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26 - Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire by James Headlam-Morley · Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

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Speaker 1: Section twenty six of Pismack and the Foundation of the
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Speaker 1: German Empire by James Headlam. This livery box recording is
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Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Esses Chem Soul, South Korea,
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Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen The New Empire, eighteen seventy one to eighteen
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Speaker 1: seventy eight, Part two. The querer was inevitable, for quite
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Speaker 1: apart from the question of religion, it would indeed have
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Speaker 1: been impossible to govern Germany according to their principles. We may, however,
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Speaker 1: regret that the qorer was not conducted with more amenity.
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Speaker 1: These Prussian nobles were of the same race as Bismack himself.
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Speaker 1: They resembled him in character, if not in ability. They
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Speaker 1: believed that they had been betrayed, and they did not
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Speaker 1: easily forgive. They were not scrupulous in the weapons they adopted.
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Speaker 1: The press was used for anonymous attacks on his person
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Speaker 1: and his character. They accused him of using his public
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Speaker 1: position for making money by speculation, and of sacrificing to
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Speaker 1: that the alliance with Russia. More than once he had
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Speaker 1: recalls to the law of libel to defend himself against
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Speaker 1: these unworthy inserts. When he publicly in the Rakista protested
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Speaker 1: against the language of the kroticycum the dishonorable attacks and
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Speaker 1: the scandalous lies is spread abroad. A large number of
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Speaker 1: the leading men among the Pressian nobility signed the declaration,
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Speaker 1: formerly defending the management of the paper as true adherence
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Speaker 1: of the monarchical and conservative banner. These declarandon, as they
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Speaker 1: were called, were henceforward enemies whom he could never forgive.
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Speaker 1: At the bottom of the list we read, not without emotion,
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Speaker 1: the wards signed with deep regret aphon Tatten so far
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Speaker 1: apart were now the two knights errands of the Christian monarchy.
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Speaker 1: It was in reality the end of the old Conservative Party.
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Speaker 1: It had done its work. Pismack was now thrown on
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Speaker 1: the support of the National Liberals. Since eighteen sixty six
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Speaker 1: they had grown in numbers and in weight. They represented
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Speaker 1: at this time the general sense of the German people.
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Speaker 1: It was with their help that, during the years down
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Speaker 1: to eighteen seventy eight, the new institutions for the Empire
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Speaker 1: were built up. In the elections of eighteen seventy one
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Speaker 1: they numbered one under twenty. In eighteen seventy four their
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Speaker 1: numbers rose to one hundred and fifty two. They had
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Speaker 1: not an absolute majority, but in all questions regarding the
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Speaker 1: defense of the empire, foreign policy, and the army. They
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Speaker 1: were supported by the moderate conservatives. In the conflict with
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Speaker 1: the Catholics and internal matters, they could generally depend on
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Speaker 1: the support of the progressives, so that as long as
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Speaker 1: they maintained their authority, they gave the government the required
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Speaker 1: majority in both the Prussian and the German Parliament. There
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Speaker 1: were differences in the party which afterwards were to lead
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Speaker 1: to a cenciation, but during this time, which they looked
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Speaker 1: upon as the golden era of the Empire, they succeeded
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Speaker 1: in maintaining their unity. They numbered many of the ablest leaders,
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Speaker 1: the lawyers and men of learning who had opposed Pismack
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Speaker 1: at the time of the conflict. Their leader was Benixen
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Speaker 1: himself or Hanoverian. He had brought no feelings of hostility
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Speaker 1: from the older days of conflict. Moderate, tactful, restraint, patriotic.
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Speaker 1: He was the only man who, when difficulties arose, was
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Speaker 1: always able to approach the Chancellor, sure of finding some
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Speaker 1: tenable compromise. Different was it with Lascow, the ablest of
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Speaker 1: parliamentary orators, whose subordination to the decisions of the party
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Speaker 1: was often doubtful, and whose criticism friendly as it often was,
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Speaker 1: always aroused Bismarck's anger. As a matter of fact, the
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Speaker 1: alliance was, however, never complete. It was always felt that
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Speaker 1: at any moment some question might arise on which it
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Speaker 1: would be wrecked. This was shown by peas Mark's language
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Speaker 1: as early as eighteen seventy one. In the debate on
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Speaker 1: the army. He explained that what he demanded was full support. Members,
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Speaker 1: he said, were expressly elected to support him. They had
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Speaker 1: no right to bank conditions or withdraw their support. If
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Speaker 1: they did so, he would resign. The party, which was
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Speaker 1: very loyal to him, constantly gave up his own views
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Speaker 1: when he made it a question of confidence. But the
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Speaker 1: strain was there and was always felt. The great question, now,
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Speaker 1: as before, was that of the organization of the army.
