352 



ANY. 



earing in interest on 8,590.000.000 marks is 18.000,- 



IMI marks |HT aunu: 



late* I responding reduction in the in- 



on agricultural mortgages, wished to have the rate 



lowered to 3 per 



The King.sprakini? in Brandenburg in February, 

 Spoke of having undertaken a kittle against 

 hit inn. saying that "the part\ which vent tires to 

 M.Utions of ih-' Mat.-, wl: 

 ." must tie vanquished, an<l ph-dg- 

 lo weary " in the struggle to rid our 

 land of this disease ulij.-h not nl\ infect-, our na- 

 bm also seek* to undermine the lift- of the 

 family." ami even assails the position of thesover- 

 . icellor iii the previous session had 

 kepi the Reichstag, while dix-ussing tin- < i\il 

 from alimenting the |>aragraph that prohibits the 

 f |Mi)itical xn-ieties liy saying that the 

 State* of the empire contemplated taking such ac- 

 tion individual ' BMmtivt-s. who 

 had more influence over the King than his m ini>- 

 iud wh.> had tiersuaded him that tin- > 



menaced tl;e existence of the -liiti- and 



must lo put down lest they sweep away the thn.ne 

 and the altar and uproot the foundations of society. 

 resisted tin- projM.sal to p< nnit |H>litical a->., ia- 

 tioiis in unite one with another unless it should be 

 coupled with police powers enabling the (Jov.-rn. 

 ment to dissolve assemblages and societies danu- i 

 the state, or to prohibit meetings which pn>- 



: he campaign against the existing order of the 

 State aii-1 Prince Hohenlohe and P.ar-.n 



Marschnll v..n EUefaerstein were reluctant toasx, M -i- 

 ate their names with a reactionary revision of the 

 law of associat ion and pulilie meeting that was re- 



tiit to their jirinciph-s. was probably uncon- 

 stitutional, and was not likely t.. D the 

 Prussian Chamber, while in the Reich-tai: it would 

 create insuperable dillieulties for the (iovernment. 



ihcless. when the majority of the I'm iaii 

 ministry voted for such a measure, they would not 

 yield up their offices to the reactionary element that 

 was trying to oust them. Tin- bill was brought in 

 on May \:\. I'nder its provisions the police would 

 have authority to break up meet ings and to dissolve 

 societies which contravene the criminal law or en- 

 danger the public safety. es|>eeially the safety of the 

 state or the public jK-ace : minors arc forbidden to 

 become members of political societies or attend 



MI:* where jM.litics are discussed, and any -.- 



_- in which persons under twenty-one 



years of age are found, unless such persons are in- 

 stantly removed, or any society counting; nich per- 

 sons among its members, could be peremptorily dis- 

 solved by the |K>liee. There w*re s.-vnv penalties 

 attached to managing, promoting. belonging to, or 

 renti - to prohibited societies. A subsec- 



tion redeemed the Chancellor's pro mis.-, declaring 

 that the union of political societies one with an- 



!* (MTinitted. but no union with a ii'-n-fierman 

 society without the consent of the Minister of the 

 Interior. The proposed law left it to police n 



what were to be considered associaii .ns 



roustotfi.- s,ifetv..f the state. intriiMiiii; them 

 with functions belonging to the judicial power. All 

 the parties except the Conservatives mani: 



opposition to the bill. The K,-i<-i^ 



Vj passed an emergency bill providing 

 '.y that associations of every" kind may enter 

 into union one with another, and repealing all laws 

 to the contrary in the difT-n-nt German rf 



action, which could not have the force of law 

 without the con, urr- ii- . ,,f t},e Humb-rath. was in- 

 tcnded as a direct vote of censure np<-ri the (Jfivern- 

 ment. Cheers arose from four fifths ,,f the b. 

 when Herr liiehter. the liadi'-al leader, uttered the 

 reminder M that the German Empire as such has no 



nati\> and that the imperial dignity itself 



DO older than the KeiehMa.u." The 



Minister of Justice aflirmcd in the I Met that the 



tUtion would have to be altered to 



the bill a valid law. The Clericals and Kadi- 



t the bill on any terms. The 



ils would only consider the (|iiesti,,n 



linling minors from public in- I'.y the 



aid of th, was i-nacted that minors "shall 



not take part in meet ings where political sui 



-me members of political 

 The bill was cut down to this in c,.m- 

 nu Her, and passed on Ma\ ".!. A> I he bill. even in 

 iiuided fonn. involved an alteration in the 

 Constitution of Prussia, both Chambers adjourned 

 in order to allow tie I i-eri^Ml of twenty- 



one days to elapse before taking final act ion on the 

 ire. Tin- National Liberal part\ condemned 



its representatives f,,r making the eom'pr i*e they 



did with the read ionar;. -. Meetings wen- held and 



petitions signed protesting against the bill. The 



mined henceforth to make their in- 

 fluence felt in Prussian elections, not by putting 

 forward candidates of their own. who under the 

 three-class system of indirect suJTrage could n 

 elected, but 'by voting for those who are free from 

 reactionary sent iim-nts. 



On June 30 the upper house passed the bill with 

 amendments providing that S.cia. tic or 



anarchistic agitation shall form sutlicient ground 

 for the dissolution of a jmlilic meeting or an asso- 

 ciation by the police, ami then adjourned to allow 



the prescribed interval to elapse be fore again voting 



on the measure. (Mi .luly -j^ it .,in by 



1 1 '2 votes to 1!. ( Mi July '21 this ant ire volution bill 

 for Prussia alone, this :> little Socialist law." as it 

 was popularly called, came before the Chamber. 

 which finally rejected it by the majority , : 

 votes to -jr .")." 



Ministerial ( hanircs. A latent and chronic 

 ministerial crisis jn Prussia and in the empire 

 dragged through many months. The Prussian Cab- 

 inet was divided on al'l the principal (pic.tionx that 

 arose. There wi j influences brought into 



play for the elimination of the Liberal mil 

 who were least in sympathy with the pet Ml 

 of the Kaivr. such a's the " DpUndleSB naval plans " 

 and the associations bill. The trial of the journal- 

 ists Leckert and von LfltSOW before the beginning 

 of the year, and that of Major von Taus<-h. an ofli- 

 <-er in charge of the political police, which wa- 

 cluded in June, revealed enough t. show that the 

 political spies and the "reptile pr, " employe, 1 in 

 Prince Piis-marck's time to carry out his sche: 

 statecraft havesjnce been used as corruptly by jeal- 

 ous and discordant ministers to undermine the po- 

 sition and assail the reputation of each other. 

 . Marschall von Mieberstein. who had been ma- 

 ligned and whoattcmpted to bring into the light of 

 publicity thex. dark methods, was the first to have 

 liis official posjj j, ,n made too uncomfortable, lie 

 and Prince Hohenlohe are believed to have offered 

 their resignations to the Kmperor before the asso- 

 ciations bill was brought in. Admiml Ilollmann. 

 after mak:- meiit in the IJejchstai: of the 



naval plans, which Prince Hohenlohe immediately 

 afterward declared to be without the authority of 

 the ministry, received leave of absence, and I 

 Admiral Tirpit/. the supposed author of the "bound- 

 less naval plans," was oV 



when he finally P-i-ned. on June Hi. A few 

 afterward P.aron Marschall took indefinite leave of 

 abseii'-e on the plea of ill health, and I'ernhardt von 

 Hiilow. the ambassador at Home, was appointed to 

 fill the post I State for Foreign Affairs 



vicariously. On June 29 Dr. von Bottiehcr resigned 

 the office of Imperial Secretary of State for the In- 



