In the event of a failure
to agree after a third exchange of communications there may be, upon
demand of either Delegation, a joint session. Upon this occasion there
is no debate, but merely the taking of a vote, in which there must
participate an absolutely equal number of members of the two
organizations.

*566. The Delegations: Powers.*--The members of the common ministry have
the right to share in all deliberations of the Delegations and to
present their projects personally or through deputies. They must be
heard whenever they desire. Each Delegation, on the other hand, has a
right to address questions to the joint ministry, or to any one of its
members, and to require answers and explanations. By concurrent vote
of the two bodies a joint minister may be impeached. In such a (p. 514)
case the judges consist of twenty-four independent and legally trained
citizens representing equally the two countries, chosen by the
Delegations, but not members thereof. The power is one very unlikely
to be exercised; in truth, the responsibility of the ministers to the
Delegations is more theoretical than actual.

The functions of the Delegations are severely restricted. They extend
in no case beyond the common affairs of the two states; and they
comprise little more than the voting of supplies asked by the
Government and a certain supervision of the common administrative
machinery. Of legislative power, in the proper sense, the two bodies
possess virtually none. Practically all law in the dual monarchy takes
the form of statutes enacted concurrently by the separate parliaments
of Austria and Hungary. The system is not ideal. It involves delay,
confusion, and an excess of partisan wrangling. Probably upon no other
basis, however, would even the semblance of an Austro-Hungarian union
be possible. The existing arrangement operates somewhat to the
advantage of Hungary, because the Hungarian Delegation is a body which
votes solidly together, whereas the Austrian is composed of mutually
hostile racial and political groups.

II. THE TERRITORIES OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

*567. Annexation of the Provinces, 1908.*--By the Congress of Berlin, in
1878, Austria was authorized, ostensibly in the interest of the peace
of Europe, to occupy and administer the neighboring provinces of
Bosnia and Herzegovina; and from that date until 1908, although the
provinces continued under the nominal sovereignty of the Sultan of
Turkey, their affairs