Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/108

 100 DIET sions. The emperor, who formerly appeared iu person, was now represented by a principal commissary, and all members of the empire by plenipotentiaries or agents. The diet consisted of three divisions, the so-called colleges of electors, princes, and imperial cities. The elector of Mentz, the archchancellor of the empire, presided in the electoral college, the archbishop of Salzburg and the archduke of Austria alternately in the college of princes, and the city where the session was held in that of the cities. The electors and cities had individual votes, as well as the chief members of the college of princes, while the imperial counts and imperial prelates, who belonged to the latter, had only collective votes by benches, of which there were four of counts and two of prelates. Resolutions were passed by ma- jority, except in religious matters and those concerning individual members of the empire alone. But the concurrence of all the three colleges and the ratification of the emperor were required to establish a decree of the em- pire (Reichsschluss). Concurrence in case of difference of opinion was obtained by recon- sideration and conference. The emperor had the right of rejection of the whole or a part of the bill, but not of modification. The col- lection of resolutions passed and sanctioned by a diet was termed imperial recess (Reichs- abschied). The diet framed the laws of the empire, abolished and explained them, de- clared war and made peace, received and sent envoys, and concluded treaties. Imperial wars were proposed by the emperor, decided upon by majority, and carried on by the contingents of both the majority and the minority. The administration of the German confederation (Bund), which lasted, with some modifications, from 1815 to 1866, was vested in a diet (Bun- destag or Bundesversammlung), the members of which were appointed by the various gov- ernments, Austria being the leading power, tb.ough the leadership came to be disputed by Prussia. (See GERMANY.) The Polish diet (sejm) dates principally from the reign of Ladislas the Short, who in 1331 assembled all the nobles of his kingdom. Its form was es- tablished by law under Casimir IV. In the last period of independent Poland it was con- vened regularly every two years, for a session of no more than six weeks, twice successively in Warsaw and the third time at Grodno, in Lithuania. It consisted of a senate and a chamber of deputies (poset, plur. posfowie). The latter were elected in previous municipal or district assemblies (sejmiTc, little diet). Af- ter the verification of their powers, the diet ejected their president or marshal (marszatelc). The initiation of measures was a royal prerog- htiv,-. tin- sov.-ivif.rn furnishing a list of subjects t<. ]..-<n<ru^i<l during the session. In case of ur- gency the king could convoke an extraordinary remain in session only two weeks. The most remarkable feature of the Polish diet was the so-called lilerum veto, or the right of each DIETERICI member to prevent the enactment of a law or measure by individual opposition (nie pozwa- lam, I do not allow, or veto). This extreme of liberty, unknown in the history of any other nation, was remedied in part by confed- erations formed by the majority for the execu- tion of its designs, and by timely application of violence, which silenced treacherous or bribed opponents ; but it also led to fatal dis- tractions, scenes of bloodshed, the permanence of factions, and ultimately, with other causes, to the fall of Poland. The diet of election was preceded by a diet of convocation, the arch- bishop of Gnesen, the primate of the state, hav- ing announced the vacancy of the throne. Hereupon all nobles appeared personally, as- sembling on the plain of Wola, near Warsaw, the senate in a shed (szopa), the common nobles in the Icolo (circle). A diet of coronation, and, if that of election had been stormy, another of pacification, followed. The diet of Hungary (dieta, or orszdggyules), formerly convened at various places, was from the time of the Turk- ish invasion held at Presburg. It consisted of two houses, the upper, or table of magnates, and the lower, or table of deputies. In the latter, previous to the law of 1848, only the representatives of the nobles in the counties had a decisive personal vote. During the re- volutionary period of 1848-' 9 the diet was held successively at Pesth, Debreczin, and Szegedin. Since 1861 it has its seat in Pesth. (See HUNGARY.) DIETERICI. I. Karl Friedrich Wilhelm, a Ge^ man statistician, born in Berlin, Aug. 23, 1790> died there, July 29, 1859. He began his uni- versity studies in Konigsberg, devoting partic- ular attention to mathematics, and continued them in Berlin, where in 1812 he became tutor in the family of Klewitz, afterward minister of state. As engineer in the army of Blucher, he made the campaigns of 1813, 1814, and 1815; and in 1820 he was employed in the ministry of public instruction under Altenstein. In 1834 he was appointed professor of political science in the university of Berlin, and in 1844 succeeded Hoffmann in the direction of the statistical bureau. His writings relate mainly to subjects of political economy. The most important are, Uebersicht der wichtigsten Gegenstande des Verlcehrs und Ver~brauchs im premsischen Staate und im deutschen Zollver- bande (1838-'53), and Der Volkswohlstand im preussischen Staate. He left unfinished an im- portant work, Handbuch der Stati&tik des preussischen Staats, which was completed by his son Karl in 1861. II. Friedrich, a German orientalist, son of the preceding, born in Ber- lin, July 6, 1821. He studied theology at Halle and Berlin, and oriental languages at Leipsic, and afterward in the East. In 1850 he became professor of Arabic literature in the university of Berlin, having been for some time dragoman of the Prussian embassy at Constantinople. He has published Reiselilder am dem Morgcnlande (1853), a translation of