In times of peace, the field army has 804 pieces of ordnance; in time of war, 1,272. The conference of plenipotentiaries of the states belonging to the North-German Confederation, which had assembled in Berlin in December, 1866, for the purpose of drafting a Federal constitution, brought its deliberations to a close on the 9th of February, 1867. In nouncing the success of the conference, the official organ of the Prussian Government commented upon the readiness of the different States to resign a portion of their individual rights in favor of a common organization of Germany, and, in particular, upon the spirit of conciliation shown by Saxony.

A resolution, passed by the conference on the 18th of January, authorized Prussia to subit to the German Parliament the draft of the constitution, and also to represent the views of the conference to the Parliament.

The elections for the North-German Parliament took place on 12th of February, and a royal patent, published on the 14th of February, Convoked the Parliament to meet at Berlin on the 24th of February. Delegates were chosen at the rate of one deputy for every 100,000 inhabitants, and the whole Parliament, therefore, Lumbered 296 deputies. In Prussia Proper the Conservative party was very successful, aining largely over the Liberal party in the ountry districts in nearly every province, while most of the large cities chose, as hereto fore, Liberals. The former kingdom of HanOver elected partly liberal adherents of the annexation of Hanover to Prussia, and partly Conservatives ("Particularists"), devoted to the interests of the former dynasty. A majority of the aggregate popular vote was in favor of the Liberal candidate. In the city of Frankfort the Baron von Rothschild received an almost unanimous vote. Nassau and HesseCassel chose overwhelmingly Liberals, but Schleswig-Holstein sent seven adherents of the

VOL. VII.-24

Duke of Augustenburg and two Danes. About a dozen deputies were chosen as "Catholics," in Silesia, Westphalia, and the Rhine provinces, and an equal number of Poles in Posen and the province of Prussia. The majority of the deputies from the kingdom of Saxony were opponents of the Prussian policy, while those from the minor states were nearly all members of the National Liberal party, disapproving of the home policy of the Prussian Government, but supporting the Prussian scheme of the NorthGerman Confederation. Among the number elected were Count Bismarck, Prince Frederick Charles (nephew of the King), Generals Vogel von Falkenstein, Steinmetz, Moltke, the Dukes of Ratibor and Ujest, the Princes Pless, Hohen-Salms and Lichnowsky, Count Schwerin, Baron von Vincke, Herren von Unruh, and Forckenbeck, President of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, Herren Simson (President of the German Parliament of 1849), Schulze-Delitzsch, Waldeck, Freytag (the celebrated novelist), Herr von Bennigsen, President of the National Verein, and many others known as prominent men in the politics or literature of Germany. On the opening of the Parliament the distribution of parties was as follows (some members belonging to no party, and some districts being still unrepresented): Conservatives, 68; Liberal (or Free) Conservatives, 40; National Liberals, 79; Centre (including most of the members elected as "Catholics") 27; Left, 19; Hanoverians and Saxons, 30; Poles, 13; Danes, 2.

The Parliament was opened by the King of Prussia on the 24th of February, by the following speech:

Illustrious Nobles and Honorable Gentlemen of the North-German Confederation: It is an elevating moment in which I come among you. Mighty events have brought it about. Great hopes are bound up with it. I thank Divine Providence, who has led along roads we neither chose nor foresaw, for the Germany toward the object desired by her people privilege of giving expression to these hopes, in community with an assembly such as has not surrounded any German prince for centuries. Relying upon this the clearer we recognize, looking back upon the hisguidance, we shall attain that object all the earlier tory of Germany, the causes that have led us and our forefathers away from it. Formerly powerful, great, and honored, because united and guided by strong hands, the German empire did not sink into dissension and weakness without both its head and its members being in fault. Deprived of weight in the councils of Europe, of influence over her own history, Germany became the arena of the struggles of foreign powers, for which she furnished the blood of her children, the battle-fields, and the prizes of combat but the longing of the German people for what it had lost has never ceased, and the history of our time is filled with the efforts of Germany and her people to If these efforts regain the greatness of the past. have hitherto not attained their object-if they have

