National Republican., 1886-08-01

| pTlnOEenlJufe ana llncal descent. Besides
these hereditary members, there were to be
ninety deputies directly elected by electoral
districts consisting of n number Of electors
who pay the highest taxes to the state !;
and, in addition, other thirty members
elected by the members of the municipal
councils of large towns. This original COM
position of the house ofthe lords was greatly
modified by the royal decree of 1854, which
brought into life the upper chamber in its
present form. 1t is composed of, first, the
princes of the royal family who are of age
including the sCions of the formerly sover-
eign families of n-lleChingen
and Ilohenzollern.Sig .Sigmaringcn secondly,
the chiefs of the mediatised princely houses
recognized by the congress of Vienna;
thirdly, the heads of the territorial nobility
formed by the king, and numbering some
fifty members; fourthly, Il number of life
peers chosen by the king among the class
of rich landowners, great manufacturers,
and national celebrities; filthy, eight titled
noblemen elected in the eight provinces of
Prussia by the resident landsmen of all de-
grees siXthly, the representatives of uni
vcrsities, the heads of chapters, and the
burgomasters of towns with above 10000
inhabitants; and, seventhly, an unlimited
number of members nominated by the
king for life, or for q more or less restricted
period.
! lIb bctOnu CIluOlDcT CONSISTS OF 10
members, 352 for the old kingdom, and the
rest added in 1867 to represent the newly
annexed provinces; the proportion to the
| population is | to every GG,OOO. Every
Prussian who has attained his 2jth year,
and is qualified to vote for the municipal
elections of his place of domicile, is eligi-
BILE to vote as indirect elector. Persons
who are entitled to vote for municipal
elections in several parishes can only eX-
ercise the right of indirect elector, or
"Urwhler," in one. One direct elector,
or "Wahlmann,' is elected from every
complete number Of $50 souls.
The executive government is carried on
by ministry of state, the members of
which are appointed by the King, and hold
office at his pleasure. The ministry of
state is divided into ten departments, as
follows: O) President of the council of
ministers; (2) vice-president of the council
of ministers and minister OF the interior /;
(3) minister of state and imperial secretary
of state for foreign affairs; (4l minister of
state and imperial secretary of state for the
interior; o. the ministry of war; (6) the
ministry of public works; (7) the ministry
of agriculture, domains, and forests; (S) the
ministry of justice; (0) the ministry of
, public worship, instruction, and medicinal
affairs; lO) the ministry of finance; Ql)
the ministry of commerce and industry
, The salary of the president of the council
prince Bismarck) is Sl3,5O0 and that OF
each of the other ministers $4,000.
CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE
r bears date April 1G, 1871. By its terms
all the states of Germany form an eternal
. union for the protection of the realm and
{ the care of the welfare of the German peo
: pie" The supreme direction of the mill
tary and political affairs of the empire is
> vested in the King of Prussia, who, as such
bears the title of DeutsCher Kaiser. Ac
cording to article . of the constitution "thC
kaiser represents the empire information.
ally" and can declare war, if defensive, and
g make peace, as well as enter into treaties
with other nations, and appoint and re-
ceive ambassadors. To declare war, if not
merely defensive, the kaiser must have the
? consent of the bundesrath, or federal coun,
/ ell, in which body, together with the
, reichstag, or diet of the realm are vested
the legislative functions of the empire
The bundesrath represents the individual
states of Germany, and the reichstag the
! German nation. The members of the
bundesrath, siXty-two in number, are ap.
" pointed by the governments of the indi.
3 vidual states for each session, while the
I, members of the reichstag, 307 in number
are elected by universal suffrage and ballot
for the term of three years.
} CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT or FRANCE
3 The present constitution of France, voted
$ by the national assembly elected in 1877
bears date February 25 1875, and was par.
italy revised in July, 1854. ard D.
II crsts NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. IN an assem-
bly, of two houses-the chamber of deputies
and the senate-and the executive in q
chief magistrate called president of the re-
public. The chamber of deputies is elected
/ H., {
de lste" adopted by the national assembly
June IS, 1885. Each department forms u
single electoral district or circumspection,
and chooses a number of deputies in pro-
portion to the population, in the ratio of
one deputy to 10000 inhabitants, foreigners
not included. Each department elects at
least three deputies, the territory of Beliort
only two. The department Of the Seine
has 3S. The total number of deputies is 5S4
of whom 56S are for France, 6 for Algeria,
and 10 for the colonies. In France and Al
gera, in 1885, there were IL, 1867 POP electors
of whom there voted at the election of that
year 7,169,629. An eleCtor must be 81 years
old and be possessed of citizenship, which
is obtained by two years residence in any
one town or canton. Men once convicted
of felony or desertion are perpetually dis
franchised, while the only requisite for q
deputy is to be citizen and % years of age
| NlcllDclS vi IdlllllltS WHO nave IelglltU III
France are ineligible to the chamber OF
deputies.
: The senate is composed of 500 members
: of whom 75 originally held their seats for
: life; but by the senate bill of 1854, it was
? enacted that vacancies among the existing
, life senatorships should be filled up as they
arose by the election of ordinary nine-year
= senators. In time, therefore, the seats oi
= the 20 life senators will have been distrib,
uted among the different departments by
ballot, and prOportionately to departmental
population. The departmental senatorships
are divided into three classes Originally OF
) 10 EACH one class retiring by rotation every
r three years. The election of these sena-
. tors is by an indirect process In the first
= instance, the communes, or municipalities
? of France, large and small, elect, by ma.
: iOrity of their members, each one delegate
or more, according to population. The
! delegates, after lapse of two months, meet
! together, along with the members of eacl
! departmental council-general and the depu
ties of the department, who are cr-Qdci,
senatorial electors, to choose the senators
4 by the revision of 1854, Paris has thirty
$ senators, and some other large cities twenty
Or. Ton, NJ.