GERMANY. 



special convention with Austria, the Emperor 

 ivf.-nvil to the fulfillment of the hopes he had 

 expressed for the termination of the war in the 

 K:i-t. :iiu I said that tranquillity in Turkey and 

 tin- inu'mhTianro of peace in Europe might he 

 expected to result from the arrangements made 

 at tiu- (.'"tigress. On February 13th Herr von 

 Foivkenbeck was rejected President by 151 

 votes, against 07 received by Herr von Seyde- 

 witz; the candidate of the Conservative party, 

 Herr von Stauffenberg, was reflected first Vice- 

 President, and Prince von Hohenlohe-Langen- 

 burg second Vice-President. As tbo latter de- 

 clined, Herr Lucius was elected second Vice- 

 President. On the 19th the Reichstag, after 

 a brilliant defense of Parliamentary reform by 

 Dr. Laeker, almost unanimously resolved to re- 

 fuse the Government permission to imprison 

 and criminally prosecute two Socialist deputies, 

 Fritzsche and Hasselmann, who had returned 

 to Berlin in obedience to the Emperor's gen- 

 eral convocation of Parliament, and in defiance 

 of the police decree against their further resi- 

 dence in the capital. On motion of Herr Rick- 

 ert, it was furthermore declared, with all votes 

 against those of the two Conservative parties, 

 that the Reichstag, in framing the law of Oc- 

 tober, never meant that a member might bo 

 prevented by a police decree of expulsion from 

 taking his due share in the proceedings of Par- 

 liament. 



The discussion of the new commercial treaty 

 with Austria began on the 20th. Although 

 there was hardly any opposition to the approv- 

 al of the treaty, the discussion became at once 

 very animated, as it turned on the radical 

 change in the financial policy of the empire 

 which the speech from the throne had an- 

 nounced. The most remarkable speeches were 

 made by Herr Delbruck, formerly President of 

 the Imperial Chancery, and Prince Bismarck. 

 The lines between the Free-Trade and Protec- 

 tionist parties were distinctly drawn. Del- 

 bruck is looked upon as the leader of the Free- 

 Trade party. He defended, in two elaborate 

 speeches, the traditions of the commercial pol- 

 icy of Prussia, tracing the history of the re- 

 formatory movement, which he said began with 

 the customs legislation of 1818, was continued 

 in the Customs Union, and quietly and steadily 

 kept on developing, with only a short inter- 

 ruption, until recently. By a long array of 

 commercial statistics he attempted to refute 

 the assertion made in the speech from the 

 throne, that the commercial policy followed 

 since 1865 had been unsuccessful. Prince Bis- 

 marck made a characteristic speech, in which 

 he explained the reasons why the Government 

 proposed to return to the path they had fol- 

 lowed between 1823 and 1865. He stated that 

 until a year ago he had confided the supreme 

 management of the commercial policy of the 

 empire to Herr Delbruck, whom ho regarded 

 as the highest authority in all questions of com- 

 mercial legislation ; and though he had not 

 fully agreed with the views of Herr Delbruck, 



he bad been satisfied that the commercial in- 

 terests were intrusted to the bom hands which 

 could be found in Germany. Gradually, how- 

 ever, the conviction had grown upon him that 

 a radical change was required ; and, much as 

 he regretted that he could no longer have the 

 cooperation of Herr Delbruck, he believed a 

 change in the commercial policy necessary for 

 the salvation of Germany. 



The great debate on the reorganization of 

 the customs and commercial polity of the em- 

 pire began soon alter the Easter recess, which 

 had lasted from the 8d to the 28th of April. 

 During this recess the Bundesrath had com- 

 pleted the draft of the Government's bills, 

 which had been communicated to all the mem- 

 bers of the Reichstag by mail. The discussion 

 was opened on May 2d by Prince Bismarck, 

 who in a speech lasting about an hour said that 

 Prussia had not taken the initiative in any tax 

 reform since 1824 a fact to be explained by 

 the relation of the various states to the Zoll- 

 verein. That union, possessing the power to 

 impose indirect taxes, had not a pliant charac- 

 ter, a circumstance which logically justified 

 the fact that the development of such imposts 

 in Germany lagged behind that of all other 

 countries. The possibility of a reform in this 

 respect first appeared with the creation of the 

 North German Confederation and of the em- 

 pire ; and if he did not then undertake finan- 

 cial reform, this was because, apart from his 

 defective health and multitudinous duties, he 

 did not primarily regard that as the duty of 

 the Imperial Chancellor. But now the case 

 was different, the present cohesive relations 

 between the empire and the various states 

 being of such a nature as to demand the most 

 prompt and pressing remedy. The first motive 

 for reform was the need of financial indepen- 

 dence for the empire, a principle willingly rec- 

 ognized on the settlement of its constitution. 

 The contributions of the various states to the 

 general exchequer were unequal, and he de- 

 sired to see the necessary income raised in the 

 least burdensome form. At present there were 

 too many direct and top^few indirect taxes, 

 and he aimed at reversing this order. The 

 Prince contended that civil servants should not 

 have to pay the income-tax. Another mistake 

 was the distinction made between movable and 

 immovable property. No branch of industry 

 was so highly taxed as agriculture, and the 

 present indirect taxation did not give native 

 labor the protection which it ought to have. 

 He would not enter into the question of free 

 trade versus protection, but one thing was clear, 

 that, through the widely opened doors of its 

 import trade, the German market had become 

 the mere storage-space for the over-production 

 of other countries. They must, therefore, shut 

 their gates, and take care that the German 

 market, which was now being monopolized by 

 foreign wares, should be reserved for native 

 industry. Countries which were inclosed had 

 become great, and those which remained open 



