320 



GERMANY. 



of twelve months after either of the contracting parties 

 shall have given notice to the other of such intention. 

 ART. 6. The present convention shall be ratified 

 by his Majesty the King of Prussia in the name of 

 the North -German Confederation and by the Presi- 

 dent, by and with the advice and consent of the 

 Senate of the United States, and the ratifications 

 shall be exchanged at Berlin within six months from 

 the date hereof. 



Mr. Bancroft concluded similar treaties with 

 the Governments of Bavaria (May 26th), Wur- 

 temberg (July 27th), Baden and Hesse-Darm- 

 stadt (August 1st). 



In the budget for 1869, the receipts were 

 estimated at 72,552,211 thalers, the expendi- 

 tures at 77,701,135 thalers, the deficit at 

 5,148,924 thalers. The deficit was to be cov- 

 ered by a Federal loan (law of November 9, 

 1867). 



The Parliament of the North-German Con- 

 federation was opened by the King of Prussia 

 on the 23d .of March. The King, in the speech 

 from the throne, announced the further devel- 

 opments of the domestic institutions which 

 had recently been founded, and mentioned the 

 modification of the postal arrangements with 

 several countries, and the conclusion of the 

 postal treaty with the United States of Amer- 

 ica. The King expressed his satisfaction at the 

 manner in which the representatives of the 

 North-German Confederation had been re- 

 ceived at foreign courts, and in conclusion 

 said he was convinced that the blessings of 

 peace would rest upon the labors of the Par- 

 liament. The session, which for a short time 

 was interrupted by the meeting of the Customs 

 Union Parliament, was brought to a close on 

 the 20th of June. In his closing speech the 

 King of Prussia acknowledged the results of 

 the parliamentary session, and especially al- 

 luded to the sanction of the loan for the de- 

 velopment of the Federal navy, and for the 

 completion of the coast defences under the 

 control of Prussia. The speech further men- 

 tioned the laws (passed by the Parliament as 

 a supplement to the laws upon the freedom of 

 domicile) removing the police restrictions upon 

 the right of contracting marriage ; the laws 

 abolishing imprisonment for debt, and closing 

 gambling-houses ; the sanction of the different 

 postal treaties, and of the pensions granted to 

 the soldiers of the former Schleswig-Holstein 

 army; the regulation of weights and meas- 

 ures ; the equalization of the taxes, and the 

 passage of the treaty article for the entry of 

 Mecklenburg and Lubeck into the Zollverein. 



III. THE SOUTH-GEBMAN STATES. Of the 

 Governments of the South-German States, only 

 one, that of Baden, showed itself favorable to 

 a complete union between North and South 

 Germany. The Governments of Bavaria, Wur- 

 temberg, and Hesse-Darmstadt declared a de- 

 termination to adhere faithfully to the military 

 and commercial treaties which had been con- 

 cluded with the North-German Confederation, 

 but were unwilling to go beyond them. A 

 more determined opposition to the ascendency 



of Prussia was made by the radical "people's 

 party " ( Vollcspartei) in the Southern States. 

 On the 19th and 20th of September, a meeting 

 of delegates of this party took place at Stutt- 

 gart. The meeting declared that the people's 

 party acknowledge the three following prin- 

 ciples : 



1. The democratic principle of equality, and de- 

 mands therefore the equal cooperation of all citizens 

 in the forming and working of the constitution, the 

 carrying out of the principle of the self-government 

 of the people in the state. 



2. In national as in international affairs, the peo- 

 ple's party acknowledges the right of every clan 

 Vollcstamrri^ as well as of every people to determine 

 its own destiny. Only in this way does it strive after 

 unity. Only a federal state founded in freedom, and 

 inclusive of German Austria, corresponds with our 

 principles. 



8. The people's party acknowledges that the consti- 

 tutional and social questions are inseparable, and in 

 particular that the economical liberation of the work- 

 ing-classes and the realization of political liberty are 

 in necessary coordination with each other. 



The following resolutions fully define the 

 position of the party with regard to the unity 

 question : 



1. The people's party is a party of peace. It sees 

 in every war a condemnable injury to the interests of 

 liberty, and does what lies in its power against the 

 present peril of war. 



2. To the South Germans it recommends opposi- 

 tion to the process of Prussianizing, and, with a view 

 to the reunion of the whole fatherland, the foundation 

 of a liberty-loving Southern Confederation, which 

 should be kept up by a common popular representa- 

 tion, and executive, and be protected by a militia 

 system on the Swiss pattern. 



3. Within the North-German Confederation, it sup- 

 ports every tendency or effort which looks to a great- 

 er independence of provincial or little state political 

 life. It presses upon the lands annexed by Prussia 

 the duty of keeping alive and strengthening the pecu- 

 liarities of their traditional local life which have a 

 democratic character. 



4. In German Austria, the development of internal 

 liberty as a condition precedent and security for its 

 reunion with Germany ; the carrying through of a 

 general reform in German Austria is as much a Ger- 

 man as it is an Austrian interest. Only when Ger- 

 man Austria takes a deep interest in the German na- 

 tional and liberal movement, only when a mutual ac- 

 tion and reaction go on between German Austria and 

 the rest of Germany, will Austria's reforming policy 

 become firmly rooted in the soil. 



5. In these endeavors the members of the people's 

 party throughout all Germany have to lend each other 

 support. 



6. In the event of a war, the German people's party, 

 mindful of its national duty, will take that side which 

 offers security for the integrity of the soil of Germany. 

 Even during war the people's party will not de- 

 sist from working for the liberty and unity of the 

 fatherland. 



On the labor question 1 the convention passed 

 the following resolutions : 



1. Permanent discussion of labor questions in the 

 party organs and in the party clubs ; promotion of 

 the cooperative movement and trade-unions, and of 

 the movement for procuring to the working-men a 

 share in the net profits of their labor. 



2. By means of the Legislature the following aims 

 are to be striven for : The elevation of the common 

 schools ; establishment of technical schools, and 

 gratuitous instruction thereat ; complete freedom to 

 manufacture; unlimited right of settlement and 



