Slike strani
PDF
ePub

the exact origin of any particular policy. Certainly the present Emperor felt himself unable to exert his proper influence while Bismarck was in office; and it is usually assumed in this country that Prince Bülow is simply the mild-mannered mouthpiece of his Imperial master. That is an exaggeration. One of the chief duties of a Chancellor is to manage the Reichstag; if he fails to do so he must either resign, as Prince Hohenlohe did, or fight the people, as Bismarck was ready to do. The Emperor consequently is not expected to identify himself with any particular piece of Parliamentary tactics. Still, that is what the present Emperor

has been induced to do.

The quarrel with the Centre was primarily Prince Bülow's quarrel; he had no right to expect active backing from the highest quarter. Nevertheless, at the last election the Prince was permitted to put the Imperial arms on his election posters, so to speak, and his success was greeted with open Imperial approbation. The Emperor thus showed the most signal loyalty to his Minister; a fact which will make his position extremely difficult if the bloc breaks down and the Prince has to resign. On the other hand, it would also be an exaggeration to say, as a German once said to the writer, that the Chancellor has the Emperor in his pocket, adding that the only European monarch who is capable of conceiving and accomplishing a policy entirely his own is the King of England-a view, by the way, which is not seldom expressed in Germany. As a matter of fact Prince Bülow and the Emperor work together with remarkable harmony; but it is probably correct to say that while in domestic policy the initiative is usually due to the Chancellor in foreign politics it is due to his master.

The constitutional position of the Emperor is every whit as anomalous as that of the Roman Cæsars whose title he bears. By the arrangements of the North German Confederation the Prussian King was given a position exceptional in three respects. In the first place the presidency of the Confederation was perpetually vested in Prussia. In the second place the Prussian King was made Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armies in time of war. In the third place the Prussian Navy was transferred to the Confederation, while its command remained as before in the hands of King William. The possession of these special attributes offers a temptation to the King of Prussia as such to assert some form of superiority over his fellow Sovereigns, thus destroying the Federal character of the Union. Accordingly it was decided in 1871 to elevate these attributes into a separate office. The title finally selected as that least likely to wound particularist feelings was "German Emperor "-a title which was always to be borne by the King of Prussia. To the Constitutional lawyer, then, the Imperial style is simply an appanage of the Prussian Crown. As such it was always regarded by the first Emperor, who remained at heart and in conduct King of Prussia to the last. Indeed, as we know from his letters to his wife, he only accepted the new title with reluctance and even with sorrow. William II., on the other hand, is every inch an Emperor. In certain circles, both in

this country and in his own, it is fashionable to speak of him as an autocrat. That is a misnomer; technically the Emperor is not even a Sovereign. Autocracy suggests the possession of irresponsible or unlimited powers; sovereignty rests with the fountain of authority in a State. Now the German Emperor was invited to assume his title by the King of Bavaria in the name of the Princes of Germany, who selected it as appropriate to the possessor of the powers conferred by treaty on the King of Prussia. These powers are clearly defined in the Constitution of the Empire. There is in consequence no such thing as an Imperial prerogative in Germany, any more than there is a presidential prerogative in the United States. Both Emperor and President derive their authority from the same source-a Constitution based on treaties. That authority is, of course, very great, but it is not autocratic. From the point of view of theory autocratic is, in fact, precisely what the Imperial position is not, and what it cannot possibly become without changing its character and its basis.

As chief of the presiding State and as commander of the armed forces of the Empire, the Emperor is necessarily head of the Executive executive authority including, as it does in this country, the right of making treaties. In legislation the Constitution gives him no voice whatever. His assent is not required and his business is confined to engrossing for publication every law which has been passed by the Chamber and sanctioned by the Council. As King of Prussia, of course, he can carry or veto any proposal, but his power in that capacity is of a very different order. There are many territorial Sovereigns; there is but one Emperor. The King of Prussia is simply primus inter pares; the German Emperor stands alone, possessed of powers different in kind from those wielded by anyone else in Germany. The relations of the Emperor to the Legislature are thus those of a President rather than of a monarch. But he is a President with monarchial attributes. Apart from the fact that the Imperial title is confined to the head for the time being of a particular Royal House, the Emperor is Commander-inChief of the Navy and of the Army in time of war. The distinction between his military and his naval powers is the cause of many of the most important developments of Germany's policy in recent years. The Navy is an Imperial Navy; the Army is a Federal Army. There is not a single Imperial regiment, not a single Imperial officer. The one Imperial thing about the Army is the Emperor himself. who is possessed in time of war of real authority, though in peace his functions are restricted to duties analogous to those of our Inspector-General. It is not even correct to speak of the German Army. There are four Armies in Germany, those of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurtemburg. The smaller States have transferred their military organisations to Prussia, and the three independent States have entered into pledges with regard to establishment, etc. The recruit takes a joint oath of loyalty to his territorial Sovereign and to the Emperor. Bavaria, however, always jealous of her independence, does not administer the oath of fidelity to the Emperor until war actually breaks out. It is