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Speaker 1: It will be remembered that under the North German Confederation
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Speaker 1: a provisional arrangement was made by which the numbers of
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Speaker 1: the army in peace were to be fixed at one
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Speaker 1: percent of the population. This dominated at the end of
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Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one. The government, however, did not then consider
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Speaker 1: it safe to alter the arrangement, and with some misgiving,
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Speaker 1: the Rakista accepted the proposal that this system should be
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Speaker 1: applied to the whole Empire for three years. If, however,
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Speaker 1: the numbers of the army were absolutely fixed in this way,
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Speaker 1: the Rakista would cease to have any control over the expenses.
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Speaker 1: All other important taxes and expenses came before the individual states.
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Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy four, the government had to make their
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Speaker 1: proposal for the future. This was that the system which
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Speaker 1: had hitherto been provinially accepted should become permanent, and that
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Speaker 1: the army should, henceforward, in time of peace, always consist
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Speaker 1: of the same number of men. To agree to this
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Speaker 1: would be permanently to give up all possibility of exercising
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Speaker 1: any control over the finance. It was impossible for the
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Speaker 1: National Liberal Party to accept the proposal without giving up,
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Speaker 1: at the same time all hope of constitutional development. Pismarck
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Speaker 1: was ill and could take no part in defending the law.
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Speaker 1: They voted against it. It was thrown out, and it
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Speaker 1: seemed as though a new conflict was going to arise.
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Speaker 1: When the Rakista joined in April for the Easter holidays.
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Speaker 1: The agitation spread over the country, but the country was
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Speaker 1: determined not again to have a conflict. On the budget.
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Speaker 1: There was a regular fanaticism for unconditional acceptance of the law.
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Speaker 1: Those even on the left refused to hear anything of
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Speaker 1: constitutional consderations, writes one member of the National Liberal Party,
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Speaker 1: after meeting his constituents. If the Rakista persisted in their
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Speaker 1: refusal and dissolution took place, there was no doubt that
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Speaker 1: there would be a great majority for the government. It
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Speaker 1: was the first time since eighteen seventy that the question
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Speaker 1: of constitutional privileges were raised, and now it was found
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Speaker 1: as ever afterwards, was the case that for the German people,
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Speaker 1: whatever might be the opinion of the elected representatives, the
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Speaker 1: name of Pismarck alone outweighed all else. Benigsen arranged a
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Speaker 1: compromise and the required number of men was agreed to,
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Speaker 1: not indeed permanently, but for seven years. For four years more,
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Speaker 1: the alliance was continued. At this time all other questions
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Speaker 1: were thrown into the shade by the great conflict with
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Speaker 1: the Roman Catholic Church, on which the government had impact.
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Speaker 1: Looking back now, it is still difficult to judge or
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Speaker 1: even to understand the causes which brought it about. Both
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Speaker 1: sides claimed that they were acting in self defense, Bismarck
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Speaker 1: has often explained his motives, but we cannot be sure
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Speaker 1: that those he puts forward were the only considerations by
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Speaker 1: which he was moved. He, however, insisted that the struggle
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Speaker 1: was not religious but political. He was not moved by
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Speaker 1: Protestant animosity to the Catholic Church, but by his alarm
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Speaker 1: list in the organization of the Roman hierarchy, or power
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Speaker 1: might arise within the Empire which would be hostile to
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Speaker 1: the state. But even if the Chancellor himself was at
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Speaker 1: first free from Protestant hatred to Catholicism, and this is
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Speaker 1: not quite clear, he was forced into alliance with the
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Speaker 1: large Party, who appealed at war to the memories of
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Speaker 1: the Reformation, who stood up all the latent hatred of Rome,
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Speaker 1: which is as strong a force in North Germany as
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Speaker 1: in England, and with others who saw in this an
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Speaker 1: opportunity for more completely subduing all Protestant and Catholic alike
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Speaker 1: to the triumphant power of the states, and making one
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Speaker 1: more step towards the dissociation of the state from any
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Speaker 1: religious body. The immediate cause of the struggle was the
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Speaker 1: proclamation of the infallibility of the poor. It might be
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Speaker 1: thought that this change or development in the constitutions of
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Speaker 1: the Roman Church was one which concerned chiefly Roman Catholics.
