324 



GERMANY. 



manded by the Government, but to vote tbe 

 supplies for three years, beginning April 1, 

 1887, instead of for seven years. This amend- 

 ment was carried by 183 votes against 154, the 

 Social Democrats abstaining from voting. The 

 Chancellor, as soon as the vote was announced, 

 read a decree from the Emperor dissolving the 

 Eeichstag. 



The General Elections. The new elections were 

 fixed for February 21, the electoral campaign. 

 The Chancellor had made a distinct threat to 

 carry out his military plans, whether the Par- 

 liament agreed to them or not. Not only the 

 chief of the general staff, but the Emperor in- 

 tervened in the question, and appealed to the 

 loyalty and patriotism of the German people to 

 return a willing majority. Official, military, 

 and journalistic agencies were made the most 

 of by the Government in the electoral cam- 

 paign. Not content with all his ordinary elect- 

 oral weapons, Prince Bismarck procured the 

 intervention of the Pope. A dispatch was 

 sent on January 21 by Cardinal Jacobini, the 

 Papal Secretary of State, to the Nuncio at 

 Munich, in response to a question addressed to 

 the latter by Baron von Frankenstein, one of 

 the leaders of the Clericals in the Reichstag, 

 who asked whether the Curia considered the 

 Center party as superfluous. CardinalJacobini, 

 in the Pope's name, acknowledged the services 

 of the Center party, and expressed the desire 

 that it would still continue to work for the 

 complete removal of exceptional ecclesiastical 

 legislation, the amelioration of the condition 

 of German Catholics, and the improvement of 

 the Pope's position. "While admitting that the 

 members of the party have liberty of action in 

 non-ecclesiastical matters, the Pope had the 

 right to express his opinion on the military 

 septennate question, because it involved con- 

 siderations of moral and religious import. He 

 expected from the conciliatory attitude of the 

 Center on this question a beneficial effect in 

 regard to the final revision of the May laws, 

 and also hoped, through the intermediary of 

 the Center, to work for the maintenance of 

 peace. In conclusion, the Pope expressed his 

 desire to meet the views of the Emperor and 

 Prince Bismarck in order to render the power- 

 ful German Empire disposed to a future im- 

 provement of the position of the Papacy. 

 There was much speculation throughout Eu- 

 rope on the publication of this note as to 

 whether Prince Bismarck had actually agreed 

 to intervene for the restoration of the temporal 

 power of the Pope. 



The National Liberals, who had declared for 

 the septennate, and have returned to the lead 

 of Prince Bismarck, and become identified with 

 the policy previously supported by the two 

 Conservative parties, formed an electoral 

 agreement with the latter to give a united vote 

 in each district for a candidate of the party 

 most numerously represented. This treaty, or 

 cartel, gave the name of " Cartel Brothers " to 

 the members of the three parties. Herr von 



Bennigsen, who through dissatisfaction with 

 the Chancellor's domestic policy had retired 

 from public life two years before, resumed 

 the leadership of the National Liberals, who, 

 with the help of the cartel, recovered a great 

 part of their former strength, and became the 

 most numerous party in the new Reichstag. 

 Their members were increased from 51 to 104. 

 Their popular vote was 1,658,158, showing an 

 increase of 661,125. The Old Conservatives, 

 who had 77 members in the last Parliament, 

 gained only three seats, though their popular 

 strength increased to 1,194,504, a gain of 333,- 

 441 ballots. The Imperialists polled 693,195 

 votes, an increase of 305,508, giving them 39 

 deputies, instead of 28 in the last Parliament. 

 The Cartel Brothers gained votes at the ex- 

 pense of the Deutsche Freisinnigen, or Liberal- 

 ist party, which was founded from the old 

 Progressive party and seceders from the Na- 

 tional Liberals, and follows the lead of Eugen 

 Richter, deputy from Hagen. The popular 

 vote for this fraction fell to 549,302 ballots, 

 and the representation in the Reichstag was 

 reduced from 67 to 31, and would have been 

 still smaller if the Socialists had not come to the 

 aid of the Liberalists in the supplementary elec- 

 tions. The Socialist deputies were again reduced 

 to 11, although the party polled 774,128 votes, 

 showing an increase of 224,192 since 1884. In 

 Alsace-Lorraine the stadtholder, Prince Hohen- 

 lohe, had issued a vigorous manifesto, appeal- 

 ing to the people to accept definitely the treaty 

 of 1871. In addition to the covert menaces of 

 the proclamation, military and administrative 

 pressure was exerted to influence the elections, 

 but the result was that 247,654 votes were cast 

 for Protesting candidates, being 82,083 more 

 than in the last elections, again returning a 

 solid phalanx of 15 Alsace-Lorrainers to the 

 Chamber. The Volkspartei, known as the 

 Popularist or Democratic party, was entirely 

 extinguished, losing all of its 8 seats. The 

 Clericals, or Center party, otherwise called the 

 Ul tramontanes, or Blacks, came back in un- 

 diminished strength, having 99 members in 

 the new Reichstag as in the old, and polling 

 1,627,095 votes, a gain of 248,701 ; yet before 

 the electors, in deference to the Pope's appeal, 

 a part of them had changed their attitude 

 toward the septennate bill, and were pledged 

 for its support, while the bulk of the party, 

 following Windhorst and Frankenstein, strong- 

 ly resented the dictation of the Pope. The 

 Poles in the new Parliament number 13, hav- 

 ing lost 3 seats, though the popular vote 

 showed a slight increase. The Independents, 

 or Savages, with the Guelphs and Danes, were 

 reduced in the Reichstag from 12 to 5, though 

 they also received as many ballots as in 1884. 

 The Social Democratic vote in 1871 was 

 123,975; in 1874 it had increased to 351,592; 

 and in 1877 to 493,288. In 1878, after the at- 

 tempts of Hodel and Nobiling, and immedi- 

 ately before the passing of the anti-Socialist 

 law, it was 437,158. In 1881, after the Social- 



