Chapter IV: , VII (95)

"King Frederic William IV. [of Prussia], never a man of strong
head, had for years been growing weaker and more eccentric.
… In the early part of 1857, symptoms of softening of the
brain began to show themselves. That disorder so developed
itself that in October, 1857, he gave a delegation to the
Prince of Prussia [his brother] to act as regent; but the
first commission was only for three months. … The Prince's
temporary commission was renewed from time to time; but it
soon became apparent that Frederic William's case was
hopeless, and his brother was formally installed as Regent in
October, 1858.
{1538}
Ultimately, the King died in January, 1861, and his brother
succeeded to the throne as William I." In September, 1862,
Otto von Bismarck became the new King's chief minister, with
General Roon for Minister of War, appointed to carry out a
reorganization of the Prussian army which King William had
determined to effect. Bismarck found his first opportunity for
the aggrandizement of Prussia in a reopening of the
Schleswig-Holstein question, which came about in November,
1863, when "Frederic of Denmark died, and Prince Christian
succeeded to the throne of that kingdom. Already before his
accession, the duchies were possessions of the Danish
monarchy, but had in certain respects a separate
administrative existence. This Denmark, in the year of
Christian's accession, had materially infringed in the case of
Sleswig, by a law which virtually incorporated that duchy with
the Danish monarchy. The German Confederation protested
against this 'Danification' of Sleswig, and having pronounced
a decree of Federal execution against the new King of Denmark
as Duke of Holstein and, in virtue of that duchy, a member of
the German Confederation, sent into Holstein Federal troops
belonging to the smaller States of the Confederation. The
Confederation, as a collective body, favoured the
establishment of the independence of the duchies, and had with
it the wishes probably of the great mass of the German nation.
But the independence of Sleswig and Holstein scarcely suited
the views of Bismarck. He desired the annexation to Prussia of
at all events Holstein, because in Holstein is the great
harbour of Kiel, all important in view of the new fleet with
which he purposed equipping Prussia; if Sleswig could be
compassed along with Holstein, so much the better. But there
were two difficulties in Bismarck's way. Prussia was a
co-signatory of the Treaty of London. If he were to grasp at
the duchies single-handed, a host of enemies might confront
him. England was burning to take up arms in the cause of the
father of the beautiful princess she had adopted as her own.
The German Confederation would oppose Prussia's naked effort
to aggrandise herself; and Austria, in the double character of
a party to the Treaty of London and of a member of the
Confederation, would rejoice in the opportunity to strike a
blow at a power of whose rising pretensions she had begun to
be jealous. The wily Bismarck had to dissemble. He made the
proposal to Austria that the two states should ignore their
participation as individual States in the Treaty of London,
and that as corporate members of the German Confederation they
should constitute themselves the executors of the Federal
decree, and put aside the minor states whose troops had been
charged with that office. Austria acceded. It was a bad hour
for her when she did, yet she moves no compassion for the
misfortunes which befell her as the issue. … The Diet had to
submit. The Austro-Prussian troops marched through Holstein
into Sleswig, and on the 2nd of February, 1864, struck at the
Danes occupying the Dannewerke. … The venerable Marshal
Wrangel was commander-in-chief of the combined forces until
after the fall of Düppel, when Prince Frederic Charles
succeeded him in that position; but throughout the campaign
the control of the dispositions was mainly exercised by the
Red Prince. But neither strategy nor tactics were very
strenuously brought into use for the discomfiture of the
unfortunate Danes. Their ruin was wrought partly because of
the overwhelmingly superior force of their allied opponents,
partly because of their own unpreparedness for war in almost
everything save the possession of heroic bravery; but most of