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Speaker 1: This is the view which Bismarck seems to have taken.
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Speaker 1: During the meetings of the Vatican County. The opposition to
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Speaker 1: the decrease was strongest among the German bishops and Prince
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Speaker 1: Hohen Lawyer, the Prime Minister of Bavaria, supported by his
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Speaker 1: brother the Cardinal, was anxious to appreciate the governments of
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Speaker 1: Europe to interfere and as they could have done, to
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Speaker 1: prevent the Council from coming to any conclusion. Bismarck refused,
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Speaker 1: on behalf of the Prussian government to take any steps
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Speaker 1: in this direction. The conclusion of the Council and the
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Speaker 1: proclamation of the decrease took place just at the time
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Speaker 1: of the outbreak of war with France. For some months, Bismarck,
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Speaker 1: occupied as he was with other matters, was unable to
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Speaker 1: consider the changes which might be caused. It was moreover
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Speaker 1: very important for him, during the negotiations with Bavaria, which
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Speaker 1: lasted all through the autumn, not to do anything which
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Speaker 1: would arouse the fears of the Ultra Mountains or intensified
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Speaker 1: their reluctance to enter the Empire. In the winter of
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Speaker 1: eighteen seventy, the first sign of the dangers had was
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Speaker 1: to be seen. They arose from the occupation of Rome
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Speaker 1: by the Italians. The inevitable result of this was that
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Speaker 1: the Roman Catholics of all countries in Europe were at
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Speaker 1: once given a common cause or political endeavor. They were bound,
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Speaker 1: each of them in his own state to use his
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Speaker 1: full influence to procure interference, either by diplomacy or by arms,
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Speaker 1: and to work for the rescue of the prisoner of
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Speaker 1: the Vatican. The German Catholics felt this as strongly as
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Speaker 1: their colligionists, and while he was still at the side,
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Speaker 1: a cardinal and bishop of the Church addressed memorial to
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Speaker 1: the King of Prussia on this matter. This attempt to
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Speaker 1: influence the foreign policy of the new Empire and to
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Speaker 1: use it for a purpose alien to the direct interest
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Speaker 1: of Germany was very repugnant to Pismack, and was quite
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Speaker 1: sufficient to arouse feelings of hostility towards the Roman Catholics.
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Speaker 1: This were increased when he heard that the Roman Catholic
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Speaker 1: leaders were combining to form a new political party in
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Speaker 1: the elections for the first Rahista. This movement was very
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Speaker 1: successful and fifteen members were returned, whose sole bond of
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Speaker 1: union was religion. This he looked upon as a mobilization
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Speaker 1: of the Church against the state. The formation of a
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Speaker 1: political party founded simply on unity of confession was, he said,
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Speaker 1: unheard of innovation in political life. His distrust increased when
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Speaker 1: he found that their leader was Finthorst, a former minister
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Speaker 1: of the King of Hanover, and as a patriotic Canaverian,
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Speaker 1: one of the chief opponents of a powerful and centralized government.
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Speaker 1: The influence the Church had in the Polish provinces was
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Speaker 1: for the cause of hostility and seemed to justify him
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Speaker 1: in condemning them as anti German. During the first session,
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Speaker 1: the new party prominently appeared on two occasions. In the
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Speaker 1: debate on the Address to the Crown, they asked for
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Speaker 1: the interference of Germany on behalf of the Pope. In
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Speaker 1: this they stood alone, and the division found no supporters.
