The number of Prussian delegates is seventeen; Bavaria, the second State of the Empire, appoints no more than six; and most of the other States only one. Inasmuch as Prussia controls the votes of many of the smaller States, and is, in fact, sure of at least thirty votes, a Prussian proposal can never be rejected, though if the opposition be very strong it may be withdrawn. On the other hand, as Prussia possesses the right of absolute veto, granted in view of her preponderant stake in the Empire, a project to which Prussia objects cannot be carried through, even if all the thirty-one non-Prussian delegates have been instructed to support it. It is this predominance of Prussia in the Council that is responsible for the dread of the Prussianisation of the Empire, of which one hears so much in the Southern States. For the Council is a sovereign body. From the federal nature of the Empire it follows that sovereignty is wielded by the Governments of the twenty-five States acting in concert. The vehicle of concerted action is necessarily the Federal Council, on which all the State Governments as such are directly represented. Accordingly it is urged, not altogether without plausibility, that the independence of the various States is an independence in word only; that the so-called Federal Empire is a farce; and that in reality there is not the slightest check on Prussian autocracy. The objection is met by pointing out that it cannot be to the interest of Prussia to abuse her authority; that Prussia by herself is a first-class Power; and that she has invited the other German States to enter into partnership with her, though it was open to her to assert an absolute hegemony over all the States north of the Main at least. The strength of the Empire lies in the fact that it is German, not Prussian, and any attempt at Prussian domination could only weaken it, and might possibly lead to a war of secession and the inevitable reappearance of Austria in German affairs. In fact Prussian tyranny was the very thing against which Bismarck-himself a good Prussian and no democrat-was at the utmost pains to guard, and no one would surely seek to undo Bismarck's work.

There is only one way of testing the truth either of the antiPrussian agitation or of the Prussian reply thereto, and that is by an investigation of what actually occurs in the Federal Council. That test is rendered impossible to the student of German politics by the fact that the Council meets in secret. Consequently very little is known about its operations, and that little tells both ways -in domestic affairs in favour of Prussia and in foreign affairs against her. Inasmuch as no measure can become law without receiving the assent of the Council, which is thus sovereign in legislative matters, it is the custom for all important legislation to be initiated in the Council, though, according to the Constitution, it might equally well be initiated in the Chamber. There has never been any attempt to put pressure on the opposition in the Council by getting a Bill endorsed by the representatives of the people in the Chamber. Particular care has been shown for the susceptibilities of the States in the matter of taxation. Direct Imperial taxation would clearly be an infringement of State sovereignty.

There is no clearer mark of sovereign power than the right to raise taxes. Direct Imperial taxation would place the Imperial tax collector in every State of the Empire. In no way could the State Governments make a more patent abnegation of their independent sovereignty. They would recognise an extension of Imperial authority territorially; a step would, in fact, be taken towards the transformation of the German Emperor into Emperor of Germany. Now, there is only one State that could possibly take the initiative in effecting such a transformation, and that State is Prussia. The German Emperor is King of Prussia. He is himself a Prussian, and Prussians hold the chief posts in his service. The extension of Imperial authority must therefore involve an extension of Prussian habits of thought and of action. It would thus appear that a scheme of direct Imperial taxation could not fail to commend itself to those enthusiasts for efficiency who advocate a policy of Prussianisation. According to them it is desirable in the interests of good administration to elevate Prussia at the expense of the other States. Nothing could attain this end so expeditiously as direct Imperial taxation. It would similarly appear to follow that any such scheme would meet with the bitterest opposition from all who regard Prussia as the mainstay of reaction. We should, in fact, expect to see this financial change advocated by the Right in proportion to its Conservatism and opposed by the Left in proportion to its Radicalism. If any proof be required that the establishment of the Empire turned all previously existing parties topsy-turvy it is to be found in the fact that these expectations are in reality exactly reversed. For nearly sixty years it was a maxim of German politics that the State Governments stood for absolutist reaction, and that union would inaugurate an era of progressive Liberalism. From force of habit the Conservatives oppose direct Imperial taxation as a menace to Prussian feudal ideas, while the Liberals support it as likely in some mysterious fashion to further the cause of individual liberty. The inaction of the Prussian Government is thus due, in part at least, to the political ignorance of its supporters. At the same time credit must be given to it for its scrupulous regard to the prejudices of State Governments somewhat troubled as to their future independence.