all by the fire of the needle-gun and the Prussian advantage
in the possession of rifled artillery. Only part of the
Prussian infantry had used the needle-gun in the reduction of
the Baden insurrection in 1848; now, however, the whole army
was equipped with it. … In their retreat from the Dannewerke
into the Düppel position, the Danes suffered severely from the
inclemency of the weather, and fought a desperate rear-guard
engagement with the Austrians. … The Prussians undertook the
task of reducing Düppel; the Austrians marched northward into
Jutland, and driving back the Danish troops they encountered
in their march, sat down before the fortress of Fredericia,
and swept the Little Belt with their cannon. The sieges, both
of Düppel and of Fredericia, were conducted with extreme
inertness." But the former was taken and the latter abandoned.
"The Danish war was terminated by the Treaty of Vienna on the
30th October, 1864, under which the duchies of Sleswig,
Holstein, and Lauenburg were handed over to the sovereigns of
Austria and Prussia. … Out of the Danish war of 1864 grew
almost inevitably the war of 1866, between Prussia and
Austria. The wolves quite naturally wrangled over the carcase,
and the astuter wolf had so much the better of the wrangle
that the duller one, unless he chose to be partly bullied,
partly tricked out of his share, had no alternative but to
fight for it, with the result that he clean lost that and a
great deal more besides. The future of the Elbe Duchies was
played at pitch and toss with between Prussia and Austria for
the best part of a year; the details of the game were too
intricate to be followed here. The condominium of the two
Powers in the duchies produced constant friction, which was
probably Bismarck's intention, especially as Prussia had taken
care to keep stationed in them twice as many troops as Austria
had left there. Relations were becoming very strained when in
August, 1865, the Emperor Francis Joseph and King William met
at the little watering-place of Gastein, and from their
interview originated the short-lived arrangement known as the
Convention of Gastein. By that compact, while the two Powers
preserved the common sovereignty over the duchies, Austria
accepted the administration of Holstein, Prussia undertaking
that of Sleswig. Prussia was to have rights of way through
Holstein to Sleswig, was given over the right of construction
of a North Sea and Baltic Canal; and while Kiel was
constituted a Federal harbour, Prussia was authorised to
construct there the requisite fortifications and marine
establishments, and to maintain an adequate force for the
protection of these. Assuming the arrangement to be
provisional, as on all hands it was regarded, Prussia clearly
had the advantage under it. … But the Gastein Convention
contained another provision—that Austria should sell to
Prussia all her rights in the duchy of Lauenburg (an outlying
appanage of Holstein) for the sum of 2,500,000 thalers: thus
making market of rights of which she was but a trustee for the
German Confederation.
{1539}
The Convention of Gastein pleased nobody, but that mattered
little to Bismarck. … Bickerings recommenced before the year
1865 was out, and early in 1866 Austria began to arm. … In
March, 1866, a secret treaty was formed between Italy and
Prussia. … Prussia threw the Convention of Gastein to the
winds by civilly but masterfully turning the Austrian brigade
of occupation out of Holstein. Then Austria in the Federal
Diet, complaining that by this act Prussia had disturbed the
peace of the German Confederation, moved for a decree of
Federal execution against that state, to be enforced by the
Confederation's armed strength. On the 14th June, Austria's
motion was carried by the Diet, its last act; for Prussia next
day wrecked the flimsy organisation of the German Confederation,
by declaring war against three of its component members,
Hanover, Hesse, and Saxony. There was no formal declaration of
war between Austria and Prussia, only a notification of
intended hostile action sent by the Prussian commanders to the
Austrian foreposts. On the 17th the Emperor Francis Joseph
published his war manifesto; King William on the 18th emitted
his to 'My People;' on the 20th, Italy declared war against
Austria and Bavaria."

