654 



PRUSSIA. 



administration of the province. /The Lower 

 House desired a provincial committee wholly 

 elected by the Diet ; the Upper House substi- 

 tuted for this a provincial council consisting 

 of four members elected by the Diet, of the 

 Oberprasident (chief president) of the province, 

 who is to preside, and two other administra- 

 tive officers appointed by the Government. 

 Finally, a compromise was agreed upon, ac- 

 cording to which the provincial council will 

 consist of the Oberprasident, one other ap- 

 pointed member who must have the qualifica- 

 tion for judge, and five elected members _of the 

 Diet. This compromise was adopted in the 



THE EXCHANGE, BERLIN. 



House of Deputies on June 10th by 213 against 

 148 votes, and on June 12th by a large ma- 

 jority in the House of Lords. 



The first of the bills concerning the Roman 

 Catholic Church of Prussia came up for dis- 

 cussion on February 16th ; its title is " A law 

 for the management of the property of the 

 Catholic Church." It provides for an election 

 of church-wardens in each parish by the con- 

 gregation, the number to be fixed by the bish- 

 op, in conjunction with the Government. This 

 body can be called together at any time, either 

 by the bishop or the Landrath, or, in cities, by 

 the mayor, or by one-half of the board, or by 

 the congregation. A second act was intro- 

 duced on the 3d of March, and like the former 

 bears the name of Dr. Falk. It is entitled 

 "An act concerning the suppression of the 

 payment of the state aid to the Roman Cath- 

 olic bishops and clergy." It absolutely sus- 

 pends such payments, but the suspension is to 

 be removed as soon as the archbishop, bishop, 

 or priest, pledges himself in writing to obey 

 the laws of the state. The revocation of such 

 a pledge, once given, is to involve dismissal 

 from office by judicial sentence, and incapacity 

 for the exercise of the office hereafter. Anoth- 

 er bill submitted by the Government provided 

 for the suppression of the Prussian monasteries. 

 Finally, the Government proposed to the Diet 

 the abrogation of those clauses of the constitu- 

 tion which allow the independent administra- 

 tion of ecclesiastical affairs, the unimpeded inter- 

 course of religious bodies with their superiors, 



and freedom of clerical appointments. All 

 these bills were adopted by both Houses of the 

 Diet by large majorities. In the Lower House, 

 all the parties except the Catholic ' Centre " 

 and the Poles supported the Government ; in 

 the Upper House, the number of the ultra-con- 

 servative Protestant noblemen who voted with 

 Catholics was reduced to about a dozen. The 

 Diet also adopted a bill regulating the affairs 

 of the Old Catholics, and in particular their 

 claims to a fair proportion of the Catholic 

 Church property. 



The discussion of these ecclesiastical bills 

 was greatly embittered, and the union of all the 

 parties, except the Catholic, in the support of 

 the Government was greatly strengthened by a 

 papal encyclical, dated February 5th, in which 

 the ecclesiastical bills passed and promulgated 

 in the preceding years were declared null and 

 void. Even a number of Roman Catholic mem- 

 bers of the Diet issued a joint declaration 

 against the encyclical, saying : 



We most emphatically deny that the Church laws 

 of the German Empire and of the Prussian state en- 

 tirely subvert the divine constitution of the Church 

 and nullify the inviolable prerogatives of the bish- 

 ops, and most solemnly protest against all the prin- 

 ciples set forth in the encyclical which jeopardize 

 the authority, the constitution, and the existence of 

 the state; and especially against the prerogative 

 claimed for the Pope of declaring constitutionally 

 enacted laws null and void. It is, on the contrary, 

 our conviction that the teachings of the Catholic 

 Church expressly enjoin upon every Catholic to 

 recognize as binding and to obey state laws which 

 have been constitutionally enacted. 



While the immense majority of the lower 

 clergy also sided with the bishops, and a num- 

 ber of them shared the imprisonment of the 

 bishops, there was, on the other hand, quite a 

 number of priests, including even several can- . 

 ons of Cologne and Breslau, who announced 



THE ROYAL LIBRARY, BERLIN. 



to the Government their submission to all the 

 ecclesiastical laws, and thus secured the pay- 

 ment of their salaries. As this act was severe- 

 ly censured by the majority of priests and lay- 

 men, the Prussian Government ordered that 

 declarations of submission by Catholic clergy- 



