THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT IN GERMANY, AND THE FRACTION DU CENTRE IN THE GERMAN PARLIAMENT.
TRANSLATED FROM THE REVUE GENERALE.
An apathetic calm generally succeeds to political agitation at the close of legislative sessions. An exception to this rule prevails in the German Empire, inasmuch as the attacks against the Fraction du Centre, which began during the session, increased to an actual storm at the close of the diet. Most of the foreign journals have spoken of this phenomenon, but in so unsatisfactory a manner that perhaps a more minute account of the movement will not be displeasing to the readers of the Revue Générale.
I have already indicated in a general way, in an account of the parties in the German Parliament, the attitude and tendency of the Catholic party, or the so-called Fraction du Centre.
The bases upon which it is founded are as follows:
“Justitia fundamentum regnorum.
The Fraction au Centre in the German Parliament limits its activity by the following principles:
“I. The fundamental characteristics of the empire as a confederation (Bundesstaat) shall be maintained. Conformably to this principle, all efforts shall be opposed that tend to modify the federal character of the constitution of the empire, and the spontaneity and independence of the several states in their interior affairs shall only be sacrificed when the general interests evidently require it.
“II. The material and moral welfare of the popular classes shall be urgently insisted upon. The civil and religious liberty of all the subjects of the empire shall be secured by means of constitutional guarantees, and religious associations, in particular, shall be protected against legislative encroachments.
“III. The Fraction weighs and forms resolutions in accordance with these principles, upon all questions submitted to the deliberation of the parliament, but without forbidding isolated members to vote in the assembly contrary to the decisions of the Fraction.”