PRINCE l3ISMARCK'S LATEST DEFEAT.
THE Person and the Parliament in Germany continue unable to agree. The first division in his newly- elected Reichstag taken on Wednesday must have been a severe blow to Prince Bismarck, whose attitude towards Par- liaments is so strange to English minds as sometimes to be misunderstood. He never quite gives up the attempt to form a Parliamentary majority. He is a Monarchist, not an Abso- lutist; and his theory is, that while the Sovereign ought to be the pivot of power, a Parliament has rights, but ought never so to exercise them as to force the Sovereign to sur- render his own. opinion. He said early las.; Session, for example, that he did not even claim for his master the right of imposing a tax without Parliamentary consent; but he denied yesterday, in express words, the right of the Reichstag either to impose its will on a Minister, or to compel the Sovereign to dis- miss Ministers. "I will not," were his words, "suffer myself to be imposed on by any majority ;" and as to the Monarchy, "it ceases to deserve the name when the Monarch can be forced by a majority of his Parliament, and despite his veto power, to dismiss his Ministers." It is, in fact, the "Tudor Monarchy," as we call it in England, which he regards as the true and desirable one ; and, as usual, he expresses his convic- tions with the roughest, not to say the most arrogant, plain- spokenness. Nevertheless, the Chancellor is at heart most anxious to secure support in Parliament. It is most galling to him to be able to govern all Germans, and to control the serious politics of Europe, yet be unable to advance a step in the legis- lation he desires, or to prevent the hostile votes, which he regards, from his view of himself as guardian of the Monarchy, almost' as slaps in the face. He is, therefore, perpetually trying to bind together the disjointed groups into which the Reichstag is divided, so as to form a solid majority, such as supported him in 1871-73, when his victories were fresh, and' supports him now on every military Bill. With every fresh election Ile fancies his chance is better ; and he is understood to have hoped that in this one he would be at last successful. The Centre might possibly waver, the Social Democrats might be con- ciliated by the Accident Insurance Bills, and the number of "Conservatives," who vote steadily, not for this or that party, but for the King's Government, had actually increased. If he had any hope of a majority he was roughly. unde- ceived. The Reichstag, not content with vetoing his pro- posals, insisted on giving the Chancellor orders, and passed what was really a direct defiance by a vote of two to one. The Liberals had introduced a Bill authorising the payment of Members for their services, alleging that this was the custom of the whole Continent, and particularly of Prussia ; that without payment Members could not come up from distant localities ; and that penniless candidates might often prove the very best representatives. The Chancellor resisted the proposal in a speech which, apart from its indiscreet exaltation of the Monarchy as against Parliament, was an able and even an adroit one, of which a trained English debater would not have been ashamed. He tried to catch the well-to-do Members by prophesying, truly we should think, that the Bill would greatly encourage profes- sional politicians, who would, if paid, come up to Berlin, and by pertinacious talking render the Sessions intolerably long. He appealed to all Constitutionalists, by showing that the Con- stitution forbade the change, and that if the Constitution were touched anything might happen' even a revision of the Electoral Law. And he endeavoured to increase the dread of the Social Democrats, already so excited by the elections, by showing that the measure must be of necessity greatly in their interest. Finally, seeing, we imagine, that he made less impression than he expected, he addressed himself to the dis- like of sterile votes entertained by every Chamber, and promised almost in so many words that, be the majority what it would, the Emperor would exert his reserved power and veto the Bill. It was all of no use. The Liberals remained as hostile as the Centre, the Centre as hostile as the Social Democrats ; the three parties combined, and the Bill was passed over the Chancellor's head by 180 to 99, a majority of nearly two to one, and nearly reaching a half of the whole House: A harsher and more direct rebuff was never given to a statesman ; and it was, of course, gravely accentu- ated by the fact that it was given by an entirely new Parlia- ment, and after a Speech from the Throne promising great things to the body of the labouring class.
It is usual in England to say that these defeats of Prince Bismarck mean nothing, for he will still continue to govern; but the assertion, though in one way true, does not cover the whole ground. He will, of comae, continue to govern ; but his government is rendered by his Parliamentary ill-success un- naturally harsh and imperfect,—harsh, because he comes to look on the people as enemies • imperfect, because he cannot carry out half of his ideas. He will, for instance, renew the oppressive and useless anti-Soeialist laws, which he might not do if Parliament were with him ; and he cannot carry out his Colonial designs, because Parliament will not vote the neces- sary new money. Parliament may be quite right in its refusal—we are not disputing or affirming that—but the grand compensation for a Dictatorship, viz., the large and consistent policy which a great Dictator may follow, is thereby thrown away. Germany has during the dead- lock no domestic benefit from Prince Bismarck's Dictator- ship. The Government goes on, but there is no improvement, any more than if it were directed by mere officials. On the other hand, during the same period Germany derives no benefit from her Parliament. It is powerless to act even in. . domestic matters, becomes practically irresponsible, and. splits into groups which, if its votes produced action, could not last as independent bodies for a week. If their votes ever overthrew or produced a Ministry, parties must coalesce, • or there would be anarchy, no Minister receiving more than a momentary support. There is no temptation to self-suppression when votes mean nothing ; and without self- suppression a Parliament is merely a roomfull of separate and powerless units, which may all be in motion like motes in- a sunbeam, and yet produce nothing whatever. The Dictator- ship is rendered.sterile, and the Parliament sterile too, though both exist in order that they may produce good. Take, for example, Colonial policy, now so interesting to Germans, and in a less degree to the world at large. Prince Bismarck says he thinks a number of tropical dependencies would be very beneficial to the German people, and that if certain steam lines are subsidised he can get them. Paeiament does not reject the policy, has no means of rejecting it, perhaps does not disapprove it ; but, on account of the general quarrel, refuses the essential subsidy. That is sterility, surely. Or take the much more important point, the production in Germany of men competent to rule and guide. Prince Bismarck does not produce them. Restless at heart, and doubtful alike of the continued favour both of the Hohen- zollerns and the people, he suppresses every man who rises, lest perchance, rising still higher, he should thwart or should supplant him. There are more new Generals of ability on the Staff, where the Chancellor is power- less, than new statesmen in the Departments, where he is all-powerful. On the other hand, the Parliament, doomed to inaction, produces no new leaders, until, as the old ones die off or retire hopeless and wearied, there are no first-class men, still less men who could take office, coming for- ward to replace them. Let any man outside Germany try to name a first-class civilian in high office, or a Parliamentarian who would obtain a seat in an English Cabinet. Yet what can injure an Empire more than a decline in the number of its servants who are at once prominent, com- petent, and trusted by the people? It is as vain to say that the collision between the two Powers which paralyses both is not injurious, as to say that catalepsy is not injurious. The patient does not die, and may recover, but life cannot be arrested even temporarily without some permanent loss.
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