Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/793

WURTTEMBERG. 677 WURTZ. House of Stanilcshcircn, arc tlic royal princes, per- sons named by the King, and the representatives of twenty mediatized houses. Its president is ap- pointed by the King. The deputies of the lower chamber consist of 13 nobles, (i Evangelical an<l 3 Catholic dignitaries, the head of Tubingen Uni- versity, 7 rei)resentative3 from towns, anil 03 from rural districts. The deputies are chosen for si. years without property qualification, ("itizens voting must be above twenty-five. The Ministry of State comprises six departments — Justice, War, Finance, Interior, Religion and Education, For- eign Afl'airs, and the Royal House. There is a privy or advisory council, composed of the Minis- tries and councilors. Administratively the king- dom is divided into 4 circles — Neckar, Black For- est (Schwarzwald), Jagst, and Danube. It sends 4 members to the national Bundesrat and 17 to (he Reichstag. The expenditures of the king- dom for 1902-03 were about $22,300,000, the reve- nues $22,800,000. The chief items of expendi- ture were Imperial contributions, national debt, and religion and education (over 15 per cent.) ; the chief sources of income were Imperial re- ceipts, railway revenues, direct taxes, and forests, farms, and mines. The public debt amounts to about $125,000,000, mostly bearing 3Va per cent. However, the debt, with the exception of a small fraction, is for railways, and is accordingly offset by the railroad property of the kingdom. In inOl there were 1300 mile's of railway, 1100 of which were owned by the Government. Stutt- gart is the capital. The population in 1900 was 2,169,480; density per square mile, 288.2. Wurttemberg ranks fourth in population among the German States. The annual emigration, mainly to the United States, dropped from 0445 in' 1888 to lOGl in 1901. The people are mostly Swabians. About 70 per cent, of the population is Protestant. The King is, under the Constitution, the guardian and director of the Evangelical Church. It is ad- ministered by a consistoriiim composed of a president, 9 councilors, and 6 superintendents. The Catholics are under a bishop, who, however, can only act together with a Catholic council named by the Government. The Jews are under a council appointed by the King. In educational matters Wurttemberg holds high rank. Instruc- tion is compulsory. Practically every person above ten can read and write. The University of Tiibingen stands at the head of the educational system. Among other institutions there are the great Polytechnic Institute at Stuttgart, a famous conservatory of music at the same place, and agricultural, industrial, and special schools of every variety, including a school of viticulture at Weinsberg. There are numerous scientific, art, and literary organizations. History. The greater part of modern Wiirt- temberg was included in the mediaeval Duchy of Swabia. About the beginning of the twelfth century history first speaks of a Count of Wurt- temberg. An uninterrupted line of counts may be traced back to the middle of the thirteenth cen- tury, when they ruled a district in the valleys of the Neckar and its affluent, the Rems. The do- minions of the house were steadily extended. Count Eberhard IV. (1417-19), through his mar- riage with the heiress of Montbeliard. united that county with Wurttemberg. Count Eberhard im Bart (q.v.), an able ruler who founded the Uni- versity of Tiibingen, was raised by the Kmpcror Maximilian in 1495 to the rank of Duke, with the title of Eberhard I. In 1519 Duke Ulrich, in con- sccpience of arbitrary acts of oppression exercised upon the free Imperial city of Reutlingen, was forcibly ejected from Wurttemberg by the Swabian League and did not recover his throne till 1534. He adopted the Reformation for his dominions. Duke Frederick, having taken part in the war against the French Republic, was compelled to re- sign Montbeliard in 1796. In 1800 the French oc- cupied the country, which was restored to Duke Frederick (q.v.) in 1801. In 1803 tliis ruler re- ceived large accessions of territory, including Heil- bronn, Peutlingen, and other free cities, and was raised to the dignity of Imperial Elector. He reluctantly joined Napoleon in the war against Austria in 1805, and at the Peace of Pressburg (December 26, 1805) Wurttemberg was further enlarged and erected into a kingdom. On January 1. 1806, Frederick 1. assumed the royal title. He joined the Confederation of the Rhine in the same year and received additional territory, and as an ally of Napoleon in the French-Austrian War of 1809 was rewarded with new possessions, includ- ing Ulni. Wiirttemberg was required to furnish a quota of 16,000 men for Napoleon's Russian cam- paign. On November 2, 1813, the King abandoned the cause of Napoleon, and joined the other Ger- man princes in their rising against the French power. King Frederick died October 30, 1816, and was succeeded by his son, William I. ( 1816- 64). William reduced the public expenditure, and in 1819 promulgated a constitution. In the revolutionarj' movement which swept over Ger- many in 1848 William yielded at first to the demand of his subjects for political reforms, but ultimatelj' the hopes of the Lilierals were disap- pointed. For nearly 50 years William reigned over a people steadily increasing in prosperity, and died on June 25, 1864. He was succeeded by his son Charles, who sided with Austria in the Seven Weeks' War. The troops of Wurttemberg were beaten and a war indemnity of $4,000,000 was levied by Prussia upon the kingdom. In 1867 Wurttemberg formed an alliance with the North German Confederation. She supported Prussia against France in 1870, and in 1871 be- came part of the new German Empire. King Charles died on October 6, 1891, and was suc- ceeded by his nephew, William II. BiBLiOGBAPHY. Das Konigreich Wiirttemberg. Herausgccieben vom Koniglich statistischen Landesamt (Stuttgart, 1903 et seq.) ; Hirsch- feld, Wiirttemhergs Gros'sindustrie und Handel (Leipzig, 1889) ; Gaupp, Das Staatsrecht des KSnigreichs Wiirttemberg (Freiburg, 1895) : Chr. F. von Stalin, Wiirttembergixche Geschichte (Stuttgart, 1841-73); Schneider, -Wiirttemberg- ische jieformntiongeschichte (ib.. 1888) ; Belsch- ner, Geschichte von Wiirttemberg (ib., 1902) ; Heyd, Bibliographic der wiirltembergischen Oe- scliichte (ib., 1895) ; Schafer. Wiirttembergische GeschichtsqueUen (ib., 1894-95). WTJRTZ, vurts, Charles Adolphe (1817- 84). A French chemist, distinguished for his work in the atomic theory and for his discov- eries in the organic branch of the science. He was born at Strassburg, and was educated there and at Giessen. In 1845 he went to Paris