only increased dissension in place of healing it, because people allowed themselves to be deceived by hopes or reminiscences as to the value of the present, by ideals as to the importance of facts-we recognize therefrom the necessity of seeking the union of the German people in company with facts and of not again sacrificing what is within our reach to what we may desire. In this sense the allied Governments, in accordance with former accustomed practice, have

agreed upon a number of defined and limited, but practically important arrangements, as immediately possible as they are undoubtedly requisite. The draft of the constitution that will be laid before you asks from the independence of individual states, for the benefit of the whole, only such sacrifices as are indispensable to protect peace, to guarantee the security of federal territory, and the development of the prosperity of the inhabitants.

I have to thank my allies for the readiness with which they have met the requirements of the common fatherland. I express this gratitude with the consciousness that I, too, should have been found ready to display the same devotion to the general welfare of Germany if Providence had not placed me, as heir to the Prussian crown, at the head of the most powerful state of the Confederation, and for that reason the one called to the leadership of the commonwealth. I feel myself, however, strong in the conviction that all the successes of Prussia have been at the same time toward the restoration and elevation of German power and honors, notwithstanding the general readiness; and although the mighty events of the past year have convinced all men of the indispensable necessity of reconstructing the German constitution, thus rendering the public mind more favorably inclined toward such a measure than it was previously, and perhaps might be at a later period again, we have anew perceived during the negotiations how difficult is the task of obtaining complete unanimity between so many independent Governments, which have also in their concessions to bear in mind the views of their separate estates. The more, gentlemen, you realize these difficulties, the more carefully, I am convinced, you will bear in mind, in your examination of the draft, the heavy responsibility for the dangers to the peaceful and legal execution of the work that has been commenced which might arise if the agreement arrived at with the Governments upon the bill now laid before could not again be obtained for the alterations demanded by the Parliament.

you

The point of supreme importance at present is not to neglect the favorable moment for establishing the

building. Its more perfect completion can then safely remain intrusted to the subsequent combined coöperation of the German sovereigns and races. The regulation of the national relations of the North-German Confederation toward our brothers south of the Main has been left by the peace treaties of last year to the voluntary agreement of both parties. Our hands will be openly and readily extended to bring about this understanding as soon as the North German Confederation has advanced far enough the settlement of its constitution to be empowered to conclude treaties. The preservation of the Zollverein, the common promotion of trade, and a common guarantee for the security of German territory, will form fundamental conditions of the understanding which, it may be foreseen, will be desired by both parties. As the direction of the German mind generally turned toward peace and its labors, the confederate association of the German states will mainly assume a defensive character. The German move

ment of recent years has borne no hostile tendency toward our neighbors, not striving after conquest,

but has arisen solely from the necessity of affording the broad domains from the Alps to the sea the fundamental conditions of political progress, which the march of development in former centuries has impeded. The German races unite only for defence and not for attack, and that their brotherhood is also regarded in this light by adjacent nations is proved by the friendly attitude of the mightiest European States, which see Germany, without apprehension and envy, take possession of those same advantages of a great political commonwealth which they themselves have already enjoyed for centuries.

It, therefore, now only depends upon us, upon our unity and our patriotism, to secure to entire Ger

many the guarantees of a future in which, free from the danger of again falling into dissension and weakness, she will be able to further, by her own decision, her constitutional development and prosperity, and to fulfil her peace-loving mission in the councils of upon

nations.

I trust in God that posterity, looking back our common labors, will not say that the experience of former unsuccessful attempts has been useless to the German people, but that, on the other hand, our children will thankfully regard this Parliament as the commencement of the unity, freedom, and power of the Germans.

