nd bear the
responsibility of all royal acts. None of these acts are valid unless
signed by one or more of the ministers. To the king is intrusted all
executive power; the command of the army; the unconditioned right of
appointing and dismissing his ministers, of declaring war and concluding
peace, of conferring honors and titles, of convoking the national diet,
closing its sessions, proroguing and dissolving it. He _must_, however,
annually call the Houses together between November 1 and the middle of
January, and cannot adjourn them for a longer period than thirty days,
nor more than once during a session, except with their own consent.
Without the assent of the diet he cannot make treaties with foreign
countries nor rule over foreign territory. He has no independent
legislative power, except so far as this is implied in his right to
provide for the execution of the laws, and, when the diet is not in
session, in case the preservation of the public safety or any uncommon
exigency urgently demands immediate action. All such acts, however,
must, at the next session of the Houses, be laid before them for
approval.

The ministry consists of nine members, under the presidency of the
minister of foreign affairs; besides him are the ministers of finance,
of war, of justice, of worship (religious, educational, and medicinal
affairs), of the interior (police and statistical affairs), of trade and
public works (post office, railroad affairs, etc.), of agricultural
affairs, and of the royal house (matters relating to the private
property of the royal family). The supervision exercised by the ministry
over the various interests of the land is much more immediate and
general than that of the President's cabinet in the United States. Now,
however, their authority in these matters is of course conditioned by
the constitution and the laws. The ministers are allowed to enter either
House at pleasure, and must always be heard when they wish to speak. On
the other hand, either House can demand the presence of the ministers.

The legislative power is vested in the king and the two Houses of
Parliament. The consent of all is necessary to the passing of every law.
These Houses (at first called First and Second Chambers, now House of
Lords and House of Delegates--_Herrenhaus_ and _Abgeordnetenhaus_) must
both be convoked or prorogued at the same time. In general a law may be
first proposed by the king or by either of the Houses. But financi