The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-06-20
GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY.
Emperor Very Far from Being nn IRE
spOnsihle AutocraE.

am wy 81 A,hAA AbAAAHa LII
spOnsibIe Autocrat.
If our young publicists would get ("
heart an early chapter OF the book on
the constitution and government oil
Germany, considered ia theory and in
practice, 10Th from the imperial and
home-rulc points of view. many CHROME
GUS and absurd beliefs now prevalent
in England would give way to aourder
knowledge. Members Of parliament
would not talk Of the duke Of Edin-
burgh in his capacity Of ruler Of Sake
Coburg-Gotha, taking an oath of a.
leeiance to the mEcror (sici) when
the fa is that The constitutional re-
lations of uncle and nephew are those
Of complete monarc!iiCaI parity. Nor
would public Speakers ard writer's Of
repute call the kaiser an irresponsible
autOcrat' like the ear. when. IS &Ir.
Lowe well TcmcrLs. he us very much
less an irresponsible ~autocsat than
john Burns" His ninety cannot de-
clare aggressive war without the up
Eroyal of tie federal council. and h.
is not in peace Tine actual "var lord"
Of all the troops ia Germany. There
is no German" minister OF war. tie
corps of the larger stats being under
the local military executives, to whom
the emperor can transmit his wishes
or recommendations, hi immediate
paramount power, as regards, for in
stance, discipline and appointments.
stopping at the Pruss:an contingent to
he army of the Reich.
So in the political orGer The en-
reror, as king of Prussia, is, in a sense,
primus inter pares; buth he cannct move
in Legislative or executive action except
through, or with. the federal council.
which consists of delegates, som of
whom are regular diplomatic repre-
sentatives from the 90 separate states
of the empire The emperor cannot
veto laws passed by the reichstag.
which is elected by universal suffrage,
and. since Prince bismarck quilted the
parliamentary scene, has been entirely
free from all influences or controI ex-
ternaI to itself.
When Il bill passes the bundcsrath
and reichstag it becomes n law, and
must then be promulgated by the en-
Feror and reichskanZler, with or with
out their approval, even when, as in
certain cases has happened, the II Prus-
sian votes had been recorded against
the measure in the federal council.
The functions and actual power at
taching to Gods %vicegerent and deputy
in the Prussian dominions seem to be,
in most substantial respects. superior
to those enjoyed by the mere human
head of the empire. Mr.. loves warn
ing on this point will be a surprise to
many:
I'm this country the tendency ever is
to lose sight of the king of Prussia
in the German emperor; and until the
distinction is clearly graspcd, no one
can hope to avoid confusion of thought
in following the course of things in
the fatherland. People should always
ask themselves, on hearing hat his
majesty has said or done this or that,
whether he has been acting as kaiser
or only a. king, and in about seven
cases out of ten they will find, to their
surprise, perhaps, hat it was in the
latter capacity"
This warning was wanted not long
since, when we were told hat ''the
emperor and the German govern
ment" had made n swoop on the social
democrats, thereby suggesting that'the
gag had been applied to that party
throughout Germany by imperial or
der. Nothing of this kind had hap
pened. The localities and incidents in
question were exclusively Prussian,
and the powers concerned were merely
the police, or other inferior civil au-
thorities of, perhaps, B~reslau, AK or
Berlin, who in such matters would act
their own initiative, much as Scot
land Yard acts without waiting for the
behests of Whitehall or Windsor castle.
So with the reported cases of leze
majestic. The august p~ersonages who
are made the subject of unsuitable
or wit ave no knowledge
of the action of the public prosecutors
of the 26 separate states, whose duty
it is, when they have c~Ognizance of
a libel, to arcaign the offenders as the
criminal code directs, and that without
to their ministerial supcriors.
procedure is exclusively local;
the emperor possesses no executive ma
chinery for civil government, nor with
the exception of the Leipsic high court
Of appeals is there any Imperial appara-
of criminal Neutrality-suspicious.
Spectator,