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Speaker 1: Then they demanded that in the Constitution of the Empire
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Speaker 1: certain cluses from the Prussian Constitution should be introduced, which
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Speaker 1: should ensure freedom to all religious denominations. Here they gained
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Speaker 1: considerable support from some of the parties. Un impartial observer
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Speaker 1: will find it difficult to justify from these acts the
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Speaker 1: charge of disloyalty to the Empire. But a storm of
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Speaker 1: indignation roles in the press, especially in the organs of
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Speaker 1: the National Liberal Party, and it was supported by those
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Speaker 1: of the government. The desire for conflict was awakened. Meetings
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Speaker 1: were held in the autumn of eighteen seventy one to
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Speaker 1: defend the Protestant faith, which hauddenly seemed to have been attacked,
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Speaker 1: and the clearer cause for dispute soon occurred. It was
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Speaker 1: required by the authorities of the Church that all bishops
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Speaker 1: and priests should declare their assent to the new Vatican decree.
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Speaker 1: The majority did so, but a certain number refused. They
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Speaker 1: were of course excommunicated. A cessation from the Roman Catholic
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Speaker 1: Church took place, and the new communion formed, to which
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Speaker 1: the name of Old Catholics was given. The bishops required
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Speaker 1: that all the priests and religious teachers at the universities
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Speaker 1: and schools who had refused to obey the orders of
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Speaker 1: the Pope should be dismissed from their office. The Prussian
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Speaker 1: government refused their assent. The legal question involved was a
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Speaker 1: difficult one. The government held that as the Roman Catholic
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Speaker 1: Church had changed its teachings, those who maintained the old
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Speaker 1: doctrine must be supported in the offices conferred on them.
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Speaker 1: The church authorities denied there had been any essential change.
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Speaker 1: On the whole, we may say that they were right.
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Speaker 1: A priest of the Catholic Church held his position not
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Speaker 1: only in virtu of his assent to the actual doctrines thought,
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Speaker 1: but was also bound by his vow of obedience to
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Speaker 1: accept any fresh teaching which, in accordance with the constitution
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Speaker 1: of the Church and by the recognized organ of government,
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Speaker 1: should in the future also be declared to be of faith.
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Speaker 1: The duty of every man to obey the laws applies
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Speaker 1: not only to the laws existing at any moment, but
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Speaker 1: to any future laws which may be passed by the
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Speaker 1: proper agent of legislation. Even though the doctrine of infallibility
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Speaker 1: were a new doctrine, which is very doubtful, it had
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Speaker 1: been passed at the Council, and the proceedings of the Council,
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Speaker 1: even if in some details they were irregular, were not
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Speaker 1: more so than those of any other council in the past.
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Speaker 1: The action of the government in supporting the old Catholics may, however,
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Speaker 1: be attributed to an atomotive. The Catholics maintained that Bismarck
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Speaker 1: desired to take this opportunity of creating a national German
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Speaker 1: Church and reunite Protestants and Catholics. To have done so,
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Speaker 1: had it been possible, would have been, indeed, to confer
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Speaker 1: on the country the greatest of all blessings. We cannot
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Speaker 1: doubt that the thought had often come into Bismarck's mind.
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Speaker 1: It would be the proper and fitting conclusion to the
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Speaker 1: work of creating a nation. It was, however, impossible under
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Speaker 1: non circumstances could it have been done by a Protestant statesman.
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Speaker 1: The impulse must have come from Bavaria, and the opposition
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Speaker 1: of the Bavarian bishops to the Vatican degrees had been
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Speaker 1: easily overcome. Twice an opportunity had presented itself of making
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Speaker 1: a national German Church, once at the Reformation, once after
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Speaker 1: the Revolution. On both occasions it was lost, and it
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Speaker 1: will never recur. The result, however, was that a bitter
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Speaker 1: feeling of opposition was created between church and state. The
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Speaker 1: Cesasionist priests were maintained in their positions by the government.
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Speaker 1: They were excommunicated by the bishops. Students were forbidden to
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Speaker 1: attend their lectures and the people to worship in the
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Speaker 1: churches where they administered. It spread even to the army.
