Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/208

 I72 GERMANY LIPPE-DETMOLD.

Prince Georg Victor made an offer to abdicate the throne in favour of the King of Prussia, but the proposal was not accepted by the latter. Consequent upon further negotiations, a ' Treaty of Accession ' (Accessionsvertrag) was signed by the Prince on July 10, 1867, by which he surrendered his chief sovereign rights to King Wilhehn L, retaining; merely nominal power.

Constitution and Population.

The charter of the principality was granted Aug. 17, 1852. It provides for a legislative assembly of forty-one members, of which number eighteen are chosen by the nobility, thirteen by the in- habitants of towns, and ten by the people of the rural districts. On October 22, 1867, the assembly approved the ' Treaty of Accession ' concluded between the reigning Prince and King Wilhehn I., which made the administration of the country over to Prussia, restricting the authority of the representatives to purely local affairs.

The principality embraces an area of 466 English square miles, with a population, according to the census of 1867, of 56,809. All adhere to the reformed Protestant faith, with the exception of 1,164 Roman Catholics, 873 Jews, and a few Christian dissenters.

XVII. LIPPE-DETMOLD.

(FuilSTENTHUM LIPPE-DETMOLD.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Leopold II., Prince of Lippe-Detmold, born Sept. 1, 1821, the son of Prince Leopold, and of Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Son- dershausen ; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, Jan. 1, 1851; married, April 17, 1852, to Princess Elizabeth, born Oct. 1, 1833, daughter of Prince Albert of Schwarzburg-Eudolstadt. Heir-apparent is the Prince's brother, Prince Waldemar, born April 18, 1824 ; married, Nov. 9, 1858, to Princess Sophia of Baden.

The house of Lippe-Detmold is a younger branch of the family of Lippe, the ancestor of the line being Count Simon VII., who flourished in the latter part of the sixteenth century. A third line, Lippe-Brake, became extinct in 1709, and its territorial possessions, after a long struggle of arms, and a suit before the Imperial Aulic Council extending over a century, were divided between the two remaining houses, the greater share falling to Detmold. The Prince of Lippe-Detmold has a civil list amounting to about 10,000/., which is stated to be insufficient for the ex- penses of the court. Owing to financial distress, the late Prince,