Wilhelm Sponneck
Wilhelm Carl Eppingen Sponneck, Reichsgraf ( Rigsgreve ) Sponneck (born February 16, 1815 in Ringkøbing ; † February 29, 1888 in Hellerup ) was a Danish politician who, among other things, was finance minister between 1848 and 1854 and general customs director from 1854 to 1863 Functions lastingly shaped the finance and customs system of the constitutional monarchy founded in 1849.
Life
Studies, customs officer and customs reform
Sponneck, son of the magistrate, prefect and imperial count Wilhelm Sponneck (1787–1874) , began studying law after attending the Sorø Akademi , which he completed in 1836. In 1837 he became a chamberlain and in 1838 he worked as an auscultator in the Generalzollkammerkollegium ( Generaltoldkammerkollegiet ), the customs administration, and during this time also undertook study trips to France and Germany . On the basis of his studies there, in 1840 he published the two-volume textbook Om Toldvæsen i Almindelighed og det danske Toldvæsen i Særdeleshed , which was shaped by economic liberalism and formed the basis for the development of the Danish customs system. In it he envisaged the abolition of the existing protective tariffs and a modernization of the customs system. One focus was on the necessary customs clearance of bulk consumer goods as well as luxury goods such as coffee , brandy and sugar , while corresponding consumption taxes were to be abolished.
In the following years Sponneck rose within the customs administration and was initially bailiff and secretary of the customs chamber college. In 1841 he married Annette Sigfride Lowzow, the daughter of his supreme superior Frederik Lowzow, who was director of the Zollkammerkollegium between 1841 and 1843. When he first became an advisory board member shortly afterwards, in 1843 he was appointed to the customs chamber council and head of the 1st section responsible for royal customs. At the same time he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Dannebrog Order in 1843 and the Dannebrogsmændenes Hæderstegn in 1844 .
In 1846, Sponneck, who became chamberlain in 1846 and commander of the Order of Danebrog in 1848 , drafted a government bill for a customs law that provided for a gradual exit from protective tariffs. He then represented the draft law for the government as Royal Commissioner in the provincial estates for the Danish islands in Roskilde and for Nørrejylland in Viborg . At the same time, he worked with Karl Philipp Francke , the head of the customs administration in the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig , on a reorganization of the customs administration rules and, from Sponneck's point of view, a pragmatic continuation of the efforts to standardize customs that were initiated by the Customs Act of 1838.
Negotiations for the formation of the March Ministry in 1848 and establishment of the constitutional monarchy in 1849
The constitutional and administrative upheavals of 1848 opened up new opportunities for reform for Sponneck. Like his top boss Christian Albrecht Bluhme , the 1843 successor Frederik Lowzow as Director of the Customs Chamber College was, and Karl Philipp Francke also included it the conservative Fønixklub of which is against the national liberal Eider Danes taught.
After Carl Emil Bardenfleth (1807-1857) had been entrusted with the formation of a new government on March 20, 1848 , they sought contact with Ditlev Gothard Monrad , but also with Sponneck and Francke. However, these negotiations ended with no result. This led to his growing importance and he also became government commissioner at the last session of the provincial estates, at which an electoral law for a constitutional assembly was debated. In October 1848 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Assembly ( Den Grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling ) by King Friedrich VII .
Minister of Finance 1848 to 1854
On November 16, 1848 Sponneck of was Prime Minister Adam Wilhelm Moltke as Treasury ( finance minister ) in its second government called the so-called "November Ministry". He also held the office of finance minister in the subsequent governments of Moltke and his successors Christian Albrecht Bluhme and Anders Sandøe Ørsted for more than six years until December 12, 1854. In addition, Sponneck, who was also awarded the Grand Cross of the Danebrog Order in 1850 , was between 1849 and 1853 member of the Imperial Assembly and represented the constituency of Ribe there .
As finance minister, he carried out a fundamental reorganization of the previous absolutist financial administration, which had been adapted to the new Basic Law of Denmark and which was run as state accounting until 1848.
After the Basic Law ( Junigrundloven ) came into force on June 5, 1849 , a first budget bill for the Reichstag ( Rigsdag ) was drawn up, which in the following years, in particular with the former Minister of War and Deputy Anton Frederik Tscherning (1795–1874), increasingly for a parliamentary one Household advice was further elaborated and improved.
