360 



GERMANY. 



general the sanitary condition of the empire. 

 The supplementary bills for the industrial 

 legislation of the empire, by which the Gov- 

 ernment proposed to make compulsory strikes 

 and the violation of contracts between em- 

 ployers and employes criminal offenses, drew 

 forth a very decided opposition, not only on 

 the part of the Socialists, but also on the part 

 of members of the party of progress like 

 Schulze-Delitzsch, and of National Liberals 

 like Lasker, and it was finally referred to a 

 committee, by which it was not reported back 

 to the Reichstag. The law concerning the in- 

 troduction of an imperial paper-money (the 

 withdrawal of the paper-money of the particu- 

 lar states after January 1, 1875, having been 

 previously resolved upon) was adopted by 180 

 against 80 votes. Deputy Mosle (representa- 

 tive of the city of Bremen) again defended in- 

 geniously, but inefficiently, his ideas concern- 

 ing the uselessness and danger of every kind 

 of paper-money. Important concessions were 

 made to the particular states for the purpose 

 of facilitating the withdrawal of their own 

 notes. The bill on the Court of Accounts was 

 not reported during this first session from the 

 Court of Accounts. 



The most important among the bills intro- 

 duced by members of the Reichstag was the 

 one concerning the introduction of civil mar- 

 riage. The bill, originating with Prof. Hin- 

 schius, of the University of Berlin, and Deputy 

 Volk, one of the leaders of the Liberal party 

 of Bavaria, had already engaged the attention 

 of the first Reichstag, but had not passed to 

 the third reading. The new discussion in the 

 second Reichstag derived a special interest from 

 the fact that the principle of civil marriage was 

 defended by Prof. Baumgarten, of Rostock, a 

 Protestant theologian of the -orthodox school, 

 who, on this question, disagrees with the im- 

 mense majority of the orthodox Protestant 

 clergy of Germany, and by one of the leaders 

 of the Old Catholic movement, Prof. Schulte, 

 of Bonn. The bill was finally adopted by a 

 large majority. The motion for giving to the 

 members of the Reichstag a compensation, 

 which had been adopted in every session of 

 the preceding Reichstag but not yet received 

 the sanction of the Federal Council, was re- 

 newed by Schulze-Delitzsch, and again adopted 

 by 229 against 79 votes. 



On February 16th, the fifteen representatives 

 of Alsace-Lorraine entered the Reichstag in 

 solemn procession, headed by the Bishops of 

 Metz and Strasburg. On the same day they 

 offered a resolution to take a general vote of 

 the people of Alsace-Lorraine on their incor- 

 poration with Germany, as it had been effected 

 without consulting them. The motion was 

 signed by all the fifteen members, three of 

 whom, had a French name, while the first, 

 by a singular coincidence, had the name of 

 Teutseh. A previous motion, that those dep- 

 uties of Alsace-Lorraine who were not ac- 

 quainted with the German language, be allowed 



to address the Reichstag in French, could not 

 be discussed, because the unanimous consent, 

 which, according to the by-laws, is required for 

 the immediate discussion of a motion, was not 

 given. The speech by Deputy Teutseh in sup- 

 port of his motion was full of invectives against 

 Germany, but no reply was made to it, and the 

 motion was voted down without discussion. 

 After Deputy Teutsch had concluded his speech, 

 Bishop Raess, of Strasburg, took occasion to 

 declare that he and his co-religionists (M. 

 Teutsch being a Protestant) did not call in 

 question the Treaty of Frankfort, which had 

 been concluded between two great powers. 

 This recognition by the bishop of the treaty 

 by which Alsace-Lorraine had been united with 

 France, called forth many protests on the part 

 of the population of the Reichsland, which, 

 however, were never presented to the Reichs- 

 tag. After the rejection of the motion, the 

 members constituting the French party of 

 protest, among them the Bishop of Metz, left 

 Berlin without, however, resigning; the others, 

 who sympathized more with the Catholic Cen- 

 tre than with the French-protest party, among 

 them Bishop Raess, of Strasburg, and tho 

 parish-priests Guerber and Winterer, remained. 

 They, in union with members of the Centre, 

 moved the repeal of Art. X. of the law on the 

 administration of Alsace-Lorraine, as it cur- 

 tailed the freedom of the press and of associa- 

 tion. The motion, which called forth a vigor- 

 ous speech from Prince Bismarck, was rejected 

 by 198 against 138 votes, the minority consist- 

 ing of the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine, 

 the entire Centre, the Poles, the Federalists, 

 and the majority of the party of progress. 



The most important subjects engaging tho 

 attention of the Reichstag were, the new press 

 law, the new military law, and the church 

 law. On the proposed new press law the 

 views of the Federal Council and the majority 

 of the Reichstag were widely different, but a 

 special committee of fourteen, to which the 

 bill was referred, succeeded in smoothing the 

 way for a compromise. Though the Liberals 

 were not quite satisfied with the compro- 

 mise, they regarded the bill as agreed upon as 

 a progressive measure, and an important re- 

 form when compared with the law previously 

 in force. The preventive confiscation of pa- 

 pers, in order to bring them before the tribu- 

 nal, is now limited to certain settled points, as 

 high-treason, incitement to illegal acts, or to 

 hatred and warfare of the citizens among 

 themselves ; but in these two latter cases 

 only when there is immediate danger of a 

 crime or a breach of the law being committed. 

 At the same time, the stamp-tax and the 

 cautionnement to which the papers were for- 

 merly subjected, especially in Prussia, and 

 which for twenty years hindered the healthy 

 development of the German press, will bo 

 abolished. The law took effect on July 1, 

 1874. 



Tho new military law, which demanded the 