Gentlemen, all Germany, even beyond the limits of our Confederation, anxiously awaits the decisions that may be arrived at here. May the dream of centuries, the yearning and striving of the youngest generations, be realized by our common work! In the name of all the allied Governments-in the name of Germany-I confidently call upon you to help as rapidly and safely to carry out the great national task; and may the blessing of God, upon which every thing depends, accompany and promote the patriotic work!

At the conclusion of this speech, Count Bismarck, in the name of the commissioners of Federal Governments, declared the Parliament opened. On March 2d the Parliament elected as president Dr. Simson (Liberal), the Speaker of the first Germanic Parliament, by 127 votes. of the Prussian Upper House (candidate of the The other candidates, Count Stolberg, president Conservatives), Herr Wächter (candidate of the "Particularists" of Saxony and Hanover), and Duke Ujest obtained respectively 95, 12, and 5 votes. Duke Ujest (Free Conservative) was elected first vice-president, and Herr Bennigsen (National Liberal), president of the National Verein, second vice-president.

in North Schleswig, protested against the inThe Poles, together with two Danes elected corporation of the districts which they represented in a German Parliament, and thereby called forth a very severe reply from Count Bismarck. The Conservatives, Free Conservatives, Old Liberals, and National Liberals united on the whole in the support of the draft of the constitution, although they offered many draft of the constitution appeared too illiberal, amendments. To the members of the Left the to the Particularists too centralizing, and to the Catholics too regardless of Austria.

The deliberations of the Parliament lasted until April 16th, when the Federal constitution was adopted by 230 against 53 votes. On April 17th Count Bismarck declared that the Confederate Governments had unanimously approved the constitution as adopted by Parliament. On the same day the constituent Parliament was closed by the King of Prussia.

The following are the main points of the new Federal constitution:

CHAP. I. (on territory) enumerates the twentytwo states which belong to the new North-German Confederation.

CHAP. II. (federal laws) enacts that the Confedera ation, in its own territory, shall exercise the right of making laws; that the federal laws are superior to the local, and that there is no longer in the Confederation more than one single native right, the inhabit

idents Duke Ujest and Herr von Bennigsen, were reclected. The Poles in this Parliament counted only ten members. In Schleswig, in consequence of the restitution of the four electoral districts, the Danes carried their candidate only in the first district (by 13,955 to 1,939 votes). In the second district, which at the election for the first Parliament had elected a Dane, the German candidate was elected by a majority of 8,573 to 7,618 votes. In the whole of Schleswig the Danish party got more votes than the German, the actual number being 25,598 votes for the Danish and 24,664 for the German candidates.

The second (or first legislative) session of the North-German Parliament was opened by the King of Prussia on September 10th. The King, in his opening speech, thus referred to the proclamation of the Federal constitution and the relations with the South-German states:

The constitution of the North-German Confederation has in a constitutional manner become law in all the Federal states. The Federal Council has entered upon its functions, and to-day I herewith, with joyful confidence, bid welcome, in my name and the name of my illustrious alliés, to the first Parliament assembled on the basis of the Federal constitution. Immediately after the promulgation of the Federal constitution an important step was taken toward regulating the national relations of the Confederation with the states of South Germany. The German sentiments of the allied Governments have created for the Zollverein a new basis corresponding with the altered circumstances, and a treaty concluded on that account, and approved by the Federal Council, will be laid before you.

The Parliament almost unanimously agreed to the Zollverein treaties and to the budget. The bill respecting the nationality of merchant vessels was adopted with some modifications, paragraph 2 being altered so as to provide that only ships that belong exclusively to NorthGerman subjects shall be entitled to carry the Federal flag. The bill respecting liability to military service was amended so as to provide that every citizen of the Confederation should be liable to serve without the option of finding a substitute, excepting in the case of members of reigning families, as well as of the houses of mediatized princes, and of those who formerly possessed the prerogatives of the states of the empire, or who were freed by special treaties or special rights from liability to do military service. Another amendment (to paragraph 6), which was adopted, notwithstanding the opposition of Count Bismarck, confers the right upon the commanderin-chief to increase the army as far as necessary. Thus amended, the bill was adopted October 19th by a large majority. The postal bill was passed, with an amendment of Herr Wiggers upon the inviolability of letters, which was adopted by 135 against 94 votes. The Govern ment at first opposed the amendment, but gave its consent after the above vote of Parliament, when the whole bill was adopted unanimously. The bill abolishing the restriction on working men's coalitions was passed. The bill upon

