Germans. With respect to religion they are thus divided:229,576 are Protestants, 9956 Catholics, and 1416 Jews.

There are 2 Protestant general-superintendantships, 24 dioceses, and 294 parishes. There are 10 Catholic parishes and one dean.

The university at Jena numbered 522 students in 1833. There are 2 gymnasiums, 69 town-schools, 543 country-schools, 2 seminaries for schoolmasters, 2 drawing academies, 1 institution for foresters, 1 school of art, 2 free trade-schools, and 2 schools for midwives.

The yearly expenditure for the years 1836, 1837, and 1838 has been fixed at 637,636 dollars, 7 groschen, 14 pfennigs.

The principal heads are as follows:

Dol. Gr. Pf.

Salaries of Officials

Costs of Administration

Extraordinary expenditure in extra-salaries and pensions, &c.

Contributions to the church and schools

Establishments and institutions of general utility

103,899 18 0

30,550 17 11

92,084 13 10

The introduction and administration of the customs, and

Agio-loss and extras

For the Reserve-fund

99,000 0 0

1,000 0 0

170,000 0 0

33,741 7 31

22,584 15 1

34,300 0 0 6,000 0 0

The revenue amounts to 749,845 dollars, 1 groschen, and 74 pfennigs, but if we add to this, the revenue of the domains, which amounts in round numbers to 680,000 dollars, the entire revenue of the duchy is, 1,429,845 dollars, 1 groschen, and 7 pfennigs.

The principal items of the revenue are the following:

Compound taxes

Tax on brandy

Produce of the salt-works, card-monopoly, malting-)

houses, tobacco-fields, and vineries

Universal direct tax on land and incomes

Agio-gain, and fines, rents, and etceteras

Dol. Gr. Pf.

2,624 18 7

79,367 21 31

86,399 13 6

151,034 5 24

3,629 6 11

The public debt amounts to 3,500,000 dollars; the exchequer (Kammer) debt to 1,000,000 dollars.

The army consists of 1 regiment of infantry, and 1 corps of hussars. The contingent to the army of the confederacy is 2010 men.

The government is monarchical and constitutional; the representatives form only one chamber. The grand duke, who is the head of the Ernestinian house of Saxony, has several rights in common with its other princes, with whom, and the king of Saxony, he is also united by a family contract (Hausverband). Females are excluded from the succession, which is hereditary.

The ministry of state consists of the minister of justice, home affairs, foreign affairs, police, ecclesiastical affairs, public instruction and war; of the minister of finance, of a privy-councillor, and of two referendaries; consequently, of only five persons.

The diet consists of 31 deputies, of whom, 1 is chosen by the University of Jena, 1 by the mediatized nobles: the possessors of seignorial estates choose 9; the towns 10; and the peasants 10.

The chief officers of court are, a grand chamberlain, 2 grand equerries, a grand huntsman, a grand marshal, a grand cupbearer, and a grand mistress of the court of her imperial highness the grand duchess.

This small state has acquired celebrity throughout the civilized world, from the home which it afforded to the most eminent of the German writers; for this advantage it was indebted to the wise liberality of the reigning family, who, in securing the presence of Herder, Goethe, and Schiller, conferred the most substantial benefits on their subjects, and in every sense, enriched them.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE DUCHY OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA.

Ruling Family. Provinces and Population. Principal Towns. Educational Institutions. Budget. Form of Government. Ministers. Administration of Justice. Officers of the Court. Sketch of the recent History of this Duchy. Physical Character of the Country ; Products; Manufactures; Exports. The Town of Coburg. The Town of Gotha. Fortunes of the Reigning Family.

COBURG is a country which has been as yet little visited by travellers, because it does not lie in the course of the great roads; but the fine scenery, the unsophisticated and original old German tone of manners, the economical mode of living, and the celebrity of its reigning family, will probably gradually attract many strangers.

