Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/775

Rh votes the draft submitted to it. The king of Prussia, as president of the confederation, appointed Bismarck federal chancellor, and on July 1 the constitution went into operation. In February the South German states had held military conferences in Stuttgart to promote a greater conformity of their army organization with that of Prussia. Baden favored the adoption of the entire Prussian system; and when the other three states declined to go so far, though they admitted the desirability of greater uniformity, Baden concluded a special military convention with Prussia. Next to the adoption of the federal constitution, the most important event in the constituent Reichstag was an interpellation of Herr von Bennigsen, one of the leaders of the liberal party, concerning the right of Prussia to garrison the federal fortress of Luxemburg. The grand duchy of Luxemburg, which formed a part of the old German confederation, showed the most decided opposition to entering the new North German, and Prussia had given her consent for the grand duchy to remain outside of the reconstructed Germany. Soon after negotiations had been begun between France and Holland for a sale of the grand duchy to France, Prussia had entered an emphatic protest against this scheme, and on March 30 the king of Holland had officially denied any intention to sell Luxemburg. The full details of these negotiations only became known officially in consequence of the interpellation of Benningsen, and created an extraordinary excitement throughout Germany. The expression of public opinion against the transfer of Luxemburg to France was no less decided in the south of Germany than in the north. The grand duchy of Hesse concluded in April a military convention with Prussia, in virtue of which its military system was reorganized according to the Prussian, and the Hessian troops were placed under the chief command of the king. Würtemberg also introduced several features of the Prussian system. No doubt could be entertained that, in case of war, northern Germany might safely rely on the support of all the South German states. But a conference of the powers which had signed the London treaty of 1839 found a peaceable solution for the Luxemburg question. The grand duchy was declared neutral territory under the guarantee of all the powers represented at the conference; and the federal fortress was to be razed. This peaceable solution was hastened by the declaration of Bismarck that if the result of the conference should not be favorable to the preservation of peace, he would at once mobilize 900,000 men. On May 28 the ministers of the South German states were invited by Prussia to come to Berlin in order to put the Zollverein's treaty on a safe basis. An agreement was arrived at, according to which, for the legislation on affairs of the Zollverein, the South German states would send a specified number of members to the North German federal council, and order the election of a proportional number of deputies, who in union with the North German Reichstag would constitute the customs parliament. A new attempt of Napoleon to meddle in the progress of German reconstruction by demanding that, in accordance with one article of the treaty of Prague, the people of northern Schleswig be allowed to express by a plébiscite their preference for Denmark or Germany, was sharply repelled by Prussia, Bismarck declaring that Prussia was unwilling to recognize the right of France to watch over the fulfilment of the treaty of Prague. An interview of Napoleon with the emperor of Austria in August was looked upon as a threatening movement against Germany, and not only the North German states, but even the Germans of Austria, strongly expressed themselves against the endeavors of France to interfere in any way in the internal affairs of the German nation. In the grand duchy of Hesse, the second chamber demanded that the entire grand duchy, instead of only the northern portion as hitherto, be admitted into the North German confederation. In Baden both the government and the chambers expressed a wish to enter the confederation. Bismarck issued a circular note on the demonstrations of public opinion, which he declared to be significant proofs that the national feeling of the Germans would never brook a foreign interference in German affairs, and would never allow the development of the affairs of the German nation to be guided by any other considerations than the national interests of Germany. But while South Germany gave no encouragement to the schemes of Napoleon against the progress of German unity, there remained a widespread dissatisfaction with the policy of Prussia, and an unwillingness to tighten the bonds of union. At the election for the first German customs parliament, the South German party, which opposed any advances toward a closer union, elected 50 out of 89 South German deputies. Even in the grand duchy of Baden it met with an unexpected success. When, in reply to the opening speech of the king of Prussia, the national liberal party moved an address which asked for an enlargement of the functions of the customs parliament, and distinctly hinted at the complete union of north and south, the ultra-conservative feudal party of Prussian deputies, the radical party of progress (Fortschrittspartei), the Catholic party, and the socialists united with the South German party and caused its rejection by 186 against 150 votes. The conciliatory but firm attitude of the Prussian government prevented the progress of the centrifugal sentiments in South Germany. The governments of Bavaria and Würtemberg, although disinclined to make further concessions on the union question, were on the other hand no less unflinching in the observance of the treaties which regulated their relation to northern Germany. Baden,