MARTIN

See also:

• FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )

FRIEDRICH

See also:

• RUDOLF (otherwise known as Basso NOROK and Gannon)

RUDOLF VON

See also:

• DELBRUCK, HANS (1848— )
• MARTIN FRIEDRICH RUDOLF VON DELBRUCK

DELBRUCK  , Prussian statesman (1817—1903), was born at Berlin on the 16th of April 1817 . On completing his legal studies he entered the service of the state in 1837; and after holding a series of minor postswas transferred in 1848 to the ministry of commerce, which was to be the sphere of his real life's work . Both Germany and Austria had realized the influence of commercial upon political union . Delbriick in 1851 induced Hanover, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe to join the Zollverein; and the southern states, which had agreed to admit Austria to the union, found themselves forced in 1853 to renew the old union, from which Austria was excluded . Delbrick now began, with the support of Bismarck, to apply the principles of free trade to Prussian fiscal policy . In 1862 he concluded an important commercial treaty with France . In 1867 he became the first president of the chancery of the North German Confederation, and represented Bismarck on the federal tariff council (Zollbundesrath), a position of political as well as fiscal importance owing to the presence in the council of representatives of the southern states . In 1868 he became a Prussian minister without portfolio . In October 187o, when the union of Germany under Prussian headship became a practical question, Delbruck was chosen to go on a mission to the South German states, and contributed greatly to the agreements concluded at Versailles in November . In 1871 he became president of the newly constituted Reichskanzleramt . Delbruck, however, began to feel himself uneasy under Bismarck's leanings towards protection and state control . On the introduction of Bismarck's plan for the acquisition of the railways by the state, Delbruck resigned office, nominally on the ground of ill-health (June 1, 1876) .

In 1899 he opposed in' the Reichstag the new protectionist tariff, and on the failure of his efforts retired definitely from public life . In 1896 he received from the

emperor the order of the Black Eagle . He died at Berlin on the 1st of February 1903 .