- Nassau occupied, in conjunction with Brunswick, the thirteenth place in the limited council of the diet, but it had two votes in the plenum, or full council. It furnished a contingent of 4,279, with a reserve of 1833 men, to the army of the old confederation.
The receipts, according to the budget of 1866, were 4,461,410 florins derived rrom the crown domains and indirect taxes, and 317,935 florins from direct taxation, while the expenditure was estimated at 5,804,975 florins. The national debt at the close of 1864 represented a capital of 6,038,300 florins. The duke, who was in possession of very extensive domains, ranked as one of the richest princes of Germany.
In tracing the history of Nassau to its earliest origin, we find that the districts now known by that name were anciently occupied by the Alemanni, and on the subjugation of the latter people by the Franks, became incorporated first with the Frankish, and next with the German empire. the various chiefs who raised themselves to independent power in this portion of the Frankish territories, one of the most influential was Otto of Laurenburg, brother of king Conrad I., who became the founder of two distinct lines of princes. The heads of these lines were Walram and Otto. the sons of count Henry I., who, in 1255, divided the laud between them. Walram II., the elder, was the progenitor of the house of Laurenburg,, which, towards the close of the 12th c., assumed its present name of Nassau from the name of its chief stronghold; while Otto, the younger, by his marriage with the heiress of Gelders, founded the line of Nassau Gelders, whose last male representative died in 1423, but which still survives through a female branch, in the family now occupying the throne of the Netherlands. This junior branch of the house of Nassau, by inheritance from a collateral representative, acquired possession, in 1544, of the principality of Orange; and since that period the representa tives of the Otto line have been known as princes of Orange (q.v.). The Walram line, which iu 1292 gave an emperor to Germany, in the person of Adolf of Nassau, was sub divided by the descendants of that prince into several branches, until, by the successive extinction of the other lines, the Nassau-Wcilburg family, which at present reigns over the duchy, was left, in 1816, the sole heir and representative of the Walram dynasty in Germany. Nassau had been declared a duchy in 1806, and in 1817 the reigning duke
William granted a new constitution; but (luring the first sittings of the assembly, dissen sions arose between the ducal government and the representatives, the former having attempted to establish the proposition that the ducal domains were the unconditional property of the royal house, and that all the expenses of the state would consequently have to be met by taxation.
This proved a fruitful source of dissension between the duke and his people, and the opposition and discontent to which it gave rise were not finally allayed till 1834, when a more liberal ministry under count Walderdorff, succeeded the unpopular cabinet which had hitherto directed public affairs. Concessions were made by the ducal government, which met the requirements of the chambers, and a satisfactory compromise was effected in regard to the crown revenues. In 1836 Nassau joined the German Zoll-Verein, and subsequently to that period it has continued to advance in material prosperity. The Adolphus William, who succeeded his father, duke William, in 1839, showed the same conservative tendencies as his predecessor. The revolutionary crisis of 1848 found the people, who had been harassed by over-government and by a jealous dread of liberal sentiments, ripe for insurrection. The peasantry rose en masse in the rural districts, and revenged themselves for the severity of the game-laws and other obnoxious restrictions by perpetrating the most wanton destruction of game and wood in the forests belonging to the crown and nobility. These disorders were speedily put down by the aid of federal troops, but, notwithstanding the concessions made by the gov ernment, the relations between the people and their ruler continued for many years to be unsatisfactory, For the events vchich led to the incorporation of Nassau with Prussia, see GERMANY.