WINDTHORST, Ludwig, leader of the Catholic or Centre party in the German Reichs tag from 1874 to his death: b. at Kaldenhof, near Osnabruck in Hanover, 17 Nov. 1812; d. Berlin, 14 March 1891. He received his early education at the Caroline Gymnasium in Osna bruck and studied law at Gottingen and Heidel berg. He began the practice of law at Osna briick. He occupied various official positions in connection with German courts of law and his talents and impartial character were widely recognized. Politically he clung to the opinion that there should be a union of the German states including Austria. He emphasized the necessity for the preservation of the independ ence of the various petty German governments and of absolute freedom of religion and edu cation. In 1851 he was elected president of the s(cond of the legislature of Hanover, and in 1853 became the Minister of Justice in the Cabinet of George V. He held this same portfolio ten years later. In this position his treatment of vexed questions between Catholics and Protestants called forth praise from both parties. \\ hen the reigning house of Hanover fell as the result of the war of 1866, he was sadly disappointed, hut fitted himself at once into the new order of things in the fatherland by accepting election for the town of Meppen to the Prussian Lower House and to the Reichs tag of the North German Confederation. Here he soon came to occupy a prominent place as a valuable assistant of the leader of the Catholic party, Mallinckrodt. At Mallinckrodt's death, lts74, Windhorst was selected to replace him. For nearly 20 years he remained a successful leader of the party, which under his influence gradually came to have the balance of power in the Rcichctag. While he was a devoted ( atholic, he was an intense lover of his country, believed thoroughly in the maintenance of the German army in order to assure peace, and the last speech that he ever made, scarcely a month fore his death, was in favor of a liberal pro eram of development for the navy. Once when
Vatican influence seemed to be used to urge a political measure, in which the German gov ernment was very much interested, he came out distinctly in opposition. lust before the decla ration of the of the Pope, he joined with those who thowlit the moment inoppor tune hut he was akzi s dev..ted to the Holy See.
He was the model of a successful party leader; an expert in the management of men; an excel lent judge of character and one of the best T'arliamentary debaters of the 19th century In spite of his years of occupation of an influential political position, he died quite poor. When the Catholics of Germany wished to recognize his great services to their cause by the su'. scription of a large sum of money, he di verted it to the foundation of a church in honor of the Blessed Virgin to be erected in Hanover. Few statesmen have been more bit terly maligned than was Windthorst at the be ginning of his career. After his death politi,;,1 foes joined with friends in recognizing his talents, his uprightness of character and the ab solute purity of his motives, besides his lofts patriotism. His great merit is to have suc ceeded in preventing Bismarck from making the Church merely a department of state in Ger many. The Catholic party agreed that it was to his talents as a leader that they owed most of their success in the struggle with the German Chancellor. Consult Menzenbach (Windthor,:. (Troves 1892); Knapp, 'Windthorst' (Manner der Zeit Series; Leipzig 1898).