The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1866-06-26
-v-rHE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.

IY.--THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.
The German Confederation was organ
lied, in 1915, upon the ruins of the Ger
man Empire which had been dissolved in
1906. The object of the Confederacy,
according to the first article of the Fed
eral Constitution, is "the preservation of
the internal and external security OF Ger
many, and the independence and iuVioIa
bility of the various German States. d"
The organ and representative of the Con
federation is the Federal Diet, consisting
of PlcnipoteDtiaaies of the several Ger
man States, and permanently located In
the free city Of Frankfort. The admin
istrati7e Government of the Federal Diet
is constituted in two forms: lst. As a
General Assembly or Plenatna, in which
every member OF the Confederation has
at least one vote, and the larger States
have two, three or four votes each and
second, the Minor Council, or Com mittee
.of Confederation, in which the eleven
largest States cast one vote each, while
six votes are given to the smaller States,
"a number Of them combined having a
joint vote. The presidency is perma-
nently vested in Austria. The General
Assembly decides on war and peace, oD
the admission of new members, or any
changes IN the fundamental laws or OF
ganic Institutions but in all other cases
the Minor Council is competent to act
both as legislative and executive
At the time Of its establishment the
Confederacy embraced 80 members, but
of these four (Saxe Gotha, Anhalt- Bern
burg, Auhalt- Koethen and Hosse- HON
burg, have become extlnct), and two,
(Hohenzollern- Hechingen and Hohen,
zollern SigmQriDgen) have been incOrpo-
rated with Prussia, leaving, at present,
50 sovereign States. They have together
an area Of 242, 1867 square miles, and, in
1864, population of over 46,OOO,OOO
people, exceeding the aggregate popula-
ton of British Ameaica, the United
States, Mexico and Central America, and
being 10 Europe inferior to that of no
country except Russia The federal army
numbers about 700, 1000.
Austria and Prussia belong, with only
a part of their several dominions, to this
Confederation; Austria with a population
of L, ,O92,044, Prussia with a population
of II, 7l4,024. Prussia, therefore, and
not Austria, is in point of population the
first German State, and this priority is
still more prominent if We take into ac-
count the provinces of both powers not
belonging to this Confederation.
Deducting the population Of the two
great German powers, population is left
'or the ether States of about 100000, |
With Federal Army of about 100000 |
As the record Of the votes of the Federal
Diet during the last years shows the
great majority Of the minor States side
With or at least lean toward Austria, and
t is still commonly believed, that soon
after an outbreak Of war between Austria
md Prussia, the Diet will declare a Fed,
eral war against Prussia.
All parties in Germany, Austria, Prus-
ia, the Minor Governments, and all the
political parties among the people, are in
aVor Of establishing Central National
Parliament, as a step toward the ultimate
Of one German Empire.
This point is therefore likely to be one of
he results of the impending war.