The increasing chaos of the Imperial finances makes direct Imperial taxation inevitable in the long run, and there is no doubt that Prussia could force such a measure through the Council, and that, however distasteful to the State Governments, it would not lead to any great amount of popular agitation. It is probable, indeed, that under such a system the burden of taxation would fall more lightly, because more evenly, than it does at present. In financial matters, however, every respect has been paid to particularist scruples, and the best interests of the Empire have been sacrificed to them. That similar regard has been shown to the States in other legislative enactments has been proved time and again by the result of the elections to the Reichstag. More than one legislative proposal which has passed the Council has been thrown out by the Chamber, which has then been dissolved. The

resulting elections have always proved favourable to the Imperial Government, and its majority has never been composed of Prussians alone. It might quite well have been, for of the three hundred and ninety-seven members of the Chamber two hundred and thirty-six are Prussians, giving Prussia an absolute majority of thirty-seven. In spite of this temptation to a purely Prussian policy the Government majority is, and has always been, composite. In fact, for six years Prince Bülow shocked the Prussian Conservatives, his strongest and surest supporters, by governing with the help of the Roman Catholic Centre, whose stronghold is Bavaria. The Constitution, moreover, has something to say with regard to the convocation of the Council. It is clear that when the Council is not in session the State Governments can exercise no check whatever upon the activity of the Imperial executive, all of whose members are Prussians. But the Council has never been prorogued; it has been in continuous session since the establishment of the Empire. No surer guarantee could be given of the Prussian desire to give her fellow States every opportunity of expressing their views.

It was, however, in the domain of foreign politics that Prussian aggression was especially feared. The fear was natural enough. The representative of the Empire in dealings with foreign nations is the Emperor, who is also King of Prussia. Where, then, do the other States come in? As a matter of fact, they do not come in, nor is it easy to see how their exclusion could be avoided. Led, however, by Bavaria, they attempted to assert themselves. The Council is divided into a number of Committees, and the Constitution provides that one of these Committees shall give the Imperial Chancellor information with regard to foreign affairs. Bavaria presides over this Committee, and Prussia is not represented in it. This is all very pretty on paper, but, as a matter of fact, foreign affairs are the province of the Emperor, and the Imperial Chancellor is the Minister of the Emperor, and it is through him that Imperial communications are made. It is thus impossible for the Foreign Affairs Committee to give the Chancellor any information which he has not previously given it, a fact which somewhat impairs the Committee's efficiency, and may possibly account for Bismarck's ready acceptance of the Bavarian proposal. It appears that the Committee never met at all until 1900, the year of the expedition to China. On that occasion the Emperor seems to have wished to satisfy himself that he had the whole country with him in his new policy, which was, of course, so intimately connected with the naval development on which his heart was set. The result of his action was satisfactory enough; at any rate his Imperial Majesty has never failed to get his ships. There is, however, no evidence of any second consultation of the Foreign Affairs Committee. There was certainly an occasion when the Committee should have been convoked, if the States were to have any influence whatever over Imperial foreign policy. That occasion was in 1905 when, as a result of the Imperial visit to Tangier, events were to all appearance moving in the direction of a war with France. It is reported that the King of Wurtemberg approached certain of his fellow

Sovereigns with a view to some joint remonstrance to the Emperor and a suggestion that the Foreign Committee should be reconstituted into an advisory body with real, though strictly limited, powers. Whether the King's proposal was ever carried into effect or not, certainly nothing came of it, and the foreign policy of the Empire remains independent of any real constitutional control.

It is unfortunate that so little is known about the working of the Federal Council. Quite apart from the fact that it is the most successful Federal body in existence, it is the field on which constitutional struggles must be fought out, and thus far transcends in importance the larger and noisier body, the Reichstag. As the organ of the State Governments, the Council is the natural champion of State rights against Prussian aggression. As the sovereign legislative body it is the only possible opponent of executive encroachment. The story of the development of the battle must, however, be postponed until the remaining portion of the Legislature-the Reichstag-has been dealt with.

