704 



PEUSSIA. 



House was in this question in full accord with 

 the Government the Catholic party, as the 

 " Centre," being generally only supported by 

 the Poles, the Socialists, and a few ultra-con- 

 servative Protestants. On January 23d the 

 Diet adopted the law concerning the intro- 

 duction of civil marriage, by 284 against 95 

 votes. The Herrenhaus adopted the law on 

 February 20th by 99 against 51 votes. Several 

 amendments, proposed by the Herrenhaus, 

 were consented to by the Lower House, on 

 February 24th. 



An inquiry which the Government was said 

 to have instituted into the politics of the Eo- 

 man Catholic elementary teachers in a certain 

 district of the Ehine Province led to violent 

 attacks upon the Imperial Chancellor by sev- 

 eral members of the Catholic party, specially 

 by its leader, Herr von Mallinkrodt. He said : 



The Ehine country was one of the most patriotic 

 provinces, and the elementary teachers there had a 

 right to cherish Ultramontane politics, even though 

 appointed and salaried by Government. What must 

 be the feelings of these devoted patriots on finding 

 themselves coerced by the cabinet? Was not the 

 cabinet presided over by a statesman who, when 

 preparing for the Austrian War, told the Italian 

 General Govone that he did not object to give Ehine- 

 land up altogether to France as a sop thrown to Cer- 

 berus ? 



To this charge Prince Bismarck replied in a 

 set speech, during which he said : 



I find myself compelled to declare that the state- 

 ment of Herr von Mallinkrodt with reference to an 

 alleged transaction between General Govone and 

 myself is an infamous lie. Of course, it is not Herr 

 von Mallinkrodt who told the lie. Of course, he 

 repeated only a falsehood invented by some one 

 else. However, as the story has been invented with 

 malice prepense, it might perhaps have been expected 

 that Herr von Mallinkrodt would have reflected 

 twice before fathering it. I have never allowed any 

 one to hope that I should be able to bring myself to 

 consent to the cession of a single village or a single 

 acre of land. The fiction circulated at my expense 

 is a downright and daring lie, got up to blacken my 

 reputation in the eyes of my countrymen. Once 

 upon this subject, I should like to say a few words 

 on an incident which occurred at a previous sitting, 

 when I was unfortunately absent. A gentleman be- 

 longing to the same party as Herr von Mallinkrodt 

 chose to attack me as a statesman. He, too, did so 

 in connection with foreign politics, censuring my 

 conduct most severely. May I perhaps suggest to 

 the gentleman opposite that, as a member of a Gov- 

 ernment which they will be the last to deny is a 

 divinely appointed institution, I have some claim to 

 decent treatment at their hands ? May I lay claim 

 to this privilege, if not in domestic, at least in for- 

 eign affairs? Do they not really perceive that they 

 are acting an unhandsome part in calumniating me, 

 in connection with matters calculated to attract the 

 particular attention of other countries? Are they 

 not conversant with a certain proverb referring to 

 the bird who fouls his own nest? Surely, if I am to 

 believe that the pious gentlemen opposite are more 

 especially engaged in the defense of truth, religion, 

 and Christianity than others, I must beg of them to 

 be a little more cautious in repeating all manner of 

 stories, derived by them from questionable sources. 

 I am led to offer these remarks by Herr von Schor- 

 lemer's accusations. His first 'accusation was com- 

 paratively mild. He began by charging me with 

 contradicting myself. He said I had formerly ac- 

 knowledged the necessity of respecting the dogma 



of infallibility, a dogma accepted by millions of Eo- 

 man Catholics ; and he asserted, further, that I was 

 now acting contrary to my first intentions and prom- 

 ises. The one is true ; the other is not. Even now, 

 I acknowledge it as my duty to respect the dogmas 

 of the Catholic Church as dogmas, and I never have 

 interfered with anybody for believing in them. 

 But, if the Infallibility dogma is so interpreted as 

 to lead to the establishment of an ecclesiastical im- 

 perium in, imperip, if it occasions the setting aside 

 of the laws of this country, because unapproved by 

 the Vatican, I am naturally driven to assert the legit- 

 imate supremacy of the state. We Protestants are 

 under the conviction that this kingdom of Prussia 

 ought not to be ruled by the Pope, and we demand 

 that you, the Ultramontane section of the Koman 

 Catholics, respect our convictions as we do yours. 

 Unfortunately, however, you are accustomed to 

 complain of oppression whenever not permitted to 

 lord it over others. 



He added that he would have much to do to 

 refute all that was said and written against 

 him in every country, and not the least in 

 Germany. He was proud of being the most 

 hated man among all his contemporaries. The 

 accusations drawn from La Marmora's book 

 were founded on dispatches privately written 

 by an envoy, and without the corresponding 

 Prussian documents, which alone might set 

 them in their proper light. The fact was, that 

 had he chosen to concede to France the small- 

 est portion of German territory, even a mere 

 village, or something which \vould have cast a 

 stain on Germany's honor, he could have ob- 

 tained the largest concessions from the Em- 

 peror Napoleon. But he refused to do so, and 

 at last preferred a dangerous war. He had 

 acquired the habit of treating all these insinu- 

 ations and slanders with supreme contempt. 



The proposition of the Government to give 

 to the Old Catholic bishop a salary of 16,000 

 thalers was on January 30th approved by the 

 usual majority. 



The Diet adjourned on February 26th to the 

 close of April, when it resumed the discussion 

 of the new ecclesiastical laws, specially that 

 on the administration of vacant bishoprics. In 

 the course of the discussion, Dr. Falk, the 

 Minister of Public Worship, made a speech, in 

 which he stated that no difference of opinion 

 existed between him and the leaders of German 

 policy with regard to the course to be pursued 

 in dealing with the Church. He added that 

 he had good reasons for stating that the Eoman 

 Curia had manifested willingness to make ad- 

 vances to Switzerland i on condition that Prus- 

 sia should be left alone to struggle with the 

 Papacy. The minister mentioned that other 

 letters had been addressed by the Pope to for- 

 eign princes besides the one written last August 

 to the Emperor of Germany. Eeplying to the 

 Ultramontane Deputy Herr von Malinkrodt, 

 Dr. Falk said he knew nothing of any letter 

 from the Pope to the Emperor William other 

 than that sent in August last. The Lower 

 House adopted the bill by a large majority. In 

 the Herrenhaus, the Protestant nobility strong- 

 ly opposed the law, which, however, received 

 nearly a two-thirds majority, being adopted by 



