German Empire was founded. ... The Southern States were not
yet members of the Confederation, but were already, to use an
old expression, relatives of the Confederation
(Bundesverwandte) in virtue of the offensive and defensive
alliances with Prussia and of the new organization of the
Tariff-Union. ... The natural and inevitable course of events
must here irresistibly break its way, unless some circumstance
not to be foreseen should throw down the barriers beforehand.
How soon such a crisis might take place no one could at that
time estimate. But in regard to the certainty of the final
result there was in Germany no longer any doubt. ...
Three-fourths of the territory of this Empire was dominated by
a Government that was in the first place efficient in military
organization, guided by the firm hand of King William,
counselled by the representatives of the North German
Sovereigns, and recognized by all the Powers of Europe. The
opening of that Parliament was near at hand, that should in
common with this Government determine the limitations to be
placed upon the powers of the Confederation in its relation to
the individual states and also the functions of the new
Reichstag in the legislation and in the control of the
finances of the Confederation. ... It was, in the first place,
certain that the functions of the future supreme Confederate
authority would be in general the same as those specified in
the Imperial Constitution of 1849. ... The most radical
difference between 1849 and 1866 consisted in the form of the
Confederate Government. The former period aimed at the
appointment of a Constitutional and hereditary emperor, with
responsible ministers, to the utter exclusion of the German
sovereigns: whereas now the plan included all of these
sovereigns in a Confederate Council (Bundesrath) organized
after the fashion of the old Confederate Diet, with committees
for the various branches of the administration, and under the
presidency of the King of Prussia, who should occupy a
superior position in virtue of the conduct, placed in his
hands once for all, of the foreign policy, the army and the
navy, but who otherwise in the Confederate Council, in spite
of the increase of his votes, could be outvoted like every
other prince by a decree of the Majority. ... Before the time
of the peace-conferences, when all definite arrangements of
Germany's future seemed suspended in the balance and
undecided, the Crown Prince Frederick William, who in general
had in mind for the supreme head of the Confederation a higher
rank and position of power than did the Ring, maintained that
his father should bear the title of King of Germany. Bismarck
reminded him that there were other Kings in Germany: the Kings
of Hanover, of Saxony, etc. 'These,' was the reply, 'will then
take the title of Dukes.' 'But they will not agree to that.'
'They will have to!' cried His Royal Highness. After the
further course of events, the Crown Prince indeed gave up his
project; but in the early part of 1867 he asserted that the
King should assume the title of German Emperor, arguing that
the people would connect no tangible idea with the title of
President of the Confederation, whereas the renewal of the
imperial dignity would represent to them the actual
incorporation of the unity finally attained, and the
remembrance of the old glory and power of the Empire would
kindle all hearts. This idea, as we have experienced and
continue to experience its realization, was in itself
perfectly correct: But it was evidently at that time
premature: a North German empire would have aroused no
enthusiasm in the north, and would have seriously hindered the
accomplishment of the national aim in the south. King William
rejected this proposition very decidedly: in his own simple
way he wished to be nothing more than Confederate
Commander-in-chief and the first among his peers."
_H. von Sybel,
The Founding of the German Empire by William I.,
book 20, chapter 4 (volume 5)._
{1542}
GERMANY: A. D. 1866-1870.
Territorial concessions demanded by France.
Rapid progress of German unification.
The Zollparlament.
The Luxemburg question.
French determination for war.
"The conditions of peace ... left it open to the Southern
States to choose what relationship they would form with the
Northern Confederation. This was a compromise between Bismarck
and Napoleon, the latter fearing a United Germany, the former
preferring to restrict himself to what was attainable at the
time, and taking care not to humiliate or seriously to injure
Austria, whose friendship he foresaw that Germany would need.
