PRUSSIA
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PRUSSIA
not able to do this at once. In ISIO and 1815 he even
promised to call a national parliament. After his own
fashion he liberalized or bureaucratized Stein's plans,
often taking the Napoleonic legislation for his model.
Only the opposition of the Prussian nobility pre-
vented him from sacrificing the very corner-stone of
Stein's reform of the administration (1812) by sub-
stituting the French system of prefecture and munici-
pality for the self-governing institutions of district
and city. These reforms led to the awakening of a
sense of nationality both in the educated classes and
the common people; and when in 1813 Napoleon re-
turned defeated from Russia the whole population of
Prussia rose of their own accord for king and country,
and also for the liberation of Germany about which the
kings had not concerned themselves.
During the War of Liberation of 181.3-14 and 1815 the Prussian army had a large share in the overthrow of Napoleon. At the Peace of Paris (20 May, 1814) and the Congress of Vienna, which rearranged the map of Europe, Hardenberg represented Prussia. He desired to form a permanent agreement in policy between Prussia and Austria, while the king preferred to join his interests with those of Russia. At the important moment (Nov., 1814) the king decided against his minister, whereby a fresh European war was nearly kindled. The question was whether the greater part of western Poland should henceforth be- long to Russia, and what compensation Prussia should receive for its share of Poland. Russia was successful, and only Polish Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Posen were given to Prussia. As a compensation for the loss of Warsaw, Prussia demanded Saxony. Owing to Austria's opposition it received only the present Prussian province of Saxony and, instead of the re- mainder of Saxony, the Wcstphalian and Rhenish provinces, where before 1802 it had possessed only small districts. Au.stria hoped that in this way Prussia would be so entangled in Western Europe that it could no longer pursue a policy of neutrality, such as it had adopted after the Treaty of Basle. By this means, however, the centre of gra\'ity of Prussia was completely shifted towards Western Europe. Hence- forth Prussia could scarcely give up the military con- trol of northern Germany; should opposition arise, it must endeavour to incorporate into its own territories the districts between its eastern and western provinces. It soon felt the temptation to become the leader of Germany, especially as Austria at the same time gave up its old possessions in Swabia and on the Rhine, and had no longer any territories in Germany. In 1814-15 the area of Prussia was increased to 108,000 square miles, and its population reached 10,500,000. The geographical and political changes which took place in 1807-15, years of suffering and war, had been too rapid. Much remained to be done. Reactionary forces asserted themselves once more. Until 1840 old and new ideas struggled against each other, even among the ruling statesmen. The reactionary ten- dencies, especially of the era of Frederick the Great, reappeared with the king's approval.
However, government by cabinet order was not re-established. The higher officials, who under Frederick the Great had been the king's executive tools, now practically carried on the Government in the name of the king. The minister Nagler spoke of "the limited intelligence of the subject". The promise to call a national representative assembly was limited to the case of the State needing a national loan; but care was taken that no such necessity oc- curred. The Prussian Government not only took part in all the attempts of Austria and Russia since 1818 to suppress all revolutionary and politically liberal movements among the people, but even showed the greatest zeal and severity in doing so; e. g. the persecution of student societies, the imprisonment of Jahn, the order forbidding Arndt to lecture, and the
expulsion of Gorres from Germany. Partly through
attachment to the king, with whom they had been
united in common sufferings and partly because of the
generally excellent behaviour of the officials, the
people of the old Prussian provinces maintained an
attitude of expectancy. With the new provinces,
however, serious friction arose. Having belonged to
France during the years 1795-1814, these provinces
had grown accustomed to democratic forms and fre-
quently had a racial dislike to Prussians. The strug-
gle began with the question whether the Prussian
statute-book should replace the French "Code
civile" in the province of the Rhine. The conflict
was intensified by the appointment of many old
Prussian officials to positions in the Rhineland and
was greatly augmented by quarrels about methods
of Church government and the claims of the State in
matters of religion. The territories annexed in 1814-
15 were mostly peopled by Catholics. Hitherto the
State had controlled the Catholic Church authorities
of the kingdom in the same way as the Protestants.
This not only aroused the opposition of the demo-
cratically-inclined Rhenish provinces, but also excited
the resistance of the new western Catholic move-
ment, which, without much regard to diplomacy,
strove to secure complete liberty for the Church
by vigorous defence of her rights.
The question in what cases it was the duty of the Catholic priest to bless mixed marriages was the accidental but highly opportune occasion of bringing the matter to an issue. The Archbishop of Cologne, von Droste zu Vischering, led the opposition. The Prussian Government imprisoned him in a fortress as a "disobedient servant of the state". A powerful popular commotion throughout the Rhine country was the result; this gained its echo in a Polish na- tional movement in Posen, where Archbishop Dunin resisted the marriage laws and was arrested. Suc- cess was on the side of the Catholics and the new provinces. But alongside of these after effects of the spirit of Frederick II the Stein-Hardenberg policy continued to gain ground, especially after 1S15. The reform of taxation was now carried through under the direction of the statistician J. G. Hoffmann. Organization of the provinces was completed, and an edict granting provincial diets was issued in 1823. General communal legislation was postponed because the economic and social conditions of the eastern and western provinces still differed widely. Allen- stein and Johannes Schulze did much for education. Under the lead of the king, the Government compelled the union of the Lutheran and the Reformed churches; in order to give the union a firm basis, a new liturgy was issued in 1821. The old Lutherans who opposed the union of the two denominations were subjected to severe police restraint. By the Papal Bull " De salute animarum", and the Brief "Quod de fidelium", two Catholic church provinces were erected 16 July, 1821: the Archidocese of Gnesen-Posen, with the suffragan Diocese of Culm; and the Archdiocese of Cologne, with Trier, MUnster, and Paderborn aa suffragans. In addition the exempt Bishoprics of Breslau and Ermland were established. The bish- ops were to be elected by the cathedral chapters, but were to be directed by the pope not to choose any person not acceptable to the king. The endowment of the bishoprics with landed estates proposed in 1803 was not carried out; hitherto the State has pro- vided yearly subventions in accordance with the budget of the ministry of worship. Prussia's great- est progress at this time was in the field of political economy. The post office was well organized by Postmaster-General Nagler.
By the law of 26 May, 1818, Prussia changed from a prohibitive high tariff to a low tariff system, almost completely suppressed the taxes on exports, and maintained a high duty only on goods in transit.
