rs in the last resort decide the
issues of peace and war.

To realize how complete is the Prussian control we need only consider
the fact that in the supreme Federal Parliament--the Bundesrat--for
forty-two years the Prussian representatives have always had it their
own way. Yet Prussia, according to the Constitution, has only got
seventeen delegates out of fifty-two. When the Imperial Constitution
was framed it was thought that the Prussian representation was far too
small, and the fear was repeatedly expressed that the Prussian vote in
the Bundesrat would be overruled. But not once has it happened that
the German majority in the Bundesrat has dared to oppose any important
measure initiated by the Prussian Government. For all practical
purposes, therefore, Prussia is the suzerain power. The German
principalities and kingdoms are reduced to political tutelage and
subjection."

XII.--WHY PRUSSIA HAS ENSLAVED GERMANY.

"How shall we explain this startling paradox? How is it, and why is
it, that the artistic and exuberant, genial and sentimental German
submits to the hard rule of the commonplace, uninteresting, and dour
Prussian?

If you ask ninety-nine out of a hundred Germans they will not give you
a reply. They know too little of and care too little about politics to
be even aware of the fact. They are satisfied with appearances. They
do not see the King of Prussia behind the German Kaiser. They are
hypnotized by the glittering helmet of the War Lord.

But if you succeed in discovering one in a hundred who understands the
relation between Germany and Prussia, and who has thought out the
political problem, he will probably give you something like the
following reply:

'I know that there is no love lost between the Germans and the
Prussians. I know that in culture and native ability we are as
superior to the Prussians as our vine-clad hills are superior in
beauty to the sandy wastes of Pomerania. And I know that in politics
we play a subordinate part, although we are superior. But I also
realize that it is necessary for us to submit. And it is necessary for
us to submit, precisely because of our virtues. For those virtues of
ours are unpractical. And it is necessary for the Prussians to rule,
precisely because of their shortcomings. For those shortcomings are
practical. The pure gold of the German temper could never be made
into hard coin nor used to advantage. It could be made to produce
splendid works of art,