freedom of settlement was adopted as framed by the committee, with some slight modifications. The Parliament also passed a resolution calling upon the Federal chancellor to introduce next session a measure relating to trade, based upon free-trade principles; and another resolution asking for the presentation of a bill respecting the inviolability of domicile. The bill upon the rates of postage in North Germany was adopted with some amendments, including one proposed by Herr Evelt, which required the conclusion of an arrangement with the South-German states for the establishment of the same postal rates as in North Germany. The sitting of Parliament was closed by the King of Prussia on October 26th, by a speech, in which he expressed the greatest satisfaction with its work.

On June 3d a conference was opened at Berlin with the ministers of the four states of South Germany, to deliberate upon the basis of a reorganization of the Zollverein. The following stipulations were, on June 4th, agreed

to:

The treaties of the Zollverein concluded on the 16th May, 1865, for a period of twelve years, remain in force. The Southern states give up their power of veto; the customs' legislation henceforth belongs to the Federal Council of the Northern Confederation, to which the Southern states will send thirteen plenipotentiaries, in the following proportions: Bavaria, 6; Wurtemberg, 4; Baden, 3; and Hesse-Darmstadt, 2; the Southern states will also be represented in the Reichstag, to which it will send 86 deputies, chosen according to the electoral law of that Confederation, as follows: By Bavaria, 48; Wurtemberg, 15; Bacerning the important modifications of the tariffs of den, 14; Hesse-Darmstadt, 6. The proposals confundamental institutions of the Zollverein will be first discussed by the Federal Council. If there is a divergency of opinion, the vote of Prussia will be decisive in the event of its being given for the maintenance of the existing dispositions. The states of the Zollverein abandon the privileges which some of them have hitherto enjoyed. Those of Southern Germany consent to establish on their territories the tax on tobacco, which, according to the constitution of the North, will be established also in the Northern states. After the ratification of these preliminaries, the general conference of the Zollverein, consisting of representatives of Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Saxony, and the states of draw up, on the bases put forward, the new treaty Thuringen and Oldenburg, will assemble at Berlin to constituting the German Zollverein.

The preliminaries having been ratified by the South-German states, the general conference of the Zollverein assembled at Berlin on June 26th, in accordance with the provision agreed upon on June 4th for drawing up the new treaty constituting the German Zollverein. The new treaty having received the sanction of all the South-German Diets, the exchange of ratifications took place at Berlin, on October 30th, with Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, and in the first days of November with Bavaria and Wurtomberg.

III. The South-German States.-The popula tion of these states, according to the census of 1864, was as follows:

Hesse-Darmstadt (except the province of Upper Hesse, which forms part of the North-German Confederation).

Total.

Population.

4,774,464 1,748,828 1,429,199

564,465 8,516,456 The idea of establishing a South-German Confederation was abandoned by the governments of all these states; but their views concerning their relations to the North-German Confederation considerably differed. The Grand-duke of Baden, on opening the Diet of the grand-duchy on September 5th, officially announced that it was his firm determination to bring about a national union of the South-German states with the North-German Confederation, and to that end he as well as his people would willingly make the sacrifices inseparably connected with their entry into the union. This opinion was supported by nearly all the members of the Diet. In Hesse-Darmstadt, the Second Chambers, by 32 against 15 votes, adopted a resolution advocating the entry of the whole of the grand-duchy into the North-German Confederation, but the Government declared that it was impossible to execute this resolution. The Governments of Bavaria and Wurtemberg were in favor of a faithful execution of the treaties concluded with Prussia, but did not wish to proceed further.