Meanwhile Napoleon's interference continued. Scarcely had
Benedetti, who had followed Bismarck to the battle-fields,
returned to Berlin, when he received orders from his
Government to demand not less than the left bank of the Rhine
as a compensation for Prussia's increase of territory. For
this purpose he submitted the draft of a treaty by which
Prussia was even to bind herself to lend an active support to
the cession of the Bavarian and Hessian possessions west of
the Rhine! ... Bismarck would listen to no mention of ceding
German territory. 'Si vous refusez,' said the conceited
Corsican, 'c'est la guerre.'--'Eh bien, la guerre,' replied
Bismarck calmly. Just as little success had Benedetti with
King William. 'Not a clod of German soil, not a chimney of a
German village,' was William's kingly reply. Napoleon was not
disposed at the time to carry out his threat. He disavowed
Benedetti's action, declaring that the instructions had been
obtained from him during his illness and that he wished to
live in peace and friendship with Prussia. Napoleon's
covetousness had at least one good effect: it furthered the
work of German union. Bavaria and Würtemberg, who during the
war had sided with Austria, had at first appealed to Napoleon
to mediate between them and Prussia. But when the Ministers of
the four South German States appeared at Berlin to negotiate
with Bismarck, and Benedetti's draft-treaty was communicated
to them, there was a complete change of disposition. They then
wished to go much further than the Prussian Statesman was
prepared to go: they asked, in order to be protected from
French encroachments, to be admitted into the North German
Confederation. But Bismarck would not depart from the
stipulations of the Treaty of Nikolsburg. The most important
result of the negotiations was that secret treaties were
concluded by which the Southern States bound themselves to an
alliance with the Northern Confederation for the defence of
Germany, and engaged to place their troops under the supreme
command of the Prussian King in the event of any attack by a
foreign Power. In a military sense Klein-Deutschland was now
one, though not yet politically. ... That Prussia was the
truly representative German State had been obvious to the
thoughtful long before: the fact now stood out in clear light
to all who would open their eyes to see. Progress had
meanwhile been made with the construction of the North German
Confederation, which embraced all the States to the north of
the river Main. Its affairs were to be regulated by a
Reichstag elected by universal suffrage and by a Federal
Council formed of the representatives of the North German
Governments. In a military sense it was a Single State,
politically a Confederate State, with the King of Prussia as
President. This arrangement was not of course regarded as
final: and in his speech from the throne to the North German
Reichstag, King William emphasized the declaration that
Germany, so long torn, so long powerless, so long the theatre
of war for foreign nations, would henceforth strive to recover
the greatness of her past. ... A first step towards 'bridging
over the Main,' i. e., causing South and North to join hands
again, was taken by the creation of a Zollparlament, or
'Customs Parliament, which was elected by the whole of
Klein-Deutschland, and met at Berlin, henceforth the capital
of Germany. It was also a step in advance that Baden and
Hesse-Darmstadt signed conventions, by which their military
system was put on the same footing as that of the North German
Confederation. Baden indeed would willingly have entered into
political union with the North, had the same disposition
prevailed at the time in the other South German States. The
National Liberals however had to contend with strong
opposition from the Democrats in Würtemberg, and from the
Ultramontanes in Bavaria. The latter were hostile to Prussia
on account of her Protestantism, the former on account of the
stern principles and severe discipline that pervaded her
administration. ... In the work of German unification the
Bonapartes have an important share. ... By outraging the
principle of nationality, Napoleon I. had re-awakened the
feeling of nationality among Germans: Napoleon III., by
attempting to prevent the unification of Germany, actually
hastened it on. ... When King William had replied that he
would not yield up an inch of German soil, 'patriotic pangs'
at Prussian successes and the thirst for 'compensation'
continued to disturb the sleep of the French Emperor, and as
he was unwilling to appear baffled in his purpose, he returned
to the charge. On the 16th of August, 1866, through his
Ambassador Benedetti, he demanded 'the cession of Landau,
Saarbrücken, Saarlouis, and Luxemburg, together with Prussia's
consent to the annexation of Belgium by France. If that could
not be obtained, he would be satisfied with Luxemburg and
Belgium; he would even exclude Antwerp from the territory
claimed that it might be created a free town. Thus he hoped to
spare the susceptibilities of England. As a gracious return he
offered the alliance of France. After his first interview
Benedetti gave up his demand for the three German towns, and
submitted a new scheme, according to which Germany should
induce the King of the Netherlands to a cession of Luxemburg,
and should support France in the conquest of Belgium; whilst,
on his part, Napoleon would permit the formation of a federal
union between the Northern Confederation and the South German
States, and would enter into a defensive and offensive
alliance with Germany. Count Bismarck treated these
propositions, as he himself has stated, 'in a dilatory
manner,' that is to say, he did not reject them, but he took
good care not to make any definite promises. When the Prussian
Prime Minister returned from his furlough to Berlin, towards
the end of 1866, Benedetti resumed his negotiations, but now
only with regard to Luxemburg, still garrisoned by Prussian
troops as at the time of the old Germanic Confederation.
