454 



GERMANY. 



may be prorogued by the Directory for any pe- 

 riod not exceeding two months. Should the 

 Assembly be dissolved, the Directory is em- 

 powered immediately to issue orders for a new 

 election. The right to " make representations 

 and complaints " is granted to the Assembly, 

 and it may "pass resolutions" on national 

 affairs, but legislative privileges are denied. 



5. The Assembly of Princes " takes into con- 

 sideration the results of the deliberations of 

 the Chamber of Deputies " and " examines into 

 the representations and complaints " of the 

 Chamber of Delegates, and orders the promul- 

 gation, by the Directory and by the several 

 states, of the acts it has sanctioned. 



6. No formal declaration of war can be made 

 without the consent of two thirds of the Fed- 

 eral Council. Should there be danger of a war 

 between a foreign power and a state which has 

 possessions not belonging to the Confederation, 

 the Directory is bound by the decision of the 

 Federal Council whether or not the Confedera- 

 tion shall take part in the war. 



Before separating, eighteen princes and the 

 four burgomasters of the free cities signed an- 

 other letter to the King of Prussia, in which 

 they expressed their deep regret at having been 

 deprived of the king's personal cooperation in 

 the great work they had undertaken, and state 

 that they nevertheless cherished the hope that 

 a general understanding will be ultimately ar- 

 rived at. The letter concludes thus: "Being 

 all inspired by the wish for German unity, 

 and ready to make sacrifices, we have come to 

 a perfect agreement upon the project of reform. 

 TVe shall consider it a great success for ourselves 

 and for our peoples if resolutions are maturing 

 in the mind of your Majesty, by which, thanks 

 to the unanimity of her princes, Germany will 

 realize her desire for a wholesome reform of 

 her Constitution, based upon the laws of the 

 Confederation." 



In its reply, dated September 24th, the Prus- 

 sian Government made its participation in the 

 work of reform contingent upon three pre- 

 liminary conditions : 1, a right for both Prus- 

 sia and Austria of vetoing every war which is 

 not carried on for the defence of Federal terri- 

 tory ; 2, complete equality of Austria and Prus- 

 sia within the Confederacy ; 3, the election of 

 the Assembly of National Delegates by a direct 

 vote of the German people. 



The attempt of Austria to prevail upon the 

 other German courts to agree upon a joint an- 

 swer to Prussia failed, and it was, therefore, 

 deemed best to call a " Conference of Minis- 

 ters " to deliberate upon the next step to be 

 taken. This conference was opened at Nurn- 

 berg on October 24th, but only ten of the 

 twenty-three governments which had signed 

 the letter of September 1st to Prussia, were 

 represented. A majority of them did not agree 

 to the propositions of Austria and Saxony, to 

 reply to Prussia by identical notes. 



On August 21st, the Assembly of German 

 deputies (members of Legislatures of German 



states) was opened at Frankfort-on-the Main. 

 It was attended by about 300 delegates. Herr 

 von Benningsen, of Hanover, was elected pres- 

 ident; Herr Barth, of Bavaria, and Herr von 

 Unruh, vice-presidents. The following resolu- 

 tions were unanimously adopted: 1. The As- 

 sembly regards the initiative of the Emperor 

 of Austria in preparing the way for a reform 

 of the Federal Constitution, and the ready par- 

 ticipation of most of the German princes and 

 the free cities in this work, as a cheering testi- 

 mony of the universal conviction as to the in- 

 sufficiency of the actual Federal Constitution, 

 and as to the necessity of its reform. 2. The 

 Assembly still believes that only the idea of a 

 Federal State, as expressed in the " Constitution 

 of the German Empire of March 28th, 1849," can 

 fully satisfy the national demand, but under the 

 actual circumstances, it is unwilling to reject 

 absolutely the proposition of the Emperor of 

 Austria. 3. But it must emphatically declare 

 itself against some portions of the Act of Re- 

 form, especially against the proposed plan of 

 national representation. It regards the election 

 of a German Representative Assembly by a di- 

 rect vote of the German people as indispen- 

 sable. 4. The two Great Powers ought to 

 have equal rights ; and those provinces of 

 Prussia, which before 1848 did not belong to 

 the German Confederation, ought to be admit- 

 ted to it. 5. The Act of Reform ought not to 

 be introduced without the consent of a German 

 National Assembly. 



The "National Verein" held its third Gen- 

 eral Assembly nt Leipzic, on October 17th. It 

 was resolved that the Act of Reform proposed 

 by Austria does not meet the expectations of 

 the German people ; that its introduction would 

 be no step toward the realization of German 

 unity, and therefore the National Verein must 

 decidedly oppose it. The counter propositions 

 of the Government of Prussia are equally in- 

 sufficient. The National Verein stands by the 

 Constitution of 1849. It rejects no means 

 which will tend to making Germany really a 

 Federal state. Bufthe German people alone, 

 through its chosen delegates, can ultimately 

 decide upon the Constitution of the Empire. 



The General Assembly of the Grossdeutsche 

 (Great German) party was opened at Frank- 

 fort-on-the Main, on October 28th. This meet- 

 ing expressed a more favorable opinion of the 

 Congress of Princes and its work. It declared 

 in favor of adopting the Act of Reform ; but at 

 the same time proposed several amendments, 

 as the holding of biennial instead of triennial 

 Assemblies of Delegates of German Legisla- 

 tures. It was attended by 442 members, and 

 the principal speakers were Herr von Lerchen- 

 feld, of Bavaria, Herr von Wydenbrugk, of 

 Saxe- Weimar, and Prof. Brinz, of Austria. 



The difficulties between the Diet of Ilolstein 

 and the German majority of the Diet of Schles- 

 wig on the one hand, and the Danish Govern- 

 ment on the other, led, toward the close of the 

 year, to a very serious complication between 