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Speaker 1: When the Minister of War required the army chaplain at
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Speaker 1: Cologne to celebrate Mass in a church which was used
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Speaker 1: also by the old Catholics, he was forbidden to do
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Speaker 1: so by his bishop, and the bishop was, in consequence
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Speaker 1: deprived of his salary and threatened with arrest. The conflict,
20:08
Speaker 1: having once begun, soon spread. A new Minister of Culture
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Speaker 1: was appointed. In the rakistaff, a law was proposed expelling
20:18
Speaker 1: the Jesuits from Germany, and number of important laws, the
20:23
Speaker 1: so called Main Laws, were introduced into the Prussian Parliament,
20:28
Speaker 1: given to the state great powers with regard to the
20:32
Speaker 1: education and appointment of priests. It was, for instance, order
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Speaker 1: that no one should be appointed to a cure of
20:41
Speaker 1: source who was not a German and had not been
20:45
Speaker 1: brought up and educated in the state schools and universities
20:50
Speaker 1: of Prussia. Then other laws were introduced to which we
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Speaker 1: have already referred, making civil marriage compulsorly sow as to
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Speaker 1: cripple the very strong power which the Roman Catholicrists could
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Speaker 1: exercise not only by refusing their consent to mixed marriages,
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Speaker 1: but also by refusing to marry old Catholics. A law
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Speaker 1: was introduced to taking the inspection of elementary schools out
21:21
Speaker 1: of the hands of the clue. And finally, a change
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Speaker 1: was made in those articles of the Prussian Constitution which
21:31
Speaker 1: ensued to each denomination the management of its own affairs.
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Speaker 1: Pismarck was probably not responsible for the drafting of all
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Speaker 1: these laws. He only occasionally took part in the discussion,
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Speaker 1: and was often away from Berlin. The contrast between these
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Speaker 1: proposals and the principles he had maintained in his earlier
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Speaker 1: years was very marked. His old friend Christ recalled the
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Speaker 1: eloquent speech which in former years he had made against
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Speaker 1: civil marriage. Bismarck did not attempt to defend himself against
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Speaker 1: the charge of inconsistency. He did not even allow that
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Speaker 1: he had changed his personal opinions. He had, however, he said,
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Speaker 1: learned to submit his personal convictions to the recumbents of
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Speaker 1: the states. He had already done so unwillingly and by
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Speaker 1: a great struggle. This was to be the end of
22:33
Speaker 1: the doctrine of the Christian state. Reognized Laskar Viho. He
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Speaker 1: was subduing the Church to this new idol of the state.
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Speaker 1: He was doing that against which in the old days
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Speaker 1: he had struggled with the greatest resolution and spoken with
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Speaker 1: the greatest eloquence. Not many years were to go by
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Speaker 1: before he began to repent of what he had done.
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Speaker 1: For as he saw the new danger from social democracy, he,
23:05
Speaker 1: like many other Germans, believed that the true means of
23:09
Speaker 1: defeating it was to be found in increased intensity of
23:13
Speaker 1: religious conviction. It was, however, then too late. He, however,
23:20
Speaker 1: especially in the Prussian of a house, through all the
23:24
Speaker 1: weights of his authority, into the conflict it was, he said,
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Speaker 1: not a religious conflict, but a political one. They were
23:34
Speaker 1: not actuated by hatred of Catholicism, but they were protecting
23:40
Speaker 1: the rights of the state. The question at is, he said,
23:45
Speaker 1: is not a struggle of an evangelical dynasty against the
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Speaker 1: Catholic Church. It was the old struggle, a struggle for
23:54
Speaker 1: power as old as the human race between king and priests,
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Speaker 1: a struggle which is much older than the appearance of
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Speaker 1: our redeemer in this world, a struggle which has built
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Speaker 1: German history of the Middle ages till the destruction of
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Speaker 1: the German Empire, and which found its conclusion when the
24:19
Speaker 1: last representative of the glorious Swabian dynasty died on the
24:25
Speaker 1: scaffold under the acts of a French conqueror who stood
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Speaker 1: in alliance with the Pope. We are not far from
24:33
Speaker 1: an analogous solution of the situation. Always translated into the
24:38
Speaker 1: customs of our time, he assured the House that now,
24:44
Speaker 1: as always, he would defend the empire against internal and
24:48
Speaker 1: external enemies. Rest assured, we will not go to Canosa,
24:53
Speaker 1: he said. In undertaking this struggle with the Church, he
24:59
Speaker 1: had two enemies to contend with it, the Pope and
25:02
Speaker 1: the government of the Church on the one side, on
25:06
Speaker 1: the other, the Catholic population of Germany. He tried to
25:11
Speaker 1: come to some agreement with the Pope and to separate
25:14
Speaker 1: the two. It seemed, in fact, as if the real
25:18
Speaker 1: enemy to be contended against was not a foreign priesthood,
25:23
Speaker 1: but the Catholic democracy in Germany. All Bismarck's efforts to
25:28
Speaker 1: separate the tool and to procure the assistance of the
25:32
Speaker 1: Pope against the Party of the Center were to be unavailing.
