The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-08-06
The New German Parliament.

The New German Parl1amcnt.
How has it Jared with BISMARCK in an
electoral contest which lac forced ON his op-
pOncnts at an hour and upon ground Of his
own choosing, To what extent have scntl-
mental considerations warped the sober
! Judgment of Germany, called to pronounce
between the aims and appliances Of Cesar
ism and constitutional government; The
smoke has not wholly cleared away, and the
ultimate issue of the gravcst crisis
IN the civil politics Of Europe since
the reactionary stroke Of the 10th
May. 1871 in France. canno, yet bc stated
with perfect confidence. Indeed. n supple
mcntary election Will be needed to define
with absolute exactitude the relative
strength Of parties. But enough j. already
known to show that the German Chancellor
while achieving considerable measure of
succcs-, has fallen short Of the anticipated
/ triumph. and in some details Of the fight has
/ been gricvou~ly disappointed.
1t il certain that BisMARcK's plans have
/ 10y no means met with the decisive over
/ throw indicated 10y the first dispatches.
! The Chancellor is toe ostutc u man to risk
+ fate like that ~ the BRoGLH Ministry; and
/ he would never have dissolved the Ecichstag
| hut for the certainty that a new election
must entail serious curtaimcnt of
strength upon the Liberal party. Now.
/ what are the results In the last Parla-
mcut the friends Of Nc~sre. LAskrR
| and BENN1GsEN commanded 12G votes.
while 81 We're credited to their
! natural allies. tho member. OF IN"
/ party Of progress. But according t. the
complete returns which reached u yes
terday morning. the whole number II Lib
! oral and progre--i-t delegates SO far chosen
| is hut 10 Here Is a loss of A. members. or
more than Thirty per cent. 1t is true that
siXty-siX supplementary halloting- will be-
necessary. but with the possible exception OF
Elhorfeld-larmcn and few other urban
constituencies. the second elections will Toe
likely To- result in the success If Conscrya-
tive on Ultrmontani-t candidates.
But already upon the first election
the combined strength of the two par
ties last mentioned approaches vcry
nearly To- a majority Of the new R,ich--
tag. We may bear in mimi that the
whole number II members is 3o7 ant
that 100 are necessary to a control In the
recent Parliament the so-callcl German Con
soryatives and the Impcrial-t- Reich-par-
tel mustered together a votes: and ON the
other hand % seats wcr" occupied hy th" Ill
! tramontanist- mar-halled inthc centre under
the ehrowd guidance Of Herr WISDrHoR,r
| Provided "a combination could have been
mad" between th'-o"lcmcnt-, the aEsroSai"
Of 100 delegates would hayo fallen far short
| Of majority, nor was There any chance that
| the missing 10 members could be found
among the Particularists, Poles, Guclph-,
Danes. aud Alsace- Lorrainers. or Pfoiestcrs
as they are called, who together make u?
the unorganizcd on iluctuating vote. 1t is
clear. however that the state Of things in
tho next Parliament must be very different
In tn. first place. the Conservatives proper
have already obtained % seats, which
Is a gain OF nineteen. while the Ultramoutan-
i.t4 instead of % have 96 Surnoso n corli-
tion between these narties To be practicable.
the above named figures would give them an
aggregate OF $50. and the tlifing deficit Of
10 could oa-ilv be maIo up from the floating
clnmnut, Of the Reich.tar. But no such as
-i4tance will bo necessary. for there Is no
doubt that the greater part Of the seats to
be filled the supplcmoptarvb ballot will 70
To- the Right and to the Centre.
So considerable n majority seems to be as
SuIed to the opponents OF the Liberal party,
that an alliance between the Right and the
Centre might well tempt the leader. Of both
parties. notwithstanding the existence Of
some refractory members among the Ultra.
montana. orould NOT prohallv Ice carried
by their chiefs into such a combination. But
the degree of luauiuitv with which Herr
WlNDrIIuRs1's followers would support the
Chancellor would depend on the amount OF
nres-ur, oxertod hv the Vatican And hero
we note the suggestive fact that IN many of
tbc electoral district, the Government for
the first time since the creation of the ON.
miro lent its aid To- Ultramontane candl.
dates. still moro significant Is tho now
that ON Thursday. when the general result
If tine elections WAS probably known t,
BIs,IARcK. although to nobody else. a con.
ference took place at ki.singen between
tho Papal Nuncio and the German