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At the close of the Reichstag and in view of a new legislative period in the [Prussian] Landtag, the undersigned Prussian members of the Free Conservative Party feel compelled to announce in clear words the political tendency they represent, and [to describe] the way they have advanced, and will continue to advance, this tendency in their parliamentary work. Above all, we welcome the memorable moment when the old and new Prussia will seal its united statehood in a common representative body of the people. We have come together in the Reichstag as countrymen, and it shall thus be the national interest that unites us in most profoundly. We will have to prove to the new provinces that Prussian and German are one and the same, and that Germany gains what Prussia acquires. An un-German attitude is alien to us.

We do not fail to recognize the legitimacy of the party system, but we resolutely reject its excesses and exaggerations. We approve of neither the subjugation of men with strength of character to the dogmatism of one political school, nor the subjection of patriotic interests to the special interests of a party system. We do not seek to reach an agreement on comprehensive theories but rather on practical questions of current interest. We always value the Fatherland above the party; we value the national interest above all else.

There is a deeper purpose to this. We regard the history of the Prussian state as the prehistory of the new Germany. The great task that reached its progressive resolution in the creation of the Prussian state, the Customs Union [Zollverein], and the North German Confederation is now nearing fulfillment and completion—not only through the inevitable unification with the German south but also through the internal organization of the new German state, toward which the first meaningful steps have been taken in this session of the Reichstag. By offering our support in every possible way for the national policies of the Federal Chancellor, who pursues the same goals, we, as independent men true to our principles, are putting into practice an essentially conservative idea: we are carefully cultivating and fostering the existing healthy elements that are capable of development, but we are neither breaking with history nor trying to reshape living reality according to some doctrine. The North German Confederation, which has arisen from the Customs Union and is about to expand into the “German Empire,” appears to us to be a German extension of the Prussian monarchy.

Also in keeping with the true conservative spirit, we openly approve this monarchy’s joining the circle of constitutional states. Absolutism has a glorious history in Prussia. Nowhere else in the entire world has this system of governance left a more indelible monument than this state, the creation of absolute monarchical power. But the time of absolutism is past. Today, it would destroy what it once brought into existence with creative force. Our people, like all civilized nations of this age, do not just need a rightful share in the determination of their destiny, to their own satisfaction; the monarchy itself requires the cooperation of the people in order to fulfill its lofty mission. Only the crown of a free nation is owed to our monarch; his throne rests most securely on the will of free men.

We honor the state constitution as a source of strength for the monarchy, as an unfolding of popular customs and traditions, as the guarantor of the freedom of the church, of the equality of confessions, of the separation of political rights from religious faith. We reject “pseudo-constitutionalism” as a disparagement and a moral corruption of public life. We also oppose the antiquated doctrine of separation of powers, which continues to find its adherents; we counter that notion confidently with the principle of the communal exercise of unified state authority.

The party to which we belong is committed to the basic law of the state. In accordance with such a Free Conservative stance, we demand the consolidation of the constitution. This will be accomplished not solely with the constitutional and dignified structuring of the relationship between government and parliament, with the strengthening of the rule of law at the highest, central position of the state, so that despotism of officials is eliminated; rather, it will be accomplished only when the basic foundation of the life of the state is imbued with the spirit of liberty. Universal suffrage cannot guarantee the existence of true liberty. Its nature and its blessing are not in evidence when as many people as possible are called to participate in governance. Instead, they are evident when a strong government is counterbalanced by a field of independent will and action supported by rights and laws. We seek and find the conclusion of the development of liberty in the self-administration of the people in their groups and subdivisions.

Thus, we are striving to secure independence for our people: in the house and home, in industry and the trades, among workers and employers, in the arts and sciences, in the city and countryside, in the districts and provinces. Just as our federal states explicitly preserve their peculiarities in the framework of the North German Confederation, so too would we like to see all living parts within that state move in free self-determination—irrespective of the unity and supreme supervision of the state. The objective of our efforts requires a thorough reform of the central principles of administration.

Apart from integrating the Prussian legal system into the whole structure of the North German Confederation, our Landtag will have no more important task in the next few years than establishing this liberty in all realms of life. Therefore, in all this we are confidently counting on the cooperation of all representatives of the new and old provinces.

With the utmost commitment, we are dedicated to improving the material interests of our people in matters such as taxation, commerce and transportation, agriculture, the significant relationship between capital and labor—but no less in matters of serious concern for the intellectual values of the nation: the elementary school system, institutes of scholarship, universities, and academies.

In manful independence, we intend to stand by the federal authority and the state government whenever their policies correspond with our principles, and particularly when they designate the national interest as the supreme priority. With true loyalty to king and Fatherland, however, we will resolutely uphold our free conservative principles whenever these policies diverge from them.

Blind instruments are not useful supports for the government; only that which is grounded in itself can in turn provide support.