mbers. The upper chamber is composed of
all the princes of the reigning family who are of full age; the chiefs of
the mediatized families; the archbishop of Freiburg; the president of the
Protestant Evangelical church; a deputy from each of the universities and
from the technical high school, eight members elected by the territorial
nobility for four years, three representatives of the chamber of commerce,
two of that of agriculture, one of that of trades, two mayors of
municipalities, one burgomaster of lesser towns, one member of a district
council, and eight members (two of them legal functionaries) nominated by
the grand-duke. The lower chamber consists of 73 popular representatives,
of whom 24 are elected by the burgesses of certain towns and 49 by the
rural communities. Every citizen of 25 years of age, who has not been
convicted and is not a pauper, has a vote. The elections are, however,
indirect; the citizens nominating the _Wahlmaenner_ (deputy electors) and
the latter electing the representatives. The chambers meet at least every
two years. The members of the lower chamber are elected for four years,
half the number retiring at the expiration of every two years. The
executive consists of four departments of state--those of the interior, of
foreign affairs and of the grand-ducal house, of finance, and of justice,
ecclesiastical affairs and education. The chief sources of revenue are
direct and indirect taxes, domains and railways. The last are worked by the
state, and the sole public debt, amounting to about 22 millions sterling,
is attributable to this head. The supreme courts of justice of the duchy
are in Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Offenburg, Heidelberg, Mosbach, Waldshut,
Constance and Mannheim, whence appeals lie to the _Reichsgericht_ (supreme
tribunal of the empire) in Leipzig. By virtue of a convention with Prussia,
of 1871, the Baden army forms a portion of the Prussian army.

_History._--During the middle ages the district which now forms the
grand-duchy of Baden was ruled by various counts, prominent among whom were
the counts and dukes of Zaehringen. In 1112 Hermann, a son of Hermann,
margrave of Verona (d. 1074), and grandson of Bertold, duke of Carinthia
and count of Zaehringen, having inherited some of the German estates of his
family, called himself margrave of Baden, and from this date the separate
history of Baden may be said to begin. Hermann appears to have called
himself by the title of margrave,