on of the
fact that females were at that time excluded from
the throne of the grand-duchy. A law of 1907,
however, vested the succession in the princess
Marie, eldest daughter of the reigning Grand-Duke
William; and upon the death of her father, Feb. 26,
1912, this heiress succeeded to the grand-ducal
throne. The head of the state is the grand-duke (or
grand-duchess). There is a council of state
nominated by the sovereign and a chamber of
deputies of 53 members, elected directly by the
cantons for six years. The state has an area of but
998 square miles and a population (in 1910) of
259,891. P. Eyschen, Das Staatsrecht des
Grossherzogtums Luxemburg (Tuebingen, 1910).]

In fulfillment of a promise made his people, King William promulgated,
August 24, 1815, a new constitution, drafted by a commission
consisting of an equal number of Dutch and Belgian members. The
instrument provided for a States-General of two chambers, one
consisting of members appointed for life by the crown, the other
composed of an equal number (55) of Dutch and Belgian deputies elected
by the provincial estates. Bills might be rejected, but might not (p. 520)
be originated or amended, by this assembly. The suffrage was severely
restricted; trial by jury was not guaranteed; the budget was to be
voted for a number of years at a time; ministers were declared
responsible solely to the king; and, all in all, there was in the new
system little enough of liberalism. When the instrument was laid
before a Belgian assembly it was overwhelmingly rejected. None the
less it was declared in effect, and it continued the fundamental law
of the united dominions of William I. until 1830.

*572. The Belgian Revolution, 1830-1831.*--Friction between the Dutch
and the Belgians was from the outset incessant. The union was
essentially an artificial one, and the honest efforts of the king to
bring about a genuine amalgamation but emphasized the irreconcilable
differences of language, religion, economic interest, and political
inheritance that separated the two peoples. The population of Belgium
was 3,400,000; that of Holland but 2,000,000. Yet the voting power of
the former in the lower legislative chamber was