GERMANY. 



353 



Cardinal Antonelli, who replied the next day, 

 explaining his silence by the announced early 

 arrival of Cardinal Prince Hohenlohe ; but 

 stating that the Pope, though not insensible to 

 the Emperor's intentions, was, nevertheless, 

 in the unpleasant position, under existing cir- 

 cumstances, of not being able to authorize 

 Cardinal Hohenlohe's accepting so delicate and 

 important a mission. The German Govern- 

 ment and the Reichsrath took great offence at 

 this refusal of the Pope to receive Cardinal 

 Hohenlohe, and in the Reichsrath a motion 

 was made to strike out in the proposed bud- 

 get the estimate for an envoy to the Pope. 

 Prince Bismarck, on May 14th, made in the 

 Keichsrath a speech on the subject which pro- 

 duced a profound impression. He said that 

 the last transaction with the Papal Govern- 

 ment had demonstrated the difficulty of effect- 

 ing an understanding with the Roman Curia 

 through the medium of an envoy. The latest 

 dogmas promulgated by the Holy See rendered 

 it impossible to act in harmony with Rome. 

 To restore peace among the religious denomi- 

 nations it appeared necessary to seek a solu- 

 tion of the difficulties by enacting a law for 

 the empire securing complete liberty of con- 

 science. The rejection of an envoy by the 

 Government to whom it was proposed to ac- 

 credit him was not a frequent occurrence. It 

 was not a courteous proceeding, and had not 

 happened to Prince Bismarck during a diplo- 

 matic career lasting over twenty-one years. 

 It pained him the more, inasmuch as Cardinal 

 Hohenlohe appeared fitted to bring about a 

 conciliatory feeling. The regret he felt would 

 not, however, justify Mm in manifesting irri- 

 tation. Regard for the interests of the Cath- 

 olic population of Germany had determined 

 him to nominate another envoy, however dif- 

 ficult it would be to find one equal to Cardinal 

 Hohenlohe, and doubtful as he was of a sub- 

 stitute achieving good results. At a later 

 stage of the discussion, Prince Bismarck em- 

 phatically declared that he should always re- 

 ject any treaty with Rome in which the Pa- 

 pacy might claim that certain state laws should 

 not be binding upon a portion of the subjects 

 of the empire. The motion for striking out 

 the estimate for an envoy to the Pope was re- 

 jected, and the item was adopted by a large 

 majority. 



On May 1st, the University of Strasbourg 

 was opened with great ceremonies, an occur- 

 rence in which all Germans took a profoundly 

 patriotic interest, as it is expected that the 

 university will greatly contribute to the revi- 

 val of German sentiments in Alsace and Lor- 

 raine. The Oberprasident of Alsace-Lorraine, 

 Herr von Moller, after a brief allocution, read 

 the charter of endowment, subsequently hand- 

 ing the original to the Rector, Dr. Bruch. The 

 latter warmly returned thanks to the Emperor, 

 the Imperial Chancellor, the First President, 

 Dr. Roggenbach, and the Mayor of Strasbourg, 

 after which he read a congratulatory address 



VOL. XII. 23 A. 



from the German Parliament. After a hymn, 

 specially prepared for the occasion, had been 

 sung, Prof. Springer delivered a festive oration. 

 Addresses were spoken by Prof. AVaitz, in the 

 name of nineteen German universities, which 

 were represented by deputations, by Prof. 

 Tomaschek, in the name of four German uni- 

 versities of Austria, and by Prof. Wyss, in the 

 name of three universities of Switzerland. The 

 proceedings were closed by a few words from 

 Dr. Bruch. The hall was densely crowded. 



With regard to the introduction of the Im- 

 perial Constitution into Alsace-Lorraine, the 

 Government introduced a bill proposing to 

 suspend it until January 1, 1874. The Federal 

 Commissary Herzog pointed out, in the course 

 of the debate, that Alsace-Lorraine was not 

 yet ripe for the introduction of the Federal 

 Constitution in its integrity, especially as the 

 question of choice of nationality would have 

 to be settled first. The councils-general would 

 enter upon their functions in the course of the 

 current year. The bill of the Government was 

 opposed by the Catholic party and the party 

 of Progress, while all the other parties favored 

 it, and passed it by a large majority. 



An important debate rose in the Reichsrath, 

 on May 15th, on several hundred petitions, 

 some of which advocated the expulsion of the 

 Jesuits from the country; some, and these the 

 majority, interceded in behalf of the order. 

 Any measures against the order were strongly 

 opposed by the Rev. Dr. Moufang, one of the 

 leading prelates in the Diocese of Mayence, and 

 by Herr Peter Reichensperger, a member of 

 the Supreme Court of Appeal at Berlin, an ac- 

 complished writer on history and art, and for 

 many years a leader of the Catholic party in 

 the Prussian Diet. On the other hand, the 

 Government was urged to proceed against the 

 Jesuits in the interest of religious peace, by 

 Privy-Councillor AVagener, one of the leaders 

 of the Conservative party ; by Prince Hohen- 

 lohe, late Bavarian premier, and brother of 

 Cardinal Hohenlohe; by Herr Fischer, burgo- 

 master of the town of Augsburg, and, like 

 Prince Hohenlohe, a Roman Catholic ; and, in 

 conclusion, by the well-known Prof. Gneist, 

 of the University of Berlin, who acted as chair- 

 man of the special commission which had been 

 charged with reporting upon the petitions. 

 The report lamented that, "as a consequence 

 of the pro-papal tendencies until lately preva- 

 lent in the ministry, the number of convents 

 has enormously increased. In 1865 we had 

 69; in 1864, 243; in 1866, 481; in 1869, 826. 

 The number of persons shut up in these insti- 

 tutions, from 976 in 1855, had increased to 

 something like 10,000 by 1869. In Belgium, 

 where the same sort of unhealthy liberty pre- 

 vails, it is even worse, the number of monks 

 and nuns having increased from 12,000 in 1846 

 to over 20,000 in 1870. The House then 

 adopted a resolution drawn up conjointly by 

 a number of Conservative and Liberal mem- 

 bers: 



