BAVARIA. 



BEKKER, ERNST I. 



bers were engaged in discussing the Federal 

 treaty, by wLich the Bavarian Government had 

 agreed to become a member of the German 

 Empire. The First Chamber (Chamber of the 

 Reichsraethe), on December 30th, ratified them 

 with all votes except three, the royal princes 

 as well as the bishops voting in favor of them. 

 In the Lower Chamber the treaties encoun- 

 tered a more formidable opposition. Dr. Jorg, 

 one of the leaders of the Patriotic party, moved 

 that the ratification be refused, and that Bava- 

 ria demand a particular position, which, in 

 fact, would be equivalent to the establishment 

 of a confederation within the German Confed- 

 eration. A large portion of the party refused, 

 however, to support this motion, and several 

 of its members even warmly advocated the 

 ratification of the treaties, urging either the 

 great change of opinion among the people or 

 the express wish of the King, who, in an auto- 

 graph letter, had asked the Archbishop of 

 Munich to use his great influence in behalf of 

 the ratification of the treaties and the entrance 

 of Bavaria into the German Empire. When 

 the final vote was taken on January 21st, the 

 ratification was carried by the necessary two- 

 thirds majority, 102 voting for and only 48 

 against it. As the Chambers of the other South- 

 ern States had previously ratified the treaties, 

 this vote of the Bavarian Second Chamber 

 completed the political unification of Germany. 

 After the exchange of the treaties, the official 

 law paper of Bavaria published a royal decree, 

 of January 30th, promulgating the Federal 

 treaties, and the electoral law for the German 

 Empire, and thus making the Constitution of 

 the German Empire valid for Bavaria. 



In August a new ministry was formed, under 

 the presidency of Count Hegnenberg-Dux. Its 

 official programme embraced the honest fulfil- 

 ment of all the obligations assumed with regard 

 to^the German Empire, the introduction of ad- 

 ministrative reforms, and a conciliatory policy 

 in home affairs. The most difficult subject 

 which engaged the attention of the new min- 

 istry was the Old Catholic movement, which 

 found its centre in Munich. The Old Catholics 

 claimed to be recognized by the state as mem- 

 bers of the established Catholic Church, while 

 their opponents demanded that they be treated 

 as having seceded, and as being no longer en- 

 titled to any part in the rights and privileges 

 of the Church. The ministry soon defined its 

 position. It refused to dismiss the theological 

 professors of the University of Munich who 

 were at the head of the Old Catholic move- 

 ment; and when the Bavarian bishops de- 

 manded the abolition of the royal placet, 

 which, according to the Bavarian Constitution' 

 must be given to any ecclesiastical decree be- 

 fore it can be regarded as obligatory for the 

 inhabitants of Bavaria, they met with an em- 

 phatic denial. In the Old Catholic Congress, 

 held in Munich in September (see ROMAN CATHO- 

 LIC CHURCH), many of the highest officers of the 

 state took an active part. On the opening of 



the Chambers, September 27th, the Patriotic 

 (Old Catholic) party elected its candidate, Baron 

 von Ow, first president of the Second Cham- 

 ber. The budget submitted by the Govern- 

 ment showed that the proceeds of the Bavarian 

 railroads amounted to the unexpectedly largo 

 sum of 21,000,000 florins ; on the other hand, 

 however, it was regretted that the cost of 

 management, which in other states varies be- 

 tween 36 and 40 per cent, of the proceeds, 

 amounts in Bavaria to 60 per cent., leaving to 

 the state a clear profit of only 9,000,000. In 

 reply to an inquiry, signed by 47 members of 

 the Party of Progress, the Minister of Public 

 "Worship and Instruction, on October 14th, re- 

 plied that " the state had at ail times the 

 right to make changes in the laws relating to 

 the Church. The Church having declared a 

 change of principles, and infallibility being a 

 doctrine dangerous to the State, the Govern- 

 ment had resolved to protect any and all of its 

 citizens who could not accept the infallibility 

 of the Pope as an article of faith. The Gov- 

 ernment would still consider such persons as 

 Catholics, and it would oppose any encroach- 

 ment by the Church upon the principles of the 

 civil constitution." The minister also declared 

 that "the sentiment of the King and the Council 

 of State favored a separation of religious and 

 political branches of the Government, and the 

 complete independence of each." 



This declaration of the ministry called forth 

 a Papal allocution, dated October 27th, which 

 accused the Bavarian ministers of listening to 

 malignant insinuations, of protecting the new 

 sectarians, of encouraging their rebellion, and 

 of thus causing a great scandal. The Old 

 Catholics are designated as sons of perdition, 

 who wish to call forth a persecution of the 

 Catholic Church by the secular powers. The 

 Bavarian ministers, on the other hand, are 

 praised for their pastoral zeal and admirable 

 courage. 



Count Friedrich Hegncnberg-Dvx, the new 

 Prime-Minister of Bavaria, is the present chief 

 of a noble family which descends from an 

 illegitimate son of Duke William IV. of Bavaria, 

 who died in 1511. He was born in 1810, and 

 at an early age distinguished himself in the 

 political arena. He was one of the leaders of 

 the moderate Liberal party, was in 1849 and 

 again in 1853 appointed First President of the 

 Second Chamber, remained in this position, 

 when, in 1858, the electoral law had been 

 changed, and became again President in 18G3. 

 He resigned his position in 1865, and for sev- 

 eral years took no active part in political life, 

 until in August, 1871, he was called by the 

 King to form a new ministry. 



BEKKER, EENST IMMANUEL, Ph.D., a Ger- 

 man philologist and professor, born in Berlin 

 in 1785 ; died there, June 7, 1871. He studied 

 linguistics at Halle, where he was the favorite 

 pupil of the celebrated Wolf, who declared 

 him the only man capable of carrying to com- 

 pletion the investigations he had begun. In 



