Page:The History of The Great European War Vol 1.pdf/59

 in the event of all the great departments of State, such, for ex- ample, as foreign affairs, war, the navy, or the colonies, being unrepresented there and taken from its control. It is obvious that under such circumstances our Parliament would be nothing more than a mere debating society, the members having no governmental responsibility whatsoever. This is the condition of the Reichstag, simply and broadly put.

Each of the States composing the empire has some form of independent government in respect to its domestic affairs, but even in the case of the governments of these States, there can be no effective expression of popular influence. If we take Prussia as an example, we there find a Parliament called the Landtag, which is so medieval in its constitution and lack of power, that the Russian Duma compared with it is a most up- to-date and democratic assembly. Yet by reason of the fact that Prussia, through her King, governs the German Empire, the Landtag has a particular and supreme importance throughout the Kaiser's dominions. The electoral system is in itself so ingeniously monstrous as to make one wonder that any nation or people claiming to be free men can put up with it. Without going into details of the system, it is sufficient, in order to illustrate it, to show how it does occasionally, in particular places, work out in practice. In division 99 of the electoral circle of Berlin, Number 3, lives the family of Botzav, who are brewers and landowners. There are three classes of citizens for the purpose of election, the voting power being in proportion to the taxes paid, each class having an equal voting power. Now the Botzav family, being exceptionally rich and paying taxes very heavily, relatively to the other citizens in the division, one Mr. Botzav alone forms the first class of electors; another Mr. Botzav constitutes the second class. There are 571 remaining electors and they constitute the third class. The result of this is that the two Botzavs together elect twice the number of members chosen by the 571 electors of the third class.

Even the Press, the last resort of a people struggling for liberty, is almost entirely and in every respect controlled by the Kaiser. General von Bernhardi, one of the leading and most strenuous apostles of Pan-Germanism, is not content even with the present restricted liberty and independence of the Press, but advocates the strengthening and extension of the official Press, a more regular supervision and a more generous support on the part of the Government. It is of the utmost importance," he contends, " that the newspapers should inculcate sound principles and patriotic feelings in the subjects of the Kaiser."