Area of the Kingdom in Geographical and English square miles-continued.

To the above is to be added the principality of Hohenzollern, comprising 452 English square miles, and the Jahdegebiet' of five square miles, making the total area of the kingdom 107,757 English square miles.

The inhabitants of Prussia are distributed over 1,000 towns, with 5,625,852 inhabitants, and over 332 districts of the country, with 12,865,368 inhabitants. The number of town and country districts is 345. The increase of the town population in the course of the last half-century has been greater in proportion than that of the population of the whole country. Thus, in 1816, Berlin had 197,717 inhabitants, and was the only city in Prussia that had more than 100,000, while there were but four that were over 50,000— namely, Breslau, 74,000; Königsberg, 61,000; Danzig and Cologne, each about 53,000. There were 25 towns that had more than 10,000. In 1861, Berlin had more than 500,000; Breslau, 150,000; and Cologne, 120,000; nine other cities had over 50,000, and altogether there were 91 towns over 10,000. These 91 contained more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, whilst the 30 largest towns of the year 1816, had in all only 900,000 souls.

The total population of Prussia in 1858 was 17,739,913; in 1819 the population was 10,981,934, which gives an increase of 61.34 per cent. for 39 years, and of 1.57 per cent. per annum. The increase from December 3, 1858, to December 3, 1861, amounted to 4.27 per cent.

According to the census of December 3, 1861, there were in the Prussian monarchy 2,480,609 inhabitants, or nearly one-seventh of the whole population, not belonging to the German race, or not making use of the German language in daily and familiar conversation. Disregarding the distinction between Low and High German, there are as many as ten different native languages spoken in Prussia. 15,718,600 Prussians speak German as their native tongue; 1,973,880 speak Polish (in the provinces of Prussia, Posen,

and Silesia); 233,341 speak Massuric (near Gumbinnen and Königsberg); 7,652 Kassubic (near Marienwerder, Königsberg, and Cöslin); Lithuanian is spoken by 136,990 persons (in the districts of Gumbinnen and Königsberg, where likewise 414 persons still speak the old Kuric or Kurish language); the Wendish is spoken by 82.232 persons (in the provinces of Prussia and Silesia); Bohemian by 10,317 persons (in Silesia); Moravian by 48,554 persons (in the district of Oppeln). Finally, Walloon is spoken by 10,502 persons, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Aix-la-Chapelle.

The census of 1861 gives the average density of the population at about 156 per English square mile. The variation, however, is considerable the density being highest in the manufacturing district of Düsseldorf, where it is nearly four times the average, and smallest in the district of Cüslin, where it amounts but to three-fifths of the average. The number of families amounts to 3,613,856, and therefore rather more than 20 per cent. of the population, giving nearly five persons to a family. The deaf and dumb numbered 14,223, of which 7,855 were men, 6,368 women; 10,524 were totally blind, 5,496 being men, and 5,028 women. There is therefore, on an average, one deaf and dumb person to every 1,211, and one blind in 1,731 of the population of Prussia.

Divorces are rather numerous in Prussia, owing, in part, to the legal facilities with which they are granted. During the year 1862 the number of divorces were 535 for adultery, 665 for cruel and malicious desertion, besides others on account of criminal convictions and for madness. In the same year the number of petitions sent in to the Superior Ecclesiastical Council by divorced persons for permission to marry again was 1,623, of which 1,168 were granted, 269 refused, and the balance remained still under consideration.

About eight millions and a half of the population are engaged in agriculture, as sole or chief occupation. Of these, 2,070,157 are proprietors of land, possessing from three to 400 acres, and more. The owners of three acres and less number 1,052,126; those of from three to eighteen acres are 598,134; from 18 tỏ 160 acres, 387,741; from 160 to 400 acres, 17,675; and above 400 acres, 14,481. As a rule, the least populated provinces contain the largest estates. It is stated that land is getting out of the hands of the nobility into those of the middle classes. The number of nobles, in 1861, amounted to 177,525 individuals, united in 7,093 noble houses, or families.

Trade and Commerce.

The statistics of Prussia with regard to commerce are not given separately, but are included in the calculations of the 'Zollverein,' or Prussian custom-house league. The value of the imports into the Zollverein, in 1858, amounted to 377,360,000 thalers, or

53,908,570.; the exports for 1858 amounted to 375,000,000 thalers, or 53,571,4307., making a total of 752,360,000 thalers, or 107,480,1007. The proportion per inhabitant was 22 thalers 12 silvergroschen, or about 3l. 4s. The value of the import of the fiscal produce was 45,610,000 thalers. The amount of duty paid on imports was, in 1858, 28,302,000 thalers; the amount of duty without the fiscal produce was 14,255,000 thalers. The percentage duty on imports to the total import was, in 1858, 7.50; without the fiscal produce, 4:30. The import of wheat was 1,266 hectolitres; the export of wheat was 4,233. Of other grain the import was 5,646; the export, 7,619. Of wine the import was 140,000; the export, 124,000. Of brandy the import was 23,000; the export, 110,000. The export of horses, asses, and mules was 7,953; the import, 28,457. The import of oxen was 89,703; the export, 92,316. Of sheep the import was 124,991; the export, 162,770. Of swine the import was 322,935; the export, 24,068.

