and the Federal Council before their ratification. The assent of the Federal Council had always to be obtained before the signature of a treaty, while the consent of the Reichstag was demanded after the treaty had been signed. Then followed the ratification by the Presidency of the Confederation. Each separate State was not prevented by the Constitution from concluding treaties with other States, provided these treaties in no way affected either the interests, the Constitution, the treaties or the laws of the Confederation, or any subject which was under its supervision and legislation. The King of Prussia had the right to declare war and to conduct the military operations in the name of the Confederation. Chancellor. There was only one responsible minister of the The North German Confederation, and that was the Chancellor, the head of the Federal Council. No laws were binding, with the exception of those respecting the Army and Navy, which were not countersigned by him; and he was, therefore, responsible for them. But he was only responsible to the Confederation, and no assembly in any of the States could call him to account. The fact of his combining the offices of Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister did not alter the case and place him under the authority of the Prussian Chambers. The Chancellor need not necessarily be a Prussian State official. A German constitutional writer of great repute1 states that the Chancellor's responsibility 1 Rönne, Verfassungs-Recht des Deutschen Reiches, p. 184. CHAP. VI. 1867. Federal was only moral, and not legal. A special law establishing his responsibility would have been necessary to have bound him legally.' His responsibility did not of course extend to those laws which did not require to be countersigned by him, nor could he be responsible for any acts he might perform as a member of the Federal Council. Rönne reduced the responsibility of the Chancellor to the following two general cases:-1. He was responsible that the ordinances of the head of the Confederation, as far as they required the assent of the Federal Council, were in harmony with the resolutions of that body; 2. That the ordinances of the head of the Confederation, in so far as he could enforce them independently, did not violate the Constitution and laws of the Confederation. The Chancellor was assisted by a Federal chancery. Chancery (Bundes-Kanzler-Amt), consisting of a President, four heads of departments, with four permanent assistants and the requisite number of clerks. To this office were entrusted the posts and telegraphs, the Federal Consular Service, the supervision of the customs and taxes, the arrangements with the several States respecting the application of the laws passed by the Federal Council and by the Reichstag, and a rather vaguely defined power of interference in questions affecting the commercial policy of the Confederation. It appears that the Federal Chancery gradually took into their hands the conduct of commercial treaties; but the head of the Confederation announced that the sphere of action of the Federal Chancery in these matters was purposely left undefined. The railways were later put under the superintendence of this office. The Foreign Office of Prussia was transformed January 1, 1870 into that of the North German Confederation, and was named 'Foreign Office of the North German Confederation.' It was placed under the immediate direction of the Chancellor, and the former Under Secretary of the Prussian Foreign Office continued his functions with the title of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The representatives were then called envoys of the North German Confederation, and bore as official arms the Prussian eagle surrounded with the inscription, 'Legation of the North German Confederation.' Till then the Prussian Foreign Office had paid their representatives abroad who acted as the representatives of the North German Confederation; now they were borne upon the budget for the whole of the Confederation. CHAP. 1867. Council. The Federal Council is a unique creation. It Federal combines the functions of a legislative assembly with those of a permanent executive body. It consisted of forty-three representatives from the several States, who acted on instructions from their respective Governments. The number of Representatives sent by each State were as follows: Prussia had seventeen, Saxony four, Mecklenburg-Schwerin two, CHAP. 1867. Brunswick two, and the remaining eighteen States one each; each representative having one vote. Prussia had added to the number of her votes in the old Plenum those of the countries she annexed. Of course her seventeen representatives could only vote together; they could not be divided on any question whatsoever. The same was the case with the other countries having more than one vote. Prussia, with her seventeen votes, had therefore the power of vetoing any measure entailing a fundamental alteration in the laws of the Constitution, and consequently requiring a two-thirds majority of the Council, though she could not force any question through the Council against the will of the smaller States. The votes of the States were not considered valid in the following cases: 1. When they had not sent a representative to the Federal Council; 2. When their representative did not attend the sitting; 3. When he had not received any instructions respecting the questions on which a vote had to be taken. It was not within the power of the Federal Council to examine whether the vote of a representative agreed with his instructions or not. The members of the Federal Council acted upon instructions which were given to them by the heads of their Governments, and which had to be countersigned by one of the responsible ministers of their countries. None of the members of the Council could be made responsible for any decision which might be arrived at in the Federal Council. The Representative Assemblies of the several States had no power of interference in the instructions given to the representatives in the Federal Council. The representatives enjoyed the same diplomatic privileges as the representatives from foreign States. Prussian publicists lamented the weakness of their country in the Federal Council, but the enormous preponderance of moral force she possessed counterbalanced her numerical inferiority. Prussia had also reserved to herself another instrument of power in the Council, by not allowing the opinion of the majority to outweigh the wish of the Presidency in certain cases, such as those affecting the military system, the customs dues, and certain taxes. In such cases if the Presidency desired the maintenance of the status quo, no vote of the Council could alter his decision. Each member had the right of initiating a question, except as regarded the admission of a South German State into the Confederation, when the duty devolved on the Präsidium. Every member of the Federal Council had a right to attend the meetings of the Reichstag, and to state the views of his Government on the question under discussion; but the Reichstag could not demand as a right the presence either of the Chancellor or of any member of the Council. CHAP. VI. 1867. of Federal The functions of the Federal Council were rather Functions comprehensive. Treaties with foreign Powers had Council. to receive the approval of the Council before they were signed. This was the case in political treaties. |