CENTRE
21
CENTRE
newly-elected Prussian Diet, at the suggestion of Peter
Reichensperger, Karl Friedrich von Savigny, and
Friedrich von Kehler the Centre Party of the Prussian
Chamber of Deputies was formed (Zenlrumsfrakiion
dcs preussischcn Abgenrdnetcnhnuses); this was im-
mediately joined by forty-eight members. On 21
March, 1871 , sixty-three of the newly-elected members
of the first German Reichstag united and formed the
Centre Party of the German Reichstag {Zentrums-
fraktion des deutschen Reichstags).
The programmes of both Centres, which include men from every part of the empire and of the most different stations, are the same even to-day, more than forty years after the foundation of the parties. The statutes of both parties are identical (except for un- essential differences), and both reject enforced party allegiance, that is the obligation of the member to vote according to the direction of the party as a whole. " Justitia fundamentum regnorum" and "P^ur Wahr- heit, Recht, und Freiheit" (For truth, justice and liberty) are the mottoes which the Centre has always placed at the head of its programme. The pro- gramme declares the guiding-stars of its activity to be: (1) the preservation of the constitutional principle of the empire as a confederation of states, viz. unity only in essentials and in everything else the free de- cision by the individual states; (2) the promotion of the moral and material welfare of all classes of the population, the securing of constitutional guarantees for the civil and religious freedom of all subjects of the empire, and especially the defence of the rights of rehgious bodies against the attacks of the legis- lature. From the first the Centre has been accused by its adversaries (who did not become extinct with Bismarck) of furthering only religious and exclusively Catholic interests and with being an exclusively Cathohc and not a political party: consequently it was claimed that its existence was not justified in a state founded on the principle of parity; that even in non-ecclesiastical questions the Centre received in- structions from the papal Curia, etc. The programme of the Centre, the adherence of a large number of Protestant members, and its parliamentary activity throughout the last forty years refute the.se accusa- tions. In 1909, when various disputes broke out concerning the character of the party, its leaders again declared: "The Centre is essentially a political, non-denominational party; it takes its stand on the constitution of the German Empire, which requires of the deputies that they regard themselves as the representatives of the whole German people." True however to its programme, the Centre has regarded as its first and most urgent task the defeat of all legis- lative measures directed against the Catholic section of the community; and, just as during the Kultur- kampf, so also to-day the preservation of the civil equality of the Catholic minority is considered the chief duty of the party. Apart from its programme, the fact that almost all the deputies of the Centre and their electors belong to the Catholic Church furnishes a sufficient guarantee that the party will most strenu- ously represent the interests of German Catholics in every sphere of public life.
Soon after its foundation the Centre was compelled by Chancellor Bismarck to engage in a long and diffi- cult struggle for the liberty and independence of the Church (see Kri,TURK.\MPF). By this heroic defence of the flouted rights of the Church and of the Cath- olic population, by its struggle for the restoration of religion as the principle of both public and private life in legislation and administration, by its devotion to constitutional liberty, and by its respect for its own rights and the rights of others, the party per- formed the most valuable services. The era of the open Kulturkampf pa-ssed. Bismarck was reason- able enough to lay aside a policy which he saw had been wrecked by the unity of the Catholic people.
The year 1879 brought the great development of the
economic politics of the German Empire. The place
of a Liberalism which refused co-operation was taken
by the Centre, whose assistance had a decisive effect
in initiating the new era of economic development
based on protection. With the influential '■o-opera-
tion of the Centre the financial basis of the empire
was simultaneously laid. Early in the eighties the
Empire devoted its attention to great social measures.
With the eager and encouraging assistance of the
same party the great German scheme of social in-
surance, the comprehensive law for the protection of
labourers (1890), and later the law for the protection
of workmen were placed on the statute book. From
1895 to 1906 the Centre held the balance of power
between the parties in the German Reichstag. Dur-
ing this period the uniform civil code for the German
Empire was drawn up, the German colonial polity
was guided into sounder channels, and foreign re-
spect for the empire ensured by the creation of a
strong fleet and by the development of miUtary
resources. Finally, a new law for the protection of
home industries by the tariff was passed in 1902; the
beneficial effect which this measure has exercised on
agriculture, industry, and commerce is to-day beyond
all doubt. Nevertheless, through hatred of the
CathoUcs, the Liberals especially have not ceased
their accusations against the Centre and its sup-
porters of want of patriotism, of treachery towards
their native land, and of showing allegiance to the
pope to the detriment of Germany. When the
Centre refused to meet an unimportant demand of
the Government connected with the German war in
South-West Africa, the Reichstag was dissolved (13
December, 1906), and a vindictive campaign against
the Centre initiated. The adherents of the Centre
did not waver in their allegiance to the party. The
Liberal-Conservative Block, then formed and ani-
mated with hostility to the Centre, collapsed in 1909.
With the help of the Centre the Cierman Empire was
then set on a soimder financial basis (Imperial Finance
Reform of 1909). The great slanders of the united
Liberals and Social Democrats did little damage to
the Centre in the elections of 1912. Although it does
not possess quite its old strength, it is still powerful
and feared and hated bj' its adver.saries. In 1912 it
took a prominent part in the strengthening of the
German army.
Especially important in the history of the Centre are the years 1887 and 1892. In both years the Ger- man Government sought to influence the Centre in favour of new military laws with the assistance of the Holy See. On both occasions, however, the Centre deprecated the intervention of the Vatican in purely political affairs, on the ground that its posi- tion would be prejudiced and that its adversaries (who are for the most part also the adversaries of the Catholic Church) would seize the opportunity for reproaching the Centre with its dependence on foreign powers. In view of the peculiar nature of the German Constitution, the defence of the liberty and the legal position of the Catholic Church is the task le.ss of the Centre in the Reichstag than of the corre- sponding parties in the state diets, since religious and educational questions are, fundamentally considered, not within the competence of the empire. Not alone in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, however, but also in the German Reichstag, the Centre has always found it necessary to represent Catholic interests (even since the close of the Kulturkampf). Even during the Last few years this was again the cjise, when the Liberals in union with the Evangelical League {Evnnqi-lisrher Bund) and the adherents of Monism sought to make the measures of the Vatican fthe Borromeo Encyclical, the Oath against Modern- ism, etc.) a pretext for .a war ag.ainst Geriii.'in (^,iit holies and the Holy See, and when a new seirct Kulturkampf