Though the Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg did not belong to the new
North German Confederation, Bismarck was not willing to allow
it to be annexed by France. Moltke moreover declared that the
fortress could only be evacuated by the Prussian troops if the
fortifications were razed. But without its fortifications
Napoleon would not have it. And when, with regard to the
Emperor's intentions upon Belgium, Prussia offered no active
support, but only promised observance of neutrality, France
renounced the idea of an alliance with Prussia, and entered
into direct negotiations with the King of Holland, as
Grand-Duke of Luxemburg.
{1543}
Great excitement was thereby caused in Germany, and, as a
timely warning to France, Bismarck surprised the world with
the publication of the secret treaties between Prussia and the
South German States. But when it became known that the King of
Holland was actually consenting to the sale of his rights in
Luxemburg to Napoleon, there was so loud a cry of indignation
in all parts of Germany, there was so powerful a protest in
the North German Parliament against any sale of German
territory by the King of Holland, that Count Bismarck, himself
surprised at the vigour of the patriotic outburst, declared to
the Government of the Hague that the cession of Luxemburg
would be considered a casus belli. This peremptory declaration
had the desired effect: the cession did not take place. This
was the first success in European politics of a united
Germany, united not yet politically, but in spirit. That was
satisfactory. A Conference of the Great Powers then met in
London [May, 1867]: by its decision, Luxemburg was separated
from Germany, and,--to give some kind of satisfaction to the
Emperor of the French,--was formed into a neutral State. From
a national point of view, that was unsatisfactory. ... The
danger of an outbreak of war between France and Germany had
only been warded off for a time by the international
settlement of the Luxemburg question. ... In the early part of
July, 1870, Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, at the
request of the Spanish Government; became a candidate for the
Spanish throne. Napoleon III. seized the occasion to carry
into effect his hostile intentions against Germany."
_G. Krause,
The Growth of German Unity,
chapter 13-14._
ALSO IN:
_E. Simon,
The Emperor William and his Reign,
chapter 9-10 (volume l)._
_C. A. Fyffe,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 3, chapter 5-6._
GERMANY: A. D. 1870 (June-July).
"The Hohenzollern incident."
French Declaration of War.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JUNE-JULY).
GERMANY: A. D. 1870 (September-December).
The Germanic Confederation completed.
Federative treaties with the states of South Germany.
Suggestion of the Empire.
"Having decided on taking Strasburg and Metz from France"
Prussia "could only justify that conquest by considerations of
the safety of South Germany, and she could only defend these
interests by effecting the union of North and South. She found
it necessary to realise this union at any price, even by some
concessions in favour of the autonomy of those States, and
especially of Bavaria. Such was the spirit in which
negotiations were opened, in the middle of September, 1870,
between Bavaria and Prussia, with the participation of Baden,
Wurtemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt. ... Prussia asked at first for
entire and unreserved adhesion to the Northern Confederation,
a solution acceptable to Baden, Wurtemberg and
Hesse-Darmstadt, but not to Bavaria, who demanded for herself
the preservation of certain rights, and for her King a
privileged position in the future Confederation next to the
King of Prussia. The negotiations with Baden and
Hesse-Darmstadt came to a conclusion on the 15th of November;
and on the 25th, Wurtemberg accepted the same arrangement.
