314 



GERMANY. 



ism. This declaration brought forth a storm of 

 indignation from the Moderate parties, but it 

 looked as though the bill was to be pushed 

 through in spite of the general opposition. Em- 

 peror Wilhelm, who had given a preliminary 

 sanction to the bill, and believed in the funda- 

 mental principle that public instruction should 

 have decidedly religious character, wished that 

 the bill should receive a large majority, includ- 

 ing the Liberals ; but learning of the vigorous 

 protest, and that it would only be carried through 

 by a slender majority, composed of the Center and 

 the Conservatives, decided to drop the measure, 

 and informed his ministers of his determination. 

 As a natural consequence, Count Zedlitz, the 

 f ramer of the bill, and Chancellor von Caprivi, 

 who had committed himself uncompromisingly 

 in its defense, felt constrained to tender their 

 resignation. The resignation of the Minister of 

 Public Worship and Instruction was accepted, 

 but Count von Caprivi, in deference to the Em- 

 peror's wishes, agreed to remain in office as 

 Chancellor and as Prussian Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, resigning only the presidency of the 

 Prussian Cabinet. Count Botho von Eulenburg 

 was appointed President of the Prussian Minis- 

 try, and Dr. Bosse, who was Secretary of State 

 of the Justice Department of the German Em- 

 pire, was appointed Prussian Minister of Public 

 Instruction and Worship. The separation of 

 the office of President of the Prussian Ministry 

 from that of the Chancellor was regarded as an 

 unsatisfactory solution, inasmuch as the inter- 

 ests of Prussia and those of the German Empire 

 are so closely interwoven that the combination 

 of the chancellorship of Germany and the pre- 

 miership of Prussia are considered a necessity. 

 When, in 1873, Prince Bismarck tried the ex- 

 periment of resigning the premiership to Gen. 

 von Roon, all the members of the Cabinet de- 

 clared, at the end of ten months, that it was im- 

 possible to carry on the business of the state 

 under such conditions, and Prince Bismarck was 

 compelled to resume his former position. Dr. 

 Bosse declared in the Diet that the Government 

 withdrew the Education bill. A bill providing 

 for a salary for the newly created office of Min- 

 ister President without portfolio was passed by 

 the Prussian Diet. 



In consequence of the income-tax bill, passed 

 in 1891, one of the last remaining landmarks 

 which had survived the political change of the 

 century was destroyed. By the treaty of Vien- 

 na, in 1817, a host of petty princes and counts 

 who had been swept away by the Napoleonic 

 wars secured for themselves and their heirs im- 

 munity from personal taxation in the states 

 with which they were incorporated. The new 

 income-tax bill abolished these rights, and pro- 

 vided that a compensation should be paid by 

 the Government. A special law was passed this 

 year, fixing the compensation to be paid at 13 

 times the amount of the yearly taxes. 



According to the capitulations which were 

 signed after the war of I860, the private fortune 

 of the King of Hanover was to be restored to 

 him intact. By the treaty of 1867, however, it 

 was provided that the fortune should remain 

 under sequestration until King George re- 

 nounced all his rights and claims to the throne 

 of Hanover. This the King refused to do, and 



the administration of the royal estates remained 

 in the hands of Prussia. It was provided by 

 law that the income of these estates, amounting 

 to about 500,000 marks yearly, was to be used 

 for the administration of the newly acquired 

 province of Hanover, and for the suppression of 

 designs of King George against the Government 

 of Prussia. Thus a secret fund was established 

 not under the control of the Parliament, and free 

 use was supposed to have been made of it under 

 Prince Bismarck's administration in subsidizing 

 the press. The objections to the use of such a 

 fund without control impelled the Government 

 to ask the Parliament for an appropriation of a 

 special secret fund, and to apply the interest of 

 the Guelph fund to the use of public beneficial 

 institutions. Before this was done, however, 

 the Government desired to try to effect a rec- 

 onciliation with the Duke of Cumberland, the 

 son and heir of King George of Hanover, and 

 for that purpose sent Baron von Hammerstein 

 to Ginunden, the residence of the duke, to con- 

 fer with him as to the possibility of arriving at 

 some agreement. At first the negotiations 

 seemed to come to naught, as the Duke of Cum- 

 berland regarded his word of honor given to his 

 father, never to renounce his rights to the throne 

 of Hanover, as binding upon him ; but on the 

 advice of his family he was prevailed upon to 

 address a letter to the German Emperor con- 

 taining the following declaration : 



I gladly take advantage of this opportunity to re- 

 peat my former declaration, that 1 have not any in- 

 tention of engaging in any undertaking which would 

 threaten the peace of the German Empire or any of 

 the states appertaining to it. As a German prince, I 

 love my German Fatherland truly and sincerely, and 

 I expressly assure your Imperial and Royal Majesty 

 that I will never knowingly cause or approve any 

 unfriendly enterprise against your Majesty or the 

 Prussian state, and that I will not enter upon nor aid 

 such undertaking, either directly or indirectly, with 

 the means at my disposal or with those which will 

 come to me by the execution of the treaty of 1867. I 

 therefore allow myself to hope that your Majesty will 

 no longer see any impediments toward the carrying 

 out of the said treaty. 



Upon the receipt of this letter, Emperor Wil- 

 helm issued a rescript to the ministers of state, 

 accompanied with the letter from the Duke of 

 Cumberland, stating his desire of removing 

 the sequestration laid upon the fortune of King 

 George in 1868, and charging them with the 

 preparation of measures accordingly. A bill 

 was introduced into the Diet to annul the law 

 passed in 1869, whicli vested the power of dis- 

 posal over the Guelph fund in the Parliament, 

 in derogation of the power vested in the King 

 of Prussia by the law of 1868. Some objection 

 was made to leaving the final arrangements 

 solely in the hands of the Crown, and, with the 

 consent of the Government, the bill was amended 

 so as to vest the power of abolishing the seques- 

 tration in the Minister of Finance. In accord- 

 ance with this bill the allodial fortunes of the 

 late King of Hanover were turned over to his 

 heir, the Duke of Cumberland, while the admin- 

 istration of the entailed estates of the combined 

 houses of Brunswick-Liineburg remained with 

 the Prussian Government, subject to a special 

 arrangement to be made with the duke, to 

 which the Prussian Diet has_to give its consent. 



