financial reforms through the Reichstag, and of which Bethmann Hollweg was considered to be the representative, the hitherto divided Liberal Left (Freisinnige Vereinigung, Freisinnige and Deutsche V olksparlei) at the beginning of 1910 united to form the Progressive People's party (Fortschrittliche V olksparlei), which held its first party congress in March of that year. In the electoral contest of 1912 the question of Prussian suffrage reform played an important part. It was a question which was really of the first importance for the policy of the Empire on account of the predominant position of Prussia. In accordance with an undertaking which had been given in Jan. 1908 by Prince Biilow, as Prussian Minister-President, Bethmann Hollweg intro- duced a Government bill on Feb. 4 1910 in the Prussian Diet. This bill, however, did not provide, as had been desired in many quarters, for the application of the suffrage of the Reichstag to Prussia; on the contrary it retained the antiquated original elec- toral districts and the division of the electorate into three classes according to the amount of their income-tax assessments. Certain provisions of the bill were, it is true, intended to effect altera- tions in the distribution in the three classes of electors, and the direct method of election was to have been substituted for the system of choosing electoral colleges. After various vicissi- tudes, the bill was rejected by the Diet on May 27 1910. The question nevertheless continued to form a constant subject of public discussion during the ensuing years, and franchise reform constituted one of the chief demands of the parties of the Left, more especially the Social Democrats, after the World War started. The rejection of the suffrage bill led to a change of ministers in Prussia; the chief president of the province of Silesia, Dallwitz (afterwards Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine), became Minister of the Interior, and Baron von Schorlemer- Lieser Minister of Agriculture, while the chief burgomaster of Magdeburg, Lenze, took over the Ministry of Finance. About the same time the Imperial Secretary for the Colonies, Dernburg, retired, and the under-secretary von Lindequist was appointed in his stead. Dernburg had been attacked for the favour he was alleged to have shown to the great capitalists in the exploitation of the S.W. African diamond fields, yet to him undoubtedly belongs the credit of having been the first to awaken the active interest of the nation in its colonial possessions. Shortly after- wards there was also a change in the secretaryship for Foreign Affairs, Kiderlen-Wachter having been appointed in succession to Baron von Schon, who was sent as ambassador to Paris. The St. Borromeo Encyclical of the Pope against the Reformation, which was felt in Protestant circles to involve great danger for the religious peace of Germany, threatened to cause difficulties in internal politics. A crisis was averted, hdwever, by the Pope's disavowal of any thought of offending the non-Catholic popula- tion of Germany or the German Protestant sovereigns.
The person of the Emperor repeatedly became a central sub- ject of discussion in the course of 1910. Excessive importance was attached to an incident of a not very serious character caused by the Conservative deputy Oldenburg- Januschau, in the Reichstag. Tha't deputy declared in a debate on military dis- cipline that the German Emperor must always be in a position to say to a lieutenant : " Take ten men and close the Reichstag." Although this unfortunate utterance did not deserve to be taken so seriously as it was in the press and in several of the German par- liaments, it nevertheless showed the complete opposition which eight years before the revolution of 1918 existed in Germany between the different conceptions of the monarch's position. An extraordinary sensation was produced by a speech of the Emperor, who at Konigsberg claimed in the following words that he held his office by the grace of God: ,
" Here in Konigsberg my grandfather set the crown of Prussia on his head in his own right, 1 distinctly asserting once more that it was
1 Only two of the Prussian Kings had been crowned: Frederick I., on Jan. 18 1701, and William I., on Oct. 18 1861. Both crowned themselves at Konigsberg, the first because, as Duke, and subsequently King, of Prussia, he could assert in his eastern possessions, which were outside the Holy Roman Empire, his absolute independence of the Emperor, from whom, nevertheless, he had received permission to assume the royal dignity.
bestowed upon him solely by the grace of God and not by parlia- ments, popular assemblies or popular resolutions, and that he thus regarded himself as a chosen instrument of Heaven and as such ful- filled his duties, first as Regent, and afterwards as Sovereign. Regarding myself as the instrument of the Lord, without paying attention to views and opinions of the hour, I go my own way, which is dedicated simply and solely to the well-being of the peaceful development of our country."
The Emperor, it is true, modified this utterance in a speech delivered shortly afterwards at Marienburg, declaring that the cross on the robes of the Teutonic Order, which meant its sub- jection to the will of Heaven, illustrated what he had said at Konigsberg. " As my lamented grandfather and I," he contin- ued. " both represented ourselves as working under the supreme protection and with the supreme permission of our Lord God, I assume the same to be true of every honest Christian whoever he be." Nevertheless an interpellation was moved in the Reichs- tag in Nov. on the subject of these speeches. There was also in this connexion the additional fact that the Social Democrats at their congress at Magdeburg had laid strong emphasis upon their republicanism. The Socialist party, moreover, succeeded at this congress in composing dissensions which had arisen among them on the question of voting the budget in Prussia, and they were able to maintain the unity of the party. While criticism of the Government on various matters that arose became more and more severe, an understanding with regard to the elections was effected between the National Liberals and the new Pro- gressive People's party. It was about this time, too, that the catchword, " the bloc from Bassermann to Bebel," was coined.
The Bethmann Hollweg Government had managed in spite of this opposition to carry two highly important measures. One was the law coordinating the social insurance system of the Empire passed by the Reichstag on May 3 1911. By this law a work of social policy was completed which became a model for many countries. The new law extended the system of sickness and accident insurance, and further developed the insurance of invalids and surviving dependents. It granted a subvention to widows and orphans (Reliktenversicherung) , the annual amount of which was estimated at 60,000,000 marks. Among the in- sured were included some 7,000,000 additional workers employed in home industries, in agriculture and in domestic service. A proposed reduction of the pension age from 70 to 65 was not carried at this time on account of the cost, which would have meant a fresh expenditure of 9,000,000 marks per annum; this reform had to wait until after the revolution of Nov. 1918, when various other bills amending the national system of insurance were carried, and the contributions, pensions, etc., were in- creased in accordance with the depreciation of the currency. A fundamental reconstruction of the insurance laws was contem- plated for the year 1922.
Another measure of great significance was the bill for giving a constitution to Alsace-Lorraine, introduced on Sept. 23 1910, and passed, together with a complementary Franchise bill, on May 26 1911. According to this measure, the Emperor had the right to nominate, without consulting the Federal Council, the Statthalter for the Reichsland and 19 members of the First Chamber. The other half of the members took their seats partly ex officio, partly as the representatives of the estates of the country. Alsace-Lorraine was given three votes in the Fed- eral Council, and its representatives on that body received their instructions from the Statthalter. In order, however, to prevent a too great preponderance of Prussia in the Federal Council, the provision was added that the three Alsatian votes should not count in cases where a Prussian proposal could not be carried without them. It was evident that, since the Emperor, who was also King of Prussia, appointed the Statthalter, and the Statthalter gave the Alsatian members their instructions, the Alsatian votes in the Federal Council in reality meant Prussian votes. For the Second Chamber of the Reichsland Parliament, universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage was granted, although it continued to be withheld from Prussia; and the anomaly was witnessed of the Prussian Minister-President, Bethmann Holl- weg, advocating in the Reichstag, as Imperial Chancellor, this
