GERMANY. 



373 



Elbe, for \vliieh the free-port privileges are re- 

 tained, was 111 tule into an island by digging a 

 broad canal. Ships are permitted to pass from 

 the sea into this tree port without customs in- 

 spection, and the supervision between it and 

 tiie customs-union territory is left to Hamburg 

 officials. No bridges are allowed to be made 

 between the free-port part of the town and 

 other parts, nor will any one be permitted to 

 resi>l<? within the district that remains open to 

 free trade. The city of Hamburg has till now 

 retained the system of taxation that was preva- 

 lent in the middle ages, but before the incor- 

 poration in the Zollverein all the old excise 

 duties were abolished, and its fiscal conditions 

 were assimilated to those of the rest of the 

 empire. 



The Prussian Elections. After it had passed the 

 bill making the electoral period five years, the 

 Prussian Diet was dissolved, and new elections 

 were held in October. In the new quinquen- 

 nial the Government majority, as made up of 

 the " Cartel Brothers/' or union of the Con- 

 servatives and National Liberals, was strength- 

 ened, and if on any question this alliance should 

 be broken, the Government can obtain a strong 

 working majority, as it has in former parlia- 

 ments, by attracting the support of the Cleri- 

 cals. The United Conservatives elected 199 

 deputies, losing one seat, while the National 

 Liberals increased their representation from 72 

 to 87. The Clericals elected 97 members, the 

 same number as in 1885. The Poles kept their 

 15 and the Danes their 2 seats ; but the Guelphs 

 lost a seat, electing only a single member, and 

 the Independents decreased from 5 to 3. The 

 Feisinnige or Liberalist party lost 11 seats to 

 the National Liberals, electing 29 members, 

 against 40 in the last Diet. 

 "Foreign Relations. On Feb. 6, 1888, Prince 

 Bismarck reviewed the political situation in a 

 great speech that he made in the Reichstag in 

 connection with the loan bill to provide the 

 money for adding 700,000 men to the fighting 

 force of the empire. France, he said, looked 

 less explosive than it had a year before, for the 

 election of a pacific President and the appoint- 

 ment of a ministry composed of men who subor- 

 dinated their plans to the peace of Europe were 

 favorable signs that the French Government 

 did not wish to plunge its hand into Pandora's 

 box. The apprehensions that had arisen, which 

 had been encouraged in order to further the 

 _ r e of the military bill, were caused by 

 the massing of Russian troops near the Ger- 

 man and Austrian frontiers. In demanding the 

 money for arming and equipping the Landwehr 

 the Government had made the most of this 

 menacing movement of troops, and encouraged 

 the warlike attitude of the German press. 

 Now that the passage of the bill was certain, 

 the Chancellor sought to calm the public mind, 

 saying that he was convinced that the disloca- 

 tion of troops proceeded from no intention to 

 fall upon Germany unawares, because in his 

 recent interview with the Czar he had been 



<1 that no such purpose was contemplated. 

 In explaining the causes that led to the alliance 

 with Austria, he ironically declared that at the 

 Berlin Congress he had acted almost like a 

 third plenipotentiary of Russia in hi- desire to 

 serve that power, but that his intentions were 

 misinterpreted by the Russian press, and a con- 

 troversy regarding the course of German di- 

 plomacy arose, which led to "complete threats 

 of war from the mo>t competent quarter." 

 Hence he negotiated at Gastein and Vienna the 

 treaty of alliance. " We shall sue for love no 

 longer," he said, "either in France or Russia. 

 The Russian press and Russian public opinion 

 have shown to the door an old, powerful, and 

 trustworthy friend, and we shall not seek to 

 push our way in again. We have tried to re- 

 establish our old intimate relations, but we 

 shall run after no one." He conceded, to the 

 dismay of the Austrians and especially of the 

 Hungarians, the right of domination that Rus- 

 sia claimed in Bulgaria, and said that it was no 

 concern of Germany's if Russia should restore 

 by force the supremacy that she exercised be- 

 fore 1885. In any case, he was convinced that 

 '' the tiny province between the Balkans and 

 the Danube is not an object of suflicient im- 

 portance to involve Europe in a war extending 

 from Moscow to the Pyrenees and from the 

 North Sea to Palermo, of which no mortal can 

 foresee the results, and yet at its close the com- 

 batants would scarcely know why they had 

 fought at ail.'' lie was not alarmed at exhibi- 

 tions of Russian hatred. " for no wars are waged 

 for mere hatred." He did not believe that 

 Russia would attack Germany, even if she be- 

 came involved in a wgr with France; but, if a 

 war with Russia should break out. no French 

 Government could be strong enough to restrain 

 the French people from a war against Germany. 

 The new military bill enables Germany to place 

 an army of 1,000,000 men on each frontier. 

 " When we undertake a war, 1 ' said the Chan- 

 cellor, ''it must be a people's war, which all 

 approve. If we are attacked, then the furor 

 'Jeutonicus will flame out, and against that no 

 one can make head." He concluded with the 

 proud boast, " We Germans lear God, and 

 nothing else in the world." 



The Austrian Government gave no indication 

 of willingness to permit Russia to regain by an 

 armed intervention the supremacy in Bulgaria 

 that Russian arrogance and intrigue had lost, 

 and Tisza, in the Hungarian Chamber, inti- 

 mated the contrary. The German Kaiser, by 

 visiting the Czar before going to the Austrian 

 and Italian courts, showed a desire to conciliate 

 Russia, which was partly due to his personal 

 friendship for Alexander III. In August. Cris- 

 pi, the Italian Premier, had an interview with 

 Prince Bismarck at Friedrichsruhe, and stopped 

 at Vienna to confer with Count Kalnoky, who 

 also had his annual meeting with the German 

 Chancellor. 



Besides the passport regulations for Alsace- 

 Lorraine nothing occurred to cause ill-feeling 