_A. Forbes,
William of Germany,
chapters 7-8._

ALSO IN:
_H. von Sybel,
The Founding of the German Empire,
books 9-16 (volumes 3-4)._

_C. Lowe,
Prince Bismarck,
chapters 5-7 (volume 1),
and appendices. A, B, C (volume 2)._

_J. G. L. Hesekiel,
Life of Bismarck,
book 5, chapter 3._

_Count von Beust,
Memoirs,
volume 1, chapters 22-28._

GERMANY: A. D. 1862.
The Schleswig-Holstein question.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (DENMARK): A. D. 1848-1862.

GERMANY: A. D. 1866.
The Seven Weeks War.
Defeat of Austria.
Victory and Supremacy of Prussia.
Her Absorption of Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, Frankfort and
Schleswig-Holstein.
Formation of the North German Confederation.
Exclusion of Austria from the Germanic organization.

"Prussia had built excellent railroads throughout the country,
and quietly placed her troops on the frontier; within 14 days
she had 500,000 men under arms. By the end of May they were on
the frontiers ready for action, while Austria was only half
prepared, and her allies only beginning to arm. On the 14th of
June the diet, by a vote of nine to six, had ordered the
immediate mobilization of a federal army; whereupon Prussia
declared the federal compact dissolved and extinguished. In
Vienna and the petty courts men said, 'Within fourteen days
after the outbreak of hostilities the allied armies will enter
Berlin in triumph and dictate peace; the power of Prussia will
be broken by two blows.' The Legitimists were exultant; even
the majority of the democracy in South Germany joined with the
Ultramontane party in shouting for Austria. On the 10th of June,
Bismark laid before the German governments the outlines of a
new federal constitution, but was not listened to; on the 15th
he made proposals to the states in the immediate neighborhood
of Prussia for a peace on these foundations, and demanded
their neutrality, adding that if they declined his peaceful
offers he would treat them as enemies. The cabinets of Dresden
and Hanover, of Cassel and Wiesbaden, declined them.
Immediately, on the night of the 15th and 16th of June,
Prussian troops entered Hanover, Hesse and Saxony. In four or
five days Prussia had disarmed all North Germany, and broken
all resistance from the North Sea to the Main. On the 18th of
June, the Prussian general Bayer entered Cassel; the Elector
was surprised at Wilhelmshöhe. As he still refused all terms
he was arrested by the direct order of the king of Prussia and
sent as a prisoner to Stettin. On the 17th, General Vogel von
Falkenstein entered Hanover. King George with his army of
18,000 men sought to escape to South Germany. After a gallant
struggle at Langensalza on the 27th, his brave troops were
surrounded. The King capitulated on the 29th. His army was
disbanded, he himself allowed to go to Vienna. On the 18th the
Prussians were in Dresden; on the 19th, in Leipzig; by the
20th, all Saxony except the fortress of Königstein was in
their hands. The king and army of Saxony, on the approach of
the Prussians, had left the country by the railroads to
Bohemia to form a junction with the Austrians. The Saxon army
consisted of 23,000 men and 60 cannon. Everyone had expected
Austria to occupy a country of such strategic value as Saxony
before the Prussians could touch it. The Austrian army
consisted of seven corps, 180,000 infantry, 24,000 cavalry,
762 guns. The popular opinion had forced the emperor to make
Benedek the commander-in-chief in Bohemia. Everything there
was new to him. The Prussians were divided into three armies:
the army of the Elbe, 40,000 men, under Herwarth von
Bittenfeld; the first army, 100,000 men, under Prince
Frederick Charles; the second or Silesian army under the Crown
Prince, 116,000 strong. The reserve consisted of 24,000
Landwehr. The whole force in this quarter numbered 280,000 men
and 800 guns. … The Prussians knew what they were fighting
for. To the Austrians the idea of this war was something
strange. At Vienna, Benedek had spoken against war; after the
first Prussian successes, he had in confidence advised the
emperor to make peace as soon as possible. As he was unable,
from want of means, to attack, he concentrated his army
between Josephstadt and the county of Glatz. He thought only
of defence. … On the 23rd of June the great Prussian army
commenced contemporaneously its march to Bohemia from the
Riesengebirge, from Lusatia, from Dresden. It advanced from
four points to Josephstadt-Koniggrätz, where the junction was
to take place. Bismarck had ordered, from financial as well as
political reasons, that the war must be short. The Prussian
armies had at all points debouched from the passes and entered
Bohemia before a single Austrian corps had come near these
passes. … In a couple of days Benedek lost in a series of
fights against the three Prussian advancing armies nearly
35,000 men; five of his seven corps had been beaten. He
concentrated these seven corps at Koniggrätz in the ground
before this fortress; he determined to accept battle between
the Elbe and the Bistritz. He had, however, previously
reported to the emperor that his army after its losses was not
in a condition for a pitched battle. He wished to retire to
Moravia and avoid a battle till he had received
reinforcements. This telegram of Benedek arrived in the middle
of the exultation which filled the court of Vienna after
hearing of the victory over the Italians at Custozza.