On February 3d a conference began at Stuttgardt of representatives of the four South-German states for the purpose of discussing the introduction of a uniform militia organization of the South-German states. The conference was held upon an invitation from Bavaria, and was closed on February 5th. The following resolutions were agreed upon as the basis for further military arrangements.

1. The representatives here assembled recognize it as a national necessity to organize the defensive forces of their countries in such a manner as to admit of common action commanding respect.

2. They therefore agree, reserving the constitutional cooperation of their estates, to increase their military forces as largely as possible upon a system similar in principle to that of Prussia, which will render them fitted for upholding the national integrity in common with the remainder of Germany. 3. The principles of this system, common to all the four states, shall be:-a. The principle of general liability according to which the entire capable male population is summoned under arms without admission of substitutes. b. The time of service, save where the recruit joins voluntarily earlier, begins with the completion of the 20th year and in no case later than with the completion of the 21st year. After expiry of the three years' term of active service the men join the war reserve of their division, with liability to be employed in the line in time of war. d. The principle of the Prussian system is met by a strength amounting in the standing army (line and war reserve) to about 2 per cent, of the population, of which, upon the average, one-half-that is, 1 per cent.-constitutes the actual effective force. The four Governments will endeavor to reach these percentages as nearly as possible, but will in no case admit a percentage lower than a minimum of 14 per cent. for the general strength of the standing army,

c.

and of per cent. for the actual effective force. e. After expiry of the time of service in the standing army, the men shall enter the reserve battalions (first ban of the Landwehr) to be constituted according to administrative (Landwehr) districts, with short periods of drill in time of peace, and employment equally with the line in war. . Time of service in the standing army and in the reserve battalions (Landwehr) shall end at latest with the completion of the 32d year. g. Arrangements as to further service in the second ban of the Landwehr and in the Landsturm do not come within the scope of the present deliberations. h. Marriages and emigration are not permitted during the three years' time of active service. i. Due provision shall be made for the supply of capable non-commissioned officers.

4. With regard to the organization of their armies, the assembled representatives recognize the principle that each of the forces shall be so subdivided and equipped as may be essential for their common action together and with the remainder of Germany. 6. Determination with regard to the fortresses of Ulm and Rastadt is postponed until the close of the negotiations as to the division of Federal property, which are to be forwarded as greatly as possible.

Resolution 5 details the basis upon which the aforesaid common action is to be founded. These may be briefly stated as unity of drill and similarity of tactical formation, unity of arins and ammunition, similarity in the practice of manœuvres upon a large scale, and equality of education for officers.

On December 7th a conference of military representatives from the South-German states was held at Munich. At this conference a general desire was displayed for the loyal execution of the resolutions passed at the conference held in February at Stuttgardt. These were for the common introduction, as far as possible, of the fundamental principles of the Prussian military system, so as to provide for the South-German states being equally ready with the troops of the Bund to take the field. The regulations necessary for this purpose are expected to be shortly issued. With regard to the question of the fortresses, the conference came to an understanding in principle, although obstacles to practical measures still exist..

GIBSON, WILLIAM, D. D., an Irish Presbyterian clergyman and professor, born in Ballymena, Ireland, in 1809; died of apoplexy, near Rathmines, one of the suburbs of Dublin, June 8, 1867. After enjoying the advantages of the schools of his native town, he completed his collegiate and theological training at the University of Edinburgh, being a pupil of Dr. Chalmers in theology. He returned to Ireland, while yet a stripling, and was ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church at Balletray, in County Monaghan, but after a short time accepted an invitation to become the assistant and eventually the successor of the late Dr. Hanna, of Rosemary-Street Church, Belfast. Here he continued in the pastorate for nearly thirty years, holding for a part of that time the professorship of Moral Philosophy in the Presbyterian College at Belfast, for which eventually he relinquished the pastorate. A few years since he visited the United States as a delegate from the Irish Presbyterian General Assembly,