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274] became heir to the duchy. The bill provided that, in the event of the extinction of his lineage, Prince Arthur of Connaught shall succeed, and in the event of the failure of his male issue the descendants of the Prince of Wales shall succeed. It was also provided that the Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg should be Regent for the Duke of Albany, and that the Duke of Albany must have an effective residence in the duchy. Herr von Strenge, Minister of State, informed the diet that the reason for the Duke of Connaught's renunciation of his right was that his Royal Highness was unwilling to part from his only son, and could not abandon his responsibility for the care and the education of Prince Arthur. The duke himself was compelled by the position he held in England to reside in that country, but fully recognised that the future heir to the throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha should receive a German education. The minister added that he had found that all the members of the British royal family, including Queen Victoria, fully sympathised with and recognised the interests and wishes of the people of Coburg, while appreciating the touching connection with the native country of the Prince Consort which united Coburg with the dynasty.

In April a bill was introduced in the Prussian diet for constructing a ship canal from the Rhine to the Elbe. The bill was introduced by Herr Thielen, the Minister of Public Works, who described the proposal as the most important which had been laid before the diet since the nationalisation of the railways. He recalled the great services which the Hohenzollern rulers had already rendered their country by the construction of waterways, and maintained that the canal was urgently needed, if the development of the internal communications of Prussia was not to come to a standstill. Herr Thielen gave an account of the great demands which the Rhenish-Westphalian coal district made upon the resources of the railway administration, and stated that, "although for the present and some time to come we feel ourselves perfectly able to meet these demands, we can only regard the future with great anxiety." The canal would relieve the railways by offering a cheap mode of transport for heavy goods. The minister dwelt upon the great benefits which would be conferred upon the whole country by the scheme, which would enable the agricultural east and the manufacturing west to exchange their products at cheap rates, and concluded by pointing out the advantages which the nature of the country offered for the construction of the canal. Although it would traverse the North German plain from the Rhine to the Elbe, only thirteen locks would be required, and it was estimated that the construction, which would take ten years, would not cost more than 261,000,000 marks. The provinces through which the canal would pass, and other localities interested, had already guaranteed the cost of maintenance, and an interest of 3 per cent, on the capital expended.