GERMANY. 



burg Senate and the deputies of the Hanse 

 cities in the Reichstag to effect a compromise 

 with the Chancellor proved unavailing. On 

 May 6th Prince Bismarck addressed a circular 

 note to all the representatives of Prussia ac- 

 credited to the federal courts of the empire. 

 Alluding to the conflict of opinion between 

 Hamburg and Prussia which would inevitably 

 result from a formal interpretation of Article 

 XXXIV of the Constitution by a majority in 

 the Federal Council, the Prince points out the 

 detriment which would accrue to certain Prus- 

 sian subjects from the present formation of the 

 Hamburg free-port district. As Reichskanzler 

 it was incumbent on him to be cognizant of the 

 constitutional rights of the Bundesrath, and to 

 represent all the allied Governments in their 

 exercise thereof, and not only seek to counter- 

 act particular efforts on the part of the various 

 states, but also centralizing tendencies of the 

 Federal Council in abridging its constitutional 

 rights in favor of Parliament. The Prussian 

 Government, the Prince then proceeded to 

 say, demanded the separation of Altona and 

 other Prussian territory from the free-port dis- 

 trict of Hamburg, its justification being that 

 these parts were not necessary to the fulfill- 

 ment of the ends of Hamburg as a guaranteed 

 Hanse city, and there being apparent a una- 

 nimity on that point in the Bundesrath on the 

 proposition of Altona to propose the new line 

 of frontier which the Federal Council would 

 have to decide upon, and he opined that it 

 would not be difficult to form such a resolution 

 without creating a conflict over the interpre- 

 tation of the Constitution. The Chancellor 

 then said : " Those Governments which be- 

 lieve that, by the separation of St. Pauli from 

 the free-port territory, a constitutional right is 

 infringed, or even affected, can vote against 

 this line ; and the customs frontier, if they form 

 a majority, will then coincide with the territo- 

 rial boundary between Hamburg and Prussia. 

 But should, in the opinion of Prussia, an erro- 

 neous interpretation of the Constitution be al- 

 leged in justification of the vote, it will also be 

 necessary for Prussia, on the other hand, to 

 stand up for the proper reading thereof; and 

 in that case I can not advise my most gracious 

 master, in his quality of German Emperor, to 

 waive his undoubted duty of upholding the 

 Constitution." Dr. Lasker wished to procure 

 a declaration from the Reichstag that Article 

 XXXIV of the Constitution did not permit the 

 Federal Council to approve the proposal of 

 Prussia without the consent of the city of Ham- 

 burg. The Reichstag would, however, not 

 consent to his desire to bring in his motion on 

 May 8th. On the other hand, the committee 

 of the Reichstag to which the Navigation Act 

 had been referred proposed a resolution that a 

 change of the Customs Union frontier could 

 only by constitutional right be effected by a 

 law passed by Parliament in the usual way, and 

 not by the Federal Council alone. On May 

 8th Prince Bismarck appeared in the Reichs- 



tag after ten months' absence, and made a long 

 speech in support of the Elbe Navigation Act. 

 He said that he had no wish to deprive the 

 free port of Hamburg of any of its rights, but 

 that he considered the arrangement of the cus- 

 toms boundary was exclusively in the hands of 

 the Federal Council, and that the Parliament 

 had nothing whatever to do with it. He com- 

 plained bitterly of the attempts made to sow 

 dissensions among the German states, said that 

 such attempts endangered German unity, and 

 concluded by asserting that he was tired to 

 death of the opposition he had to meet with at 

 every turn, and that, if the obstacles proved 

 too great, he should beg the Emperor to re- 

 lieve him of his post, and appoint some one 

 who would be able to satisfy all parties. Dr. 

 Wolffson, member for Hamburg, replied to 

 Prince Bismarck, and defended the proposal 

 of the committee. Herr von Windthorst said 

 that the Center did not oppose the Govern- 

 ment from a spirit of opposition, but they sup- 

 ported the empire on the bases of the feder- 

 ative Constitution. At the day sitting on Mon- 

 day the debate on the second reading of the 

 Elbe Navigation Act was proceeded with, and, 

 after a discussion extending over seven hours, 

 the House rejected, by 125 votes to 123, a mo- 

 tion of Herr von Bennigsen to refer the bill 

 back to the committee, and also threw out, by 

 138 votes to 110, the declaratory resolution of 

 the committee to the effect that the Elbe fron- 

 tier line could not be removed to a point lower 

 down the river, except by a special bill. The 

 Reichstag finally agreed to the second reading, 

 and resolved to take the third reading at an 

 evening sitting. On the House reassembling, 

 Herr von Windthorst, the leader of the Center, 

 brought forward a motion in favor of referring 

 the bill back to the committee, which was ul- 

 timately agreed to. In June, after the adjourn- 

 ment of the Reichstag, the Federal Council 

 passed the resolutions moved by the Prussian 

 Government for the inclusion of the lower 

 Elbe in the Customs Union by an all but unani- 

 mous vote. The representative of the free city 

 of Hamburg was the only dissentient. 



On May 10th, after a review of the work of 

 the session, made by the President, Count Ar- 

 nim-Boitzenburg, Count Stolberg, the Vice- 

 Chancellor, read a message from the Emperor 

 closing the session. 



A few weeks before, in April, Prince Bis- 

 marck had once more tendered his resignation 

 as Imperial Chancellor, in consequence of a 

 vote come to in the Federal Council on the 

 Imperial Stamp Duties Bill. On this occasion 

 Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony had been out- 

 voted by a combination of the small states 

 under the leadership of Wiirtemberg. The 

 Emperor William, in a Cabinet order, while 

 recognizing the difficulties of Prince Bismarck's 

 position, declined to relieve him of his office, 

 and called upon him to prepare proposals for 

 bringing about a constitutional solution of such 

 a conflict of duties as led to the recent resigna- 



