Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/203

 CONSTITUTION, REVENUE, AND TOPULATION. 1 67

1824 ; married, April 28, 1853, to Duke Ernst of Saxe-Altenburg. 2. Prince Friedrich, heir-apparent, born April 29, 1831 ; married, April 22, 1854, to Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. Offspring of the marriage are four sons and two daughters. 3. Princess Marie, born Sept. 14, 1837 ; married, Nov. 29, 1854, to Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia.

The Dukes of Anhalt trace their origin to Bernhard, son of the celebrated Albert the Bear, Margrave of Brandenburg, who died in 1211. The family, in the course of time, split into numerous branches, now reduced to the present line. At the establishment of the Germanic Confederation, in 1815, there were three reigning Dukes of Anhalt, namely of Anhalt- Cothen, Anhalt-Bernburg, and Anhalt- Dessau. The first of these lines became extinct in 1847 ; and the second on August 19, 1863, leaving the former house of Anhalt- Dessau the sole heir of the family territory. In 1806, the Princes of Anhalt took the title of Dukes, on joining the Confederation of the Rhine. The Duke of Anhalt has a civil list of 198,250 thaler, or 29,737/., including the allowances to the younger members of the house. The family has, besides, very large private estates in Saxony, Eastern Prussia, and the Crimea, embracing an area of more than 200 square miles.

Constitution, Revenue, and Population.

On Oct. 29, 1848, a charter was given to the duchy, which ■was repealed by decree of the sovereign of Nov. 4, 1851. A new constitution, proclaimed Sept. 17, 1859, and modified again by a decree of Sept. 17, 1863, allows merely a nominal representation of the people, leaving nearly the whole legislative, as well as the executive, power in the hands of the duke.

The Government consists of three departments, namely, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Justice ; the Ministry of Finance ; and the Ministry of the Interior.

The financial accounts of the years 1866-69 exhibited an average, public income of 1,889,492 thaler, or 284,902/., and an expenditure of 1,851,183 thaler, or 277,676/. per annum. More than a third of the revenue is derived from State property, and the rest chiefly from indirect taxes. The largest item in the expen- diture is the civil list of the ducal house. The public debt amounted, on Jan. 1, 1869, to 3,658,125 thaler, or 548,718/.

The duchy comprises an area of 869 English square miles, with a population of 197,041, according to the census of 1867. Nearly the whole of the inhabitants belong to the reformed Protestant Church.