Grand Duke Karl I
Chapter XVI. The Constitution of 1845
Following his victory against liberal forces in Hanover, Grand Duke Karl I left his army behind and returned in late June of 1845 to a Darmstadt that still bore the scars of the fighting that had taken place there. His first priority, after settling his family into the ducal palace, was to decide what to do with the prisoners that had been taken following the recapture of the capital from rebel troops. Many of the people around him pressed for harsh measures and advised that he hang the rebel leaders- Heinrich von Gagern especially. Karl, however, was disinclined toward taking a heavy hand. The nation had been through a great trauma and he felt that such a heavy handed approach would only fuel the anger felt by the liberals in the duchy as well as provide them with martyrs to rally around. Instead of punishing the men who had led the rebellion, Karl's first official order after returning to the city was to issue amnesty to the rebels and order Gagern and the rest of the prisoners released. No sooner had he done that than Karl began writing a series of missives. The recipients of these letters included powerful aristocrats, leading educators, members of the (Lutheran) clergy, high ranking military officers, and even Heinrich von Gagern and others in his camp. They were all invited to come to meet with the Grand Duke in order to give Hesse-Darmstadt something that it had never had: a written constitution.
The convention was slated to begin on August 1, 1845 and while he waited Karl was busy meeting with his advisers to decide what moves they would make during the convention. Karl's offer of a written constitution was a calculated move aimed at appeasing the liberal faction within the country who wanted, among other things, a clear definition of government power. Karl, like all of the Grand Duke's before him, ruled with absolute authority and he had no intention of allowing that to change. The trick would be to both get it in writing, and to placate the liberals while doing it.
The Convention was held in the Ducal Palace in Darmstadt
The Convention was begun during the morning hours of August 1. As the various dignitaries had arrived they had quickly divided themselves into factions that Karl found rather similar to those that had sprung up among his father's council. The convention was kicked off with a speech by Karl himself in which he urged the men assembled to come together and put aside their differences for the good of the nation and it's people. With that little nicety out of the way, the floor was opened and the various factions began putting forward their views on what the constitution, and therefore the government itself, should be.
The Liberal faction was led by Heinrich von Gagern and his old ally Justus von Liebig. Their chief demands concerned giving the people a voice in the government, and they called for the formation of a legislative body that would be directly elected by the people. This body would be responsible not just for the nation's laws, but taxation and warfare as well. Gagern and Liebig charged that putting the power to levy taxes on the poor and to engage the nation in war in the hands of one man was "criminal and open to abuse" and demanded that only a freely elected body be given those powers. What they were essentially looking to do was limit the Grand Duke's power to such an extent that he became a figurehead at best. This was as close as they could come to taking power out of Karl's hands as suggesting that he be removed from power all together would be viewed as treason. Other points brought up by the Liberal faction included freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the abolition what they referred to as "secret instruments of terror". This last was directed at the hated Geheimpolizei who were viewed as a symbol of autocratic tyranny being as they were a secret police force that got it's orders from and answered only to the Grand Duke.
Heinrich von Gagern addressing the Convention
The second faction to put forth it's agenda would come to be called the Conservatives and they were led by, of all people, the former Grand Duke Ludwig III who had, after the retaking of Darmstadt, been compelled by the new Grand Duke to sign a binding document in which he surrendered all rights to the throne. The group consisted of himself and members of the aristocracy who had supported his reforms during Ludwig II's rule. They too called for free elections and the formation of a representative legislative body. However, they wanted to form a two chamber house such as was found in Prussia and Austria in which members of the aristocracy- chosen by the Grand Duke- sat in the "upper" chamber and the elected representatives of the people sat in a less powerful "lower" chamber. Though they too wanted elections and for the Grand Duke's power to be curbed (somewhat), their suggestion was attacked immediately by the Liberals who viewed it as an attempt by the ruling elite to maintain their control over the people while cloaking it in legitimacy.
The quarrel between these two groups over the nature of the proposed new government body dragged on for weeks, though it was occasionally interrupted by disputes over freedom of press, speech, and assembly as well as the topic of the legitimacy of the Geheimpolizei- who had been created by Ludwig III in order to harass and arrest some of the very same men who comprised the Liberal group at the Convention. Through all of this Karl and his supporters (who were referred to as either the Nationalists or the Royalists) remained largely silent. They watched the two other groups bicker on and on while offering only a few words now and again. Finally, during the third week of the Convention, the Nationalists asked a question that effectively derailed the argument over the structure of the proposed representative body. Thus far the debate had centered on whether the new legislative body would be completely elected by the people or only partially. There was some dispute over what it's powers and responsibilities would be as well, but that was the main issue. The Nationalists asked who would make up the representative body, or rather they asked where the representatives would come from. Would they be elected by district and if so, how many representatives would come from each district?
