My Four Years in Germany

read, "Ambassa

does not exist. Politically, there is no such place as "Germany." There are the twenty-five States, Prussia, Bavari

enate. But each State has a different number of votes. Prussia has seventeen, Bavaria six, Württemberg and Saxony four each,

ecause of the preponderating power of the Bundesrat, or upper chamber. At the head of the ministry is the Chancellor, appointed by the Emperor; and the other Ministers, such as Colonies, Interior, Education, Justice and

ome seven years ago, viz., that the ministers must answer questions (as in Great Britain) put them b

desrat and then sent to the Reichstag whence, if passed, they return to the Bundesrat where the final approval must take place. Therefore, in practice, the Bundesrat makes the laws with the assent of the Reichstag. The members of the Bundesrat have the right to appear and make speeches in the Reichstag. The fundamental constitution of the German Empire is not changed,

, and a quorum is a majority of the members elected in the Reichstag: in the Bundesrat the quorum consists of su

e, a great shifting of population, as well as great increase of population has taken place. And because of this, the Rei

stood that the people themselves do not want one, on financial grounds, fearing that many expenses now borne by the Grand Duke out of his large private income, would be saddled on the people. The other States have Constitutions varying in form. In Prussia there are a House of Lords and a House of Deputies. The members of the latter are elected by a system of circle votes, by whi

be left out of account; and, with the developments of the navy, that branch

ns of Prussia, for Prussia is divided into circles, presidencies and provinces. For instance, a young man may enter the government service as assistant to the clerk of some court. He may then become district attorney in a small town, then clerk of a larger court, possibly attached to the police presidency of a large city; he may then become a minor judge, etc., until finally he

oreign Office by the statement, "We can do nothing with the military. Please read Bismarck's memoirs and you will see what difficulty he had with the military." Undoubtedly, o

bably the most important body of conservatives now existing in any country in the world. Their leader, Heydebrand, is known as the uncrowned king of Prussia. On the left side the Social Democrats sit. As they evidently oppose the kingship and favour a republic, no Social Democratic member has ever been called into the government. They represent the g

that in this war Roman Catholic opinion in neutral countries, like Spain, inclines to the side of Germany; while in Germany, to protect their re

e Roman Catholic population; that they had troubles enough with the Catholics now in Germany and had no desire to add to their numbers. This, and the desire to lure the Poles into

ar for Civilisation, as it was called by Bismarck, a contest dating

re many Roman Catholics in the Rhine Provinces of Prussia, and in that part of P

al Power of the Pope ended, and Bismarck, though appealed to by Catholics, took no interest in the defence of the Papacy. The conflict between the Roman C

he appointment but even in the education of the Catholic priests. The Jesuits were expelled from Germany in 1872. These measures, generally known as the May Laws, because passed in May, 1873, 1874 and 1875, led to the creation and strengthening of the Centrum or Catholic party. For a l

alance of power in Germany, acting sometimes with the

, for example, and the Progressives. Since the war certain members of the National Liberal party were most bitter in assailing President Wilson and the United St

uestion. In the chapter on the affair at Zabern, something will be seen of the attitude of the troops toward the civil population. At the outbre

ly lack, it is that of ruling over other peoples and

s partitions of that kingdom, were incorporated with Prussia, but the Po

are Roman Catholics and always retain their dream o

g from the Baltic to the Carpathians and the Black Sea, including in its territory the basins of the Warta, Vistula, Dwina, Dnieper and Upper Dniester,

an easy prey to the intrigues of Frederick the Great and the two Empresses, Maria There

mission has been established which buys estates from Poles and sells them to Germans. This commission has the power of condemning the lands of Poles, taking these lands from them by force, compensating them at a rate determined by the commission and settling Germans on the lands so seized. This commission has its head

that the children are Catholics and Poles. Polish deputies voting as Poles sit in the Prussian legislature and in the Reichstag, and if a portion of the old Kingd

had served in the Prussian army and was attached to the Emperor, the Count Hutten-Czapski, as its lord-warden. In this castle was a very beautiful Byzantine chapel built from d

nd pro-Polish, but we were warned in time. The castle has a large throne room and ball-room; in the hall is a stuffed aurochs killed by the Emperor. The aurochs is a species of buffalo greatly res

n the streets threw ink through the carriage windows on the dresses of the ladies going to the ball and thus made i

ed a saddle on a sort of elevated stool in front of a desk. I asked the guide what

oks caricaturing the German rule of Alsace-Lorraine. It is curious that a c

d, the Polish question is as a

hese duchies and have been irritated by the Prussian officials and officers into preserving their national feeling intact ever since 1866. Galling restrictions have been made, the very existence of which intensifies the hatred and prevents the assimilation of these Danes. For instance, Amundsen

s aggression. The Kaiser believes, however, that the ghost of the claim of the Kings of Hanover was laid when he married his only daughter to the heir of the House of Hanover

Hohenzollern. The smashing defeat by Prussia of Austria and the allied German States, Bavaria, Saxony, Hesse, Hanover, etc., in 1866, and the growth of Prussianism since then in all of these countries, keep the people from any overt a

nce in the hot climate of the tropics in some measure changes Anglo-Saxon character. It is, therefore, always well in judg

enturies conquering military races have poured over Europe. The climate is not so cold in winter as that of the northern part of the United States. There is much rain and the winter skies are so dark that the absence of the sun must have some effect upon the character of t

hat city, there still dwell descendants of the original Wendish inhabitants of the country who speak the Wendish language. The wet-nurses, whose picturesque dress is so noticeable on the streets of Ber

and phlegmatic nature. The Bavarians are noted for their prowess as beer drinkers, and it is not at all unusual for prosperous burghers of Munich to dispose of thirt

s merchants of Berlin, before the war, had seven meals a day; first breakfast at a comfortably early hour; second breakfast at about eleven, of perhaps a glass of milk or perhaps a glass of beer and sandwiches; a very heavy lunch of four o

f course, to take this wine unless they actually desire to drink it. I know one American woman who was stopping at a Prince's castle in Hungary and who, on the first night, allowed

fected the German national character, and had made the people more aggressive and irritable and consequently readier for war.