Rebuttal to the Election Manifesto of Beda Weber

Extraordinary supplement to the B. v. u. f. T. u. V. No. 50.

Declaration.

Under the heading: To the electors for the German Parliament in the judicial districts of Meran, Passeier, Schlanders, Lana, and Sarnthal — a printed declaration was issued in Meran on 27 April of this year, signed: Professor Beda Weber, containing the following assertions: 'The manner in which the land along the Etsch has hitherto been treated seemed calculated to ruin it. Full twenty times have you been sworn to that your viticulture would be protected against Italian wines; but instead of your ancient right, a customs barrier against Bavaria has stood for years, rendering any export impossible; a wine excise was placed upon your produce, which annually devoured more than a good third of your revenues, and the costs of viticulture were doubled by the unrestrained export of timber to Italy. Thus it has come to pass that in the most fertile land in the world you have become poorer with every passing year. More than once have you bought off the high stamp at great expense, and yet you remained subject to an oppressive stamp law that drained the poor and spared the wealthy. Your ancient municipal statutes, arising from true necessity, were no longer respected. In every slightest transaction concerning your communal and church property you were kept under tutelage, and without scriveners and stamp duties your headmen, once the foremost officials of a free community, could not make a single move forwards or backwards. You held no effective right to lodge objections against superfluous trades and settlements. Hence the overpopulation in your communities, which bears no relation to your land and burdens your poor funds more heavily with each passing year. The consumption tax, which left the wealthy capitalists untouched, pressed not only upon the townspeople alone, but also depressed the value of your agricultural products, because every buyer curtailed his expenses as far as possible. At your diets in Innsbruck you were indeed granted the right to petition, but Emperor Ferdinand is not to blame for the fact that your petitions mostly went unheard, because they were not allowed to reach his ears. The estate of peasants and burghers, represented far too insufficiently, had mostly only to stand by as mere spectators in the Landhaus in Innsbruck. This is now to become much better.'

A candidate for the Frankfurt election – a Tyrolean – employs the freedom of the press for such assertions before a large portion of the land! For reasons of truth and justice, we feel called upon to publicly oppose this declaration. Not only our countrymen of the addressed districts, but of all Tyrol have the right to demand clarification regarding the true substance of these statements. The matter concerns everyone; it touches common interests. We ask above all: What induces a Catholic priest, a gymnasium professor, a member of a religious order, to step before the people at this moment with these accusations against the state administration and its authorities? If his intention is to address real abuses, he embarks upon a path that no honest man takes, given that relief can be obtained lawfully through a free press, association, and petition. Does the election candidate perhaps wish to indicate that, if elected, he will make all this better for the people of the Adige in Frankfurt? With this he can scarcely deceive our countrymen. Everyone knows that the assembly of delegates of the German people has to deliberate upon matters more momentous than South Tyrolean wine sales, vine stake prices, excise duties, and stamp fees. To what end, therefore, this language in an election manifesto, which ought to have no other purpose than to set forth to the electors the principles according to which the candidate intends to proceed in his mission? Let Father Beda provide clarification on this to his countrymen, before whom he has made himself heard in such a tone! Let him produce evidence as to who has sworn so often to the electors in the designated districts to protect their viticulture against Italian wines! Where has he found the justification for an ancient right of the South Tyrolean winegrowers in this regard? With what authority does he reproach the government for introducing the excise duty, and how does he prove that the state administration has impoverished this part of the country with each passing year and ruined it in a manner that seemed calculated? Are the consumption tax, the stamp duty, and the customs barriers burdensome solely to his voters? Were only they insufficiently represented at the diets in Innsbruck; did only they have the mere right to petition? Who prevented these petitions from reaching the monarch? Do only the laws of the state restrict the free management of church property, or are there not also canonical regulations governing this?

The present time of excitement, of the loosening of political and social bonds, imperatively demands that law and order, peace, and trust be preserved and safeguarded. Now, when so many unauthorized persons set themselves up as judges over the established order, all well-disposed individuals must stand firmly united to protect right and truth. Speech must indeed remain free for critique as well; yet it must be well-founded, well-intentioned, and therefore modest, so that it may pave the way for improvement and a firmer order. Hasty judgment, groundless accusation, and inflammatory censure must, on the contrary, be combated with all the weapons of the law against everyone, lest we fall prey to anarchy with all its horrors. – We earnestly commend this to the consideration of Professor B. Weber as he departs for the German Parliament, and we call upon him, for the honor of truth, to provide a satisfactory explanation.

A friend of the government and the people.