GERMANY. 



351 



said he wished for a long peace, but the times 

 did not permit such hope. On the contrary, 

 the time was not far distant when every gov- 

 ernment would be compelled to strain all its 

 strength for securing its existence. The reason 

 for this was the regrettable distrust of govern- 

 ments toward each other. France had made 

 great strides in her defenses. Uncommonly 

 large masses of troops were at present between 

 Paris and the German frontier. Everything 

 France did for her army received the un- 

 divided approval of her people. She was de- 

 cidedly in advance of Germany in having her 

 cadres for war ready in times of peace. Ger- 

 many could not avoid a measure destined to 

 compensate for it. The increased grant for 

 captaincies was then adopted. The Progress, 

 Centre, and Socialist parties voted against it. 

 The speech of General von Moltke produced 

 throughout Europe an impression that the con- 

 tinuance of peaceable relations between France 

 and Germany was endangered ; but official 

 declarations by both the German and the 

 French Governments soon allayed the excite- 

 ment. 



On May 1st the Patent Bill was passed in 

 the amended form proposed by the Special 

 Commission. In accordance with the bill, 

 patents will, in future, be accorded for 15 years. 

 Legal protection is obtained directly upon an- 

 nouncing the invention or discovery to the 

 proper board ; and, to render this protection 

 permanent, the invention or discovery must 

 be recognized as novel by the" authorities men- 

 tioned. The examination of the invention, in 

 the first place, is intrusted to the board, but 

 may be continued conjointly by the board and 

 the inventor the latter being permitted to 

 plead his cause, and produce legal and scientific 

 evidence, oral or written, bearing upon the 

 subject. If the invention is not carried out in 

 three years the patent may be canceled. The 

 bill was considered a great improvement on 

 the old patent law, which made a secret board 

 the sole arbiter of all patent petitions. 



On May 3d the session of the Reichstag was 

 closed by Herr Hofmann. On this occasion, 

 President von Forckenbeck made the follow- 

 ing report on the activity of the House : The 

 Reichstag had been in session 55 days. During 

 this time 37 sessions of the House, 82 of the 

 sections, and 120 of the committees were held. 

 The Government had introduced 22 bills ; of 

 these, 18 were passed, 1 was negatived, and 3 

 remained unacted upon. The members of the 

 House introduced 3 interpellations and 28 mo- 

 tions. Of the latter, 7 were adopted, 5 were 

 withdrawn, 3 were rejected, 12 remained un- 

 finished, and 1 became superfluous. 1,146 peti- 

 tions were presented. The committees made 

 4 verbal reports, and 14 in writing. Of 396 

 elections examined, 386 were declared valid, 

 2 invalid, and 8 were contested. One election 

 was not examined ; and 3 districts at the time 

 were not represented. 



On May 21st Prince Bismarck suddenly re- 



turned to Berlin, and was actively employed 

 in the Foreign Office; but left Berlin again 

 within a week, for Kissingen, where he devoted 

 himself diligently to business. In the latter 

 part of May the Emperor approved the pro- 

 posals made by the War Office to strengthen 

 the German forces on the French frontier, as a 

 compensatory military measure for the alleged 

 increase of the French army on the frontier of 

 Lorraine. It was generally admitted that this 

 reenforcing of the German army was carried 

 out more as a demonstration against the French 

 clericals and reactionaries, who had just been 

 called to power by President MacMahon, than 

 with any view either to aggression or defense. 



STRASBUBO CATHEDRAL. 



Several attempts were made during 1877 to 

 negotiate a treaty of commerce with Austria ; 

 but they all failed, in consequence of the 

 strong attitude in favor of protection taken by 

 the Austrian Government. 



The Bavarian Diet was opened on July 2d, 

 without a speech from the throne. The Catho- 

 lic party reflected the Baron von Ow President 

 of the Chamber. The Diet adjourned, after an 

 unimportant session, on July 14th. It met 

 again on September 28th. The main question 

 considered was the increase of the taxes de 

 manded by the Government. All parties con- 

 ceded the necessity of the increase ; but the 

 opposition demanded, at the same time, a re- 

 form in the system of taxation. 



The Diet of Saxony was opened on Octo- 

 ber 26th by the King, who, in his speech, ex- 

 pressed regret at the continued depression of 

 trade, which weighed on almost all classes of 



