388 



GERMANY. 



the imperial expenditure, unless he intended 

 to force the Reichstag to accept a tobacco mo- 

 nopoly or other fiscal projects that had been 

 condemned. They ofi'ered to vote the supplies 

 that were demanded for a period of three 

 years. Prince Bismarck rejected the compro- 

 mise, and said that the Emperor was charged 

 with the function of maintaining the army, and 

 might constitutionally demand that the estab- 

 lishment should be fixed permanently. He 

 intimated that, like Strafford, he would will- 

 ingly lose his head in so loyal a purpose as 

 maintaining the principle that the German 

 army was the army of the Emperor, and not the 

 army of Parliament. Windthorst, the leader 

 of the Opposition, retorted that Bismarck was 

 identified with the empire in so many ways that 

 he imagined his own opinions to be binding 

 lavvs in imperial matters. After many days of 

 excited discussion, the bill in the form in which 

 it was presented was rejected. The Emperor 

 thereupon dissolved the Reichstag, and ordered 

 new elections for Jan. 28, 1887. 



The Navy. The German navy consists of 96 

 vessels, with 554 guns. Of the vessels, 27 are 

 ironclads, and 84 are steamers. There are 7 

 ironclad frigates and one under construction, 

 6 ironclad corvettes, and 14 ironclad gunboats 

 for coast - defense, including two with deck- 

 armor only. There were besides 35 large and 

 small torpedo-boats in 1885 ; 70 more were 

 authorized, at a cost of about $4,500,000, in 

 1884, and the number is ultimately to be in- 

 creased to 150. Germany has spent about 

 $55,000,000 on naval armaments and arsenals 

 since the French War. Thei'e are two naval 

 ports, Kiel and Dantzic, on the Baltic, and 

 one, Wilhelmshaven, on the North Sea. The 

 latter is constructed of granite, with five ba- 

 sins, and dry-docks for ironclads. 



The Session of the Reichstag. The Center party 

 placed itself in direct antagonism with the 

 Chancellor from the opening of the session of 

 1885-'86. The regulations for the exclusion of 

 the Jesuit order and the restriction of Catholic 

 missions in the German protectorates, drew 

 forth the assertion of Windthorst that Ger- 

 many was subject to a dictatorship, against 

 which the Reichstag and the Landtags were 

 powerless. The government of King Fried- 

 rich Wilhelm IV, he said, is now pronounced 

 to have been misgovernment, and perhaps his- 

 tory will record the same verdict with regard 

 to the government of Prince Bismarck. On 

 Dec. 9, 1885, a pension law providing for the 

 support of retired imperial officials was passed. 

 The Centralists, German Liberalists, and So- 

 cial-Democrats united in condemning the ex- 

 pulsion of the Poles, and on Jan. 9, 1886, 

 carried a vote of censure over the votes of 

 the Conservative and National - Liberal sup- 

 porters of the Government. Herr Windthorst 

 had withdrawn his previous interpellation 

 after drawing from Prince Bismarck a par- 

 ticularistic avowal of the sovereign rights of 

 Prussia. The members of the Bundesrath ab- 



sented themselves from the Reichstag during 

 the debate. 



The construction of a canal to connect the 

 North Sea and the Baltic was authorized by 

 the Chamber. Prussia is to raise 30,000,000 

 marks toward the cost, besides three fifths of 

 the remainder, estimated at 126,000,000 marks. 

 Canals to connect the Ems and the Rhine and 

 the Spree and the Oder, were also authorized. 



A bill, brought forward by Herr Reichen- 

 sperger, restoring the right of appeal in criminal 

 cases, was passed on March 15, although the rep- 

 resentatives of the state governments objected. 



The spirit monopoly, which came up for dis- 

 cussion on March 4, found no support from 

 any quarter of the House. The Minister of Fi- 

 nance defended it as the only means of over- 

 coming the deficit and of relieving the states, 

 especially Prussia, so as to permit reforms in 

 local taxation. The Conservatives proposed 

 radical amendments. The Center opposed the 

 measure because it would strengthen the pow- 

 er of the Government to influence elections. 

 The Liberalists characterized it as a scheme to 

 benefit the 3,000 aristocratic land- owners of the 

 northeast by paying higher prices for potatoes. 

 The National Liberals objected to the intrusion 

 of the state in the domain of private industry, 

 and to the multiplication of officials, but pro- 

 posed, as an alternative, a tax on the consump- 

 tion of liquor, in addition to the distillery-tax. 

 The Social-Democrats contended that the ef- 

 fect of the monopoly would be to make spirits 

 dearer, but not to diminish inebriety. The bill 

 was referred to a committee, which by a three- 

 fourths majority rejected the project. The 

 ministry calculated that the Government would 

 derive a revenue of 300,000,000 marks from 

 the monopoly. It was not proposed that the 

 Government should undertake the manufacture 

 of spirits. The retail dealers also were not to 

 be immediately controlled by the imperial au- 

 thorities, but appointed by the state govern- 

 ments. One important purpose of the mo- 

 nopoly was to improve the low standard of 

 German spirits, and prevent the use of injuri- 

 ous and adulterated liquors; also to control 

 the consumption in districts where drunken- 

 ness is prevalent. Prince Bismarck, during the 

 debate in the Chamber, assumed a menacing 

 tone toward the Reichstag. He said that he 

 himself had no thought of a coup d'etat, but 

 that the Reichstag showed as little attention 

 to the needs of the nation as had the Federal 

 Diet in Frankfort, and, since that assembly, 

 though founded on solemn treaties, had been 

 abolished, the German princes might prepare 

 the same fate for the Reichstag. The bill was 

 lost on March 27, only 3 voting in its favor, to 

 181 against it. A spirit-tax project was al- 

 ready being worked out in the Bundesrath. 

 This bill, after a long and spirited discussion, 

 was rejected in the last days of the session, 

 chiefly on account of the advantages that it 

 extended to the wealthy potato-distillers own- 

 ing the great estates in the east. 