See ITALY: A. D. 1862-1866.

{1540}

The emperor replied by ordering him briefly to give battle
immediately. Benedek, on the 1st of July, again sent word to
the emperor, 'Your majesty must conclude peace.' Yet on these
repeated warnings came the order to fight at once. Benedek had
provided for such an answer by his arrangements for July the
2nd. He had placed his 500 guns in the most favorable
positions, and occupied the country between the Elbe and the
little river Bistritz for the extent of a league. As soon as
the Prussians heard of this movement they resolved to attack
the Austrians on the 3d. On the 2d the king, accompanied by
Count Bismarck, Von Roon and Von Moltke, had joined the army.
He assumed command of the three armies. The Crown Prince and
Herwarth were ordered to advance against Königgrätz. Part of
the Crown Prince's army were still five German miles from the
intended battle ground. Prince Frederick Charles and Herwarth
had alone sustained the whole force of Austria in the struggle
around Sadowa, which began at 8 o'clock in the morning.
Frederick Charles attacked in the centre over against Sadowa;
Herwarth on the right at Nechanitz; the Crown Prince was to
advance on the left from Königinhof. The Crown Prince received
orders at four o'clock in the morning; he could not in all
probability reach the field before one or two o'clock after
noon. All depended on his arrival in good time. Prince
Frederick Charles forced the passage of the Bistritz and took
Sadowa and other places, but could not take the heights. His
troops suffered terribly from the awful fire of the Austrian
batteries. The King himself and his staff came under fire,
from which the earnest entreaties of Bismarck induced him to
retire. About one o'clock the danger in the Prussian centre
was great. After five hours of fighting they could not
advance, and began to talk of retreat. On the right, things
were better. Herwarth had defeated the Saxons, and threatened
the Austrian left. Yet, if the army of the Crown Prince did
not arrive, the battle was lost, for the Prussian centre was
broken. But the Crown Prince brought the expected succor.
About two o'clock came the news that a part of the Crown
Prince's army had been engaged since one o'clock. The
Austrians, attacked on their right flank and rear, had to give
way in front. Under loud shouts of 'Forward,' Prince Frederick
Charles took the Wood of Sadowa at three, and the heights of
Lipa at four o'clock. At this very time, four o'clock, Benedek
had already given orders to retreat. … From the … first
the Prussians were superior to the Austrians in ammunition,
provisions and supplies. They had a better organization,
better preparation, and the needle-gun, which proved very
destructive to the Austrians. The Austrian troops fought with
thorough gallantry. … Respecting this campaign, an Austrian
writes: 'Given in Vienna a powerful coterie which reserves to
itself all the high commands and regards the army as its
private estate for its own private benefit, and defeat is
inevitable.' The Austrians lost at Sadowa, according to the
official accounts at Vienna, 174 cannon, 18,000 prisoners. 11
colors, 4,190 killed, 11,900 wounded, 21,400 missing,
including the prisoners. The Prussians acknowledged a loss of
only 10,000 men. The result of the battle was heavier for
Austria than the loss in the action and the retreat. The
armistice which Benedek asked for on the 4th of July was
refused by the Prussians: a second request on the 10th was
also rejected. On the 5th of July the emperor of Austria
sought the mediation of France to restore peace. … All
further movements were put a stop to by the five days'
armistice, which began on the 22d of July at noon, and was
followed by an armistice for four weeks. … Hostilities were
at an end on Austrian territory when the war began on the Main
against the allies of Austria. The Bavarian army, under the
aged Prince Charles, distinguished itself by being driven by
the less numerous forces of Prussia under General Falkenstein
across the Saale and the Main. … The eighth federal army
corps of 50,000 men, composed of contingents from Baden,
Würtemberg, Electoral Hesse, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, and