II.

The Reichstag consists of three hundred and ninety-seven The Political members elected by direct, secret, and universal suffrage. As a Parties. Parliament it is a complete failure, and proves the political incapacity of the German people in their present stage of development. At the time of its establishment there were two political parties in Germany, whose representatives were elected in every State by the possessors of a limited franchise—the Conservatives, aristocratic and absolutist, and the Liberals, intellectual and democratic. The Conservatives were good Germans of the old school; the Liberals swore by the doctrines of Bentham, and were usually English in their sympathies. By birth, education, and temperament Bismarck was a Conservative, and to the end of his days he never understood the idea of Parliamentary Government. But the Conservatives were impossible allies in 1871. As has been said, they were men of the old school-men, that is, of their particular State, unsympathetic towards the idea of Empires and disdainful of universal suffrage. Now, inasmuch as it was Bismarck's policy to make the Empire a real unity and not a mere paper federation, it was clear to him that the Conservatives must be regarded as opponents, at any rate until they had appreciated the meaning of the moving events of the last nine critical years. On the other hand, if Bismarck distrusted the Conservatives, the Liberals distrusted Bismarck. From his accession to power in 1862 he had been a pillar of absolutism. He had quarrelled with the Liberal majority in Prussia, and in defiance of public opinion had dissolved Parliament and pursued his policy undismayed. So serious was the situation in 1863 that the Crown Prince ventured to remind his father that an old man of sixty-six ought not to embark on a line of conduct which might be disastrous to his dynasty. For this Bismarck never forgave him. No one could then foresee that the old man of sixty-six was destined, ere Fate had done with him, to enter France as a conqueror for the second time; to be the

central figure of a memorable scene in the splendid gallery of the palace of the Bourbon Kings; to pass away full of years and honour, amid the sorrow of a loyal people; and within a hundred days to be followed to the grave by the son who would have reversed his policy twenty-five years before.

It was with this Bismarck, whom the Crown Prince, the hope of German Liberalism, had opposed in 1863, that German Liberals were invited to co-operate eight short years later. The alliance was little to the liking of either party, but it was inevitable. The promotion of German Unity had been the great object of Liberalism since the Napoleonic wars. That unity had been achieved, though by means scarcely in accord with Liberal principles. In view of its achievement Bismarck was prepared to bury the hatchet, and even requested and received an amnesty for his unconstitutional conduct. History has shown that he was right in regarding Liberalism as his best ally. It is the Liberals who have always supported Imperial intrusions into the sphere of State rights, and in accordance with its traditions the Liberal Party has now helped to carry a Law of Public Meeting which, illiberal though in some respects it is, has at least substituted one Imperial enactment for a number of regulations differing in every State of the Empire. But in the early seventies the Liberal Party was not unanimous; there was an influential minority which held that it was impossible to touch pitch without being defiled, and therefore kept sullenly aloof. The Bismarckian Liberals were regarded as having sacrificed principle for Imperial favour, and public confidence was largely withdrawn from them. But it was not round the dissentients that the people eventually rallied.

On the Conservative side there was a similar cleavage. A farsighted minority joined Bismarck. They were men after his own heart and were warmly welcomed by him; nor have they and their successors ceased to be the most constant and most thoroughgoing supporters of the Imperial Government. The two old parties thus became four in the very first Reichstag that ever assembled. The Government majority consisted of a Liberal-Conservative bloc-a form of majority destined to be revived more than once in after years. The Liberal section of the majority insisted on their price. If the autocrat was to be whitewashed he must make some concession to Liberal principles. There appear to have been hopes that the Chancellor, in the fulness of his repentance, would give some countenance to the doctrine of the responsibility of Ministers. As a matter of fact, the Chancellor would have torn up his Constitution before doing anything of the sort. There was, however, another Liberal doctrine-the doctrine of religious freedom-with which he was prepared to trifle. With calm cynicism he permitted the Liberals to raise the cry of freedom of conscience, while at the same time he pointed out to the Conservatives, all of them good Lutherans, that what was really involved was nothing more than an attack on the Roman Catholics. The ruse succeeded, and the whole bloc supported the Government in what soon came to be known as the Kulter-Kampf.