

GERMANY. 



391 



that would not lead to the goal, then they could 

 begin the battle anew with other May laws. 



The Center seized every opportunity to op- 

 pose and agitate against the Government in 

 order to maintain the existence of the party. 

 The Bishop of Fulda and other ecclesiastics 

 who had taken part in the reconciliation in- 

 curred the hostility of the politicians and the 

 Ultramontane press. The Yatican declared a 

 certain class of pastoral charges exempt from 

 the agreement to notify appointments, and on 

 this point further negotiations were carried on 

 with Rome. A systematic ecclesiastical law em- 

 bodying the principles settled in the present 

 modus vivendi is to be worked out in the Land- 

 tag session of 1887. The agreement with Rome 

 was followed by the appointment of bishops to 

 the last of the sees remaining vacant, those of 

 Posen-Gnesen and Kulrn, which were filled 

 with prelates of German extraction. The duty 

 of the bishops to give notice before appointing 

 parish priests, which was the concession that 

 won the support of the Conservatives for the 

 repeal of the Falk laws, implies that if the 

 Government objects to the persons nominated 

 they shall not be definitely clothed with the 

 office until the objections are answered, and 

 the difference is accommodated. In June the 

 Government announced the definite recogni- 

 tion of the duty of notification. The bishops 

 afterward sought to minimize this concession, 

 denying that it implied a recognition of the 

 right of the Government to veto an appoint- 

 ment, but only of their duty to communicate 

 the names of parish priests on their appoint- 

 ment, and to consider any objections the Gov- 

 ernment might make on the ground of their 

 political actions. Negotiations on this point 

 and in regard to further revision of the May 

 laws were continued with the Vatican through 

 the year. 



A bill, proposed by Ilerr Hammerstein, to 

 render the Lutheran Evangelical Church more 

 independent of the state and municipal author- 

 ities, was rejected. 



The Heidelberg Festival. The five-hundredth 

 anniversary of the University of Heidelberg 

 was celebrated with magnificent ceremonies. 

 Among the other foreign powers whose rep- 

 resentatives rendered intellectual tribute to 

 German science on this occasion were France 

 and the Papal See. 



The Reichsland. In the municipal elections in 

 Strasburg and Metz the German party gained 

 an unexpected and decisive victory. A Ger- 

 man burgomaster was chosen in the regular 

 way, for the first time, in Strasburg. 



Foreign Relations. The Three - Emperors' 

 League has been described by the German 

 Chancellor as " a vaulted arch " that can stand 

 any pressure from outside; yet through the 

 Bulgarian complications his skill as an " honest 

 broker " has been put to a severe test to pre- 

 vent a contlict between Austria and Russia. In 

 the beginning of August the German and Aus- 

 trian Emperors met in Gastein, and Prince 



Bismarck and Count Kalnoky had a conference, 

 that was preceded by a visit of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Premier in Kissingen, where the 

 German Chancellor was taking the waters. 

 The acquiescence of Austria in the restoration 

 of Russian predominance in Bulgaria was ob- 

 tained at these interviews. The Austrian min- 

 ister could the less object to a return to the 

 previous condition of things, because his Gov- 

 ernment had openly followed the policy of 

 allowing no foreign influence but its own in 

 Servia. The Russian attempt to regain the 

 lost influence in Bulgaria by means of a mili- 

 tary conspiracy and the abduction of the Prince 

 increased the difficulty of the situation, yet 

 the dethronement of Alexander was decided 

 upon in a visit paid by Prince Bismarck to 

 Minister von Giers at Franzensbad, which was 

 returned twelve days later in Berlin. The 

 plucky Battenberg felt compelled, after his 

 triumphant return to Sofia, to bow to this de- 

 cision, and voluntarily abdicate. The situa- 

 tion became grave when Russia prepared to 

 occupy Bulgaria. Austria declared that she 

 would not allow a military occupation. The 

 Czar finally promised the German court that 

 he would not proceed to an armed interven- 

 tion. The refusal of the German bankers to 

 take a new Russian loan, and the inability of 

 the Czar to raise a war loan in Paris, rendered 

 the prospect of peace more secure for the im- 

 mediate future. Bismarck declared that Ger- 

 many had no interests in Bulgaria, and his or- 

 gans derided the sentimental politicians who, 

 out of sympathy with the Bulgarians and the 

 Bittenberg prince, fomented a war feeling in 

 Germany against Russia. He was willing to 

 go to any length of concession in order to 

 prevent an alliance between Russia and France. 

 If Russia and Austria carne into collision, Ger- 

 many must remain neutral, because if she be- 

 came involved in a war with Russia she would 

 immediately be attacked on the other flank by 

 France. No government in France, in the 

 opinion of the Chancellor, would be able to 

 withstand the popular impulse for war if such 

 an opportunity occurred to regain the lost front- 

 iers. The Moderate Republicans, who have 

 hitherto directed French policy, are considered 

 to be in favor of peace, while the Radicals are 

 more hostile to Germany, and the Orleanists 

 are thought to be committed to a war of re- 

 venge, which would immediately follow a res- 

 toration of the monarchy. If, in the event of 

 a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, 

 the latter should be successful, and threaten to 

 crush the military power of the Hapsburg mon- 

 archy, then Germany would be compelled by 

 her own interests to take part in the conflict, 

 and to save her natural ally from extinction. 



The bickering between Germany and Eng- 

 land in regard to the German colonies has en- 

 tirely ceased. The limits of German territory 

 and influence in New Guinea and the smaller 

 South Sea islands were definitely arranged. 

 The frontier line between the dominions of the 