12,000 Austrians under Prince Alexander of Hesse, was so
mismanaged that the Würtemberg contingent believed itself sold
and betrayed. … On the 16th of July, in the evening,
Falkenstein entered Frankfort, and in the name of the king of
Prussia took possession of this Free City, of Upper Hesse and
Nassau. Frankfort, on account of its Austrian sympathies, had
to pay a contribution of six millions of gulden to
Falkenstein, and on the 19th of July a further sum of nineteen
millions to Manteuffel, the successor of Falkenstein. The
latter sum was remitted when the hitherto Free City became a
Prussian city. Manteuffel, in several actions from the 23d to
the 26th of July, drove the federal army back to Würzburg;
Göben defeated the army of Baden at Werbach, and that of
Würtemberg at Tauberbischofsheim; before this the eighth
federal army corps joined the Bavarian army, and on the 25th
and 26th of July the united forces were defeated at Gerschheim
and Rossbrunn, and on the 27th, the citadel of Würzburg was
invested. The court of Vienna had abandoned its South German
allies when it concluded the armistice; it had not included
its allies either in the armistice or the truce. … On the
29th of July, the Baden troops marched off homewards in the
night, the Austrians marched to Bohemia, the Bavarians
purchased an armistice by surrendering Würzburg to the
Prussians. Thus of the eighth army corps, the Würtembergers
and Hessians alone kept the field. On the 2d of August these
remains of the eighth army corps were included in the
armistice of Nicholsburg. … On the 23d of August peace was
signed between Austria and Prussia at Prague. Bismarck treated
Austria with great consideration, and demanded only twenty
millions of thalers as war indemnity; Würtemberg had to pay
eight millions of gulden, Baden six millions, Hesse-Darmstadt
three millions, Bavaria thirty millions of gulden. The
Würtemberg minister, Varnbüler, and the Baden minister,
Freydorf, offered to form an offensive and defensive alliance
with Prussia for the purpose of saving the ruling families,
and in alarm lest Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt might seek in
their territories compensation for cessions to Prussia.
Bavaria also formed an alliance with Prussia, and ceded a
small district in the north. Hesse-Darmstadt ceded
Hesse-Homburg and some pieces of territory, and entered the
North German Confederation, giving to Prussia the right of
keeping a garrison in Mainz.
{1541}
Austria renounced her claims on Schleswig and Holstein,
acknowledged the dissolution of the German Confederation and a
modification of Germany by which Austria was excluded. It
recognized the creation of the North German Confederation, the
union of Venetia to Italy, the territorial alterations in
North Germany. Prussia acknowledged the territorial
possessions of Austria with the sole exception of Venetia; and
also of Saxony; and undertook to obtain the assent of the King
of Italy to the peace. Prussia announced the incorporation of
Schleswig-Holstein, the Free City of Frankfort, the Kingdom of
Hanover, the Electorate of Hesse, and the Duchy of Nassau,
subject to the payment of annual incomes to the deposed
princes. The Kingdom of Saxony, the two Mecklenburgs, the
Hanse-towns, Oldenburg, Brunswick, and the Thuringian states
entered the North German Confederation. Prussia now contained
twenty-four millions of inhabitants, or including the Northern
Confederation, twenty-nine millions. The military forces of
the Confederation were placed under the command of Prussia.
The states north of the Main were at liberty to form a
Southern Confederation, the connection of which with the
Northern Confederation was to be a subject of future
discussion. Moreover, Bavaria, Baden and Würtemberg had
engaged 'in case of war to place their whole military force at
the disposal of Prussia,' and Prussia guaranteed their
sovereignty and the integrity of their territory. Saxony paid
ten millions of thalers as a war indemnity. Prussia received
on the whole, as war indemnities, eighty-two millions of
gulden. Thus ended in the year 1866 the struggle [known as the
Seven Weeks War] between Austria and Prussia for the
leadership of Germany."

