628 



PRUSSIA. 



the remark that it had been the desire of the 

 Government, at the opening of the session, to 

 give additional security to the rather preca- 

 rious condition of financial affairs, and to come 

 to an understanding -with the representatives 

 of the nation concerning various important 

 legislative reforms. The King thankfully 

 acknowledged the readiness shown by both 

 branches of the Diet to assist the Government 

 in its aims by the sanction of the proposed law 

 of consolidation, which, he felt assured, would 

 offer increased facilities for a more rapid 

 amortization of the public debt. The Govern- 

 ment had succeeded in establishing an equi- 

 librium between the revenue and expenditure 

 in the budget for 1870, without being com- 

 pelled to resort to onerous taxation. The King 

 felt surprised and aggrieved, that the com- 

 prehensive administrative reforms which had 

 been submitted to the Diet for consideration 

 and approval, in the earlier part of the session, 

 had not been brought to a satisfactory con- 

 clusion the more so, as the wants of the 

 country imperatively demanded those reforms, 

 especially that of a change of the mortgage sys- 

 tem. He said, in conclusion, that it was the in- 

 tention of the Government to convene the Diet 

 for an extraordinary session at an early day. 



The opinion of the Government with regard 

 to a summons of the Diet for an extra session 

 appears to have undergone a material change, 

 for it was finally decided to dissolve the Cham- 

 bers and to order new elections, which were 

 held on the 9th and 16th of November. Their 

 result was as follows: 129 Conservatives, 36 

 Free Conservatives, 20 Old Liberals, 104 Na- 

 tional Liberals, 18 Left Centre, 41 Fortschritt 

 (party of progress), 19 Poles, 6 Particularists, 

 43 Catholics, and 22 undefined. This showed 

 a trifling loss to the Fortschritt party and the 

 Left Centre, while the Particularists had been 

 completely defeated by their antagonists the 

 National Liberals ; a fact mainly attributable 

 to the brighter prospects for a complete union 

 of the German nation. 



The first session of the new Diet was opened 

 on December 14th, by Count Itzenplitz, Minis- 

 ter of Commerce, who, in the absence of the 

 King and Count Bismarck, read a speech from 

 the throne, acknowledging that the success 

 of the war against France was principally due 

 to the patriotispi of the people, whose repre- 

 sentatives he had the honor to welcome in 

 the name of his august master. He promised 

 that the Budget of 1871 should be submitted 

 at the earliest moment possible, adding that 

 the deliberations on legislative and administra- 

 tive reforms, which had already been the sub- 

 ject for discussion in the last Diet, must of 

 necessity be adjourned until more important 

 subjects should have been dealt with. During 

 a later session, the Minister of Finance showed 

 a very favorable condition of the financial 

 affairs of the state, which he attributed partly 

 to the fact that it had been unnecessary to 

 draw on the Treasury for the amortization of 



the public debt; partly to the circumstance 

 that the war had not created as serious disturb- 

 ances in his particular branch of the govern- 

 ment, as had been anticipated. The amount 

 demanded for general political purposes was 

 granted on the spot, together with several 

 other items of the budget. In the course of 

 the deliberations, it was shown that the Budget 

 for 1870 would be highly satisfactory in its 

 results, and that an equilibrium between the 

 expenditure and revenue for 1871 could be 

 safely anticipated. 



Arrangements for the issue of a new loan 

 of 100,000,000 thalers having been completed 

 during the latter part of November, the plan 

 was submitted to the consideration and appro- 

 val of the Diet, which gave its unanimous con- 

 sent. It was decided that of the loan of 100,- 

 000,000 thalers, 50,000,000 were to be at once 

 issued at 5 per cent. The Prussian Govern- 

 ment is bound to redeem the notes in five 

 years ; but it reserves to itself the right of 

 gradually paying off the debt at an earlier 

 date. Besides the ordinary thaler notes, some 

 are issued at a pound sterling to suit the Eng- 

 lish market. The loan, instead of being taken 

 up entirely by one banker, was divided among 

 several houses, including the Seehandlung a 

 semi-official institution, which dates its origin 

 from Frederick the Great. Thirty-four million 

 thalers were allotted before December 21st, 

 and 17,000,000 reserved for the same pur- 

 chasers. The loan is issued to the public at 

 95, the subscribing bankers paying 92. Be- 

 fore the end of December, four times the 

 amount of the entire loan had been subscribed 

 for. the greater portion in thaler bonds, and 

 the remainder in sterling bonds. 



Considerable excitement was caused by the 

 arrest of Dr. Jacoby and several other prominent 

 leaders of the Democratic party in Prussia, for 

 their violent opposition against the continuance 

 of the war, and the annexation*of Alsace and 

 Lorraine, to which they gave expression at a 

 public meeting at Konigsberg, on September 

 26th. They were arrested by order of General 

 Vogel von Falkenstein, military governor of 

 the Prussian provinces on the Baltic Sea, and 

 brought to the fortress of Loetzeln for incar- 

 ceration. Dr. Jacoby immediately protested 

 against his arrest, and demanded his release in 

 a letter addressed to Count Bismarck. But the 

 latter not only refused to interfere in behalf of 

 the prisoners, but wrote a letter of approval to 

 General von Falkenstein with regard to his ac- 

 tion. Subsequently, however, the Government 

 took a different view of the wide-spread agita- 

 tion and bad feeling created by these arrests, 

 and "King "William personally communicated to 

 General von Falkenstein his desire for the re- 

 moval of all obstacles for the holding of public 

 meetings, and for the non-enforcement of all 

 penalties attached thereto by the provisos of 

 martial law. He also ordered the immediate 

 release of the prisoners already arrested for 

 violating these laws. 



