Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/200

 164 GERMANY — MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ.

There was, at that date, the following religious division of the inhabitants : — Protestants, 269,007 ; Roman Catholics, 9,927 ; Greek Catholics, 48 ; Mennonites, 2 ; other Christian sects, 43 ; Jews, 1,129.

XI. MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ.

(Grossherzogthum Mecklenburg- Strelitz.) Reigning Sovereign.

Friedrich Wilhelm I., Grand-duke of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, born Oct. 17, 1819, the son of Grand-duke Georg and of Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel ; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, Sept. 6, 1860; married, June 24, 1843, to Augusta, born July 19, 1822, the daughter of the late Duke Adolphus of Cam- bridge. Offspring of the union is Prince Adolf Friedrich, heir- apparent, born July 22, 1848.

The reigning house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was founded, in 1701, by Duke Adolf Friedrich, youngest son of Duke Adolf Friedrich II. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. There being no Jaw of primogeniture at the time, the Diet was unable to prevent the division of the country, which was protested against by subsequent Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The Congress of Vienna per- mitted Duke Karl Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to adopt the title of Grand-duke, notwithstanding the exceedingly limited extent of his territory. He is, however, one of the wealthiest of German sovereigns, more than one-half of the country being his own private property. A territory of seven square miles, with 10,000 souls, which was added to the newly created Grand-duchy in 1815, was sold by the late Grand-duke Georg to Prussia, on May 21, 1819, for the sum of 1,000,000 thaler, or ' 100 thaler per soul.' It is calculated that the income of the Grand-ducal family amounts at present to at least 230,000^. a year.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

The country is divided into two separate provinces, the first of which, Stargard, has a Diet composed of landowners, while the second, Ratzeburg, has no representative institutions whatever. The Stargard Diet periodically joins the legislative assembly of Meck- lenburg-Schwerin. Only the possession of a Rittergut, or knight's estate, gives right to a seat in the Diet, to which neither the towns