GERMANY. 



317 



from the throne that an increase in the con- 

 tributions from the various states would be 

 required, as well as a loan, to meet the most 

 urgent items of expenditure. A large portion 

 of the speech was devoted to the increase of 

 the army, which was declared to be without 

 prejudice to the pacific tendency of the policy 

 of the empire. The Reichstag, it was added, 

 would be asked to prolong for a fitting period 

 the new Socialist law, which would expire in 

 March, 1881. At the conclusion of the speech, 

 Herr von Frankenstein, former Vice-President 

 of the Reichstag, called for cheers for the 

 Emperor, in which all the members heartily 

 joined. Next day the Parliament elected its 

 President and Vice-Presidents : Count Arnim- 

 Boitzenburg, belonging to the Imperial Ger- 

 man party, was chosen President by 154 out 

 of 244 valid votes ; Herr von Bennigsen, Na- 

 tional Liberal, receiving 89 votes. Herr von 

 Frankenstein, of the Center, was elected first 

 Vice-President, and Herr Hoelder, National 

 Liberal, second Vice-President. As the latter 

 declined, Herr Ackermann, of the German Con- 

 servative party, was elected, receiving 102 out 

 of 202 votes. 



The most important bill of the session was 

 the Army Bill. It had been submitted to the 

 Federal Council in January, and its contents 

 had then become known. It demanded a pro- 

 longation of the military law of 1874 for seven 

 years more, an increase of the army by eleven 

 new regiments of infantry, one regiment of 

 field-artillery, thirty-two field-batteries, one 

 regiment of foot-artillery, and one battalion of 

 pioneers, and besides the means for the regular 

 convocation of the " Ersatz-Reserves " for sev- 

 eral manoeuvres. The additional expenditures 

 required by these changes would amount to 

 about 17,000,000 francs annually, and to 27,- 

 000,000 more for the first introduction. The 

 general discussion of the bill began on March 

 1st. The Minister of War positively denied that 

 the proposed increase of the German army had 

 its origin in the expectation of imminent war. 

 Count Moltke spoke in the same sense. He 

 delivered on this occasion one of the longest 

 speeches he had ever made. Having briefly 

 reviewed the causes of recent wars, he showed 

 that Germany must yet bear for a long time 

 the heavy burdens imposed upon it by its 

 geographical position and historical develop- 

 ment. Besides, there was the constant aug- 

 mentation of the hosts of Russia and France, 

 each of which had now a much larger peace 

 force than Germany. He sincerely grieved 

 that stern necessity compelled the imposition 

 of fresh sacrifices on the German nation, but 

 it was only by sacrifices and heavy labor that 

 Germany again became a nation. The credit 

 of a state reposed exclusively upon the security 

 of that state, and how would all the credit 

 relations of Germany be shaken were the con- 

 tinuance of the empire even but doubted ! 

 Since the decline of imperial German power, 

 Germany had been the battle-field for all oth- 



er powers. Swedes, Frenchmen, and Germans 

 once transformed Germany into a desert for 

 more than half a century. And were not the 

 ruins which later still were heaped upon the 

 Neckar, on the Rhine, and deep within the 

 bosom of the land, permanent monuments of 

 the previous weakness of Germany and of the 

 masterfulness of its neighbors? Who would 

 wish to recall the days when, at the imperious 

 behest of an alien lord, German contingents 

 took the field against Germany ? " Let us de- 

 fend," Count Moltke concluded, "above all 

 things, the safety and honor of the empire, 

 our long yearned for and finally achieved unity. 

 Let us continue to be at peace as long as we 

 may, and even also preserve it abroad as far 

 as lies in our power. In this effort we shall, 

 perhaps, not stand alone, but find allies. There- 

 in lies a menace to no one, but surely a pledge 

 rather of peaceful existence in our part of the 

 world, always presupposing, of course, that we 

 are strong and in arms. For with weak forces, 

 and armies liable to quit on a given warning, 

 this aim can not be reached, and the fate of 

 each nation lies in its own strength." 



Herr von Bennigsen, leader of the National 

 Liberals, declared, in the name of his political 

 friends, that they would support the bill in its 

 essential provisions. Professor Treitschke, the 

 distinguished historian, wound up a patriotic 

 speech with the words, " We will threaten no 

 one, but our neighbors must know that if any 

 one should dare to attack us, we are all one, a 

 host valiant in arms, a strong people." Count 

 von Frankenberg, a Conservative, referred to 

 the dangers which threaten Germany from 

 France and Russia, and to the Austro-German 

 agreement which he said was "intensely pop- 

 ular in Germany as a pledge of European 

 peace." Dr. Windthorst, the leader of the Cath- 

 olic Center, declared his readiness to support 

 all the reforms which were proved to be neces- 

 sary, but this had not been done with regard 

 to the proposed army reform. Herr Bebel, 

 representing the Social-Democrats, declaimed 

 on the crying evils of the military system. 

 The bill was then, on motion of Herr Bennig- 

 sen, referred to a special committee of twen- 

 ty-one, which adopted clause one, fixing the 

 strength of the army on a peace footing from 

 1881 to 1888, with the proviso that, instead of 

 one per cent, of the population, the number of 

 men shall be fixed at 427,274. Clause two, in- 

 creasing the cadres, was adopted without alter- 

 ation; and clause three, requiring the reserve 

 of the first class to come up for drill, was 

 agreed to with some modifications. The sec- 

 ond reading of the bill took place on April 9th 

 and 10th, and the third reading on the 15th. 

 The leading men of all the parties took an 

 active part in the debate, which was the most 

 important one of the session. The arguments 

 against the adoption of the bill represented 

 the foreign relations as free from any serious 

 danger, and regarded a bill which demanded a 

 grant for seven years in advance, as a new in- 



