Note 1 — Chapter XIV · Prince Hohenlohe—Political Frictions

On the last day of the year 1866 he formed a new Ministry. The soul of this was the celebrated statesman, Prince Chlodwig von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, who in his younger days had been in the Prussian service, and who already in 1849 had raised his voice for a German confederation under the leadership of Prussia. By family tradition, by education, and political sympathies he was an out-and-out adherent of the policy of that country; and he was an enthusiastic admirer of Bismarck. With the exception of Ludwig himself, nearly the whole of the royal house strongly opposed the Premier and his views. At the head of the court opposition was the old ex-King, Ludwig I. To this party were united, moreover, almost the whole of the nobility, and a preponderating majority of the Catholic clergy. The nobility mistrusted Hohenlohe not only for his Bismarckian foreign policy, but also, and this perhaps chiefly and primarily, on account of his liberal views. The Catholic clergy hated him because he showed the will and the ability to maintain the ascendancy of the state in ecclesiastical questions, and combated the arrogant claims of the Catholic prelates. Among a large majority of the population in general he was also unpopular. The working classes looked upon him as the “Prussian” and hatred of Prussia was during those years extended and intense within the Bavarian people.1