These three States agreed to the constitution, slightly
modified, of the Northern Confederation; the new treaties were
completed by military conventions, establishing the fusion of
the respective Corps d'Armée with the Federal Army of the
North, under the command of the King of Prussia. The Treaty
with Bavaria was signed at Versailles on the 23rd of November.
The concessions obtained by the Cabinet of Munich were reduced
to mere trifles. ... The King of Bavaria was allowed the
command of his army in time of peace. He was granted the
administration of the Post-Office and partial autonomy of
indirect contributions. A committee was conceded, in the
Federal Council, for Foreign Affairs, under the Presidency of
Bavaria. The right of the King of Prussia, as President of
this Council, to declare war, was made conditional on its
consent. Such were the Treaties submitted on the 24th of
November to the sanction of the Parliament of the North,
assembled in an Extraordinary Session. They met with intense
opposition from the National Liberal and from the Progressive
Party," but "the Parliament sanctioned the treaties on the
10th of December. According to the Treaties, the new
association received the title of Germanic Confederation, and
the King of Prussia that of its President. These titles were
soon to undergo an important alteration. The King of Bavaria,
satisfied with the concessions, more apparent than real, made
by the Prussian Cabinet to his rights of sovereignty,
consented to defer to the wishes of King William. On the 4th
of December, King Louis addressed him [King William] a letter,
informing him that he had invited the Confederate sovereigns
to revive the German Empire and confer the title of Emperor on
the President of the Confederation. ... The sovereigns
immediately gave their consent, so that the Imperial titles
could be introduced into the new Constitution before the final
ote of the Parliament of the North. ... To tell the truth, King
William attached slight importance to the votes of the various
Chambers. He was not desirous of receiving his new dignity
from the hands of a Parliament; the assent of the sovereigns
was in his eyes far more essential."
_E. Simon,
The Emperor William and his Reign,
chapter 13 (volume 2)._
ALSO IN:
_G. Freytag,
The Crown Prince and the Imperial Crown._
GERMANY: A. D. 1870-1871.
Victorious war with France.
Siege of Paris.
Occupation of the city.
Enormous indemnity exacted.
Acquisition of Alsace and part of Lorraine.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST)
to 1871 (JANUARY-MAY).
GERMANY: A. D. 1871 (January).
Assumption of the Imperial dignity by King William,
at Versailles.
"Early in December the proposition came from King Ludwig of
Bavaria to King William, that the possession of the
presidential rights of the Confederacy vested in the Prussian
monarch should be coupled with the imperial title. The King of
Saxony spoke to the same purport; and in one day a measure
providing for the amendment of the Constitution by the
substitution of the words 'Emperor' and 'Empire' for
'President' and 'Confederation' was passed through the North
German Parliament, which voted also an address to his Majesty,
from which the following is an extract: 'The North German
Parliament, in unison with the Princes of Germany, approaches
with the prayer that your Majesty will deign to consecrate the
work of unification by accepting the Imperial Crown of Germany.
{1544}
The Teutonic Crown on the head of your Majesty will
inaugurate, for the re-established Empire of the German
nation, an era of power, of peace, of well-being, and of
liberty secured under the protection of the laws.' The address
of the German Parliament was presented to the King at
Versailles on Sunday, the 18th of December, by its speaker,
Herr Simson, who, as speaker of the Frankfort Parliament in
1848, had made the identical proffer to William's brother and
predecessor [see above: A. D. 1848-1850]. ... The formal
ratification of assent to the Prussian King's assumption of
the imperial dignity had yet to be received from the minor
German States; but this was a foregone conclusion, and the
unification of Germany really dates from that 18th of
December, and from the solemn ceremonial in the prefecture of
Versailles."
