366 



GERMANY. 



take an active part in German politics as Presi- 

 dent of the Democratic Constitutional Society 

 of Breslau. In 1849 he established himself as 

 attorney in Elbing, Eastern Prussia. His con- 

 nection with the legislative assemblies of Ger- 

 many began in 1858, and has never ceased 

 since. Being first elected for the district of 

 Mohringen, he subsequently represented in 

 turn the cities of Konigsberg, Cologne, and 

 Elbing. In 1866 the Chamber of Deputies 

 elected him president, and he was at every 

 following session of the Diet reflected to this 

 position until, in 1873, he was elected Burgo- 

 master of the city of Breslau, and as such be- 

 came a member of the Prussian Herrenhaus. 

 Among the many important reports which he 

 prepared in the name of different committees, 

 that on the army question was especially val- 

 ued. He was also elected member of the Con- 

 stituent and the regular Reichstag of the North- 

 German Confederation (Norddeutsche Bund), 

 and of the first and second Reichstag of the 

 German Empire. The latter, as has already 

 been stated, elected him president by the 

 unanimous vote of all parties. When, in the 

 fall of 1874, he deemed it necessary to resign 

 his position as president because the Reichstag 

 had overruled one of his decisions, it was Dep.- 

 uty Windthorst, the leader of the Catholic 

 Centre, and one of the most determined oppo- 

 nents of the political principles of Forcken- 

 beck, who, in warm words of admiration, and 

 amid the applause of all parties, moved his re- 

 election by acclamation, which was carried 

 without a dissenting vote. Forckenbeck has 

 been a prominent exponent of the principles 

 of the National Liberals, to which party he 

 has belonged since its formation. By birth a 

 Catholic, Forckenbeck supports, with his po- 

 litical party, the Prussian laws on Church af- 

 fairs, and in 1873 accepted a position as mem- 

 ber of a new ecclesiastical court, which is to 

 exercise the rights of the state over all the 

 churches recognized by the state, and the 

 establishment of which was so severely de- 

 nounced by the Catholic bishops and the 

 Catholic party. 



MARTIN EDUARD SIMSON, the President of 

 the first Reichstag of the German Empire, oc- 

 cupies a prominent position in the constitution- 

 al history of Germany since 1848. He was 

 born at Konigsberg, November 10, 1810, and 

 after studying law at the Universities of Ko- 

 nigsberg, Berlin, and Bonn, was appointed in 

 1831 Privatdocent and in 1843 professor at the 

 University of Konigsberg. In 1848 he was 

 deputed by his native city to the German Na- 

 tional Assembly, which at once elected him 

 secretary, in September vice-president, and 

 in December president, in place of Heinrich 

 von Gagern, who had become prime-minister. 

 He was reflected president from month to 

 month until the end of May, 1849, when he had 

 to decline on account of severe indisposition. 

 When in November, 1848, a conflict arose at 

 Berlin between the Government of Prussia and 



the Prussian National Assembly, Simson was 

 commissioned by the National Assembly of 

 Frankfort to attempt a mediation. In April, 

 1849, he headed the deputation of the Frank- 

 fort Assembly, which was to notify the King 

 of Prussia of his election as German Em- 

 peror. In May, 1849, he left the Frankfort As- 

 semby, and in August of the same year en- 

 tered the second Prussian Chamber as deputy 

 of his native city. In March, 1850, he was 

 elected President of the Lower House of the 

 Reichstag of Erfurt, which had been called by 

 the King of Prussia and his allies to attempt 

 again the union of the German states. When 

 this project was abandoned, he reentered the 

 second Prussian Chamber, where he was one 

 of the leaders of the Opposition against the 

 policy of the ministry. Dissatisfied with the 

 course of the Government, he declined, in 1852, 

 a reelection into the second Chamber, and re- 

 tired from political life. In 1858, when the 

 Prince of Prussia, as regent, formed a liberal 

 ministry, he again accepted a mandate for the 

 second Chamber, which in 1860 and 1861 

 elected him president, and in October, 1861, 

 deputed him as its representative to the coro- 

 nation of King William at Konigsberg. He 

 remained a member of the second Chamber 

 until 1867, when he became a member of the 

 Reichstag of the North-German Confedera- 

 tion. He was the permanent president of 

 this Reichstag as well as the Customs Parlia- 

 ment, and in December, 1870, headed the so- 

 called " Imperial Deputation," which expressed 

 to King William the assent of the North-Ger- 

 man Reichstag to the restoration of the Ger- 

 man Empire. The first Reichstag of the re- 

 stored German Empire elected him president in 

 all of its sessions, and so high was the esteem 

 in which he was held by all parties, that none 

 of them ever thought of putting up a candi- 

 date against him. The reelection as President 

 by the second Reichstag, in 1874, he had to de- 

 cline on account of failing health. His chair 

 at the University of Konigsberg he had given 

 up in 1846, when he was appointed councillor 

 of the so-called Tribunal of the Kingdom of 

 Prussia. In 1860 he became vice-president, 

 and in 1869 first president, of the Court of 

 Appeal at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. 



PRINCE CHLODWIO KARL VICTOR VON Ho- 

 HSNLOHE SOHILLING'SFURST, first Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the first German Reichstag, has long 

 been known as a leading statesman of Bavaria. 

 He is descended from one of the oldest prince- 

 ly families of Germany, and was born March 

 31, 1819. In 1834 he inherited, with his elder 

 brother Victor, from the last Landgrave of 

 Hesse-Rheinfeld-Rotenburg, the duchy of Ra- 

 tibor, the principality of Corvey, the domin- 

 ion of Treffurt, and other territories. In 1840 

 the King of Prussia conferred upon his brother 

 Victor the title of Duke of Ratibor, and upon 

 him that of Prince of Ratibor and Corvey. He 

 resigned his claim to the dominion of Schillings- 

 fiirst in Bavaria in favor of his younger brother 



