en the King of Prussia
and the German Emperor it is necessary to realize that the German
constitution describes the Emperor thus: "The presidency of the Union
belongs to the King of Prussia, who bears the title of German Emperor."
On the other hand the King of Prussia, who happens to be the Kaiser, has
his right to rule by birth. When the first king was crowned, about 1701,
he placed the crown upon his own head, and that right has descended to
King William. But as German Emperor the duties of the Kaiser are as
clearly defined as those of the ruler of a modern democracy.

The difference between the Kingdom and the Empire is that the German
Empire is a creation of sovereign states, ruled over by German Grand
Dukes, Princes, and whatnot, who trace their lineage back to the days
when might was right, and who won their power to rule by defeating their
fellow men. At one time there were several hundred of these ruling
princes. When Napoleon got through in Germany there were about
twenty-two left. The German Empire today consists of these twenty-two
states, and three free cities, comprising in all a group of twenty-five
communities. It is a bond or association. It consists, in fact, of the
twenty-five communities, of which it is composed, and represented by
twenty-five kings, dukes, princes, etc., and not by the 65,000,000
population of the communities themselves. The sovereignty rests with
the princes of the several states, who have bestowed a fixed power upon
the Kaiser. As Emperor his office dates back to 1871.

The legislative machinery which has been devised for the use of these
German sovereigns consists of the Bundesrath and the Reichstag.
Sometimes the Bundesrath is likened to our Senate, or to the hereditary
English House of Lords, while the Reichstag is compared to the House of
Representatives or the House of Commons. But comparisons are odious.

THE BUNDESRATH.

The Bundesrath is an assembly in which the German kings, grand dukes,
dukes, princes, etc., come together (by proxy) to direct the affairs of
the Empire. Each of these sovereigns sends a specified number of
delegates, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. Thus
the Kaiser, as the King of Prussia, sends seventeen delegates, while the
King of Bavaria sends six. The total number of delegates is fifty-eight,
so right in the beginning the Kaiser has a pretty good representation.

The delegations in the Bundesrath vote en masse--that is the "