clear that except in his military capacity the Emperor has no direct connection with the people of Germany at all, and it would be a good thing if those excellent persons who rail out against William II. for being a War-lord would kindly suggest what else he could possibly be without lowering the title of Emperor to an empty form. That is exactly his Imperial Majesty's difficulty. The title of Emperor carries no weight with the Germans; they have been quite familiar with it for over a thousand years, and have come to expect it. But an Emperor who is not a figurehead, an Empire that really means something-these are novelties, unexpected and somewhat disconcerting. It would be impossible for a man like William II. to refrain from doing his utmost to bring the conception of Empire home to the German people. German unity has been hovering before their eyes since 1813; it has now been achieved, but it has not yet been made indissoluble, except on paper. There is no man in Europe with a stronger sense of duty than the German Emperor, and his duty, as he conceives it, with perfect correctness, is to be an Emperor, and being an Emperor means being a Warlord. In regard to Army matters, his Majesty can only be a real Emperor in time of war. He does his best in peace time, but it is in the Naval Department that he gets his chance, for the Navy is Imperial both in fact and in name.

This

In the British Empire there are two truly Imperial institutions One is the Crown, the other is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In Germany there is also a Supreme Court of Appeal for the whole Empire. It meets at Leipsic, not in Berlin, and this and the fact that it contains no less than ninety-two judges are the only interesting things about it. On the other hand, the Imperial Crown -which is, of course, the Crown of Charlemagne-is" yet to seek." It remains in Vienna, the last relic of the Western greatness of the House of Hapsburg. To make up for it there is the Navy. At the time of the achievement of German unity a Federal Navy was as impossible as a Federal Army was inevitable. It was impossible because there were no navies to federate. Of the leading States only Prussia possessed a seaboard, and accordingly only Prussia could boast of even the rudiments of a naval force. Prussian Navy, originally transferred to the Confederation, became the Imperial Navy in 1870. As it then chiefly existed on paper its importance was not realised. The present Emperor, however, with his usual keenness of vision, saw that here was his opportunity. It has been said that the Emperor is a President with monarchial attributes. The increase of Imperial power, or, in other words, the assertion of executive independence of the Legislature, is best attained by adding to those attributes. This is exactly what William II. has done. The German Navy is under the direct command of the German Emperor. Neither the King of Prussia nor anybody else has any concern therewith. The Navy is, in fact, the embodiment of Empire, the manifestation of the Imperial authority, and incidentally the reminder that, the whole being stronger than its parts, the foreign politics of the Empire have a wider range than had the foreign politics of any of its constituent elements.

CHAP. III.

GERMAN GOVERNMENT.

In so far as this last point implies that the German Empire can and does take up an attitude of rivalry towards the British Empire which the Kingdom of Prussia would never have assumed there is some ground for the current suggestion that the German Navy is aimed at ourselves. But Great Britain is not the fundamental object of Germany's naval development. What the German Navy really aims at is the German people. No foreign policy is ever dictated by the course of external affairs only. It must have, and it is intended to have, an immediate influence at home. Now, this is particularly the case with the German Navy. The danger was that the work of cementing the German Empire might be made impossible by the cry of Prussianisation, and that in consequence the German Empire would be a mere geographical expression. William II. has evaded that danger. The German Navy may, and probably does, strengthen the hands of the Executive to a dangerous extent, but it cannot by any stretch of imagination be described as a piece of Prussian aggression. The Emperor has, in fact, taught his people to think Imperially, and if Imperial thought materialises, as it has very naturally done, in a battle fleet, that is no reason for asserting with the alarmists that it is only an acute form of Anglophobia.

PART II.

PROVISIONS OF UNION CONSTITUTIONS.

Canada.

CHAPTER I

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL.

The British North America Act, 1867, does not make any provision for the appointment of the Governor-General of Canada, as the Australian Constitution does for that of the GovernorGeneral of Australia. In the case of Canada, the executive government and authority of and over Canada is declared to continue and be vested in the Queen (sec. 9); and in the next section the Governor-General is referred to as "carrying on the government of Canada on behalf and in the name of the Queen." Appointment: It is necessary, therefore, to inquire briefly into the manner in which the Queen's authority over Canada is delegated to the Governor-General, since it is clear that, under the Canadian Constitution, his authority to act as the representative of the Queen depends upon the terms of his appointment. The question is complicated by certain changes which have been made in the method of appointing the Governor-General of Canada as compared with that of appointing the Governors of other Colonies. Since the year 1875 it has been the practice of the Imperial Government to appoint Colonial Governors by an instrument embodied in three documents :-The Letters Patent; the Commission; and the Instructions. The Letters Patent define the duties of the office; the Commission refers to the terms of the Letters Patent and contains the formal Act of appointment, whilst the Instructions detail more fully the powers and functions of the office, especially with regard to the appointment of and dealings with the Executive Council; the rules for assenting to, dissenting from, or reserving for the Queen's pleasure proposed Colonial legislation; and the right to pardon or reprieve offenders. The change made in 1875 did not affect the Instructions, which remained practically the same as those which had been given to Colonial Governors for about forty years before that date. On the appointment of Lord Lorne as Governor-General of Canada in 1878, these Instructions were

« PrejšnjaNaprej »