The former Grand Duke Ludwig III
The questions posed by the Nationalists set off a whole new round of debates. The Conservatives reasoned that number of representatives of a district should be determined by population. The Liberals objected to this as it would give unfair bias toward the more populous cities and towns of the duchy which were known conservative strongholds. They argued for each district to be given an equal number of representatives. The Conservatives, of course, rejected this as there were more rural districts than urban. After letting this debate go on for awhile the Nationalists weighed in by reminding everyone of Hanover. The conquered territory to the north, which was represented at the Convention by several of it's leading citizens, was far larger and more populous than Hesse-Darmstadt proper. Would not, the Nationalists asked, any representative body overwhelmingly favor the Hanoverians? Would that not they really allow those foreigners to control the government? With that being the case, the Nationalists proposed that voting rights not be extended to Hanover's citizens and that they not be given representation.
The Conservatives argued against the idea, but only weakly. Their faction was chiefly made up of aristocrats who wanted to ensure that they maintained some power. The idea of people from Hanover coming south to the capital and taking control of the government was of great concern to them as Hanover was a liberal stronghold and it's people were considered by the Hessians to be more like to the British than to their brother Germans. The Liberal faction protested more strongly, though even among them cracks began to show. While the Liberals were committed to the idea of giving the people a voice, there were those among them that feared that the voices of men of Hanover would drown out those of the men from Hesse-Darmstadt.
This new issue dominated the floor of the Convention for the next several days until the Nationalists finally put forth a comprehensive proposal of their own. They suggested that the idea of a representative body should be put aside "for the time being" and that the focus of the Convention should instead be on outlining a new, more decentralized and inclusive government. Coming as it did from the Grand Duke's supporters, the idea of decentralizing government power was surprising enough to make all of the members of the Convention take notice.
The Nationalists proposed that many of the powers held by the Grand Duke be delegated to several new ministries. Currently the only government ministry that was formally in existence was the Ministry of State which was headed by the Grand Duke himself. The Nationalist proposal was actually similar to the now defunct reforms instituted by Ludwig III and called for the creation of a two new ministries: the Ministry of Justice & the Interior and the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Justice & the Interior would control the courts (including the appointing of judges), education and the national police force. The Ministry of Finance would handle the treasury, taxes, and civil improvements. These two would serve under the Ministry of State which would also serve as the Grand Duchy's foreign relations arm. All ministers would, of course, be selected by the Grand Duke. Aside from this the Nationalists also proposed the forming of a Landtag that would consist of two houses which would meet every two years or unless called for by the Grand Duke, and would remain in session for "as long as necessary". The Upper House would be made up of members of the royal family and the aristocracy. The Lower House would consist of one representative each from the Grand Duchy's cities, towns, and rural districts including those in Hanover. The representatives in both houses would be selected by the Grand Duke personally rather than elected and could also thus be dismissed by him at any time. The Landtag would not, however, be able to levy taxes or suggest laws. In practice it would only discuss and either ratify or reject proposals that came down from the Grand Duke. As the Grand Duke could dismiss and appoint members to the Landtag or even dissolve the entire assembly at will (not to mention just plain refuse to call it), rejection of any of his proposals was considered unlikely.
Justus von Liebig
The Conservatives and the Liberals saw the proposal for what it was: an attempt by Karl to assert his authority while appearing to bend to their wishes. However, as the constitution proposed by the Nationalists was similar to their own, and with Ludwig having been promised a ministry, the Conservatives threw their support behind the Nationalists. Opposition from the Liberals was more fervent, but was hampered by the defection of a group of Hessian Liberals who feared a Hanover dominated representative system. Once the rest of the Liberals saw the Conservatives go over to the Nationalist camp, they realized that if they were going to be included in the new government at all they needed to come into line and the Nationalist proposed constitution was signed by the Grand Duke and all present on September 9, 1845.
With the ink still wet on Hesse-Darmstadt's first Constitution, Karl immediately named his brother Ludwig as Minister of Justice & the Interior. Giving his brother control of the both the bureaucracy and the police force seemed a smart move as he had both created and implemented both institutions. For the post of Minister of Finance, Karl selected the man who had held the post under his father: Justus von Liebig. Liebig had resigned the post during his first tenure due to the refusal of previous Grand Dukes to lower taxes on the poor, and stipulated that he would only accept the post if his original plan to cut taxes was implemented. Karl pledged to do so and Liebig accepted the post. Finally, in an effort to appease the Liberal faction and to show that the wounds caused by the rebellion were starting to heal, Karl appointed Heinrich von Gagern as Minister of State. Together with these three men Karl set to selecting the members of the new Landtag and prepared to continue on with his vision for a stronger Hesse-Darmstadt.