowers ............................ .. I 100 22 l 8 3 Representatives of university chapters 11 3 I 2 l 1 llurgomastcrs of large towns . . . . . . . . . .. 38 8 . .. . _. . I MZ’§‘}i?-551.2‘?é’l’ii?§7f1..i??i.l].'7.lTT'.‘T E 8‘ 15 5 9 7 , 11, Total for Ypper Houses 302 72 48 4.» 29 ' 38' Jlfcmbcrs of Lower Ilouses. l _ I General representation .............. .. . 434 1:’ ‘ l Delegates of nobility and landowners .. 13 .. 6 Representatives of large towns ....... .. 35 7 22 ' 10 Representatives of rural districts .... .. I 45 . 63 41 34 Higher clergy ............................ .. 9'...|... L'niversit.ies .............................. .. I .. I 1 I Total for Lower Ilouscs...... 434 13650193 63 ' The lesser states also have chambers of representatives numbering from 12 members (in I-leuss) to 46 members (in Brunswick), and in most states the difi"erent classes, as well as the cities and the rural districts, are separately repre-_ sented. The free towns have legislative assemblies, numbering from 120 to 200 members. In the so-called landtagen (diets) of Mecklenburg, which have but few privi- leges, 684 rittergiiter (allodial estates) are represented and only 40 towns. FI‘.'.‘.‘(_‘E. The most important expenses which the budget of the German empire has annually to meet are those of the cen- tral administration, the army and navy, posts and telegraphs, the high court of justice, the foreign office, and some smaller‘ items. For defraying these, all customs receipts
and the net amount of certain excise duties are paid into