Tax and customs reforms
He had to enforce his reform-willing policy with the parliamentary connection and control of the finances against the two military ministries , on the one hand the war ministry ( Krigsministeriet ), on the other hand the naval ministry ( Marineministeriet ). In connection with the legislative process for a war tax law between 1848 and 1851, Sponneck introduced an income and wealth tax. On the other hand, his attempt to establish a permanent retirement law ( Pensionsloven ) for civil servants that fixed salaries should replace a number of wage laws in household contributions failed . Furthermore, it was during his tenure as finance minister to abolish the lottery, imposing a free trade mark system in 1851 and to approve the construction of the first telegraph line .
In addition, a tax and customs council ( Skatte- og Toldområdet ) was set up to review a number of obsolete laws on the one hand, and on the other for a large-scale restructuring of the tax and customs system, which resulted in the elimination of the port tax, the abolition of the grain tax and a simplification the liquor tax provided. These changes came into effect in 1850 at a provisional customs border on the Eider , which the customs unit between Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig agreed to implement in 1846. This measure also included the cooperation with the later Minister of the Interior Fritz Tillisch to set up a militarily organized gendarmerie corps stationed in southern Schleswig to enforce the new customs regulations and to secure the new customs border.
The customs unit and the need for a comprehensive restructuring of duties and taxes should also affect other areas and in 1854 led to the inclusion of the Duchy of Holstein. However, Sponneck's further efforts to expand the customs unit to the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg and Lübeck were just as unsuccessful as his intention to establish a customs union between Denmark and Hamburg .
Foreign policy positions
As finance minister, Sponneck temporarily played an important role in foreign policy in the November Ministry. In doing so, he nuanced his view of the entire Danish state ( Helstat ) and carefully approached the idea of the Eider Danes, who sought to include the Duchy of Schleswig in the Kingdom of Denmark after the Schleswig-Holstein War ( Treårskrige ). In this respect, he took a middle position between the moderate liberal cabinet members, Minister without Portfolio Henrik Nicolai Clausen and Minister of Culture Johan Nicolai Madvig , and the right-wing ministers.
In August 1850, Sponneck presented Clausen with a plan for the reorganization of the kingdom, which provided for a closer connection between Denmark and Schleswig on the one hand and Holstein and Lauenburg on the other. This plan also provided for the establishment of an assembly of notables, which should consist of representatives from the parts of the empire. Since both Foreign Minister ( Udenrigsminister ) Holger Reedtz (1800-1857) and other cabinet members doubted the feasibility of the plan, Sponneck was sent to Vienna and Berlin in January and February 1851 to negotiate with the great powers Austria and Prussia . While the idea of an assembly of notables was initially received positively, resistance to the plan grew a few months later. Sponneck got the impression of a strong distrust of the conservative forces abroad towards the Danish national liberals and their influence on the politics of Denmark. Since both the Eider-Danes' policy of oaths and his plan of notables turned out to be impracticable, Sponneck ultimately returned to his conservative position as a whole.
Constitutional Problems and Government Crisis 1854
He also advocated this position during the term of office of Prime Ministers Bluhme and Ørsted. However, the constitutional problem regarding the unified customs connection with Holstein Bluhme and him led to a considerable conflict with the National Liberals. During the reign of Prime Minister Ørsted from April 1853 to December 1854, the tactical cooperation also began when Sponneck found at the first session of the Reichstag that the approval of the Society of Peasant Friends ( Bondevennernes Selskab ) was waning. He was now in the right wing of the conservative cabinet and sought the solution of the constitutional problems in an autocratic settlement.
In May 1853 he submitted the first provisional budget and on July 26, 1854 for its enforced approval. In the further negotiations before the provisional Reichsrat he took part as government commissioner.
When Peter Georg Bang became the new Prime Minister on December 12, 1854 , Sponneck was the most despised minister in the previous government. Successor as finance minister in the government Bang was Carl Christoffer Georg Andrae by the company the farmer friends.
General Customs Director, Abolition of the Sund Customs and Customs Act of 1863
As a recognized expert in financial and administrative reforms, he was appointed General Customs Director ( Generaltolddirektør ) by his political opponent Andræ and held this position until June 1863.
Due to the armaments expenditures during the Crimean War , impeachment proceedings ( Rigsretssagen ) against all cabinet members were intended between 1855 and 1856 , but this was then limited to him and the two military ministers (war and naval ministers) and ultimately came to nothing. Although he withdrew from the political foreground, he was repeatedly mentioned as a possible member of the government during government crises in the following years, although he had now adopted an ultra-conservative stance.
