356 



GERMANY. 



the war fund to 120,000,000 marks, not count- 

 ing, in the case of the first three, the cash on 

 hand and drafts on Frankfort. 



Notwithstanding increased receipts from the 

 salt, beer, and spirit taxes, the accounts of 1884 

 close with a deficiency of 14,000,000 marks. In 

 the budget for 1885 an increase of 41,000,000 

 marks in the matricular contributions is asked 

 for. The expenditures show an increase of 12,- 

 000,000 marks in the occasional and 8,000,000 

 marks in continuous class. The sugar-tax 

 showed the greatest falling off. Deputy Richter 

 attributed the deficit to the continual increase 

 of the military and naval budgets, which had 

 been augmented by 91,000,000 and 23,000,000 

 marks respectively. Deputy Bebel, leader of the 

 Social Democrats, saw in the budget the break- 

 down of the Chancellor's financial policy, and 

 since positive proposals were demanded from 

 his party, suggested the shortening of the period 

 of military service and hoped that Prince Bis- 

 marck would convert the Congo Conference 

 into a conference for peace and disarmament. 



Ecclesiastical Policy. In January a debate took 

 place in the Prussian Landtag on a proposition 

 of Reichensperger to restore the article of the 

 Constitution of 1850 which secured to religious 

 societies the independent control of their or- 

 ganization. This article was stricken from the 

 Prussian Constitution in 1875. Its re-enact- 

 ment would be identical with the entire abro- 

 gation of the May laws. After the rejection 

 of this bill, Windthorst complained that, when 

 the Catholics proposed a general measure, it 

 was not accepted on account of its universal 

 character; and when they offered proposals 

 dealing with evils in detail, they were told that 

 special laws are troublesome and excite with- 

 out remedying. When they demand only their 

 rights, they should not be asked for concessions 

 in return. To the demand for the recall of the 

 two archbishops, who were not amnestied like 

 the Bishops of Limburg and Munster, Minister 

 Gossler justified the decision of the Govern- 

 ment not to recall Cardinal Ledochowski, on 

 the ground of the mingling of religious and 

 political tendencies in the Grand Duchy of 

 Posen. 



The Prnssian State Council. In 1884 the Coun- 

 cil of State in Prussia, the body that, under 

 the old bureaucracy, constituted the King's 

 Privy Council, was resuscitated, preliminary, it 

 was said, to the intended retirement of Prince 

 Bismarck from the Prussian Ministry, and as a 

 means of impressing his policy on the Legisla- 

 ture and on the Cabinet, in which frictions be- 

 tween himself and his colleagues sometimes 

 occurred. It would take the place in regard 

 to his projects of social reform of the Eco- 

 nomic Council, which had failed to impress the 

 elected representatives -of the people with its 

 authority to speak in the name of the economic 

 interests of the country. The function of the 

 re-established State Council was to discuss bills 

 prior to their introduction in the Prussian Par- 

 liament or the Reichstag, and also to consider 



proposed administrative measures. The Crown 

 Prince was brought into relations with the Gov- 

 ernment of the country by his appointment as 

 President of the State Council. Bismarck 

 was made Vice-President. The members by 

 virtue of their office are the Ministers of State, 

 field -marshals, the Secretary of State, the 

 President of the Court of Accounts, and the 

 chiefs of the private, civil, and military cabi- 

 nets. The King appointed about 100 members, 

 who were nearly all selected from the conserva- 

 tive supporters of the Government, the major- 

 ity of them belonging to the class of landed 

 proprietors, and a large proportion holding 

 important offices in the state. Outside of the 

 aristocratic and bureaucratic elements there 

 was a sprinkling of professors, clergymen, mer- 

 chants, and local officials. The State Council 

 meteor the first time, October 25. Sections 

 were formed for (1) foreign and military affairs, 

 (2) agriculture, (3) justice, (4) finance, (5) 

 commerce and industry, (6) ecclesiastical, edu- 

 cational, and medical affairs, (7) domestic ad- 

 ministration. 



The Meeting of the Three Emperors. On the 

 15th of September the Emperors of Germany, 

 Austria, and Russia, accompanied by their 

 Ministers of Foreign Affairs, came together in 

 the castle of Skiernievice in Russian Poland, 

 near the boundaries of the three countries. 

 Ministers de Giers, Kalnoky, and Bismarck had 

 previously held a conference at Friedrichsruhe. 

 The conclusions arrived at then were now con- 

 firmed by the three monarchs. The results 

 were the subject of much speculation in the 

 European press. The meeting gave final as- 

 surance of the cessation for the present of the 

 tension between Austria-Hungary and Russia. 

 In his address at the opening of the Reichstag 

 the Kaiser declared that the friendly relations 

 renewed at the meeting were insured for a 

 long time, and furnished a strong guarantee for 

 the continuance of peace. Another result was 

 probably the conclusion of an agreement for 

 vigorous common action against revolutionists 

 and conspirators. Soon after the conference 

 at Skiernievice, thousands of Russians were ex- 

 pelled from Germany. On the 1st of January, 

 1885, identical notes were exchanged between 

 the Russian and Prussian Governments which 

 embodied a convention for the extradition of 

 persons convicted or accused of the following 

 offenses: (1) murdering, maliciously wound- 

 ing, imprisoning, or insulting the reigning mon- 

 arch or any member of his family ; (2) assassi- 

 nation or attempted assassination ; (3) making 

 or keeping illegally dynamite or other explo- 

 sive substances. Germany had entertained 

 Russian proposals for united action made in 

 1881 after the murder of the Czar, but Aus- 

 tria had declined to join such a league. Ger- 

 many opened negotiations with the European 

 powers with reference to an international 

 treaty for the prevention of political crimes, 

 but met with opposition, especially on the part 

 of England. 



