The transit trade of Prussia with Russia including Poland and central and southern Germany is of great importance, and is greatly facilitated by internal navigation and by railroads. From Berlin a railway 488 miles in length, Including its branches from Kreutz to Posen and from Dirschau to Danzig, runs north-eastward through Stettin and Bromberg to KOnigaberg. Another line runs south-east, ward through Frankfurt-an-der-Oder to Breslau (220 miles), and is continued southward through Brieg and Oppeln to meet the Vienna Cracow railway, which is also joined by the Russian line to Warsaw : this south-eastern line is met at Kohlfurt by the Saxo-SiIesian line to Dresden ; and from Breslau and Brieg respectively there are branches to Schweidnitz and Neisse. Southward from Berlin runs the Berlin Kothen line, connecting the capital with Halle, and by means of the Thuringian, Saxon, and other railways, with Frankfurt-am-Mayn, Leipzig, Dresden, and Munich. Westward from the capital through Potsdam and Magdeburg a line runs to Brunswick, Hanover, and Bremen near the mouth of the Weser ; and north-westward a line runs to Hamburg, thus connecting Berlin with the ports on the Elbe. The western part of the Prussian states is traversed by the Cologne Minden line, which runs from Deutz opposite Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine through Dusseldorf, Flamm, and Minden to Hanover ; from Cologne It is continued westward through Aix-la Chapelle, between which and Verviers it joins the Belgian railway system. There are numerous short branches from these western lines, as from Cologne to Bonn • Aix-la-Chapelle to Matstricht and Krefelt; Dusseldorf through Elberfeld to Dortmund, a station on the Cologne. Minden line ; Hamm to Munster • and the Westphalia line from Hamm to Paderborn, Warburg, and Casirl. The railway from Paris to Mayence traverses the extreme southern angle of Rhenish Prussia, passing through Saarbruck and Neunkirchen. Along all the lines mentioned electro-telegrapbic wires are laid.
Religion.—There is, properly speaking, no state religion. That of the royal family and of the majority of the people is Calvinism ; but Christians of all denominations are equally admissible to all public employments. In 1817, the three hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, the Calvinists, Lutherans, and other Protestant sects in Prussia, and in some other parts of Germany, united themselves into one religious body, under the name of Evangelical Christians. These amounted in in 1852 to 10,359,994; the Roman Catholics to 6,332,293; the Mennonites to about 14,780; Greeks to 1485; and Jews to 226,868. The Protestants are governed in spiritual matters by a general consistory (Ober Kirchenrath), and by a consistory for each of the provinces. The Catholics are under the archbishops of Breslau, Cologne, and Gnesen and Posen, and the bishops of Culm, Ermelaud, Munster, Paderborn, and Treves.
Education.—For the education of the people, there are in all the towns elementary, Sunday, and infant schools, schools for mechanics, &c. Parents are compelled by law to send their children to school.
In 1850 there were 24,201 elementary schools, with 30,865 teachers and 2,452,062 pupils in the kingdom. For the higher branches of
education, there were in the same year 117 gymnasia, with 1661 pro feasore and 29,474 scholars. There are universities at Berlin, Bonn, Breslau, Greifswald, Halle, Miinater, and Konigsberg, to the support of which the government applies large sums. Literary and learned societies are very numerous.
to the budget of 1854 the total revenue was estimated at 107,990,069 thalera (about 16,198,5001.). The expenditure for the same year was estimated at an equal sum. The debt amounted to about 32,670,674/. sterliag, bearing interest at 4 per cent.
Army.—All subjects of the Prussian monarchy are bound to military service, which they perform successively in the standing army, the landwehr (militia) of the first and second ban, and in the landsturrn (which answers' to the French levde-en-masse). All men able to bear arms from 20 to 25 years of age belong to the standing army ; they serve three years, and are then discharged for two years, during which they are liable to be called out as the reserve. All those who have served in the standing army belong to the landwehr of the first ban, from the age of 26 to 32, both inclusive. In the time of war this ban is on the same footing as the standing army, and equally liable to serve both at home and abroad. It is called out every year to exercise, in one year for a fortnight, in the next for a month, and is equipped and clothed while it serves. The second ban, which is called out only in time of war, and is then chiefly employed in reinforcing the garrisons, includes all men capable of bearing arms till the age of 39. All older men fit for service belong to the landaturm. The standing army consists of a corps of guards and eight army-corps.
In the field each army.corps consists of 25 battalions (25,000 men), 32 squadrons of cavalry (4800), and 11 batteries with 88 guns. The total force of the army on a war footing, and including the landwehr of the first ban, numbers 410,000 men ; the landwehr of the second ban numbers 115,000 men ; giving g total available force of 525,000 men.
Prussia has lately aspired to become a maritime power, and now maintains a small fleet of sailing and steam vessels. The sailing vessels consist of 1 frigate, 48 guns ; 1 corvette, 12 guns ; 1 schooner, 3 guns; one transport ship with 6 guns ; 86 gunboats with 2 guns apiece ; and 6 yawls carrying 1 gun each. The steam fleet consists of 2 corvettes, 10 and 12 guns ; and 2 dispatch boats carrying 8 guns apiece. Two frigates (40 guns each), 1 corvette (20 guns), and 1 schooner (3 guns) were on the stocks in 1854. For the purpose of forming a naval arsenal and station for the fleet Prussia has recently purchased the bay of Jande from OLDENBURG. The commercial navy of Prussia consisted of 973 ships carrying 131,046 lasts (of 4000 lbs. each) ; and 379 coasting vessels of an aggregate burden of 6005 lasts in 1853. The total number of vessels that entered Prussian harbours in 1851 amounted to 6893, of which 1205 were Prussian; 3954 had cargoes amounting to 310,189 lasts, and 2939 were in ballast.