As General Customs Director, Sponneck continued to work on major reform projects in finance and customs and, among other things, contributed to the final abolition of the Sundzolls ( Sundtold ) in 1857, a levy introduced by King Erik VII of Denmark as a shipping tariff in 1429 , the non-Danish ships that the Öresund , had to pay in Helsingør .
In his book Den holstenske Stænderforsamling og Forfatningssagen , published in 1859 , he advocated the independence of Holstein within the entire Danish state and described in it "absolutisms in common cases as necessary and natural provisional" ('Absolutismen i Fællessagerne for et nødvendigt og naturligt provisional'). Such views were described by the then Prime Minister Carl Christian Hall as a "bogeyman".
In addition, he made a lasting contribution to a new royal customs law. Its negotiation, however, was delayed due to cooperation difficulties in the entire state, so that it was only passed in 1863. However, this law essentially contained Sponneck's view and remained in force until 1908. The law maintained a system of moderate protective tariffs, but otherwise provided for simple and practical tariffs. As an advocate of free trade to increase the movement of goods, he became an honorary member of the Cobden Club, named after the British entrepreneur Richard Cobden . However, the law was not primarily intended for the economy, but rather as a secure source of income for the state.
After his resignation as General Customs Director, he was awarded the title of Privy Councilor ( Gehejmekonferensråd ) in 1863 .
Advisor to King George I of Greece and candidate for ministerial offices
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In September 1863, Sponneck traveled to Greece with the 18-year-old Prince Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , after he had been elected King of Greece as Georg I. Originally he was supposed to stay in Greece for five years as an advisor to the king, but left the country in 1865 for health reasons.
Shortly after his departure to Greece on November 15, 1863 , King Friedrich VII, who came from the House of Oldenburg , died and was replaced by Christian IX , who came from the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg . replaced. As a result of the constitutional dispute that arose in the ensuing period, a government crisis occurred in the course of which Sponneck was named as a possible Prime Minister and successor to Carl Christian Hall. However, this Ditlev Gothard Monrad followed on December 31, 1863 as Prime Minister ( Konsejlspræsident ).
In August 1866, Prime Minister Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs offered him the post of Minister of War and, in his successor, offered him the prospect of the post of Prime Minister, which was rejected by Sponneck. When a year later in 1867 there was a conflict between King Christian IX. and the government of Frijs came, the king intended to temporarily entrust Sponneck with the formation of a new government.
MP and functions in business
In 1867 Sponneck was elected as a member of the Folketing and represented the Ålborg constituency there until 1869 . In 1869 he decided not to be re-elected and also suggested later candidacies for the political right.
Instead, he took on several leading roles in business. After he had been a member of the Control Committee of the Danish Railway Companies ( Det Sjællandske Jernbaneselskab ) since 1866 , he became chairman of this body in 1871. In addition, he became director of the National Bank in 1868 and a member of the board of directors of the Great Nordic Telegraph Company ( Det store nordiske Telegrafselskab ).
He gave up these functions in 1873 after he became director of the Kjøbenhavns Handelsbank , newly founded by David Baruch Adler (1826–1878) , and held this position until his death. However, he retained his position as chairman of the board of directors of the mutual insurance company ( Det gjensidige Forsikringsselskab 'Danmark' ), which he had taken over in 1870. He also became chairman of the Mønt Commission in 1872 .
As the owner of the Heslegård manor in Hellerup, he was also a member of the Copenhagen District Council between 1868 and 1880 and was also Chairman of the Gentofte Sogn Council for several years .
From his marriage to Annette Sigfride Lowzow his son Wilhelm Sponneck emerged, who represented Denmark as envoy in Austria-Hungary and Sweden , among others . His daughter Elisabeth Sponneck was married to the educator Jean Pio , the older brother of the socialist leader Louis Pio , who is considered to be the founder of the labor movement in Denmark.
Publications
- Om Toldvæsen i Almindelighed og det danske Toldvæsen i Særdeleshed , 1840
- Den Holstenske Stænderforsamling og Forfatningssagen , 1859
Web links
- Entry in Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (online version)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sponneck, Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sponneck, Wilhelm Carl Eppingen Reichsgraf (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish politician, member of the Folketing |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1815 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ringkøbing |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 29, 1888 |
| Place of death | Hellerup |