_A. Forbes,
William of Germany,
chapter 12._
King William's formal assumption of the Imperial dignity took
place on the 18th of January, 1871. "The Crown Prince was
entrusted with all the preparations for the ceremony. Every
regiment in the army of investment was instructed to send its
colours in charge of an officer and two non-commissioned
officers to Versailles, and all the higher officers who could
be spared from duty were ordered to attend, for the army was
to represent the German nation at this memorable scene. The
Crown Prince escorted his father from the Prefecture to the
palace of Versailles, where all the German Princes or their
representatives were assembled in the Galerie des Glaces. A
special service was read by the military chaplains, and then
the Emperor, mounting on the dais, announced his assumption of
Imperial authority, and instructed his Chancellor to read the
Proclamation issued to the whole German nation. Then the Crown
Prince, as the first subject of the Empire, came forward and
performed the solemn act of homage, kneeling down before his
Imperial Father. The Emperor raised him and clasped to his
arms the son who had toiled and fought and borne so great a
share in achieving what many generations had desired in vain."
_R. Rodd,
Frederick, Crown Prince and Emperor,
chapter 5._
ALSO IN:
_C. Lowe,
Prince Bismarck,
chapter 9 (volume 1)._
GERMANY: A. D. 1871 (April).
The Constitution of the new Empire.
By a proclamation dated April 16, 1871, the German Emperor
ordered, "in the name of the German Empire, by and with the
consent of the Council of the Confederation and of the
Imperial Diet," that "in the place of the Constitution of the
German Confederation," as agreed to in November 1870, there be
substituted a Constitution for the German Empire,--the text of
which appeared as an appendix to this imperial decree. For a
full translation of the text of the Constitution,
See CONSTITUTION OF GERMANY.
ALSO IN:
_E. Hertslet,
The Map of Europe by Treaty,
volume 3, Number 442._
_C. Lowe,
Prince Bismarck,
appendix F. (volume 2)._
GERMANY: A. D. 1871-1879.
Organization of the government of Alsace-Lorraine as an
imperial province.
"How to garner the territorial harvest of the
war--Alsace-Lorraine--was a question which greatly vexed the
parliamentary mind. Several possible solutions had presented
themselves. The conquered provinces might be made neutral
territory, which, with Belgium on one side, and Switzerland on
the other, would thus interpose a continuous barrier against
French aggression from the mouth of the Rhine to its source.
But one fatal objection, among several others, to the adoption
of this course, was the utter lack, in the Alsace-Lorrainers,
of the primary condition of the existence of all neutral
States--a determination on the part of the neutralised people
themselves to be and remain neutral. And none knew better than
Bismarck that it would take years of the most careful nursing
to reconcile the kidnapped children of France to their
adoptive parent. For him, the only serious question was
whether Alsace-Lorraine should be annexed to Prussia, or be
made an immediate Reichsland (Imperial Province). 'From the
very first,' he said, 'I was most decidedly for the latter
alternative, first--because there is no reason why dynastic
questions should be mixed up with political ones; and,
secondly--because I think it will be easier for the Alsatians
to take to the name of "German" than to that at of "Prussian,"
the latter being detested in France in comparison with the
other.' In its first session, accordingly, the Diet was asked
to pass a law incorporating Alsace-Lorraine with the Empire,
and placing the annexed provinces under a provisional
dictatorship till the 1st January, 1874, when they would enter
into the enjoyment of constitutional rights in common with the
rest of the nation. But the latter clause provoked much
controversy. ... A compromise was ultimately effected by which
the duration of the dictatorship, or period within which the
Imperial Government alone was to have the right of making laws
for Alsace-Lorraine, was shortened till 1st January, 1873;
while the Diet, on the other hand, was only to have
supervision of such loans or guarantees as affected the
Empire. In the following year, however, the Diet came to the
conclusion that, after all, the original term fixed for the
dictatorship was the more advisable of the two, and prolonged
it accordingly. For the next three years, therefore, the
Reichsland was governed from the Wilhelmstrasse, as India is
ruled from Downing Street. ... In the beginning of 1874 ...
