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TRIBUTARY STATES.
I. EGYPT.
See Part II. — Africa.
II. ROUMANIA. Constitution and Government.
The union of the two principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia was granted by a firman of the sultan, dated November 12, 1861, and was publicly proclaimed at Bucharest and Jassy, on December 23, 1861, the name ' Roumania' being given to the united provinces. The first ruler of Roumania was Colonel Couza, who had been elected ' Hospodar,' or Lord, of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859, and who assumed the government under the title of Prince Alexander John I. A revolution which broke out at Bucharest, February 23, 1866, forced Prince Alexander John to abdicate, after which the representatives of the people assembled to elect a second rider of Roumania, when the choice fell upon —
Karl L, Prince (Domnu) of Roumania, born April 20, 1839, son of the late Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ; formerly lieu- tenant in the second regiment of Prussian dragoons ; accepted his election as Prince of Roumania, May 10, 1866; arrived at Bucharest, May 21, 1866; recognised by the Turkish Government, July 11, 1866. Married November 15, 1869, to Elizabeth von Neuwied, born December 29, 1843, daughter of the late Furst Hermann von Neuwied, one of the ' mediatised ' princes of Germany.
The constitution now in force in Roumania was voted by a Constituent Assembly, elected by universal suffrage, in the summer of 1866. The charter vests the legislative power in a parliament of two houses, a Senate, and a Chamber of Deputies. The Senate consists of 74 members, and the other house of 157 deputies, of whom 82 are for Wallachia and 75 for Moldavia. The members of both houses are chosen by indirect election, the first voters nominating electors, and these, in their turn, the deputies. Voters are all citizens, aged twenty-five years, who can read and write, and eligible as deputies are all Roumans aged thirty, possess- ing a small yearly income. The Prince has a suspensive veto over all laws passed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The executive is in the hands of the reigning Prince, assisted by a
