GERMANY. 



pendent government residing in the country it- 

 self. The motion was supported by a large por- 

 tion ni't In- National Liberal party, asBennigsen, 

 Lasker, and Stauftenberg, and was approved in 

 its essential parts by the Chancellor himself. 

 The disrti>sinn began on March 21st. Deputy 

 Schneegans, tho leader of the party of Alsatian 

 Autonomists, referred to the fact that the ob- 

 stacles which formerly prevented the estab- 

 lishment of an independent administration of 

 .ANnre-Lorraine, in place of the central Govern- 

 ment located in Berlin, had now disappeared. 

 The Chancellor had himself repeatedly prom- 

 ised the establishment of an independent gov- 

 ernment. Herr Schneegans expected from the 

 adoption of his motion a revival throughout 

 Alsace and Lorraine of the old attachment to 

 the German Fatherland. Deputy Kabl6 read, 

 in the name of the Alsatian Protest party (who 

 demand reannexation of Alsace and Lorraine to 

 France), a declaration in which the party ex- 

 press their concurrence in the wish for the estab- 

 lishment of an independent government. They, 

 however, are convinced that no permanent 

 institutions can be created in Alsace and Lor- 

 raine, and no real independence secured, with- 

 out the concurrence of a legislative assembly 

 elected by a general vote. "While willing to vote 

 for the motion of Deputy Schneegans, the party 

 do not mean to prejudice their future move- 

 ments. Prince Bismarck explained to what 

 extent he was willing to accept the motion. 

 He was, in particular, willing to grant to the 

 imperial province a resident Stadtholder, sur- 

 rounded with administrative officers having the 

 rank of ministers, and also some kind of rep- 

 resentation in the Federal Council. On May 

 15th the Chancellor submitted to the Reichstag 

 a bill concerning the constitution and admin- 

 istration of Alsace and Lorraine. During the 

 discussion of the bill only a few insignificant 

 changes were proposed and adopted, and on 

 June 23d the bill was passed by a unani- 

 mous vote of all parties, except that of the 

 French Protest party, which left the House 

 before the vote was taken. It was signed by 

 the Emperor on July 4th, and an imperial de- 

 cree of July 23d provided that the law should 

 go into operation on October 1st. According 

 to the new law, Alsace-Lorraine remains an im- 

 perial possession, and becomes virtually a fed- 

 eral state, of which the Emperor of Germany 

 as such, not in his capacity as King of Prus- 

 sia, is the ruler. The Emperor appoints a Stadt- 

 holder, who resides in Strasburg, and may at 

 any time be recalled. The Stadtholder does not 

 exercise the functions of the sovereign, but 

 merely those which were hitherto exercised 

 with regard to the Reichsland by the Imperial 

 Chancellor and by the Oberprasident (Lord- 

 Lieutenant) of Alsace-Lorraine. The section of 

 the Imperial Chancery for the Reichsland and 

 the bureau of the Oberprasident will be re- 

 placed by a ministry for Alsace-Lorraine, under 

 the presidency of a Secretary of State, which 

 will bo divided into a number of sections, at the 



head of each of which will be an Under-Sec- 

 retary of State. In the Federal Council the 

 country will be represented by a delegate elect- 

 ed by the Landesausschuss (Provincial Assem- 

 bly). The delegate will take part in the dis- 

 cussions of the Federal Council, but will have 

 no right of voting. For the examination of bills 

 prepared by the Government a State Council 

 is formed, consisting of the Stadtholder as presi- 

 dent, the Secretary of State, the commanding 

 general of the 15th army corps, the Under-Sec- 

 retaries of State, the Chief Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court, the Attorney-General, and seven 

 members appointed by the Emp.-ror, of whom 

 three are proposed by the Landesausschuss, one 

 must be a judge, and one an ordinary professor 

 of the University of Strasbnrg. The Landes- 

 ausschuss will hereafter consist of fifty-eight 

 members, who will be elected by indirect vote 

 for a term of three years. On July 28d, the 

 same day when the new Constitution for Al- 

 sace-Lorraine was promulgated, the Emperor 

 appointed General Edwin Freiherr von Man* 

 teuffel Stadtholder of the Reichsland. At the 

 same time Dr. Herzog, heretofore Under-Seo- 

 retary of State in the section of the Imperial 

 Chancery for Alsace-Lorraine, was appointed 

 Secretary of State. 



Some important information, not known here- 

 tofore, on the history of the unification of Ger- 

 many, was given on July 7th during the discus- 

 sion of the new German tariff law by the Reichs- 

 tag, in a speech of Herr von Varnbuhler, 

 member of the Federal Council for Wurtem- 

 berg, and the virtual author of the new tariff. 

 In reply to imputations launched against him 

 by Dr. Boretius, in connection with the attitude 

 of Wurtemberg toward Prussia in 1 866, Herr 

 von Varnbiililer stated that he did all he could 

 at that time, and though the VCB victis which he 

 had uttered with regard to Prussia came unfor- 

 tunately to apply to Wurtemberg instead, the 

 very mild form in which this happened was due 

 to the great statesman now at the helm of Ger- 

 man aftairs, and he could never forgot the debt 

 of gratitude thus incurred by his country. 

 After peace was concluded it was from his 

 (Herr von Varubuhler's) initiative that the 

 federal treaties arose. He strove too for the 

 preservation of the Zollverein ; and when Prus- 

 sia sought to withdraw from it, it was he who 

 was instrumental in convening the Customs 

 Parliaments, so that the chief bond of cohesion 

 in Germany should not break. All these state- 

 ments were \villinply confirmed by Prince Bis- 

 inarck, who was present at the discussion. 



On May 20th Herr von Forckenbivk, Presi- 

 dent of the Reichstag, sent in his resignation, 

 in a letter in which he declared that the fact 

 of his being at variance with the majority of 

 the House on important questions before it, to- 

 gether with imperious considerations of health, 

 had rendered it incumbent upon him, in the 

 interest of public business, no longer to retain 

 the office. On the next day the Reichstag, in 

 which now the alliance between the Conserva- 



