650
GERMAN EMPIRE : — OLDENBURG
nearly 400 square miles, with 50,000 inlialntants, bestowing at the same time upon the Prince the title of Grand-duke. Part of the. new territory consisted of the Prineipality of Birkenfeld, on the left bank of the Rhine, close to the French frontier, and some three hundred miles distant from Oldenburg. The other part consists of the Principality of Liibeck. The Grand-duke has a civil list of 255,000 marks, or 12,750Z. ; he draws also a considerable revenue from private estates of the family in Holstein, Silesia, and Russia.
Constitution and Revenue.
A Constitution was given to the Grand-duchy on February 18, 1849, revised by a decree of November 22, 1852. The legislative power is exercised by a Landtag, or Diet, elected for three years, by the vote of all citizens paying taxes and not condemned for felony by a court of justice. The mode of election is indirect. One delegate ( Wahlmann) for every 500 inhabitants is chosen by the iirst electors ; and these delegates, grouped in nine districts, elect 37 deputies, or one for every 10,000 inhabitants. The executive is vested, under the Grand-duke, in a responsible ministry of three departments. The Principalities of Liibeck and Birkenfeld have also provincial councils (Provinzialnithe), both of 15 members, summoned twice a year by the provincial government.
The budgets are voted for three years at a time, and are divided into the budget of the Grand-duchy and the budgets of the Duchy of Oldenburg and the Principalities of Liibeck and Birkenfeld. The estimated revenue of the Duchy and Principalities is :— 1894, 13,863,471 marks ; 1895, 9,174,971 marks; 1896, 9,210,571 marks ; 1897, 10,350,382 marks. The estimated expenditure :— 1894, 10,526,316 marks ; 1895, 10,369,137 marks ; 1896, 10,445,551 marks ; 1897, 8,949,581 marks. For 1898 the revenue is put at 7,242,612, and expenditure at 7,834,000 marks. The debt of the Grand- duchy amounted, at the beginning of 1898, to 50,408,043 marks.
Area and Population.
Oldenburg embraces an area of 2,479 English square miles. The popu- lation of the chief divisions was in 1895 : — Duchy of Oldenburg, 295,990 ; Principality of Liibeck, 35,501 ; Principality of Birkenfeld, 42,248. Total, 373,739, (males, 186,170 ; females, 187,569, i.e. 1007 per 100 males).
The growth of the population since 1867, when the Duchy attained its present limits, is as follows :— 1867, 315,995 ; 1871, 312,728 ; 1875, 319,314 ; 1880, 337,478; 1885, 341,525; 1890, 354,968.
In 1895 only 26 '6 per cent, of the population lived in towns with 2,000 inhabitants or upwards. Oldenburg, the capital, had 25,472 inhabitants in 1895.
In 1896 there were 3,194 marriages, 13,490 births, 7,047 deaths ; surplus of Inrths, 6,443. Of the births 422 (3"1 per cent.) were still-born, and 752 (5 "6 per cent.) illegitimate. The emigration statistics for eight years are as follows : —
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1,001
1,142
1,296
1,123
680
526
340
271
