PRUSSIA. 



709 



sailing-vessels (140 guns), 40 rowing-vessels (76 

 guns). Total, 85 war-vessels (462 guns). The 

 movement of shipping was, in 1864, as follows : 



The merchant navy, in 1864, consisted of 1,665 

 vessels, of a total burden of 191,197 lasts. 



The policy which the Prussian Government, 

 under the leadership of Count von Bismark, 

 has been pursuing for several years, under- 

 went no change in 1865. The King's speech, 

 on the opening of the Diet on January 14th, 

 showed that the Government did not intend 

 to recede from the demands which the ma- 

 jority of the Second Chamber regarded as a 

 violation of the Constitution. The Second 

 Chamber, in its turn, manifested its deter- 

 mination to remain firm in the advocacy of 

 the popular rights, by reflecting its former 

 President (Herr von Grabow) and Vice-Pres- 

 idents. The chief, subject of dispute was the 

 reorganization of the Prussian army. On 

 February 8th, the Minister of War intro- 

 duced, in the Chamber of Deputies, a bill alter- 

 ing and supplementing by 20 paragraphs the 

 law of the 3d of September, 1814, upon the 

 obligation to military service in Prussia. Un- 

 der the proposed new regulations the whole 

 term of military service is reduced from 19 to 

 16 years, of which the first seven years are to 

 be served in the regular standing army. Of 

 these seven years the first three must be served 

 with a regiment, and the four following years 

 in the reserve. During the next four years, 

 those having fulfilled the above terms of ser- 

 vice will be liable under the first call of the 

 Landwehr, and during the remaining five years 

 to the second call. The first division of the 

 Landwehr will only be called out when the 

 country is in serious danger. Special laws will 

 regulate the service in the Landwehr and in the 

 navy. On introducing this bill, the Minister of 

 War, Lieutenant-General Von Eoon, said he 

 hoped that the wish of the country for recon- 

 ciliation between the Diet and the Government 

 might find an echo in the house. The Govern- 

 ment, although maintaining its projects for the 

 reorganization of the army, was willing to re- 

 nounce the execution of the original scheme in 

 its full extent. A cordial agreement upon the 

 treatment of the pending military question 

 could only be obtained by a mutual under- 

 standing on the points at issue between the 

 Government and the Diet. The minister said 

 in conclusion : " The Government have this 

 object in view in introducing the present bill, 

 and is convinced of the necessity of all army re- 

 form being effected on a parliamentary basis*" 



The Second Chamber saw in this bill no con- 

 cession, and therefore resolved to express, in 



their address to the King, their regret that 

 such a bill had been introduced. According to 

 the report of the military commission of the 

 Chamber, which was distributed in April, and 

 had been drawn up by Professor Gneist, of Ber- 

 lin, the five most important points on which 

 the Chamber differed from the Government 

 were the following : 1 . The effectiveness of the 

 army. At the period when the Constitution 

 was accorded the numbers were 131,000 nfen; 

 in 1858, 151,000 ; and now, in consequence of 

 the reorganization, 212,000. 2. The number 

 of corps. There were formerly 126 battalions 

 of infantry and 132 squadrons of cavalry; but 

 since the reorganization there are 243 of the 

 former and 200 of the latter. 3. Position of 

 the landwehr. According to existing laws the 

 first ban ought to be of the same strength as 

 the permanent army, in corresponding corps ; 

 but since the reorganization the landwehr is 

 composed of only ]17 battalions, considerably 

 reduced, and of the depots of the twelve regi- 

 ments of the landwehr cavalry. 4. Duration 

 of service in the permanent army. The desire 

 is to increase it from five to seven years, in 

 view of the reorganization. 5. Active service. 

 The wish of the Government is to fix it in an 

 absolute manner at a general duration of three 

 years. As the Government treated the resolu- 

 tions passed by the Chamber with contempt, the 

 Chamber again refused to pass the budget. The 

 Government finding the majority of the Cham- 

 ber unyielding, closed the session on June 17th. 

 The chief feature of the foreign policy of 

 Prussia, was the incessant pursuit of a plan for 

 the annexation of the duchies of Schleswig- 

 Holstein and Lauenburg. The " crown jurists " 

 of the Government prepared a statement, ac- 

 cording to which the King of Denmark, and 

 not the Prince of Augustenburg or any other 

 prince, had been, up to October 30, 1864 (the 

 date of the treaty of Vienna), the lawful sov- 

 ereign of the duchies, and that his right had 

 been ceded by that treaty to the King of 

 Prussia and the Emperor of Austria. Prussia, 

 therefore, rejected all the endeavors made by 

 the Prince of Augustenburg for the purpose of 

 obtaining his recognition by Prussia as Duke of 

 Schleswig-Holstein (see SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIX), 

 as well as the attempts made by the Federal 

 Diet to establish its competency to settle 

 the question of the succession (see GERMANY). 

 Austria, which was favorable to the claim made 

 by the Federal Diet, -was prevailed upon to 

 consent, by the Convention of Gastein (see 

 GASTEIN), to a temporary division of the gov- 

 ernment of the duchies of Schleswig and 

 Holstein between the two great Powers, and 

 to cede its right to Lauenburg for a pecu- 

 niary consideration to Prussia (see AUSTRIA and 

 LATTENBUKG). From that time the Government 

 of Prussia made the utmost efforts to induce 

 Austria to cede likewise its right to the two 

 other duchies ; but this effort was not success- 

 ful, and the relations to Austria were therefore 

 at the close of the year any thing but friendly. 