Of colonial goods the following were the chief imports and exports. The import into the Zollverein of coffee was 575,004 centners, or hundred weights; the export, 32,000 centners. Of sugar the import was 349,546 centners; the export was 81,541. Of tea the import was 15,080 centners. Of tobacco the import was 252,351; the export was 333,443 centners. Of iron, the import of casting-iron was 2,000,306; the export, 74,061 centners. Of bar-iron the import was 308,060; the export, 92,038 centners. Of manufactured iron the import was 122,670, and the export, 348,830 centners. Of weaving materials there were imported into the Zollverein:

According to official information the gross receipts of the Zollverein, in the first six months of 1862, from January to June,

The principle of general liability to the service of arms, though strictly upheld in theory, has never been carried out in practice. According to the calculations of an eminent statistician,* the number of Prussian subjects liable, by their age, to be in the 'Landwehr,' in the year 1858, amounted to 1,078,566, while the real strength of the body consisted of but 386,253 men, of which number not more than two-thirds were actually under arms for annual practice.

Nearly the whole of the officers of the regular army, as well as militia, are drawn from the ranks of the nobility. The upper hierarchy of the army is composed entirely of noblemen. It is only among the artillery and the corps of engineers that gentlemen of education, not possessing rank and title, are allowed to rise to high commands.

The pay of the troops, officers as well as men, is very low. It amounts on the average, including officers and staff, to 97. 9s. 2d. per annum in the infantry; to 127. 8s. a year in the cavalry; and to 331. 1s. in the artillery. The seemingly much higher pay of the latter is due to a much larger staff, and altogether superior management. Official returns state that in no other European army is the mortality so small as in that of Prussia. During the ten years from 1829 to 1838, the average of deaths was one out of every 76. Since then a great improvement has taken place, for in 1860 only one died out of every 144, being barely 70 in every 10,000 men. This includes suicides, accidents, and invalids. Without the two former classes the mortality was one in 166, and, deducting also the invalids, one in 187.

Though Prussia has a large Roman Catholic population, the Protestant element preponderates in the army. The religious statistics of the year 1862 show that there are 11,298,276 Protestants, of whom 184,767 are in the army; 6,907,000 Roman Catholics, of whom 82,345 are in the army; 1,202 members of the Greek Church, of whom 6 are soldiers; 13,716 Anabaptists, of whom 8 are soldiers; 16,233 Dissenters, of whom 63 are soldiers; and 254,785 Jews, of whom 1,328 are in the army. This great preponderance of Protestants among the military is partly owing to the fact that out of nearly 8,000 officers in the active army, there are only a few hundred

* Chas. Fr. Wm. Dieterici, director of the 'Prussian Statistical Bureau.'

Catholics. In the military schools, out of 1,300 pupils, there are only from sixty to seventy Catholics.

There are 27 fortresses in the kingdom, of which five are of the first rank. They are garrisoned by 7,317 men in time of peace, and 135,182 during war, or preparation for war-Kriegs bereitschaft.' According to a statement of the Minister of War, laid before the second Chamber in the session of 1863, it is intended to strengthen and enlarge the whole of these fortifications. Only some old fortresses of minor importance in the interior of the country will provisionally remain without alteration; but eventually and by degrees they also will be completed with the current means at the disposal of the military administration. It is considered that the other fortresses, especially those on the frontier, urgently require strengthening. It is also stated that the powder magazines used in time of war are almost everywhere more or less exposed to the fire of the improved artillery of the present day; that there is an urgent need for the completion as speedily as possible of the works now in progress at the fortifications of Königsberg, Fort Boyen, Posen, and Spandau; that, at least, the fortresses of strategic importance should be completely armed with rifled guns, and that the others, according to their importance, should be half or partly armed with such weapons, and that to this end some guns intended for places indicated will be transferred elsewhere; and lastly, that for the present the security of the great harbours and mouths of rivers-such as Memel, Pillau, Dantzic, and Peenemunde-must be considered to be of paramount importance, in order to secure the places of commercial importance and the parts of the coast liable to the landing of an enemy. The execution of these measures will require the expenditure of the sum of 8,990,000 thalers, or 1,284,300l., to be thus distributed :-For the building operations and the necessary strengthening of the more important of the old fortresses, 3,000,000 thalers; for the security of the exposed powder magazines in the fortresses against improved artillery, 240,000 thalers; for the extension of the works of fortification at Königsberg, Fort Boyen, Posen, and Spandau, 2,450,000 thalers; for providing rifled guns for the speedy arming of the fortresses, 2,790,000 thalers; and, lastly, for the defence of the coasts, 450,000 thalers.

The formation of a navy for the kingdom dates from the year 1848. According to a return made by the Government in August 1863, the fleet of war at that period consisted of the following vessels :