The ducal house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is of the Lutheran religion. The reigning duke is Ernest, born January 2, 1784, who succeeded to the throne, December 9, 1806. He was married, first, to Louisa, princess of Saxe-Gotha, from whom he was separated in 1826, and who died in 1832, and, secondly, in 1832, to Maria, daughter of the late Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg. He has two sons: Ernest, the heir apparent, born June 21, 1818; and Albert, born the succeeding year. Of his two sisters, Julia, married to Prince Constantine of Russia, from whom she was divorced in 1820, is dead; the other is Victoria, duchess of Kent, born August 17, 1786: he has also two brothers, Ferdinand, born 1785, and Leopold, king of the Belgians, born 1790. The former has three sons and one daughter; the eldest son, Ferdinand, is married to Donna Maria, queen of Portugal. The following is a view of the provinces of the duchy and of their population:

According to the latest census, the entire population amounts to 131,861.

The principal towns are, Gotha (13,006 inhabitants), and Coburg (9067). With the exception of the Jews, all the inhabitants are Germans, and all are Lutherans, except 2000 Catholics and 1000 Jews.

In this duchy, there are three gymnasiums and classical schools, one academical gymnasium, two seminaries for schoolmasters, one ladies' school (at Coburg), 35 town schools, and 300 village schools.

The revenue is 1,100,000 florins. The public debt amounts to 3,000,000 florins. The contingent to the army of the confederacy is 1366 men.

The government is a constitutional monarchy: the representatives form one chamber only. Gotha, however, has still its old diet (three classes in one chamber). The qualification to vote for a deputy of the nobles is constituted by the possession of a seignorial estate (Rittergut). For the deputies of towns, every citizen is entitled to vote who has never been a bankrupt, and who has not been punished for transgression of the laws.

In the villages, the householders form the constituency. The deputies must be of the Christian religion, citizens of the state, thirty years of age, and men of unblemished reputation. Those of the towns and villages must have either an estate free from incumbrances, worth 5000 florins, or an annual income of 400 florins. Officers of the government appointed for the purpose, superintend the election of the knights and of the citizens; in the villages, the elections are superintended by the ordinary officials. The ministry is composed of one minister of state, and of three privy-councillors.

The highest court of justice is the supreme court of appeal ; the lower courts are the colleges of justice at Coburg and Gotha; and finally, throughout the country, justice is administered by bailiffs, magistrates, and patrimonial judges.

The chief officers of the court are, a first marshal of the court, and a grand equerry.

The present duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was formerly duke

423 of Saxe-Coburg and Saalfeld, but, in 1826, he ceded the latter, and obtained the duchy of Gotha, with the exception of the lordship of Kranichfeld. After this change of territory, one of the first acts of his government was the creation of a privy-council, consisting of the officers of government both in Coburg and Gotha. A decree of October 30, 1828, established in each duchy a separate college of justice, which takes cognizance of matrimonial matters, formerly falling under the jurisdiction of the consistorial court. Each duchy has its own system of internal administration, taxation and excise. On the other hand, for both Coburg and Gotha, there is only one high consistorial court for ecclesiastical affairs and for public instruction, and only one war-office. According to the new regulations, the fees which were formerly claimed by the officials are now the property of the state. In 1830, a journal was established for the more prompt promulgation of laws and edicts. On the 1st of July, 1829, the army was re-organized, so that the soldiers of both duchies (1366) in number) were made to form one infantry regiment of the line, divided into two battalions.

The funds for the preservation and increase of the books, pictures, and coins at Gotha, have been lately enlarged. The government has particularly distinguished itself in encouraging trade and commerce. Monopolies were abolished in Coburg, so early as 1812; in Gotha, in 1829. Exhibitions of home products, and trade schools, have been established; and all impediments to commerce have been removed.

The French revolution of 1830, produced a temporary sensation in Coburg and Gotha, which led to no important results. But in the distant principality of Lichtenberg, which had been ceded to the duke, by the congress of Vienna, in 1816, its effects were such as not only to disquiet the inhabitants, but also to weaken the moral force of the government. Awakened by these circumstances to a sense of the difficulty of governing a separate territory, inhabited by a restless population, the duke of SaxeCoburg-Gotha has since sold the principality of Lichtenberg to the king of Prussia.

In this duchy, no preference is given to birth in electing