_W. Zimmermann,
Popular History of Germany,
book 6, chapter 3 (v. 4)._

ALSO IN:
_H. von Sybel,
The Founding of the German Empire,
books 17-20 (volume 5)._

_Major C. Adams,
Great Campaigns in Europe from 1796 to 1870,
chapter 10._

_Count von Beust,
Memoirs,
volume 1, chapters 29-34._

_G. B. Malleson,
The Refounding of the German Empire,
chapters 6-10._

[Image: Germany after the congress of Vienna.]

GERMANY: A. D. 1866-1867.
Foreshadowings of the new Empire.

"We may make the statement that in the autumn of 1866 the
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.
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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.
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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."

_C. Lowe,
Prince Bismarck,
chapter 14 (volume 2)._

GERMANY: A. D. 1873-1887.
The Culturkampf.
The "May Laws" and their repeal.

"The German Culturkampf, or civilization-fight, as its
illustrious chief promoter is said to have named it, may
equally well be styled the religion combat, or education
strife. … The arena of the Culturkampf in Germany is,
strictly speaking, Prussia and Hesse Darmstadt—pre-eminently
the former. According to the last census, taken December 1,
1880, the population of Prussia is 27,278,911. Of these, the
Protestants are 17,645,462, being 64.7 per cent., and the
Catholics 9,205,136, or 34.1 per cent., of the total
population. The remainder are principally Jews, amounting to
363,790, or 1.334 per cent. It was on the 9th of January,
1873, that Dr. Falk, Minister of Public Worship, first
introduced into the Prussian Diet the bills, which were
afterwards to be known as the May Laws [so called because they
were generally passed in the month of May, although in
different years, but also called the Falk Laws, from the
Minister who framed them]. These laws, which, for the future,
were to regulate the relations of Church and State, purported
to apply to the Evangelical or united Protestant State Church
of Prussia … as well as to the Catholic Church. Their
professed main objects were: first, to insure greater liberty
to individual lay members of those churches; secondly, to
secure a German and national, rather than an 'Ultramontane'
and non-national, training for the clergy; and, thirdly, to
protect the inferior clergy against the tyranny of their
superiors—which simply meant, as proved in the sequel, the
withdrawal of priests and people, in matters spiritual, from
the jurisdiction of the bishops, and the separation of
Catholic Prussia from the Centre of Unity; thus substituting a
local or national Church, bound hand and foot, under State
regulation, for a flourishing branch of the Universal Church.
To promote these objects, it was provided, that all
Ecclesiastical seminaries should be placed under State
control; and that all candidates for the priesthood should
pass a State examination in the usual subjects of a liberal
education; and it was further provided, that the State should
have the right to confirm or to reject all appointments of
clergy. These bills were readily passed: and all the religious
orders and congregations were suppressed, with the provisional
exception of those which devoted themselves to the care of the
sick; and all Catholic seminaries were closed. … The Bishops
refused to obey the new laws, which in conscience they could
not accept; and they subscribed a collective declaration to
this effect, on the 26th of May 1873. On the 7th of August
following, Pope Pius IX. addressed a strong letter of
remonstrance to the Emperor William; but entirely without
effect, as may be seen in the Imperial reply of the 5th of
September. In punishment of their opposition, several of the
Bishops and great numbers of their clergy were fined,
imprisoned, exiled, and deprived of their salaries. Especially
notable among the victims of persecution, were the venerable
Archbishop of Cologne, Primate of Prussia, the Bishop of
Munster, the Prince Bishop of Breslau, the Bishop of
Paderborn, and Cardinal Ledochowski, Archbishop of Gnesen and
Posen, on whom, then in prison, a Cardinal's hat was conferred
by the Pope, in March 1875, as a mark of sympathy, encouragement,
and approval. … The fifteen Catholic dioceses of Prussia
comprised, in January 1873, a Catholic aggregate of 8,711,535
souls. They were administered by 4,627 parish-priests, and
3,812 coadjutor-priests, or curates, being a total of 8,439
clergy. Eight years later, owing to the operation of the May
Laws, there were exiled or dead, without being replaced, 1,770
of these clergy, viz., 1,125 parish-priests, and 645,
coadjutor-priests; and there were 601 parishes, comprising
644,697 souls, quite destitute of clerical care, and 584
parishes, or 1,501,994 souls, partially destitute thereof.
Besides these 1,770 secular priests, dead or exiled, and not
replaced, there were the regular clergy (the members of
religious orders), all of whom had been expelled."

_J. N. Murphy,
The Chair of Peter,
chapter 29._

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