GERMANY. 



383 



that his desire was to obtain a real, solid, and 

 durable peace a result which would be as 

 fortunate for the empire as for the Catholic 

 Church. Cardinal Nina sent to the ministers 

 abroad a note explaining the Pope's letter, 

 which stated that the intention of his Holiness 

 in publishing the letter was to show his will- 

 ingness to assist the foreign governments in 

 overcoming the existing spirit of subversion 

 against the altar and the throne. It was stated 

 in Roman Catholic circles at Rome that the 

 letter was published in order to assure the 

 Catholics and the German deputies that the 

 negotiations between Germany and the Vati- 

 can were really of a serious character. The 

 negotiations came very shortly after this to a 

 standstill. The deposed bishops, in a letter 

 addressed to the Pope, refused to conform to 

 Prince Bismarck's ultimatum of obedience to 

 the May laws. The Bavarian and Austrian 

 Nuncios were intrusted with a confidential 

 mission to Prince Bismarck ; but no hopes 

 were entertained at Rome of their success, and 

 it was believed that Germany would concede 

 nothing, while the Vatican could not yield all 

 without alienating its most faithful partisans. 

 The abandonment of the first bases of negotia- 

 tion was reported in October, it having been 

 occasioned, it was said, by the attitude which 

 had been adopted by the Center party in the 

 Reichstag in reference to the Anti-Socialist 

 bill. Other bases were substituted, and it was 

 given out that the relations between Church 

 and State would be settled, so far as was pos- 

 sible, in accordance with the existing law of 

 Germany. At the beginning of November the 

 subject of the religious condition of Alsace- 

 Lorraine, the dioceses of which were admin- 

 istered as if they still belonged to France, was 

 said to be under consideration. At the middle 

 of the month the bishops who had been exiled 

 from the empire under the operation of the 

 May laws were represented to have addressed 

 a memorial to the Pope, in reply to a request 

 made to them by the Vatican to state their 

 views on certain points in the negotiations, in 

 which they expressed the wish that it might 

 be possible to effect an equitable arrangement 

 between the two jurisdictions. Three weeks 

 later Prince Bismarck was reported in Rome 

 to have refused to consent to advise the Em- 

 peror to grant an amnesty to any of the 

 bishops and priests who had been expelled 

 from their dioceses for contravention of the 

 May laws, except those who should specially 

 apply for it and make a declaration of their 

 submission to those laws ; and the Vatican 

 was said to have this question under consider- 

 ation. Finally, a dispatch from Rome of about 

 the 1st of January, 1879, stated that the de- 

 sire on the part of the Holy See and Prince 

 Bismarck to arrive at an understanding con- 

 tinued in principle, but grave difficulties still 

 existed as to the manner of arranging the 

 questions at issue. 

 Among the more happy features of the his- 



tory of the year in Germany is the improve- 

 ment which has become manifest in the rela- 

 tions of the empire with the French Republic. 

 The new French Ambassador to Berlin, M. de 

 St.-Vallier, was received by the Emperor on 

 the 31st of January, and in presenting his cre- 

 dentials dwelt upon the desire for mutual ac- 

 cord and cordial agreement which animated 

 the Government of the French Republic in its 

 transactions concerning the German Empire, 

 and added that the feelings of the Government 

 corresponded with those of the nation, which 

 aspired to the benefits of a lasting peace abroad 

 and a stable position at home. The Emperor, 

 in reply, said that the ideas expressed by the 

 Ambassador were in accord with his wish to 

 be able to number France among the friendly 

 neighbors of Germany. M. de St. - Vallier 

 might be assured beforehand of the coopera- 

 tion of the German Government in maintain- 

 ing and strengthening the good-neighborly re- 

 lations between Germany and the French Re- 

 public. When the news of Hodel's attempt 

 to assassinate the Emperor, and its failure, 

 reached Paris, Marshal-President MacMahon 

 at once sent a telegram to the Emperor in 

 these terms : "I beg your Majesty to accept my 



WTLHELMSH6HE. 



sincere congratulations on your having, thanks 

 to Providence, escaped so great a danger"; 

 and M. Waddington, Minister of Foreign Af- 

 fairs, waited on Prince Hohenlohe, the Ger- 

 man Ambassador, while all his colleagues left 

 their cards at his residence. At the opening 

 of the German fine-arts section of the Paris 

 Exhibition, May llth, Prince Hohenlohe re- 

 marked In his address that the fact that Ger- 

 many had not taken a more considerable part 

 in the exhibition was to be attributed, not to 

 any feeling of hostility or jealousy, but simply 

 to motives of an economical nature. M. Teis- 

 serenc de Bort, in reply, expressed his happi- 

 ness at the participation of Germany in the 

 exhibition, and said that the pleasant circum- 

 stance was a pledge of the cordial relations 

 which should exist between the two nations. 

 The passage of the Anti-Socialist bill caused 



