t of completely checking
the growing agitation for the establishment of responsible government in
Prussia.[1]

[Footnote 1: On this point see Bismarck's _Recollections_, and the good
short account in Powicke's _Bismarck_.]

Having made Prussia supreme in Germany, Bismarck was now in a position
to solve the problem of German unity. He resolved to employ the same
well-tried method. In 1870 the somewhat high-handed manner of Napoleon III.
made it possible for him to bring about a war between the German States
and France, in which Germany, under Prussian leadership, was completely
victorious. In the flush of their success, after the capture of Paris in
January 1871, the lesser States of Germany agreed to enter into a Federal
Union under Prussian supremacy and to accept the King of Prussia as its
head, with the title of Emperor.

Thus, at length, Germany became a National State, with a national
constitution. The term Empire is misleading, for to English ears it
suggests the government of dependencies. Germany is not an Empire in that
sense: she is a Federation, like the United States and Switzerland, of
independent States which have agreed to merge some of their prerogatives,
notably the conduct of foreign affairs and of defence, in a central
authority. Since some of these independent States were, and still are,
monarchies, a higher title had to be provided for the Chief of the
Federation. An ace, as it were, was needed to trump the kings. After much
deliberation the title Emperor was agreed upon; but it is noteworthy that
the Kaiser is not "the Emperor of Germany": he bears the more non-committal
title of "German Emperor."

The German Imperial Constitution, devised by Bismarck in 1871, falls far
short of the Frankfurt experiment of 1848. It does indeed provide for
the creation of a Reichstag, or Imperial Parliament, elected by all
male citizens over twenty-five. But the Reichstag can neither initiate
legislation nor secure the appointment or dismissal of Ministers. In
the absence of ministerial responsibility to Parliament, which is the
mainspring of our English Constitutional system, the Reichstag might be
described as little more than an advisory body armed with the power of
veto. Like the English Parliament in the days of Charles I.'s ship-money,
the Reichstag could in the last resort refuse supplies, and so bring the
machinery of government to a standstill. But this situation has never yet
arisen or seemed likely to