fifteen deputies from Alsace-Lorraine--now thus far admitted
within the pale of the Constitution--took their seats in the
second German Parliament. Of these fifteen deputies, five were
out-and-out French Protesters, and the rest Clericals--seven
of the latter being clergymen, including the Bishops of Metz
and Strasburg. They entered the Diet in a body, with much
theatrical pomp, the clergy wearing their robes; and one of
the French Protesters--bearing the unfortunate name of
Teutsch--immediately tabled a motion that the inhabitants of
Alsace-Lorraine, having been annexed to Germany without being
themselves consulted, should now be granted an opportunity of
expressing their opinion on the subject by a plebiscite. ...
The motion of French Mr. Teutsch, who spoke fluent German, was
of course rejected; whereupon he and several of his
compatriots straightway returned home, and left the Diet to
deal with the interests of their constituents as it liked.
Those of his colleagues who remained behind only did so to
complain of the 'intolerable tyranny' under which the
provinces were groaning, and to move for the repeal of the law
(of December, 1871) which invested the local Government with
dictatorial powers. ...
{1545}
Believing home-rule to be one of the best guarantees of
federal cohesion, Bismarck determined to try the effect of
this cementing agency on the newest part of the Imperial
edifice; and, in the autumn of 1874, he advised the Emperor to
grant the Alsace-Lorrainers (not by law, but by ordinance,
which could easily be revoked) a previous voice on all bills
to be submitted to the Reichstag on the domestic and fiscal
affairs of the provinces. ... In the following summer (June,
1875), therefore, there met at Strasburg the first
Landesausschuss, or Provincial Committee, composed of
delegates, thirty in number, from the administrative District
Councils. ... So well, indeed, on the whole, did this
arrangement work, that within two years of its creation the
Landesausschuss was invested with much broader powers. ...
Thus it came about that, while the Reichsland continued to be
governed from Berlin, the making of its laws was more and more
confined to Strasburg. ... The party of the Irreconcilables
had been gradually giving way to the Autonomists, or those who
subordinated the question of nationality to that of home-rule.
Rapidly gaining in strength, this latter party at last (in the
spring of 1879) petitioned the Reichstag for an independent
Government, with its seat in Strasburg, for the representation
of the Reichsland in the Federal Council, and for an
enlargement of the functions of the Provincial Committee.
Nothing could have been more gratifying to Bismarck than this
request, amounting, as it did, to a reluctant recognition of
the Treaty of Frankfort on the part of the Alsace-Lorrainers.
He therefore replied that he was quite willing to confer on
the provinces 'the highest degree of independence compatible
with the military security of the Empire.' The Diet, without
distinction of party, applauded his words; and not only that,
but it hastened to pass a bill embodying ideas at which the
Chancellor himself had hinted in the previous year. By this
bill, the government of Alsace-Lorraine was to centre in a
Statthalter, or Imperial Viceroy, living at Strasburg, instead
of, as heretofore, in the chancellor. ... Without being a
Sovereign, this Statthalter was to exercise all but sovereign
rights. ... For this high office the Emperor selected the
brilliant soldier-statesman, Marshal Manteuffel. ...
Certainly, His Majesty could not possibly have chosen a better
man for the responsible office, which the Marshal assumed on
the 1st October, 1879. Henceforth, the conquered provinces
entered an entirely new phase of their existence. ... Whether
the Reichsland will ever ripen into an integral part of
Prussia, or into a regular Federal State with a Prussian
prince for its Sovereign, the future alone can show."