25:37
Speaker 1: For some years, all official communication between the German government,
25:42
Speaker 1: and the paper sea was broken off. It was not
25:45
Speaker 1: till the death of Pious Ninth and the accession of
25:49
Speaker 1: more liberal mind the Pope that communication was restored. Then
25:55
Speaker 1: we are surprised to find Bismarck appealing to the Pope
25:58
Speaker 1: to use his influence on the center in order to
26:01
Speaker 1: prosuade them to vote for a proposed increase in the
26:05
Speaker 1: German army. This is a curious comment on the board.
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Speaker 1: Will not go to Canossa. The truth is that in
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Speaker 1: undertaking the conflict and associating himself with the anti clerical party,
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Speaker 1: Bismarck had stirred up an enemy whom he was not
26:27
Speaker 1: able to overcome. He soon found that the priests and
26:33
Speaker 1: the Catholics were men of different caliber to the liberals.
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Speaker 1: They there to do what none of the progressives had
26:42
Speaker 1: ventured on they disobeyed the law with them, it was
26:47
Speaker 1: not likely that the conflict would be confined to parliamentary debates.
26:53
Speaker 1: The government attempted to meet this resistance, but in Vain,
26:58
Speaker 1: the priests were deprived of the cures, bishops were thrown
27:03
Speaker 1: into prison. Nearly half the Catholic parishes in Prussia were
27:08
Speaker 1: deprived of the spiritual shepherds. The churches were closed. There
27:14
Speaker 1: was no one to celebrate baptisms or weddings. Against this resistance,
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Speaker 1: what could the government do? The people supported the leaders
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Speaker 1: of the party, and the united body of one hundred
27:29
Speaker 1: members on the windhorst Able List of parliamentary Leaders was
27:33
Speaker 1: committed to absolute opposition to every government measure. So long
27:38
Speaker 1: as the conflict continued. Can you be surprised that as
27:44
Speaker 1: the years went on Bismarck looked with some concern on
27:48
Speaker 1: the result of the struggle he had brought about. He
27:53
Speaker 1: attempted to conceal the failure. The result will be, he said,
27:58
Speaker 1: that we shall have two great parties, one which supports
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Speaker 1: and maintains the state, and another which attacks it. The
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Speaker 1: former will be the great majority, and it will be
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Speaker 1: formed in the school of conflict. These words are the
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Speaker 1: strongest condemnation of his policy. It could not be wise
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Speaker 1: for any statesman to arrange that party conflict should take
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Speaker 1: the form of royalty and disloyalty to the Empire. There
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Speaker 1: can be little doubt that his sense of failure helped
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Speaker 1: to bring about a feeling of enmity towards the National liberals. Certainly,
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Speaker 1: in the spring of eighteen seventy seven, he sent in
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Speaker 1: his resignation. There were, however, other reasons for doing this.
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Speaker 1: It becomes aware that the financial policy of the Empire
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Speaker 1: had not been successful on every side. It seemed that
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Speaker 1: the new blood and new methods were required in financial matters.
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Speaker 1: He had little experience or authority. He had to depend
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Speaker 1: on his colleagues, and he complained of the unfruitfulness influenced
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Speaker 1: perps by his perception of this on the pretext of
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Speaker 1: Jenine pretext of ill Health. He asked the Emperor to
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Speaker 1: relieve him of his offices. The Emperor refused never he
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Speaker 1: wrote on the side of the minute. Instead, he granted
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Speaker 1: to Bismarck unlimited leave of absence. In the months of April,
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Speaker 1: the Chancellor retired to Vazin for ten months. He was
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Speaker 1: absent from Berlin, and when he returned recruited in health
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Speaker 1: in February eighteen seventy eight. It was soon apparent that
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Speaker 1: a new period in his career and in the history
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Speaker 1: of the Empire was to begin. End of Section twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty six