318 



GERMANY. 



fringeraent of parliamentary rights, which even 

 now were more limited in Germany than in oth- 

 er constitutional monarchies; they also called 

 attention to the additional burden which its 

 adoption would impose upon a heavily taxed 

 people. The Progressist party and the Center 

 showed themselves unanimously opposed to the 

 bill, the chief speaker of the former being Herr 

 Richter, and of the latter Freiherr von Schor- 

 lemer-Alst. The Conservative parties were a 

 unit in favor of the bill. The declaration of 

 Herr Bennigsen, the leader of the National 

 Liberals, that a majority of his friends would 

 vote for the Government, assured the latter of 

 success. In the name of this party Herr Dern- 

 burg and Herr Rickert spoke eloquently for 

 the bill, but among the dissenters were some 

 of the most prominent and influential men of 

 the party, especially Herren von Stauffenberg, 

 Bamberger, and Lasker. Herr Richter moved 

 an amendment to the effect that the number 

 of men with the colors should be fixed annu- 

 ally in the military budget ; that the one-year 

 volunteers should be included in that number; 

 and, finally, that the Imperial Chancellor should 

 be called upon to present a bill in the course 

 of next session limiting the term of service of 

 the infantry to two years. The motion was 

 supported by the Progressists, the Center par- 

 ty, and a few National Liberals ; but it was ulti 

 mately rejected. Herr von Stauffenberg next 

 proposed to restrict the operation of the Army 

 Bill to three years, but this motion was also lost 

 by 180 votes to 104. Paragraphs one and two, 

 fixing the peace strength of the army to March 

 31, 1888, at 427,270 men, were then adopted 

 by 186 to 96 votes. During the debate Herr 

 von Kamecke, the Minister of War, declared that 

 the bill owed its origin not only to the present 

 political situation, but to reasons of a lasting 

 character. A permanent military budget could 

 alone give the army stability and confidence 

 in itsslf. Herr Rickert, who spoke at consid- 

 erable length, ended his address by declaring 

 that the strengthening of the army was of the 

 highest importance to the nation, and must 

 not be made a party question. There existed 

 in Germany no party which wished to weaken 

 the defensive power of the Fatherland, and it 

 was the desire of the whole natiou to uphold 

 with a mighty hand the possessions which Ger- 

 many had acquired, and to maintain peace. A 

 resolution proposed by Herr Bilhler, urging the 

 Imperial Chancellor to bring about a congress 

 of states with a view of promoting a general 

 disarmament, was almost unanimously rejected. 

 Herr Biihler had previously had a correspond- 

 ence on the subject with Prince Bismarck, 

 who wrote: "I regret being too much occu- 

 pied with urgent and practical concerns to 

 have any time left for the contingencies of a 

 future which I am afraid neither of us will live 

 to see. Only after you have won our neigh- 

 bors for your plans shall I or any other Ger- 

 man Chancellor be in a position to attend to 

 such like suggestions in relation to this coun- 



try and its purely and permanently defensive 

 position. But even then I fear nations will 

 find it difficult to supervise each other's military 

 preparations, and to create a board able and 

 willing to exercise and enforce an effectual mil- 

 itary control." On April 16th the bill was 

 adopted by 186 to 128 votes. 



Next to the Military Bill, the Emperor's 

 speech had specified the bill for the prolonga- 

 tion of the anti-Socialist law of 1878 as one 

 which the Government regarded as important. 

 The committee appointed by the Reichstag to 

 report on the bill decided, by ten votes against 

 three, to prolong its operation until Septem- 

 ber 30, 1884, instead of 1886, as proposed by 

 the Government. The discussion of the sec- 

 ond reading was begun on April 17th. The 

 Socialists had allotted to each member of their 

 fraction the task of moving for the abrogation 

 of successive clauses of the bill. Foreseeing, 

 however, the protracted struggle which would 

 result from this mode of warfare, the Reich- 

 stag, on motion of Herr Winnigerode, resolved 

 to combine all the seven motions of the re- 

 pealers, promising, however, to listen to their 

 specially prepared arguments. Accordingly, 

 Herr Wiemer spoke against the unfair applica- 

 tion of the Socialist law with regard to the 

 right of public meeting; Herr Fritsche de- 

 claimed on the suppression of cooperative so- 

 cieties ; Herr Hasenclever delivered an angry 

 philippic on the vexatious restraints which had 

 been imposed by the police on certain prints 

 alleged by them to have a democratic taint ; 

 and Herr Debel indignantly protested against 

 the contradictory way in which electoral meet- 

 ings had been either forbidden or scattered. 

 On a division the combined amendments of 

 the Socialists were rejected by an overwhelm- 

 ing majority, being only supported by a few 

 Progressists. The Reichstag also rejected two 

 separate amendments of the leader of the Cen- 

 ter, Dr. Windthorst the first to the effect that 

 the Reich sgericht, or Imperial High Court, 

 should be substituted for the Reichsbeschwerde 

 Commission, or Tribunal of Appeal, for such as 

 deemed themselves aggrieved through the op- 

 eration of the Socialist law ; the second aiming 

 at exempting electoral meetings from its scope. 

 In support of the former, Dr. Windthorst point- 

 ed to England, where much sounder views on 

 the subject prevailed, full and free discussion 

 being permitted in the confidence that the pow- 

 er of truth would prevail. Hence, too, all ex- 

 pelled leaders of the Socialist movement fled 

 to London, whence he was convinced that the 

 whole agitation here was conducted an asser- 

 tion which elicited an emphatic protest from the 

 ranks of the Socialists. The speaker then went 

 on to descant on the evils resulting from the 

 prevention of free discussion, winding up with 

 an allusion to the " Culturkampf," and the effi- 

 cacy of a free Christian Church in combating 

 the evils which the Government vainly sought 

 to exterminate by dictatorial force. Bebel 

 threatened with the imminence of a terrible 



