PRINCE BISMARCK'S DOWNWARD COURSE.
THE " logic of facts,"—to use the phrase invented by the fallen enemy whom Prince Bismarck so much despised,— is bringing Prince Bismarck very rapidly indeed on that down- ward course which can hardly terminate without a catastrophe. There is too much iron in Prince Bismarck's blood, for the chief of a Parliamentary State. It served him very well while he was merely planning and executing the policy which was the condition of German unity. For that policy, hardness of mind and will and heart was essential, and Prince Bismarck was equal to the occasion. But when he comes to supplement the victories of the army by legislation, the iron in his blood betrays him. He can think of nothing but compression. He is a mere hydraulic press incarnated in political life. His is " a Government of combat," such as poor M. Batbie would have welcomed, but for which Mr. Batbie could not find the con- ditions among the disheartened and timorous reactionaries of France. Prince Bismarck is not disheartened, and not afraid. He has behind him the consciousness of having restored the unity of Germany, and that consciousness appears to excuse him, in his own eyes, for now squeezing the life out of the Germany he has restored. He has launched his bolt against the Socialists, and instead of harming the Socialists, has aided them to gain converts, while he has struck down all free discussion of the most important econo- mical and political questions. And now he is preparing to carry his Government of combat, first, into a war of tariffs, and next, into a war against Parliamentary freedom of speech. The last step is the worst of all. If it succeeds—as we fear it will,—it will abolish all hope of free Parliamentary deliberation, and will make the Reichstag itself a place of serious danger, instead of the sanctuary of the national life. If the National Liberals support him in this measure,—if they do not resist him by every device in their power,—they sign the doom of Liberalism in Ger- many, because they consent that the great Assembly of the nation shall debate only in fetters, and with the sword hanging over their heads. Let us explain what the project of law is which Prince Bismarck has launched on the world from his retreat at Friedrichsruhe, and submitted for approval, —we suppose, with his master's sanction,—to the Bundesrath of the Empire.
It proposes, first, to entrust the Reichstag,—the Imperial Parliament,—with the power of punishing its own Members, but it does not commit that power to the whole House. The power is to be exercised by a Committee, consisting of the President, the Vice-Presidents, and ten Members (chosen, we suppose, by the majority, and therefore, if the Bill pass, by the Government). This tribunal may either reprimand, or exact an apology in words dictated by itself, or exclude from the Reichstag for an appointed time. It may further exclude from the Reichstag till the dissolution of Par- liament, and may follow up this exclusion by depriving the Member so punished of eligibility to any future Reichstag. But in case the punishment chosen is exclusion from the Reichs- tag, the expelled Member may appeal, within eight days, to the Reichstag itself. Further, if the Committee prefer it, the Reichstag may hand the offender over to be dealt with by the criminal law, and in that case the immunity of the Members of the Reichstag from prosecution shall cease. Further, if a speech in the Parliament is censured, there may be a prelim- inary prohibition by the President against the publication of the expressions deemed censurable, for three days ; and then the whole speech may be suppressed, and its publication forbidden, not only in the official report, but in any public journal ; but this must, if we understand the law rightly, be voted by the Reichstag, on a motion approved by not less than twenty Members. The exclusion of the censurable matter in the official report may, however, be authorised at the discretion of the President himself. Any one who publishes the speech in violation of these provisions is to be liable to imprisonment, lasting from three weeks to three months.
And now, before saying a word on the real effect of this measure, let us look at the actual mind of the Government in relation to any criticism upon it, as illustrated by its action in carrying out the repressive law against Socialism. Herr Franz Duncker, a former Member of the German and Prussian Parlia- ments, has just been sentenced to a fine of 200 marks (£10), for writing an article in the Volls:eituny on the Socialist Bill, containing the following passage :—" It is revolting to us that Prussia, that Prince Bismarck, the re- generator of German unity, should stand up for such a Bill,— a Bill which will destroy anything but Socialism. Certainly, the decision lies with the Reichstag. Still, the mere proposal is offensive to the German nation." In other words, the repres- sive measure will be applied to the most moderate and sincere expressions of disgust at the oppressiveness of the Government's policy. The object last session was to gag criticism on the Government in the Press. Now, the object is to gag criticism on the Government in Parliament. And if the Bill passes, that object will be attained.
Well, all we can say is, that another object will be attained also. When Prince Bismarck has throttled free discussion in Parliament, as well as in the Press, he will have shut off the last safety-valve of popular discontent. He will have achieved the same result as the reckless Yankee engineer who, when he was racing another steamboat down the Mississippi, made " a nigger squat on the safety valve," to prevent the steam from escaping by that vent. The consequence was, of course, that the boiler soon exploded, the ship took fire, and it was as much as the reckless fellow could do by sacrificing his own life to get the crew and passengers ashore without loss of theirs. Is Prince Bismarck bent on an achievement of the same kind ? If not. he will not, like the negro, squat on the one remaining safety-valve of popular discontent. He will not restrain Members of Parliament from telling their minds honestly. He will not try to conceal from the public at large what the language is for which a representative is censured, punished, rendered ineligible to the House, and perhaps even handed over to criminal prosecution. He will remember, in time, that a nation cannot be gagged without being embittered ; and that he is going to embitter not only the angry multitude, who are to have their Members silenced and punished without even knowing the cause, but also the thinking few, who will see in this measure the death- blow of Parliamentary debate. If he goes on with this measure, he is in the direct road either to revolution or a coup d'etat ; and he will know that by either of these, the German unity for which he has made such great sacrifices would be seriously endangered. But we fear that none of these things will move him. Has he not himself hazarded the suggestion that he may commit at the end of his life some stupendous folly, to balance his great. services to the Fatherland ? Is this the fulfilment of his own auguries ?
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