869 



PRUSSIA. 



prominent member of the free Conservative 

 party, who soon gained the entire confidence 

 nl the ( hamber. 



In October a new general election of the 

 members of the Prussian Diet took place. The 

 Old Conservative party, being deprived of the 

 support of t!u- Government, was almost an- 

 uihiluted, electing no more than 20 of its 

 candidates. The " New Conservative " party 

 which supports the policy of the Government 

 so far as the consolidation of the German Em- 

 pire is concerned, numbered 12 members ; and 

 the " Free Conservatives " who generally sup- 

 port the ministry, and in many points agree 

 with the National Liberals, 39 members. The 

 most numerous among all the parties of the 

 Chamber is the National Liberal, which had 

 128 members, while 48 were classified as 

 " Liberals," and 57 as members of the more 

 radical "Party of Progress." The Catholic 

 party, or as it is called from the seats which it 

 occupies in the Diet and in the German Reich. 

 tag, the " Centre," had largely gained in the 

 Catholic districts, the overwhelming majority 

 of which thus showed their entire agreement 

 with the views of the bishops on the conflict 

 between church and state ; they numbered in 

 the new Diet 86 members, and were, moreover, 

 supported by 17 Polish deputies ; 2 Danes 

 were sent by Northern Schleswick, and 8 ''Par- 

 ticularists " or adherents of the dethroned 

 family of Hanover, which, however, by the 

 ion of 82 National Liberals, showed that 

 the immense majority of the population was 

 entirely satisfied with the annexation of the 

 country to Prussia. The Minister of Public 

 Worship, Dr. Falk, had been elected by six 

 di liVrcnt constituencies. Shortly before the 

 meeting of the Diet, Count Roon, ilu> IV.- 

 idontof the Ministry and Ministi r of War, hud 

 resigned his position, and while as Minister of 

 War he was succeeded by General von Ka- 

 meke, the presidency of the ministry was again 

 assumed by Bismarck, nn indication that the 

 aged King would not shrink from the des- 

 perate conflict between the state and the 

 Catholic Church, and was determined to carry 

 out the programme laid down hy Bismarck. 

 which hail tin- support of the entire National 



:il iiinl l-'reo Conservative parties, and the 

 large majority of the Party of Progress, while 

 1 'entre, the Pole*, and the Old Conserva- 

 tives were united in opposing it. The Diet 

 WM opened on November 12th by the Vi.-i- 

 President of the Ministry, Camphausen. The 

 Emperor was prevented by indi-pn^tion from 

 opening the Diet in person. With regard to 

 the great question of the day, the Church con- 

 flict, the speech from the throne expressed the 

 regret of the King that the new laws which 

 were to regulate the relations of the state 



rnnient to the state churches had en- 

 countered the unjustified opposition of the 

 Roman Catholic bishops. It also Announced 

 that the Government, unmindful of this re- 

 sistance, would fully carry through those laws, 



and would promptly take all the other neces- 

 sary steps in order to present the- interests 

 couh'ded to its cure from suffering any injury. 

 The llerreiihuus, ut its first nieetii,. 

 Count Otto liolherg president, and Von Ber- 

 nuth and llasselbach vice-pre.sitli.iits. I. 

 House of Deputies, Herr YOU Bennigsi.ii. 

 ot the leaders of the National l.iltral party, 

 was elected president ; Dr. Liiwe, ot 

 Party of Progress, and Dr. Friedenthul, of the 

 Free Conservative party. \ice - presidents. 

 This combination showed tlmt there was a 

 pert'ect understanding between these three 

 parties on the Church question. 



Even before the Government had brought 

 in the most important bill of the session, 

 which provided for the introduction of civil 

 marriage, the leader of the C'utholic Centre, 

 "\Vindthorst, moved to change the electoral law 

 of Prussia, which divides the rote* accord- 

 ing to the amount of taxes they pay into three 

 classes, and gives to the wealthy and educated 

 classes a considerable advantage over those 

 less wealthy and intelligent, and to introduce in 

 its place universal and equal suffrage. The sur- 

 prise at this skillful move of the Ct litre i.mong 

 the Liberals was as great as the movement 

 itself was inconvenient. Windthorst pointed 

 to the fact, that the Liberals at all times hail 

 loudly clamored for the introduction of a 

 universal and equal suffrage, and that I5is- 

 marck in his speech of March 28, 1867, hod 

 called the present electoral law " nn absurd, 

 miserable law, than which no worse could le 

 found." Anxious as the Liberals were to se- 

 cure the introduction of univi rsal and equal 

 suffrage, they were at the present time nn- 

 willing to wrest the boon from the hands of 

 atholics. Only one portion of the Party 

 of Progress, under the leadership of Prof. 

 Yirchow, of the University of Berlin, wi:s 

 willing; to refer the motion of Windthorst to 

 a special committee of 14, which was at il .- 

 same time to draft the required new electoral 

 law; the majority of the House adopted a 

 motion of Deputy Yung, to adjourn the discus- 

 sion for six months. 



With another liberal motion, the C'utholic 

 party was more successful. The stamp-tax, 

 which thus far has 1m n levied from almanacs, 

 newspapers, and periodicals, wns so unpopular 

 among all political parties, that when Deputy 

 Bernard, of the Catholic Centre. p>t the start 

 of the other parties in the introduction of a 

 hill, providing for the abolition of the hated 

 tax, his motion was, notwithstanding tl,. 

 Inctance 1 to support any measure proposed by 

 the Catholic party, adopted on December 10th, 

 by an almost unanimous vote. 



On the same day, another leader of the 

 Catholic party, Peter Reichcnsporper, a mem- 

 ber of the Supreme Court of Berlin, moved 

 that the House of Deputies declare that the 

 ecclesiastical peace which had been destr 

 since 1871 could not be attained by the passage 

 of measures like the recent Church laws, but 



